Advertisements on mobile devices using integrations with mobile applications

• US 8,275,419 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2007
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sundaresan, Subash, Sarukkai, Ramesh, Hamilton, Sam P., Cheng, Julie Wan-Chi
• Primary Examiner(s): Karikari, Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US11/939,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125376A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,777 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.3
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A method for delivering advertisements to mobile devices includes integrating an ad position within an application executable from a mobile device, wherein the ad position remains substantially constant in a location on a screen of the mobile device as viewed by a user throughout use of the application; including an ad call associated with the ad position; in response to executing the application, causing the ad call to retrieve an advertisement from an ad server; and receiving the advertisement into the ad position by the mobile device for display to the user.

Claims

1. A method for delivering advertisements to mobile devices, the method comprising:

integrating an ad position within an application executable from a mobile device having a small screen, wherein the ad position remains in a fixed location on the screen of the mobile device as viewed by a user throughout use of the application, the ad position being of a fixed height and a fixed width in dimension;

including an ad call associated with the ad position;

in response to executing the application, causing the ad call to retrieve an advertisement from an ad server, wherein causing the ad call to retrieve an advertisement includes providing additional information that enables the ad server to provide a targeted advertisement in response to the ad call retrieve operation; and

receiving the advertisement into the ad position by the mobile device for display to the user, wherein causing the ad call to retrieve and display the advertisement is executed independent of content of the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein integrating an ad position within the application comprises modifying the source code of the application to code the ad position as a viewable portion of the screen when the application is executed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the application comprises at least one of a short message service (SMS) application, a calendar, a game, an address book, an electronic mail application, a dialer and voicemail, or a map navigation application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the ad call:

retrieving a new advertisement periodically throughout the use of the application by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the ad call to retrieve an advertisement from the ad server further comprises retrieving a plurality of advertisements to be stored in a storage of the mobile device, wherein one of the plurality of advertisements is displayed to the user from within the ad position.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

displaying another one of the plurality of stored advertisements during a period of use of the application.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the ad call:

retrieving a second plurality of advertisements to replace or augment the plurality of stored advertisements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the received advertisement comprises a targeted advertisement based on a user behavior or interest.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the behavior or interest of the user is tracked through gathering information regarding the interaction of applications of the mobile device with a plurality of external applications.

10. A method for delivering advertisements to mobile devices, the method comprising:

integrating an ad position within an application executable from a mobile device, wherein the ad position remains in a fixed location on a screen of the mobile device as viewed by a user throughout use of the application, the ad position having fixed height and width dimensions within the screen in the fixed location unless changed through an update to the application;

retrieving a plurality of ads from an ad server for display within the ad position;

integrating an ad call within the ad position of the application;

in response to executing the application, causing the ad call to retrieve the plurality of advertisements from the ad server comprising providing additional information that enables the ad server to provide a targeted advertisement in response to the ad call;

storing the plurality of ads in a storage of the mobile device;

rotatably inserting the plurality of ads in the ad position during use of the application for display to the user;

integrating a second ad position different than the ad position within a second application executable from the mobile device, wherein the second ad position remains constant in a second fixed location on a screen of the mobile device as viewed by a user throughout use of the second application;

retrieving a second plurality of ads from the ad server for display in the second position that are different from the plurality of ads for display within the ad position;

storing the second plurality of ads in the storage; and

rotatably inserting the second plurality of ads in the second ad position during use of the second application.

11. A mobile device for receiving advertisements, comprising:

a small screen for displaying a plurality of applications together with advertisements to a user on the mobile device;

a processor to execute the plurality of applications of the mobile device; and

a storage to store the advertisements and program code that executes the plurality of applications;

wherein an ad position for displaying the advertisements is integrated into the program code of at least one of the plurality of applications executable by the processor such that the ad position remains in a fixed location on the screen as viewed by the user throughout use of the at least one application, the ad position being of a fixed height and a fixed width in dimension within the fixed location; and

an ad call integrated in the program code associated with the ad position, wherein in response to executing the at least one application, the processor retrieves an advertisement from the storage to be displayed in the ad position comprising sending additional information to the ad server to enable the ad server to provide a targeted ad in response to the retrieve operation, and wherein the ad call is executed to retrieve and display the advertisement independent of content of the application.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the program code comprises source code.

13. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processor retrieves a plurality of advertisements from an ad server, the plurality of advertisements being stored in the storage for display within the ad position.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the program code causes display of the plurality of stored advertisements within the ad position to be rotated during use of the application by the user.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the processor retrieves a second plurality of advertisements from the ad server to replace or augment the plurality of stored advertisements.

16. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the retrieved advertisement comprises a targeted advertisement based on a user behavior or interest.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the behavior or interest of the user is tracked through gathering information regarding the interaction of the plurality of applications of the mobile device with a plurality of external applications.