Patent Application
20060041472
The Internet couples millions of computers together and provides computer users with a variety of capabilities. For example, using the Internet, computer users may view text and graphics, make purchases, send and receive electronic mail, and search for information. As a result, the Internet has become a valuable tool.
Due to the number of computer users that access the Internet, advertising on the Internet has developed into a significant market. Common types of Internet advertisement services include “spam” email (unsolicited commercial email), pop-up advertisement banners, and consumer profiling (i.e., tracking and selling consumer information including Internet activities).
Unfortunately, there are many shortcomings in these Internet advertisement services. For example, spam email and advertisement banners may not effectively target consumers and can be highly inefficient. Further, consumer profiling may encroach on consumer privacy.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/639,140, entitled “Targeted Advertisement with Local Consumer Profile” a system and method intended to resolve the above shortcomings were described. However, consumers may be accustomed to working within one, or a few programs, and may be reluctant to “try out” new software programs.
Systems and methods of advertising are presented herein. In some embodiments, a method may comprise collecting data on a consumer computer, receiving a signal having advertisement information and target criteria, and comparing said target criteria with the data. If the target criteria matches with the data, the method further comprises interfacing the advertisement information in a message format compatible with a message presentation client executed by the consumer computer.
For a detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, computer companies may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . . ” Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections. The term “system” refers to a collection of two or more parts and may be used to refer to a computer system or a portion of a computer system.
The following discussion is directed to various embodiments of the invention. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred, the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
There is presented herein various embodiments of an advertising technique that may be beneficial to, among other entities, advertisers and consumers. More specifically, the embodiments of the invention permit advertisers to find consumers that match a desired consumer profile, while permitting consumers to control their own personal information. The presentation of advertisements may be performed by a communication platform (i.e., a message presentation client) that permits consumers to receive visual and/or audible messages. The communication platform may comprise an email application, an instant messaging application, a voice over IP (Internet protocol) application, printer applications or another computer-based communication interface that permits consumers to receive new messages. By presenting advertisements via the communication platform, consumers are able to receive targeted advertisements as an extension to receiving other messages. The following describes embodiments of the invention in terms of consumers and advertisers merely by way of example, and is not limited to that context.
Upon receiving the asserted signal 168, the email generator 162 may generate an email 170 that is transmitted to an email server 154 via the Internet server 156. The email 170 may include information provided with the targeted advertisement 166 (e.g., an advertisement, an advertisement link, or other information associated with an advertisement). The email server 154 may forward the email 170 to an email viewer client 164 (e.g., an email browser) so that a user of the user computer 158 may view the advertisement associated with the email 170. The user also may view other emails.
Although the advertisement may be presented to the user via a communication medium such as the email 170, the targeted advertisement 166 may or may not be broadcast as email. In general, the targeted advertisement 166 may be any electronic signal that carries target criteria interpretable by the targeted advertisement client 160. The targeted advertisement 166 also may comprise image data, audio data, reward information or hyperlink information associated with an advertisement.
In some embodiments, the targeted advertisement network service 152 and the targeted advertisement client 160 may implement a protocol that permits transmission of targeted advertisements 166 to the targeted advertisement client 160 without revealing the location of the user device 158, user identification information or other sensitive information that a user of the user device 158 may not want to reveal to all advertisers. Upon receiving targeted advertisements 166, the targeted advertisement client 160 may compare the target criteria with user criteria logged and stored by the targeted advertisement client 160. If the target criteria and the user criteria match (i.e., if greater than a threshold amount of matching occurs), the targeted advertisement client 160 causes the email generator 162 to generate an email 170 and interface the image data, audio data, reward information or hyperlink information transmitted with the targeted advertisement 166 to the email 170.
As shown in
In some embodiments, the local consumer profile 118 may be generated and maintained by executing (e.g., with the CPU 104) some or all of the computer-readable instructions 142 stored in the instruction storage medium 140. As shown, the computer-readable instructions 142 may comprise: log consumer activity instructions 144, generate consumer profile instructions 146, compare targeted ad instructions 148, profile editor instructions 150, and email interface instructions 152.
When executed by the CPU 104, the log consumer activity instructions 144 may cause the CPU 104 to target and recognize when certain computer-based activities occur. For example, the logging instructions 144 may cause the CPU 104 to sample data passing through the CPU 104 and/or the network interface 108 and identify the software applications 116 that are used, web pages that are accessed, online memberships, online application forms, online registrations, time spent browsing web pages, web searches that are performed, email usage (including but not limited to the text, graphic, and/or video content of all emails, the addresses of recipients to which the consumer has sent email, and the addresses of senders which have sent email to the consumer), music files (purchased, stored, or listened to), video files (purchased, stored or watched), data records saved, and other computer-based activities. Additionally, the logging instructions 144 may cause the CPU 104 to store, e.g., in the local memory 106, information that identifies the computer-based activities.
When executed by the CPU 104, the generate consumer profile instructions 146 may cause the CPU 104 to organize the consumer profile information. In some embodiments, the generate consumer profile instructions 146 may automatically extract the consumer profile information acquired as described above and organize the consumer profile information in a searchable format (e.g., a database or other data structure). Alternatively or additionally, the instructions 146 may provide an interface that stores consumer profile information provided by a consumer via the input device 112, the graphic user interface 114, or the audio user interface 115.
In addition to storing the consumer profile information described previously, the local consumer profile 118 may comprise consumer-specified criteria regarding which advertisements 126 the operator of the consumer computer 102 wishes to be displayed. If the targeted ad 124 does not contain information that falls within the consumer-specified criteria, that targeted ad 124 is precluded from being displayed by the consumer computer 102. For example, the consumer-specified criteria may comprise an adjustable consumer ask price. The consumer ask price may be set by the consumer as a minimum price that advertisers pay to the consumer for his/her attention to an advertisement 126. The consumer ask price may be an amount of money, or some other reward such as coupons, points that may be used to make purchases, airline miles, or free gifts. The consumer ask price allows the consumer to control the value of his/her attention to an advertisement 126 and discourages advertisers from sending unsolicited advertisements by requiring the advertiser to pay each consumer for his/her attention to an advertisement at a price controllable by the consumer. In embodiments in which the local consumer profile 118 comprises both consumer profile information and a consumer ask price, the target profile 128 of each targeted ad 124 may comprise target criteria and a bid price.
In at least some embodiments, some of the computer-readable instructions 142 may be executed by the CPU 104 in the “background” of the consumer computer 102 (i.e., transparently to the operator without requiring action on the part of the operator). For example, the log consumer activity instructions 144 may be executed to transparently track the computer-based activities described previously and the generate consumer profile instructions 146 may transparently generate/update the local consumer profile 118.
When executed by the CPU 104, the compare targeted ad instructions 148 may cause the CPU 104 to compare a targeted ad 124 with the local consumer profile 118. As shown in
When executing the compare targeted ad instructions 148, consumer privacy may be protected in several ways. For example, the local consumer profile 118 may be stored in a local memory (e.g., the local memory 106) of the consumer computer 102 and not on the network 120 so that access to the local consumer profile 118 is limited. Additionally, encryption, passwords or other techniques may be implemented to protect the security of the information stored in the local consumer profile 118.
When executed by the CPU 104, the profile editor instructions 150 enables an operator of the computer 102 to make changes to the local consumer profile 118. For example, it may be desirable that an operator of the consumer computer 102 delete, add, or edit information associated with the local consumer profile 118. Therefore, the profile editor instructions 150 may provide an interface (e.g., a window on the graphic user interface 114) that permits the operator to view information stored in the local consumer profile 118 and make changes to the stored information. Accordingly, the local consumer profile 118 may contain only information that the consumer wants to make available for comparison with the targeted ad 124. In some embodiments, deleting, adding, and editing the local consumer profile 118 may be limited or disabled to preserve the validity of some or all of the information in the local consumer profile 118. In embodiments where the profile 118 is not editable, code encryption or obfuscation (i.e., intentionally making the source code hard to understand) may be used to prevent software hackers from accessing and/or editing the profile 118. Additionally, some computers 102 may implement special hardware that would prevent the profile 118 from being manipulated (e.g., the Trusted Computing Platform (TCP)).
When executed by the CPU 104, the email interface instructions 152 may function to generate an email 132 which contains the advertisement 126, a hyperlink to the advertisement 126, or information that directs the consumer to the advertisement 126. The email 132 may be generated when the local consumer profile 118 matches a threshold amount of criteria of the target profile 128. If the email server 130 is included as part of the network 120, a data encryption technique may be implemented to protect the emails 132 and the email server 130 from unauthorized access.
Although the email server 130 is shown as part of the network 120 in
In both
In at least some embodiments, advertisers may not be informed when the targeted ad 124 matches a local consumer profile 118, but may be informed when a consumer chooses to view the advertisement 126. For example, when a consumer chooses to open an email 132 associated with the advertisement 126, information from the profile 118 may be released to the advertiser associated with the advertisement 126.
Additionally, the email interface instructions 152 also may cause the email browser application 117 to display information associated with the targeted advertising service 122. For example, the interface instructions 152 may cause the email browser 117 to display a user-selectable item such as an icon, a scroll down menu or some other user-selectable item. When a consumer selects the user-selectable item (e.g., by clicking or double-clicking on the user-selectable item with the input device 112), the interface instructions 152 may cause a window to appear whereby the consumer may view earned incentives, sponsors, available rewards, advertisement types (e.g., video, web page, text), expiration dates of current offers, and target profile information.
As previously mentioned, embodiments of the invention may use other communication mediums and communication platforms (besides email 132 and the email browser application 117). For example, voice messages provided by a voice over IP application, messages provided by an instant messaging application, information printed directly on a consumer's printer, or direct mail generated and sent to a consumer may be used to present advertisements to consumers. In general, embodiments of the invention implement computer readable instructions 142 that, when executed, cause a consumer computer 102 to log computer activities, generate a local consumer profile that comprises a first set of information, interpret a targeted advertisement containing a second set of information, compare the first set of information to the second set of information, and, if a threshold amount of the second set of information matches with the first set of information, interface an advertisement with a communication medium of a communication platform executed by the consumer computer 102.
As an example, suppose an advertiser is in search of a consumer who has at least twice (e.g., separated in time by at least 5 hours) spent time on three web sites (X, Y, Z) related to automobiles, and has viewed web pages describing SUVs made by automobile companies A and B. The advertiser may further require that the consumer has done an Internet search during the last three weeks containing the terms “SUV” and “safety,” but who has never visited the website of automobile company C, who also makes SUVs. The advertiser (e.g., automobile company C) may be willing to pay, for example, $3 to a consumer for his/her attention, if the above criteria are met. Therefore, the advertiser would generate a targeted ad 124 in which the target profile 128 contains the website visits, the web searches, and time requirements specified above. The target profile 128 may also include a bid price of $3. At the consumer computer 102, the targeted ad 124 is received, and the target profile 128 is compared to the local consumer profile 118 by executing the compare targeted ad instructions 148. If the criteria specified in the target profile 128 is found within the local consumer profile 118, an email 132 associated with the advertisement 126 may be generated by the email interface instructions 116. The consumer may then access the advertisement 126 by executing the email browser application 117 and opening the email 132. As previously explained, the target profile 128 may include a bid price and the local consumer profile 118 may include a consumer ask price. In the above example, the consumer ask price would need to be $3 dollars or less for the ad to be displayed (assuming the advertiser submitted a bid price of $3).
In some embodiments, the advertisement 126 of a targeted ad 124 may be customized to the consumer. As an example, an advertisement 126 based on the criteria given above may include the statement, “Reasons why SUV of automobile company C is superior to the SUVs of automobile companies A and B.” Given the consumer's recent behavior and the cash incentive, the consumer may be willing to spend time to view the advertisement. The consumer also may be a discriminating consumer who dislikes unsolicited advertisements, and may accordingly set his/her consumer ask price at a relatively high value, for example, $2. Therefore, only a targeted ad 124 that includes a bid price incentive of at least $2 would be interfaced with an email 132 by the email interface instructions 152 (regardless of whether the other criteria included in the target profile 128 matches with the local consumer profile 118).
The broadcast layer 210 may be one of, or a combination of several possibilities that include, but are not limited to, a direct server to PC (personal computer) connection over the Internet, an indirect connection through a peer-to-peer scheme (i.e., each party may control initiation of a communication session), or a datacasting method (i.e., satellite communications) that broadcasts a digitized advertisement message 206 over a television infrastructure. The communication network 208 may send the advertisement messages 206 to all or some of the consumer computers 102 using the broadcast layer 210.
As previously explained, the consumers 201 may control participation in the advertisement network 200. For example, a consumer 201 may disable the consumer profile 118 on his/her computer 102. Additionally or alternatively, the consumer profile 118, including the ask price 216, may be editable for each consumer 201. A consumer 201 also has the option of simply not responding to an advertisement message 206 that matches his/her consumer profile 118. If a required portion of the target profile 128 of an advertisement message 206 matches a consumer profile 118 as previously described, a consumer 201 may choose not to open the email or other communication medium that is associated with the advertisement 126.
If an advertisement message 206 matches a consumer's profile 118, that consumer 201 may choose to view the advertisement 126 and receive an incentive associated with viewing the advertisement 126. In at least some embodiments, a consumer may send a response 214 to the communication network 208. The response 214 may be an acknowledgement that indicates to an advertiser 202 that the advertisement 126 of an advertisement message 206 has been viewed. In some embodiments, the response 214 may be an email response, hyperlink access, or an exchange of information (e.g., personal information).
There are at least two ways to control the amount of incentives that a consumer receives for viewing an advertisement. In general, a function V(A, B) that describes the relationship between consumer ask price (“A”) and bid price (“B”) may be programmed in the advertisement message 206 or the instructions 142 (shown in
Alternatively, a function T(V(A, B)) may programmed into the advertisement messages 206 or the instructions 142 (shown in
In is noted that minimizing and mitigating threats to the integrity of the advertising network 200 may be considered. For example, a consumer 201 may be tempted to scam the network 200 in order to receive as many advertiser incentives as possible. Accordingly, the network 200 may implement a variety of defenses to prevent or minimize the occurrence of scams. For example, the network 200 may cap the amount of incentives that a consumer is able to receive per time period (e.g., hour, day, week, or month). In some embodiments, the target profile 128 of the advertisement message 206 may require that consumers 201 actually have made purchases of a product and/or require a highly specific set of target consumer activities. Furthermore, consumers 201 may be required to view the advertisement and input certain information (to verify that they saw the offer) before they can receive the incentive offered. Further still, methods of accessing advertisements that prevent computer automated accesses may be implemented (e.g., Turing tests).
Another solution may involve each consumer computer 102 having two versions of a consumer profile 118. For example, one version may be plaintext, and the other may be a hashed (i.e., encrypted) version of the profile. In one embodiment, the hashed version may be a one-way global function accessible by the network 208. The target profiles 128 could be sent in hashed form also, and compared against the hashed version of a consumer profile 118. Only if a match occurs can the plaintext of the target profile 128 be determined (e.g., a hashed value in a location of hashed profile may correspond to a plaintext value in the plaintext version at the same relative location). If no match of hashed values occurs, then the plaintext value cannot be determined (because there is no matching entry in the hashed profile database). This solution would inhibit hackers and malicious users, by requiring they actually perform the activities required by a target profile 128 before viewing an advertisement 126 and receiving any incentive.
Advertisers 202 also may threaten the integrity of the network 200. For example, an advertiser 202 may try to discover information and identities of the consumers 201. Accordingly, the communications network 208 should ensure that the advertisement messages 206 contain no web bugs that comprise, for example, programs written to allow an advertiser 202 to match an Internet Protocol (IP) address with the fact that a target profile 128 matched a consumer profile 118 associated with that address. Preventing web bugs as described above may be accomplished by examining the advertisement messages 206 before they are broadcast and destroying any advertisement messages 206 that include web bugs or other detrimental programs.
Other considerations relevant to the advertising network 200 may include limiting the cost of advertising using the network 200. For example, some advertisers 202 may not want to pay an unknown quantity of incentives to consumers. Limiting advertiser expense may be accomplished by one or more methods including, but not limited to, capping the number of matching customers 201 that will receive an incentive, sampling a small percentage of the overall population of an area and estimating the result of an advertisement 126 from the sampling, using a peer-to-peer architecture to estimate the number of matching consumers 201, and implementing Internet voting protocols.
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.
