Advertisement selecting apparatus, advertisement selecting method and storage medium

• US 9,154,823 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2002
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Inoue, Toshio, Tsunoda, Tomohiro, Hoshino, Masaaki, Ohsumi, Tomoharu
• Primary Examiner(s): VAN BRAMER, JOHN W
• Application Number:
  US10/343,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20040054577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,870 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/14.41, 705/43, 705/52
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

An advertisement selecting system is disclosed providing, when selecting advertisements to be exposed to subscribers over the Internet, exposure control reflecting the inventory of advertisements by taking into account results of past exposure of each of the advertisements. When subscribers with a particular profile biased to specific tastes or preferences gain access to contents carrying advertisements, the first-ranked advertisement, i.e., the one best targeted for the subscribers in question, is exposed repeatedly but in a manner also making way for the advertisements in second and subsequent places which would be less likely to be exposed if handled conventionally, so that the stocked advertisements are exposed in fairly averaged fashion. Advertisement exposure is thus controlled in a manner averting lopsided exposure of certain (or partial) advertisement information by giving consideration to the advertisement inventory.

Claims

1. An advertisement selecting apparatus for selecting advertisement information for exposure to a subscriber, said advertisement selecting apparatus comprising:

calculating unit calculating a selection priority (P) of each of said individual advertisements;

advertisement exposure result managing unit managing results of past exposure by said subscriber to individual advertisements constituting said advertisement information and calculating a past advertisement exposure count (C) of each individual advertisement;

determining unit determining a degree of exposure inhibition (I), of each of said individual advertisements, derived from a predetermined inhibition coefficient (D) being raised to a power of the past advertisement exposure count of the advertisement (I=D^C), the degree of exposure inhibition (I) for an advertisement that has never been exposed is defined as 1, and a greater the past advertisement exposure count (C), a closer the degree of exposure inhibition (I) is to zero, the predetermined inhibition coefficient is adjusted based on matching conditions of (a) said subscriber, (b) a content provider and (c) a commercial sponsor of advertisements; and

advertisement information selecting unit obtaining a new selection priority by multiplying, from among candidate advertisements, each said selection priority by said degree of exposure inhibition (AI=P×

I) and selecting the advertisement information having a highest new selection priority.

2. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1, said advertisement information selecting unit selects said advertisement information by taking into account an exposure count quota imposed on each of said individual advertisements.

3. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising, in response to a content viewing request made by said subscriber, insertion unit inserting the advertisement information selected by said advertisement information selecting unit into a slot within contents before providing said contents to said subscriber.

4. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in an information-providing space involving parties made up of a content provider providing contents, of a commercial sponsor offering advertisement information to be attached to said contents, and of said subscriber, said advertisement information selecting unit compares attribute information held individually by said contents, said advertisement information, and said subscriber, with requirements held individually by said contents, said advertisement information, and said subscriber regarding the selection of advertisements, in order to acquire individual degrees of matching for said content provider, said commercial sponsor, and said subscriber, said advertisement information selecting unit further obtaining at least one candidate advertisement through calculation based on said individual degrees of matching for the parties involved, said advertisement information selecting unit further selecting the advertisement from the obtained candidate advertisements in accordance with the result of the past exposure and the selection priority regarding each of said individual advertisements.

5. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1,

said advertisement information selecting unit selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber by taking into account said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements and said results of said past exposure.

6. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1,

said advertisement information selecting unit selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber based on said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements which is multiplied by the degree of exposure inhibition derived from the predetermined inhibition coefficient being raised to the power of a past advertisement exposure count of the advertisement in question.

7. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1,

said advertisement information selecting unit selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber by taking into account said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements, said results of said past exposure, and an exposure count quota imposed on each of said individual advertisements.

8. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1,

said advertisement information selecting unit selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber by inhibiting said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements in keeping with an increase of a quota attainment quotient obtained by dividing said results of said past exposure by an exposure count quota imposed on each of said individual advertisements.

9. An advertisement selecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said selection priority of said advertisement information being determined based on an overall degree of matching for a system in an information-providing space involving parties made up of a content provider providing contents, a commercial sponsor offering advertisement information to be attached to said contents, and said subscriber.

10. An advertisement selecting method executed by a computer for selecting advertisement information for exposure to a subscriber, said advertisement selecting method comprising the steps of:

a calculating step for calculating a selection priority (P) of each of said individual advertisements;

a managing step for managing results of past exposure by said subscriber to individual advertisements constituting said advertisement information and calculating a past advertisement exposure count (C) of each individual advertisement;

a determining step for determining a degree of exposure inhibition (I), of each of said individual advertisements, derived from a predetermined inhibition coefficient (D) being raised to a power of the past advertisement exposure count of the advertisement (I=D^C), the degree of exposure inhibition (I) for an advertisement that has never been exposed is defined as 1, and a greater the past advertisement exposure count (C), a closer the degree of exposure inhibition (I) is to zero, the predetermined inhibition coefficient is adjusted based on matching conditions of (a) said subscriber, (b) a content provider and (c) a commercial sponsor of advertisements; and

a selecting step for obtaining a new selection priority for each advertisement information (AI), from among candidate advertisements, by multiplying said selection priority by said degree of exposure inhibition (AI=P×

I) and selecting the advertisement information having a highest new selection priority.

11. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10, wherein said advertisement information selecting step selects said advertisement information by taking into account an exposure count quota imposed on each of said individual advertisements.

12. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of acting, in response to a content viewing request made by said subscriber, to insert the advertisement information selected in said advertisement information selecting step into a slot within contents before providing said contents to said subscriber.

13. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10, wherein, in an information-providing space involving parties made up of a content provider providing contents, of a commercial sponsor offering advertisement information to be attached to said contents, and of said subscriber, said advertisement information selecting step compares attribute information held individually by said contents, said advertisement information, and said subscriber, with requirements held individually by said contents, said advertisement information, and said subscriber regarding the selection of advertisements, in order to acquire individual degrees of matching for said content provider, said commercial sponsor, and said subscriber, said advertisement information selecting step further obtaining at least one candidate advertisement through calculation based on said individual degrees of matching for the parties involved, said advertisement information selecting step further selecting the advertisement from the obtained candidate advertisements in accordance with the result of the past exposure and the selection priority regarding each of said individual advertisements.

14. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10,

wherein said advertisement information selecting step selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber by taking into account said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements and said results of said past exposure.

15. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10,

wherein said advertisement information selecting step selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber based on said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements which is multiplied by the degree of exposure inhibition derived from the predetermined inhibition coefficient being raised to the power of a past advertisement exposure count of the advertisement in question.

16. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10,

wherein said advertisement information selecting step selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber by taking into account said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements, said results of said past exposure, and an exposure count quota imposed on each of said individual advertisements.

17. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10,

wherein said advertisement information selecting step selects the advertisement information to be exposed to said subscriber by inhibiting said selection priority of each of said individual advertisements in keeping with an increase of a quota attainment quotient obtained by dividing said results of said past exposure by an exposure count quota imposed on each of said individual advertisements.

18. An advertisement selecting method according to claim 10, wherein said selection priority of said advertisement information being determined based on an overall degree of matching for a system in an information-providing space involving parties made up of a content provider providing contents, a commercial sponsor offering advertisement information to be attached to said contents, and said subscriber.

19. A storage medium embodied on a computer readable medium which stores physically, in a computer-readable format, computer software for causing a computer system to select advertisement information for exposure to a subscriber, said computer software comprising the steps of:

a calculating step for calculating a selection priority (P) of each of said individual advertisements;

a managing step for managing results of past exposure by said subscriber to individual advertisements constituting said advertisement information and for calculating a past advertisement exposure count (C) of each individual advertisement;

a determining step for determining a degree of exposure inhibition (I), of each of said individual advertisements, derived from a predetermined inhibition coefficient (D) being raised to a power of the past advertisement exposure count of the advertisement (I=D^C), the degree of exposure inhibition (I) for an advertisement that has never been exposed is defined as 1, and a greater the past advertisement exposure count (C), a closer the degree of exposure inhibition (I) is to zero, the predetermined inhibition coefficient is adjusted based on matching conditions of (a) said subscriber, (b) a content provider and (c) a commercial sponsor of advertisements; and

a selecting step for obtaining a new selection priority for each advertisement information (AI), from among candidate advertisements, by multiplying said selection priority by said degree of exposure inhibition (AI=P×

I) and selecting the advertisement information having a highest new selection priority.