Location-based mobile advertising

• US 9,965,768 B1
• Filed: 05/19/2011
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Doane, Andrew J, Murray, William F, Miller, Kevin C
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Rutao
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cross, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/111,920
• Time in Patent Office: 2,546 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions

Abstract

An advertisement service enables advertisers to bid on or select a particular geographic region for public display of an advertisement by a mobile ad platform when the mobile ad platform enters the particular geographic region. For instance, the mobile ad platform provides location information to the advertisement service. Based on the location, the advertisement service provides ad information to the mobile ad platform for display of an advertisement corresponding to the advertiser that has purchased rights to display advertisements on the mobile ad platform in the current geographic region. The publicly displayed advertisement content may change dynamically as the location of the mobile ad platform changes. In some implementations, the advertisement may offer an incentive, such as a coupon, to consumers that see the advertisement. The incentive may be redeemable at the advertiser'"'"'s business such as by using a mobile device to capture, obtain or redeem the incentive.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a mobile ad platform application for installation on a mobile ad platform;

receiving, by one or more processors, from at least one advertiser, at least one bid to provide an advertisement on a publicly visible display of the mobile ad platform when the mobile ad platform is located within a particular geographic region of a plurality of geographic regions;

selecting, by the one or more processors, an advertiser to be associated with the particular geographic region based, at least in part, on the at least one bid;

receiving, by the one or more processors, from the mobile ad platform, location information indicating that the mobile ad platform is located within the particular geographic region;

determining, by the one or more processors, the advertiser associated with the particular geographic region;

identifying, by the one or more processors, ad information related to a particular advertisement for the advertiser determined to be associated with the particular geographic region;

determining direction information based at least in part on the location information, the direction information for navigating from a location of the mobile ad platform to a business of the advertiser located in the particular geographic region;

providing, by the one or more processors, the ad information and the direction information to the mobile ad platform, the ad information and the direction information activating the mobile ad platform application to display, on the publicly visible display of the mobile ad platform located within the particular geographic region, the particular advertisement together with a set of directions for navigating to the business;

receiving ad-verification information from a mobile device of a consumer in response to the particular advertisement displayed on the publicly visible display, wherein the mobile device is separate from the publicly visible display and the mobile ad platform;

receiving additional location information from the mobile ad platform;

determining a new location of the mobile ad platform relative to the business of the advertiser located in the particular geographic region;

determining additional direction information based at least in part on the new location, the additional direction information for navigating from the new location of the mobile ad platform to the business; and

sending additional ad information and the additional direction information to the mobile ad platform, the additional ad information and the additional direction information activating the mobile ad platform application to display the particular advertisement together with an updated set of directions for navigating to the business displayed in the particular advertisement.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertiser represents at least one of:

a business entity physically located within the particular geographic region;

or

a competitor of the business entity physically located within the particular geographic region.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising delivering an incentive to the mobile device of the consumer at least partly in response to the receiving of the ad-verification information.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing a payment to an owner of a vehicle on which the mobile ad platform is mounted at least partly in response to at least one of:

display of the advertisement by the mobile ad platform;

receipt, from the consumer, of the ad verification information related to the advertisement displayed by the mobile ad platform;

or

redemption of a coupon associated with the advertisement displayed by the mobile ad platform.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the mobile ad platform, subsequent location information indicating that the mobile ad platform is currently located within a different geographic region;

determining a different advertiser associated with the different geographic region;

identifying different ad information related to a different advertisement for the different advertiser; and

providing the different ad information to the mobile ad platform for display of the different advertisement.

6. A mobile ad device comprising:

a publicly visible transportable display that is mounted on an article of clothing or an item worn and orientated outwardly for public consumption of content displayed on the publicly visible transportable display; and

one or more processors configured by executable instructions to;

display an advertisement of an advertiser on the publicly visible display, the advertisement automatically determined based, at least in part, on a defined geographic region in which the mobile ad device is currently located when the mobile ad device is determined to have entered the defined geographic region;

display direction information on the publicly visible display, the direction information for navigating to a business entity identified by the advertisement;

determine a change in a location of the mobile ad device; and

change content of a current advertisement based upon determining the change in the location of the mobile ad device, the changed content comprising changed direction information.

7. The mobile ad device as recited in claim 6, further comprising a communication interface for communicating location information to an advertisement service, the communication interface receiving ad information in response to the location information, the ad information indicating the advertisement to display.

8. The mobile ad device as recited in claim 6, further comprising one or more location sensors for determining the location of the mobile ad device.

9. The mobile ad device as recited in claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are included in a mobile device carried by the person wearing the article of clothing or the item, the mobile device comprising one of a cell phone, a smart phone, an eBook reader, or a tablet computer.

10. The mobile ad device as recited in claim 6, further comprising computer-readable media storing a plurality of advertisements, the one or more processors further configured to obtain the advertisement from the computer-readable media based on at least one of:

location information determined by the mobile ad device;

or

ad information received over a network from an advertisement service.

11. One or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors;

computer-readable media coupled to the one or more processors;

a mobile platform locator component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors to determine that a mobile ad platform is located within a particular geographic region;

a geographic region mapping component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors to identify a first advertisement of an advertiser associated with the particular geographic region;

an ad-providing component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors to provide ad information over a network to the mobile ad platform for displaying, on a publicly visible display, the first advertisement of the advertiser associated with the particular geographic region; and

a user interface component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors to;

receive ad verification information indicating a number of impressions received for the first advertisement;

provide at least a portion of the ad verification information to the advertiser;

in response to providing the portion of ad verification information, receive a request from the advertiser to change the first advertisement currently displayed on the publicly visible display; and

at least partially in response to the request, send a communication to the mobile ad platform to change the first advertisement currently displayed on the publicly visible display to display a second advertisement of the advertiser.

12. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 11, wherein execution of the mobile platform locator component to determine that the mobile ad platform is located within the particular geographic region comprises:

receiving location information from the mobile ad platform; and

identifying a geographic region based at least in part on the received location information.

13. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 12, wherein execution of the geographic region mapping component on the one or more processors to identify the first advertisement of the advertiser associated with the particular geographic region comprises comparing the particular geographic region in which the mobile ad platform is located with mapping information for a plurality of advertisers associated with a plurality of different geographic regions.

14. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 11, wherein the user interface component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors receives at least one bid provided by one or more advertisers for a right to place a particular advertisement on the mobile ad platform when the mobile ad platform is located within the particular geographic region.

15. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 11, wherein the user interface component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors receives preference settings from an owner of a vehicle on which the mobile ad platform is mounted.

16. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 11, wherein the user interface component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors:

receives an indication that a predetermined number of impressions of the second advertisement have occurred; and

in response, terminates display of the second advertisement and displays a different advertisement.

17. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 16, wherein:

the advertiser is a first advertiser that submitted a winning bid for advertising in the particular geographic region; and

the different advertisement is associated with a second advertiser that submitted a lesser bid for advertising in the particular geographic region.

18. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 11, wherein the user interface component maintained on the computer-readable media and executed on the one or more processors provides rate information to the advertiser and one or more potential advertisers regarding a current bid amount for placing advertisements in at least the particular geographic region.

29. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 11, wherein the number of impressions is determined based at least in part on one or more of:

a number of coupons associated with the first advertisement obtained;

a number of coupons associated with the first advertisement redeemed;

a number of access events to a website of the advertiser based on a barcode or a numeric code displayed in the first advertisement;

or

a number of text messages received at a telephone number displayed in the advertisement.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a mobile ad platform to perform operations comprising:

providing location information indicative of a location of the mobile ad platform;

receiving ad information, at least in part, in response to the providing the location information, the ad information associated with an advertiser that bid to provide the ad information based, at least in part, on a geographic region that corresponds to the provided location information;

displaying publicly an advertisement corresponding to the ad information;

providing subsequent location information indicative of a new location of the mobile ad platform within the geographic region;

receiving additional ad information; and

in response to the location of the mobile ad platform changing within the geographic region, changing, based at least in part on the additional ad information, content of a currently displayed advertisement to include at least one of updated written directions or updated symbolic directions for navigating to a location of an advertised business located within the geographic region.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the receiving the ad information comprises receiving an advertisement of the advertiser over a network from one of:

an advertisement service;

or

an advertiser'"'"'s website.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the receiving the ad information comprises receiving an identity of an advertisement of the advertiser, the operations further comprising obtaining the advertisement from at least one of:

a location on a network;

or

a local computer readable media of the mobile ad platform.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the providing the location information is in response to an event generated by an application executing on the mobile ad platform.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein displaying the advertisement corresponding to the ad information comprises displaying the advertisement corresponding to the ad information on a display mounted on a vehicle, the vehicle including the mobile ad platform at the location in the geographic region.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the advertisement is from a competitor of a business physically located in the geographic region.

25. A method comprising:

displaying, by one or more processors, an advertisement on a publicly visible display in a public location;

displaying, by the one or more processors, a coupon on the publicly visible display with the advertisement, an incentive included in the coupon changing in response to at least one of;

a passage of time;

a number of coupons obtained;

or

a number of coupons redeemed;

displaying information with the advertisement comprising at least one of;

a number of coupons remaining that are available to be obtained by a consumer;

or

a number of coupons remaining that are available to be redeemed by a consumer; and

after displaying the information with the advertisement, changing a value of the incentive in the coupon being displayed at least partly in response to a request received from an advertiser associated with the advertisement.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, the displaying the coupon incentive on the publicly visible display further comprising displaying with the advertisement at least one of:

a time remaining for a consumer to obtain a coupon;

or

a time remaining for a consumer to redeem a coupon.

27. The method as recited in claim 25, the displaying the coupon incentive on the publicly visible display further comprising:

displaying a first value for the coupon incentive with the advertisement; and

reducing the first value of the coupon incentive offered with the advertisement to a displayed second lesser value following at least one of;

passage of a predetermined amount of time;

providing a predetermined number of coupons at the first value to consumers viewing the advertisement;

or

receipt of confirmation of redemption of a predetermined number of the coupons at the first value.

28. The method as recited in claim 25, further comprising:

mounting the publicly visible display on a vehicle as part of a mobile ad platform;

transporting the publicly visible display to a particular geographic region; and

displaying the advertisement based on a determination that a particular advertiser associated with the advertisement has purchased rights to advertise in the particular geographic region.