Advertising with audio content

• US 8,626,588 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rajaram, Gokul
• Primary Examiner(s): Dagnew, Saba
• Application Number:
  US11/241,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078709A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,021 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/14, 705/26, 725/38, 235/376
• US Class Current: 705/14.69
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information

Abstract

The serving of advertisements with (e.g., on) audio documents may be improved in a number of ways. For example, a system may (a) accept information defining at least one ad spot associated with at least one instance of an audio document, (b) accept offers to have advertisements served in the ad spot(s), and (c) arbitrate among competing advertisements, using at least the offers, to determine at least one advertisement to be served in that ad spot(s). As another example, a system may (a) accept relevance information for an advertisement, (b) determine at least one audio document using the accepted relevance information, (c) present information about the audio document(s) to an advertiser associated with the advertisement, and (d) accept, from the advertiser, an offer to have its advertisement served with at least one of the audio document(s) accepted. As yet another example, a system may (a) accept relevance information for an audio document, (b) determine a plurality of advertisements relevant to the audio document using the relevance information and serving constraints of the advertisements, and (c) select at least one of the determined relevant advertisements to be served with the audio document. Examples of documents include radio programs, live or recorded musical works with lyrics, live or recorded dramatic works with dialog or a monolog, live or recorded talk shows, voice mail, segments of an audio conversation, etc.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) accepting, with an advertising system including at least one computer, information defining at least one ad spot associated with at least one instance of an audio document;

b) accepting, with the advertising system, offers to have advertisements served in the at least one ad spot;

c) arbitrating, with the advertising system, among competing advertisements, using at least the offers, to determine at least one advertisement to be served in that at least one ad spot;

d) transmitting, with the advertising system, the audio document for delivery to an end user client device; and

e) transmitting, with the advertising system, the at least one advertisement to be served in that at least one ad spot, for delivery to the end user client device,

wherein the act of arbitrating occurs after the act of transmitting the audio document has been initiated.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the audio document is a radio program.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the audio document includes a live Dr recorded musical work with lyrics.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the audio document includes a live or recorded dramatic work with dialog or a monolog.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the audio document includes a live or recorded talk show.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the audio document includes a voice mail.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the audio document is a segment of an audio conversation.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the act of transmitting the audio document includes transmitting, using the Internet protocol, the audio document to the end user device via one or more communications networks.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the act of arbitrating occurs after the act of transmitting the audio document has been completed and a play operation has been initiated on the audio document.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the offer is one of (A) a price per impression, and (B) a maximum price per impression.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

d) determining advertisements relevant to the audio document using serving constraints associated with the advertisements and relevance information associated with the document,

wherein the acts of accepting offers and arbitrating occur solely with respect to advertisements determined to be relevant to the document.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) receiving, with an advertising system including at least one computer, relevance information for an advertisement;

b) determining, with the advertising system, at least one audio document using the received relevance information;

c) generating, with the advertising system, information about the at least one audio document for presentation to an advertiser associated with the advertisement; and

d) receiving, with the advertising system, from the advertiser, an offer to have its advertisement served with the at least one audio document accepted by the advertiser.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 further comprising:

e) determining, with the advertising system, a score for the advertisement using at least the offer; and

f) determining, with the advertising system, for one of the at least one audio document, whether or not to serve the advertisement of the advertiser using the score.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the audio document is a radio procram.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the audio document includes a live or recorded musical work with lyrics.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the audio document includes a live or recorded dramatic work with dialog or a monolog.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the audio document includes a live or recorded talk show.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the audio document includes a voice mail.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the audio document is a segment of an audio conversation.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting, by the advertising system, the one or more advertisements to be served with the at least one audio document, using the Internet protocol, to an end user device via one or more communications networks.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the offer is one of (A) a price per impression, and (B) a maximum price per impression.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the relevance information accepted was provided by the advertiser.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22 wherein the relevance information includes at least one keyword provided as a serving constraint.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 22 wherein the relevance information includes at least one topic.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the relevance information received was determined by analyzing information associated with the advertisement.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein the relevance information includes at least one keyword.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein the relevance information includes at least one topic.

28. Apparatus comprising:

a) at least one processor;

b) an input device; and

c) at least one storage device storing a computer executable code which, when executed by the at least one processor, performs a method of

1) accepting information defining at least one ad spot associated with at least one instance of an audio document,

2) accepting offers to have advertisements served in the at least one ad spot,

3) arbitrating among competing advertisements, using at least the offers, to determine at least one advertisement to be served in that at least one ad spot,

4) transmitting the audio document for delivery to an end user client device, and

5) transmitting the at least one advertisement to be served in that at least one ad spot, for delivery to the end user client device,

wherein the act of arbitrating occurs after the act of transmitting the audio document has been initiated.

29. Apparatus comprising:

a) at least one processor;

b) an input device; and

c) at least one storage device storing a computer executable code which, when executed by the at least one processor, performs a method of

1) receiving relevance information for an advertisement,

2) determining at least one audio document using the accepted relevance information,

3) generating information about the at least one audio document for presentation to an advertiser associated with the advertisement, and

4) receiving, from the advertiser, an offer to have its advertisement served with the at least one audio document accepted by the advertiser.

30. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) accepting, with an advertising system including at least one computer, relevance information for an audio document;

b) determining, with the advertising system, a plurality of advertisements relevant to the audio document using the relevance information and serving constraints of the advertisements;

c) selecting, with the advertising system, at least one of the determined relevant advertisements to be served with the audio document;

d) transmitting, with the advertising system, the audio document for delivery to an end user client device; and

e) transmitting, with the advertising system, the selected at least one of the determined relevant advertisements for delivery to the end user client device,

wherein the act of selecting occurs after the act of transmitting the audio document has been completed and a play operation has been initiated on the audio document.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, wherein the act of selecting includes:

i) accepting offers to have advertisements served in the at least one ad spot, and

ii) arbitrating among competing advertisements, using at least the offers, to select at least one advertisement to be served in that at least one ad spot.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, wherein the audio document is or includes at least one of (A) a radio program, (B) a live or recorded musical work with lyrics, (C) a live or recorded dramatic work with dialog or a monolog, (D) a live or recorded talk show, (E) a voice mail, and (F′

) a segment of an audio conversation.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, wherein the audio document is transmitted, using the Internet protocol, to an end user device via one or more communications networks.

34. Apparatus comprising:

a) at least one processor;

b) an input device; and

c) at least one storage device storing a computer executable code which, when executed by the at least one processor, performs a method of

1) accepting relevance information for an audio document,

2) determining a plurality of advertisements relevant to the audio document using the relevance information and serving constraints of the advertisements,

3) selecting at least one of the determined relevant advertisements to be served with, the audio document,

4) transmitting the audio document for celivery to an end user client device, and

5) transmitting the selected at least one of the determined relevant advertisements for delivery to the end user client device,

wherein the act of selecting occurs after the act of transmitting the audio document has been completed and a play operation has been initiated on the audio document.