Abstract:
A method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment includes the steps of categorizing a content of contexts and special offerings, analyzing and indexing information carrying units from the special offerings, pre-locating the indexed information carrying units in the contexts, associating categorized special offerings with the pre-located information carrying units in the contexts, tagging the pre-located information carrying units in the contexts, receiving a request from a user for a context, and serving the tagged context to the user.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0001]    The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) from provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/473,083, entitled “A Method of Dynamically and Adaptively Delivering Special Offerings in a Network Environment”, filed on May 23,2003, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to systems and methods of delivering special offerings which reflect the content being viewed by a user as well as the interests of the user.  
           [0003]    It is well known in the art to deliver and present to an end user special offerings as the user is browsing an interactive network such as the World Wide Web. Such special offerings include advertisements in the form of banner ads, plain text ads, pop-up ads, and fly over ads. These advertisements represent a tremendous commercial opportunity to advertisers and interactive network businesses such as search engine providers and content providers. These businesses have sought to provide special offerings to the end user more effectively and precisely.  
           [0004]    However, conventional online advertising systems and methods for targeting user&#39;s interests are not very precise. For example, and as shown in FIG. 1, a system developed by DoubleClick of New York, N.Y. includes broad web site categorization and rough location estimation from IP addresses. This system does not categorize the content of the web page being viewed and fails to determine the user&#39;s browsing, searching, and shopping interests. Because of this, users may not be interested in the special offerings inserted in the viewed web pages. DoubleClick delivered 600 billion ads in 2002 with very low click-through and conversion rates. An example of poorly targeted advertisements displayed on a web page is shown in FIG. 1A in which banner ads for a health care plan and a car dealer are displayed on a web page displaying an article about stock and oil prices.  
           [0005]    In order to solve the problem of low user interest in inserted special offerings, prior art systems and methods use multi-media methods such as pop-up, pop-under, and fly over ads. However, these methods are very intrusive and annoying to the user and distract the user from his browsing activity. Further, such methods may adversely affect the relationship between the user and the business being advertised. An example of pop-up ads is shown in FIG. 1B.  
           [0006]    Targeted advertising has been more effective when coupled with more specific knowledge of the user&#39;s interest. A system developed by Google of Mountain View, Calif. is shown in FIG. 2. The system targets the user&#39;s interest based on the user&#39;s search query. Although this system provides for targeting of the user&#39;s interest, most of the user&#39;s online experience includes browsing and search traffic is steadily decreasing. An example of such targeted advertising is shown in FIG. 2A. Text ads  200  related to digital cameras are displayed alongside search results returned in response to the search query “digital camera”. This system is limited in the case where no advertising is related to the search query. For example, no targeted advertising is shown in FIG. 2B for the search query “John McDonald”.  
           [0007]    Other prior art systems include functionality added to client-side browsers operable to select particular pre-defined words on a web page and hyperlink these words to various pre-designated websites corresponding to the words. However these systems do not associate special offerings dynamically and are limited to client-side browsers.  
           [0008]    Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment. Preferably such a system and method provides highly targeted special offerings without intruding upon the user&#39;s online experience.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    In accordance with the present invention, a method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment includes the steps of categorizing a content of contexts and special offerings, analyzing and indexing information carrying units from the special offerings, pre-locating the indexed information carrying units in the contexts, associating categorized special offerings with the pre-located information carrying units in the contexts, tagging the pre-located information carrying units in the contexts, receiving a request from a user for a context, and serving the tagged context to the user.  
           [0010]    In accordance with an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment includes the steps of categorizing a content of contexts and special offerings, analyzing and indexing information carrying units from the special offerings, receiving a user personal profile, receiving user feedback statistics, pre-locating the indexed information carrying units in the contexts based on the content of the contexts, the user personal profile, and user feedback statistics, associating categorized special offerings with the pre-located information carrying units in the contexts, tagging the pre-located information carrying units in the contexts, receiving a request from a user for a context, and serving the tagged context to the user.  
           [0011]    These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a flow chart representation of a prior art online advertising system;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1A is a screen shot of a prior art web page showing delivered advertising;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1B is a screen shot showing prior art pop-up advertisements;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a flow chart representation of an alternative prior art online advertising system;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2A is a screen shot showing prior art text advertisements;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2B is a screen shot showing prior art search results;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 is a flow chart representation of an offline process for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 is a flow chart representation of a process for analyzing user feedback in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 is flow chart representation of a process for analyzing user personal interests in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 5A is a schematic representation of a user personal interest profile in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 6 is a flow chart representation of an online process for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of various tables in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 8 is a screen shot of a served web page in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 9 is a screen shot of an alternative served web page in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 10 is a screen shot of yet another alternative served web page in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an offline method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 12 is a flow chart of an online method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0029]    The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the present invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.  
         [0030]    The system and method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment may include two independent processes. A first process may include offline context processing as shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5. A second process may include online context processing as shown in FIG. 6.  
         [0031]    With reference to FIG. 3, a special offering analysis server  300  may be operable to analyze special offerings stored in a special offerings repository  305 . Such an analysis may include identifying information carrying units. Information carrying units may include any portion of the stored special offerings including words, sentences, icons, and images which are viewable and have potential meaning to a user. Each identified information carrying unit may be given an identification number  700  (FIG. 7). Each special offering is given an identification number  705  and categorized and given a categorization identification number  710 . A categorization name  715  and the categorization identification number  710  may be stored in a categorization table  712 . An association of the special offering identification number  705 , a location  720  of the special offering&#39;s location, and the categorization identification number  710  may be stored in a special offering&#39;s table  310 .  
         [0032]    The special offering analysis server  300  may further be operable to index the information carrying units by associating the information carrying unit&#39;s identification number  700  with a special offering identification number  705 . The associated information carrying units may be stored in an information carrying units index table  315 .  
         [0033]    A content categorization server  320  may be operable to categorize the content of a context. A context may include html files stored in a context repository  325 . Each context may be given a categorization identification  722  and a context identification number  725 . An association of a context location  730 , the categorization identification  722 , and the context identification number  725  may be stored in a context table  330 . The categorization identification  722  may be performed in a conventional manner. Each context may have multiple categorization identifications  722 .  
         [0034]    An information carrying unit pre-location server  340  may be operable to pre-locate and tag the information carrying units in the contexts stored in the context repository  325  based on the information stored in the information carrying units index table  315  and the contents of the context. An information carrying unit context tag identification number  740  may be assigned to each pre-located information carrying unit.  
         [0035]    A special offerings pre-selector server  360  may be operable to process all of the tagged pre-located information carrying units in all of the contexts. For each tagged pre-located information carrying unit, the special offerings pre-selector server  360  may be operable to pre-select the special offerings stored in special offering&#39;s table  310  based on the information carrying units stored in the information carrying units index table  315  and the content of the contexts. The tagged pre-located information carrying units may be stored in an information carrying unit context tag table  350  and may include the context identification number  725 , the special offering identification number  705 , the information carrying unit&#39;s identification number  700 , and the special offering identification number  705 .  
         [0036]    A content augmentation server  370  may be operable to insert a template with a tag such as the information carrying unit context tag identification number  740  into locations of the pre-located information carrying units to form a pre-augmented context. The templates may dynamically link to augmented data structures. The templates may be enabled or disabled by a real-time content augmentation server  630  (FIG. 6). The pre-augmented context may be stored in a repository of pre-augmented context  380 .  
         [0037]    In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pre-augmented context may include a highlighted information carrying unit  800  such as shown in FIG. 8. When a user&#39;s mouse is positioned over the highlighted information carrying unit  800  the special offering  810  associated with the highlighted information carrying unit  800  may be displayed. Alternatively, special offerings  900  and  1000  (FIG. 9 and FIG. 10) associated with highlighted information carrying units  910  and  1010  respectively may be displayed alongside search results  920  and an article  1020  respectively.  
         [0038]    Additional offline processes include monitoring and collecting the user&#39;s activities when viewing the context. A feedback analysis server  400  shown in FIG. 4 may be operable to monitor, collect, analyze, and update user activity such as which highlighted information carrying units  800 ,  910 , and  1010  the user selects to view. A repository of user feedback statistics  410  may store user feedback statistics.  
         [0039]    As shown in FIG. 5, a personalization server  500  may be operable to analyze and quantize a registered user&#39;s personal interests in various interest areas to form a user personal interest profile. The user&#39;s personal interests are based upon the user&#39;s online activities which may be stored in a historical behavior repository  510 . A user may be registered with a publisher of context. The user personal interest profiles may be stored in a repository  520 .  
         [0040]    With reference to FIG. 5A, a user personal interest profile may include a list  520  of categories  530  of interest to the registered user. The list  520  and categories  530  are compiled based upon the registered user&#39;s online activities. Within each category  530 , a sublist  540  may include specific registered user activities related to respective categories  530 . Special offerings  550  may be linked to sublist  540 .  
         [0041]    Having created pre-augmented context, the system of the invention may be operable to serve an augmented context to the user. A real-time information carrying unit selection server  600  shown in FIG. 6 may be operable to select information carrying units from a context requested by the user from the pre-located information carrying units indexed in the information carrying units index table  315 . The selection process may take into account the categorization of the context, the user personal interest profile, and user feedback statistics collected as the user is browsing the context.  
         [0042]    A real-time special offering selection server  620  may be operable to select from the pre-selected special offerings stored in special offering&#39;s table  310 . The selection process may take into account the categorization of the context, the user personal interest profile, and user feedback statistics collected as the user is browsing the context. Conventional optimization, operation research, and statistical modeling methods may be used to select from the pre-selected special offerings.  
         [0043]    A real-time augmentation server  630  may be operable to insert a template with a tag such as the information carrying unit context tag identification number  740  into locations of the selected information carrying units to form the augmented context. The augmented context preferably expands upon the pre-selected information carrying units and provides a more attractive and resourceful presentation of the context to the user. The augmented context may be formed by highlighting the selected information carrying units and linking and embedding the selected special offerings in the context. Such linking and embedding may include inserting executable objects in the context. The executable objects may be executed upon the user&#39;s moving the mouse over or clicking the highlighted information carrying units.  
         [0044]    In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment generally designated  1100  and shown in FIG. 11 includes a step  1105  in which the content of the contexts and the special offerings may be categorized. In a step  1110 , the content categorization server  320  may assign a categorization to each context and a categorization to each special offering. In a step  1115  a candidate list of information carrying units may be generated from the categorized special offerings. The candidate list of information carrying units may be indexed and stored in a table in a step  1120 . In a step  1125 , the indexed information carrying units may be located and tagged in each context. The information carrying unit pre-locator server  340  may process each context based upon the indexed information carrying units and the content of the context to determine pre-located information carrying units. The special offering pre-selector server  360  may process all the pre-located information carrying units in a step  1130 . For each pre-located information carrying unit, the special offering pre-selector server  360  may pre-select a list of candidates of special offerings for the pre-located information carrying units in each context based on the candidate list of information carrying units and the contents of the context. In a step  1135 , the content augmentation server  370  may insert the template with a tag into locations of the pre-located information carrying units.  
         [0045]    With reference to FIG. 12, method  1100  continues in a step  1200  in which a user request for a context is received in the real-time information carrying unit selection server  600 . In a step  1205  it is determined if the user is a registered user. If the user is not a registered user, then in a step  1210  default setting are received. Else in a step  1215  the registered user personal interest profile and the user feedback statistics are received. In a step  1220  information carrying units may be selected from the pre-located information carrying units based upon the content of the context requested, the registered user personal interest profile, and the user feedback statistics. In a step  1225  the real-time special offering selection server  620  may select special offerings from the pre-selected special offerings based upon the categorization of the context requested, the registered user personal interest profile, and the user feedback statistics. Finally, in a step  1230 , the real-time content augmentation server  630  may annotate portions of the requested context with multimedia content representing the selected information carrying units and special offerings.  
         [0046]    The system and method for dynamically and adaptively delivering special offerings in a network environment of the present invention provides for dynamically augmented context. The user will see selected special offerings which are targeted to his personal interests and which are reflective of the content of the context. Furthermore, presentation of the selected special offerings is not intrusive and does not distract the user&#39;s attention from his browsing or searching experience.