Fraud prevention and detection for online advertising

• US 8,719,396 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2005
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vibrant Media Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Vibrant Media Incorporated
• Inventors: Brindley, Richard, Doig, Toby
• Primary Examiner(s): Nawaz, Asad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waqas, Saad A
• Application Number:
  US11/295,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20060265493A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,073 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/26, 705/35, 705/10, 705/44, 705/40, 705/39, 705/75, 709/224, 709/217, 709/203, 709/219, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/E17.109, 707/E17.108, 707/E17.112, 715/854, 715/201, 715/205, 715/839, 715/745
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud

Abstract

A system and a method are disclosed for detecting and preventing fraud in online advertising environments. In one embodiment, the system and process include a publisher with a web page with which an advertisement set and a unique request identifier are sent to a user browser when the user requests the web page. The unique request identifier is unique, publisher specific, advertisement specific, for a single instance. A database keeps track of the unique request identifier so that when a user “clicks” on a link to access an advertiser'"'"'s web site, the unique request identifier associated with the advertisement can be checked against the unique request identifier in the database to determine whether the “click” was one that may be non-fraudulent or valid.

Claims

1. A method of reconciliation of a selection of an advertisement to determine whether the selection is valid, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, by a server, from a client a request to supplement content on a web page being viewed by a user, the request comprising a publisher identifier that identifies a publisher of a web site of the web page being viewed on the client and on which an advertisement is to be served;

(b) identifying, by the server, for a response to the request the advertisement and a unique advertisement identifier for the advertisement;

(c) generating, by the server, a unique advertisement view identifier and pairing the unique advertisement view identifier with the unique advertisement identifier to identify a single instance of serving the advertisement to the client;

(d) storing, by the server, to a database the unique advertisement view identifier and the unique advertisement identifier;

(e) transmitting, by the server, to the client the response comprising payload having executable code that includes a URL of a click handling page, the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier;

(f) receiving, by the server from the client, responsive to a pointer over event triggered by the client via a pointing device of the client moving a pointer over a link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier, a page call to the click handling page and a query string comprising the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier; and

(g) determining, by the server, that the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier received from the client match the unique advertisement view identifier and the unique advertisement identifier stored in the database that maintains a list of valid unique advertisement identifier and unique advertisement view identifier pairs issued within a predetermined rolling time period and that the link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier has not been previously served.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises receiving by the server, from the client a referral uniform resource locator (URL) to identify the URL address of the web page to which the link to the advertisement is to be served.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises retrieving the unique advertisement identifier from an advertisement database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises generating the unique advertisement view identifier for each unique web page and each unique advertisement identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises storing to the database a publisher identifier, a referral URL and the unique advertisement identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises storing to the database a publisher identifier and a hash of a referral URL.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises storing to the database a hash of the unique advertisement identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises transmitting to the client a payload of the response comprising executable code to direct a browser of the client to the URL of the click handling page.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises transmitting to the client a payload of the response comprising executable code that comprises a set of unique advertisement identifiers and corresponding unique advertisement view identifier pairs.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises transmitting to the client a payload of the response comprising identification of the advertisement to be displayed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises transmitting to the client a payload of the response comprising a hash of the unique advertisement view identifier instead of the unique advertisement view identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein step (f) further comprises receiving from the client the hash of the unique advertisement view identifier instead of the unique advertisement view identifier.

13. A method of reconciliation of a selection of an advertisement to determine whether the selection is valid, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, by a server, from a client a request to supplement content on a web page being viewed by a user, the request comprising a publisher identifier that identifies a publisher of a web site of the web page being viewed on the client and on which an advertisement is to be served;

(b) identifying, by the server, for a response to the request an advertisement and a unique advertisement identifier for the advertisement;

(c) generating, by the server, a unique advertisement view identifier and pairing the unique advertisement view identifier with the unique advertisement identifier to identify a single instance of serving the advertisement to the client;

(d) storing, by the server, to a database the unique advertisement view identifier and the unique advertisement identifier;

(e) transmitting, by the server, to the client the response comprising a payload having executable code that includes a URL of a click handling page, the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier;

(f) receiving, by the server from the client, responsive to a pointer over event triggered by the client via a pointing device of the client moving a pointer over a link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier, a page call to the click handling page and a query string comprising the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier; and

(g) determining, by the server, that the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier received from the client match the unique advertisement view identifier and the unique advertisement identifier stored in the database that maintains a list of valid unique advertisement identifier and unique advertisement view identifier pairs issued within a predetermined rolling time period; and

(h) determining, by the server, that the link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier has been previously served.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting, by the server, responsive to the determination, a command to close a window of the browser.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining, by the server, that the advertisement identifier and the advertisement view identifier pair received from the client are invalid.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing, by the server, to the database information comprising the invalid advertisement identifier.

17. A system of reconciliation of a selection of an advertisement to determine whether the selection is invalid, the system comprising:

a server configured to;

receive from a client a request to supplement content on a web page being viewed by a user, the request comprising a publisher identifier that identifies a publisher of a web site of the web page being viewed on the client and on which an advertisement is to be served;

identify for a response to the request the advertisement and a unique advertisement identifier for the advertisement;

generate a unique advertisement view identifier and pairing the unique advertisement view identifier with the unique advertisement identifier to identify a single instance of serving the advertisement to the client;

store to a database the unique advertisement view identifier and the unique advertisement identifier;

transmit to the client a response comprising a payload having executable code that includes a URL of a click handling page, the unique advertisement identifier and the unique advertisement view identifier;

receive from the client, responsive to a pointer over event triggered by the client via a pointing device of the client moving a pointer over a link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier, a page call to the click handling page and a query string comprising an advertisement identifier and an advertisement view identifier; and

determine that the advertisement identifier and the advertisement view identifier pair received from the client do not match the unique advertisement view identifier and the unique advertisement identifier pair stored in the database that maintains a list of valid unique advertisement identifier and unique advertisement view identifier pairs issued within a predetermined rolling time and that the link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier has been previously served.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the server is further configured to determine that the link to the advertisement corresponding to the unique advertisement identifier has been previously served.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the server is further configured to transmit, responsive to the determination, a command to close a window of the browser.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the server is further configured to determine that the advertisement identifier and the advertisement view identifier pair received from the client are invalid.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the server is further configured to store, responsive to the determination, to the database information comprising the invalid advertisement identifier.