Method and system for analyzing advertisements delivered to a mobile unit

• US 6,647,269 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2001
• Issued: 11/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Telcontar
• Inventors: Koopman, Jr., Philip J., Tanaka, Hirohisa A., Hendrey, Geoffrey R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Nguyen T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US09/898,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20020102993A1
• Time in Patent Office: 859 Days
• Field of Search: 455/2.01, 455/3.03, 455/4.03, 455/4.05, 455/413, 455/414, 455/418, 455/456, 455/459, 455/466, 455/461, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• 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 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Accurate location information about a mobile telecommunication transceiver is used to generate advertising content responsive to a user approaching the location of a business. This advertising content is tailored to the user'"'"'s preferences and the particular business involved. Once the advertising content is delivered, the position of the user is monitored to track the effectiveness of the advertisement. If the user enters the business'"'"' store and/or makes a purchase, the advertisement is logged as having been successful. If the user does not enter the store within a predetermined period of time or moves away from the store, the advertisement is considered to have been ineffective.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing an advertisement received by a mobile communications device, comprising the steps of:

(i) automatically monitoring the device'"'"'s geographic location subsequent to receiving advertising data;

(ii) writing success information to a database if the mobile device enters within a predetermined period of time a geographic location corresponding to a business with which the advertising data is associate; and

(iii) writing failure information to the database if the mobile device does not enter the geographic location corresponding to the business within the predetermined period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (i) comprises receiving location data from a global positioning system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location associated with the business is a store.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of writing purchase information to the database responsive to a user associated with the mobile device making a purchase at the store.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of writing second success information to the database when the purchase comprises goods with which the advertisement is associated.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount of time varies by business.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount of time varies by mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of writing failure information to the database when the mobile device moves to a distance greater than a predetermined distance from the geographic location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein success information comprises time elapsed between a time that the advertisement data was sent to the mobile device and a time that the mobile device entered the geographic location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein success information comprises a distance of the mobile device to the geographic location at a time when the advertisement data was sent to the mobile device.

11. An apparatus for analyzing an advertisement received by a mobile communications device, comprising:

a processor;

memory for storing a database and computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the steps of;

(i) automatically monitoring the device'"'"'s geographic location subsequent to receiving advertising data;

(ii) writing success information to a database if the mobile device enters within a predetermined period of time a geographic location corresponding to a business with which the advertising data is associated; and

(iii) writing failure information to the database if the mobile device does not enter the geographic location corresponding to the business within the predetermined period of time.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein step (i) comprises receiving location data from a global positioning system.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the geographic location associated with the business is a store.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise the step of writing purchase information to the database when a user associated with the mobile device makes a purchase from the store.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise the step of writing second success information to the database when the purchase comprises goods with which the advertisement is associated.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the predetermined amount of time varies by business.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the predetermined amount of time varies by mobile device.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise the step of writing failure information to the database when the mobile device moves to a distance greater than a predetermined distance from the geographic location.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein success information comprises an elapsed time between a time that the advertisement data was sent to the mobile device and a time that the mobile device entered the geographic location.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein success information comprises a distance of the mobile device to the geographic location at a time when the advertisement data was sent to the mobile device.

21. A computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a data processing device to analyze an advertisement received by a mobile communications device by performing the steps of:

(i) automatically monitoring the device'"'"'s geographic location subsequent to receiving advertising data;

(ii) writing success information to a database if the mobile device enters within a predetermined period of time a geographic location corresponding to a business with which the advertising data is associated; and

(iii) writing failure information to the database if the mobile device does not enter the geographic location corresponding to the business within the predetermined period of time.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein step (i) comprises receiving location data from a global positioning system.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the geographic location associated with the business is a store.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise the step of writing purchase information to the database when a user associated with the mobile device makes a purchase from the store.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise the step of writing second success information to the database when the purchase comprises goods with which the advertisement is associated.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the predetermined amount of time varies by business.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the predetermined amount of time varies by mobile device.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise the step of writing failure information to the database when the mobile device moves to a distance greater than a predetermined distance from the geographic location.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein success information comprises an elapsed time between a time that the advertisement data was sent to the mobile device and a time that the mobile device entered the geographic location.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein success information comprises a distance of the mobile device to the geographic location at a time when the advertisement data was sent to the mobile device.

31. A method for analyzing an advertisement sent to a mobile device, comprising the steps of:

(i) subsequent to receiving advertising data, autonomically monitoring the device'"'"'s geographic location by receiving location information from a global positioning system associated with the device;

(ii) when, within a predetermined amount of time, the mobile device enters a geographic location associated with a business to which the advertising data refers, writing success information to the database;

(iii) when the predetermined amount of time in step (ii) elapses without the mobile device entering the geographic location, writing failure information to the database; and

(iv) writing failure information to the database when the mobile device moves to a distance greater than a predetermined distance from the geographic location.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of:

(v) writing purchase information to the database when a user associated with the mobile device makes a purchase from the business; and

(vi) writing second success information to the database when the purchase comprises goods referred to in the advertising data.

33. A system for analyzing an advertisement received by a mobile communications device, comprising:

a processor;

memory for storing a database and computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the steps of;

(i) subsequent to receiving advertising data, automatically monitoring the device'"'"'s geographic location by receiving location information from a global positioning system associated with the device;

(ii) when, within a predetermined amount of time, the mobile device enters a geographic location associated with a business to which the advertising data refers, writing success information to the database;

(iii) when the predetermined amount of time in step (ii) elapses without the mobile device entering the geographic location, writing failure information to the database; and

(iv) writing failure information to the database when the mobile device moves to a distance greater than a predetermined distance from the geographic location.

34. The system of claim 33, further comprising the steps of:

(v) writing purchase information to the database when a user associated with the mobile device makes a purchase from the business; and

(vi) writing second success information to the database when the purchase comprises goods referred to in the advertising data.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, further comprising the steps of:

(v) writing purchase information to the database when a user associated with the mobile device makes a purchase from the business; and

(vi) writing second success information to the database when the purchase comprises goods referred to in the advertising data.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the monitoring step includes monitoring the movement patterns of the device to determine if it reacts to the advertising data.

35. A computer-readable medium, having instructions contained thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause a system to perform the steps of:

(i) subsequent to receiving advertising data, automatically monitoring the device'"'"'s geographic location by receiving location information from a global positioning system associated with the device;

(ii) when, within a predetermined amount of time, the mobile device enters a geographic location associated with a business to which the advertising data refers, writing success information to the database;

(iii) when the predetermined amount of time in step (ii) elapses without the mobile device entering the geographic location, writing failure information to the database; and

(iv) writing failure information to the database when the mobile device moves to a distance greater than a predetermined distance from the geographic location.