Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-12
2001-11-27
Trammell, James P. (Department: 2161)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Discount or incentive
C705S037000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06324519
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The advent of the Internet has resulted in the ability to communicate data across the globe instantaneously and will allow for numerous new applications which enhance consumer's lives. One of the enhancements which can occur is the ability for the consumer to receive advertising which is relevant to their lifestyle. Such “targeted ads” can potentially reduce the amount of unwanted information which consumers receive in the mail, during television programs, and when using the Internet.
From an advertiser's perspective the ability to target ads can be beneficial since they have some confidence that their ad will at least be determined relevant by the consumer, and therefore will not be found annoying because it is not applicable to their lifestyle. The advertiser also desires to maximize the effect of an advertisement and to have an acceptable return on investment from advertising, principally in the form of increased sales.
In the various forms of media including television, printed materials such as magazines and periodicals, and the Internet, opportunities for the transmission of advertisements to consumers frequently arise. The groups who have the opportunities to present advertisements to consumers receive payment from the advertisers, and need to maximize their revenues. In addition, by placing ads which will be found useful by the consumer, the value of the transmitted programming to the consumer may be increased.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an advertisement auction system which can match advertisements with consumers and allow the entity who can present the advertisement to the consumer to maximize their income.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a means for the auctioning of advertisement opportunities based on the correlation of an advertisement with a consumer profile. The invention can be realized over a network of computers such as the Internet and can be used for the auctioning of advertisements which are delivered as part of broadcast video programming, printed material such as magazines and periodicals, or as part of web site pages.
In a preferred embodiment the invention is realized over a networked computer environment, with notification of an advertising opportunity being presented to at least one advertiser. The advertiser transmits an advertisement characterization which is used to determine the appropriateness of the advertisement to one or more consumers. The results of this determination, in the form of a correlation factor, is transmitted to the advertiser who can subsequently place a bid for the advertisement opportunity. Upon acceptance of the bid the advertisement is delivered to the content/opportunity provider who delivers the ad to the consumer.
In a preferred embodiment the advertisement characterization is in the form of an ad characterization vector, and the consumer characterization is in the form of a consumer characterization vector, with the correlation factor being calculated as the scalar product between the ad characterization vector and the consumer characterization vector.
The ad characterization vector can contain both a demographic characterization of the advertisement as well as a product preference characterization of the advertisement. The consumer characterization vector can contain both demographic and product preference characterizations.
In a preferred embodiment the auction process includes soliciting bids from a plurality of advertisers, and repeating the bidding process to maximize the revenue for the advertising opportunity.
An advantage of the present invention is that advertisers can target their ads at consumers with the appropriate demographic characteristics, and can target consumers who buy a competitor's product. The content/opportunity provider can charge for the advertisement according to how well matched the advertisement is to the consumer and the advertiser's goals. The matching can be in the form of demographic matching, product preference matching, or a combination of both.
The present invention provides for the ability for consumers to receive more targeted advertisements which match their lifestyle and interests, the ability to insure advertisers that their ads will be received by the appropriate audience, and the ability to allow the content/opportunity provider the ability to maximize revenue for the advertising opportunity.
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Expanse Networks, Inc.
Hayes John W.
Ryder Douglas J.
Trammell James P.
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