Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-28
2001-01-30
Trammell, James P. (Department: 2765)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Discount or incentive
C709S217000, C709S218000, C709S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182050
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for advertising, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for the distribution of advertisements to consumers.
Advertising is a nonpersonal form of communication conducted through paid media under clear sponsorship having a purpose of informing, persuading or reminding target buyers or publics of the sponsor's goods, services or goodwill. A sponsor's ultimate goal is that an advertisement result in the sales of the sponsor's goods or services. To have the desired effect advertiser's typically tailor their advertisement to a target consumer group—consumers likely to desire or have need of the goods or services. The advertiser also selects a distribution media through which such targeted consumer group is likely to be exposed to the advertisement.
In defining the target consumer group and the method of distribution it is common to use consumer demographics. Demographics are characteristics of human populations and population segments. A population can be segmented by such demographics. Common examples are age, sex, income, race, nationality, religion, address, level of education, occupation, and number of children. Other demographics include hobbies, interests, credit history, travel history, and past purchasing history. There are many others ways in which populations can be analyzed to identify population segments that may be appropriate for an advertiser to target.
Once an advertiser has selected a target consumer group and prepared an advertisement for such group, the advertisement needs to be delivered to such group. Thus, magazines tailored for specific consumer groups are a popular means for a sponsor to reach their target group. Another means is by direct mail. The advertising industry has matured to the point of buying and selling mailing lists of people having specific demographic attributes. In addition, large clearinghouse lists of many consumers are easily formed using today's electronic media. A sponsor may purchase information for a list of consumers meeting desired demographic attributes and then send their advertisement to all such consumers. The more consumers that fit the desired demographic, the more likely that a sale will result from an advertisement to such consumers.
This sale of mailing lists and compilation of consumer information is beneficial to the sponsor, but is a challenge to the notion of consumer privacy. As listed above, one can readily obtain a person's credit history, income level, and purchase history. It is a real concern that the same data can be used for unscrupulous, illegal, or undesired purposes (e.g., to coerce, defraud, or investigate a specific individual). It is when such lists are used to find information on a specific individual that privacy becomes severely challenged. Accordingly, there is a need for advertisers to be able to reach target consumers within a system which protects consumer privacy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, matching between advertisement and target consumer is achieved in a system which maintains consumer privacy. Such system includes at least three levels: computer end users, advertising service providers and advertisers. Computer end users subscribe to the advertising service provider. To lure such subscribers, the consumer may be offered reduced prices for software or on-line service or may be offered another benefit. The advertising service provider then sells time or other accountable units to the advertisers. For example, the advertising service provider may charge a specific price to distribute a specific advertisement to a certain number of end users within a certain period of time. The advertiser provides the advertisement (e.g., advertisement copy; web page address which embodies the advertisement).
According to one aspect of the invention, associated with each advertisement is target criteria information (e.g., desired demographic information, a desired affinity ranking, or a target criteria filter). Such information is determined by the advertiser. In addition, there is playback criteria associated with each advertisement. Playback criteria determines the range of dates or times during which the advertisement may be shown, and any limitation on the number of times the advertisement may be shown. The playback criteria is determined by the advertiser service provider. The target criteria information and playback information is stored on an advertising service provider computer.
According to another aspect of the invention, information about the end user corresponding to the target criteria information is stored at the end user computer. In one implementation, the end user completes a demographic questionnaire and ranks their affinity for various categories of products and services. The specificity of such products and services may vary according to the embodiment. The end user may change their affinities and demographic data at any time. In some embodiment, the affinity rankings change dynamically based upon the end user's computing or on-line browsing habits.
In a highest security embodiment, the target criteria information is a target criteria filter. The end user computer receives the target criteria filter for all or a subset of potential advertisements. According to one aspect of the invention, the target criteria filter is executable code. The end user computer executes each of the target criteria filters to determine which advertisements are to be displayed on the end user computer. Each target criteria filter generates a normalized output which allows the results of each filter to be ranked. Such rankings are used to determine which advertisements are to be displayed. Each target criteria filter requests input data from the end user computer. Such input data corresponds to all or a portion of the end user information (e.g., demographic data, affinity ranking data, or other data statically or dynamically derived from the end user computer). According to an alternative aspect, the target criteria filter is a set of parameters for a generic filter stored on the end user computer. Thus, executable code need not be downloaded to implement the filter. There may be one or more generic filters used for a select one or more advertisements. An advantage of the target criteria filter embodiments is that the processing of the end user information occurs on the end user computer. Such information need not be downloaded to the advertising service provider. The end user computer determines which advertisements are to be displayed. The end user computer sends a message to receive the advertisement. In one embodiment, the advertising service provider computer receives the message and downloads the advertising copy to the end user. In another embodiment, the advertisement is accessed as a web page. The end user computer displays the web page of select advertisements.
According to another aspect of the invention, the end user computer reports accounting type information to the advertising service provider. Such accounting information includes an advertisement identification (e.g., name or code), a time and date stamp of when the advertisement was displayed on the end user computer, and the duration for which the advertisement was present on the display screen of the end user computer. Additional information also may be reported, such as where the end user hyperlinked to from the advertisement (e.g., for a web page advertisement).
According to another implementation, the selection of an advertisement to be displayed is performed on the advertising service provider computer rather than the end user computer. Although, key information such as the end user's name, address or other private data need not be sent to the advertising service provider, demographic or affinity data may be sent. In one embodiment the end user computer sends out a request for advertisements to the advertising service provider. The number of advertisements sent or the frequency such requests are ma
Acceleration Software International Corporation
Jeanty Romain
Koda Steven P.
Trammell James P.
LandOfFree
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