Network devices for replacing an advertisement with another advertisement

• US 20080306816A1
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Core Audience, Inc. (The Hearst Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NebuAd Incorporated
• Inventors: Cheng, Lebin, Fei, Aiguo, Matthys, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,165,301 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 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Techniques for replacing an advertisement in a webpage from a website with another advertisement are disclosed. A response including the webpage is intercepted in a network device deployed in an in-line fashion, preferably at a data traffic point along a network. When it is determined that the webpage includes an advertisement that is replaceable, a preferable advertisement more correlated to the interests of a user is embedded in data packets to replace those for the original advertisement. Subsequently, the preferable advertisement is served when the webpage is displayed.

Claims

1. A method for replacing a first advertisement with a second advertisement in a webpage, the method comprising:

intercepting a response in a device to a request from a client machine associated with a user, wherein the device is deployed at a location in a network;

determining a presence of the first advertisement and further whether the first advertisement is replaceable;

deciding the second advertisement in conjunction with criteria when the first advertisement is determined replaceable; and

replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement so that the second advertisement is seen when the webpage is display on the client machine.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement comprises modifying a data packet that represents the first advertisement to include the second advertisement, the data packet is one of data packets in a data sequence representing the webpage.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the data packet includes a script pertaining to the second advertisement.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein a payload of the data packet is modified to replace the first advertisement with the second advertisement.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein a header of the data packet is intact, as a result, the second advertisement appears from the website.

6. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising reformatting the second advertisement to fit a size of an area in the webpage occupied by the first advertisement.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further releasing the data packet to the client machine, wherein the second advertisement is presented to the user when the webpage is displayed.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the criteria is based on content and/or context of the request and the response in conjunction with a behavior of the user.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the second advertisement is more preferable to be served at the time of the response being received than the first advertisement.

10. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein serving the second advertisement demands a higher fee than serving the first advertisement at the time of the response being received.

11. A network device, deployed by a service provider, for replacing a first advertisement with a second advertisement in a webpage, the network device comprising:

a processor;

a memory space, coupled to the processor, space for storing code as a module, when the code is executed by the process, the module performing operations of;

intercepting a response in a device to a request from a client machine associated with a user, determine a presence of the first advertisement in the webpage and further whether the first advertisement is replaceable, wherein the service provider facilitates an access by the user to a network;

deciding the second advertisement in conjunction with a set of criteria when the first advertisement is determined replaceable; and

replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement so that the second advertisement is seen when the webpage is display on the client machine.

12. The network device as recited in claim 11, wherein said replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement comprises modifying a data packet that represents the first advertisement to include the second advertisement, the data packet is one of data packets in a data sequence representing the webpage.

13. The network device as recited in claim 12, wherein the data packet includes a script pertaining to the second advertisement.

14. The network device as recited in claim 12, wherein a payload of the data packet is modified to replace the first advertisement with the second advertisement.

15. The network device as recited in claim 14, wherein a header of the data packet is intact, as a result, the second advertisement appears from the website.

16. The network device as recited in claim 12, wherein the module performing further operations of reformatting the second advertisement to fit a size of an area in the webpage occupied by the first advertisement.

17. The network device as recited in claim 16, wherein the module performing further operations of releasing the data packet to the client machine, and wherein the second advertisement is presented to the user when the webpage is displayed.

18. The network device as recited in claim 16, wherein the set of criteria is based on content and/or context of the request and the response in conjunction with a behavior of the user.

19. The network device as recited in claim 16, wherein the second advertisement is more preferable to be served at the time of the response being received than the first advertisement.

20. The network device as recited in claim 16, wherein serving the second advertisement demands a higher fee than serving the first advertisement at the time of the response being received.