METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR FACILITATING CACHING OF ADVERTISEMENTS

• US 20130110643A1
• Filed: 10/28/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goyal, Prabhakar, Gupta, Sanjay Kumar, Dodda, Rampradeep
• Granted Patent: US 9,767,465 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.68
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Methods and Systems for facilitating caching of advertisements are described. The methods include receiving an ad request and generating a serving plan in response to said receiving the ad request. The serving plan includes multiple cache lines that identify corresponding advertisements. Each of the cache lines is associated with a corresponding expiration. Also, each cache line is readable by logic to display one of the advertisements corresponding to the cache line. The cache lines include a first cache line. The first cache line includes ad information, which is associated with a first one of the advertisements. Moreover, the ad information includes one or more parameters for expiration of the first cache line of a client device. The client device is configured to display the plurality of advertisements. The method includes sending the serving plan to the client device to store in the client device.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating caching of advertisements, comprising:

receiving an ad request;

generating a serving plan in response to said receiving the ad request, wherein said generating is performed by an ad server, the ad server including a processor, the serving plan including a plurality of cache lines identifying a plurality of corresponding advertisements, each of the cache lines associated with a corresponding expiration, each cache line readable by logic to display one of the advertisements corresponding to the cache line, the plurality of cache lines including a first cache line, the first cache line including ad information, the ad information associated with a first one of the advertisements, the ad information including one or more parameters for expiration of the first cache line of a client device, the client device configured to display the plurality of advertisements; and

sending the serving plan to the client device to store in the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad request includes a request for identification of advertisement data, a space identification (ID) categorizing web page data, and an ad position for embedding the advertisement data within the web page data, the web page data associated with a web page to be displayed on the client device, the first advertisement to be displayed on the web page, the advertisement data associated with the first advertisement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cache lines includes a second cache line, the first cache line including a first space identification (ID) identifying a web page in which advertisement data is to be embedded, an ad position indicating a position of embedding the advertisement data within the web page, an ad tag categorizing the advertisement data, and a constraint on the first advertisement, the advertisement data associated with the first advertisement, the constraint including a frequency of display of the first advertisement, the parameters including a maximum number of impressions of the first advertisement and an expiration time of deletion of the first cache line from the client device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of advertisements includes a second advertisement, the second cache line including a second space ID of a web page in which additional advertisement data is to be embedded, an ad position of the additional advertisement data, an ad tag categorizing the additional advertisement data, a maximum number of impressions of the second advertisement, and a constraint on the second advertisement, the constraint on the second advertisement including a frequency of display of the second advertisement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending the serving plan comprises sending the plurality of cache lines via Internet, wherein the ad information identifies the advertisement data and provides a frequency of display of the first advertisement on a web page.

6. A method for facilitating caching of advertisements, comprising:

determining whether web page data is received;

generating an ad request is response to determining that the web page data is received;

sending the ad request;

receiving a serving plan in response to said sending the ad request, the serving plan including a plurality of cache lines identifying a plurality of corresponding advertisements, each of the cache lines associated with a corresponding expiration, each cache line readable by logic to display one of the advertisements corresponding to the cache line, the plurality of cache lines including a first cache line, the first cache line including ad information, the ad information associated with a first one of the advertisements, the ad information including one or more parameters for expiration of the first cache line from a client device, the client device configured to display the plurality of advertisements;

storing the serving plan within the client device, wherein said storing is performed by processing logic of the client device; and

periodically updating the serving plan based on an ad refresh.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the web page data is associated with a space identification (ID) and includes an ad position, said method further comprising determining whether the ad information associated with the space ID and with the ad position is stored in the client device in response to determining that the web page data is received, wherein said generating an ad request comprises generating the ad request in response to determining that the client device lacks the ad information.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

sending a uniform resource locator (URL) request for the web page data;

receiving the web page data in response to the URL request; and

determining that the web page data is received upon receiving the web page data.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said generating an ad request comprises generating a request for an identification of the first advertisement to be displayed.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein said receiving the serving plan comprises receiving the plurality of cache lines, the cache lines including ad information identifying advertisement data of the plurality of advertisements to be displayed, and a plurality of frequencies of display of the advertisements, wherein the parameters include a maximum number of impressions of the first advertisement associated with the first cache line and an expiration time of deletion of the first cache line from the client device.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

reading the first cache line;

determining whether an ad media package associated with the first cache line is stored within an ad media cache (AMC) of the client device, said determining whether ad media package is stored is performed in response to said reading the first cache line, the ad media package including media elements for rendering the first advertisement at an ad position, the ad position specified in the first cache line;

generating a request for the ad media package in response to determining that the AMC lacks the ad media package;

sending the request via a network;

receiving the ad media package via the network in response to the request for the ad media package; and

storing the ad media package in the AMC.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the serving plan is sent to be stored in a cache of the client device.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving an ad media package having a current version;

receiving an indication that a subsequent version of the ad media package is available;

determining whether one or more of the plurality of cache lines in the client device refers to the current version in response to said receiving an indication;

generating and sending a request for the subsequent version in response to determining that the one or more cache lines lacks reference to the current version; and

avoiding said generating and sending a request in response to determining that the one or more cache lines refers to the current version.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving an ad media package;

loosing communication with an ad server; and

rendering the ad media package to display the first advertisement after the communication is lost.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the first cache line includes a first space identification (ID) of the web page data in which the advertisement data is to be embedded, an ad position indicating a position of embedding the advertisement data within the web page data, an ad tag categorizing the advertisement data, a maximum number of impressions of the first advertisement, and a constraint on the first advertisement, the advertisement data associated with the first advertisement, the constraint including a frequency of display of the first advertisement.

16. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining to execute the ad refresh;

generating an additional ad request in response to the determination to execute the ad refresh;

sending the additional ad request; and

receiving an additional serving plan in response to said sending the additional ad request.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining whether an ad media package associated with the updated serving plan is stored in an ad media cache (AMC);

determining that a cache miss occurred in response to determining that the ad media package is not stored in the AMC; and

generating a request to obtain the ad media package via a network; and

receiving the ad media package via the network in response to sending the request.

18. A system for facilitating caching of advertisements, comprising:

a client device for executing an application to allow access to web page data, the client device configured to generate an ad request upon downloading the web page data, the client device including an ad decision cache (ADC); and

an ad server for receiving the ad request, the ad server for generating a serving plan in response to receiving the ad request, the serving plan including a plurality of cache lines identifying a plurality of corresponding advertisements, each of the cache lines associated with a corresponding expiration, each cache line readable by logic to display one of the advertisements corresponding to the cache line, the plurality of cache lines including a first cache line, the first cache line including ad information associated with a first one of the advertisements, the ad information including one or more parameters for expiration of the first cache line from the ADC.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the ad request includes a request for the advertisement data, a space identification (ID) categorizing web page data, and an ad position of embedding the advertisement data within the web page data, the web page data associated with a web page to be displayed on the client device, the advertisement to be displayed on the web page, the advertisement data associated with the first advertisement.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the client device comprises an ad media cache and a display device, the client device configured to request an ad media package in response to receiving the serving plan, the ad media package including media elements, the display device configured to apply the media elements to render the first advertisement.