Delivering contextual advertising to a vehicle

• US 8,751,293 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2009
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hall, Martin, Khan, Ali, McNulty, Mark, Xu, Zhangwei
• Primary Examiner(s): Lastra, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/466,117
• Publication Number:
  US 20100293033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,853 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for delivering contextual advertising to a vehicle. An example system may include a profiler module executed by an onboard computing device of the vehicle, and configured to aggregate vehicle event data from a plurality of vehicle-based event sources, and to develop user profile data based on the vehicle event data. A communication agent may also be executed by the onboard computing device, and configured to transmit the user profile data to an advertising service executed on an advertising server via a communication network. The communication agent may also be configured to retrieve an advertisement from the advertising service. The advertisement may be selected based on content of the user profile data. The system may also include an interface module executed by the onboard computing device, and configured to present the advertisement via a display, and/or speaker associated with the onboard computing device.

Claims

1. A system for presenting contextual advertising to a user of a vehicle, comprising:

a computing device onboard the vehicle;

a profiler module executed within the onboard computing device, the profiler module configured to receive a travel path of the vehicle and to aggregate vehicle event data from a plurality of vehicle-based event sources, and further configured to develop user profile data by inferring a plurality of behaviors of the user from the vehicle event data, and to store the behaviors in a behavior store external to the vehicle;

a communication agent executed within the onboard computing device and configured to transmit the user profile data, via a communications network, to an advertising service executed on an advertising server and to retrieve an advertisement from the advertising server, the advertisement being selected based on the travel path together with the behaviors of the user stored in the behavior store; and

an interface module executed within the onboard computing device and configured to present the advertisement via a display or speaker in the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is a first computing device, the system, further comprising:

a second computing device external to the vehicle; and

a pattern recognition module executed within the second computing device and configured to recognize a user behavior pattern based on the behaviors stored in the behavior store;

an ad profiler engine executed within the second computing device and configured to select the advertisement based on the recognized user behavior pattern.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a consumption feedback module executed within the second computing device and configured to verify an effectiveness of the advertisement by analyzing behavior patterns of the user via vehicle event data and/or consumption data from an advertiser, in order to determine whether the advertisement was consumed by the user; and

a pattern store external to the vehicle, configured to store the user behavior pattern, and further configured to store the user behavior pattern as a confirmed user behavior pattern after the effectiveness of the advertisement is verified by the consumption feedback module;

wherein the ad profiler engine is further configured to subsequently select a second advertisement based on the recognized user behavior pattern after the confirmed user behavior pattern is stored in the pattern store.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-based event sources include one or more vehicle sensors, and the vehicle event data includes vehicle diagnostic data detected by the one or more vehicle sensors.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-based event sources include a global positioning satellite (GPS) enabled navigation subsystem, and the vehicle event data includes vehicle usage data indicating a path traveled by the vehicle over time as sensed by the navigation subsystem.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-based event sources include the communication agent, and wherein the vehicle event data includes communication network data indicating communications between the communication agent and one or more vehicle services via the communication network, the one or more vehicle services executed by a remote server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-based event data includes driver setting data of the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-based event sources include a vehicle entertainment system, and the vehicle event data includes entertainment system usage data.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the advertisement is a coupon, and further comprising:

a consumption feedback module executed within the second computing device and configured to verify an effectiveness of the coupon by analyzing behavior patterns of the user via vehicle event data and/or consumption data from an advertiser, to determine whether the coupon was consumed by the user.

10. A method for presenting contextual advertising to a user of a vehicle, comprising:

in an onboard computing device of the vehicle, receiving a travel path of the vehicle and aggregating vehicle event data from a plurality of vehicle-based events;

developing user profile data in the onboard computing device by inferring a plurality of behaviors of the user from the vehicle event data;

storing the behaviors of the user in a behavior store external to the vehicle;

transmitting the user profile data to an advertising service executed on an advertising server via a communication network;

retrieving an advertisement from the advertising service, the advertisement being selected based on the travel path together with the inferred behaviors of the user stored in the behavior store; and

presenting the advertisement via the onboard computing device.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the computing device is a first computing device, the method further comprising:

in a second computing device external to the vehicle, recognizing a user behavior pattern based on the behaviors stored in the behavior store;

wherein the advertisement is further selected based on the recognized user behavior pattern.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle event data includes one or both of vehicle diagnostic data detected by one or more vehicle sensors, and driver setting data of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle event data includes vehicle usage data indicating a path traveled by the vehicle over time as sensed by a global positioning satellite (GPS) enabled navigation subsystem of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle event data includes communication network data indicating communications between a communication agent and one or more vehicle services executed by a remote server, via the communication network, the vehicle services including one or more of an email service, a calendar service, a map service, and a contacts service.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle event data includes entertainment system usage data.

16. A method for providing contextual advertising to a user of a vehicle, comprising:

at an advertising service executed on an advertising server, receiving user profile data based on vehicle event data aggregated by an onboard computing device of the vehicle, the user profile data including a plurality of behaviors of the user inferred from the vehicle event data and stored in a behavior store external to the vehicle;

at the advertising service executed on the advertising server, recognizing a user behavior pattern based on behaviors of the user stored in the behavior store;

storing the recognized behavior pattern in a pattern store external to the vehicle;

selecting an advertisement based on a travel path of the vehicle, and further based on the recognized patterns stored in the pattern store; and

transmitting the advertisement to the onboard computing device of the vehicle for display.

17. The method of claim 16

wherein the advertisement includes a coupon for use near the vehicle location or along a travel path of the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

verifying an effectiveness of the coupon by analyzing behavior patterns of the user via vehicle event data and/or consumption data from an advertiser, to determine whether the coupon was consumed by the user; and

selecting and transmitting a second advertisement to the vehicle, the second advertisement being selected based on content of the user profile data, and further based on the effectiveness of the coupon being verified.