Advertisement mediation of supply-demand communications

• US 9,984,395 B1
• Filed: 01/21/2014
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Burcham, Robert H., Delker, Jason R., Holmes, Geoffrey A., Rofail, Richard A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Munson, Patricia H
• Application Number:
  US14/160,224
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1473
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A method for proxying an advertisement content between a content source provider and an electronic device comprises receiving, at an advertisement gateway, an advertisement from an advertisement provider server, determining at least one content source reference in the advertisement identifies a content source provider, embedding the at least one content source reference as a parameter in the advertisement, rewriting the at least one content source reference from the content source provider to a proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway, creating a modified advertisement based on the embedding and the rewriting, sending the modified advertisement to an electronic device, receiving a content request message from the electronic device based on the proxy reference that identifies the at least one content source reference, retrieving the content from the content source provider using the at least one content source reference, and providing the content to the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method for controlling access to an electronic device on a network when providing an advertisement content over the network between a content source provider server and the electronic device, the method comprising the following steps, all of which are performed by an advertisement gateway on the network:

receiving, at the advertisement gateway from an advertisement provider server via the network, an advertisement for execution on the electronic device;

determining at least one content source reference in the advertisement, wherein the at least one content source reference identifies a content source provider server;

in response to determining the at least one content source reference, embedding the at least one content source reference identifying the content source provider server as a parameter in the advertisement, wherein the parameter is embedded in the advertisement as metadata;

controlling access to the electronic device when routing advertising requests through the advertisement gateway by rewriting the at least one content source reference to a proxy reference that identifies the advertisement gateway instead of the content source provider server and does not include the parameter;

based on the embedding and the rewriting, creating a modified advertisement comprising the embedded parameter and the proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway;

in response to creating the modified advertisement, sending, from the advertisement gateway via the network, the modified advertisement to the electronic device;

receiving, at the advertisement gateway, a content request message from the electronic device based on the proxy reference, wherein the content request message identifies the at least one content source reference via the embedded parameter in the content request message;

extracting the at least one content source reference from the embedded parameter;

based on the at least one content source reference, retrieving the content from the content source provider server using the at least one content source reference;

providing the content to the electronic device in response to the retrieving, whereby the advertisement gateway controls access to the electronic device when providing content from the content source provider server;

receiving, at the advertisement gateway from the advertisement provider server via the network, a second advertisement for execution on the electronic device;

determining that an external content source reference included in the second advertisement cannot be rewritten by the advertisement gateway;

transmitting the second advertisement to the electronic device without rewriting the external content source reference included in the second advertisement; and

receiving a second content request message from the electronic device, wherein the second content request message is routed through the advertisement gateway to obtain second content from the external content source reference, and wherein the electronic device is operable to;

receive the second advertisement from the advertising gateway;

rewrite the second advertisement to access the advertisement gateway in place of the external source reference in response to generation of the second content request message; and

transmit the second content request message to the advertising gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the content request message is based on selecting at least a portion of the modified advertisement on the electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the advertisement from the advertisement provider server is based on an advertisement request message from the electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering at least a portion of the modified content on the electronic device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing, by the advertisement gateway, an originating address from the content request message; and

adding a unique identifier to the content request message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the content comprises:

rewriting the content request message to include the at least one content source reference;

sending the content request message to the content source provider server based on the content request message including the at least one content source reference; and

receiving, at the advertisement gateway, the content from the content source provider.

7. A method for controlling access to an electronic device on a network when providing an advertisement over the network between a content source provider server and the electronic device, the method comprising the following steps, all of which are performed by an advertisement gateway on the network:

receiving, at the advertisement gateway via the network, a request message for an advertisement from an electronic device, wherein the request message comprises identifying information for the electronic device;

removing at least one portion of the identifying information from the request message;

generating a proxy request message based on the removing of the at least one portion of the identifying information from the request message;

sending the proxy request message to an advertisement provider server;

in response to sending the proxy request message to the advertisement provider server, receiving, at the advertisement gateway, an advertisement based on the proxy request message;

determining that the advertisement received from the advertisement provider server comprises at least one content source reference that identifies a content source provider server that is any device other than the advertisement gateway that is referenced in the advertisement for providing content;

in response determining the at least one content source reference, controlling access to the electronic device when routing advertising requests through the advertisement gateway by rewriting the at least one content source reference to a proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway instead of the content source provider server;

based on the redirecting and the rewriting, creating a modified advertisement comprising the proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway, and an embedded parameter identifying the content source provider server, wherein the embedded parameter is embedded in the modified advertisement as metadata without including the embedded parameter in an address for accessing content from the content source provider server by the electronic device;

sending, from the advertisement gateway, the modified advertisement to the electronic device via the network, whereby the advertisement gateway controls access to the electronic device when providing content from the content source provider server;

receiving, at the advertisement gateway from the advertisement provider server via the network, a second advertisement for execution on the electronic device;

determining that an external content source reference included in the second advertisement cannot be rewritten by the advertisement gateway;

transmitting the second advertisement to the electronic device without rewriting the external content source reference included in the second advertisement; and

receiving a second content request message from the electronic device, wherein the second content request message is routed through the advertisement gateway to obtain second content from the external content source reference, and wherein the electronic device is operable to;

receive the second advertisement from the advertising gateway;

rewrite the second advertisement to access the advertisement gateway in place of the external source reference in response to generation of the second content request message; and

transmit the second content request message to the advertising gateway.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein sending the proxy request message comprises:

selecting the advertisement provider server from a plurality of advertisement provider servers;

sending the proxy request message to the advertisement provider server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the request message specifies a format for the advertisement, and wherein selecting the advertisement provider server from the plurality of advertisement provider servers is based on the format for the advertisement.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of an originating IP address, a mobile ID, or a pinsight ID.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein removing the at least one portion of the identifying information comprises removing the identifying information from the header of the request message.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the proxy request message comprises:

adding a unique identification for the electronic device to the request message after removing the at least one portion of the identifying information from the request message.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein sending the advertisement to the electronic device is based on the at least one portion of the identifying information removed from the request message.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying the advertisement on the electronic device.

15. An ad exchange system for controlling access to an electronic device on a network when providing an advertisement content over the network between a content source provider server and the electronic device, the system comprising:

an advertisement gateway communicatively coupled to the electronic device and the advertisement provider server via the network, the advertisement gateway comprising;

a processor, a non-transitory memory, and an advertisement exchange application, that when executed on the processor, configures the processor to;

receive a request for an advertisement from the electronic device,

remove one or more information components from the request that identify the electronic device,

select the advertisement provider server as a first advertisement source from a plurality of advertisement sources,

generate a proxy request message based on the request having the one or more information components removed,

send the proxy request message to the advertisement provider server, wherein the proxy request message comprises a request for the advertisement,

in response to the sent proxy request message, receive the advertisement from the advertisement provider server,

determine that the advertisement received from the advertisement provider server comprises at least one content source reference that identifies a content source provider server that is any device other than the advertisement gateway that is referenced in the advertisement for providing content,

in response to the determination, control access to the electronic device when routing advertising requests through the advertisement gateway by rewriting of the at least one content source reference to a proxy reference that identifies the advertisement gateway instead of the content source provider server,

create a modified advertisement comprising the proxy reference that identifies the advertisement gateway, and an embedded parameter identifying the content source provider server wherein the embedded parameter is embedded in the modified advertisement as metadata without including the embedded parameter in an address for accessing content from the content source provider server by the electronic device,

send the modified advertisement to the electronic device, whereby the advertisement gateway controls access to the electronic device when providing content from the content source provider server,

receive, at the advertisement gateway from the advertisement provider server via the network, a second advertisement for execution on the electronic device,

determine that an external content source reference included in the second advertisement cannot be rewritten by the advertisement gateway,

transmit the second advertisement to the electronic device without rewriting the external content source reference included in the second advertisement, and

receive a second content request message from the electronic device, wherein the second content request message is routed through the advertisement gateway to obtain second content from the external content source reference, and wherein the electronic device is operable to;

receive the second advertisement from the advertising gateway,

rewrite the second advertisement to access the advertisement gateway in place of the external source reference in response to generation of the second content request message, and

transmit the second content request message to the advertising gateway.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more information components in the request comprise an identification of the electronic device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the identification of the electronic device comprises at least one of an originating IP address, a mobile ID, or a pinsight ID.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertisement exchange application further configures the processor to insert a unique identifier for the electronic device into the request to create the proxy request message.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the unique identifier comprises a temporary identifier in an IP address format.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertisement exchange application configures the processor to select the first advertisement source from the plurality of advertisement sources based on a type of the electronic device.