Subscriber data insertion into advertisement requests

• US 8,442,858 B1
• Filed: 07/21/2006
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Barnes, James D., Sharma, Sanjay K., Katzer, Robin D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Alvin L
• Application Number:
  US11/491,387
• Time in Patent Office: 2,489 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method is provided for subscriber data insertion into advertisement requests. The method includes receiving a request for advertising content for a subscriber from a publisher. The request contains a unique subscriber identifier associated with the subscriber. The method further includes obtaining carrier controlled subscriber data related to the subscriber based on the unique subscriber identifier. The method additionally includes inserting the carrier controlled subscriber data into the request.

Claims

1. A method for subscriber data insertion into advertisement requests, comprising:

receiving a request for advertising content for a subscriber by a subscriber data insertion unit, the request for advertising content received from a publisher server, wherein the request contains a unique subscriber identifier associated with the subscriber;

based on the unique subscriber identifier, obtaining carrier controlled subscriber data related to the subscriber; and

inserting the carrier controlled subscriber data into the request by the subscriber data insertion unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding the request to an ad server once the carrier controlled subscriber data is inserted, thereby enabling the ad server to return a selected advertisement to a mobile device of the subscriber, wherein the selected advertisement is selected based on the carrier controlled subscriber data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the request for advertising content is received from a publisher server that delivers publisher content to the mobile device of the subscriber.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the carrier controlled subscriber data in a data store inaccessible by the publisher server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein inserting the carrier controlled subscriber data into the request further comprises adding the carrier controlled subscriber data to the unique subscriber identifier in the request, wherein the request is an HTTP request.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting an advertisement to return in response to the request based on the unique subscriber identifier, the carrier controlled subscriber data inserted into the request, and one or more campaign rules.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying the publisher content and the selected advertisement in an advertising spot in the publisher content on the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 4, wherein the carrier controlled subscriber data includes at least some subscriber data that is unavailable to publishers.

8. A system for insertion of subscriber data, comprising:

a mobile device comprising an executable application operable to display an advertisement;

a publisher server that delivers publisher content to the mobile device in response to the request from the mobile device;

an ad server that selects the advertisement in response to an ad request generated by the publisher server, wherein the ad request includes a unique subscriber identifier, wherein the selection of the advertisement is based on carrier controlled subscriber data; and

a subscriber data insertion unit that inserts the carrier controlled subscriber data obtained based on the unique subscriber identifier into the ad request received from the publisher server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the ad server selects advertisements for delivery to the mobile device based on the carrier controlled subscriber data and one or more campaign rules.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising a data store that stores the carrier controlled subscriber data isolated from access by the publisher server, wherein the subscriber data insertion unit obtains the carrier controlled subscriber data from the data store.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the ad server stores a plurality of advertisements and delivers the advertisement for display by the mobile device in an advertising spot.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a gateway that inserts the unique subscriber identifier into the request.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the request is an HTTP request.

14. A subscriber data insertion unit, comprising:

a receive module that receives a request for an advertisement, wherein the request contains a unique subscriber identifier associated with a subscriber;

a subscriber data retrieval module that, based on the unique subscriber identifier, obtains carrier controlled subscriber data from a data source controlled by a carrier; and

an insertion module that inserts into the request the carrier controlled subscriber data based on the unique subscriber identifier.

15. The subscriber data insertion unit of claim 14, wherein the receive module receives the request from a publisher server.

16. The subscriber data insertion unit of claim 15, wherein the insertion module forwards the request to an ad server once the carrier controlled subscriber data is inserted into the request, thereby enabling the ad server to select an advertisement in response to the request based on the carrier controlled subscriber data, thereby further enabling the selected advertisement to be delivered to a mobile device of the subscriber.

17. The subscriber data insertion unit of claim 15, wherein the data source controlled by the carrier and the carrier controlled subscriber data are isolated from access by the publisher server.

18. The subscriber data insertion unit of claim 16, wherein the request is an HTTP request.