Selecting among advertisements competing for a slot associated with electronic content delivered over a network
First Claim
1. A method for determining which advertisements to include with electronic content delivered to users over a network, the method comprising the steps of:
- after accepting a first contract with a first advertiser, accepting a second contract with a second advertiser;
wherein delivery obligations associated with the second contract are such that fulfillment of the second contract would likely prevent delivery obligations associated with the first contract from being fulfilled;
storing data that indicates delivery criteria and delivery obligations for each of a plurality of contracts, wherein each contract is associated with an advertiser of a plurality of advertisers,wherein the plurality of contracts includes the first contract and the second contract;
wherein the plurality of advertisers includes the first advertiser and the second advertiser;
wherein each contract of the plurality of contracts is associated with a separate advertisement of a plurality of advertisements;
after the plurality of contracts have been formed, receiving, from a user, a request to provide over said network a piece of electronic content that includes a slot for an advertisement;
wherein the piece of electronic content has a subject;
wherein the subject of the piece of electronic content is an attribute of the slot that is included in the piece of electronic content;
in response to receiving the request;
reading said data to determine delivery criteria associated with the plurality of contracts;
comparing slot attributes of said slot in the requested electronic content with delivery criteria of said plurality of contracts to determine a subset of said plurality of advertisements which qualify for inclusion in said slot, wherein the subject of the piece of electronic content is one of the slot attributes compared with the delivery criteria,wherein both a first advertisement associated with the first contract and a second advertisement associated with the second contract qualify for inclusion in said slot,wherein the second contract is associated with a behindness value that is currently greater than a behindness value associated with the first contract,wherein the behindness value of each contract reflects how far behind a content provider is on satisfying the delivery obligations associated with each contract; and
from said subset of said plurality of advertisements, selecting said first advertisement to include in the slot based, at least in part, on the first contract having been formed before the second contract;
inserting said first advertisement into the slot to create a modified piece of electronic content;
delivering, as a response to the request, the modified piece of electronic content to the user;
wherein the steps of receiving, reading, comparing, selecting, inserting, and delivering are performed on one or more computing devices.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are provided for selecting among the advertisements that are competing for a slot based, at least in part, on an “schedule sequence” that is established for the advertisements. The schedule sequence may, for example, reflect the relative times at which a content provider incurred the delivery obligations associated with the advertisements. For the purpose of establishing the sequence, the date on which an advertisement order is placed may be considered to be the date on which the corresponding delivery obligations are incurred. After the sequence has been established, the position of competing advertisements within the schedule sequence is used as one of the factors for determining which competing ad to place in a slot, where ads nearer the beginning of the sequence (ads with earlier-incurred delivery obligations) are favored over ads that are nearer the end of the sequence (ads with later-incurred delivery obligations).
26 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for determining which advertisements to include with electronic content delivered to users over a network, the method comprising the steps of:
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after accepting a first contract with a first advertiser, accepting a second contract with a second advertiser; wherein delivery obligations associated with the second contract are such that fulfillment of the second contract would likely prevent delivery obligations associated with the first contract from being fulfilled; storing data that indicates delivery criteria and delivery obligations for each of a plurality of contracts, wherein each contract is associated with an advertiser of a plurality of advertisers, wherein the plurality of contracts includes the first contract and the second contract; wherein the plurality of advertisers includes the first advertiser and the second advertiser; wherein each contract of the plurality of contracts is associated with a separate advertisement of a plurality of advertisements; after the plurality of contracts have been formed, receiving, from a user, a request to provide over said network a piece of electronic content that includes a slot for an advertisement; wherein the piece of electronic content has a subject; wherein the subject of the piece of electronic content is an attribute of the slot that is included in the piece of electronic content; in response to receiving the request; reading said data to determine delivery criteria associated with the plurality of contracts; comparing slot attributes of said slot in the requested electronic content with delivery criteria of said plurality of contracts to determine a subset of said plurality of advertisements which qualify for inclusion in said slot, wherein the subject of the piece of electronic content is one of the slot attributes compared with the delivery criteria, wherein both a first advertisement associated with the first contract and a second advertisement associated with the second contract qualify for inclusion in said slot, wherein the second contract is associated with a behindness value that is currently greater than a behindness value associated with the first contract, wherein the behindness value of each contract reflects how far behind a content provider is on satisfying the delivery obligations associated with each contract; and from said subset of said plurality of advertisements, selecting said first advertisement to include in the slot based, at least in part, on the first contract having been formed before the second contract; inserting said first advertisement into the slot to create a modified piece of electronic content; delivering, as a response to the request, the modified piece of electronic content to the user; wherein the steps of receiving, reading, comparing, selecting, inserting, and delivering are performed on one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for determining which advertisements to include with electronic content delivered to users over a network, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:
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after accepting a first contract with a first advertiser, accepting a second contract with a second advertiser; wherein delivery obligations associated with the second contract are such that fulfillment of the second contract would likely prevent delivery obligations associated with the first contract from being fulfilled; storing data that indicates delivery criteria and delivery obligations for each of a plurality of contracts, wherein each contract is associated with an advertiser of a plurality of advertisers, wherein the plurality of contracts includes the first contract and the second contract; wherein the plurality of advertisers includes the first advertiser and the second advertiser; wherein each contract of the plurality of contracts is associated with a separate advertisement of a plurality of advertisements; after the plurality of contracts have been formed, receiving, from a user, a request to provide over said network a piece of electronic content that includes a slot for an advertisement; wherein the piece of electronic content has a subject; wherein the subject of the piece of electronic content is an attribute of the slot that is included in the piece of electronic content; in response to receiving the request; reading said data to determine delivery criteria associated with the plurality of contracts; comparing slot attributes of said slot in the requested electronic content with delivery criteria of said plurality of contracts to determine a subset of said plurality of advertisements which qualify for inclusion in said slot, wherein the subject of the piece of electronic content is one of the slot attributes compared with the delivery criteria, wherein both a first advertisement associated with the first contract and a second advertisement associated with the second contract qualify for inclusion in said slot, wherein the second contract is associated with a behindness value that is currently greater than a behindness value associated with the first contract, wherein the behindness value of each contract reflects how far behind a content provider is on satisfying the delivery obligations associated with each contract; and from said subset of said plurality of advertisements, selecting said first advertisement to include in the slot based, at least in part, on the first contract having been formed before the second contract; inserting said first advertisement into the slot to create a modified piece of electronic content; delivering, as a response to the request, the modified piece of electronic content to the user. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification