Patent Application
20080010130
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention may be utilized across a broad array of networks and communication protocols.
One way of broadcasting data is to use an IP datacasting (IPDC) network. IPDC is a combination of digital broadcast and Internet Protocol. Through such an IP-based broadcasting network, one or more service providers can supply different types of IP services including on-line newspapers, radio, and television. These IP services are organized into one or more media streams in the form of audio, video and/or other types of data. To determine when and where these streams occur, users refer to an electronic service guide (ESG). One type of DVB is Digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H), a recently developed technology that increases the capabilities and services available on small handheld devices, such as mobile telephones. The DVB-H is designed to deliver 10 Mbps of data to a battery-powered terminal device.
DVB transport streams deliver compressed audio and video and data to a user via third party delivery networks. Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) is a technology by which encoded video, audio, and data within a single program is multiplexed, with other programs, into a transport stream (TS). The TS is a packetized data stream, with fixed length packets, including a header. The individual elements of a program, audio and video, are each carried within packets having a unique packet identification (PID). To enable a receiver device to locate the different elements of a particular program within the TS, Program Specific Information (PSI), which is embedded into the TS, is supplied. In addition, additional Service Information (SI), a set of tables adhering to the MPEG private section syntax, may be incorporated into the TS. This enables a receiver device to correctly process the data contained within the TS.
Aspects of the present invention, however, are also is applicable to other traditional digital mobile broadcast systems such as, for example, T-DAB, T/S-DMB, ISDB-T, ATSC, MediaFLO, and non-traditional systems such 3GPP MBMS and 3GPP2BCMCS.
The broadcast network 114 may include a radio transmission of IP datacasting over DVB-H. The broadcast network 114 may broadcast a service such as a digital or analog television signal and supplemental content related to the service via transmitter 118. The broadcast network may also include a radio, television or IP datacasting broadcasting network. The broadcast network 114 may also transmit supplemental content which may include a television signal, audio and/or video streams, data streams, video files, audio files, software files, and/or video games. In the case of transmitting IP datacasting services, the service source 122 may communicate actual program content to user device 112 through the broadcast network 114 and additional information such as user right and access information for the actual program content through the cellular network 116 or utilizing both networks.
The mobile device 112 may also contact the service source 122 through the cellular network 116. The cellular network 116 may comprise a wireless network and a base transceiver station transmitter 120. The cellular network may include a second/third-generation (2G/3G) cellular data communications network, a Global System for Mobile communications network (GSM), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or other wireless communication network such as a WLAN network.
In one aspect of the invention, mobile device 112 may comprise a wireless interface configured to send and/or receive digital wireless communications within cellular network 116. The information received by mobile device 112 through the cellular network 116 or broadcast network 114 may include user input or selection (for example, in an interactive transmission), applications, services, electronic images, audio clips, video clips, and/or WTAI (Wireless Telephony Application Interface) messages. As part of cellular network 116, one or more base stations (not shown) may support digital communications with receiver device 112 while the receiver device is located within the administrative domain of cellular network 116.
As shown in
Computer executable instructions and data used by processor 128 and other components within mobile device 112 may be stored in a computer readable memory 134. The memory may be implemented with any combination of read only memory modules or random access memory modules, optionally including both volatile and nonvolatile memory. Software 140 may be stored within memory 134 and/or storage to provide instructions to processor 128 for enabling mobile device 112 to perform various functions. Alternatively, some or all of the computer executable instructions may be embodied in hardware or firmware (not shown).
Mobile device 112 may be configured to receive, decode and process digital broadband broadcast transmissions that are based, for example, on the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) standard, such as DVB-H, DVB-T or DVB-MHP, through a specific DVB receiver 141. The mobile device may also be provided with other types of receivers for digital broadband broadcast transmissions. Additionally, receiver device 112 may also be configured to receive, decode and process transmissions through FM/AM Radio receiver 142, WLAN transceiver 143, and telecommunications transceiver 144. In one aspect of the invention, mobile device 112 may receive radio data stream (RDS) messages.
In an example of the DVB standard, one DVB 10 Mbit/s transmission may have 200, 50 kbit/s audio program channels or 50, 200 kbit/s video (TV) program channels. The mobile device 112 may be configured to receive, decode, and process transmission based on the Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) standard or other DVB standards, such as DVB-MHP, DVB-Satellite (DVB-S), DVB-Terrestrial (DVB-T) or DVB-Cable (DVB-C). Similarly, other digital transmission formats may alternatively be used to deliver content and information of availability of supplemental services, such as ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), NTSC (National Television System Committee), ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting—Terrestrial), DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), FLO (Forward Link Only) or DIRECTV. Additionally, the digital transmission may be time sliced, such as in DVB-H technology. Time-slicing may reduce the average power consumption of a mobile terminal and may enable smooth and seamless handover. Time-slicing consists of sending data in bursts using a higher instantaneous bit rate as compared to the bit rate required if the data were transmitted using a traditional streaming mechanism. In this case, the mobile device 112 may have one or more buffer memories for storing the decoded time sliced transmission before presentation. The power of receiver between bursts may be turned off to reduce power consumption.
In one or more configurations, a user of a mobile device may input desired data into the mobile device, organize the data within the mobile device, or display the information in a convenient manner. For example, a system for providing desired information in a mobile device may include a system API through which a third party may provide content to the mobile device. In addition, the system may include a widget API for providing a standardized interface for communication between a user interface display element (i.e., a widget) containing or displaying desired information. A widget, as used herein, relates to a user interface element and/or application that provides information such as advertising or weather information to a user based on a variety of factors such as user preferences. The system API may communicate with the widget via the widget API, for example. Also, the widget may access information on the Internet via the widget API. The widget may also include one or more web applications that are linked to one or more web servers and that access, send and/or retrieve information without relying on a web browser.
Widgets may be arranged and displayed on a dashboard located in a particular area of the user interface. A dashboard, as used throughout, refers to a predefined area of the user interface in which one or more widgets may be placed and organized. The dashboard provides delivery of messages from the widget API to the service or web server. The dashboard may further include a dashboard API for providing access to mobile device resources and for presenting a user interface corresponding to a widget. The dashboard API may contain at least two parts. One part may be an API for the development of widgets such as design, placement on a display, content, etc. Another part of the dashboard API may be provided for third party developers. In another example, the dashboard API may be built over a mobile device operating system or over any other API available on the mobile device. In another example, the system may also include a mobile gateway for creating and maintaining mobile connections between a mobile device and a service.
Widgets may be acquired in a variety of ways including through e-mail and/or by download from a widget advertiser or server. For example, an on-line business may make available an advertising widget associated with the business and allow users to download the widget to receive discounts and other offers from the business. Alternatively or additionally, an advertising company may e-mail widgets to target users. In one or more configurations, one or more users may be given an incentive to allow advertisements and advertisements widgets to be downloaded to their device such as a mobile telephone. For example, a company may offer bigger discounts through a widget advertised on their website. Thus, those users who download the company's widget will be able to take advantage of the discounts. Advertising incentive systems are discussed in further detail with respect to
User interface 300 further includes a dashboard 320 and multiple widgets 325 and 326 situated within the dashboard 320. Dashboard 320 may be defined by a fixed area of the user's interface that is dedicated to displaying one or more types of information such as widgets 325 and 326. The area occupied by dashboard 320 may be set by the user or predefined by a system default. Dashboard 320 may also be a flexible area that expands or contracts depending on the amount of information to be displayed. In instances where dashboard 320 is a fixed size, advertisements and widgets from various advertisers and companies may compete for space on a particular user's dashboard. In some cases, one spot, for example, the middle of dashboard 320, may be more desirable than a left or right position.
Each of widgets 325 and 326 are downloaded through widget server 300 based on one or more of a user request, user preferences and/or user operation patterns stored in database 315. In particular, database 315 may track and record a user's preference for certain types of advertisements or advertisement widgets to build a user profile. Specifically, widgets 325 and 326 collected by a user may be analyzed and recorded as part of the user profile. For example, a user's widget collection may contain more advertising widgets related to consumer electronics than cookware. By inferring a preference based on the user's collection of widgets, server 300 may assign higher priority to advertisements related to electronics and lower priority to cookware advertisements. The user profile is stored to allow server 300 to transmit only relevant and desired advertisements to the user. Irrelevant or unwanted advertisements may be parsed out by widget server 300 or, alternatively, may still be sent to device 300 depending on the user preferences and device settings.
Widget advertisers 311 and on-line advertising systems 310 may compete to have their advertisements transmitted to device 305. Widget advertisers 311 refer to those companies or organizations that seek to advertise widgets to users. The advertised widgets may be specific to a company and contain functionality and/or information that are particularly relevant to or indicative of the sponsoring company. On-line advertising systems 310 and vendors, on the other hand, generate advertisements for various companies and organizations and transmit the advertisements to server 300. That is, the advertisements distributed by on-line advertising systems 310 might not be relevant or linked to systems 310. Server 300 may generate an advertisement widget for the advertisements received from on-line advertising system 310 using, for example, a widget template or, alternatively, may deliver the advertising information through an advertisement widget previously downloaded to a user's device 305. As such, advertisements from on-line advertising system 310 and widget advertisers 311 compete for a user's attention and the bandwidth of device 305.
Server 300 is responsible for resolving the competition and determining which advertisements are ultimately transmitted to which users. In particular, server 300 segments the user population to determine which users receive a particular advertisement. To do so, server 300 may retrieve user information and profiles from database 315, divides the user population into segments, and determines which segments receive which advertisements or advertisement widgets. For example, server 300 may determine, based on user interaction patterns and user profile information, including widget collection data, that users in the 18-25 year old demographic living in California are disproportionately interested in advertisements related to water sports while users in the same age demographic living in New York are more interested financial information. In view of the apparent division in interests based on residence, server 300 may segment the user population according to residence and send a proportionate amount of surfing advertisements to the users living in California while advertisements relating to the stock market are more often transmitted to users residing in New York. The creation and evaluation of the aforementioned user profiles and user preferences are discussed in further detail below.
Once server 300 determines a particular advertisement is relevant to a user of device 305, the advertisement information is downloaded to and displayed on device 305. In one or more configurations, advertisements determined to be relevant to a user of device 305 are downloaded to device 305 and displayed in one of widgets 325 or 326. Server 300 may specify or designate one of widgets 325 or 326 as a system widget that downloads and displays a advertisements and advertisement information from a variety of sources selected by server 300 while other widgets are tied or linked specifically to a particular advertiser or advertising category. Alternatively, a widget stored in server 300 associated with a relevant advertisement may be downloaded to device 305 and displayed in dashboard 320. In one example, a new widget associated with advertisement information received from an on-line advertising vendor 310 may be created and downloaded to device 305 where the widget and the advertisement information is displayed in dashboard 320. Another method of displaying advertisements and related information may include displaying an advertisement on a user's device 305 through RSS streams. For example, an advertisement may be displayed as a headline in the RSS display.
In one or more scenarios, a server may group the users corresponding to profiles 401 and 402 together based on the type of advertisement. For example, both profile 401 and 402 indicate that both users have widgets associated with music and in particular, concerts, in each of their respective collections. As such, the users corresponding to profiles 401 and 402 may be grouped together in the same segment of users to which advertisements relating to music and concerts are sent. In another example, an advertisement received from a widget advertiser advertising sports memorabilia might not be transmitted to both users. Based on the user interests and the collection of widgets of each of user profiles 401 and 402, an advertising server may determine that the user of profile 402 does not belong in a sports fan segment of the user population, but that the user of profile 401 does belong in a sports fan segment. Accordingly, the sports memorabilia advertisement may be transmitted to the device associated with the user of profile 401, but not the device associated with the user of profile 402. User profiles 401 and 402 may be updated on at a regular interval defined by the user or a default setting.
Alternatively or additionally, user profiles 401 and 402 may be updated every time the users corresponding to user profiles 401 and 402 downloads or updates their collection of widgets. A user may further manually update their profile based on a change in preference or other factors. In addition to the aforementioned information, user profiles 401 and 402 may also include information such as widget usage history, Really Simple Syndication/Rich Site Summary (RSS) reader headline openings/markings, a preferred language. A plethora of other information may be similarly stored or recorded in user profiles 401 and 402. Further, user profiles 401 and 402 might not contain the same types of information. Rather the types of information stored in user profiles 401 and 402 may be specific to each of the users. In one example, user profile 401 may further include an information field named “Favorite Football Team” with an associated value of “Washington Redskins.” In contrast, user profile 402 might not contain that field, but instead may include a field named “Historical Era” indicating that the user is especially interested in the Middle Ages. As such, each of user profiles 401 and 402 may contain profile information that relates specifically to a particular interest of the corresponding user, e.g., using keywords.
Using the widget collection data as well as other profile information derived from user interactions and behavior, server 502 may determine whether one or more advertisements received from a variety of sources would be relevant to the interests of user 505. That is, server 502 may determine one or more attributes of an advertisement that are of particular relevance to determining target users. The user population may then be segmented based on those attributes or characteristics. That is, whether a user is grouped into a particular segment of the user population depends on the user's collection of widgets as well as other profile information. As a user continues to develop his or user widget collection and profile information, the segmentation of the user population may change.
Widgets such as widgets 510 and 511 may be associated with a single advertisement or may be used to display and rotate multiple advertisements. For example, a widget may be generated that is specifically associated with a particular product such as a beverage. Accordingly, the widget may only displays a pre-specified advertisement associated with the advertised beverage. Alternatively, a widget may be generated that is capable of receiving and displaying multiple advertisements that may be related in subject matter or associated with the same company. In one instance, a company that sells several types of furniture products may create a single widget that is capable of displaying a rotation of advertisements relating to the various types of furniture products. Additionally, a server may generate a single advertisement widget for receiving and displaying an assortment of advertisements that the server determines are relevant to a corresponding user.
In one or more configurations, selection button 710 transmits a request to server 702 requesting contact with advertiser 705. In response to the request, server 702 may establish a first communication connection with advertiser 705 and a second communication connection with device 700 (or a user thereof) and link the two communication connections. As such, server 702 also serves as a facilitator and gateway of communications. To facilitate this task, server 702 may include a conference call bridge that provides the capability to send and receive communications to and from multiple entities and/or devices. Additionally, server 702 may include a VoiceXML gateway that executes VoiceXML code allowing advertiser 705 or a user of device 700 to enter commands through speech. Thus, in one example, advertiser 705, upon receiving a call from server 702 requesting communications with a user of device 700, may reject the call using voice commands. VoiceXML code is able to translate the voice commands and perform a corresponding action (e.g., sever the connection with advertiser 705) in response.
Alternatively or additionally, advertiser 705 may also have a widget associated with server 702. Upon receiving a contact request from a user of device 700, server 702 may display the contact request to advertiser 705 through the advertiser's widget. The contact request may further include a “Call Back” or “Contact” option that allows advertiser 705 to respond to the contact request. Using this method, a user's name and phone number may be hidden from advertiser 705 and known only to server 702. Server 702 may merely displays the contact option to advertiser 705 without any additional information. Once advertiser 705 chooses to call the user back, server 702 is able to establish a connection between advertiser 705 and the user of device 700 based on information known only to server 702.
In yet another alternative or additional configuration, server 702 may transmit an SMS or e-mail to advertiser 705 identifying the user and a call-back phone number. Other forms of message communications may also be used separately or in combination with SMS and/or e-mail. Server 702 may form the SMS or e-mail based on profile information of the user, a caller identification and/or information manually provided by the user. For example, advertiser 705 may require that certain information be transmitted as part of a communication request. If the information is not available to server 702, server 702 may prompt the user for the information. In one instance, server 702 may establish a communication connection with the user of device 700 to retrieve the required information through voice commands and inputs. Alternatively, server 702 may send a SMS request the information to the user through device 700.
Referring to
In
In step 1100, key words and other information associated with a desired advertisement is received from an advertiser. A preliminary cost is then generated based on multiple factors including a number of words in the advertisement, size of font and whether or not graphics are included, all of which determine a size of the advertisement, in step 1105. Further, in step 1110, the advertisement information is used to segment the user population to determine the potential market permeation of the advertisement. In other words, one or more users of the user population that may have interest are identified. Interest level may be determined based on the user profile of each user. The preliminary cost may then be adjusted based on the number of users that may receive the advertisement in step 1115. For example, a first premium may be added to the cost if between 300 and 500 users will be targeted and a second premium may be applied to the cost if 501 or more users are projected to receive the advertisement. The cost may also be adjusted based on prices being charged for comparable ads targeting the same segment of users. Alternatively or additionally, the cost may be adjusted to maximize the revenue from a given advertisement based on parameters such as a click-through rate and a cost of click. Historical information may be collected and stored to estimate the click-through rate based on various words used in an advertisement. For example, a higher click-through rate may be estimated for the word “books” than for the word “dictionary.” Based on the cost of click and the estimated click-through, a preferred cost may be calculated to maximize total revenue.
A determination is then made as to whether the user wants to take advantage of the advertisement offers in step 1210. If the user selects an advertisement plan and offer, a mobile service provider may be notified in step 1215. That is, the advertisement server may notify the server that the user has given advertising permission to the server. In addition, the advertisement server may arrange for discounts with the mobile communication service provider. A server may then send an advertisement widget to the user in step 1220. The widget may be a standard advertisement widget used by the server to deliver a variety of advertising information to the user's device. Alternatively or additionally, the advertisement widget may be specific to a particular product or service. In step 1225, the server or the mobile service provider may track the advertisement activity associated with the user and/or user's device. A determination may then be made in step 1230 to determine whether the user's advertisement requirements have been fulfilled in accordance with the advertisement he or she selected. If so, in step 1235, the server applies the appropriate incentive. If the requirements have not been fulfilled, the server may notify the user of non-compliance in step 1240 or, alternatively, automatically take corrective measures to meet the requirements. For example, an advertisement server may begin sending more advertisements or advertisement widgets to the user everyday in order to meet a monthly advertisement allowance agreed to by the user.
In one or more configurations, server 1405 may determine that there is an available widget space in the active widget folder 1415. That is, server 1405 may determine that additional widgets may be added to a display rotation on dashboard 1408 without violating a user agreement or interfering with the display specifications and requirements of other widgets such as widgets 1421, 1422 and 1423. Upon identifying available widget space 1420, server 1405 may solicit bids for space 1420 from companies or other entities 1410a-c. Entities 1410a-c may respond to the solicitation by interfacing with server 1405 and entering a bid for widget space 1420. For example, entities 1410a-c may each enter a price that they would be willing to pay as well as specifications regarding how and when the widget is to be displayed. The price may be a per display fee or a per minute cost or other cost variations. The specifications may include a time period in which the widget is to be displayed, how long the widget is to be displayed for and the like. Server 1405 may then select a widget associated with one of the bids based on, for example, the amount of revenue server 1405 would receive in awarding widget space 1420 to bidder 1410a, 1410b or 1410c. Alternatively or additionally, a widget may be selected by conducting a cost/benefit analysis based on various factors including, for example, price, duration and display frequency. The winning widget is then transmitted to the mobile device, active widget folder 1415 and/or library 1430 and displayed in dashboard 1408 according to the specifications provided in the bid.
Form 1501 also allows the bidder to enter bid prices in fields 1520 and 1525. The initial bid price sets a minimum bid for the bidder while the highest bid relates to the highest amount a bidder is willing to pay. In one or more configurations, a user may authorize the widget server to select any price between the initial bid price and the highest bid price in order to win the widget space. For example, bidder A may submit a bid with an initial price of $100 and a high bid of $200. If bidder B subsequently submits a high bid of $150, widget server may be authorized to automatically elevate bidder A's bid to $151 in order to win the widget space. Such authorization may be inferred from user preferences, terms of use, contract or explicit permission by the bidder. A bidder may specify a display frequency of the widget using field 1530 and menu 1535. Field 1530 permits a bidder to enter a number of times while menu 1535 allows a user to select a qualifying criterion such as day, month or year. In other words, a user may enter 4 in field 1530 and select day in menu 1535 to represent a display frequency of 4 times per day. Bidder may further specify the display time using menus 1540 and 1541 as well as a display position using drop down menu 1545. An illustration 1550 may be provided for the bidder's reference when selecting a display position. Thus, in one example, a bidder may enter a display frequency of 3 times per day with a display time between 7 AM and 7 PM and a selection of display position 3. Accordingly, if the bidder wins the widget space, the widget of the winning bidder may be displayed 3 times a day between the hours of 7 AM and 7 PM in position 3 of a receiving user's dashboard. A variety of other widget display specifications may also be included in bid form 1501 such as a desired demographic and/or a display duration.
In step 1635, the potential benefit associated with each of the first and second bids are compared. Based on the comparison, one of the bids is selected in 1640 as the winner. For example, in one instance, the bid that is determined to have the higher potential revenue may be selected. Alternatively or additionally, the widget server may also consider a host of other factors in addition to the comparison of potential revenues in making the selection. These factors may include the subject matter of the widget, the identity of the bidder as well as whether the bidder's widget display requests can be fulfilled. Once a selection is made, the widget associated with the winning bid is then transmitted to user devices in one or more segments of the user population in step 1645. The widget server may further transmit display specifications stipulated by the bidder in the bid. The user's device may then follow the display specifications when displaying the widget in the dashboard.
One or more systems and methods described herein may be implemented using JAVA applications and functions. In one example, a mobile communications device may run one or more JAVA applications in a sandbox environment. The JAVA applications may facilitate the implementation and distribution of widgets while also coordinating communications. A JAVA function or application may be connected to a server that facilitates incoming and outgoing telephone communications. In particular, the server may aid in establishing network connections between a third party and the user. While the systems and methods described herein have been discussed, in large part, with respect to advertisement widgets and advertising, the systems and methods may also be used with any industry that rely on information distribution and permeation to a specified user population. For example, the systems and methods described herein may be applied to employment listings. In such a setting, the user population may be segmented by various factors including field of interest, college degree and qualifications. An employment listing may then be sent to a segment of the user population that has one or more matching characteristics or attributes.
The methods and features recited herein may further be implemented through any number of computer readable mediums that are able to store computer readable instructions. Examples of computer readable mediums that may be used include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic storage and the like.
The present invention has been described in terms of preferred and exemplary embodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications and variations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occur to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of this disclosure.
