Online media exchange

• US 20100082439A9
• Filed: 11/22/2002
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Overture Services Incorporated (Apollo Global Management, Inc.), Matchcraft Incorporated
• Inventors: Kalter, Scott, Eliahu, Uzi, Patel, Dorab
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.720
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation

Abstract

A data processing system enables a network of interconnected public access computers (250) to act as a continuous transactional exchange for electronic advertising. The system customizes paid advertising, enabling dynamic pricing and price discovery. The system provides extensive real-time tracking which supports a hybrid pay for performance model as well as a process for multi-stage optimization.

Claims

1. A computer system configured to provide an online media exchange, the computer system comprising:

a web server configured to provide a user interface to advertisers and publishers accessing the online media exchange;

one or more application servers configured to manage data objects associated with respective advertisers and publishers and further configured to manage online negotiations between advertisers and publishers regarding placement of advertiser ads on publisher websites;

a database in communication with the one or more application servers, the database storing data including the data objects; and

one or more ad servers in communication with the database, the one or more ad servers configured to serve data defining advertiser ads to publisher websites.

2. The computer system of claim 1 further comprising:

an ad server controller in communication with the database and the one or more ad servers and configured to convey advertising data from the database to the one or more ad servers.

3. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the one or more ad servers are configured to

receive an online request from a consumer, the online request specifying a contracting publisher and an ad;

record data regarding the online request; and

redirect the consumer to an advertiser website based on data of the request, the advertiser website being associated with a contracting advertiser.

4. The computer system of claim 3 wherein the one or more ad servers are further configured to:

receive a subsequent request from the consumer, subsequent request including data specifying an action performed by the consumer at the advertiser website;

record data regarding the action, the data being recorded in association with contract data linking the contracting advertiser and the contracting publisher.

5. The computer system of claim 1 further comprising an accounting package in communication with the database, the accounting package configured to manage billing among the advertisers and the publishers.

6. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the web server is configured to receive an offer from an advertiser.

7. The computer system of claim 6 wherein the web server is configured to detect in the offer one or more of

creative,

a product offer,

a flight time,

a maximum pay-out amount,

a compensation amount,

a per click payment amount,

a per download payment amount, and

a publisher content description.

8. The computer system of claim 6 wherein the web server is configured to provide data about responses to the offer from publishers.

9. The computer system of claim 6 wherein the web server is configured to receive modifications to the offer or modified offers.

10. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the web server is configured to receive ad preference data from a publisher for ads to be hosted by the publisher.

11. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the web server is configured to detect in the ad preference data one or more of

creative properties,

a minimum acceptable incentive level,

a minimum effective cost per thousand impressions (ECPM), and

minimum expected flight duration.

12. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the one or more application servers are configured to match advertiser offers to publishers.

13. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the one or more application servers are further configured to match the advertiser offers to publishers based on a calculated effective cost per thousand impressions.

14. The computer system of claim 12 wherein the one or more application servers are further configured to filter the advertiser offers according to publisher-specified filtering criteria.

15. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the one or more application servers are configured to monitor and log trade transactions between advertisers and publishers.

16. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the one or more application servers are configured to monitor start conditions and termination conditions of trade transactions between advertisers and publishers.

17. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the one or more application servers are configured to determine an effective cost per thousand impressions for trade transactions between advertisers and publishers.

18. A computer system comprising:

means for storing data defining an offer to sell advertising media, the data including data defining a consumer action as a variable input for calculating compensation payable to a publisher for purchase of the advertising media;

means for storing data defining an offer to purchase advertising media, the data including data defining a consumer action as a variable input for calculating compensation payable to an advertiser for purchase of the advertising media;

means for comparing the data defining an offer to sell advertising media and the data defining an offer to purchase advertising media;

means for establishing a contract between an advertiser and a publisher based on the stored data defining an offer to sell advertising media and the stored data defining an offer to purchase advertising media; and

means for tracking commissions owed, billed and received under the contract.

19. The computer system of claim 18 further comprising:

means for storing data defining advertising content to be presented in the advertising media; and

means for serving the data defining advertising content on the advertising media if the data defining an offer to sell advertising media meets terms of the data defining an offer to purchase advertising media

20. The computer system of claim 18 further comprising:

means for receiving from an advertiser the data defining an offer to sell advertising media; and

means for receiving from a publisher the data defining an offer to purchase advertising media.

21. A method for operating a computer system, the method comprising:

storing data defining an offer to sell advertising media, the data including data defining a consumer action as a variable input for calculating compensation payable to a publisher for purchase of the advertising media;

storing data defining an offer to purchase advertising media, the data including data defining a consumer action as a variable input for calculating compensation payable to an advertiser for purchase of the advertising media;

comparing the data defining an offer to sell advertising media and the data defining an offer to purchase advertising media; and

establishing a contract between an advertiser and a publisher based on the stored data defining an offer to sell advertising media and the stored data defining an offer to purchase advertising media.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

trafficking media in accordance with the contract.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein trafficking media comprises:

serving banner advertisements created by the advertiser for publication by the publisher.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

establishing a commission based on the contract.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

establishing a commission based on a number of impressions of advertiser creative served.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

establishing a commission based on a number of click-throughs.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

establishing a commission based on a number of leads.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

establishing a commission based on a number of post-click-through actions of a consumer.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

establishing a flat rate commission.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

establishing a percentage rate commission.

31. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a commission comprises:

receiving data defining the commission from one of the advertiser and the publisher.

32. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

33. An online media exchange method comprising:

receiving from one or more advertisers data defining offers to sell advertising media;

receiving from one or more publishers data defining bids to purchase advertising media;

matching an offer to sell of a contracting advertiser with one or more bids to purchase of respective contracting publishers to form respective contracts; and

serving advertising content including advertising media defined by the contract to consumers accessing websites of the respective publishers.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

storing data about the offers, the bids and matched offers and bids for subsequent retrieval.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein storing data comprises at least one of:

storing data about event types defined for received offers and bids,

storing data about conversion ratios for received offers and bids,

storing data about event counts for received offers and bids.

36. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

receiving one of

revised offer information modifying the data received defining an offer to sell; and

revised offer information modifying the data received defining a bid to purchase.

37. The method of claim 33 wherein receiving data defining offers to sell comprises receiving from the one or more advertisers information about one or more of

creative,

a product offer,

a flight time,

a maximum pay-out amount,

a compensation amount,

a per click payment amount,

a per download payment amount, and

a publisher content description.

38. The method of claim 33 wherein receiving data defining bids to purchase comprises receiving from the one or more publishers information about one or more of

creative properties,

a minimum acceptable incentive level,

a minimum effective cost per thousand impressions (CPM), and

minimum expected flight duration.

39. The method of claim 33 wherein matching an offer to sell with one or more bids to purchase comprises:

filtering the offer to sell against requirements of the bids of the one or more publishers.

40. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

reporting to advertisers and publishers data about received offers and received bids.

41. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

determining an effective cost per thousand impressions (ECPM) for at least one of advertiser offers and publisher bids.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein determining the ECPM comprises:

determining ECPM as a ratio of value of the advertising media to number of impressions of the advertising content served

43. The method of claim 42 wherein matching the offer to sell with the one or more bids to purchase comprises comparing ECPM for the offer to sell with ECPM for the one or more bids.

44. The method of claim 41 wherein determining ECPM comprises:

determining past ECPM based on observed activity.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein determining past ECPM comprises determining ECPM based on stored data defining compensation levels for matched offers.

46. The method of claim 41 wherein determining ECPM comprises:

determining future ECPM based on observed one of historical event counts and conversion ratios, and current incentive levels.

47. The method of claim 41 wherein determining ECPM comprises:

determining future ECPM as a ratio of a predicted value and number of impressions delivered.

48. The method of claim 47 further comprising:

determining predicted value as a sum of products of current incentive levels and historical event counts over all event types.

57. The system of claim 44, further comprising:

g. means for measuring said consumer action.

49. A method for trading advertising media, the method comprising:

a. providing an exchange data structure accessible via a communications network;

b. storing in said data structure data defining an offer to sell advertising media, said data defining a selling compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

c. storing in said data structure data defining an offer to purchase advertising media, said data defining a purchasing compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

d. comparing said offer to sell and said offer to purchase, to identify whether said offer to purchase meets the terms of said offer to sell.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

e. storing data defining advertising content to be presented in said advertising media; and

f. publishing said advertising content data on said advertising media if said offer to purchase meets the terms of said offer to sell.

51. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

g. measuring said consumer action.

52. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

e. calculating the effective cost per thousand for said offer to purchase or said offer to sell, and outputting said effective cost per thousand.

53. The method of claim 49, wherein said offer to purchase is revocable at will.

54. A method for publishing information on the current market value of media, the method comprising:

a. providing an exchange data structure accessible via a communications network;

b. storing in said data structure data defining an offer to sell advertising media, said data defining a selling compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

c. storing in said data structure data defining an offer to purchase advertising media, said data defining a purchasing compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

d. publishing said data defining an offer to purchase or said data defining an offer to sell.

55. A system for trading advertising media, comprising:

a. an exchange data structure accessible via a communications network;

b. stored in said data structure, data defining an offer to sell advertising media, said data defining a selling compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

c. stored in said data structure, data defining an offer to purchase advertising media, said data defining a purchasing compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

d. means to compare said offer to sell and said offer to purchase, to identify whether said offer to purchase meets the terms of said offer to sell.

56. The system of claim 55, further comprising:

e. stored data defining advertising content to be presented in said advertising media; and

f. means for publishing said advertising content data on said advertising media if said offer to purchase meets the terms of said offer to sell.

58. The system of claim 55, further comprising:

e. a calculator for calculating the effective cost per thousand for said offer to purchase or said offer to sell, and an output for outputting said effective cost per thousand.

59. The system of claim 55, wherein said offer to purchase is revocable at will.

60. A system for publishing information on the current market value of media, comprising:

a. an exchange data structure accessible via a communications network;

b. stored in said data structure, data defining an offer to sell advertising media, said data defining a selling compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

c. stored in said data structure, data defining an offer to purchase advertising media, said data defining a purchasing compensation scheme which uses a consumer action as a variable input to calculate compensation payable to purchase said advertising media;

d. publishing means for publishing said data defining an offer to purchase or said data defining an offer to sell.