System and method of selecting advertising
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of displaying information to users comprising:
- receiving, via a network, a bid from each bidder among a plurality of bidders, where a bid comprises content to be displayed to a user, a price to be paid by the bidder when the content is accepted by a user, and a search term;
designating a bid among the plurality of the bids;
receiving, via a network, a request for information from a user and a search term;
selecting, with a processor, a bid based on a comparison of the request'"'"'s search term with the bid'"'"'s search term, and further based on a quality component and a price component, wherein the quality component is based on an estimate of the user'"'"'s interest in the bid'"'"'s content, wherein the price component of the bids that are not designated is based on the bid'"'"'s price, and wherein the price component of the designated bid is based on the highest price associated with the plurality of bids; and
displaying, on an electronic display, the selected bid'"'"'s content to a user.
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Abstract
A system and method is provided that uses a processor to rank advertisements based on their likely appeal to users and the price that will be charged for the advertisement. In one aspect, and advertiser may pay a fee in order to have its advertisement considered to be the most expensive in terms of price even though the advertiser is actually paying less. The fee may also be paid in connection with a transferable option, whereby the advertiser may have the right but not the obligation to have it advertisement displayed at the price.
11 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of displaying information to users comprising:
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receiving, via a network, a bid from each bidder among a plurality of bidders, where a bid comprises content to be displayed to a user, a price to be paid by the bidder when the content is accepted by a user, and a search term; designating a bid among the plurality of the bids; receiving, via a network, a request for information from a user and a search term; selecting, with a processor, a bid based on a comparison of the request'"'"'s search term with the bid'"'"'s search term, and further based on a quality component and a price component, wherein the quality component is based on an estimate of the user'"'"'s interest in the bid'"'"'s content, wherein the price component of the bids that are not designated is based on the bid'"'"'s price, and wherein the price component of the designated bid is based on the highest price associated with the plurality of bids; and displaying, on an electronic display, the selected bid'"'"'s content to a user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of displaying information to users comprising:
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receiving, from a first user, an identification of a first keyword/period pair, where a keyword/period pair comprises an association between a search term and a time range; receiving, from the first user, first content associated with the search term of the first keyword/period pair and a first price to be paid if the content is selected by another user when displayed to the user; receiving, from a second user, an identification of a second keyword/period pair, where the search term of the second keyword/period pair corresponds with the search term of the first keyword/period pair, and where the time range of the second keyword/period pair overlaps with the time range of the first keyword/period pair; receiving, from the second user, second content associated with the search term of the second keyword/period pair and a second price to be paid if the content is selected by another user when displayed to the user; receiving from a third user, a request for information, the request being associated with the search term of the first keyword/period pair and the request occurring during said overlap; determining, with a processor, a first ranking value for the first content based on (a) information associated with the first content other than the first and second price, (b) the first price when the first price is higher than the second price, and (c) another price higher than the second price when the second price is higher than the first price; determining, with a processor, a second ranking value for the second content based on (a) information associated with the second content other than the first and second price and (b) the second price; selecting, with a processor, the first content if the first ranking value is higher than the second ranking value; selecting, with a processor, the second content if the second ranking value is higher than the first ranking value; and displaying the selected content to the third user. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of advertisements associated with a search term and a selection price for each advertisement where the selection price is paid after the advertisement is provided to a user; associating an advertisement with a designated time range and an additional payment; receiving a query from a user that includes the search term; determining, with a processor and for each advertisement, a priority value based on a priority function whereby the function returns (a) when the selection prices of the advertisements are equal and the query is received at a time outside of the designated time range, the advertisement with the greatest estimated likelihood of being selected by the user, (b) when the advertisements have an equal estimated likelihood of being selected by the user and the query is received outside of the designated time range, the advertisement with the highest selection price and (c) when the advertisements have an equal estimated likelihood of being selected by the user and the query is received at a time within the designated time range, the advertisement associated with the additional payment; and providing the advertisement with the highest priority value to the user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method comprising:
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receiving a set of advertisements associated with a search term and a selection price for each advertisement where the selection price is paid when the advertisement is accepted by a user; receiving an identification of an option from a first user, where an option is associated with the search term and a designated time range; receiving a query from a second user that includes the search term; determining, with a processor and for each advertisement, a priority value based on a priority function such that (a) the priority value increases with increasing estimated likelihood that the advertisement will be selected by the second user, and (b) the priority value of an advertisement associated with the first user is greater than another advertisement when the option is applicable and such estimated likelihood of the two advertisements are the same; and displaying the advertisement with the highest priority value more prominently than the other advertisements among the set of advertisements; wherein the option is applicable when the first user exercised the option, the query was received during the designated time range, and one of the advertisements is associated with the first user. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of advertisements, each advertisement being associated with a user, a search term and a selection price where the selection price is paid when the advertisement is displayed to and selected by a user; receiving a highest-bidder designation, where a highest-bidder designation associates a user with a search term; receiving, from a requesting user, a request for information related to a search term; identifying, with a processor, a plurality of advertisements based on the search term of the request; designating, with a processor, an advertisement as the highest-bidder advertisement when the advertisement'"'"'s search term and advertisement'"'"'s user corresponds with the highest-bidder designation'"'"'s associated search term and user; determining, with a processor, a ranking value for each identified advertisement, the ranking value of each advertisement being based on the following components;
(a) the estimated likelihood that the advertisement will be selected by the requesting user, (b) the selection price of the advertisement unless the advertisement is designated as the highest-bidder advertisement, (c) the selection price of the identified advertisement with the highest selection price, if the advertisement is designated as the highest-bidder advertisement, and (d) the number of highest-bidder designations associated with the advertisement'"'"'s associated user; anddisplaying the identified advertisement with the highest ranking value more prominently than the other identified advertisements. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A method comprising:
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providing, via a network, a plurality of bids where a bid comprises content to be displayed to a user, a price to be paid when the content is accepted by a user, and a search term; providing a designation of a bid; receiving an indication of payments to be made, the payment being based on the price and the display of a provided bid'"'"'s content to users, wherein content was selected for display by a processor, and displaying the indication on an electronic display; wherein the processor selected the content based on a comparison of the provided bids'"'"' content and price relative to the content and price of other bids that were associated from other users and associated with the same search term, where the processor used a provided bid'"'"'s price for comparison if the provided bid was not designated, and where the processor uses the highest price of the other bids as the provided bid'"'"'s price if the provided bid was designated. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A system comprising:
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a processor; instructions operable by the processor; a user input device for providing data to the processor; a display displaying data processed by the processor in accordance with the instructions; a medium storing the instructions; and an electronic memory storing data accessed by the processor; the instructions comprising; receiving, via a network, a bid from each bidder among a plurality of bidders, where a bid comprises content to be displayed to a user, a price to be paid by the bidder when the content is accepted by a user, and a search term; designating a bid among the plurality of the bids; receiving, via a network, a request for information from a user, and a search term; selecting, with a processor, a bid based on a comparison of the request'"'"'s search term with the bid'"'"'s search term, and further based on a quality component and a price component, wherein the quality component is based on an estimate of the user'"'"'s interest in the bid'"'"'s content, wherein the price component of the bids that are not designated is based on the bid'"'"'s price, and wherein the price component of the designated bid is based on the highest price associated with the plurality of bids; and providing, over the network, the selected bid content to a user. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A system comprising:
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a first computer at a first node of a network; the first computer having access to instructions operable by the first computer, a set of advertisements and likelihood data related to the likelihood of a user being interested in the advertisements, each advertisement being associated with a search term and a price to be paid after the advertisement is provided to a user, and each advertisement being further associated with an advertiser; a client device at a second node of the network different from the first node, the client device comprising a user input device, an electronic display, a processor and instructions operable by the processor; the instructions of the first computer comprising; receiving a designation of an advertiser and a time range; receiving a query from a user that includes a search term; identifying a plurality of advertisements associated with the query'"'"'s search term; determining whether an advertisement is a highest-bidder advertisement, where an advertisement is a highest-bidder advertisement when it associated with the designated advertiser and the query is received during the designated time frame; determining, for each identified advertisement, a ranking value based on (a) the likelihood data, (b) the price of the advertisement when the advertisement is not a highest-bidder advertisement, and (c) the highest price associated with the other identified advertisements when the advertisement is the highest-bidder advertisement; and providing an advertisement to the client device based on the ranking value; the instructions of the client device comprising; transmitting the query to the first computer; and displaying, on the electronic display, the advertisement provided by the first computer. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A computer-usable medium including a program executable by a processor comprising:
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computer code that receives, via a network, a bid from each bidder among a plurality of bidders, where a bid comprises content to be displayed to a user, a price to be paid by the bidder when the content is accepted by a user, and a search term; computer code that designates a bid among the plurality of the bids; computer code that receives, via a network, a request for information from a user and a search term; computer code that selects, with a processor, a bid based on a comparison of the request'"'"'s search term with the bid'"'"'s search term, and further based on a quality component and a price component, wherein the quality component is based on an estimate of the user'"'"'s interest in the bid'"'"'s content, wherein the price component of the bids that are not designated is based on the bid'"'"'s price, and wherein the price component of the designated bid is based on the highest price associated with the plurality of bids; and computer code that displays, on an electronic display, the selected bid'"'"'s content to a user.
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Specification