Network devices for replacing an advertisement with another advertisement

• US 9,165,301 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Core Audience, Inc. (The Hearst Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Core Audience, Inc. (The Hearst Corporation)
• Inventors: Matthys, Michael, Cheng, Lebin, Fei, Aiguo
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHORNESKY, ADAM B
• Application Number:
  US11/759,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,058 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/14.69, 705/14.73
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Techniques for replacing an advertisement in a webpage from a website with another advertisement are disclosed. A response including the webpage is intercepted in a network device deployed in an in-line fashion, preferably at a data traffic point along a network. When it is determined that the webpage includes an advertisement that is replaceable, a preferable advertisement more correlated to the interests of a user is embedded in data packets to replace those for the original advertisement. Subsequently, the preferable advertisement is served when the webpage is displayed.

Claims

1. A network computing device deployed in a network for modifying data packets that pass through the network before reaching a terminal device, the network device comprising:

a processor;

a data filtering module configured to determine whether a data packet that passes through the network device falls into a predetermined category, the data filtering module passing data packets intact back to the network if the data packet does not fall into the predetermined category;

a data examiner module configured to receive and examine only data packets that fall into the predetermined category from the data filtering module, the data examiner module configured to determine whether a webpage content replacement opportunity exists in the examined data packets according to predetermined criteria; and

a packet manager module configured to receive only data packets having webpage content replacement opportunity, and replace an existing webpage content in a received data packet with a predetermined webpage content.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein the data filtering module is configured to bypass data packets that do not represent a response to a request from a client machine.

3. The network device of claim 1, wherein the data examiner module examines payload of incoming data packets.

4. The network device of claim 1, wherein the packet manager module modifies a payload of the received data packet wherein the payload represents the existing webpage content.

5. The network device of claim 4, wherein headers of the received data packets remain intact.

6. The network device of claim 1, wherein the existing content represents an advertisement.

7. The network device of claim 1, wherein the existing content represents an empty space in a webpage.

8. The network device of claim 1, wherein the existing webpage content represents a script containing a link to another webpage content.

9. The network device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined webpage content represents an advertisement.

10. The network device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined webpage content has a script containing a link to another webpage content.

11. The network device of claim 1, further comprising a bypass controller for bypassing incoming data packets in a predefined event.

12. The network device of claim 1 further comprising an AD manager module for placing an advertisement in a webpage requested by a user.

13. The network device of claim 12, wherein the AD manager module adds a script to the webpage requested by the user, the added script including a link to another advertisement contained in a repository, wherein when the webpage in being displayed, the added script will be executed and cause a retrieval of the another advertisement from the repository.

14. The network device of claim 1 further comprising a metadata manager module for extracting data from received data packets.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the metadata manager module extracts address of a website from data packets representing a user request to access the website.

16. A method for modifying data packets in a network, the method comprising:

filtering data packets that pass through a network device before reaching a terminal device to determine whether any of the data packets falls into a predetermined category;

passing data packets intact back to the network if the data packets do not fall into the predetermined category;

examining data packets that belong to the predetermined category to determine whether a webpage content replacement opportunity exists in the examined data packets according to predetermined criteria; and

replacing an existing webpage content in the examined data packets with a predetermined webpage content.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the filtering comprises bypassing data packets that do not represent a response to a request from a client machine.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the examining comprises examining payload of incoming data packets.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the replacing comprises modifying a payload of the received data packet wherein the payload represents the existing webpage content.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein headers of the received data packets remain intact.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the existing webpage content represents an advertisement.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the existing webpage content represents an empty space in a webpage.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the existing webpage content represents a script containing a link to another webpage content.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined content represents an advertisement.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined content has a script containing a link to another content.

26. The method of claim 16 further comprising bypassing incoming data packets in a predefined event.

27. The method of claim 16 further comprising placing an advertisement in a webpage requested by a user.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the placing comprises adding a script to the webpage requested by the user, the added script including a link to another advertisement contained in a repository, wherein when the webpage is being displayed, the script will be executed and cause a retrieval of the another advertisement from the repository.

29. The method of claim 16 further comprising extracting data from received data packets.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the extracting comprises extracting address of a website from data packets representing a user request to access the website.