Mobile monetization

• US 8,521,832 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2006
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jiang, Zhaowei Charlie, Trout, Robert Carter, Whittaker, Thomas Edward, Wang, Cynthia Chichia, Beattie, Russell Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZUNIGA ABAD, JACKIE
• Application Number:
  US11/538,780
• Time in Patent Office: 2,519 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 705/1
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards facilitating monetization of mobile devices. A click action server determines click actions that are to be sent to a client device based on one or more factors. The click actions are sent to the client device as links. An action handler receives requests indicating a selected action, and facilitates the performance of the action.

Claims

1. A method of employing a processor to enable actions for managing different types of click actions for a client device, the actions comprising:

sending an advertisement to the client device;

receiving a response to the advertisement from the user;

in response to receiving the response to the advertisement;

retrieving data associated with a current context for a location factor and a time constraint for the client device;

determining a set of at least one of a plurality of different types of click actions to be provided to the client device, based on the retrieved data associated with the current context for the location factor, and the time constraint for the client device and a magnitude of a value that corresponds to a type for each click action;

sending a set of at least one link to the client device for display separate from the received advertisement and without having the set of at least one link displayed in a page, wherein each of the set of at least one link corresponding to a click action of the determined set of at least one type of click action;

receiving a request from the client device based on a selection of at least one link, the request including a specification of at least one click action of the set of at least one type of click action that corresponds to the selected link; and

performing the at least one specified click action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of at least one type of click action is performed in response to receiving a request from the client device indicating that an advertisement has been selected.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of at least one type of click action comprises determining a value for each of a first type of click action and a second type of click action, and selectively including the first type of click action based on the values for each of the first type of click action and the second type of click action.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of at least one type of click action comprises determining a value for each of a first type of click action and a second type of click action based on data associated with the client device, and selectively including the first type of click action based on the values for each of the first type of click action and the second type of click action.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing to an advertiser a mechanism for facilitating communication with the client device of at least one item selected from a group consisting of a telephone call, an SMS message, or an email message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing to an advertiser a mechanism for specifying criteria for determining the set of at least one type of click action.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of at least one type of click action includes at least one type of click action selected from the group consisting of initiating a telephone call, sending a message, and sending an email.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of at least one type of click action includes at least one type of click action selected from the group consisting of performing a search, retrieving directions, purchasing an item, and storing information associated with a user account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of at least one type of click action includes sending a message to the client device, the message including advertiser information, and wherein performing the at least one click action comprises sending the message to the client device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the message is an SMS message or an email.

11. A system for managing communications with a client device, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, including;

sending an advertisement to the client device;

receiving a response to the advertisement from the user;

in response to receiving the response to the advertisement;

determining a set of at least one of a plurality of different types of click actions based on a current context for a location factor, and a time constraint for the client device and a magnitude of a value that corresponds to a type for each click action;

sending a set of links for display separate from the received advertisement and without having the set of at least one link displayed in a page, each link representative of a click action of the determined set of at least one type of click action to the client device;

receiving a request from the client device based on a selection of at least one link, wherein the request includes a selection of at least one click action of the set of at least one type of click action that corresponds to the selected link from the client device; and

performing the selected at least one click action.

12. The system of claim 11, the actions further comprising determining a value corresponding to each of a plurality of types of click actions, and wherein the set of at least one type of click action is selected from the plurality of different types of click actions based on the determined values.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein determining the set of at least one type of click action is based on at least one constraint associated with at least one of the plurality of different types of click actions.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a click manager that performs click actions in response to click action selections received from the client device.

15. A non-transitory processor readable storage medium of executable instructions that enable actions by a processor for facilitating a communication with a user of a mobile device, the actions comprising:

sending an advertisement to the client device;

receiving a response to the advertisement from the user;

in response to receiving the response to the advertisement;

providing a mechanism for a third party to specify a set of different types of click actions to provide to the user;

determining, based on a current context for a location factor, and a time constraint for the mobile device and a magnitude of a value that corresponds to a type for each click action, a subset of the set of different types of click actions, the subset including at least one type of click action of the set of different types of click actions;

sending a click action for display separate from the received advertisement and without having the set of at least one link displayed in a page and corresponding to each of the subset of the determined set of different types of click actions to the user;

receiving from the user at least one click action that corresponds to at least one of the subset of click action types; and

performing the corresponding at least one click action.

16. The non-transitory processor readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the third party is an advertiser.

17. The non-transitory processor readable storage media of claim 15, wherein determining the subset of the set of different types of click actions is based on a monetization value of each type of click action of the set of different types of click actions.

18. The non-transitory processor readable storage media of claim 15, wherein determining the subset of the set of different types of click actions comprises determining a value for each of a first type of click action and a second type of click action, and selectively including the first type of click action based on the values for each of the first type of click action and the second type of click action.

19. A system for facilitating a communication with a user of a mobile device, comprising at least one server having a processor, the at least one server performing the actions of claim 15.