METHOD OF ENHANCING EMAILS WITH TARGETED ADS

• US 20080275873A1
• Filed: 07/17/2008
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Consallus Group LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Bosarge, Jason, Little, Roger
• Granted Patent: US 8,655,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A computer method and system for intercepting email messages, scanning the email messages for key words, determining whether the key words match or relate to key words determined to relate to advertising content, and enhancing the email message by routing the emails to recipients in a manner so that highly relevant, highly targeted advertising tag lines or other content are displayed together with the emails when the emails are accessed and viewed by email recipients.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing emails and enhancing at least some with contextually relevant advertising content directly related to messages contained therein, comprising:

(i) a server system storing keywords determined to be relevant to advertising content;

(ii) the server system receiving a plurality of emails, each of which originated from a sender and is addressed to a recipient, at least some of the emails containing messages that differ from other messages contained in other emails;

(iii) the server system independently analyzing each of the emails to determine if it contains any words that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords;

(iv) the server system, upon analyzing a first email containing a first message and finding one or more words in the first message that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords, selecting first advertising content that directly relates to the one or more words found in the first message and is contextually relevant to the first message;

(v) the server system, upon analyzing a second email containing a second message that differs from the first message and finding one or more other words in the second message that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords, selecting second advertising content that directly relates to the one or more words found in the second message and is contextually relevant to the second message, the first and second advertising contents differing based on finding different words in the first and second messages;

(vi) the server system routing the first email to a first recipient in a manner so that one or more tag lines relating to the first advertising content will be displayed to the side of a message body of the first email when accessed and viewed by the first recipient; and

(vii) the server system routing the second email to a second recipients in a manner so that one or more tag lines relating to the second advertising content will be displayed to the side of a message body of the second email when accessed and viewed by the second recipient.

2. A method as in claim 1, the first advertising content comprising multiple advertisements from multiple advertisers relating to a single advertising topic, the server system causing tag lines corresponding to the multiple advertisements to be displayed in a column to the side of the message body of the first email when accessed and viewed by the first recipient.

3. A method as in claim 2, the server system causing the tag lines corresponding to the multiple advertisements to be displayed in an order based on how much money each advertiser paid for advertising.

4. A method as in claim 2, the server system causing each of the tag lines to be displayed as multiple lines of text and so that a top line of text includes underlined text that comprises a hyperlink which points to a URL of a corresponding advertiser and a lower line of text below the top line that is not underlined.

5. A method as in claim 1, the server system finding multiple words in the first message that match and/or contextually relate to a plurality of the keywords, selecting multiple advertisements from multiple advertisers that relate to different advertising topics which are contextually relevant to the first message, and causing tag lines corresponding to the multiple advertisements to be displayed in a column to the side of the message body of the first email when accessed and viewed by the first recipient.

6. A method as in claim 5, the server system causing the multiple advertisements to be displayed in an order based on how much money each advertiser paid for advertising.

7. A method as in claim 5, the server system causing each of the tag lines to be displayed as multiple lines of text and so that a top line of text includes underlined text that comprises a hyperlink which points to a URL of a corresponding advertiser and a lower line of text below the top line that is not underlined.

8. A method as in claim 1, the server system causing each email and any tag lines relating to contextually relevant advertising content to be displayed together in a single window.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein any advertising content determined to be contextually relevant to a message of a particular email is selected by the server system independently analyzing the particularly email on-the-fly and finding one or more words in the particular email that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords without regard to words or content in any other of the emails.

10. A method as in claim 1, the server system selecting the first advertising content without considering stored data relating to general interests of the first sender, and the server system selecting the second advertising content without considering stored data relating to general interests of the second sender.

11. A method as in claim 1, the server system finding one or more different words in each of a number of different emails that match and/or contextually relate to different keywords, independently selecting highly targeted, highly relevant, and contextually relevant advertising content for each of the different emails based on the one or more words found in each email independent of words found in any other of the different emails, routing each of the different emails to a designated recipient, and causing the highly targeted, highly relevant, contextually relevant advertising content selected for each corresponding email to be displayed together with the corresponding email when accessed and viewed by the designated recipient.

12. A method as in claim 1, the server system intercepting the emails and contextually analyzing each email in order to select contextually relevant advertising content prior to routing the email to a designated recipient for display.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein amounts paid by advertisers are based on a bid system, which increase depending on hierarchy tag line rankings in the email.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, the server system analyzing email messages in an anonymous and non-identifying manner, and wherein the server system does not send advertising content to email recipients apart from tag lines displayed together with emails.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an advertiser who submitted a high advertising bid has its advertising message, hyperlink or URL top ranked within an email when accessed and viewed by a recipient.

16. A method for analyzing emails and enhancing at least some with contextually relevant advertising content directly related to messages contained therein, comprising:

(i) a server system storing keywords determined to be relevant to advertising content;

(ii) the server system creating an advertisement hierarchy based on money paid by advertisers for advertising;

(iii) the server system receiving a plurality of emails, each of which originated from a sender and is addressed to a recipient, at least some of the emails containing messages that differ from other messages contained in other emails;

(iv) the server system independently analyzing each of the emails to determine if it contains any words that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords;

(v) the server system, upon analyzing a first email containing a first message and finding a first word in the first message that matches and/or contextually relates to a first keyword, selecting first advertising content that directly relates to the first word and is contextually relevant to the first message, the first advertising content comprising multiple advertisements from multiple advertisers relating to a single advertising topic,

(vi) the server system, upon analyzing a second email containing a second message that differs from the first message and finding second and third words in the second message that match and/or contextually relate to second and third keywords, selecting second advertising content that directly relates to the second word and is contextually relevant to the second message and third advertising content that directly relates to the third word and is contextually relevant to the second message, the first, second and third advertising contents differing based on differences in the first, second, and third messages;

(vii) the server system routing the first email to a first recipient in a manner so that tag lines relating to the multiple advertisements of the first advertising content will be displayed together with the first email and in an order determined by the advertisement hierarchy when the first email is accessed and viewed by the first recipient; and

(viii) the server system routing the second email to a second recipients in a manner so that tag lines relating to the second and third advertising contents will be displayed together with the second email and in an order determined by the advertisement hierarchy when the second email is accessed and viewed by the second recipient.

17. A method as in claim 16, the server system causing the tag lines displayed together with the first email to be displayed in a column to the side of a message body of the first email when accessed and viewed by the first recipient, and the server system causing the tag lines displayed together with the second email to be displayed in a column to the side of a message body of the second email when accessed and viewed by the second recipient.

18. A method as in claim 16, the server system selecting the first advertising content without considering stored data relating to general interests of a sender of the first email, and the server system selecting the second and third advertising contents without considering stored data relating to general interests of a sender of the second email.

19. A method for analyzing emails and enhancing at least some with contextually relevant advertising content directly related to messages contained therein, comprising:

(i) a server system storing keywords determined to be relevant to advertising content;

(ii) the server system creating an advertisement hierarchy based on money paid by advertisers for advertising;

(iii) the server system receiving a plurality of emails, each of which originated from a sender and is addressed to a recipient, at least some of the emails containing messages that differ from other messages contained in other emails;

(iv) the server system independently analyzing each of the emails to determine if it contains any words that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords;

(v) the server system, upon analyzing a first email containing a first message and finding one or more words in the first message that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords, selecting a first plurality of advertisements that directly relate to the one or more words and are contextually relevant to the first message,

(vi) the server system, upon analyzing a second email containing a second message that differs from the first message and finding one or more words in the second message that match and/or contextually relate to any of the keywords, selecting a second plurality of advertisements that directly relate to the one or more words and are contextually relevant to the second message, the second plurality of advertisements differing from the first plurality of advertisements based on differences in the first and second messages;

(vii) the server system routing the first email to a first recipient in a manner so that first tag lines relating to the first plurality of advertisements will be displayed together with the first email and in an order determined by the advertisement hierarchy when the first email is accessed and viewed by the first recipient; and

(viii) the server system routing the second email to a second recipients in a manner so that second tag lines relating to the second plurality of advertisements will be displayed together with the second email and in an order determined by the advertisement hierarchy when the second email is accessed and viewed by the second recipient.

20. A method as in claim 19, the server system causing the first tag lines to be displayed in a column to the side of a message body of the first email when accessed and viewed by the first recipient, and the server system causing the second tag lines to be displayed in a column to the side of a message body of the second email when accessed and viewed by the second recipient.