Techniques for advertising in electronic commerce

• US 8,849,693 B1
• Filed: 07/12/1999
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Koyfman, Lazar, Purimetla, Bhaskar, Chang, Jenny Jiang, Bregman, Joshua Clark
• Primary Examiner(s): Lastra, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US09/352,418
• Time in Patent Office: 5,559 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 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 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for performing online data queries and purchasing advertisements associated with business listings. The system for performing online data queries is a distributed computer system with a plurality of server nodes each fully redundant and capable of processing a user query request. Each server node includes a data query cache and other caches that may be used in performing data queries. The data query, as well as request allocation, is performed in accordance with an adaptive partitioning technique with a bias towards an initial partitioning scheme. Generic objects are created and used to represent business listings upon which the user may perform queries. Various data processing and integration techniques are included which enhance data queries. An update technique is used for synchronizing data updates as needed in updating the plurality of server nodes. A multi-media data transfer technique is used to transfer non-text or multi-media data between various components of the online query tool. Optimizations for searching, such as the common term optimization, are included for those commonly performed data queries. Also disclosed is a system for targeting advertisements that are displayed to a user of the system. Advertisements may also be purchased using this system. Advertisements are linked to the business listings that may result from a user query for particular types of businesses or listings.

Claims

1. A method for advertising in electronic commerce comprising:

creating an electronic advertisement while connected to a computer network, wherein creating the electronic advertisement comprises;

accessing a server included in said computer network;

selecting at least one advertising service from a plurality of advertising services provided in a menu of advertising services, each of said advertising services including;

an advertisement format specific to the advertising service,

an associated display area in which the advertising service is to be presented, the associated display area corresponding to one of a plurality of display areas, where the plurality of display areas include;

a priority placement area, and

at least one other placement area,

an associated advertiser priority indicating a particular order for presenting the advertising service relative to other advertising services, and

an associated cost;

establishing the advertisement format as including presentation information specific to the advertising service such that the plurality of advertising services collectively include a plurality of different advertisement formats; and

paying at least a portion of the associated cost via said server while connected to said computer network.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

selecting a business phone number; and

associating said electronic advertisement with said business phone number.

3. The method of claim 1, further including:

providing user authorization to access said electronic advertisement, said user authorization requiring entry of predetermined data identifying an advertiser associated with said electronic advertisement; and

establishing a connection to said server via an initiated communication from said advertiser, said initiated communication including said predetermined data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating an electronic advertisement includes using on-line advertisement creation software accessed through a first network site and wherein said paying for advertising services is performed through a second network site, said first and second network sites being connected to said computer network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer network is the Internet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer network is an intranet.

7. The method of claim 1, further including:

generating an electronic order associated with said advertising services purchased; and

obtaining payment authorization for said electronic order.

8. The method of claim 7, further including:

publishing said electronic advertisement; and

capturing payment for said electronic order.

9. The method of claim 7 further including:

entering credit card information on-line, said credit card information being used to pay for said advertising services;

interacting with a payment server to obtain said payment authorization; and

interacting with said payment server to capture said payment for said electronic order.

10. The method of claim 9 further including:

transmitting said credit card information encrypted using a first key from a browser to a secure webserver,

transmitting said credit card information from said secure webserver to other software; and

transmitting said credit card information encrypted using a second key to said payment server.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said credit card information is stored in a database external to said other software.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing the presentation information as including at least one table identifying the plurality of advertising services and a presentation identifier associated with each of the advertising services.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising establishing the presentation identifier as including at least one of an iconic image associated with one of the advertising services and a link to a website associated with the one of the advertising services.

14. A method of on-line advertising in electronic commerce comprising:

selecting a business listing in accordance with a unique identifier uniquely identifying the business listing;

selecting an advertising service from a menu displaying a plurality of available advertising services, each of said advertising services including;

an advertisement format specific to the advertising service,

an associated display area in which the advertising service is to be presented, the associated display area corresponding to one of a plurality of display areas, where the plurality of display areas include;

a priority placement area, and

at least one other placement area, and

an associated advertiser priority indicating a particular order for presenting the advertising service relative to other advertising services;

establishing the advertisement format as including presentation information specific to the advertising service such that the plurality of advertising services collectively include a plurality of different advertisement formats; and

selecting a payment plan corresponding to said selected advertising service;

creating an advertisement corresponding to said selected advertising service;

generating an order for said selected advertising service and said advertisement;

obtaining payment authorization;

publishing the advertisement in said display area associated with said selected advertising service such that said advertisement is accessible via a server of a computer network, said advertisement presented in a particular order relative to other advertisements based on said advertiser priority associated with said selected advertising service; and

generating charges for said selected advertising service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said charges are electronically and automatically generated on a periodic basis in accordance with said payment plan.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said periodic basis is monthly.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said periodic basis is annually.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said periodic basis is quarterly.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein publishing the advertisement includes:

performing update procedures to synchronize two or more data stores of advertising information that is displayed to the user electronically.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein publishing the advertisement includes:

displaying the advertisement in response to a data query of businesses.

21. The method of claim 19, said update procedures including:

determining a number of update transactions associated with one of said data stores;

comparing said number with at least one threshold value;

updating a portion of said data stores when said number is less than said at least one threshold value; and

rebuilding an entire portion of said data stores when said number is one of greater than and equal to said threshold value.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein said business listing is selected in accordance with a unique identifier that is a telephone number.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein said obtaining payment authorization includes;

obtaining payment information electronically;

verifying said payment information electronically; and

storing said payment information in an external database, and wherein said payment information is encrypted in external electronic transmissions, non-payment information being stored in an internal database, said non-payment information including advertisement and product information.

24. An electronic commerce system for advertisement creation and purchasing comprising:

at least one computing device, including;

an order management component configured to manage electronic advertisement service orders;

an authentication and access control component configured to provide secure access to advertisements and business information;

a transaction management component configured to provide for automated payment transactions generated in accordance with a predetermined advertisement payment schedule;

a product and catalogue management component configured to manage advertising services presented to an advertiser and offer the advertiser a plurality of advertising services within a menu of advertising services, each of said advertising services including;

an advertisement format specific to the advertising service, the advertisement format including presentation information specific to the advertising service such that the plurality of advertising services collectively include a plurality of different advertisement formats,

an associated display area in which the advertising service is to be presented, the associated display area corresponding to one of a plurality of display areas, where the plurality of display areas include;

a priority placement area, and

at least one other placement area,

an associated advertiser priority indicating a particular order for presenting the advertising service relative to other advertising services;

such that the advertiser may select at least one of the offered advertising services to be associated with a particular business listing; and

a user and content management component configured to manage advertisement content and business listing selection activity associated with a particular advertiser; and

a payment server in communication with said at least one computing device, said payment server configured to post and verify charges electronically.

25. The system of claim 24 further including:

a database including business information, advertisement information, and transaction information; and

query template files used to perform queries of the database.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said at least one computing device further includes template HTML files configured to display data and retrieve data via a user connection in communication with said at least one computing device.

27. The system of claim 25 further including:

a static file repository that includes static file data communicated to an on-line user.

28. The system of claim 24 further including:

a secure webserver enabling the advertiser connected through a network to communicate with other components of the system.

29. The system of claim 24, wherein only said transaction management component communicates with said payment server.

30. The system of claim 24 wherein said user and content management component provides for creating advertisements on-line electronically.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said user and content management component uses templates allowing the advertiser to create an advertisement on-line.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein said product and catalogue management component further includes compatibility information indicative of compatibility of the advertising service with other advertising services, wherein said product and catalogue management component is configured to provide an instruction to the advertiser in response to the advertiser selecting a plurality of incompatible advertising services to be associated with the particular business listing, wherein the compatibility information is indicative of whether the advertising service is allowed to be purchased in combination with other advertising services.

33. The system of claim 24, wherein said product and catalogue management component further includes compatibility information indicative of compatibility of the advertising service with other advertising services, wherein said product and catalogue management component is configured to provide an instruction to the advertiser in response to the advertiser selecting a plurality of incompatible advertising services to be associated with the particular business listing, wherein the compatibility information is indicative of whether a plurality of the advertising services is allowed to be concurrently associated with the particular business listing.

34. The system of claim 24, wherein said product and catalogue management component further includes compatibility information indicative of compatibility of the advertising service with other advertising services, wherein said product and catalogue management component is configured to provide an instruction to the advertiser in response to the advertiser selecting a plurality of incompatible advertising services to be associated with the particular business listing, wherein the plurality of advertising services includes a first advertising service and a second advertising service, the compatibility information indicating a lack of compatibility between the first and second advertising services.

35. A system for on-line advertising in electronic commerce comprising:

means for selecting a business listing in accordance with a unique identifier uniquely identifying the business listing;

means for selecting an advertising service from a menu displaying a plurality of available advertising services, each of said advertising services including;

an advertisement format specific to the advertising service, the advertisement format including presentation information specific to the advertising service such that the plurality of advertising services collectively include a plurality of different advertisement formats,

an associated display area in which the advertising service is to be presented, the associated display area corresponding to one of a plurality of display areas, where the plurality of display areas include;

a priority placement area, and

at least one other placement area,

an associated advertiser priority indicating a particular order for presenting the advertising service relative to other advertising services;

means for selecting a payment plan;

means for creating an advertisement in accordance with a selected advertising service;

means for generating an order for said selected advertising service and said advertisement;

means for obtaining payment authorization;

means for publishing the advertisement in said display area associated with said selected advertising service, said advertisement presented in a particular order relative to other advertisements based on said advertiser priority associated with said selected advertising service; and

means for generating charges for said advertising services.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein said charges are electronically and automatically generated on a periodic basis in accordance with said payment plan.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for publishing the advertisement includes:

means for performing update procedures to synchronize two or more data stores of advertising information that is displayed to the user electronically.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein said means for obtaining payment authorization includes:

means for obtaining payment information electronically;

means for verifying said payment information electronically; and

means for storing said payment information in an external database, and wherein said payment information is encrypted in external electronic transmissions, non-payment information being stored in an internal database, said non-payment information including advertisement and product information.

39. A tangible computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed on a processor performs the following steps:

managing electronic advertisement service orders selected from a menu providing a plurality of advertisement services, each of said advertisement services including;

an advertisement format specific to the advertisement service,

an associated display area in which the advertising service is to be presented, the associated display area corresponding to one of a plurality of display areas, where the plurality of display areas include;

a priority placement area, and

at least one other placement area, and

an associated advertiser priority indicating a particular order for presenting the advertising service relative to other advertising services;

establishing the advertisement format as including presentation information specific to the advertising service such that the plurality of advertising services collectively include a plurality of different advertisement formats;

providing secure access to advertisements and business information;

providing automated payment transactions generated in accordance with a predetermined advertisement payment schedule;

managing advertising services presented to an advertiser in accordance with a particular business listing;

managing advertisement content and business listing selection activity associated with a particular advertiser;

posting and verifying charges electronically; and

publishing the advertisement in said display area associated with said selected advertising service, said advertisement presented in a particular order relative to other advertisements based on said advertiser priority associated with said selected advertising service.

40. The system of claim 39, the instructions further including instructions for:

providing a database including business information, advertisement information, and transaction information; and

performing queries of the database.

41. The system of claim 39, the instructions further including instructions for:

enabling the advertiser to securely connect through a network to communicate with other components of the system.

42. The system of claim 39, a first component tangibly embodying said machine executable instructions for providing automated payment transactions, a second component tangibly embodying said machine executable instructions for posting and verifying electronic charges electronically, the instructions further including instructions for allowing only the first component to communicate with the second component.

43. The system of claim 39, the instructions further including instructions for creating advertisements on-line electronically.