Targeted in-group advertising

• US 9,767,461 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2007
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Clancy, Jr., Maurice Lee, Schroeder, Bryan Joseph, Strause, Gordon Maurice
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US11/854,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20090070204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,660 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention fill the need of displaying relevant advertisements to members of targeted online groups (or online community groups), whose group members share common interests. The relevant advertisements are provided by advertisers who promote goods and/or services that the targeted online groups are likely to have an interest. The advertisers choose the targeted online groups based on the description of the common interests, focus or background of the online groups, or based on the categories that the online groups are associated. In one embodiment, moderators of the online groups may screen the advertisements before they are displayed on the online group media spaces. By matching interests, focus or background of online groups with products and/or serviced promoted by the advertisers and by moderators screening advertisements, the advertisements displayed would be more likely to be relevant to the members of the online groups.

Claims

1. A method of providing an advertisement for display in an advertisement space of an online group, comprising:

enabling selection of the online group from a plurality of online groups by an advertiser based on a predefined focus of each of the online groups as provided in group focus descriptions in corresponding media spaces of the online groups, the plurality of online groups being formed on online social networking sites, wherein a focus of each online group is common to all members of the online group, the focus defining a common interest for the members of the online group, wherein goods or services promoted by the advertiser in the advertisement correlate to the common interest of the online group;

receiving from a first client of the advertiser a request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of an online group web site of the selected online group from the advertiser;

sending the request including the advertisement to a second client of a moderator of the online group to enable review of the request to display the advertisement by the moderator to determine whether to allow the advertisement to be displayed in the advertisement space of the online group;

displaying to members of the online group the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group web site when receiving an approval instruction approving the advertisement from the second client in response to the request, the approval instruction indicating that the moderator allows the advertisement to be displayed;

not displaying the advertisement when receiving a rejection instruction rejecting the advertisement from the second client in response to the request, the rejection instruction indicating that the moderator does not allow the advertisement to be displayed; and

not displaying the advertisement when the approval instruction and rejection instruction are not received from the second client in response to the request, wherein method operations are performed by a processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected online group is identified by the advertiser by searching focus descriptions of the plurality of online groups.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is selected from a plurality of advertisements by the advertiser.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling uploading of the advertisement into a storage for advertisements for the plurality of online groups by the advertiser before the request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group web site is placed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling determination of a location and a size of the advertisement space in a media space of the online group web site by the moderator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertiser makes a payment required to display the advertisement while placing the request to display the advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling determination of subjects of advertisements to be allowed in the online group and subjects of advertisements to be barred from the online group by the moderator.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a portion of the payment is given to the online group.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to display the advertisement includes the advertisement to be displayed, a start date of displaying the advertisement, and an end date of displaying the advertisement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of online groups are managed by an online group system of one or more of the online social networking sites.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the payment required to display the advertisement is affected by a duration and a start date of displaying the advertisement.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the payment required to display the advertisement is refunded to the advertiser if the moderator determines not to allow the advertisement to be displayed.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling viewing of the advertisement by a member of the online group that is not the moderator, wherein the member rates and provides comments of the advertisement.

14. A computer system for displaying advertisements provided by advertisers to online groups of an online group system, comprising:

a processor;

advertisement storage for storing the advertisements;

an advertiser unit, wherein the advertiser unit collects inputs, analyzes inputs, and interacts with other units in the computer system to prepare responses to requests from the advertisers, the advertiser unit allowing advertisers to select online groups based on a group focus of each online group as provided in group focus descriptions in corresponding media spaces of the online groups, the online groups being formed on online social networking sites, wherein the group focus of each online group is common to all members of the online group, the group focus defining a common interest for the members of the online group, the advertiser unit allowing advertisers to place requests to display the advertisements on the media spaces of web sites of the selected online groups, the requests received from clients of the advertisers;

a moderator unit, wherein the moderator unit collects inputs, analyzes inputs, and interacts with other units in the computer system to prepare responses to requests from moderators of the online groups, and wherein the moderator unit allows moderators to review the requests to display the advertisements placed by the advertisers and decide whether to allow the advertisements to be displayed to members in the online groups moderated by the moderators, including receiving in response to a first request to display a first advertisement to a first online group from a first client of a first moderator associated with the first online group an approval instruction approving the first advertisement to be displayed, and receiving in response to the first request from the first client a rejection instruction disallowing the first advertisement to be displayed; and

an advertisements display unit, wherein the advertisement display unit interacts with the moderator unit and the advertisement storage to display the advertisements allowed to be displayed by the moderators in the web sites of the online groups they moderate, wherein the first advertisement is displayed to the first online group when receiving the approval instruction from the first client in response to the first request, wherein the first advertisement is not displayed to the first online group when receiving the rejection instruction from the first client in response to the first request, and wherein the first advertisement is not displayed to the first online group when the approval instruction and the rejection instruction are not received from the first client in response to the first.

15. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising:

an advertisement storage, wherein the advertisement storage stores the advertisements provided by the advertisers.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the advertisement storage stores an start date, an end date, an identity of an advertiser, and an identity of an online group where an advertisement is to be displayed for each advertisement stored in the advertisement storage.

17. Non-transitory computer readable media including program instructions for providing an advertisement for display in an advertisement space of an online group, comprising:

program instructions for enabling selection of the online group from a plurality of online groups by an advertiser based on a predefined focus of each of the online groups as provided in group focus descriptions in corresponding media spaces of the online groups, the plurality of online groups being formed on online social networking sites, wherein a focus of each online group is common to all members of the online group, the focus defining a common interest for the members of the online group, wherein goods or services promoted by the advertiser in the advertisement match the common interest of the online group;

program instructions for receiving from a first client of the advertiser a request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of an online group web site of the selected online group from the advertiser;

program instructions for sending the request including the advertisement to a second client of a moderator of the online group to enable review of the request to display the advertisement by the moderator to determine whether to allow the advertisement to be displayed in the advertisement space of the online group;

program instructions for receiving from a first client of the advertiser a request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of an online group web site of the selected online group from the advertiser;

program instructions for displaying to members of the online group the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group web site when receiving an approval instruction approving the advertisement from the second client in response to the request, the approval instruction indicating that the moderator allows the advertisement to be displayed

program instructions for not displaying the advertisement when receiving a rejection instruction rejecting the advertisement from the second client in response to the request, the rejection instruction indicating that the moderator disallows the advertisement to be displayed; and

program instructions for not displaying the advertisement when the approval instruction and rejection instruction are not received from the second client in response to the request.

18. The computer readable media of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions for enabling uploading of the advertisement into a storage for advertisements for the plurality of online groups by the advertiser before the request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group web site is placed.

19. The computer readable media of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions for enabling determination of a location and a size of the advertisement space in a media space of the online group by the moderator.

20. The computer readable media of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions for enabling determination of subjects of advertisements to be allowed in the online group and subjects of advertisements to be barred from the online group by the moderator.

21. The computer readable media of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions for enabling viewing of the advertisement by a member of the online group, wherein the member is not the moderator, and the member rates and provides comments of the displayed advertisement.