Advertising methods and apparatus for use in a wireless communications system
First Claim
1. A method of operating a first mobile communications device to communicate advertisements, the method comprising:
- storing a plurality of advertisements and corresponding target audience constraints in said first mobile communications device;
receiving a signal from a second mobile communications device;
updating information, stored in said first mobile communications device, about a currently reachable target audience based on information included in the received signal;
determining, in said first mobile communications device, based on the updated information about a currently reachable target audience, if a target audience constraint corresponding to one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said target audience constraint being one of a device type constraint, a minimum number of devices in a transmission coverage area constraint, a gender constraint or an age constraint; and
transmitting, from the first mobile communication device, when it is determined that a target audience constraint corresponding to said one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said one of said plurality of advertisements.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus related to communicating advertisements and/or service announcements to devices in a communications system are described. In various embodiments mobile devices are used as mobile advertisement transmission platforms. Advertisements may be downloaded to the wireless communications device along with transmission constraints. Transmission of an advertisement is made when a transmission constraint, e.g., target audience constraint is satisfied. The wireless terminal may change its transmission frequency, coding rate and/or other transmission characteristics to satisfy a transmission constraint and/or optimize revenue. The mobile device reports advertisements transmissions to a network device, e.g., advertisement server and the owner of the device is compensated for the transmissions. Transmission constraints may involve a number of devices to be reached, the type of devices to be reached, and/or other constraints relating to the demographics of device users. Information may be obtained from peer discovery signals and used to determine if a constraint is satisfied.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of operating a first mobile communications device to communicate advertisements, the method comprising:
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storing a plurality of advertisements and corresponding target audience constraints in said first mobile communications device; receiving a signal from a second mobile communications device; updating information, stored in said first mobile communications device, about a currently reachable target audience based on information included in the received signal; determining, in said first mobile communications device, based on the updated information about a currently reachable target audience, if a target audience constraint corresponding to one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said target audience constraint being one of a device type constraint, a minimum number of devices in a transmission coverage area constraint, a gender constraint or an age constraint; and transmitting, from the first mobile communication device, when it is determined that a target audience constraint corresponding to said one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said one of said plurality of advertisements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A first mobile communications device comprising:
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means for storing a plurality of advertisements and corresponding target audience constraints in said mobile communications device; means for receiving a signal from a second mobile communications device; means for updating information, stored in said first mobile communications device, about a currently reachable target audience based on information included in the received signal; means for determining, based on the updated information about a currently reachable target audience, if a target audience constraint corresponding to one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said target audience constraint being one of a device type constraint, a minimum number of devices in a transmission coverage area constraint, a gender constraint or an age constraint; and means for transmitting, when it is determined that a target audience constraint corresponding to said one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said one of said plurality of advertisements. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A first mobile communications device comprising:
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at least one processor configured to; store a plurality of advertisements and corresponding target audience constraints in said first mobile communications device; receive a signal from a second mobile communications device; update information about a currently reachable target audience, stored in said first mobile communications device, based on information included in the received signal; determine, based on the updated information about a currently reachable target audience, if a target audience constraint corresponding to one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said target audience constraint being one of a device type constraint, a minimum number of devices in a transmission coverage area constraint, a gender constraint or an age constraint; and transmit from the first mobile communication device, when it is determined that a target audience constraint corresponding to said one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said one of said plurality of advertisements; and memory coupled to said at least one processor. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer program product for use in a first mobile communications device, comprising:
non-transitory computer readable medium comprising; code for causing at least one computer to store a plurality of advertisements and corresponding target audience constraints in said first mobile communications device; code for causing said at least one computer to receive a signal from a second mobile communications device; code for causing said at least one computer to update information about a currently reachable target audience, stored in said first mobile communications device, based on the information included in received signal; code for causing said at least one computer to determine, based on the updated information about a currently reachable target audience, if a target audience constraint corresponding to one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said target audience constraint being one of a device type constraint, a minimum number of devices in a transmission coverage area constraint, a gender constraint or an age constraint; and code for causing said at least one computer to transmit from the first mobile communication device, when it is determined that a target audience constraint corresponding to said one of said plurality of advertisements is satisfied, said one of said plurality of advertisements.
Specification