System and method for delivering customized advertisements within interactive communication systems

• US 7,636,672 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2002
• Issued: 12/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mineral Lassen LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hemisphere Solutions NA LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Angles, Paul D., Blattner, Douglas O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber; Eric W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tri V
• Application Number:
  US10/107,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20060116924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,828 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/14.66
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization

Abstract

Customized advertisements are selected based on consumer profiles and are then integrated with offerings maintained by different content providers. The preferred interactive communication system interconnects multiple consumer computers, multiple content provider computers and multiple Internet provider computers with an advertisement provider computer. Whenever a consumer directs one of the consumer computers to access an offering existing in one of the content provider computers, an advertising request is sent to the advertisement provider computer. Upon receiving the advertising request, the advertising provider computer generates a custom advertisement based on the consumer'"'"'s profile. The custom advertisement is then combined with the offering from the content provider computer and displayed to the consumer. The advertisement provider computer also credits a consumer account, a content provider account and an internet provider account each time a consumer views a custom advertisement. Furthermore, the advertisement provider computer tracks consumer responses to the customized advertisements.

Claims

1. A system for customizing advertisements to be transferred via the internet, comprising:

a registration module executable at an advertisement provider computer, the registration module configured to allow the consumer to register consumer demographic information;

an advertising module executable at an advertisement provider computer, the advertising module configured to select an advertisement corresponding to the consumer demographic information and transfer the advertisement to the consumer in response to the consumer accessing a portion of displayed content provided by a content provider computer; and

an accounting database configured to bill an advertiser and provide a credit to a content provider associated with the content provider computer in response to the transfer of the advertisement to the consumer.

2. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 1, wherein the registration module is further configured to create an advertisement request and to transfer the advertisement request to the content provider.

3. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 2, wherein the advertisement request comprises an advertisement provider computer identifier and a content provider script.

4. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 2, wherein the registration module is further configured to assign a consumer identification code to the consumer, and configured to transfer the consumer identification code to the consumer.

5. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 4, wherein the advertising module is further configured to accept the advertisement request and the consumer identification code from the consumer.

6. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 1, further comprising:

a registration database configured to store registration information; and

an advertisement database configured to store advertisement information.

7. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement provider computer is further configured to access the accounting database to credit the consumer when the advertisement is transferred.

8. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 1, wherein the advertising module is further configured to track consumer activities.

9. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 8, wherein the consumer activities relate to the advertisement, and wherein the accounting database is further configured to update billing information based on the consumer activities.

10. The advertisement provider computer according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement provider computer is associated with a website which is comprised of a plurality of computers.

11. A method of providing a customized advertisement, comprising:

registering a consumer and consumer demographic data at an advertisement provider computer;

receiving a request for an advertisement at the advertisement provider computer in response to the consumer accessing data provided by a content provider;

selecting with the advertisement provider computer, at least one advertisement based on the consumer demographic data;

transferring the selected advertisement from the advertisement provider computer to the consumer through a communications medium; and

billing the advertisement provider computer and crediting the content provider in response to the selected advertisement being transferred to the consumer.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the request identifies at least the content provider, and the consumer.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising crediting the consumer with the advertisement provider computer in response to the transfer of the advertisement to the consumer.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising tracking activities of the consumer.

15. An apparatus for customizing advertisements to be transferred via the internet, comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to said processor;

computer executable instructions stored on at least one of said at least one memory, said computer executable instruction when executed carry out the acts of;

send a request for an advertisement to an advertisement provider computer in response to a consumer accessing data provided by a content provider wherein, at least one advertisement is selected based on consumer demographic data and wherein the consumer and the consumer demographic data were previously registered with the advertisement provider computer;

receive the selected advertisement from the advertisement provider computer and send the selected advertisement to the consumer through a communications medium; and

provide an indication to the advertisement provider computer to credit the content provider in response to the selected advertisement being transferred to the consumer.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the request identifies at least the content provider, and the consumer.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said at least one memory has computer instructions stored thereon that when executed credit the consumer with the advertisement provider computer in response to the transfer of the advertisement to the consumer.