Crowd specific targeted advertising

• US 8,589,230 B1
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Bickerstaff, Ryan M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reagan, James A
• Application Number:
  US13/035,795
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/14.58, 340/425.5
• US Class Current: 705/14.58
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A method for placing targeted advertisement (TAD), including obtaining, from a location aware service provider, current locations of mobile devices used by consumers, wherein the current locations are determined within a pre-determined duration of current time, identifying a crowd comprising the consumers by comparing the current locations and a location of an advertisement presentation device to determine that the consumers are currently within a pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device, calculating, based on profiles of the consumers, a relevancy score of a TAD message with respect to the crowd using a pre-determined formula, and sending, within a pre-determined time of identifying the crowd and in response to identifying the relevancy score meeting a pre-determined criterion, the TAD message to the advertisement presentation device for presenting to the plurality of consumers.

Claims

1. A method for placing targeted advertisement (TAD), comprising:

obtaining, from a location aware service (LAS) provider, a plurality of current locations of a plurality of mobile devices used by a plurality of consumers, wherein the plurality of current locations are determined by the LAS provider within a pre-determined duration of current time;

identifying a crowd comprising the plurality of consumers by comparing, using a processor of a computer system, the plurality of current locations and a location of an advertisement presentation device to determine that the plurality of consumers are currently within a pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device;

logging the plurality of consumers in a TAD placement record for a TAD message, wherein the TAD placement record comprises a number of times that each of the plurality of consumers has been presented the TAD message;

identifying a pre-determined formula for calculating a relevancy score of the TAD message with respect to the crowd based on a plurality of profiles of the plurality of consumers;

adjusting, by the processor and based on the TAD placement record, the pre-determined formula by defining a contribution of each of the plurality of profiles to the relevancy score based on the number of times that each of the plurality of consumers has been presented the TAD message;

calculating, by the processor and in response to adjusting the pre-determined formula, the relevancy score of the TAD message with respect to the crowd using the pre-determined formula; and

sending, within a pre-determined time of identifying the crowd and in response to identifying the relevancy score meeting a pre-determined criterion, the TAD message to the advertisement presentation device for presenting to the plurality of consumers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of profiles comprises a plurality of attributes of a corresponding consumer of the plurality of consumers, the method further comprising:

receiving, from an advertiser of the TAD message, a plurality of weightings each representing relevancy of an attribute of the plurality of attributes with respect to the TAD message; and

generating the pre-determined formula based on the plurality of weightings.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

obtaining an advertisement presentation device profile comprising reception quality measures at a plurality of locations within the pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device; and

further adjusting the pre-determined formula based on the advertisement presentation device profile, wherein the contribution of the each of the plurality of profiles to the relevancy score is adjusted based on the advertisement presentation device profile according to a current location of the plurality of locations associated with a mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices used by the corresponding consumer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined criterion comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a first requirement for the relevancy score to exceeds a pre-determined threshold and a second requirement to maximize the relevancy score among a plurality of advertisement presentation device messages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the TAD message comprises a multimedia message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement presentation device comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a digital billboard and an audio-based public announcement system.

7. A system for placing targeted advertisement (TAD), comprising:

an advertisement presentation device configured to present a TAD message;

a plurality of mobile devices used by a plurality of consumers and configured to receive location aware service (LAS) from a LAS provider;

a TAD target locator executing on a processor and configured to;

obtain a plurality of current locations of the plurality of mobile devices from the LAS provider, wherein the plurality of current locations are determined by the LAS provider within a pre-determined duration of current time; and

identify a crowd comprising the plurality of consumers by comparing the plurality of current locations and a location of the advertisement presentation device to determine that the plurality of consumers are currently within a pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device;

a TAD agent executing on the processor and configured to;

log the plurality of consumers in a TAD placement record for a TAD message, wherein the TAD placement record comprises a number of times that each of the plurality of consumers has been presented the TAD message;

identify a pre-determined formula for calculating a relevancy score of the TAD message with respect to the crowd based on a plurality of profiles of the plurality of consumers;

adjust, based on the TAD placement record, the pre-determined formula by defining a contribution of each of the plurality of profiles to the relevancy score based on the number of times that each of the plurality of consumers has been presented the TAD message;

calculate, in response to adjusting the pre-determined formula, the relevancy score of the TAD message with respect to the crowd using the pre-determined formula; and

send, within a pre-determined time of identifying the crowd and in response to identifying the relevancy score meeting a pre-determined criterion, the TAD message to the advertisement presentation device for presenting to the plurality of consumers; and

a repository for storing the plurality of profiles and the TAD message.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of profiles comprises a plurality of attributes of a corresponding consumer of the plurality of consumers, the TAD agent further configured to:

receive, from an advertiser of the TAD message, a plurality of weightings each representing relevancy of an attribute of the plurality of attributes with respect to the TAD message; and

generate the pre-determined formula based on the plurality of weightings.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the TAD agent is further configured to:

obtain an advertisement presentation device profile comprising reception quality measures at a plurality of locations within the pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device; and

further adjust the pre-determined formula based on the advertisement presentation device profile, wherein the contribution of the each of the plurality of profiles to the relevancy score is adjusted based on the advertisement presentation device profile according to a current location of the plurality of locations associated with a mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices used by the corresponding consumer.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the pre-determined criterion comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a first requirement for the relevancy score to exceeds a pre-determined threshold and a second requirement to maximize the relevancy score among a plurality of advertisement presentation device messages.

11. The system of claim 7,

wherein the TAD message comprises a multimedia message, and

wherein the advertisement presentation device comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a digital billboard and a public announcement system.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for placing targeted advertisement (TAD) based on a current location of a consumer using a mobile device, that when executed, comprise functionality to:

obtain, from a location aware service (LAS) provider, a plurality of current locations of a plurality of mobile devices used by a plurality of consumers, wherein the plurality of current locations are determined by the LAS provider within a pre-determined duration of current time;

identify a crowd comprising the plurality of consumers by comparing, using a processor of a computer system, the plurality of current locations and a location of an advertisement presentation device to determine that the plurality of consumers are currently within a pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device;

log the plurality of consumers in a TAD placement record for a TAD message, wherein the TAD placement record comprises a number of times that each of the plurality of consumers has been presented the TAD message;

identify a pre-determined formula for calculating a relevancy score of the TAD message with respect to the crowd based on a plurality of profiles of the plurality of consumers;

adjust, based on the TAD placement record, the pre-determined formula by defining a contribution of each of the plurality of profiles to the relevancy score based on the number of times that each of the plurality of consumers has been presented the TAD message;

calculate, in response to adjusting the pre-determined formula, the relevancy score of the TAD message with respect to the crowd using the pre-determined formula; and

send, within a pre-determined time of identifying the crowd and in response to identifying the relevancy score meeting a pre-determined criterion, the TAD message to the advertisement presentation device for presenting to the plurality of consumers.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of profiles comprises a plurality of attributes of a corresponding consumer of the plurality of consumers, wherein the instructions, when executed, further comprise functionality to:

receive, from an advertiser of the TAD message, a plurality of weightings each representing relevancy of an attribute of the plurality of attributes with respect to the TAD message; and

generate the pre-determined formula based on the plurality of weightings.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, further comprise functionality to:

obtain an advertisement presentation device profile comprising reception quality measures at a plurality of locations within the pre-determined range of the advertisement presentation device; and

further adjust the pre-determined formula based on the advertisement presentation device profile, wherein the contribution of the each of the plurality of profiles to the relevancy score is adjusted based on the advertisement presentation device profile according to a current location of the plurality of locations associated with a mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices used by the corresponding consumer.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the pre-determined criterion comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a first requirement for the relevancy score to exceeds a pre-determined threshold and a second requirement to maximize the relevancy score among a plurality of advertisement presentation device messages.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the TAD message comprises a multimedia message.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the advertisement presentation device comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a digital billboard and an audio-based public announcement system.