Abstract:
Systems and methods for recording viewing of an advertisement on a mobile computing device. In an example method the mobile computing device initiates presentation of a digital content file having one or more associated advertisements, transmits from the mobile computing device at least one of an identifier for the presented digital content file or an identifier of the associated advertisement over a wireless network to a server, and updates an advertisement impression count at the server based on the transmitted digital content file identifier or associated advertisement identifier. The digital content file and associated one or more advertisement may be received from another mobile computing device. The mobile computing devices include cellular phones.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM 
     This invention claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/752,540 filed Dec. 21, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to advertising and, more specifically, to recording viewing of advertisements over electronic devices. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In a television broadcast medium, ratings of shows (proximate number of viewers) presents a determination of how to value advertisements that are associated with a given show. A determination is made as to approximately how many people will be viewing an advertisement. This correlates to how to value the time slot for an advertisement. 
     In the digital communications market where advertisements are delivered with digital content, there does not exist such a valuation system. It can be easily determined if a person has received an advertisement associated with digital content just by the recordation of the digital content transmission. This would apparently be easy to measure on a one time download basis, but cannot measure how many times a user may view the particular advertisement or whether other people are viewing the advertisement due to the fact that the recipient forwards the digital content with the associated advertisement to another user. 
     Therefore, there exists a need for more effectively evaluating viewership of advertisements associated with digital content over nontraditional delivery means. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides systems and methods for recording viewing of an advertisement on a mobile computing device. In an example method the mobile computing device initiates presentation of a digital content file having one or more associated advertisements, transmits from the mobile computing device at least one of an identifier for the presented digital content file or an identifier of the associated advertisement over a wireless network to a server, and updates an advertisement impression count at the server based on the transmitted digital content file identifier or associated advertisement identifier. 
     In one aspect of the invention, it is determined if the digital content file is being played for a first time on the mobile computing device and if it is determined that the initiated digital content file is being played for the first time, the transmission and updating are performed. 
     In another aspect of the invention, the digital content file and associated one or more advertisements are received from another mobile computing device. The mobile computing devices include cellular phones. 
     In still another aspect of the invention, the advertisement impression count includes information associated with the mobile computing device that performed the transmission. The information includes at least one of location, type of device, or account information associated with the mobile computing device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings: 
         FIGS. 1 and 2  are schematic diagrams of example systems formed in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; and 
         FIGS. 3-5  are flowcharts of example methods performed by the systems shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention includes a client-server solution that tracks ad impressions generated by peer-to-peer file sharing where ads are inside the shared content. 
       FIG. 1  shows a user device  200 , such as a mobile phone, having a processor  207 , random access memory  208 , persistent memory  209  (which could be rewriteable FLASH memory), a display  201 , a keypad  202 , one or more speakers  203 , and a cellular network radio data communication component  210 . The radio component  210  allows data communications with a public or private data network  218  such as the Internet via cellular wireless voice and data network base stations  214 , associated mobile phone carrier  215  and a gateway  216 . The radio component  210  sends and receives a variety of packet data  229  according to a predefined protocol (UDP, TCP, SMTP, HTTP, etc) through the data network  218 . 
     Via network  217 , the device  200  may communicate to other mobile devices such as computers  221  and servers  231  via the network  218 . The radio  210  sends and receives both Short Message Service (SMS) messages  228  or similar messages through the phone network  217  to other devices identified by their phone numbers and sends a variety of packet data  229  through the data network  218  via a predefined protocol (UDP, TCP, SMTP, HTTP, etc). 
     In one embodiment, a variety of short-range wireless communication interfaces include Bluetooth radio  211 , Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) radio  212 , or an infrared transceiver  213 . The Bluetooth radio  211  allows communication via a short-range microwave link  223  (10 s of meters) with Bluetooth adaptors  222  connected to computers  221  and by extension through them via a router  220  to other devices on the public or private data network  218 . The Bluetooth radio  211  is able also communicate directly to other similarly enabled mobile phones 
     WiFi radio  212  provides communication via short-range microwave links  224  (10 s-100 s of meters) WiFi base stations  219  connected via the router  220 , which may be incorporated into the  219 , to the public or private data network  218 . The WiFi radio  212  allows communication directly to other similarly enabled mobile phones. 
     The infrared transceiver  213  allows communication with infrared adaptors  232  connected to computers  221  and by extension through them via the router  220  to other devices on the public or private data network  218 . The infrared transceiver  213  also allows communication directly to other similarly enabled mobile phones. 
     The server complex  231  enables the download of protected (encrypted) digital media files to the device  200  and digital content keys to unlock the protected content for use on devices properly authenticated. 
     Connected to the cell phone carrier  215  is a short message service center  230  (SMS-C) that enables transmission of messages between phones routed by their phone number and between the server complex  231  and phones. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , devices  402  and  412  (e.g. mobile phones) are equipped with cellular network radios  403 ,  413  that are connected to SMS  404 ,  414  or packet data  405 ,  415  components. The radios  403 ,  413  communicate with their associated mobile phone carrier  427  and onward through a gateway  429  to a public or private data network  430  such as the Internet via a cellular wireless voice and data network basestations  425 ,  426 . The devices  402 ,  412  communicate to each other and to other mobile phones and other devices such as a computer  434  and a server  431  via the data network  430 . 
     The radios  403 ,  413  send and receive both SMS messages  404 ,  414  through the phone carriers  427  to other phones/devices identified by their phone numbers/identifiers and send a variety of packet data  405 ,  415  according to a protocol (such as UDP, TCP, SMTP, HTTP, etc) through the data network  430 . 
     In one embodiment, the devices  402 ,  412  include at least one of a variety of short-range wireless communication interfaces, including Bluetooth radios  407 ,  417 , WiFi radios  408 ,  418 , and infrared transceivers  406 ,  416 . The Bluetooth radio  407  may communicate with Bluetooth adaptors  435  connected to computers  434  and by extension through them via a router  432  to other devices on the public or private data network  430 . The Bluetooth radio  407  is able also communicate directly to other similarly enabled devices. 
     WiFi radio  408  is able to communicate with WiFi base stations  433  connected via the router  432  (which may be incorporated into  433  to the public or private data network  430 . WiFi radio  408  may also communicate directly to other similarly enabled devices  412 . 
     The infrared transceiver  406  may communicate with infrared adaptors (not shown) connected to computers and by extension through them via the router  432  to other devices on the public or private data network  430 . The infrared transceiver  406  may also communicate directly to other similarly enabled devices. 
     Connected to the data network  430  is the server complex  431  that enables the download of protected (encrypted) digital media files to the devices  402 ,  412  and digital content keys to unlock the protected content for use on devices properly authenticated. Connected to the cell phone carrier  427  is an SMS-C  428  enabling transmission of messages between phones routed by their phone number. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example process  300  performed by the system shown in  FIG. 1 . At block  310 , a first user device (e.g. device  402 ) downloads content from the server  431 . At block  303 , a second user device (e.g. device  412 ) acquires the content from the first user device. After block  303 , the process  300  continues on to the process shown in  FIGS. 4  or  5 . 
       FIG. 4  shows an example process  500  performed after the process  500  shown in  FIG. 3 . At block  501 , a user device initiates presentation of a content file. At block  502 , the processor of the user device determines if this is a first playback of the initiated content file. If it is a first playback, then at block  503 , the user device informs the server of the identity of the file that is/was played. At block  504 , the server updates a count of impressions of advertisements embedded in or associated with the played content file. In another embodiment, the server updates or records other information, such as location of the user device, type of user device, account information associated with the owner of the user device, or any other information that is useful to provide an advertiser or someone who is assigning a value to an advertisement. At block  505 , the user device records the content file as previously played. Thus,  FIG. 4  shows a process for recording when a user plays an advertisement associated with a content file at the first time it is presented to a user and not at subsequent times. The counts recorded at the server are used to give value to the advertisements. 
       FIG. 5  shows an alternate embodiment process  600 . At block  602 , a user device initiates presentation of a content file. At block  604 , the user device informs the server of the identity of the presented content file. At block  606 , the server updates a count of impressions of advertisements embedded in or associated with the presented content file. At block  608 , the user device records the content file as previously played. Thus,  FIG. 5  shows a process for recording when a user plays an advertisement associated with a content file every time the content file is presented to the user. The recorded count is then used to set value for the advertisement. 
     While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the steps performed in the process described need not be in the exact order shown or need not include all the steps shown. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.