Abstract:
A method for delivering advertising information (AI) from a server site (S) to a client (C). The including steps of 1) maintaining an advertising data base (ADB) comprising advertising records, each advertising record being associated with at least one item and/or category; 2) generating an item list (PL) containing at least one item to be acquired by the client (C); 3) retrieving, from the advertising data base (ADB), at least one advertising record which is associated with at least one item contained in the item list (PL) or a category of the item; and 4) using the retrieved advertising record for delivering advertising information (AI) from the server site (S) to the client (C).

Description:
This application is a Continuation of International Application PCT/FI00/00893 filed on Oct. 13, 2000, which designated the U.S. and was published under PCT Article 21(2) in English. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to methods and equipment for delivering customized advertisements to customers. 
     A general problem with advertising is that most of the time, customers are flooded with advertisements which are irrelevant to their current activities. In other words, most advertisements are related to products or services in which the viewer is not at all interested, or the viewer could be interested in the advertisement, but only at a more appropriate time. 
     Advertisers are fiercely competing about a non-extendible resource, namely the perception ability of the potential customers. It has been estimated that one contemporary newspaper issue contains as much information as a typical 17th-century citizen received in his or her lifetime. As a result, the advertisers are in a zero-sum competition wherein one medium&#39;s or advertiser&#39;s gain is the loss of another. 
     Advertisers try to make educated guesses about the needs of their potential customers. For instance, when an Internet user views the web pages of an on-line vendor, the vendor may assume that the user in question has at least a mild interest in telecommunications, web browsing, etc, and consequently, the initial advertisements are typically selected from such items. An advertiser may employ a system which selects an advertisement from a database by using simple correlation between data entered by the user and the advertisement. For example, entering the word ‘trousers’ to a web search engine may result in an advertisement for a clothing company being displayed. When the user makes a purchase, his/her identity is stored and the next time s/he views the same vendor&#39;s web pages, s/he may be displayed an advertisement based on previous purchase behaviour. However, a hit to a certain web page or an on-line purchase from the vendor gives little or no actual information on the user&#39;s future behaviour. For instance, a business may have been buying computers regularly, but in fact their last computer purchase was the last one needed in the foreseeable future, and no further computers are needed. Thus prior art advertisement delivery mechanisms are based on predictions of user behaviour which are extrapolated from current or past behaviour. Such extrapolation may lead to false conclusions, which is why prior art advertisement delivery mechanisms provide irrelevant information and thus waste economical and technical resources. 
     DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide a mechanism for advertisement delivery which provides more relevant information than the prior art mechanisms do. This object is achieved with a method and equipment which are characterized by what is disclosed in the attached independent claims. Preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the attached dependent claims. 
     The invention is based on discovering the problem and finding a solution for it. The solution is based on the idea that advertising is based, at least partially, on the calculated purchase plans of the targeted audience, i.e. the client. An advantage of the invention is that the client need not provide information in person as to what the client intends to acquire. This information can be calculated or derived from a business logic which has access to data concerning the total operations of the client organization. 
     In the following description, the term ‘item’ refers to a product, service and/or information which the client (organization) intends to acquire. It should be understood that ‘acquiring’ is not limited to purchasing. For example, the client can be a transport company which leases or rents vehicles. Several related items may constitute a category. The categories may be arranged hierarchically. For example, an item may be a “ball bearing of type xxx”, whereby the category is “ball bearings”, which in turn may fall under the higher-level category of “bearings”, etc. An essential idea of the invention is selecting advertising information related to at least one item which the client intends to acquire. Alternatively, advertising information be selected from the category which comprises the item in question. 
     According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for delivering advertising information from a server site to a client (as an organization). According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a server arrangement for delivering advertising information to the client. The server site is the location from which advertising information is delivered. Typically the site comprises at least one Internet server and operator (support personnel). The client organization comprises one or more client sites, each client site comprising client personnel and a client terminal which is at least temporarily connected to the server site. A prime example of a client terminal is a personal computer with an Internet browser. 
     ‘Advertising information’ should be interpreted broadly. Because the invention enables the delivery of highly relevant advertising to the client, an advertisement does not have to be visually attractive, and consequently, a mere indication of a favourable price or a short delivery time or some other indication may suffice for affecting the client&#39;s decision. Advertising information comprises explicit or implied advertisements and parts thereof. Within the context of this application, explicit advertising means delivering one or more complete advertisements, whereas implied advertising means delivering one or more links to express advertisements. 
     A method according to the invention comprises the steps of: 
     1) maintaining an advertising database comprising advertising records, each advertising record being associated with at least one item or the corresponding category. For implementing the invention, the operator should maintain a data base wherein each record links one item or category with relevant advertising information, such as locally-stored complete advertisements, price/delivery information and/or links to advertisements stored in external locations. 
     2) generating an item list which indicates or contains a set of items, i.e. at least one item, to be acquired by the client. In this context, the ‘client’ means the client as an organization, not just the person who is operating the client terminal. In other words, advertisement selection may be based on information obtained from a designer, but the actual advertisement may be delivered to a person in charge of purchases. In order to have information on the actual (versus assumed) purchase plans of the client, there must be a mechanism for producing a client-specific list of required or planned acquisitions. Such a list will be called a planning list (PL). Additionally, the planning list must be made available to the server site operator. This presents a problem which has simultaneous technical and economical aspects. The problem has a technical aspect, because the planning list must reflect accurately what the client plans to acquire. The problem is also an economical one, because the client must have a sufficient incentive to publish his/her purchase plans. The technical aspect of the problem can be solved for example by providing the client with a materials planning program, or MRP program, which outputs the item list. It should be noted that, traditionally, ‘MRP’ stands for Manufacturing Resource Planning, but the invention is not limited to manufacturing. Instead, the invention is applicable to acquiring (purchasing, renting or leasing) any resources (products, services and/or information). From here on, the materials planning program will be called ‘business logic’ (BL). The economical aspect of the problem can be solved by providing the BL program to the client at a reduced cost or free of charge. The operator can compensate for lost profits by selling accurately targeted advertising. Alternatively, providing the client with accurate price information from different competing sources may induce the client to actually purchase the BL program according to the invention or to make available information from an existing business logic program to this purpose. 
     The operator must ensure that the item information is compatible with the item information in the advertising database. Ideally, the database of the BL program for the client site should use identical item numbers with the item information in the advertising database of the server site. If this is not possible, the client&#39;s BL program or the server site may employ a translation table for converting between dissimilar item/category codes. 
     3) retrieving from the advertising data base at least one advertising record which is associated with at least one item contained in the item list or a category of that item. The section of the mechanism according to the invention which performs this step will be call ‘advertising logic’ (AL). The client may expressly indicate that s/he wishes to receive advertisements in a certain category. If this is the case, the server site may select any adverting material from the category. However, if the client&#39;s item list indicates only one or more specific items, the server must decide if the selected advertising record should relate to the items in question, or to the related category. For instance, if the BL calculates that the client will purchase a product with no compatible replacements, there is little point in advertising the same product, and better use of technical and economical resources is achieved by advertising another product in the same category. However, if the product is a commodity item, the client is very much benefited by accurate price/delivery information. This decision will be further described below. 
     4) using the selected advertising record for delivering advertising information from the server site to the client. The final step of delivering customized advertising information can be implemented by providing the client with one or more complete advertisements, one or more links to related advertisements, or one or more pieces of useful, product/service/category-related information, such as prices or delivery information. 
     As already stated, prior art advertisement delivery mechanisms are based on the client&#39;s identity and current and previous behaviour. The advertisement delivery mechanism according to the invention is based on information about the client&#39;s actual acquisition plans whether they are actually known to the client or not. Naturally, these two mechanisms can be combined. In other words, an advertisement delivery mechanism according to the invention is not necessarily limited to selecting an advertisement on the basis of the client&#39;s item list, but the mechanism may use the client terminal user&#39;s identity or the general type of the client&#39;s business as additional sources of information. 
     According to one embodiment of the invention, the one or more advertising records are selected at random, among the advertising records which are associated with at least one item/category in the client&#39;s item list. According to various preferred embodiments, the one or more advertising records are selected by means of more advanced selection algorithms, as will be described later in more detail. 
     According to yet another preferred embodiment of the invention, the business logic program is installed at the server site. Such an arrangement facilitates extracting information from the client&#39;s item list to the benefit of the advertising logic. It also protects the business logic from software piracy. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will be described in more detail by means of preferred embodiments with reference to the appended drawing wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a signalling diagram illustrating one possible set of events in a system as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates various data structures used in the system of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention. There are two main sections, a client site C and a server site S. The client site comprises a client terminal CT, which can be a conventional desktop computer running an Internet browser. The client terminal CT is connected to the server site via a telecommunication network NW. The network can be for example the Internet or a closed subnetwork, commonly called intranet or extranet. The server site S comprises a communications server CS, a business logic BL (comprising e.g. the materials resource planning, or MRP, program) with its associated materials data base MDB, and an advertising logic AL with its advertising data base ADB. In lightly-loaded systems, the logic sections BL and AL and the databases MDB and ADB can be installed in the same computer which acts as the communication server CS. On the other hand, a heavily-loaded system may require several computers for performing some or all of the functions at the server site. 
       FIG. 2  is a signalling diagram illustrating one possible set of events in a system as described above.  FIG. 2  should be studied in connection with  FIG. 3  which illustrates the various data structures used in the system. In step  2 - 2  an Internet session is established between the client terminal CT and the communication server CS. (This step comprises several substeps, such as authenticating the user of the client terminal CT and establishing a secure transport layer, but all such substeps are well known to those skilled in the art.) In step  2 - 4  the user of the client terminal CT navigates to a web page relating to that particular user&#39;s business data. For example, a salesperson may be entering a sales order for a particular item, or a designer may store a construction of a new product. The communication server CS conveys the user&#39;s choice to the business logic BL which sends to the materials data base MDB a request for inventory data. In step  2 - 6  the MDB returns the requested inventory data to the BL which in turn conveys it via the CS to the client CT. In step  2 - 8  the user of the client terminal CT has considered the available information and s/he places and sends, via the communication server CS instructions (such as a filled form) for updating the MDB. Steps  2 - 4  through  2 - 8  can be varied in many ways. For example, the client site user may send an explicit PL list, or s/he may send implicit information on the basis of which a PL list can be calculated. As an example of such implicit information, let us consider a case where the client has 150 ball bearings in stock and s/he enters a sales order for 20 units, each requiring 8 ball bearings. Based on this implicit information, the BL can calculate that the client will soon purchase more ball bearings, although the client site user may not be aware of the fact that more ball bearings will be needed in the near future. In other words, it is essential that after step  2 - 8  the business logic BL has access to information on the basis of which the client&#39;s future behaviour can be predicted accurately (not just assumed). In step  2 - 10  the business logic BL analyzes the available inventory data, sales/purchase orders, etc. and creates a PL list. 
       FIG. 3  shows, along with some other files and databases, a list of requirements (RL) for a manufacturing company that makes fans. The requirements list RL can be based on sales forecasts and sales orders, but it can include other items as well. The requirement list RL is typical of lists that may be maintained by a business logic, either directly or calculated from other information of the organization. To keep the illustration compact, the RL list in  FIG. 3  comprises only one required item, and the list does not show other related information, such as date required or a source of requirement (e.g. a sales order or a sales forecast, etc.). 
     The RL list comprises a fan of type Fan-21, of which 60 pieces will be needed. The corresponding item code  302  is used to retrieve data related to this fan from an inventory data table ID. Reference number  310  denotes an ID table record which comprises data for Fan-21. In this example, the inventory data comprises a description, the quantity in stock and the price of one fan. (In reality, the inventory database ID would comprise far more detailed information, such as a shelf code, consumption per unit of time, etc., but such details are not relevant for understanding the present invention.) Since the client needs 60 fans and the inventory data table ID shows that the quantity in stock is 20 pieces, the client has to manufacture 40 pieces more in order to fulfil his/her customer&#39;s requirements. 
     By considering a table of product structures PS, it can be seen that for each Fan-21, there is a requirement for 2 bearings of type BB 101 . Record  312  of the inventory data table ID shows that there are 60 pieces of BB 101  in stock, but the requirement for BB 101  in the near future is 2 times 40 pieces, or 80 pieces. This leaves a net requirement for 20 pieces. On this basis the BL will add item BB 101  to the planning list PL, and the item BB 101  can also be marked as an advertising candidate by adding it to the advertising candidate list AC. 
     The inventory data table ID also includes a bolt of type Bolt 222 . The quantity in stock is 500 pieces. Currently there is no entry for the Bolt 222  in the planning list PL. A product designer at the client site C (or anywhere in the client organization) has added Bolt 222  to a product structure for another fan of type Fan-22. This addition was made through a part of the BL that controls product structures. As a result of this change, the BL adds the Bolt 222  to the advertising candidate list AC, the logic being driven by past sales of Fan-22. 
     In practice, the business logic will be considering many more factors than are illustrated here. For instance, the time frame of purchasing, approved suppliers, minimum stock levels, etc. should be taken into account. These factors and the detailed operation of a business logic are well known those skilled in the art, and the invention is not limited to the simplistic illustration above. As a further alternative, the client may generate records in the PL list directly. For instance, if the client organization has not implemented all the features of a business logic, then the planned purchases could be recorded manually. 
     The dashed line  2 - 12  in  FIG. 2  indicates a possible break in the sequence of events. The process may be interrupted at step  2 - 12  (or at any time between steps  2 - 10  and  2 - 28 ). For example, the client site user who initiated the session in step  2 - 2  may terminate the session, and a second user may initiate a new session, in which case the selected advertisement(s) will be sent to the second operator. The advertising logic AL may even consult an employee database (not shown separately) and determine that the current client site operator does not make purchase decisions, in which case the advertisement would, during a subsequent session, be sent to someone in charge or purchasing. 
     Next, in step  2 - 14 , the business logic BL sends the advertising candidates list AC to the advertising logic AL. In step  2 - 16  the advertising logic AL analyzes the list of advertising candidates AC for selecting at least one advertisement. At its simplest, the advertisement selection algorithm may be implemented by selecting one advertisement at random, although preferred selection algorithms will be described later. 
     Let us first assume that the advertising logic AL decides to advertise ball bearing BB 101 . As indicated by arrow  322 , the advertising logic AL makes use of a supplier data table SD which lists three possible suppliers for BB 101 , denoted by reference numeral  324 , namely companies comp_x 1 , comp_x 2  and comp_x 3 . Next, as indicated by arrow  338 , the advertising logic AL consults an advertising data table AD which has a record for each of the three suppliers for this particular bearing. For example, record  340  comprises an item code  352  and a supplier code  354  for BB 101 . Additionally, the record  340  comprises a URL (universal resource locator)  356  for indicating the location of the corresponding advertisement. The URL field  356  of the record  340  begins with \\ADB, wherein ‘ADB’ is the reference sign for the advertising database (see  FIG. 1 ). This means that the advertisement for item BB 101  by company comp_x 1  is stored locally in the ADB, whereas the URLs for the next two suppliers comp_x 2  and comp_x 3  point to the www pages of the respective suppliers. 
     Let us next assume that the advertising logic AL decides to advertise Bolt 222  instead of (or in addition to) the BB 101 . In the example shown in  FIG. 3 , the bolt Bolt 222  is such a mundane item that, although the supplier data table SD gives two possible suppliers (comp_y 1  and comp_y 2 ), neither has a specific advertisement for a specific bolt. In other words, the advertising data table AD has no records with item code ‘Bolt 222 ’. In such a case the advertising logic AL consults a category data table CD, which has a record  330  indicating that the category  332  for Bolt 222  is BOLT. The advertising logic AL again consults the advertising data table AD and finds five records  343 - 347  for suppliers of category BOLT. However, the supplier data table SD shows that only two records, namely  343  and  344 , relate to suppliers of Bolt 222 . Here the advertising logic AL has two choices. It may select an advertisement from any supplier of category BOLT (records  343 - 347 ), or it may restrict the selection to the suppliers that actually supply the type of bolt the client is about to purchase, i.e. Bolt 222  (records  343  and  344 ). 
     The outcome of the analyzing step  2 - 16  is a set of one or more URLs, e.g. the URL  356  of the advertising record  340 . In step  2 - 18  the advertising logic AL uses the set of URLs for retrieving advertising information AI. If the URL points to the local advertising database ADB (see e.g. URL  356  of record  340 ), the advertising information is retrieved locally. On the other hand, if the URL points to an external location (see e.g. the URL of records  341  and  342 ), the advertising information is retrieved via an external network, most probably via the Internet. 
     In step  220  the advertising database ADB or the external network returns the requested advertising information AT. In step  2 - 22  the advertising logic AL formats the advertising information AI. As an example, the advertising logic AL may combine a logo of a supplier with some actual pricing information into one compact image in a suitable format, such as GIF or JPG. In step  2 - 24  the advertising logic AL sends the formatted advertising information AT to the business logic BL, which combines it with a business report/web screen R in step  2 - 26 . Preferably, the advertising information AT and the business report/web screen R are combined into a page which can be viewed with the client site&#39;s Internet browser. For example, the AI+R combination may be in HTML (hypertext mark-up language) or XML (extendible mark-up language). In step  2 - 28  the business logic BL sends the AI+R combination to the client site C. 
     One aspect of the invention as described above is the generation of the advertising data AD that needs to be transmitted to the client site. This AD list can be empty, or it can have one record or have a multitude of records. However, in typical use an empty AD list or one with only one record in it will rarely occur, and such cases can be handled simplistically. Accordingly, there is usually a requirement to select from the multitude of records a subset of preferred advertising records to be used. According to the design of the screen that the client will view (such as a web page), there will be space reserved for one or more advertisements. In the following example, a case of selecting one advertisement will be described, but the same mechanism is capable of retrieving two or more advertisements, if required. 
     A primary factor in the selection of an advertisement is timing. The closer in time that an advertisement is to the potential purchase date by a buyer at the client site, the more likely that the advertisement will be effective, i.e. that it will result in a response from the user. The above-described business logic for creating the PL list also has access to the time schedule of the planned purchases. The time schedule can be calculated by subtracting the delivery time of the item from the date that it is required in the inventory. The delivery time is either entered directly by the client for individual items or groups of items, or is available from past purchasing behaviour. 
     Because it would not be beneficial to endlessly repeat the same advertisement, it is necessary to include other criteria for advertisement selection. The system would prove most effective when combining the advertisement selection process with prior art systems of examining current user activity. For instance, if a buyer started to create a purchase order for a certain item, then it would be best to select from the advertising information an advertisement that was related to the item being purchased. 
     An advertisement can be selected by giving each advertisement a ranking score, and then selecting the advertisement having the highest ranking score. The ranking is achieved by taking a factor such as time from last display and giving the factor a weighting which adjusts the importance of the factor among all factors. Thus the ranking is the sum for all factors of the product of factor and weighting. 
     Factors that can be included:
     1. days before a planned purchase   2. days after a planned purchase (i.e. planned purchase is late)   3. whether or not the client organization has previously purchased from this advertiser   4. advertisement display times   5. time since last advertisement display   6. advertisement success index (percentage of shows leading to user interaction or hit)   7. whether or not the advertisement is from a preferred (or non-preferred) supplier   8. whether or not the advertisement is subject to a campaign premium from the advertiser   9. whether or not the advertisement is related to current user activity   10. whether or not the advertisement is related to a registered user profile.   

     By adjusting the weighting of each factor, the server operator can set advertisement selection to his preference. 
     In the embodiment described in connection with  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the business logic BL (the MRP software and the routines for analyzing the planning list PL and for creating the advertising candidate list AC) is located the server site S. This arrangement, although not necessary, has several advantages over an arrangement wherein the BL is located at the client site C. For example, the server site operator can be reasonably confident that the client&#39;s planning list PL contains accurate information on future purchases. Also, the business logic is very well protected against illegal copying, and it easy to update the various databases because they are located in a central location. The client&#39;s advantage is that s/he only needs an Internet browser but no storage space for the business logic or the associated databases. 
     Although the invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments, it is not limited to these examples, but it may be varied within the scope of the appended claims.