Method and apparatus for creating custom advertisements

• US 8,234,174 B1
• Filed: 09/09/2003
• Issued: 07/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Bank - bankatunited.com
• Original Assignee: Easy LLC
• Inventors: Eagon, Grant A., Eagon, Diana M., Greene, Ian C., Eagon, Rex W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US10/657,853
• Time in Patent Office: 3,248 Days
• Field of Search: 705/28, 705/26, 705/22, 705/27, 709/200, 707/104.1, 707/10
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

A method and system for managing inventory information by a host company forming an inventory based information network having multiple tiers of access with at least one host server and at least one remote company user. The host server has an interactive inventory listing, manages remote company user access to the inventory listings, and enables remote access to the host server for the remote company user to create and manage inventory listings. The interactive inventory listing builder creates a new inventory listing, generates an associated unique listing code, and adds a photo file and text data. The method generates interactive advertisements and websites. The interactive advertisement builder creates a new advertisement, chooses a target media outlet, inserts the inventory listing, and generates and saves advertisement. The interactive website builder allows a user to select a template, add object files, choose domain names, and save the website.

Claims

1. A method for managing inventory sales advertisement information by a host company over a network, comprising the steps of:

a. forming an inventory advertisement based information network having at least two tiers of access with at least one host server and at least one remote company user I/O device;

b. configuring the host server with an interactive inventory listing builder for generating inventory listings;

c. configuring the host server to manage remote company user access to the inventory listings; and

d. enabling remote access to the at least one host server for the remote company user to create and manage inventory listings.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a. having a tier of access with at least one remote employee user I/O device; and

b. providing at least one remote employee user designated by one remote company user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

a. each inventory listing has a unique inventory code associated therewith and is associated with a unique market area; and

b. each company user and each employee user are associated with a unique market area, and wherein the employee user and company user are associated with the same unique market area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a. the host company further distributes print advertisements from the inventory listings generated.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a. configuring the host server with an interactive advertisement builder for generating advertisements; and

b. enabling the remote company user to manage the advertisement builder and generate advertisements thereby.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

a. configuring the host server to keep record of all advertisements placed per media.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

a. generating a purchase order corresponding to each advertisement.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein:

a. the interactive advertisement builder comprises the steps of

b. creating a new advertisement;

c. choosing a target media outlet;

d. inserting inventory listing; and

e. generating and saving advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a. configuring the host server with an interactive website builder for generating linked webpages; and

b. enabling the remote company user to manage the website builder and generate linked remote company webpages thereby.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

a. housing the webpages on the host server;

b. having a tier of access with at least one client I/O device; and

c. configuring the host server to manage remote client access to inventory listings through webpages housed on the host server.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

a. configuring the host server to monitor website referrals to keep track of which websites refer clients to hosted webpages.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

a. providing at least one remote employee user designated by the remote company user; and

b. configuring the host server to manage remote company user and employee user access to the company user webpages.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein

a. different employee users are provided different levels of access to the inventory listing information.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein:

a. the interactive website builder comprises the steps of

b. selecting a template;

c. adding text;

d. adding images;

e. adding 360°

photo;

f. adding inventory listings having unique listing codes;

g. choosing a domain; and

h. saving the website.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a. generating an advertising activity report by listing and by media.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a. providing e-mail options associated with each user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

a. the e-mail options include alias e-mail and autoresponder e-mail options.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a. each inventory listing has a unique inventory code associated therewith.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

a. each user and each inventory listing is associated with a unique market area.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a. the interactive inventory listing builder comprises the steps of

b. creating a new inventory listing;

c. generating a unique listing code and associating it with the inventory listing;

d. adding a photo file; and

e. adding text data.

21. A system for an advertisement generating database, comprising:

a. means for entering information concerning a plurality of inventory listings from a plurality of remote locations over a network;

b. means for determining relevance of the entered information to a plurality of specified markets;

c. means for associating each inventory item to a specified market;

d. means for storing information concerning the inventory listing and the associated specified market;

e. means for accessing the entered information from a plurality of remote locations over a network to create and manage inventory listings; and

f. means for generating an advertisement containing selected inventory listings.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a. means for generating a website containing selected inventory listings;

b. wherein the database hosts a plurality of interactive websites generated thereby, each website associated with a market criteria, and having access to the market criteria associated inventory listings.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein:

a. The database files are arranged in a manner such that each market is separately stored so that websites and inventory items are associated under the market criteria, further comprising a plurality of websites corresponding to a plurality of user companies, each user company has a plurality of user employees associated thereto and each user has a website associated wither the users company.

24. The system of claim 21, comprising:

a. a database containing information regarding user specified inventory sales;

b. wherein each inventory listing is associated with a specified market criteria; and

c. wherein the information includes inventory related information, sales and rental information.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein:

a. the market criteria corresponds to a geographic area.

26. The systems of claim 21, wherein:

a. the database is available over a network to users.

27. A method for media-independent advertisement management by a host company over a network, comprising:

a. forming an inventory based information network having at least two tiers of access with at least one host server and at least one remote company user I/O device;

b. configuring the at least one host server with an interactive system for generating and managing advertisement inventory listings;

c. configuring the at least one host server to manage remote company user access to the advertising inventory listings; and

d. enabling remote access to the at least one host server for the remote company user to create and manage advertising inventory listings.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

a. having a tier of access with at least one remote employee user I/O device; and

b. providing at least one remote employee user designated by one remote company user.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

a. associating each individual advertisement inventory listing with a unique inventory code and with a unique market area; and

b. associating each company user and each employee user with a unique market area.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

a. generating media-independent advertisements from the inventory lists generated on the at least one host server for distribution by the host company.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

a. configuring the at least one host server with interactive advertisement builder for generating advertisements, an interactive website builder for generating linked webpages, or combinations thereof; and

b. enabling the remote company user to manage the advertisement builder and generate advertisements thereby, to manage the interactive website builder and generate linked remote company webpages thereby, or combinations thereof.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

a. configuring the host server to keep record of all advertisements generated;

b. generating a purchase order corresponding to each advertisement;

or

c. combination thereof.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

a. housing the webpages on the host server;

b. having a tier of access with at least one client I/O device; and

c. configuring the host server to manage remote client access to advertisement inventory items through webpages housed on the at least one host server.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein:

a. the interactive advertisement builder comprises

b. creating a new advertisement,

c. choosing a target media outlet,

d. inserting advertisement inventory listings, and

e. saving the new advertisement.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

a. providing different levels of access to the advertisement inventory listing information for different employee users.

36. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

a. configuring the at least one host server to monitor website referrals to keep track of which websites refer clients to hosted web pages.

37. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

a. providing at least one remote employee user designated by the remote company user; and

b. configuring the at least one host server to manage remote company user and employee user access to the computer user webpages.

38. The method of claim 31, wherein:

a. the interactive website builder comprises the steps of

b. selecting a template;

c. adding text;

d. adding images;

e. adding 360°

photo;

f. adding advertising inventory item having unique listing codes;

g. choosing domain; and

h. saving the website.

39. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

a. generating an advertising activity report by listing and by media;

b. associating a unique inventory code with each advertisement inventory listing;

c. associating a unique market area with each user and with each advertisement inventory listing;

or

d. combinations thereof.

40. The method of claim 27, wherein:

a. the interactive advertisement inventory item builder comprises

b. creating a new advertisement inventory item;

c. generating a unique listing code and associating the unique listing code with the advertisement inventory item;

d. adding at least one photo file associated with the new advertisement inventory item; and

e. adding text data associated with the new advertisement inventory item.

41. A system for a database, comprising:

a. means for entering information concerning a plurality of advertisement inventory items from a plurality of remote locations over a network;

b. means for determining relevance of the entered information to a plurality of specified markets;

c. means for associating each advertisement inventory item to a specified market;

d. means for storing information concerning the advertisement inventory item and the associated market; and

e. means for accessing the entered information from a plurality of remote locations over a network.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein:

a. means for generating an advertisement containing selected advertisement inventory items;

b. means for generating a website containing selected advertisement items, wherein the database hosts a plurality of websites generated thereby, each website associated with a market criteria, having access to the market criteria associated advertisement inventory items;

or

c. combinations thereof.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein:

a. the database files arranged so that websites and advertisement inventory items are stored according to each market associated under the market criteria; and

b. a plurality of websites correspond to a plurality of user companies, each user company having a plurality of user employees associated thereto and each user has a website associate with the users company.

44. The system of claim 42, further comprising:

a. a database containing information regarding user specified advertisement inventory item sales;

b. wherein each advertisement inventory item is associated with a specified market criteria; and

c. wherein the information includes inventory related information, sales, rental information, or combinations thereof.

45. The system of claim 42, wherein:

a. the database is available over a network to users;

b. the market criteria corresponds to a geographic area;

or

c. combinations thereof.