SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DERIVING INCOME FROM URL BASED CONTEXT QUERIES

• US 20100125563A1
• Filed: 11/18/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: King, Simon P., Davis, Marc Eliot, Higgins, Christopher William, Nair, Rahul
• Granted Patent: US 8,024,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method for deriving income from URL based context queries. A URL based user context query is received over a network from a user, wherein the user context comprises at least one user context criteria. A query is formulated based on the context criteria so as to search for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data, topical data and context query bid data that is available via the network and relates to the context so as to identify entries in a context query bid database that relate to user context criteria. A dynamic webpage is generated having content relating to the query and advertisements associated with the selected bid are inserted into the webpage. The dynamic webpage is transmitted to the user. The advertiser associated with the selected bid is charged a fee when a user interface event relating to the dynamic webpage occurs.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps:

receiving, over a network, a user context query from a user, wherein the user context query is formatted as a parameter of a URL and comprises at least one user context criteria;

formulating a network data query based on the at least one user context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data, topical data and context query bid data that is available via the network and relates to the context so as to identify at least one entry in a context query bid database that relates to the at least one user context criteria, wherein each of the plurality of entries comprises at least one bid context criteria, a bid amount, an identification of an advertiser, and an identification of at least one advertisement;

selecting, via the network, one of the identified at least one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, wherein the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database has the highest bid amount;

retrieving, over the network, at least one entry from an advertisement database wherein an identification of an advertiser and an identification of an advertisement on the at least one entry from the advertisement database matches the identification of the advertiser and the identification of the at least one advertisement on the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, wherein each entry on the advertisement database comprises an identification of an advertiser, an identification of an advertisement, and at least one advertisement data object;

generating, via the network, a dynamic webpage having content relating to the user context query;

inserting, via the network, the at least one data object of the at least one entry from the advertisement database into the dynamic webpage;

transmitting, over the network, the dynamic webpage to the user;

charging the advertiser a fee associated with the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database when a user interface event relating to the dynamic webpage occurs.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein in the formulating step, only entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database is an exact match to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database and the at least one context criteria on the user context query both relate to at least a single entity.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database and the at least one context criteria on the user context query both relate to a single topic.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database relate to at least one entity that is closely related to a second at least one entity that relates to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database relate to at least one topic that is closely related to a second at least one topic that relates to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

7. The method of claim 1 the each entry on the context query bid database additionally includes a targeting context having at least one targeting context criteria, wherein each matching entry in the context query bid database is evaluated to determine if the user falls within the targeting context.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein for each matching entry in the context query bid database, profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data available to the network relating to the user and the targeting context criteria in the matching entry are searched to determine if the user falls within the targeting context of the matching entry.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface event is selected from the list:

click on the inserted at least one data object, mouseover the inserted at least one data object.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface is the display of the inserted at least one data object

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the fee charged to the advertiser is selected from the list:

CPC fee, CPM fee.

12. A system comprising:

a user context query receiving module that receives user context queries from users, wherein each user context query is formulated as a parameter of a URL and comprises at least one user context criteria;

a context query bid search module that formulates, for each user context query received by the user context query receiving module, a network data query based on the at least one user context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data, topical data and context query bid data that is available via the network and relates to the context so as to identify at least one entry in a context query bid database that relates to the at least one context criteria, wherein each of the plurality of entries comprises at least one bid context criteria, a bid amount, an identification of an advertiser, and an identification of at least one advertisement;

a bid selection module that selects, for each user context query processed by the context query bid search module, one of the identified at least one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, wherein the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database has the highest bid amount;

an advertisement retrieving module that retrieves, for each of the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, at least one entry from an advertisement database wherein an identification of an advertiser and an identification of an advertisement on the at least one entry from the advertisement database matches the identification of the advertiser and the identification of the at least one advertisement on the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, wherein each entry on the advertisement database comprises an identification of an advertiser, an identification of an advertisement, and at least one advertisement data object;

a dynamic webpage generation module that generates, for each user context query received by the user context query receiving module, a dynamic webpage having content relating to the user context query;

an advertisement insertion module that inserts, for every dynamic webpage generated by the dynamic webpage generation module, the at least one data object of the at least one entry from the advertisement database into the dynamic webpage;

a webpage transmission module that transmits, for every dynamic webpage generated by the dynamic webpage generation module, the dynamic webpage to the user;

an advertiser fee module that charges advertisers fees associated with selected entries on the context query bid database when a user interface events occurs relating to dynamic webpages associated with the selected entries.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein context query bid search module formulates at least some queries such that only entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database is an exact match to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein context query bid search module formulates at least some queries such that the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database and the at least one context criteria on the user context query both relate to a single entity.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein context query bid search module formulates at least some queries such that entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database and the at least one context criteria on the user context query both relate to a single topic.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein context query bid search module formulates at least some queries such that entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database relate to at least one entity that is closely related to a second at least one entity that relates to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein context query bid search module formulates at least some queries such that entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database relate to at least one topic that is closely related to a second at least one topic that relates to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

18. The system of claim 12 the each entry on the context query bid database additionally includes a targeting context having at least one targeting context criteria, wherein each matching entry in the context query bid database is evaluated by the context query bid search module to determine if the user falls within the targeting context.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein for each matching entry in the context query bid database, profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data available to the network relating to the user and the targeting context criteria in the matching entry are searched by the context query bid search module to determine if the user falls within the targeting context of the matching entry.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein the user interface event is selected from the list:

click on the inserted at least one data object, mouseover the inserted at least one data object.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein the user interface is the display of the inserted at least one data object

22. The system of claim 12 wherein the fee charged to the advertiser is selected from the list:

CPC fee, CPM fee.

23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method comprising the steps:

receiving, over a network, a user context query from a user, wherein the user context query is formatted as a parameter of a URL and comprises at least one user context criteria;

formulating a network data query based on the at least one user context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data, topical data and context query bid data that is available via the network and relates to the context so as to identify at least one entry in a context query bid database that relates to the at least one user context criteria, wherein each of the plurality of entries comprises at least one bid context criteria, a bid amount, an identification of an advertiser, and an identification of at least one advertisement;

selecting, via the network, one of the identified at least one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, wherein the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database has the highest bid amount;

retrieving, over the network, at least one entry from an advertisement database wherein an identification of an advertiser and an identification of an advertisement on the at least one entry from the advertisement database matches the identification of the advertiser and the identification of the at least one advertisement on the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database, wherein each entry on the advertisement database comprises an identification of an advertiser, an identification of an advertisement, and at least one advertisement data object;

generating, via the network, a dynamic webpage having content relating to the user context query;

inserting, via the network, the at least one data object of the at least one entry from the advertisement database into the dynamic webpage;

transmitting, over the network, the dynamic webpage to the user;

charging the advertiser a fee associated with the selected one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database when a user interface event relating to the dynamic webpage occurs.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein in the formulating step, only entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database is an exact match to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database and the at least one context criteria on the user context query both relate to a single entity.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database and the at least one context criteria on the user context query both relate to a single topic.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database relate to at least one entity that is closely related to a second at least one entity that relates to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein in the formulating step, entries in the context query bid database are identified wherein the at least one bid context criteria on the identified one of the plurality of entries on the context query bid database relate to at least one topic that is closely related to a second at least one topic that relates to the at least one context criteria on the user context query.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 the each entry on the context query bid database additionally includes a targeting context having at least one targeting context criteria, wherein each matching entry in the context query bid database is evaluated to determine if the user falls within the targeting context.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29 wherein for each matching entry in the context query bid database, profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data available to the network relating to the user and the targeting context criteria in the matching entry are searched to determine if the user falls within the targeting context of the matching entry.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the user interface event is selected from the list:

click on the inserted at least one data object, mouseover the inserted at least one data object.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the user interface is the display of the inserted at least one data object

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the fee charged to the advertiser is selected from the list:

CPC fee, CPM fee.