USING THE UTILITY OF CONFIGURATIONS IN AD SERVING DECISIONS

• US 20170221107A1
• Filed: 04/18/2017
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Varian, Hal R., Patel, Amit J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,762,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising

Abstract

Instead of accepting competing ads and using an arbitration function (e.g., an auction) to choose winning ads to be served with a document, sets of ads (perhaps having different characteristics) can be generated, and an arbitration function can be used to select the winning set of ads. Such arbitrations on sets of ads can consider how ads, search results, colors, positions, fonts, etc., all interact with each other and affect the usefulness of the sets of ads to advertisers, end users, document publishers, and/or an ad serving entity.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method comprising:

receiving input of a user command submitted through a microphone of a content rendering device that outputs audio through speakers of the content rendering device;

identifying a plurality of audio ads that are available to provide in response to the input;

determining, by one or more processors, a plurality of configurations of the audio ads, including determining a different temporal orders in which two or more of the audio ads are presentable;

for each of the plurality of configurations, determining a utility value of the configuration by combining utility values of the audio ads included in the configuration, wherein the utility value of the configuration indicates a utility to the user of the audio ads in the configuration;

selecting, from the plurality of configurations, a particular configuration having a highest determined utility value; and

transmitting at least one of the ads included in the selected configuration for output through the speakers of the content rendering device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a plurality of configurations of the audio ads comprises determining a plurality of temporal configurations of various different sets of audio ads.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting a particular configuration having a highest determined utility value comprises selecting a particular configuration having a highest impact on future behavior.

5. The method of claim 2, comprising:

identifying text, image, or video content to provide in response to the user command or other input; and

delivering the text, image, or video content to display device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein delivering the text, image or video content to the display device comprise sending the text, image, or video content in as e-mail information.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the utility value of the configuration comprises:

decreasing the utility value by a given amount when a first audio ad is added to the configuration; and

decreasing the utility value by a different amount when a second audio ad is added to the configuration, wherein the different amount is less than the given amount.

8. The method of claim 2, comprising allocating each audio ad in the particular configuration to an ad time slot.

9. A system, comprising:

at least one storage device; and

one or more processors that interact with the storage device and execute instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving input of a user command submitted through a microphone of a content rendering device that outputs audio through speakers of the content rendering device;

identifying a plurality of audio ads that are available to provide in response to the input;

determining a plurality of configurations of the audio ads, including determining a different temporal orders in which two or more of the audio ads are presentable;

for each of the plurality of configurations, determining a utility value of the configuration by combining utility values of the audio ads included in the configuration, wherein the utility value of the configuration indicates a utility to the user of the audio ads in the configuration;

selecting, from the plurality of configurations, a particular configuration having a highest determined utility value; and

transmitting at least one of the ads included in the selected configuration for output through the speakers of the content rendering device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein determining a plurality of configurations of the audio ads comprises determining a plurality of temporal configurations of various different sets of audio ads.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein selecting a particular configuration having a highest determined utility value comprises selecting a particular configuration having a highest impact on future behavior.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

identifying text, image, or video content to provide in response to the user command or other input; and

delivering the text, image, or video content to display device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein delivering the text, image or video content to the display device comprise sending the text, image, or video content in as e-mail information.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein determining the utility value of the configuration comprises:

decreasing the utility value by a given amount when a first audio ad is added to the configuration; and

decreasing the utility value by a different amount when a second audio ad is added to the configuration, wherein the different amount is less than the given amount.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

allocating each audio ad in the particular configuration to an ad time slot.

16. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving input of a user command submitted through a microphone of a content rendering device that outputs audio through speakers of the content rendering device;

identifying a plurality of audio ads that are available to provide in response to the input;

determining a plurality of configurations of the audio ads, including determining a different temporal orders in which two or more of the audio ads are presentable;

for each of the plurality of configurations, determining a utility value of the configuration by combining utility values of the audio ads included in the configuration, wherein the utility value of the configuration indicates a utility to the user of the audio ads in the configuration;

selecting, from the plurality of configurations, a particular configuration having a highest determined utility value; and

transmitting at least one of the ads included in the selected configuration for output through the speakers of the content rendering device.

17. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining a plurality of configurations of the audio ads comprises determining a plurality of temporal configurations of various different sets of audio ads.

18. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein selecting a particular configuration having a highest determined utility value comprises selecting a particular configuration having a highest impact on future behavior.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

identifying text, image, or video content to provide in response to the user command or other input; and

delivering the text, image, or video content to display device.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 19, wherein delivering the text, image or video content to the display device comprise sending the text, image, or video content in as e-mail information.

21. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining the utility value of the configuration comprises:

decreasing the utility value by a given amount when a first audio ad is added to the configuration; and

decreasing the utility value by a different amount when a second audio ad is added to the configuration, wherein the different amount is less than the given amount.