Advertising proximity route selection

• US 8,660,894 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Sullivan, Patrick J., Raguillat, Fred, Stern, Edith H., Willner, Barry E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): REFAI, SAM M
• Application Number:
  US13/435,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20120191537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.4, 705/14.58, 705/14.62
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3476 using point of interest [POI] information, e.g. a route passing visible POIs
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

A request for route information to a destination is received by a route processing module. Available routes to the destination are determined in response to receiving the request. It is determined, for at least one available route to the destination, whether the available route provides proximity to at least one targeted advertisement. At least one available route to the destination is provided upon determining that the available route provides the proximity to the targeted advertisement.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request for route information to a destination from a route requester;

determining, in response to receiving the request, available routes to the destination;

determining, via a processor for at least one available route to the destination using advertising physical location information of advertisements located remotely from advertised businesses and close to travel routes, whether the at least one available route travels near at least one targeted advertisements that is physically located remotely from an advertised business at an advertising location proximate to the at least one available route;

providing the at least one available route to the destination upon determining that the at least one available route travels near the at least one targeted advertisement;

determining whether the route requester travels to an advertised physical location advertised by a targeted advertisement that the route requester traveled near while traveling along the provided at least one available route; and

sending a message indicating that the route requester traveled to the advertised physical location advertised by the targeted advertisement to an advertising server that adjusts an advertising incentive associated with future routing via the provided at least one available route.

2. The method of claim 1, where determining, via the processor for at least one available route to the destination using the advertising physical location information of advertisements located remotely from advertised businesses and close to travel routes, whether the at least one available route travels near the at least one targeted advertisement that is physically located remotely from the advertised business at the advertising location proximate to the at least one available route comprises:

determining the at least one targeted advertisement;

determining a physical location of each of the at least one targeted advertisement relative to the at least one available route; and

determining whether the physical location of each of the at least one targeted advertisement is within view of the route requester near the at least one available route.

3. The method of claim 2, where determining the at least one targeted advertisement comprises:

determining route requester information comprising characteristics, interests, and advertising preferences of the route requester;

determining a targeted advertising characteristic of the route requester based upon the route requester information;

comparing the targeted advertising characteristic of the route requester with available advertisements; and

determining a match between the targeted advertising characteristic of the route requester and at least one of the available advertisements.

4. The method of claim 3, where determining a targeted advertising characteristic of the route requester comprises:

accessing a route requester profile associated with the route requester; and

identifying the targeted advertising characteristic of the route requester based upon the route requester profile.

5. The method of claim 1, where determining, via the processor for at least one available route to the destination using the advertising physical location information of advertisements located remotely from advertised businesses and close to travel routes, whether the at least one available route travels near the at least one targeted advertisement that is physically located remotely from the advertised business at the advertising location proximate to the at least one available route comprises:

determining a primary route among a plurality of available routes;

calculating a travel time difference associated with each available route that provides proximity to the advertising location of the at least one targeted advertisement relative to the primary route;

determining whether the travel time difference associated with each available route is less than a configured maximum travel time difference; and

where providing the at least one available route to the destination upon determining that the at least one available route travels near the at least one targeted advertisement comprises providing a route with an associated travel time difference less than the configured maximum travel time difference.

6. The method of claim 1, where determining, via the processor for at least one available route to the destination using the advertising physical location information of advertisements located remotely from advertised businesses and close to travel routes, whether the at least one available route travels near the at least one targeted advertisement that is physically located remotely from the advertised business at the advertising location proximate to the at least one available route comprises determining targeted advertising associated with at least one of an activity associated with the destination and a temporal factor associated with a time period during which the request is received.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the route requester travels at least a portion of the provided at least one available route to the destination that travels near the at least one targeted advertisement that is physically located remotely from the advertised business at the advertising location proximate to the at least one available route; and

sending a message to the advertising server identifying an advertising impression proximity event associated with each of the at least one targeted advertisement that the route requester traveled near while traveling along the traveled portion of the provided at least one available route.