Patent Application
20110153405
The invention relates to advertising and methods of generating revenue from the advertising of products and services.
We are familiar with advertising in newsprint and magazines as well as on billboards. In each of these cases the user is a passive participant and the advertising material is in a sense pushed onto the user.
The same applies to radio and television, in which commercials are interspersed between the entertainment footage.
With the advent of the Internet, advertising provided the user with a degree of autonomy. In addition to pushing advertising onto the user in the form of pop-ups, access buttons, and Web site skins, the Internet also allowing users to pull down additional information by providing the user with the facility to click on buttons or select from drop-down menus.
The Web-based advertising approach however is premised on the idea that the user has access to the Internet.
Another approach to advertising can be found in the one-on-one advertising in which targeted customers are repeatedly exposed to a company's or a product's trademark. This approach can, for example, be found in the concept of gift items adorned with a company's logo. Thus balloons, pens, mouse pads, stress balls, etc., with a company's logo or product trademark, are commonly given away at conventions as a way of providing ongoing advertising targeting the public that visits the company's booth. It is thus limited to advertising to people that not only attend the convention but also specifically visit the booth of the company giving out the gift item.
More recently companies like StickyDrive have adapted the gift item concept to USB drives, in which a particular company's logo or the company's product logo is stored in the memory of the device in the form of one or more skins promoting the company or product e.g., by adopting a skin with the company's logo. This is described in published US patent application 20080250190 to Brian Johnson, published Oct. 9, 2008. This approach allows a company to hand out custom-made USB drives to customers visiting its booth as a gift item and provide advertising to the user once he or she plugs the device into a USB port. The USB drive also includes links to the company's Web site, thereby driving customers to its Web site when the USB device is plugged into a computer that has Internet access.
However, what is missing is a general advertising vehicle for a large number of advertisers, with a view to reaching out to a large consumer base in the form of customers purchasing portable storage media.
According to the invention there is provided a general media content and advertising vehicle usable by any number of advertisers (typically in the form of company subscribers) wishing to reach out to a large consumer base by advertising to the users whether such users have Internet access or are operating off-line.
The method also provides an additional potential revenue source from end users of the portable memory device and/or from advertisers wishing to advertize on or through the memory device. By providing pre-installed data or on-line access to data that is of interest to the user the sale of portable memory devices gains value from the user's perspective since the memory device changes from a blank slate or one that simply has a file manager, to a device providing access to multi-media content. This creates the potential for commanding a higher sales price for the memory device or for gaining greater market share. From the perspective of potential advertisers, the general advertising platform offered by the present invention allows marketing of products to a new, broad spectrum of consumers.
According to the invention, there is provided a portable memory device (PMD) such as a USB drive, that is adapted to be connected to a processing device and that includes electronic advertising data from multiple parties, and players or tools such as music players, photograph viewers, text editors, backup software, etc. The parties may include a manufacturer of the PMD. The PMD may include its own user interface, which may be implemented as a graphical user interface (GUI). Preferably the PMD includes content data, which may include entertainment data, applications and offers or promotions. The entertainment data may include files of data in different formats, such as music files e.g., in .wav or .mp3 format; picture files e.g., in jpeg, pdf or tif format; movie clips, e.g., in mpeg format; documents etc. The offers or promotions may include songs, games, videos etc. or parts of songs, games or videos; magazine subscriptions; coupons etc. The GUI may include links for accessing at least some of the content data remotely. The GUI may also include Internet links, typically in the form of Web links. The PMD may be operable to launch a browser when an Internet link is clicked. The browser may be a browser that is installed on the processing device into which the PMD is plugged. Instead, a browser may be locally stored on the PMD or may be downloaded from a server. The PMD may be implemented to launch the browser automatically when the PMD is plugged into a processing device, if the processing device is detected to have Internet access, or the browser may be launched manually by the user e.g., by clicking an Internet link. The processing device may include a desktop computer, laptop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), etc.
The PMD may be adapted to launch an initial page including only advertising data relating to the manufacturer of the disk when the PMD is plugged into a processing device. The initial page or window may include links to other windows or to Web sites, which windows and sites may include third party advertising data. The links themselves may include advertising data of third parties, e.g., buttons defined by third party logos or names. The initial page may include multiple links, each dedicated to a particular third party and each adapted to download data provided by said third party, from a storage location on the PMD or from a storage location on the processing device or from a remote storage device connected to the processing device by an intranet or the Internet. The data may include advertising, e.g., one or more skins depicting the company or a product such as a logo or other trademark.
Some or all of the content data may be hidden from the user until the PMD is verified. Verification may include initial verification of the presence of a product identifier (PID) that resides on the PMD. Once the PMD is plugged into a processing device with Internet access (on-line access), a secondary verification may be performed in which the PID is compared to a vendor identifier (VID) that is located on a remote server that is accessible through the Internet. The user may be provided with an End User License Agreement (EULA) with a Terms Acceptance button. By accepting the terms the PMD pings the server, which checks the PID against the VID and once verified, sends back a confirmation message allowing the user to gain on-line functionality. The verification may involve sending back a user identifier (UID) that has to first be entered by the user into a designated field before access is granted to the on-line functionality. Prior to such verification the user may only have access to local content on the PMD.
Further, according to the invention, there is provided a method of advertising, comprising providing on a portable memory device (PMD) at least one of advertising data and content data from the manufacturer of the PMD and at least one of advertising data and content data from one or more third parties. The third parties may be product or service providers. The PMD, which may include a USB drive, may be used in an off-line mode or an on-line mode. The PMD is typically plugged into a processing device having a port for receiving the PMD, wherein in off-line mode the processing device is not connected to the Internet. In the on-line mode the processing device, which may be a desk top computer, laptop, or PDA or palm top device, is connected to the Internet. The PMD may be configured to recognize access to the Internet. The content data may include entertainment data, applications, and offers or promotions. The entertainment data may include files of data in different formats, such as music files e.g., in .wav or .mp3 format; picture files e.g., in jpeg, pdf or tif format; movie clips, e.g., in mpeg format; documents etc. The applications may include players and tools such as music players, photograph viewers, text editors, backup software, etc. The offers and promotions may include songs, games, videos etc. or parts of songs, games or videos; magazine subscriptions; coupons etc. At least one of the advertising data and content data of third parties may only be made available in on-line mode. The PMD preferably includes a user interface, which may be a graphical user interface (GUI). On-line mode may cause a browser to be launched by the PMD or a browser may be launched by a user from the GUI.
Still further, according to the invention, there is provided a method of advertising, comprising providing a PMD with a user interface and providing electronic advertising data from multiple advertisers on the PMD. The PMD may include one or more Internet links associated with multiple advertisers. The user interface may include a link for launching or downloading a browser. The one or more Internet links may provide access to pre-defined Internet sites for opening separate Web pages, which may include downloadable data. The PMD may also include content data stored on the PMD, which may include entertainment data, applications and offers or promotions. The entertainment data may include files of data in different formats, such as music files e.g., in .wav or .mp3 format; picture files e.g., in jpeg, pdf or tif format; movie clips, e.g., in mpeg format; documents etc. The applications may include players and tools such as music players, photograph viewers, text editors, backup software, etc. The offers and promotions may include songs, games, videos etc. or parts of songs, games or videos; magazine subscriptions; coupons etc. The user interface is typically implemented as a GUI for accessing the content data and downloadable data. The content data may include different sets of data, each in its own format. The content data may be selected using user-clickable links. The Internet and user-clickable links may include advertising material e.g., buttons in the form of third party logos. The third parties may be product or service providers. The PMD, which may include a USB drive, may be used in an off-line mode or an on-line mode. The PMD is typically plugged into a processing device having a port for receiving the PMD, wherein in off-line mode the processing device is not connected to the Internet. In the on-line mode the processing device, which may be a desktop computer, laptop, or palm top device, is connected to the Internet.
Still further, according to the invention, there is provided a method of doing business comprising offering advertising space on a portable memory device (PMD) to third parties, receiving advertising data or access information to third party content from at least one third party, providing advertising data from multiple parties on the PMD, and offering the PMD through regular distribution channels to at least one of retailers, wholesalers, and end users. The method may include providing links that are associated with the access information on the PMD for accessing advertising data on-line from one or more third parties. The offering of advertising space may be done by the manufacturer of the PMD and the manufacturer may be one of the parties that provides advertising data or access information. The PMD may comprise a USB drive, and providing the PMD may include the manufacturer of the PMD giving the PMD away or selling the PMD at a reduced cost compared to PMDs without third party advertising data and access information or selling the PMD at an increased cost based on the user desirable data provided on the PMD. The method may include obtaining advertising revenue from the at least one third party. The links may provide access to Web pages with product or service information. The Web pages may include on-line purchasing facilities allowing users to purchase goods or services on-line. The method may include obtaining revenue from the third party based on sales to users, e.g., a percentage of sales or a flat fee per transaction or a fee based on the number of PMDs available to end users or sold to end users at a particular point in time.
The method may include launching an initial page when the PMD is plugged into a processing device, the initial page including only advertising data from the manufacturer of the disk. The initial page may include links to other windows or to Web sites, which windows and sites may include third part advertising data. The links may include advertising data of third parties, e.g., buttons defined by third party logos or names. The initial page may include multiple links, each dedicated to a particular third party and each adapted to download data from said third party, from a storage location on the PMD or from a storage location on the processing device or from a remote storage device connected to the processing device by an intranet or the Internet. In order to avoid all content data or access information from being copied by another party, the PMD may be implemented as an authorized PMD in which at least some content or access information is hidden and accessible only upon verification of a product identifier (PID) provided on the PMD. The verification may include simply the verification of the existence of the PID on the PMD or may include a comparison of the PID with a remote identifier e.g., to a vendor identifier (VID) stored on a server that is accessible through the Internet. The PMD may be included in the software code on the PMD or may be a user readable identifier provided at the time of purchase of the PMD, e.g., on the inside of the PMD package, and may be unique to each PMD. In a user readable PMD the user may be prompted to enter the authentication code when the PMD is first plugged into a processing device, which may be a desktop computer, laptop, or palm top device, etc. Instead, the PMD may include software code for interacting on-line with a server to identify itself as an authentic PMD and thereby receive a verification response that unlocks the hidden data.
The advertising approach of the present invention lies in establishing a portable memory device that is connectable to a computer, to serve as an advertising vehicle for a broad range of third party advertisers such as manufacturers or service providers. The portable memory device, which includes a connector for connecting to a computer, e.g. a USB drive such as a memory stick with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, has the benefit that it travels with the user, thereby exposing the user to the advertisements on a repeated basis whenever the user plugs the portable memory device (PMD) into a computer, whether it be the user's own computer or a third party computer. This contrasts with Web advertising or billboards, which only provide fleeting exposure to the advertising message.
From the advertisers' perspective it therefore reaches out to a broad spectrum of customers since PMDs cut across large market segments, covering a wide range of age groups without being race, gender or culture specific. For purposes of this application the term computer will be used to cover any processing device, e.g. desktop computer, laptop, palmtop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), etc, or any other processor having a port for receiving the PMD.
The present invention therefore seeks to attract manufacturers and service providers from every marketing segment, be it the technical sector, clothing, toys, services aimed at the home or the business, or any other conceivable market
The invention is not limited to any particular implementation and can be implemented using any portable hardware device that defines a PMD and that can be programmed using any suitable set of programming tools known in the art.
The resultant features provided by the programmed PMD may also vary between embodiments. The present invention does not propose simply displaying one or more advertisements when the PMD is plugged into a computer but seeks to include features and material that the user will consider as a value add and will entice the user to retain the programmed content rather than simply deleting it.
Since data corresponding to different types of media is preferably made accessible to the user, one embodiment of the PMD of the invention provides for different types of players or tools such as music players, video players, photograph viewers, text editors, backup software, etc., to be provided on the PMD. In order to simplify access to the different types of files stored on the PMD, the embodiment discussed below with respect to
The upper section 102 also includes a minimize button 120 and a close button 122. The bottom of the upper section is defined by a search window 124 for entering search terms, an enter or return button 126 and a memory capacity read-out 128.
The lower section 130 defined by the GUI differs for the home screen 100 and each of the
music player screen 200 shown in
The lower section 130 of the home page 100, in this embodiment advertizes a promotional item in the form of free music downloads and an audio book. In order for the user to avail him-or-herself of the promotional item, a select button 172 is provided. The lower section 130 in this embodiment also includes a rudimentary music player with a play button 174, a loop button 176, a pause button 178 and a stop button 180. A progress bar 182 and progress counter 184 are also provided to indicate the length of the song and time remaining during play.
Selection of the music player using the music button 190 opens up a screen that remains unchanged as regards the top section 102 but defines a new lower section 200 as shown in
In the same way that the music player was launched by clicking on the music button 190, the photo viewer can be launched by clicking on the photo select button 192. Like the home page and the music player page, the photo viewer page has an upper section 102 that is the same for all of the pages or windows. The lower section 300 is unique to the photo viewer, in that it has a player tool bar 310 adapted for viewing photos. The tool bar 310 includes a folder view button 312, a thumbnail view button 314 for viewing thumbnail size versions of the photos on the PMD, a rollover select button 316 for selecting a rollover form of displaying the photos, and a slideshow view select button 318 to view photos as a slide show. It will be appreciated that for all of these players the embodiment described is illustrative of one embodiment only. Other players could be included and additional control buttons could be included. For instance, in a slideshow mode a time delay select feature could be included for defining the time between photos. In the photo viewer, there is also a general file display button 320 with a field 322 for displaying all of the photo files on the PMD.
The text editor is launched by clicking on the documents button 194. The resultant page or window includes an upper section 102 that remains unchanged from the other windows. Its lower section 400 does not include any play control tool bar or buttons but simply includes a general file display button 410 for displaying in the display area 412 all text document files currently on the PMD. In this embodiment the text editor is adapted to launch only .doc type files but other embodiments could support other text or graphic formats such as docx or pdf files.
It will be appreciated that none of the players described above are necessary for providing advertising on a memory device, however it is part of the feature set that is included in order to create a user experience that persuades the user to retain all of this pre-installed content on the PMD notwithstanding that it uses up some of the memory space on the PMD.
In addition to the tools provided on the device, the PMD includes pre-programmed content data, which in
The entertainment data in this embodiment inherently also provides an offer or promotion since only the first 50 downloads are free. The music provider is thus providing a loss-leader in an endeavor to attract new customer to his product offering. Promotions and offers could instead include coupons or special deals e.g., deals on travel. The offers or promotions may also include games, videos etc., or parts of songs, games or videos; magazine subscriptions; coupons etc. Thus, while the dividing line between promotions and pre-programmed content data may not always be clearly defined, the concept remains the same: to provide the user with something that is interesting or of value to the user, thereby enticing him or her to retain the pre-installed content together with the advertising material rather than simply deleting it all.
The entertainment data may include files of data in different formats, such as music files e.g., in .wav or .mp3 format; picture files e.g., in jpeg, pdf or tif format; movie clips, e.g., in mpeg format; documents etc. In order to allow such files to be opened even when the computer into which the PMD is plugged does not include the software that supports the different formats, players may specifically be included on the PMD to allow such files to be opened.
In the embodiment of
The PMD in this embodiment includes a pre-installed browser but could simply provide instructions for downloading full browser functionality from the computer or from a server via the Internet or an intranet or could make use of the browser installed on the computer or processing device into which the PMD is plugged.
The PMD in this embodiment is implemented to launch the browser automatically when the PMD is plugged into a processing device that has a port for receiving the PMD, if the processing device is detected to have Internet access.
In the embodiment of
In a different embodiment, the GUI could be configured to display on the home page only material pertaining to the manufacturer of the PMD, with links on the home page to different players or items of interest that lead the user to pages related to other advertisers, referred to in this application as third party advertisers. In such an embodiment the initial page includes a first skin with a tool bar, and a second skin with links to other windows that are accessible using the pre-installed GUI. In such an embodiment, the initial page could include multiple links, each dedicated to a particular third party advertiser and each adapted to launch data provided by said third party and either stored in a storage location on the PMD or downloaded from a remote storage device, e.g., a server connected to the processing device by an intranet or the Internet. The subsequent windows and sites may include third party advertising data in the form of skins depicting company trademarks or logos or colors, similar to the logo 106 of the
The implementation of the drivers and GUI etc., can be performed using any suitable programming language, e.g., C++ for the file storage system and Adobe® Flash® software for the GUI and using programming technique as known in the art, e.g. using the approach defined by StickyDrive in US published patent application 20080250190 to Brian Johnson, published Oct. 9, 2008.
In order to avoid third party copying of the PMD content, at least some of the content data may be hidden and only become accessible upon verification of an verification code. In one embodiment, a product identifier (PID) is included in the software code on the PMD and serves as verification that the PMD is a genuine product and is not a competitor's PMD that has simply copied the content of the original PMD. In particular, the PID is provided in a part of the PMD that is not copyable by a data copy operation. Once the existence of a valid PID is verified (which marks the initial verification procedure), the rest of the launch operation is executed causing the GUI to be launched and on-chip data to be made available. Once the PMD is provided with on-line access, a secondary verification procedure is invoked. This includes comparison of the product identifier (PID) that resides on the PMD against a vendor identifier (VID) that is located on a remote server that is accessible through the Internet. The user may be provided with an End User License Agreement (EULA) with a Terms Acceptance button, which in this embodiment is launched once the PMD is determined to have on-line access. In another embodiment the EULA is made available once the GUI is first launched, allowing the user to accept the terms at any time thereafter. By accepting the terms of the EULA, the PMD pings a server, which checks the PID against the VID and once verified, sends back a confirmation message allowing the user to gain on-line functionality. The verification may involve sending back a user ID (UID) that has to first be entered by the user into a designated field before access is granted to the on-line functionality. Prior to such verification the user may only have access to local content on the PMD.
In another embodiment, a verification code may be provided at the time of purchase of the PMD, e.g., on the inside of the PMD package, and may be unique for each PMD. The user may be prompted to enter the authentication code when the PMD is first plugged into a processing device.
In order to promote the PMD e.g., a USB drive/memory stick as an advertising medium for third parties, the present invention includes making the PMD available at time of manufacture and thereafter for the inclusion of advertising material, promotional material and entertainment data. Third party advertisers are invited to provide one or more of such data items for inclusion on the PMD by storing entertainment data, promotional material and/or advertising on the PMD or by providing links on the PMD to allow the user subsequently to access any such data from third party advertisers' Web sites. By selling advertising space on the PMD, this may provide an additional revenue source to the manufacturer of the PMD. Promotional items and entertainment data may in turn increase the inherent value of the PMD to users and thereby provide a way of either gaining market share or increasing the price of the device. The particular marketing strategy can be adapted and changed depending on the nature of the content, the existing market share of the PMD manufacturer and other considerations.
In another embodiment an intermediate server is interspersed to relay any traffic from the PMD. This can be achieved by embedding code in the PMD for directing traffic (due to clicking on any of the links) to the intermediate server that acts as a router for receiving URL requests and relaying that request to the server designated by the URS. The intermediate server identifies the source of the request as a PMD and maintains a record of the pass-throughs by adding an additional pass-through to its tally. In the case of a transaction, e.g., an offer to buy something, this could trigger a further revenue stream to the manufacturer of the PMD based on the number of transactions that are concluded or the monetary value involved in the transaction. Software can be included on the PMD to allow credit card payment or the transaction can be handled by a third party entity such as PayPal. In one embodiment, Web analytics are performed to check whether the customer stays honest. This could involve accessing vendor reports as a form of checks and balances. Instead of monitoring transactions, an advertiser wishing to advertize on the PMD, e.g. by placing a banner advertisement that is viewable on all PMD's that are plugged into a computer with on-line access, can be required to pay a certain amount per defined number of PMD's that have been sold at a certain point in time, either to end users or retailers, e.g., $1 per million PMDs. The banner ad can then be pushed over the Internet onto each of the compatible PMDs.
The PMD itself could have an application store allowing a user to buy applications. The invention also envisages collecting revenue from the inclusion of software pre-loads on the PMD, e.g., the Bing search engine of Microsoft, thereby helping to grow the user base of the software. While the present invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention can be implemented in different ways without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.
The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only and not as a limitation. While particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be appreciated that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the broader aspects of applicants' contribution.
