Method and system for providing advertising through content specific nodes over the internet

• US 20040015397A1
• Filed: 12/04/2002
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: McCoy, Ron, Ewerdt, Jacob Paul, Barry, Christopher J., Day, William C., Hammond, Brian, Bronnimann, Eric Robert, Plath, Sara Frances, Porter, Dan C., Saam, Eric Christopher, Knell, Matthew Gordon, Klein, Elizabeth, Donovan, Kevin RJB
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,072 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0209 Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0274 Split fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing advertising content over the Internet through a hierarchical content-specific node structure and pricing advertising delivery over each node independently. Independent delivery and pricing allows an advertiser to pay more for advertisements delivered to a narrowly targeted audience likely to be interested in the goods or services offered by the advertising entity and to pay less for advertisements directed at a more general audience who may or may not have an interest in the goods or services offered. The less content specific the node is, the less targeted the advertisement will be, and therefore, the less valuable the advertisement will be to the advertising entity. Targeted advertising to multiple levels of content specific nodes is enabled.

Claims

1. An Internet advertising system for receiving advertisement information from advertisers for publication through a multi-node hierarchical content-based system, the Internet advertising system comprising:

a receiving means for receiving advertisement listing information from a plurality of advertiser user systems connecting to the Internet advertising system over the Internet, the advertisement listing information comprising an advertisement title and URL, a selection of one or more node levels with which the advertisement listing information is to be associated, and a bid amount for each node level selected;

a storage means for storing the advertisement listings; and

a publication means for publishing web page content and advertisement listings to an end user requesting a particular node within the multi-node hierarchical system, the publication means delivering content associated with the node selected and advertisements associated with that particular node.

2. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 wherein the URL provided specifies the target web page to be delivered to the end user upon selection of the advertising listing from the web page delivered to the end user.

3. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 wherein:

the individual nodes are associated with each other in a hierarchical structure.

4. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 wherein the publication means selects a predetermined number of advertisement listings for a specific requested node.

5. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 wherein the publication means lists advertisement listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node requested by the end user.

6. The Internet advertising system of claim 5 wherein the publication means lists advertisement listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node and at least one higher level node based on the hierarchical structure of the content system.

7. The Internet advertising system of claim 6 wherein the publication means lists advertising listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node and all other higher level nodes based on the hierarchical structure of the content system.

8. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 further comprising:

a payment means for accepting payment for publishing the advertisement listings on the individual nodes of the Internet advertising system based on the bid amounts.

9. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 further comprising:

a second storage means for storing a set of rules applicable to the Internet advertising system;

a rule checking means for determining whether the offered advertisement complies with the set of rules; and

a denial means for refusing any desired advertisement that fails to comply with the set of rules.

13. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 wherein the network file server delivers a predetermined number of advertisement listings for a specific requested node.

14. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 wherein the network file server lists advertisement listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node requested by the end user.

15. The Internet advertising system of claim 14 wherein the network file server lists advertisement listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node and at least one higher level node based on the hierarchical structure of the content system.

16. The Internet advertising system of claim 15 wherein the network file server list advertising listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node and all other higher level nodes based on the hierarchical structure of the content system.

10. An Internet advertising system for receiving advertisement information from advertisers for publication through a multi-node hierarchical content-based system, the Internet advertising system comprising:

an interactive database server that receives advertisement listing information from a plurality of advertiser user systems connecting to the Internet advertising system over the Internet, the advertisement listing information comprising an advertisement title and URL, a selection of one or more node levels with which the advertisement listing information is to be associated, and a bid amount for each node level selected;

a database that stores the advertisement listings; and

a network file server that delivers web page content and advertisement listings to a plurality of end users requesting nodes in the multi-node hierarchical system, the content and advertisement listings delivered being based on the node selected by an end user.

11. The Internet advertising system of claim 10 wherein the URL provided specifies the target web page to be delivered to the end user upon selection of the advertising listing from the web page delivered to the end user.

12. The Internet advertising system of claim 10 wherein:

the individual nodes are associated with each other in a hierarchical structure.

17. The Internet advertising system of claim 10 further comprising:

a payment processor that collects payment for publishing the advertisement listings on the individual nodes of the Internet advertising system based on the bid amounts.

18. The Internet advertising system of claim 10 wherein the database stores a set of rules applicable to the Internet advertising system;

and further comprising;

a rule checking module that determines whether the offered advertisement complies with the set of rules; and

a denial transmission module that transmits a refusal to any desired advertisement that fails to comply with the set of rules.

19. A method of enabling advertisers to list an advertisement for publication through a multi-node hierarchical content-based system, the method comprising:

receiving advertisement listing information from a plurality of advertiser user systems connecting to the Internet advertising system over the Internet, the advertisement listing information comprising an advertisement title and URL, a selection of one or more node levels with which the advertisement listing information is to be associated, and a bid amount for each node level selected;

storing the advertisement listings; and

publishing web page content and advertisement listings to an end user requesting a particular node within the multi-node hierarchical system, the publication means delivering content associated with the node selected and advertisements associated with that particular node.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the URL provided specifies the target web page to be delivered to the end user upon selection of the advertising listing from the web page delivered to the end user.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the individual nodes are associated with each other in a hierarchical structure.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the publishing step involves selecting a predetermined number of advertisement listings for a specific requested node.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the publication step involves selecting a list of advertisement listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node requested by the end user.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the publication step involves selecting a listing advertisement listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node and at least one higher level node based on the hierarchical structure of the content system.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the publication step involves selecting a list of advertising listings based on ranking the bid amounts associated with that particular node and all other higher level nodes based on the hierarchical structure of the content system.

26. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of accepting payment for publishing the advertisement listings on the individual nodes of the Internet advertising system based on the bid amounts.

27. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

storing a set of rules applicable to the Internet advertising system;

determining whether the offered advertisement complies with the set of rules; and

refusing any desired advertisement that fails to comply with the set of rules.