Targeted advertising in a situational network

• US 8,249,932 B1
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SitNet LLC
• Original Assignee: Resource Consortium Limited
• Inventors: Cona, Thomas, Igoe, Patrick T., Kravets, Leonid
• Primary Examiner(s): Vezeris, James
• Application Number:
  US11/924,748
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.43
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3415 Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method of presenting targeted advertising in a situational network includes receiving a plurality of advertisements from at least one advertising entity. An indication of an occurrence of a situation is obtained. Devices corresponding to a plurality of individuals are automatically connected to a situational network established in response to the situation. At least one of the advertisements is provided to at least one of the individuals based on determining an affiliation of the individual to the situation.

Claims

1. A method of presenting targeted advertising in a situational network, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of advertisements from at least one advertising entity;

obtaining an indication of an occurrence of a situation;

automatically connecting devices corresponding to a plurality of individuals to the situational network established in response to the situation;

causing an automatic redirection of a web browser application operating on each of the devices to a webpage containing information related to the situation; and

providing to each of the devices at least one of the plurality of advertisements for display on the webpage based on determining an affiliation of the corresponding individual to the situation, wherein the affiliation is based at least in part on an effect of the situation on the corresponding individual or their property.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the affiliation is based at least in part on the location of the at least one individual.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the location of the at least one individual is determined using positional coordinates obtained from the connected device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the affiliation is based at least in part on a profile for the at least one individual.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile is stored on the connected device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is obtained by a situation authority.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the situation authority establishes an event node in a multi-dimensional personal information network corresponding to the situation and the devices include personal information aggregators, each personal information aggregator corresponding to a node in the multi-dimensional personal information network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the situation is a weather phenomenon.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein some of the plurality of advertisements provide notifications about services relevant to the situation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the affiliation is based in part on a projection of the situational network that includes the corresponding individual, each individual in the projection having the same affiliation with the situation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the projection is a geographic projection of nodes of the situational network.

12. A method of presenting targeted advertising in a situational network, the method comprising:

obtaining an indication of an occurrence of a situation;

establishing an event node for the situation in a multi-dimensional personal information network;

automatically connecting personal information aggregators corresponding to a plurality of individuals to the event node, the personal information aggregators each corresponding to a different node in the multi-dimensional personal information network and assigned an access level according to a role of the respective individual within the situational network;

creating two or more projections of the nodes of the multi-dimensional personal information network based at least in part on the access levels of the individuals corresponding information a aggregators;

aggregating information related to the situation received from the personal information aggregators connected through the situational network; and

providing the information and at least one of a plurality of advertisements to each of the information aggregators based on which of the two or more projections includes the respective personal information aggregator.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of advertisements are received from at least one advertising entity.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the two or more projections are based at least in part on a geographic proximity of the nodes of the situational network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the locations of the personal information aggregators corresponding to the nodes are determined using positional coordinates obtained from the personal information aggregators.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein different advertisements of the plurality of advertisements are provided to each of the two or more projections.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one advertisement is selected based on targeting criteria for each of the two or more projections.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the targeting criteria is determined using aggregate user demographic information obtained from the personal information aggregators corresponding to each of the two or more projections.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the event node is established by a situation authority using an event node server.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the situation is a weather phenomenon.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the connections cause a raised affinity between each of the personal information aggregators and the event node along a dimension corresponding to the situation.

22. A system for presenting targeted advertising in a situational network, the system comprising:

a central server, corresponding to a situation authority, configured to receive a plurality of advertisements from at least one advertising entity, obtain an indication of an occurrence of a situation, automatically connect devices corresponding to a plurality of individuals to the situational network established in response to the situation, cause an automatic redirection of a web browser application operating on each of the devices to a webpage containing information related to the situation, and provide at least one of the plurality of advertisements to each of the devices for display on the webpage based on determining an affiliation of the corresponding individual to the situation, wherein the affiliation is based at least in part on an effect of the situation on the corresponding individual or their property; and

a database associated with the central server for storing information related to availability of a service at a plurality of service locations affected by the situation; and

a plurality of devices, each device corresponding to an individual connected via the situational network, configured to connect to the central server, and receive at least one of the advertisements based on the affiliation of the respective individual to the situation.

23. The systems of claim 22, wherein at least one device of the plurality of devices is a personal information aggregator.