Patent Application
20110161790
The present invention relates to mobile devices and, more particularly, to the display of media such as advertisements on mobile devices.
Mobile devices such as cellular telephones, smart phones and other handheld or portable electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. have become popular and ubiquitous. The increased functionality of mobile devices has enabled users to view an increasing amount and number of types of media on the display of a mobile device, such as videos, websites, text messages, etc. Advertisers have recognized such increasing media-exposure to users, and have sought to take advantage of the “face time” this offers. In particular in this regard, advertisers have tried, and continued to try, to develop methods and mechanisms by which advertisements (e.g., pop-up ads) can be displayed on mobile devices along with such media being displayed on the mobile devices.
Although there already exist numerous such methods and mechanisms by which advertisements are displayed on mobile devices, as a result of the variations in display sizes and operating systems on different mobile devices, among other things, displaying advertisements in desirable manners is often difficult. It can be difficult to display advertisements in manners that are effective in terms of facilitating user viewing of the advertisements, communicating advertising messages to users, and/or presenting aesthetically-pleasing advertising content that is complementary to (rather than conflicting with respect to) the displayed media content. In particular, as the display size of a mobile device is particularly small, users of mobile devices commonly dislike advertisements that consume large portions of the display, even for a short period of time, much less for extended periods of time.
It would therefore be advantageous if improved method(s) of displaying advertising information on mobile devices, and/or improved mobile devices capable of performing such method(s), could be developed. It would further be advantageous if, in at least some such embodiments, the improved method(s) of displaying advertising information achieved enhanced performance in terms of one or more of the considerations discussed above.
In at least one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of providing an advertisement image on a mobile device. The method includes accessing graphical advertisement information pertaining to the advertisement image to be presented on a mobile device display, where the graphical advertisement information includes at least one of image portion information, text portion information, and border portion information. The method also includes analyzing at least one of the image portion, text portion and border portion information, and selecting a position for the advertisement image to be displayed on the display. The method further includes determining whether a gap exists or will exist between an outer border of the advertisement image when displayed on the display and an edge of the display, or within the outer border of the advertisement image outside of one or both of an image portion and a text portion of the advertising image. The method additionally includes displaying the advertising image on the display, where at least some pixels situated in the gap on the display are set to a determined color, the determined color being based at least in part upon the analyzing.
Further, in at least some additional embodiments, the present invention relates to a mobile device. The mobile device includes a processing device, and a memory device in communication with the processing device. The mobile device also includes a transceiver also in communication with the processing device and configured to conduct communications with the interne, the communications including at least a first communication by which graphical advertising information is downloaded to the mobile device, and a display in communication with the processing device and configured to output an advertisement image based upon the graphical advertising information. The processing device determines when user interaction with the mobile device has been at least partly blocked and, during a time period while the user interaction remains at least partly blocked, causes the display to output the advertising image.
Additionally, in at least some further embodiments, the present invention relates to a method of providing an advertisement image on a mobile device. The method includes accessing graphical advertisement information pertaining to the advertisement image, and monitoring user interaction with at least one application on the mobile device. The method also includes showing the advertisement image on a display of the mobile device when the user interaction is at least partially blocked by execution of the at least one application on the mobile device, and removing the advertisement image from the display when the user interaction is no longer blocked.
Referring to
The mobile device 102 in the present embodiment is a personal digital assistant (PDA) although, in other embodiments, the mobile device can take the form of any of a variety of other types of wireless communication devices such as a cellular telephone, a smart phone, any of a variety of other cellular-based mobile devices having visual display capabilities, and/or other devices. In the present embodiment, the mobile device 102 communicates with the cellular network 106 via the link 114 in accordance with one or more data/voice standards, such as the third-generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) standards. Also, the mobile device 102 can include one or more mobile operating systems, for example, Android, Linux, Iphone, or Windows Mobile. It will be understood that, by virtue of being in communication with the internet 112 via the links 114, 116, 118, 122, the mobile device 102 is further capable of being in communication with the “World Wide Web” and with numerous websites 113 forming a part thereof, including a variety of content provider websites (CPWs), such as various email services, search engines, social networking websites (SNWs), blogs, message boards, etc. To access and interface with the websites 113 via the internet 112, in the present embodiment, the mobile device 102 includes at least one internet interface application, such as a browser (Mozilla, Internet Explorer, etc.).
Still referring to
Referring now to
Each of the wireless transceivers 202 utilizes a wireless technology for communication which can include, for example (but are not limited to), cellular-based communication technologies such as analog communications (using AMPS), digital communications (using CDMA, TDMA, GSM, iDEN, 3G, GPRS, EDGE, etc.), and next-generation communications (using UMTS, WCDMA, 4G, LTE, IEEE 802.16, etc.) or variants thereof, or peer-to-peer or ad hoc communication technologies such as HomeRF (radio frequency), Bluetooth, wireless local area network (WLAN) protocols such as IEEE 802.11 (a, b, g or n), or other wireless communication technologies such as infrared technology. In the present embodiment, the wireless transceivers 202 include a cellular transceiver 203 (e.g., WWAN transceiver) and a WLAN transceiver 205, although in other embodiments only one of these types of wireless transceivers and/or other types of wireless transceiver(s) can be present. As already noted, in the present embodiment, the wireless transceivers 202 allow for communication with both the cellular network 106 of
Example operation of the wireless transceivers 202 in conjunction with others of the internal components 200 of the mobile device 102 can take a variety of forms and can include, for example, operation in which, upon reception of wireless signals, the internal components detect communication signals and the transceiver 202 demodulates the communication signals to recover incoming information, such as voice and/or data, transmitted by the wireless signals. After receiving the incoming information from the transceiver 202, the processor 204 formats the incoming information for the one or more output devices 208. Likewise, for transmission of wireless signals, the processor 204 formats outgoing information, which may or may not be activated by the input devices 210, and conveys the outgoing information to one or more of the wireless transceivers 202 for modulation to communication signals. The wireless transceivers 202 convey the modulated signals by way of wireless communication links to the cellular network, which in turn conveys communications to the Internet 112.
Depending upon the embodiment, the input and output devices 208, 210 of the internal components 200 can include a variety of visual, audio and/or mechanical outputs. For example, the output device(s) 208 can include one or more visual output devices 216 such as a liquid crystal display and light emitting diode indicator, one or more audio output devices 218 such as a speaker, alarm and/or buzzer, and/or one or more mechanical output devices 220 such as a vibrating mechanism. The visual output devices 216 among other things can include a video display. Likewise, by example, the input device(s) 210 can include one or more visual input devices 222 such as an optical sensor (for example, a camera), one or more audio input devices 224 such as a microphone, and one or more mechanical input devices 226 such as a flip sensor, keyboard, keypad, selection button, navigation cluster, touch pad, touchscreen, capacitive sensor, motion sensor, and switch. Actions that can actuate one or more of the input devices 210 can include not only the physical pressing/actuation of buttons or other actuators, but can also include, for example, opening the device, unlocking the device, moving the device to actuate a motion, moving the device to actuate a location positioning system, and operating the device.
As for the sensors 228, these can include any of a variety of sensors. For example, the sensors 228 can include one or more proximity sensors (e.g., a light detecting sensor, an ultrasound transceiver or an infrared transceiver), touch sensors, altitude sensors, and/or a location circuit that can include, for example, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a triangulation receiver, an accelerometer, a tilt sensor, a gyroscope, or any other information collecting device that can identify a current location or user-device interface (carry mode) of the mobile device 102. Further, the memory portion 206 of the internal components 200 can encompass one or more memory devices of any of a variety of forms (e.g., read-only memory, random access memory, static random access memory, dynamic random access memory, etc.), and can be used by the processor 204 to store and retrieve data. It will be understood that the data that is stored by the memory portion 206 can include, but need not be limited to, instructions/code governing operation of an operating system, and applications, as well as informational data.
Each operating system 206 in particular can include executable code that controls basic functions of the mobile device, such as interaction among the various components included among the internal components 200, communication with external devices via the wireless transceivers 202 and/or the component interface 212, and storage and retrieval of applications and data, to and from the memory portion 206. In the present embodiment, the processor 204 is configured to run the one or more operating systems. As for the applications utilized by the mobile device 102, each application includes executable code that utilizes one or more of the operating systems to provide more specific functionality for the mobile device 102, such as file system service and handling of protected and unprotected data stored in the memory portion 206. In the present embodiment, the operating systems are configured to run a plurality of the applications, such as a web browser, etc. that allow for interaction between the mobile device and one or more of the websites 113 available via the internet 112. As for informational data, that is non-executable code or information that can be referenced and/or manipulated by an operating system or application for performing functions of the mobile device. The informational data can include content such as the aforementioned graphical advertisement information used to generate advertisements such as the advertisement 103, as well as other content information used to generate content images such as the primary image 148.
Turning now to
Referring then specifically to
Referring still to
Once the location of the advertisement 103 has been established, then at step 314 the size of the border portion 129 of the advertisement 103 is compared with the size of the section of the display 104 not occupied by the primary image 148, in order to identify any gaps existing between the advertisement 103 and that section of the display. Assuming that gap area(s) do exist, best color and/or image patterns can be determined for placement within such gap area(s). More particularly, in one embodiment, a fill color can be provided in the gap areas to provide a more desirable appearance of the advertisement 103 on the display 104. For example, with respect to
Aspects of the advertisement 103 itself can also be adjusted based upon characteristics of the advertisement, the primary image 148 and/or one or more desired characteristics of the gap 131. Step 314 is thus also intended to encompass determinations regarding best color and/or image patterns for the advertisement itself. For example, assuming that the gap 131 fill color is determined based upon the text portion 128, which is often provided as a portion of text that does not include an initial background, an additional fill color can be generated and provided as background for the text of the text portion 128, for example, within a background region 150 of the text portion as shown in
Once step 314 has been completed, and best color or image patterns for any gap and/or any portion of the advertisement itself have been determined, the process finally advances to step 316. At step 316, the processing device causes the display 104 to display the gap(s) 131 in accordance with the best color or image patterns as determined at step 314. For example, assuming that one or more fill color(s) have been determined for the gap(s) 131 at step 314, once such fill color(s) have been selected for regions such as the gap(s) 131, the fill colors are applied to the display 104 by modifying the color of the pixels within associated with those gap(s). Likewise, if changes should be made to aspects of the advertisement 103 itself (such as to the background region 150), at step 316 the advertisement is displayed in accordance with such instructions. Finally, upon completion of the step 316, the process 300 ends at step 318.
Notwithstanding the above description corresponding to the arrangement of the advertisement 103 as shown in
Given such an arrangement, the mobile device 102 can operate so as to modify the display of the gap 531 in various manners. Generally speaking, the process steps discussed above with respect to
Further, while in some embodiments an external gap such as the gap 541 exists between the border portion 529 and the edges 142, 144, 146, 148 of the display 104 and/or between the border portion and any primary image such as the primary image 148, this need not be the case in all embodiments. Rather, in some embodiments the border portion 529 abuts one or more of the edges (e.g., the edges of the display 140, 144, 146) of the display 104 and/or any primary image (e.g., the dashed line border of the primary image 148) such that an internal gap within the border portion such as the gap 531 is present but an external gap such as the further gap 541 is not present. Nevertheless, where a further gap such as the further gap 541 exists in addition to the gap 531, the process steps of
Turning now to
As for a minimum impression time, such a time period is the minimum time that an advertisement such as the advertisement 103 should remain visible on the display 104 so as to minimize flicker and to allow the user sufficient time to review the advertisement 103. The display of an advertisement such as the advertisement 103 for merely its minimum impression time is a practice that by definition causes minimal disruption to a user's experience. An advertisement can be displayed for its minimum impression time any and every time the advertisement is displayed. Although an advertisement can be displayed for only its minimum impression time when the advertisement is being displayed during an interface wait time, this need not be the case since the interface wait time may exceed the minimum impression time.
For any given advertisement such as the advertisement 103, the minimum impression time can be calculated (or estimated) based upon a variety of factors including, for example, the size of the advertisement and the amount of information (e.g., alphanumeric characters or words) on the advertisement. Additionally, or alternatively, the minimum impression time can be determined by the advertiser and provided to the mobile device 102 as part of the advertising platform protocol. In some such circumstances, a minimum impression time communicated as part of the advertising platform protocol will serve a suggested minimum impression time (rather than being mandatory) insofar as there may not be any ability on the part of an advertiser or other third party to enforce compliance with such a minimum impression time (e.g., a user can close a publishing application anytime). That said, it can be noted that for some experiences like interstitial (full screen) ads, such minimum impression time information coming from an advertiser can be very important for achieving display effects (for example, in a circumstance where the minimum wait time must be met before a “Play” button appears allowing a game to be launched).
More particularly with respect to
For example, depending upon the embodiment, the advertisement 103 can be embedded within the primary image 148 or overlaid upon the primary image, can displace the primary image, or even be placed in a window distinct form a window within which is provided the primary image More particularly, the advertisement 103 can be embedded in the primary image 148 so as to provide an integrated and less distracting appearance, can be overlaid on the existing image so as to cover the existing image and draw attention to the advertisement, can displace the existing image either by compression or shifting, or can be displayed within a window that differs from another window within which is positioned the primary image 148 (thus maintaining accessibility of the complete primary image). In addition, to further enhance the aesthetic appeal of the advertisement 103 or to minimize intrusion upon the primary image 148, in the present embodiment the advertisement 103 can be presented on the display 104 using animation that presents the advertisement in one of numerous manners such as sliding or fading onto the display. In particular, sliding can include the advertisement dropping from a portion of the display, such as the top edge 140, towards the bottom edge 142, so as to gradually move into view on the display. In other embodiments, the sliding can include the advertisement being revealed gradually from any of the display edges and extending in the direction of any other display edge.
In the present embodiment, the process 400 continues at step 410, wherein the mobile device 102 determines whether the advertisement 103 has remained in view on the display 104 for the minimum impression time. Until the minimum impression time has elapsed, the process 400 remains at the step 410 and continues to display the advertisement 410. Once the minimum impression time has elapsed, as determined at step 410, then at step 412 the mobile device 102 further determines whether the interface wait time also has elapsed. Until the interface wait time has elapsed, the process 400 remains at the step 412 and continues to display the advertisement. Once the interface wait time has elapsed, the process 400 advances to step 414, at which the mobile device 102 ceases to display the advertisement 103. The advertisement 103 can be removed from the display 104 in any one of a variety of manners. In some circumstances, such as where the primary image 148 was displayed prior to the display of the advertisement at step 408, the removal of the advertisement can be performed in a manner that is substantially the reverse of the manner in which the advertisement was first displayed at step 408, such as sliding the advertisement off the display opposite the manner in which it earlier slid onto the display.
In view of the above description pertaining to
It should be noted that the processes 300 and 400 discussed above can, depending upon the embodiment, be utilized separately or together to display an advertisement on a mobile device 102. When the processes 300, 400 are performed in combination with one another in order to display an advertisement, the process 300 can begin and/or conclude at any one of numerous times relative to the process 400. For example, in one embodiment, the process 300 allows for the advertisement to be obtained, processed and cached for display prior to step 408, such that the advertisement can be substantially immediately displayed upon the occurrence of a user interaction interruption, thereby maximizing the proportion of the interface wait time during which that advertisement is successfully displayed. In other embodiments, the process 300 can begin when the process 400 is at step 406, when the existing image is displayed, thereby providing additional data to use to configure the advertisement for an effective and aesthetically pleasing display.
Notwithstanding the description provided above, the present invention is intended to encompass numerous variations of the above-described processes and other embodiments differing from those discussed above. For example, although the embodiment discussed with respect to
It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein, but include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of portions of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims.
