Dynamic configuration of an advertisement

• US 8,306,859 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2008
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Say Media, Inc. (theMaven, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lerman, David Ross, Young, Troy William, Sanchez, Matthew Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): VANDERHORST, MARIA VICTORIA
• Application Number:
  US12/209,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,517 Days
• Field of Search: 725/44, 725/37, 705/64
• US Class Current: 705/14.73
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Systems and methods for dynamically sizing, structuring and operating advertisements that include a variety of content, including interaction prompts and other elements, which enable an engagement-based revenue generation model. According to one embodiment, a computer implemented method comprises storing advertising content, serving an XML file from an advertising server to an advertisement manager in order to control a player on a user computer, dynamically generating the advertisement through the player based on directions from the advertisement manager and the stored content, and tracking and reporting a user'"'"'s engagement with the advertisement in order to determine compensation for the publisher.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically configuring an advertisement for display on a computer of a user, the computer being connected to a computer network, comprising the steps of:

allowing an application running on the computer to make an application request for the advertisement based on a set of advertisement information over the computer network;

requesting from the computer network a particular type of advertisement based on the application request and the set of advertisement information;

receiving a metadata file from the computer network, the metadata file defining a set of available media assets corresponding to the particular type of advertisement and instructions for creating the advertisement from the set of available media assets, the metadata file being based on the set of advertisement information and a set of advertising server data;

selecting one or more media assets from the set of available media assets based on the metadata file using a processor of the computer;

downloading from the computer network the one or more media assets to the computer;

configuring with the processor the one or more media assets to use in the advertisement based on the set of advertisement information, the one or more media assets including a graphical warning;

displaying the graphical warning with the processor in response to an interaction by the user with the advertisement, the graphical warning informing the user that performing an action within a period of time will stop deployment of an additional advertisement asset;

dismissing the graphical warning with the processor and not displaying the additional advertisement asset if the user performs the action within the period of time; and

displaying the additional advertisement asset with the processor if the user does not perform the action within the period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement information includes an age of the user and a gender of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement information includes a type of advertisement requested by the application and a type of advertisement allowed by the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement information includes a set of instructions for displaying the advertisement to the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement information includes a set of instructions for closing the graphical warning if the user stops interacting with the advertisement before expiration of the graphical warning.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement information includes a callback that informs the application that the advertisement has been shown or is being shown.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement information includes a size and shape of the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of tracking a number of times that the additional asset is displayed in response to the further interaction by the user with the advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertising server data includes a set of information on advertisements that make more money for an advertiser.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertising server data includes a set of information for delivering over the computer network a total number of a particular type of advertisement.

11. The method of claim 1, the metadata file further defining a set of engagement data for the advertisement to be collected, further comprising the step of communicating the set of engagement data from the application over the computer network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of tracking a number of interactions by the user with the advertisement and tracking a degree of engagement by the user with the advertisement.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of configuring the one or more media assets to use in the advertisement is further based on an action being performed by the application.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the action is an amount of video played by the application.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of configuring the one or more media assets to use in the advertisement is further based on a time of day.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of configuring the one or more media assets includes the steps of:

placing a media asset from the one or more media assets within the advertisement;

shaping the media asset to fit a shape within the advertisement; and

sizing the media asset to fit within the shape.

17. A computer system including a storage medium having instructions stored thereon for processing data information, the instructions enabling a processing device in the computer system to perform the operation of dynamically configuring an advertisement for display on a computer of a user, the computer being connected to a network including an advertisement server and a media asset server, the instructions comprising:

an application programming interface for interfacing with an application running on the computer, the application programming interface enabling the application to make an application request over the network to the system for the advertisement and to pass on a set of targeting data to the advertising manager;

an advertisement requestor for making an advertisement request to the advertisement server based on the application request and the set of targeting data;

an advertisement configuror for receiving a metadata file from the advertisement server in response to the advertisement request, selecting a set of media assets to deploy within the advertisement based on the metadata file, downloading over the network the set of media assets from the media asset server, and configuring the set of media assets for the advertisement, the set of media assets including, a graphical warning; and

an advertisement manager displaying the graphical warning in response to an interaction by the user with the advertisement, wherein the graphical warning informs the user that performing an action within a period of time will stop deployment of an additional advertisement asset, the advertisement manager dismissing the graphical warning and not displaying the additional advertisement asset if the user performs the action within the period of time, and the advertisement manager displaying the additional advertisement asset if the user does not perform the action with the period of time.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the set of targeting data includes a set of user information, a set of advertisement information, and a set of space information.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the advertisement configuror configures the set of media assets for the advertisement based on the set of space information.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the metadata file defines a set of available media assets on the media asset server that correspond to the advertisement request and a set of assembly instructions for creating the advertisement from the set of available media assets, and wherein the metadata file is based on the set of targeting data and a set of advertising server data.