Abstract:
An on-line Internet display of product viewing banners is selected and positioned in a predetermined viewing zone on a user screen, based upon: marketing personnel&#39;s selection/creation of a total selected number of possible preferred product viewing banners; and the number of hits on each preferred product viewing banner received from a user over a selected period of time; and where only a subset of the most popular preferred product viewing banners is displayed in the viewing zone based upon the total number of hits received over time for each of the preselected number of possible viewing banners.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Technical Field  
         [0002]     The present invention relates in general to electronic commerce and, in particular, to systems, software, and methods for Internet commerce including an on-line Internet display of preferred product viewing banners selected and positioned in a predetermined viewing zone on a user screen, based upon marketing selection of banners, and the number of hits on each banner received from a user over a selected period of time; where only a subset of the most popular banners is displayed in the viewing zone based upon the total number of hits received over time for each of the banners.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Commercial transactions conducted through electronic communication (e.g., via the World Wide Web (the Web)), commonly known as “e-commerce”, are a significant segment of the global economy. In a typical e-commerce transaction, a desktop or laptop computer user decides upon an item of goods or a service that the user is interested in purchasing. The user then initiates access to a retailer&#39;s or service provider&#39;s e-commerce website via the Web, perhaps after conducting a search for the website with a commercial search engine.  
         [0005]     After the desired e-commerce website is located, the user searches the website for the desired item or service, either by conducting a search of the website or by paging through the website content. The user may then add the desired product or service to a virtual “shopping cart” that collects the user&#39;s intended purchases by selecting a graphical “button” associated with a graphical or textual description of the good or service. After the user indicates that all intended purchases have been added to the virtual “shopping cart,” the e-commerce website presents to the user a form into which the user enters and transmits payment information (e.g., credit card information). Once the payment information is approved, the website presents to the user a confirmation that the transaction is complete and may indicate a delivery schedule or methodology.  
         [0006]     There have been many different attempts to improve the performance and public acceptance of e-commerce websites. For example, one type of website has an advertisement distribution management system that includes an advertisement insertion site linked to a commercial site via a management site device that distributes and manages the advertisements that are arranged on a network. Customers access the advertisement insertion site, which features advertisements distributed via the management site. The advertising site links to a commercial site via the advertisement insertion site, and visits the commercial site to perform actions for the customer. The commercial site sends the customer action information to the management site. The management site stores and manages the received customer action information, and refers to the customer action information to insert an advertisement whose contents are updated into the page of the advertisement insertion site when the same customer again accesses the advertisement insertion site. The advertisement distribution management system improves the hit rate of a banner advertisement by changing the contents of a banner advertisement according to customer action information.  
         [0007]     Another type of website utilizes targeted advertising that is based upon demographics and user interaction. The website uses a graphical user interface that includes a display region used for banner advertising. The banner advertising display region is an information display region that displays advertisements of graphical images. The advertisements are replaced over time in response to data gathered about user demographic information and user interaction. Associated with each banner advertisement is data that determines when a particular banner is to be displayed.  
         [0008]     Yet another prior art design tries to reach a target audience to increase the efficiency of Internet banner advertisements. This design allows an advertiser to present Internet banner advertisements to only those persons in a target audience, whose level of interest has reached the level of interest predetermined by the advertiser. In the system, the procedure defines an interest level for a target audience toward a specific Internet page or category based solely on the length of time the target audience has spent on it. The procedure only presents a group of advertisements in an Internet page category to the target audience if the target audience has spent a defined amount of time there. A group of advertisements in the same category is presented, at which point the system responds to whether the target audience reacts to the presented banner advertisements by clicking any of the presented banner advertisements.  
         [0009]     Still other websites track client interaction and create client profiles, a resource database, and advertising banner evaluations. The network resource acquires client identifying indicia, such as the network ID, the client ID, the associated link (the URL of the web page), the amount of time the user spent interacting with the web page, and any selections made by the user while interacting with the web page. In this manner, the tracking program permits web site administrators and Internet advertisers to determine not only the number of user visits or hits made to a particular web page, but also permits an accurate determination of the length of time users have displayed or interacted with the web page. Internet advertisers use this information to make informed decisions as to the effectiveness and value of particular web pages and/or advertising banners.  
         [0010]     Another website uses integrated advertising for wireless communication devices with rich content and direct user response. The system manages the display of advertisements and stores advertisements, including full screen and banner advertisements, and interprets and displays the content of an advertisement. The advertising manager selects advertisements and provides them for display. Advertisements may be selected from groups of related advertisements. Advertisements are selected on randomized but priority bases, allowing higher priority advertisements to be displayed more frequently than lower priority advertisements. Each advertisement identified in the display list has a priority. The priority of an advertisement file is determined by the service operator and the advertiser, and may be based on revenue that the service operator receives for placing the advertisement. An advertisement file appears in the display list with a frequency dependent on its priority relative to the priority of other advertisement files in the storage area.  
         [0011]     In still another system, information is distributed through cooperative communication network sites. Information pertaining to products made by manufacturers and sold to consumers through retailers is distributed to consumers. A feature of this system makes use of a consumer “personal page,” which is an individualized database in which consumer shopping preferences are defined by: information that the consumer expressly provides; and the consumer&#39;s past shopping activity. Use of the personal page allows the consumer to receive product offers that are more targeted to the individual consumer, thus saving the consumer time and effort. Another feature provides for distribution of a product purchase incentive, directly by the user clicking on an advertising banner, wherein the product purchase incentive appears after the user clicks on the banner.  
         [0012]     Other websites obtain consumer product preferences through product selection and evaluation. These systems obtain consumer preferences and search for products or services based on a consumer&#39;s search criteria. The products or services and/or advertisements are displayed related to the consumer&#39;s search criteria in accordance with the ranking parameters specified by the user. The search criteria and ranking parameters are used to determine consumer trends. After the search criteria and ranking parameters are processed, a series of rules determines which advertisements should be presented to the user. The system also arbitrates which advertisements should be presented to the user if the number of possible advertisements exceeds a preselected number.  
         [0013]     Some systems monitor navigation of a user and present product information based on the navigation. These systems detect that the user is viewing content about a product and search databases having product information associated with the product, and product information associated with that product is selected based on the search. The selected product information is presented for output in a second window of a display being viewed by the user. User input relating to products is stored in a database. A request to send sales information associated with a product is received, and the database is searched for selecting users who have entered user input relating to the product associated with the sales information.  
         [0014]     In another type of system, a reception system enables a user to display desired information, such as news, financial information, or cultural information. The computer network also enables a user to perform desired transactional services, such as banking and shopping. User inputs are received by the personal computer and processed by the network. User characteristics are monitored by the system in order to generate and display specific advertisements to the user based on individual usage characteristics and predetermined interests. Although each of these systems offers solutions for facilitating website interaction of on-line Internet users, and improved system of giving preferential treatment to product viewing banners based upon both user and provider criteria would be desirable.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]     Briefly, the present invention provides a system, software, and methods of presenting on-line product selection for product purchasing or other types of electronic commerce. For example, in one embodiment, the type of product purchasing is from an on-line product retailer/wholesaler or catalog. In this embodiment, users access a product selection website and have a selection of “preferred product viewing banners” presented to them, with information about the product, such as an image or photograph, a brief description, and a price.  
         [0016]     In operation, the present invention provides to users an on-line display of the “preferred product viewing banners” positioned in a preselected “viewing zone” on a user screen or interface. The preferred product viewing banners are selected based on two major criteria for the viewing zone: (1) marketing personnel&#39;s selection/creation of a total selected number of possible preferred product viewing banners; and (2) the number of hits on each preferred product viewing banner received from a user over a selected period of time. Thus, only a subset of the most popular preferred product viewing banners is displayed based on the number of previous hits. As any particular banner receives more hits, the banner moves into the preselected viewing zone. Essentially, in this embodiment of the present invention, the system, software, and methods operate to present a subset of preferred product viewing banners in a viewing zone based upon the total number of hits received over time from various users for each of the preselected number of possible viewing banners.  
         [0017]     The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in view of the following detailed description of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]     So that the manner in which the features and advantages of the invention, as well as others which will become apparent are attained and can be understood in more detail, more particular description of the invention briefly summarized above may be had by reference to the embodiment thereof which is illustrated in the appended drawings, which drawings form a part of this specification. It is to be noted, however, that the drawings illustrate only an embodiment of the invention and therefore are not to be considered limiting of its scope as the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a high level block diagram of an illustrative e-commerce environment in which the present invention may be practiced;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a high level logical flowchart of one embodiment of a process illustrating interaction between a user and a website and is constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a system for presenting on-line product selection by electronic communication media from a product selection website, and is constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a database organization constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an exemplary display on a user terminal constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer-implemented method constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0025]      FIG. 7  is a high level block diagram of another embodiment of an e-commerce environment constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0026]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram of another embodiment of a database organization constructed in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0027]      FIG. 9  is a high level logical flowchart of another embodiment of a process illustrating interaction between a customer and a website and is constructed in accordance with the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0028]     The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate embodiments of the invention. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the illustrated embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.  
         [0029]     With reference now to the figures, and in particular with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 4 , there is illustrated one embodiment of an e-commerce environment in that is constructed in accordance with the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention advantageously provide a system and method of facilitating e-commerce on the Web. Embodiments of the present invention also include a computer readable medium containing a set of instructions or program causing the computer system to facilitate according to the present invention, and a database of product viewing banners and responses thereto formed by users of the computer system.  
         [0030]     The present invention provides a computer-implemented method of presenting on-line product selection by electronic communication media from a product selection website for review by users. The steps of the computer-implemented method are implemented in a computer system  30  positioned at a site to define a server or server module  31 . In one embodiment, the server  31  is actually a module having two separate types of machines, in order to provide processing/server capability for two functionalities. One of these functionalities is that of web/application processing, and the other is that of database processing. The web/application requirements functionality of the server  31  is furnished by a web/application server. Suitable units for this purpose are in the form of an appropriate number of, for example, Dell 1750 servers with dual CPUs, 1 GB RAM, and mirrored hard drives. The web/application servers are connected to a database server or server cluster which provides the database functionality. Database servers suitable for this purpose are, for example, Dell 2650 servers with dual CPU and 10 GB RAM. The database servers of server module  31  are attached to a high performance storage device, as will be described.  
         [0031]     The set of instructions  37  also causes the processor to form and forward for retention and further use a set of database records  39 . A graphical display  41  is coupled to the processor  33  for displaying graphical images as indicated at  43 , and a user interface  45  coupled to the processor  33  to provide a user access to interact with and manipulate the software  37  and database records  39 . An embodiment of the present invention also advantageously provides software for accomplishing these results that is stored on storage media  42 .  
         [0032]     It should be understood that the specific server identified above is given by way of example and that other types of servers or computers may be used. The server shown schematically at  31  represents a server or server cluster or server farm in the architecture and is not limited to any individual physical server. The server site may be deployed as a server farm or server cluster managed by a serving hosting provider. The number of servers and their architecture and configuration may be increased based on usage, demand and capacity requirements for the system  30 .  
         [0033]     The system  30  further includes in database  47  or a set or grouping of databases stored in the memory of the server  31  or in other suitable data storage media accessible to the server  31 . The database  47  may also be provided in the form of a database server or server cluster. The particular database configuration is replicated based on capacity requirements for the system  30 . The database  47  or databases further include at least a plurality of records  39  having data relating to the users and to the personal networks and business networks formed by users of the computer system. The system  30  further includes software  37  stored in memory  35  of the server  31  to process information within the system  30 . The software  37  allows the server  31  to interface with users and generally allows the users to operate the computer system  30  according to the present invention for electronic commerce by promoting various product or service (hereinafter, “product”) viewing banners to users. In this manner, the system  30  may, according to the present invention, rate the popularity of banners based on user feedback, and thereafter allow subsequent users to consider only a most popular subset of the product viewing banners. The software instructions  37  allow a user to inquire about data or information from database  37  or the system  30 .  
         [0034]     The software or set of instructions  37  according to the present invention may be stored in a machine-readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of computer data storage disk including floppy disks, CD-ROMs, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, read-only memories (or ROMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, random access memories (RAMs), magnetic or optical cards, or other types of media suitable for storage of a set of instructions that, when executed by the server  31 , cause the server to perform the operations of the present invention.  
         [0035]     The program set of instructions described in the present invention are not inherently related to or required by a particular computer or other server hardware. Various conventional computers or servers may be used according to the present invention. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be understood that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the system and method of the present invention as described herein.  
         [0036]     In an embodiment of the present invention, the system  30  interfaces the area network or Internet  51  by communicating through the server  31 , and a plurality of remote user computers  53  in communication with the Internet  51 , located remote from the server  31  at a user site, and configured to access the server  31 . The user computer  53  is typically a personal computer and may be connected over the Internet through a variety of configurations, such as through a stand-alone computer with individual access, or though a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). Access to the server  30  by the user computers may be made by a variety of communication links such optical cable, a wireless network such as a cellular network, satellite network or other access media.  
         [0037]     When in communication with the server  31  through the Internet  51 , the remote user computer  53  can access the software  37  for various purposes. The remote user computer  53  can retrieve records  39  from the server database  47  for display and user manipulation. The system  30  can also include still other devices  55 , such as a portable computer, a PDA, a mobile telephone, and still other devices for accessing the Web, that are adapted to interface with the Internet  51  while positioned remote from the server  31 .  
         [0038]     Referring now to  FIGS. 2-6 , an embodiment of a computer-implemented process according to the present invention begins as indicated at step  201  ( FIG. 2 ) with a user entering from a user computer  53  an online product selection website such as that provided by server  31  of system  30 . The on-line product selection website  31  presents a display image as indicated by an example from the product selection website  501  (e.g.,  FIG. 5 ) by electronic communication media for review by the user at the user&#39;s computer terminal  41 . Requests for access to the product selection website for on-line product selection are responded to accordingly.  
         [0039]     In addition to the product selection typically offered on the website, at least some of the display images ( FIG. 5 ) available from the website include a “preferred” product viewing banner, as shown at  503 , relating to one of the on-line products, as illustrated at step  207 . The banner is “preferred” in the sense that the product associated with the banner has been selected (step  203 ) for greater and more prominent emphasis to users than other products. As shown at item  505 , a product viewing banner may typically include, for example, an image of a product, a description of the product, and a price of the product, or a link (step  219 ) thereto for accessing such types of information.  
         [0040]     The product viewing banner is pre-selected by operators or affiliates of the website server. In this sense, the operators are “internal” relative to an organization that operates and/or offers the website server and/or product selection website, whereas the users that access the website are “external” relative to the organization that is offering or operating the product selection website  31 . For example, the selection of the preferred product viewing banner may be based on marketing directives that are internal relative to the organization that is offering or operating the product selection website  31 . Typically, there are two or more product viewing banners that are being promoted to users.  
         [0041]     In addition, a position of the product viewing banner transmitted to each user also may be prescribed. As shown in  FIG. 5 , for example, the position of the banners  503  is in a preselected viewing zone (e.g., “internally” preselected, relative to the organization) on the on-line display of the user, which is “external” relative to the organization.  
         [0042]     The preferred product viewing banner is transmitted from the product selection website on request by a user for an on-line display. As shown at step  213 , a record is formed of the user&#39;s response to the transmitted product viewing banner to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner relative to other banners offered to users. The “popularity” of a banner may be determined in several ways, but is typically generated by users merely selecting (step  211 ) or not selecting (step  209 ) the banner, regardless of whether the product associated with banner is actually purchased. If a banner is selected by a user, information about the product (step  219 ) is presented to the user. The present invention also enables the user to purchase the product associated with the banner (step  221 ), or conduct other transactions (step  217 ).  
         [0043]     The foregoing steps are repeated for other users. The plurality of product viewing banners are also cycled through (step  205 ) such that the product viewing banners are presented to other users. In one example, each product viewing banner is presented to numerous users. The product viewing banners may be selected and presented to users in many different ways. For example, the banners may be randomly selected, one at a time, from among the plurality of product viewing banners. In another example, the banners are sequentially selected from among the plurality of product viewing banners as additional users access the website.  
         [0044]     In other embodiments, a user may be limited to viewing only one product viewing banner, or may be presented with numerous banners, e.g., one banner for each web page visited by the user. Other variables include the length of a user&#39;s visit to the website, where the program is in operation at the time of a user&#39;s visit, etc. However, generally a single user is exposed to numerous banners during a visit to the website.  
         [0045]     As shown at step  213 , a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners is formed and/or adjusted relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses. The popularity ranking may be conducted for a desired period of time (e.g., one hour, one day, etc.), a desired sample size of user responses (e.g., 5000 user responses), etc. Based on the popularity ranking, a subset of the most popular product viewing banners is formed (step  215 ). Once the subset is formed, only those banners in the subset are presented to users (step  205 ) who visit the website subsequent to, for example, the conclusion of the initial sampling of user responses. The subset of the most popular product viewing banners typically comprises at least one product viewing banner. Alternatively, a popularity ranking of the most popular categories  507  ( FIG. 5 ) of products may be monitored and utilized.  
         [0046]     The popularity of the banners also may be determined dynamically on a real-time basis, such that the subset of the most popular product viewing banners is presented to users on a real-time basis. The present invention also contemplates contingencies such as, for example, removing a product viewing banner from availability for display to users when a product associated with the product viewing banner is sold out or otherwise unavailable.  
         [0047]     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer-implemented method constructed in accordance with the present invention is shown. As shown at step  601 , a selection is made of the banners to be promoted to users. The selected banners are then promoted to users, such as by a random cycle or sequential cycle, as illustrated at step  603 . As depicted at step  605 , feedback is obtained from users regarding each banner. A popularity ranking is then formed of the various selected banners, as shown at step  607 . As illustrated at step  609 , a subset of only the most popular banners is then generated. Finally, as depicted step  611 , only the most popular banners (i.e., those in the subset) are presented to subsequent users.  
         [0048]     Referring now to  FIGS. 7-9 , another embodiment constructed in accordance with the present invention is shown.  FIGS. 7 and 8  illustrate schematically the functionality provided with the present invention, while  FIGS. 3-5  illustrate schematically examples of the data content and organization in accordance with the present invention.  FIG. 7  depicts a high level block diagram illustrating client browser  53  of the type described above for communicating with a network  703  through the Internet  51 . The network  703  comprises a web server  707  and an application server  709  that communicate via software  708  that facilitates transfer of data and communications such as that known as AST COM. It should be understood that other comparable software or hardware may be used for this purpose. The application server  709  has database  47 , and communicates through another database  713  with one or more site element designs  715 .  
         [0049]     In operation ( FIG. 8 ), a graphic designer (indicated schematically at  801 ) uses site element design application  715  to design a “creative” (e.g., product viewing banner) for each site element through database  713 . Examples of creatives or product viewing banners are illustrated in  FIG. 5 . An unlimited number of creatives can be created for each site element, and within site elements for each marketing segment, subject only to memory capacity of the database  713 . The database  713  transmits information to application server  709 , which interacts with customers through client browser page requests  809 . At the application server  709 , site element decisions  815 , as indicated in response to client browser page requests  809  regarding the contents of database  713 , are made to parse pages (as indicated at  811 ) and render pages functionality (as indicated at  813 ). A “track statistics” functionality  817  is provided to form, update and retain in storage of the creatives or product viewing banners in database  713  based on the content and nature of the browser page requests as they are made.  
         [0050]     As shown in  FIG. 9 , one embodiment of a method of this embodiment of the present invention starts as indicated at step  901 , and a creative of the type illustrated in  FIG. 5  and discussed above is designed, as illustrated at step  903 . Once a creative is complete for a site element, the graphic designer designates the creative as “on-line”, as depicted at step  905 . As illustrated at step  907 , a customer browses a website and requests a page of one or more creative banners. The application server  709  ( FIG. 7 ) retrieves the requested page from database  713  and parses it as indicated at  811  for site elements, as depicted at step  909 . As illustrated at step  911 , one or more site elements are found on a single page. For each site element found, the communication and data interchange with the customer is designated (step  913 ) as a “sample session” or a “normal session.” The next available creative for the site element is displayed (step  915 ) in sample sessions in, for example, a round-robin fashion. In normal sessions, the top creative is displayed (step  915 ) for the site element based on the purchasing behavior in the sample sessions stored in the manner described above. In either case, the designated site element creative from database  713  is rendered on the page, and the assembled page is transmitted back over the Internet  51  to the customer browser  701 . Statistics are obtained and stored (step  917 ) in the database  713  regarding the number of sessions displayed and purchases related to the site element, before ending at step  919 .  
         [0051]     While the invention has been shown or described in only some of its forms, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible to various changes without departing from the scope of the invention.