Analyzing user viewership of advertisements appearing in a screen display in a user terminal

• US 8,205,167 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2002
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kang, Sang Chul, Min, Chang Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Tadeese
• Assistant Examiner(s): RIEGLER, PATRICK F
• Application Number:
  US10/263,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20030079176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,548 Days
• Field of Search: 715/781, 705/14.4, 705/14.52, 705/14.73, 705/14.49, 709/229, 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 715/781
• 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 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A method and system for providing an advertisement window in a certain area of a web browser executed in a user terminal, wherein the user terminal being communicated with at least one advertiser server and an advertisement control server over the Internet. The method includes the steps of requesting a user identification code; receiving the user identification code from the advertisement control server, and storing the code on the local storage of the user terminal; requesting advertisement control data to the advertisement control server using the stored user identification; receiving the advertisement control data from the advertisement control server, and displaying control information of the advertisement window; accessing and obtaining the advertisement data located on the received address; and placing, in a certain area of the web browser.

Claims

1. An advertising control server for controlling an advertisement window to be displayed in a screen display produced by a user program being executed in a user terminal, said server comprising:

means for receiving a request from the user terminal to send a user identification code, said request including an advertiser code associated with the user terminal;

means for generating and sending the requested user identification code to the user terminal, the user identification code including the advertiser code received from the user terminal and a user serial code associated with the advertiser code;

first storage means for storing the generated user identification code;

second storage means for storing advertisement control information, said advertisement control information being associated with said advertiser code and including an URL address of advertisement data stored in an advertiser server and the related display control information for the advertisement;

means for receiving a request from the user terminal to send advertisement control data, said request including the user identification code;

means for retrieving, from the second storage means, the advertisement control information associated with the advertiser code included in the user identification code, for generating advertisement control data based on the retrieved advertisement control information, and for sending the generated advertisement control data to the user terminal;

third storage means for storing information on request time when the user terminal requests the advertisement control data and end time when the user terminal is disconnected; and

means for calculating a number of users for every advertiser, based on user identification codes stored in the first storage means, and calculating statistics for a period of time during which user watches the advertisement window, based on the time information stored in the third storage means.

2. A method performed in an advertisement control server for controlling an advertisement window to be displayed in a screen display produced by a user program being executed in a user terminal comprising:

receiving a request from the user terminal to send a user identification code, said request including an advertiser code associated with the user terminal;

generating and sending the requested user identification code to the user terminal, the user identification code including the advertiser code received from the user terminal and a user serial code associated with the advertiser code;

storing the generated user identification code;

storing advertisement control information, said advertisement control information being associated with said advertiser code and including an address of advertisement data stored in an advertiser server and the related display control information for the advertisement;

receiving a request from the user terminal to send advertisement control data, said request including said user identification code;

retrieving the stored advertisement control information associated with the advertiser code included in the user identification code;

generating advertisement control data based on the retrieved advertisement control information;

sending the generated advertisement control data to the user terminal;

storing user time information including information of request time when the user terminal requests the advertisement control data and end time when the user terminal is disconnected; and

calculating a number of users for every advertiser, based on the stored user identification code, and calculating statistics for a period of time during which every user watches the advertisement window, based on the stored user time information.

3. A computer program product executed in an advertisement control server for controlling an advertisement window to be displayed in a screen display produced by a user program being executed in a user terminal, said computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, said computer usable program code comprising:

computer usable program code configured to receive a request from the user terminal to send a user identification code, said request including an advertiser code associated with the user terminal;

computer usable program code configured to generate and send the requested user identification code to the user terminal, the user identification code including the advertiser code received from the user terminal and a user serial code associated with the advertiser code;

computer usable program code configured to store the generated user identification code;

computer usable program code configured to store advertisement control information, said advertisement control information being associated with said advertiser code and including an address of advertisement data stored in an advertiser server and the related display control information for the advertisement;

computer usable program code configured to receive a request from the user terminal to send advertisement control data, said request including said user identification code;

computer usable program code configured to retrieve the stored advertisement control information associated with the advertiser code included in the user identification code;

computer usable program code configured to generate advertisement control data based on the retrieved advertisement control information;

computer usable program code configured to send the generated advertisement control data to the user terminals;

computer usable program code configured to store user time information including information of request time when the user terminal requests the advertisement control data and end time when the user terminal is disconnected; and

computer usable program code configured to calculate a number of users for every advertiser, based on the stored user identification code, and calculating statistics for a period of time during which every user watches the advertisement window, based on the stored user time information.