Systems and methods for providing timely advertising to portable devices

• US 8,924,252 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2013
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iqzone Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Iqzone Incorporated
• Inventors: Feadler, Matthew Aaron, Wolfinger, James Alex, Wagner, Sean Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Scott C
• Application Number:
  US13/748,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20130304580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.64
• US Class Current: 705/14.41
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/049 giving information to passengers inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for displaying advertisements on a portable device that utilizes an Activity-based operating system are described. The method includes receiving an indication that an Activity is being transitioned away from, and determining whether or not the Activity is finishing. Upon determining that the Activity is finishing, the method includes causing an advertisement display routine to be executed immediately, otherwise submitting the advertisement display routine into a processing queue to be executed subsequently. The advertisement display routine displays the advertisement only upon determining that the state of the Activity and the state of the portable device are characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.

Claims

1. A method of displaying an advertisement on a display screen of a communication device, the communication device including a processor and a memory including program code defining a function library and an application program, the application program including a plurality of activities associated with a plurality of display windows rendered by the display screen wherein ones of the activities transition between a foreground state and a stopped state prior to finishing execution, the memory further including an operating system providing an interface between the application program and at least the processor and the display screen, the processor performing the method by executing the program code, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of occurrence of an operating system event wherein the operating system event is associated with an activity termination routine of the operating system and is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor wherein the state transition indicates that the first activity is one of finishing execution and transitioning to the stopped state;

invoking, by the function library in response to the indication, an activity finishing routine of the operating system wherein the activity finishing routine is different from the activity termination routine and wherein the activity finishing routine is configured to interrogate at least a portion of the operating system and to determine a cause of the operating system event;

determining, based upon the cause of the operating system event, that the first activity is finishing execution and not transitioning to the stopped state; and

displaying, upon determining the first activity is finishing, the advertisement upon the display screen upon further determining that the communication device is operating in accordance with one or more predetermined conditions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the program code includes code for:

receiving an indication of occurrence of another operating system event,

determining, based upon the another operating system event, that a second activity of the application program is not finishing execution, and

upon determining the second activity is not finishing, submitting an advertisement display routine into a processing queue for subsequent execution by the processor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the advertisement comprises:

invoking a third activity, wherein execution of the third activity is delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of a Home button; and

painting a view on the display screen, wherein painting the view is not delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of the Home button.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the view comprises content of the advertisement.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the third activity is invoked behind the view on a z-axis normal to the display screen.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

subsequent to invoking the third activity and painting the view, detecting at least one of an activation of the Home button and a transition to another activity; and

upon detecting the activation of the Home button or the transition to the another activity, removing the view and terminating the third activity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, the indication is an initiation of the activity termination routine when the first activity is being transitioned away from.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the activity termination routine is an overridden termination routine.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor displays the advertisement upon determining that at least two of the following conditions exist:

the second activity is not being invoked,

the communication device is not involved in the call,

the display screen is not locked, and

the first activity is the root activity or is in the background state.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the state transition results in a change of visibility of a user interface window rendered by the display screen, the user interface window being associated with the first activity.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the cause of the operating system event corresponds to a pressing of a Back button of the communication device.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the cause of the operating system event corresponds to transition in another software routine executed by the processor.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more predetermined conditions include:

a second activity of the operating system is not being invoked,

the communication device is not involved in a call,

the display screen is not locked, and

the first activity is a root activity or is in a background state.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least a portion of the operating system corresponds to an ActivityManager class of the operating system.

15. A communication device comprising:

a processor;

a display screen; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containing an operating system and program code defining a function library and an application program, the application program including a plurality of activities associated with a plurality of display windows rendered by the display screen wherein ones of the activities transition between a foreground state and a stopped state prior to finishing execution, the operating system providing an interface between the application program and at least the processor and the display screen wherein the program code, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to;

receive an indication of occurrence of an operating system event wherein the operating system event is included among one or more operating system events and is associated with an activity termination routine of the operating system and wherein the operating system event is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor wherein the state transition indicates that the first activity is one of finishing execution and transitioning to the stopped state;

invoke, by the function library in response to the indication, an activity finishing routine of the operating system wherein the activity finishing routine is different from the activity termination routine and wherein the activity finishing routine is configured to interrogate at least a portion of the operating system and to determine a cause of the operating system event;

determine, based upon the cause of the operating system event, that the first activity is finishing execution and not transitioning to the stopped state; and

display, upon determining the first activity is finishing, the advertisement upon further determining that the communication device is operating in accordance with one or more predetermined conditions.

16. The communication device of claim 15 wherein the program code includes code for causing the processor to, upon determining the first activity is not finishing, submit an advertisement display routine into a processing queue for subsequent execution by the processor.

17. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the program code causes the processor to display the advertisement by:

invoking a third activity, wherein execution of the third activity is delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of a Home button; and

painting a view on the display, wherein painting the view is not delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of the Home button.

18. The communication device of claim 17, wherein the view comprises content of the advertisement.

19. The communication device of claim 17, wherein the third activity is invoked behind the view on a z-axis normal to the display screen.

20. The communication device of claim 17, wherein the program code further causes the processor to:

subsequent to invoking the third activity and painting the view, detect at least one of an activation of the Home button and a transition to another activity; and

upon detecting the activation of the Home button or the transition to the another activity, remove the view and terminate the third activity.

21. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the indication is an initiation of the activity termination routine when an activity is being transitioned away from.

22. The communication device of claim 21, wherein the activity termination routine is overridden termination routine.

23. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the processor displays the advertisement upon determining that at least two of the following conditions exist:

the second activity is not being invoked,

the communication device is not involved in the call,

the display screen is not locked, and

the first activity is the root activity or is in the background state.

24. The communication device of claim 15 wherein the state transition results in a change of visibility of a user interface window rendered by the display screen, the user interface window being associated with the first activity.

25. A non-transient computer readable medium storing an operating system and program code defining a function library and an application program, the application program including a plurality of activities associated with a plurality of display windows rendered by a display screen of a communication device wherein ones of the activities transition between a foreground state and a stopped state prior to finishing execution, the operating system providing an interface between the application program and at least a processor and a display screen of the communication device wherein the program code, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

receive an indication of occurrence of an operating system event wherein the operating system event is included among one or more operating system events and is associated with an activity termination routine of the operating system and wherein the operating system event is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor wherein the state transition indicates that the first activity is one of finishing execution and transitioning to the stopped state;

invoke, by the function library in response to the indication, an activity finishing routine of the operating system wherein the activity finishing routine is different from the activity termination routine and wherein the activity finishing routine is configured to interrogate at least a portion of the operating system and to determine a cause of the operating system event;

determine, based upon the cause of the operating system event, that the first activity is finishing execution and not transitioning to the stopped state; and

display, upon determining the first activity is finishing, the advertisement upon further determining that the communication device is operating in accordance with one or more predetermined conditions.

26. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 25 wherein the program code includes code for causing the processor to, upon determining the first activity is not finishing, submit an advertisement display routine into a processing queue for subsequent execution by the processor.

27. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the program code further causes the processor to display the advertisement by:

invoking a third activity, wherein execution of the third activity is delayed by an operating system subsequent to activation of a Home button; and

causing a view to be painted on the display, wherein the painting of the view is not delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of the Home button.

28. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the view comprises content of the advertisement.

29. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the third activity is invoked behind the view on a z-axis normal to the display screen.

30. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the program code further causes the processor to:

subsequent to invoking the third activity and causing the view to be painted, detect at least one of an activation of the Home button and a transition to another activity; and

upon detecting the activation of the Home button or the transition to the another activity, cause the view to be removed from the display and terminate the third activity.

31. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein, the indication is an initiation of the activity termination routine when the first activity is being transitioned away from.

32. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the activity termination routine is an overridden termination routine.

33. A method of displaying an advertisement on a display screen of a communication device, the communication device including a processor, an operating system, and a memory including program code defining a function library and an application program, the application program including a plurality of activities associated with a plurality of display windows rendered by the display screen wherein ones of the activities transition between a foreground state and a stopped state prior to finishing execution, the processor performing the method by executing the program code, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of occurrence of an operating system event wherein the operating system event is associated with an activity termination routine of the operating system and is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor wherein the state transition indicates that the first activity is one of finishing execution and transitioning to the stopped state;

generating an advertisement request message for communication to a remote system;

receiving the advertisement from the remote system;

invoking, by the function library in response to the indication, an activity finishing routine of the operating system wherein the activity finishing routine is different from the activity termination routine and wherein the activity finishing routine is configured to interrogate at least a portion of the operating system and to determine a cause of the operating system event;

determining, based upon the cause, that the state transition results in finishing execution of the first activity; and

displaying, upon determining the first activity is finishing, the advertisement upon determining that a state of the first activity and a state of the communication device are characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the state transition results in a change of visibility of a user interface window rendered by the display screen, the user interface window being associated with the first activity.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the determining includes determining that the occurrence of the operating system event resulted from one of a software transition within the application program and actuation of a predefined button of the communication device.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the predefined element is a Back navigation button.

37. The method of claim 33 further including:

receiving an indication of occurrence of a prior operating system event preceding the operating system event, wherein the prior operating system event is indicative of a prior state transition of the first activity;

determining that the prior state transition results in the first activity being returned to a processing queue; and

submitting, upon determining the first activity is being returned to the processing queue, a prior advertising routine into the processing queue.

38. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an operating system and computer program code for implementing a method of displaying an advertisement on a communication device, the program code defining a function library and an application program, the application program including a plurality of activities associated with a plurality of display windows rendered by a user interface of the communication device wherein ones of the activities transition between a foreground state and a stopped state prior to finishing execution, the communication device including a processor wherein, upon execution by the processor, the computer program code causes the processor to:

receive an indication of occurrence of an event of the operating system wherein the event is associated with an activity termination routine of the operating system and is included among one or more operating system events and wherein the event is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor wherein the state transition indicates that the first activity is one of finishing execution and transitioning to the stopped state;

invoke, by the function library in response to the indication, an activity finishing routine of the operating system wherein the activity finishing routine is different from the activity termination routine and wherein the activity finishing routine is configured to interrogate at least a portion of the operating system and to determine a cause of the operating system event;

determine, based upon the cause, that the state transition results in finishing of the first activity; and

initiate, based upon determination that the state transition results in finishing of the first activity, display of the advertisement upon the user interface provided that a state of the first activity and a state of the communication device are characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.

39. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 38 wherein the program code further includes program code for causing the processor to submit an advertisement display routine to a processing queue for subsequent execution upon determining the activity is not finishing.

40. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 38, wherein the predetermined conditions comprise at least one of:

another activity of the application program is not being invoked,

the communication device is not involved in a call,

a display screen is not locked, and

the first activity is a root activity or is in a background state.

41. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 38, wherein the computer program code further includes program code for causing the processor to:

invoke another activity, wherein execution of the another activity is delayed by an operating system subsequent to activation of a Home button; and

initiate display of a view upon the user interface, wherein the display of the view is not delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of the Home button.