System and method for facilitating targeted advertising

• US 8,131,594 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2006
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yehoshua, Tamar, Vijay, Bharat
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dagnew, Saba
• Application Number:
  US11/520,945
• Time in Patent Office: 2,000 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 707/3, 707/100, 709/224
• US Class Current: 705/14.53
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

A method of providing an advertisement including receiving a request for an advertisement of an advertiser, determining a purchase history for a user associated with the request for the advertisement, providing an advertisement of an advertiser in response to the request for the advertisement, and generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser based on the purchase history of the user.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving a first request for an advertisement of an advertiser;

determining if a user associated with the first request is recognized by determining if the first request was accompanied by an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user associated with the first request;

based at least in part on determining that the user associated with the first request is recognized, examining the valid user account to determine a purchase history for the user associated with the first request;

providing an advertisement of an advertiser in response to the first request;

generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a user selection of the advertisement by the user associated with the first request, the advertising fee based at least in part on the purchase history of the user associated with the first request, an amount of the advertising fee corresponding to an amount of purchase history content of the user associated with the first request, and the purchase history comprising purchases previously made by the user associated with the first request before the user selection of the advertisement;

receiving a second request for an advertisement of an advertiser;

determining if a user associated with the second request is recognized by determining if the second request was accompanied by an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user associated with the second request;

providing an advertisement of an advertiser in response to the second request; and

based at least in part on determining that the user associated with the second request is not recognized, refraining from generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a user selection of the advertisement by the user associated with the second request.

2. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing the advertisement includes comparing one or more characteristics of the advertiser to the purchase history for the user in selecting the advertisement to be provided.

3. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the purchase history for the user includes past purchase information related to one or more different categories of purchases.

4. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the purchase history for the user includes past purchase information related to one or more different advertisers.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the purchase history for the user includes past purchase information related to one or more specific items that were purchased.

6. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing the advertisement includes applying one or more bids from an advertiser received based at least in part on a past purchase history correlating to the purchase history of the user and selecting the advertisement based on the one or more bids.

7. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein selecting an advertisement includes determining which bid will provide a maximum revenue.

8. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein determining the purchase history for the user includes receiving user information from a web publisher.

24. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third request for an advertisement of an advertiser;

determining if a user associated with the third request is recognized by determining if the third request was accompanied by an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user associated with the third request;

based at least in part on determining that the user associated with the third request is recognized, examining the valid user account to determine a purchase history for the user associated with the third request;

providing an advertisement of an advertiser in response to the third request; and

generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a user selection of the advertisement by the user associated with the third request, the advertising fee based at least in part on the purchase history of the user associated with the third request;

wherein the advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a user selection of the advertisement by the user associated with the third request is;

(i) greater than the advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a user selection of the advertisement by the user associated with the first request if the user associated with the third request has a greater purchase history than the user associated with the first request, and (ii) less than the advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a user selection of the advertisement by the user associated with the first request if the user associated with the third request has a lesser purchase history than the user associated with the first request.

25. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 24, wherein a greater purchase history comprises a greater number of transactions or a greater total amount spent than a lesser purchase history.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request for an advertisement of an advertiser;

determining if a user associated with the request is recognized by determining if the request was accompanied by an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user associated with the request;

providing an advertisement of the advertiser in response to the receiving of the request;

receiving a selection of the advertisement of the advertiser by the user;

based at least in part on determining that the user is recognized and in response to the receiving of the selection;

examining the valid user account to determine a purchase history for the user, the purchase history comprising purchases previously made by the user before the user selection of the advertisement; and

generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser based at least in part on the purchase history of the user, an amount of the advertising fee proportionally corresponding to a purchase history level of the user based at least in part on the purchase history; and

based at least in part on determining that the user is not recognized and in response to the receiving of the selection;

refraining from generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the purchase history for the user includes past purchase information related to one or more different categories of purchases.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the purchase history for the user includes past purchase information related to one or more different advertisers.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the purchase history for the user includes past purchase information related to one or more specific items that were purchased.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser based on the purchase history of the user includes applying one or more bids from the advertiser received based at least in part on a past purchase history correlating to the purchase history of the user.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein selecting an advertisement includes determining which bid will provide a maximum revenue.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein determining the purchase history for a user includes receiving user information from a web publisher.

16. An ad placement system for on-line advertising, the ad placement system comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable on the one or more processors to:

receive advertisements from advertisers, each advertisement having an associated bid indicative of a remuneration that an advertiser associated with the advertisement will compensate a website publisher for user selection of the associated advertisement, the bid being generated based at least in part on a past purchase history correlating to a purchase history of a user;

aggregate the received advertisements in an on-line ad listing database that is accessible to website publishers via the Internet;

receive advertisement selection information and user information from a publisher of a website, the user information including the purchase history of the user if the user has been recognized with use of an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user and provided along with a request for an advertisement;

select an advertisement from the ad listing database in accordance with the selection information;

provide the advertisement to the website publisher for display on the website of the website publisher to the user; and

if the user has been recognized with use of the identifier;

generate an advertising fee to be paid by an advertiser associated with the selected advertisement in response to the user selecting the advertisement, the advertising fee being based at least in part on the purchase history of the user maintained by the valid user account, an amount of the advertising fee corresponding to a purchase history tier of the user based at least in part on the purchase history, and the purchase history comprising purchases previously made by the user before the selection of the advertisement by the user;

otherwise, refrain from generating an advertising fee to be paid by an advertiser associated with the selected advertisement in response to the user selecting the advertisement.

17. The ad placement system of claim 16, wherein the ad placement system is further configured to:

receive an indication of when a visitor selects the selected advertisement on the corresponding website; and

control a flow of remuneration between the advertiser and the website publisher based on the received indication.

18. The ad placement system of claim 16, wherein the ad placement system is further configured to collect and store advertisement related data including:

advertisement identifying information;

user identifying information; and

user past purchase information.

19. The ad placement system of claim 18, wherein the ad placement system is further configured to enable publishers to navigate the ad listing database and review the stored advertisement related data.

20. The ad placement system of claim 16, wherein the ad placement system is accessible to website publishers by way of a rules engine, the rules engine being configured to store rules provided by the publishers for selection of advertisements from the ad listing database.

21. The ad placement system of claim 16, wherein the ad placement system is accessible to website publishers and further provides a control option for the website publishers to control a category of advertisements to be displayed on a respective website of each website publisher.

22. A method implemented by a computing device, comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, a request for an advertisement of an advertiser, the advertisement stored in a memory of the computing device;

providing the advertisement of an advertiser stored in the memory in response to the request for the advertisement;

determining if a user associated with the request is recognized by determining if the request was accompanied by an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user associated with the request;

if the user associated with the request for the advertisement is recognized;

examining the valid user account to determine a purchase history for the user; and

generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to a selection of the advertisement by the user, the advertising fee based at least in part on the purchase history of the user, an amount of the advertising fee proportional to a purchase history level of the user based at least in part on the purchase history, and the purchase history comprising purchases previously made by the user before the user selection of the advertisement; and

if the user associated with the request for the advertisement is not recognized, refraining from generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to the selection of the advertisement by the user.

23. A method implemented by a computing device, comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, a request for an advertisement of an advertiser, the advertisement stored in a memory of the computing device;

providing the advertisement of an advertiser stored in the memory in response to the request for the advertisement;

determining if a user associated with the request is recognized by determining if the request was accompanied by an identifier associated with a valid user account of the user associated with the request;

if the user associated with the request for the advertisement is recognized;

examining the valid user account to determine a purchase history for the user; and

generating an advertising fee of a first amount to be paid by the advertiser in response to a selection of the advertisement by the user, the first amount corresponding to the purchase history of the user and the purchase history comprising purchases previously made by the user before the user selection of the advertisement; and

if the user associated with the request for the advertisement is not recognized;

refraining from generating an advertising fee to be paid by the advertiser in response to the selection of the advertisement by the user;

or

generating an advertising fee of a second amount to be paid by the advertiser in response to the selection of the advertisement by the user, the second amount being less than the first amount.