Method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for serving detailed social annotations

• US 9,633,365 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Pattan, Neha, Lin, Jennifer W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Alvin L
• Application Number:
  US13/244,804
• Time in Patent Office: 2,038 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media for serving detailed annotations is disclosed. When a user converts in response to an advertisement, data about the conversion is stored in one or more logs. A batch handler uses the one or more logs to create and enter a record regarding the conversion into a conversion table. Upon receiving an ad request from a client, ads scorer may construct a detailed annotation using the conversion table and a social graph table, and ads server may return an ad and the detailed annotation. Ads server may also return an ad plus an iframe. The iframe requests a detailed annotation from a conversion management server. The conversion management server constructs and returns the detailed annotation.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more data processing apparatuses, comprising:

receiving data indicating that a first user performed a conversion action in response to a first ad, wherein the received data includes an ad ID for the first ad and a first limited ID cookie that only identifies an encrypted user ID for the first user;

decrypting the first limited ID cookie to obtain the user ID of the first user;

creating a conversion record that includes the user ID for the first user an entity ID for an entity associated with the first ad, and the conversion action performed by the first user;

receiving an ad request over a network from a client device of a second user, the ad request including a second limited ID cookie that only identifies an encrypted user ID for the second user;

decrypting the second limited ID cookie to obtain the user ID of the second user;

determining that the second user is a social contact of the first user in a social network based on the user ID of the second user and the user ID of the first user;

in response to receiving the ad request, selecting a second ad with an ad ID;

determining, based on the ad ID of the second ad, that the second ad is associated with a same entity as the first ad that is associated with the conversion action performed by the first user;

retrieving conversion records containing the entity ID for the same entity, wherein the retrieved conversion records include at least the created conversion record;

constructing a detailed annotation for display in the second ad based on the created conversion record that contains the user ID for the first user, wherein the detailed annotation identifies (i) the user ID of the first user, (ii) the conversion action performed by the first user, and (iii) the same entity; and

sending the detailed annotation over the network to the client device in a format suitable for presentation on a display of the client device in conjunction with the selected ad.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the detailed annotation to the client device further comprises sending the detailed annotation to an iframe on the client device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the detailed annotation is constructed based on the created conversion record and at least one other conversion record.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the created conversion record, for constructing the detailed annotation, from the retrieved conversion records containing the entity ID for the entity associated with the ad.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the created conversion record is selected from the retrieved conversion records based on an affinity score between the first user and the second user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising boosting an ad score of the ad for which the first user performed the conversion action.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for an annotation from the client device; and

sending the constructed detailed annotation to the client device in response to receiving the annotation request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

writing a log entry with a limited ID cookie, the limited ID cookie containing the encrypted user ID for the first user; and

writing another log entry with a second ad ID and the conversion action performed by the first user.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicating that the first user performed the conversion action is received from an application executing outside of a web browser.

9. A system comprising:

one or more computers;

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, causes the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving data indicating that a first user performed a conversion action in response to a first ad, wherein the received data includes an ad ID for the first ad and a first limited ID cookie that only identifies an encrypted user ID for the first user;

decrypting the first limited ID cookie to obtain the user ID of the first user;

creating a conversion record that includes the user ID for the first user an entity ID for an entity associated with the first ad, and the conversion action performed by the first user;

receiving an ad request over a network from a client device of a second user, the ad request including a second limited ID cookie that only identifies an encrypted user ID for the second user;

decrypting the second limited ID cookie to obtain the user ID of the second user;

determining that the second user is a social contact of the first user in a social network based on the user ID of the second user and the user ID of the first user;

in response to receiving the ad request, selecting a second ad with an ad ID;

determining, based on the ad ID of the second ad, that the second ad is associated with a same entity as the first ad that is associated with the conversion action performed by the first user;

retrieving conversion records containing the entity ID for the same entity, wherein the retrieved conversion records include at least the created conversion record;

constructing a detailed annotation for display in the second ad based on the created conversion record that contains the user ID for the first user, wherein the detailed annotation identifies (i) the user ID of the first user, (ii) the conversion action performed by the first user, and (iii) the same entity; and

sending the detailed annotation over the network to the client device in a format suitable for presentation on a display of the client device in conjunction with the selected ad.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein sending the detailed annotation to said client device further comprises sending the detailed annotation to an iframe on the client device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the detailed annotation is constructed based on the created conversion record and at least one other conversion record.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable medium has further instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, causes the one or more computers to perform further operations comprising:

electing the created conversion record, for constructing the detailed annotation, from the retrieved conversion records containing the entity ID for the entity associated with the ad.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the created conversion record is selected from the retrieved conversion records based on an affinity score between the first user and the second user.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable medium has further instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, causes the one or more computers to perform further operations comprising:

boosting an ad score of the ad for which the first user performed the conversion action.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable medium has further instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, causes the one or more computers to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a request for an annotation from the client device; and

sending the constructed detailed annotation to the client device in response to receiving the annotation request.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable medium has further instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, causes the one or more computers to perform further operations comprising:

writing a log entry with a limited ID cookie, the limited ID cookie containing the encrypted user ID for the first user; and

writing another log entry with a second ad ID and the conversion action performed by the first user.

26. The system of claim 9, wherein the data indicating that the first user performed the conversion action is received from an application executing outside of a web browser.

17. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause a computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving data indicating that a first user performed a conversion action in response to a first ad, wherein the received data includes an ad ID for the first ad and a first limited ID cookie that only identifies an encrypted user ID for the first user;

decrypting the first limited ID cookie to obtain the user ID of the first user;

creating a conversion record that includes the user ID for the first user an entity ID for an entity associated with the first ad, and the conversion action performed by the first user;

receiving an ad request over a network from a client device of a second user, the ad request including a second limited ID cookie that only identifies an encrypted user ID for the second user;

decrypting the second limited ID cookie to obtain the user ID of the second user;

determining that the second user is a social contact of the first user in a social network based on the user ID of the second user and the user ID of the first user;

in response to receiving the ad request, selecting a second ad with an ad ID;

determining, based on the ad ID of the second ad, that the second ad is associated with a same entity as the first ad that is associated with the conversion action performed by the first user;

retrieving conversion records containing the entity ID for the same entity, wherein the retrieved conversion records include at least the created conversion record;

constructing a detailed annotation for display in the second ad based on the created conversion record that contains the user ID for the first user, wherein the detailed annotation identifies (i) the user ID of the first user, (ii) the conversion action performed by the first user, and (iii) the same entity; and

sending the detailed annotation over the network to the client device in a format suitable for presentation on a display of the client device in conjunction with the selected ad.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein sending the detailed annotation to the client device further comprises sending the detailed annotation to an iframe on the client device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the detailed annotation is constructed based on the created conversion record and at least one other conversion record.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the computer program further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform further operations comprising:

electing the created conversion record, for constructing the detailed annotation, from the retrieved conversion records containing the entity ID for the entity associated with the ad.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the created conversion record is selected from the retrieved conversion records based on an affinity score between the first user and the second user.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the computer program further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform further operations comprising:

boosting an ad score of the ad for which the first user performed the conversion action.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the computer program further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a request for an annotation from the client device; and

sending the constructed detailed annotation to the client device in response to receiving the annotation request.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the computer program further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform further operations comprising:

writing a log entry with a limited ID cookie, the limited ID cookie containing the encrypted user ID for the first user; and

writing another log entry with a second ad ID and the conversion action performed by the first user.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the data indicating that the first user performed the conversion action is received from an application executing outside of a web browser.