Abstract:
A system and method for measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation device is described. The information is stored on the device and then accessed by a server or the advertiser. The method involves tracking device location, presenting to the user an advertisement or point of interest, storing click throughs on the advertisement or point of interest to mark a first success, and monitoring device current position to determine whether the device reaches a location associated with the advertisement or Point of interest to mark a second success, counting successes, and providing success feedback to the advertiser, for example, through server queries.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present Application for Patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/869,217 entitled “Advertisement Feedback on a Mobile Navigation Device” filed Dec. 8, 2006, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    The present disclosure relates to mobile navigation devices and more specifically to mobile navigation devices for presenting advertisements and measuring the effectiveness of the advertisements and providing to the advertisers information on the effectiveness of their advertising. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Global Positioning Systems (“GPS”) enable a device to determine its location on the surface of the Earth. Many devices have been developed that utilize GPS to assist a user in navigating to their destination. A service for the user and a source of revenue for service providers is presenting advertisements to the user of the mobile navigation device. Some of the advertisements are selected based on the current location of the mobile navigation device. Often, the mobile navigation device is enabled to give navigational instructions to a location associated with the advertisement. For example, a user of the mobile navigation may request a list of nearby restaurants. Advertisements for nearby restaurants can be displayed and the user can request navigational instructions to the location of the advertised restaurant. One such device is U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,167 entitled “Vehicle Navigation System With Location-Based Multi-Media Annotation,” incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, which provides for presenting advertisements to a user based on the location of the mobile navigation device, and provides for giving navigational instructions to a location associated with the advertisement to the user. Advertisements can be solicited by the user, e.g. the person can request a listing of nearby restaurants, or the advertisements can be unsolicited by the person, e.g. a person walking past a bookstore carrying such a navigational device can be presented with an advertisement on the device that shows or states that the book store is currently having a 10% off sale. 
         [0004]    Online advertisers advertising via the Internet often pay for the advertisements to be presented to the user. The advertisers would like to know how effective their advertisements are so that they can develop more effective advertising and so that they can determine whether the price paid to the service provider for presenting the advertisement to the user is cost effective. The service providers would like to know how effective the advertisements are so that they set prices for presenting the advertisements. The advertisers would like to know how effective the advertisements are so that they can evaluate whether the price paid for the advertising is cost effective. On a personal computer connected to the Internet, the success of some advertisements is measured by whether or not the user clicks on the advertisement. The click on the advertisement can be measured by a software program such as a browser and is reported to the service provider that supplied the advertisement. The service provider often will provide the paying advertiser with reports on the effectiveness of the advertisements. The price of the advertisement can be based on the number of times a user clicks on the advertisement. The ability to measure the effectiveness of the advertisement provides the service provider with more pricing options to offer the advertiser. One problem with the Internet connected PC based solution is that since the browser only measures when a user actually clicks on a presented advertisement that advertisers have been less willing to pay for brand awareness advertising. So, for instance, advertisers have been less willing to pay for promoting a national chain of pizza restaurants as it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of the brand advertising. 
         [0005]    In contrast, on mobile navigation devices, which includes commercial points of interest data or advertisements associated with a location, there is currently no mechanism or method for an advertiser to measure the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on the mobile navigation device to the user. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide methods and apparatus that allow for measuring the effectiveness of advertisements presented to the user of mobile navigation devices. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The present disclosure provides a method and a system to measure the effectiveness of presenting an advertisement on mobile navigation devices. One embodiment is based on whether a user of the mobile navigation system responds to the advertisement by computing a route to a location associated with the advertisement. Another embodiment tracks whether a user of the mobile navigation system responds to an advertisement by computing a route to a location associated with the advertisement and actually travels to a location associated with the advertisement. A still further embodiment may simply compare whether, after a user is presented with an advertisement, the user goes to one or more locations the advertiser has previously associated with the advertisement. The effectiveness of the advertisement may also be measured and based on whether the user of the mobile navigation system visits a competitor location fewer times after an advertisement is presented. 
         [0007]    In another embodiment, an apparatus for determining the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation system based on the location of the mobile navigation system after the advertisement is presented includes a GPS receiver, an antenna coupled to the receiver for processing signals from GPS satellites to determine the current location of the mobile navigation system based on the received signals from the GPS satellites. The apparatus further includes a communication device operable to send to a remote server a current location of the user, and to receive from the server an advertisement based on the current location. In this embodiment, the apparatus further comprises an output computer device operable to present the advertisement to the user and an advertisement effectiveness module operable to determine the effectiveness of an advertisement based on comparing the current location of the user to a location associated with the advertisement. 
         [0008]    In another embodiment, the apparatus may include a vehicle-mounted or hand-held GPS navigation device that has a database containing predetermined points of interest and advertisements, a GPS receiver, a communication device capable of communicating to a server, and a software program operable to track displayed points of interest and advertisements along with computed destinations and actual destinations reached that are associated with the displayed points of interest or advertisements. 
         [0009]    Still other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein embodiments of the disclosure are shown and described. As will be realized, the disclosure is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description thereof are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a representative diagram of one embodiment of a system for measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation device. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a representative diagram of one embodiment of the GPS system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a representative diagram of one embodiment of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of an example of an advertisement being presented on the mobile navigation device. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of an example of an advertisement being presented on the mobile navigation device. 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of an example of four locations associated with measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation device. 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method on an apparatus for determining the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation device. 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  is a table of an example of an effective report for an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation device. 
           [0018]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method on an apparatus for measure the effectiveness of an advertisement presented on a mobile navigation device. 
           [0019]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart of another embodiment of a method for measuring effectiveness of an advertisement on a mobile navigation device in accordance with the present disclosure. 
           [0020]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart of another embodiment of an advertisement effectiveness measurement scheme in accordance with the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]      FIG. 1  depicts one embodiment of a system  20  for measuring the effectiveness of advertisements presented on a mobile navigation device  22 . This system  20  basically includes a user  26  with a navigation device  22 , an advertiser  48 , a server  60 , all linked together via a communication network  74 . The effectiveness of presenting the advertisement  24  to a user  26  of the mobile navigation device  22  in this embodiment is measured at least partially based on determining whether the user  26  went to an advertiser location  28  associated with the advertisement  24 . 
         [0022]    The user  26 , in this embodiment, carries, or has in his/her vehicle, a mobile navigation device  22 . The user  26  may be a person such as the driver of a vehicle, a passenger of a vehicle, or a pedestrian. The mobile navigation device  22  may include a CPU  30 , memory  32 , a communication module  34 , a GPS receiver module  36  (described in reference to  FIG. 2 ), a display  38 , and an input module  40 , all of which are communicatively coupled with one another. The mobile navigation device  22  further includes one or more advertisements in an advertiser module  42 , a user behavior module  44  and navigation software  46  disposed in the memory  32 . The CPU  30  is a central processing unit (“CPU”) for processing the instructions and data contained in the memory  32 . The memory  32  includes random access memory (“RAM”), and non-volatile storage of read-only memory (“ROM”), or alternatively may include a hard-disk, or flash memory storing the needed data. Alternatively, the memory  32  may include remotely located and accessed data storage that is accessed as needed by the mobile navigation device  22  by using the communication module  34 . The display  38  is preferably an LCD display or alternatively may be or include a speaker giving voice commands and information to the user  26 . The input device  40  may be a touch screen or alternatively a microphone coupled to the CPU  30  programmed for voice recognition. Alternatively the input device  40  may be a keyboard or simplified keypad. Further, in some embodiments the display  38  and the input device  40  can be remotely located and in communication with the mobile navigation device  22  over the communication module  34 . For example, the display  38  could be a home computer LCD monitor and the input device  40  could be a mouse coupled to the home computer with a friend of the user  26  remotely aiding the user  26  in navigating. The communication module  34  preferably includes a transceiver and an antenna for transmitting and receiving signals such as GSM, or alternatively a local area network (LAN) signals through protocols such as  802 . 11 , and may be a cell phone communicating with the navigation device  22 . Alternatively, the communication module  34  may be shared with the GPS receiver  38 . For example, in an exemplary embodiment, a single antenna is shared by the mobile navigation device  22 , the communication module  34 , and the GPS receiver  38 . 
         [0023]    The advertiser  48  in the system  20  preferably includes a communication device  50 , an advertisement  52 , an advertiser location  54 , and may also include a competitor location  56 , and sales information  58 . The advertiser  48  may be a business, a business establishment, or person. The advertisement  52  may include video, a still image, text, and/or audio content. The advertiser location  54  is an advertiser location on Earth associated with the advertisement  52  that the advertiser  48  would like the user  26  to visit. In some embodiments, the advertiser location  54  is the same as the location of the advertiser  48 , e.g. the advertiser  48  can be a local pizza restaurant and the advertiser location  54  is the location on Earth, i.e. GPS coordinates, of the pizza restaurant. The competitor location  56  may be a location on Earth that the advertiser  48  does not want the user to visit, e.g. the competitor location  56  can be the location of a competing pizza restaurant. In some embodiments, there may be no competitor locations  56 . The sales information  58  is recorded by the advertiser  48 . The sales information  58  is information relating to the sale of products or services associated with the advertisement  52  and the user  26 . In some embodiments, the sales information  58  is not associated with the user  26 , but includes the volume of sales for a time period. The communication device  50  is computer with a connection to the Internet. Alternatively, in some embodiments the communication device  50  is a telephone. 
         [0024]    The server  60  includes a CPU  62 , a memory  64 , and a network attachment device  66 , all of which are communicatively coupled with one another. The server  60  further includes an advertisement server  68  disposed in the memory  64 , an advertisement effectiveness module  70  disposed in the memory  64 , an advertisement data  72  disposed in the memory  64 . The CPU  62  is a central processing unit (“CPU”), or alternatively any device disposed for processing the instructions and data contained in the memory  64 . The memory  64  is random access memory (“RAM”), and non-volatile storage of read-only memory (“ROM”), or alternatively a hard-disk, or flash memory. Alternatively, the memory  64  is remotely located and accessed by the server  60  by using the network attachment device  66 . The network attachment device  66  is an Ethernet card for communicating with the communication network  74 . 
         [0025]    The communication network  74  may be the Internet, or may include a LAN for communicating with the server  60 , and an attachment for communicating with the mobile navigation device  22 , and an attachment for communicating with the advertiser  48 . In one embodiment, the communication network  74  includes a LAN connected to the Internet. 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  depicts the GPS receiver  36 , which includes an antenna  78 , a signal processor  80 , CPU  82 , and a memory  84 . GPS systems  36  are well-known in the art. The antenna  78  is for receiving signals from the GPS satellite constellation  76 . The signal processor  80  is for processing the signals received from the GPS satellite constellation  76  into a digital format that the CPU  82  can process. The GPS system  36  includes a separate CPU  82  and memory  84  enabled to process the signals received from the satellite constellation and calculate a location on the surface of the Earth based on the received signals. Alternatively, the GPS system  36  shares one or more of the antenna  78 , the signal process  80 , the CPU  82 , and the memory  84 , with the mobile navigation system  22  (depicted in  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0027]      FIG. 3  depicts the user  26  including the mobile navigation device  22 . The mobile navigation device  22  including location  86 , navigation software  46 , advertisement presenter  42 , and record user behavior  44 . The navigation software  46  is well known in the art and is arranged to guide the user  26  from the location  86  to a destination location. The advertiser presenter  42  receives advertisements  52  from the server  60 . The advertiser presenter  42  presents advertisements to the user  26  on the mobile navigation device  22 . After presenting the advertisement  52 , the advertiser presenter  42  sends to the server  60  the chronological time the advertisement  52  was presented to the user  26  and the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22  at the time the advertisement  52  was presented. In some embodiments, the user  26  is given the option to be given navigational instructions to an advertiser location  54 . The record user behavior  44  tracks the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22  and reports to the server  60  the locations  86  and the chronological time. If the user  26  elects to be given navigational instructions to an advertiser location  54 , then the record user behavior  44  reports this to the server  60 . In some embodiments, the user  26  may select a category of interest, e.g. restaurants, before the advertisement is presented to the user  26 . Record user behavior  44  reports the selection of the category to the server  60 . In some embodiments, record user behavior  44  reports some or all of the user interaction between the mobile navigation device  22  and the user  26 . 
         [0028]    The advertiser  48  includes competitor location  56 , advertiser location  54 , advertisement  52 , and sales information  58 . The advertiser  48  sends to the server  60  advertiser location  54 , and advertisement  52 . In some embodiments, the advertiser  48  sends sales information  58  and competitor location  56 . 
         [0029]    The server  60  includes advertisement data  72 , advertisement server  68 , advertisement effectiveness module  70 , and effectiveness reports  46 . The advertisement data  72  includes advertisements and associated locations  88 , advertisement presentation information  90 , location tracking of mobile navigation device  92 , and sales information  94 . It should be understood that although advertisement data  72  is depicted as having a particular organization for ease of discussion that the data itself may be organized differently. For example, in some embodiments all the data in advertisement data  72  resides in a single database. 
         [0030]    The advertisements and associated locations  88  includes advertisements  52  for presentation, and locations  86  associated with the advertisements  52 . The advertisement presentation information  90  includes information about which advertisements  52  were presented, at what time the advertisements  52  were presented, on which mobile navigational device  52  the advertisements  52  were presented, and to which user  26  the advertisement  52  was presented. The location tracking of mobile navigation device  92  includes information about the location of the mobile navigation device  92  and whether the user  26  selected navigational instructions to an advertiser location  54  associated with an advertisement  52 , and in some embodiments a competitor location  56  associated with an advertisement  52 . 
         [0031]    The sales information  94  includes information about sales information  94  the user  26  made associated with an advertisement  52 . In some embodiments, the advertisement data  72  is partially stored locally and partially stored remotely. 
         [0032]    The advertisement server  68  receives and stores the data regarding advertisement data  72  from the advertiser  48  and the mobile navigation device  22 . The advertiser server  68  receives a location  86  from the mobile navigation device  22  and based at least partially on the location  86  sends an advertisement  52  to the mobile navigation device  22  for presentation to the user  26 . In some embodiments, the advertisement server  68  may base the selection of the advertisement  52  on a category the user  26  has selected on the mobile navigation device  22 , e.g. restaurants. Further, the advertisement server  68  may base the selection of the advertisement  52  based on the effectiveness report  98 . For example, an advertiser  48  may have a plurality of advertisements  52  that could be presented to the user  26 , e.g. three different advertisements  52  for the same pizza restaurant, and the advertisement server  68  can select which of the three advertisements  52  to present to the user  26  based on the effectiveness report  98  for each of the advertisements  52 . 
         [0033]    The advertisement effectiveness module  70  includes maximum elapsed time  96 . The advertisement effectiveness module  70  is arranged to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertisements  52  presented to the user  26  and generate an effectiveness report  98 . In some embodiments, to measure the effectiveness of an advertisement  52 , the advertisement effectiveness module  70  reads the information in advertisement presentation information  90  to determine the number of times the advertisement  52  was presented and whether or not the user  26  presented the advertisement  52  selected navigational instructions to an advertiser location  54 . The advertisement effectiveness module  70  then compares location tracking of mobile navigation device  92  to determine whether the mobile navigation device  22  actually arrived at the advertiser location  54  associated with the advertisement  52 . In some embodiments, the effectiveness of the advertisement  52  is the percentage of time the mobile navigation device  22  arrived at the advertiser location  54 . The maximum elapsed time  96  includes a time to use for determining whether the mobile navigation device  22  arrived at the advertiser location  54 . For example, maximum elapsed time  96  can be one day where the advertisement effectiveness module  70  is assuming that if the mobile navigation device  22  did not arrive at the advertiser location  54  in one day then the advertisement  52  was not successful. In some embodiments, the advertisement effectiveness module  70  will measure the effectiveness of the advertisement  52  based on whether or not the mobile navigation device  22  arrived at competitor locations  56  a fewer number of times for some predetermined amount of time after an advertisement  52  has been presented on the mobile navigation device  22 . 
         [0034]    It should be understood that although the functionality provided by separate modules has been divided up into a particular organization for ease of discussion that the functionality provided may be organized differently. For example, in some embodiments a single module may be arranged to provide all the functionality of both advertisement server  68  and advertisement effectiveness module  70 . Additionally, the functionality provided by the modules residing both on the server  60  and the mobile navigation device  22  may be divided differently between the server  60  and the mobile navigational device  22 . For example, in some embodiments the mobile navigation device  22  includes an advertisement server  68 . 
         [0035]      FIG. 4  depicts an advertisement  52  being presented on a navigation device  22 . The display device  38  is also displaying an option for the user  26  to select “Navigate to Advertiser Location”  100 . This option would provide navigation instruction from the location  86  to the advertiser location  54  provided by the navigation software  46  ( FIG. 3 ).  FIG. 5  depicts the results of the user  26  selecting “Navigate to Advertiser Location”  100 . The user  26  is provided with “Map and Navigational Instructions to Advertiser Location”  102 . For example, the advertisement  52  can be an advertisement  52  for a pizza restaurant, and the option for navigation instructions could read, “Hit Here to Get a Pie!” After selecting the option for navigation instructions  100  the mobile navigation device  22  provides navigational instructions from location  86  to the pizza restaurant. 
         [0036]      FIGS. 6 ,  7 , and  8  depict an illustrative example of using one embodiment of the system  20  of  FIGS. 1 ,  2 , and  3 . The flow starts in  FIG. 6  at Block  200 . The flow proceeds to Block  202  with receive location of mobile navigation device  22 . The mobile navigation device  22  is at L 1  of  FIG. 7  and sends the location L 1  to the server  60 . The advertisement server  68  receives the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22 . The flow proceeds to Block  204 . Select advertisement  52  based on received location  86 . The advertisement server  68  selects an advertisement  52  to send to the mobile navigation device  22 . The flow proceeds to Block  206  send advertisement to mobile navigation device  22 . The advertisement server  68  sends the advertisement  52  to the mobile navigation device  22 . The flow proceeds to Block  208  receive location of mobile navigation device and current time at time advertisement is presented to the user. For purposes of illustration, it is assumed that the mobile navigation device  22  presented the advertisement at L 1   104  and sent location L 1  to advertisement server  68 . The mobile navigation device  22  also sent the time when the advertisement  52  was presented on the mobile navigation device  22  to the advertisement server  68 . The flow proceeds to Block  210  receive current location  86  and current time of mobile navigation device  22 . The mobile navigation device  22  is now at L 2   106  of  FIG. 7 . The mobile navigation device  22  sends the current time and the current location L 2  to the advertisement server  68 . The flow proceeds to Block  212  is current location the same as the advertiser location? The current location received is L 2  and the advertiser location is L 3 , so the answer is no. The flow proceeds to Block  214  is the time elapsed since the presentation of the advertisement  52  greater than maximum elapsed time  96 ? Here, it is assumed the answer is no. The flow returns to Block  210  receive current location  86  and current time of mobile navigation device  22 . The mobile navigation device  22  is now at L 3   108  of  FIG. 7 . The mobile navigation device  22  sends the current time and the current location L 3  to the advertisement server  68 . The flow returns to Block  212  is current location the same as the advertiser location? L 3  is the same as L 3 , so the mobile navigation device  22  has arrived at the advertiser location  54 . The flow proceeds to Block  216  report success advertisement  52 . The report of the successful advertisement  52  is made to the effectiveness report  98 . Back in Block  214  if the answer had been yes that the time elapsed since the presentation of the advertisement  52  is greater than maximum elapsed time  96 , then a report of an unsuccessful advertisement  52  is made to the effectiveness report  98 . 
         [0037]      FIG. 7  is one example of an effectiveness report  98 . The first column, “Advertisement” is some type of identification that uniquely identifies the advertisement  52 . The advertisement  52  could be for a local pizza restaurant. The second column, “Number of Times Advertisement Presented” is the total number of times the advertisement has been presented to all users  26 . The third column, “Number of Times Navigational Instructions to Location Selected” is the number of times the user  26  has selected the option of being given navigational instructions to the advertiser location  54 . The fourth column, “Number of Times the Mobile Navigation Device Reached the Location Associated with the Advertisement” is the number of times the advertiser location  54  and the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22  was the same. The effectiveness could then be said to be the number of times the mobile navigational device  22  reached the advertiser location  54  associated with the advertisement  52 . 
         [0038]      FIG. 9  depicts an embodiment of a method that is performed by the system of  FIG. 1  for measuring the effectiveness of advertisements presented on a mobile navigation device  22 . The flow starts at Block  300 . The flow continues with Block  302  determining at a computer device a location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22 . The location  86  is determined by the GPS system  40  of  FIG. 2 . The flow proceeds to Block  304  selecting an advertisement  52  based on the location  86 . In an embodiment, the advertisement  52  is selected locally by the mobile navigation device  22 , or alternatively, the advertisement  52  is selected remotely by the server  60  and sent across the communication network  74  to the mobile navigation device  22 . The flow proceeds to Block  306  presenting on the computer device the advertisement  52 . The advertisement  52  is presented on the display device  38  for consumption by the user  26 . The flow proceeds to Block  308  determining the current location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22 . The location  86  is determined by the GPS system  40  of  FIG. 2 . The flow proceeds to Block  310  sending to a remote location the current location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22 . The location  86  is sent by the mobile navigation device  22  to the server  60  over the communications network  74 . The flow proceeds to Block  312  determining if the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22  is the same as an advertiser location  54 . In some embodiments, the server  60  determines if the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22  is the same as an advertiser location  54 . Alternatively, the mobile navigation device  22  determines if the location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22  is the same as an advertiser location  54 . 
         [0039]      FIG. 10  depicts an embodiment of a method that is performed by the system of  FIG. 1  for measuring the effectiveness of advertisements presented on a mobile navigation device  22 . The flow starts at Block  400 . The flow continues with Block  402  receiving a location  86  of a mobile navigation device  22 . The location  86  is received by the mobile communication device  22  and stored by the advertisement server  68  of  FIG. 3 . The flow proceeds to Block  404  selecting an advertisement  52  based on the location  86 . The advertisement server  68  selects an advertisement  52  based on the location  86 . The flow continues with Block  406  sending the advertisement  52  to the mobile navigation device  22  based on the location  86 . The flow proceeds to Block  408  receiving at least one current location  86  corresponding to the current location  86  of the mobile navigation device  22 . The flow continues to Block  410  determining the effectiveness of the advertisement  52  based on whether the current location  86  is the same as an advertiser location  54 . The advertisement effectiveness module  70  of FIG.  3  is arranged to determine the effectiveness of the advertisement  52  based on whether the current location  86  is the same as an advertiser location  54 . In this embodiment, the determination of the effectiveness of the advertisement  52  is performed on the mobile navigation device  22 . 
         [0040]    Another embodiment of a method of determining the effectiveness of advertisements in accordance with the present disclosure is presented in  FIG. 11 . Here all data logging is done by the mobile navigation device  22 . Subsequently, at various times, a query is made by server  60  via the network  74  to gather and transfer data on the successes logged by the navigation device  22 . This information is then transferred to the server for subsequent handling and analysis by the advertisers  48 . The advertisers  48  may receive reports periodically from the server  60  or may retrieve such reports upon querying the server  60 . 
         [0041]    In this embodiment  500 , there are two categories of successful events logged by the navigation device  22 . The first successful event is when an advertisement is displayed to a user  26  and the user either displays the location of the advertisement or utilizes the navigation device  22  to calculate a route to the location associated with the advertisement. For example, the advertisement may be simply a displayed point of interest or “POI”. If the user then taps, or clicks on, or touches the POI, then either a close-up map of the location is displayed, or a route to it is calculated, depending on the mode of operation of the navigation unit that is currently in. If any one of these events happens, a first success data-point is logged in the navigation device memory. At the same time, a clock timer is started. If, during the running of the timer, the navigation device  22  senses that its current location matches the location associated with that advertisement, then a second success data-point is logged in the memory of the navigation device  22 . Then, preferably at times dictated by the server  60 , the navigation device  22  may be queried for a transfer of data from device memory for subsequent communication to and analysis by the particular advertiser  48 . 
         [0042]    This capability of the navigation device  22  may preferably be activated or blocked by the user  26  at his or her discretion. However, the user  26  may be encouraged to enable this advertising information gathering functionality by incentives provided by the advertisers or by the mobile navigation device  22  providers. Alternatively, the user  26  may simply accumulate the data-points over a substantial period of time and then permit a service provider such as the advertiser or device provider to receive the data only at times selected by the user  26 , such as monthly or whenever a navigation device mapping update is desired. In this way the user  26  would have more control over dissemination of the advertisement effectiveness information. Alternatively the advertiser  48  may be provided with control over the data transfer frequency in exchange for preferred rates, coupons, etc. provided to the user  26 . Alternatively, the information transfer may be completely transparent to the user  26 . It is therefore intended that all such schemes are encompassed within the present disclosure. 
         [0043]    Referring now specifically to  FIG. 11 , exemplary operation of an exemplary software routine within the navigation device  22  will be described. This routine  500  begins in start operation  502  when the mobile navigation device  22  is powered on. At this point in the routine  500  registers are initialized, the GPS receiver  36  is activated, a current location is determined and displayed on display  38 . Control then transfers to operation  504 . 
         [0044]    In operation  504 , a current time stamp and current location is stored in memory  32 . An advertisement database is then searched for advertisements associated with the current location, associated with a destination provided by the user  26 , or as a result of click-throughs to a particular POI as discussed above. Then control transfers to operation  506 . 
         [0045]    In operation  506 , an advertisement is displayed, or a POI displayed on the navigation device  22  display  38 . Each advertisement displayed or POI displayed, has associated with it a GPS location. The location parameters stored for the advertisement or POI preferably represent a vicinity of the desired location rather than exact location data. This is because the navigation device  26  may not actually go to the exact location, but more likely may be in a vehicle that must be parked nearby to permit the user  26  to go to the actual location. Thus, the location data should reflect, for example, a location radius of 0.1 to 0.5 miles from the actual destination location. Once the advertisement or POI is displayed on display  38 , control transfers to operation  508 . 
         [0046]    In operation  508 , if an advertisement has been identified, or a particular POI determined in operation  504 , then a timing clock is started. This timing clock is utilized to set a reasonable travel time association with travel to a POI or destination that the user  26  has punched in or otherwise entered into the navigation device  22 . For example, if the user  26  selected restaurants and tapped on a restaurant within  5  miles of his current location and dialed that restaurant in as a destination, and the device  22  determines that it would take between 15 and 30 minutes to travel that distance, then the clock might be set for one hour. If the location was 125 miles away the clock would likely be set for additional time, such as 3 hours, or even 24 hours. Alternatively the clock may default to 24 hours in each case. In addition, the location of the advertisement or POI is stored in memory  32 . Control then transfers to operation  510 . 
         [0047]    In operation  510 , when the POI is displayed, this indicates that the user  26  is considering going to the POI location. Similarly, if the user  26  calculates a route to the advertisement or POI location, this indicates that the user  26  has an interest in that location or that advertisement. Accordingly, a first success count is stored in memory  32  along with the location of the advertisement or POI. Control then transfers to operation  512 . 
         [0048]    In operation  512 , if the location associated with the advertisement or POI is reached within the time limit of the clock started in operation  508 , then a second success count is stored associated with that advertisement or POI. This information is extremely useful to the advertiser as it indicates that not only was the advertisement of interest to the user  26 , but significant enough such that the user  26  actually went to the location associated with the advertisement  52 . However, if the user  26  went to the location after the timer has expired, this would likely indicate that there may have been a reason, other than advertisement effectiveness, that caused the user  26  to reach that destination. Control then transfers to operation  514 . 
         [0049]    In operation  514 , the clock is stopped when either the destination association with the advertisement is reached by the user  26 , or the predetermined time period has elapsed. The primary purpose for running a clock during operation  504  through  512  is to eliminate those instances where association between the advertisement and user&#39;s travel are likely to be unrelated. For example, let us assume that the user sees an ad on display  38 . The following week he travels to the location that is associated with the ad previously seen. It is likely that this event is not associated with the ad seen the week previously on the display  38 , but more likely to be associated with an ad on display  38  immediately before traveling there. Thus there is a need for a time limitation to be associated with the advertisement display and result in order to eliminate stale responses. Hence preferably the clock has a span of about 24 hours or less. Control then transfers to query operation  516 . 
         [0050]    In query operation  516 , the software asks whether the server has polled the device  22 . If so, control transfers to operation  518 . If not, control transfers back to operation  504  where the system stores another current time and the current location of the navigation device  22 , and operations  504  through  516  are again repeated. This process is repeated so long as the device  22  is on, until a query is received from the server  60 . When this occurs, control transfers to operation  518 . 
         [0051]    In operation  518 , the log of first and second responses is transmitted to the server  60 . This may be done wirelessly via network  74 , or may be done by connecting the device  22  to an upload link or server  60  directly, say, when an update of software is to be downloaded to the navigation device  22 . The data that is stored, first and second responses, is stored along with data that indicates with which advertisement it is associated as well as the time stamps of occurrences of first and second successes. Other data may also be transmitted such as vehicle starting locations, time between first and second response, etc. In addition, data may be stored and transferred to the server  60  related to the POIs and advertisements that were displayed but not selected as destinations by the user  26 . This information may be utilized by the advertiser  48  to further evaluate effectiveness of advertisements  52  in relation to competitors and their locations  56 . Control then transfers to query operation  520 . 
         [0052]    In query operation  520 , the query is made whether the navigation device  22  is still in operational mode. If so, then control transfers back to operation  504  as discussed above. If not, then control transfers to operation  522  where the process ends. This process  500  is preferably one that may be run in the background whenever the device  22  is operational such that it is completely transparent to the user  26 . 
         [0053]    This method and system described in embodiment  500  may be incorporated into the software of currently existing mobile navigation system devices. It should now be apparent that a system has been described that measures the effectiveness of advertisements presented on a mobile navigation device  22 . The effectiveness of presenting an advertisement  52  to a user  26  of the mobile navigation device  22  is measured at least partially based on determining whether the user  26  visited an advertiser location  54  associated with the advertisement  52 . 
         [0054]    It will be readily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure fulfills all of the objects set forth above. After reading the foregoing specification, one of ordinary skill will be able to affect various changes, substitutions of equivalents and various other aspects of the disclosure as broadly disclosed herein. It is therefore intended that the protection granted hereon be limited only by the definition contained in the appended claims and equivalents thereof.