Patent Publication Number: US-2010121867-A1

Title: System and method for distributing editorial content on the web with references and indicators

Description:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/113,643, filed on Nov. 12, 2008 and incorporates the same by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to the Internet or World Wide Web (hereinafter “the Web”), and, more particularly, to publishing editorial content thereon. 
     2. Background Art 
     Distributing advertisements, ads for short, to Web pages has emerged into a significant market. In this market the AdSense program offered by Google Inc.® claims placing relevant ads on target Web pages based on a comparison between targeting information for the ads and for the content of respective Web pages. With the AdSense business method Google has transferred the keyword-targeted AdWords approach from their Web search engine to any Web page, i.e., from targeting search queries to targeting any content. With both business models ads revenue generation is not tied to editorial content production and publication as is in traditional media publishing. 
     Business methods such as AdSense and AdWords, combined with the ongoing shift from printed to online media usage, are threatening publishers of editorial content, even those newspaper or magazine publishers who are reaching significantly more audiences online than with their printed media. Business methods such as publishing articles simultaneously in printed media and on the Web with the same publishing brand, and business models such as editorial content syndication seem to be necessary yet insufficient counter measures: Syndication involves a tedious process of choosing relevant articles. With simultaneous Web publishing of newspaper and magazine articles the reach of new audiences is limited by the image of the editorial content brand. 
     The threat to publishers is concisely summed for the case of newspapers in a New York Times article of 7 Feb. 2008 entitled An Industry Imperiled by Falling Profits and Shrinking Ads: “The paradox is that more people than ever read newspapers, now that some major papers have several times as many readers online as in print. And papers sell more ads than ever, when online ads are included. But for every dollar advertisers pay to reach a print reader, they pay about 5 cents, on average, to reach an Internet reader. Newspapers need to narrow that gap, but the rise in Internet revenue slowed sharply last year.” 
     At the same time, there is an abundance of user-generated content on the Web, e.g., with social networks. According to a March 2009 Nielsen report entitled Global Faces and Networked Places “Social network and blogging sites now account for almost 10% of all Internet time yet remains, with a few exceptions, a largely un-monetized form of media.” The report notes that such Web sites “ . . . offer the opportunity to promote content to a wider audience across the web.” The report also finds that “ . . . consumers are actually growing less tolerant to advertising on social media.” The report concludes that advertisers and social networks “ . . . will reap significant rewards if they can discover the magic recipe for advertising successfully on social networks . . . ” 
     There exists, therefore, a need to provide methods and systems for distributing editorial content to a plurality of Web pages such that the editorial content enriches the content of respective Web pages, thus enhancing the user experience with respective Web pages, while maintaining both the brand of the editorial content and the related advertising business opportunities for the publisher of the editorial content 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention meets these and other needs by providing methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer program products for distributing to Web pages at first references to or indicators for editorial content as links, rather than the content itself, if and when the interests targeted by the editorial content and by the Web pages match, and rendering respective editorial content on subsequent request by the links, together with relevant ads 
     In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for distributing on the Web references to or indicators for editorial content in relation to an inventory of editorial content. The method includes (1) requesting editorial content with information for a targeted interest when a Web page is rendered, (2) comparing the targeting information for the Web page with targeting information for editorial content in the inventory, (3) responding with references to or indicators for editorial content if targeted interests match by placing the references or indicators on the Web page as links for request, and (4) rendering editorial content on request by the links, together with relevant ads by comparing targeting information for the rendered editorial content with targeting information for ads. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for displaying on the Web references to or indicators for editorial content. The method includes (1) receiving a request for a Web page, (2) rendering the Web page, (3) transmitting a request for editorial content, the request including targeting information for the Web page, (4) receiving references to or indicators for editorial content, the references or indicators resulting from a comparison of the targeting information for the Web page with targeting information for stored editorial content, (5) displaying the references or indicators on the Web page as links, and (6) rendering editorial content on request through the links, together with received ads resulting from a comparison of targeting information for the rendered editorial content with targeting information for ads. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for distributing for the Web references to or indicators for editorial content in relation to stored editorial content. The method includes (1) receiving a request for editorial content, the request including targeting information for a Web page, (2) comparing the targeting information for the Web page with targeting information for the stored editorial content to obtain references to or indicators for editorial content, (3) transmitting the references to or indicators for editorial content to be displayed as links, (4) receiving a request for editorial content associated with a link, and (5) transmitting the editorial content associated with the link, together with received ads resulting from a comparison of targeting information for the associated editorial content with targeting information for ads. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for serving ads to be displayed with editorial content on the Web. The method includes (1) receiving a request for ads to be rendered with editorial content, (2) comparing targeting information for the editorial content with targeting information for stored ads, and (3) transmitting relevant ads obtained as a result of said comparing step. 
     Further features and advantages of the present invention as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a state diagram of systems interacting in placing references to or indicators for relevant editorial content on a Web page as links, and rendering respective content on request by the links, together with relevant ads. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates references to magazine or newspapers articles for placement on a Web page as links. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates indicators for brands mentions in editorial content for placement on a Web page as links. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates indicators for sources of editorial content mentioning a given brand for placement on a Web page as links. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an indicator for brand mention with a representation for a document in a Web index, the indicator being linked to the indexed document, and a hint at the brand mention rendered together with the indexed document. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an example of a computer system for use with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention is directed to methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer program products, e.g., data formats or systems components, for distributing references to and indicators for editorial content at first, and subsequently respective editorial content together with ads. The following description is presented to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to implement and utilize the invention. Modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles set forth below may be applied to other embodiments and applications. Thus, the present invention is of course not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, and the inventor regards his invention as any patentable subject matter described. 
     In the following, environments in which, or with which, the present invention may operate are described in A. Subsequently, further example embodiments of the present invention are described in B. In addition, definitions of key terms for the present invention are discussed in C. Further, example implementations are described in D. 
     A. Operating Environments 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram of an editorial content distributing environment according to one example embodiment. The systems operations shown are performed at runtime, i.e., this diagram of requests and responses is commutative to considerable extent. Moreover, the systems interactions may be performed equivalently with different systems and respective messages. 
     It will also be understood that the system of the present invention, subsystems thereof, and systems interacting therewith, may be suitably connected via data links and over an intranet or the Internet. A variety of conventional communications media and protocols may be used for data links, such as a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) over a local loop as is typically used in connection with standard modem communication, cable modem, Dish networks, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods. 
     The environment shown in  FIG. 1  includes a Web client  110 , being rendered with a Web page from a Web page server  120  in response  121  to any request from Web client  110 . When being rendered with a Web page the client  110  sends a request  111  to a content distribution server  130  with targeting information for the Web page. The response  131  to request  111  are references to or indicators for editorial content on the content distribution server. When responding, the targeting information for the Web page sent to the server  130  has been compared with targeting information for the editorial content on the server  130 , such that references or indicators are for relevant editorial content. The references or indicators are links: On request  112  of a reference or an indicator a request  132  for relevant ads is sent to an ads server  140  with targeting information for the requested editorial content. When response  133  is sent to the client  110  the targeting information for the requested editorial content has been compared with targeting information for ads on the server  140 , such that request  132  is responded with relevant ads  141  for being rendered together with the requested editorial content. Moreover, when response  133  is sent, relevant ads are placed with the requested editorial content. 
     With regard to the comparison performed by the content distribution server  130 , in one example embodiment, the result of a comparison of target information for editorial content and target information for a Web page may be considered a percentage of relevance of some editorial content in relation to the Web page. For example, let some editorial content be attributed with n keywords of targeting information and let m≦n of those keywords be attributed to the Web page. Then the fraction m/n is the percentage of relevance. Of course, editorial content and a Web page may have been complemented with targeting information by the respective publisher prior to the runtime comparison, i.e., in a batch process, as described herein. With relevant ads the numerator in the percentage of relevance can be the number of keywords of targeting information for an ad. 
     One example of a Web page server  120  is run for or by an owner of consumer brands, and thus Web client  110  is used by a consumer interested in the branded offerings propagated in respective Web pages. In this case Web pages would contain or would be complemented with targeting information as to consumer interest in relation to the branded offerings. 
     Another example of a Web page server  120  is run for creating and sharing user-generated content, e.g., in maintaining a community for questions and answers by Web users. In this case Web pages contain keywords in or as tags for user-generated content, e.g., questions and answers as targeting information. 
     Yet another example of a Web page server  120  is run by the publisher of a Web search engine. In this case Web pages contain search results in response to search queries. 
     One example of a content distribution server  130  is run for or by a publisher of newspapers or magazines, and the content to be distributed is or may be edited for newspapers or magazines. In this case editorial content would be tagged with targeting information, such as keywords for special interests. There are numerous well-known practices for such tagging, e.g., for archiving purposes. 
     Another example of a content distribution server  130  is run for or by the publisher of a Web search engine. In this case the editorial content comprises representations of documents in a Web index, the documents being captured by Web crawling. One representation format is given by browser title, snippet from and unified resources identifier (URI) of the document to be represented. Other representations contain the publisher or the source of the document, e.g., with search engines for news on the Web. The Web search engine may be specialized, e.g., to a special interest, such as capital goods for factory automation. 
     Yet another example of a content distribution server  130  is run for a by a retailer of products. In this case the editorial content comprises products information or content of products catalogues. In this case such products information already contains or would be complemented with targeting information. 
     In the cases of newspapers or magazines or products catalogues, the editorial content is typically edited with content management systems. Even though such systems have traditionally been for preparing a printing process, state-of-the-art systems use Internet or Web technology, e.g., Extensible Markup Language (XML) in the case of Adobe® InDesign®. Based on such technologies, editorial content can be further processed more or less automatically for publication on the Web. This would be utilized in rendering editorial content in response  133  to request  111 . 
     Economically, in one example embodiment the environment may involve, in principle, three parties or business roles: The publisher of Web pages with Web page server  120 , the publisher of editorial content with content distribution server  130 , and the ads distributing agent with ads server  140 . In one business scenario, the editorial content publisher would have contracts with the Web pages publisher and the ads distribution agent. The editorial content publisher would supply the Web pages publisher with executable code for implementation in respective Web pages, such that request  111  is performed. There are various client or server side methods and technologies available for such systems interactions on the Web. The Web pages publisher would be compensated by the editorial content publisher with a share of ad revenues, the ad revenues being achieved by placing ads with requested editorial content. As in traditional media the editorial content publisher predominantly orchestrates the business environment, not the ads agent. For the present implementation to be implemented effectively, the three parties characterized should agree on interfaces for the operations described in  FIG. 1 . Technologically, standards for such interfaces are provided by the documentation of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The three parties characterized do not have to exchange their know-how as to matching targeting information—for Web pages, editorial content, and ads, respectively. 
     The role of the editorial content publisher may be shared among several such publishers, i.e., the role may be taken by a contractual network or joint-venture of such publishers. The role of the Web pages publisher may as well be shared among several publishers, e.g., may be taken by an advertising network. 
     B. Example Embodiments of References to and Indicators for Editorial Content 
       FIGS. 2-5  illustrate references to or indicators for editorial content to be distributed on the Web, according to example embodiments. In one general example, such references would be implemented as Inline Frame (IFrame) widgets. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates references  220  to articles as for magazines or newspapers on a Web page  210  rendered by a Web page server  120 . In one example the references comprise article titles and sources names (e.g., Article Title: Carly Smithson Leaves American Idol; Source Name: People). The references are for browsing with buttons  230 . As indicated in the illustration, each reference is a link to respective editorial content. In this example, an article would be rendered on request of the link. In another example, the references may also comprise publisher names and URI. References  220  may be ranked in accordance with a percentage of relevance similar to as described above. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates indicators  320  for brand mention in editorial content (e.g., GUCCI) to be distributed by a server  130  on a Web page  310  rendered by a Web page server  120 . In one example the indicators comprise brand names and number of mentions, ranked by number of mentions. The indicators are for browsing with buttons  330 . As indicated in the illustration, each indication is a link. In one example the editorial content comprises a Web index, and each indicator is linked to a list of documents in the Web index mentioning the respective brand. Several mentions of a brand in one document would be counted as one mention by a document in the index. In another example, brand mentions may be ranked according to a principal Eigenvector of the matrix of coinciding mentions of pairs of brands in editorial content. An indexed document can be indexed together with the brands mentioned in the document based on identifications for a brand. Brand identifications can be edited with a brands management system, i.e. set, refined, altered or deleted. A brands management system may comprise a database representing the relationships between brand names, market segments, brand owners, claims, or additional brand attributes which distinguish one brand from other brands (e.g., GUCCI and luxury goods). With each brand the attributes would be used in establishing the Web index such that documents are indexed together with the brands mentioned. A brand may remain non-distinctive even with brand attributes; in such cases, a brand would be excluded from being indexed together with a document mentioning the brand name. A brands management system would interface with the indexing system for the Web index. 
     Eigenvector-based rankings with Web indices are discussed, for example, in the article entitled The 25,000,000,000 Eigenvector: The Linear Algebra behind Google, Bryan et al., SIAM Review, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 569-581, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), 2006). 
       FIG. 4  illustrates indicators  420  for mentions of a given brand to be distributed by a server  130  on a Web page  410  rendered by a Web page server  120 . In one example, the given brand is represented by a logo. The indicators are for browsing with buttons  430 . As indicated in the illustration, each indicator is a link. In one example, the editorial content comprises a Web index and each indicator is linked to a list of documents mentioning the given brand, in which the linked document mentioning the brand is marked. Sources mentioning a given brand with indicators  420  may be ranked according to a percentage of relevance similar to as described above. 
     Sources may be identified by source names or unified resource identifiers (URI), and the sources may be edited with a sources management system, i.e. set, refined, altered or deleted. A sources management system may comprise a database representing the relationships between source names, market segments, source publishers, or additional source attributes which distinguish one source from other sources, e.g., People and celebrity magazines. A sources management system would interface with the indexing system for the Web index. 
     Attributes to be used in references to or indicators for editorial content may be edited with an attributes management system, i.e. set, refined, altered or deleted, and documents containing such attributes may be indexed together with the attributes. An attributes management system may comprise a database representing relationships between editorial content and content description terms which do not already occur in the content, e.g., automotive with content referring to specific cars. An attributes management system would interface with the indexing system for the Web index. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an indicator  530  for brands mention with the representation  520  of a document in a Web index on a Web page  510  to be rendered by a Web server  120 . In one example the Web page is a results page of a search engine. In general, the mention of a brand name in an indexed document would only show in a state-of-the-art representation of an indexed document if the brand name occurs in the search query. Thus, the mention of one or more brands surfaces only with the indicator  530 . In one example, the indicator presents the names of the brands mentioned in the document. In another example, the indicator presents logos for the mentioned brands. As shown in the illustration each brand as presented in the indicator is a link to the mentioning document, such that on click  540  the mentioning document  550  is rendered. In one example, the document is rendered with a hint  560  at the brand mention. Textually, the hint could be, e.g., “Editorially mentioned: GUCCI.” Yet,  550  could have a graphical design as well. Additionally or in another example, the document would be rendered with a mark  570  at one or each instance of mention of the respective brand. In one business environment the indication of a brand with indicator  530  could be booked by or for the brand owner and the presentation of the brand or the click  540  would be billed. The presentation of a brand mention may as well be booked if the respective brand is the only brand mentioned in the indexed document. 
     C. Definitions 
     The term “editorial mention” is very well known inside the media industry. As discussed in a Wall Street Journal article of 9 Aug. 2004 entitled Blurring the Line: “ . . . editorial mention [is what] marketers love to have as they seek to stand out from the advertising clutter.” Yet, this must not, quoted from the same article, “ . . . blur the traditional line between editorial and advertising.” This requires editorial mention to follow journalistic principles. Academic treatment of editorial mention is rare. However, as discussed in a research article in Business Horizons, May-June 2006, 247-256, entitled Public Relations Comes of Age, and referring to product mention in the Walter Mossberg Personal Technology column in the Wall Street Journal: “No technology marketer could spend any amount of money to purchase any number of full page advertisements in the Journal that would be remotely as effective as Mossberg&#39;s thumbs up or thumbs down.” Editorial mention on TV, in movies or in videos must not be mistaken for product placement: Product placement is a form of advertisement, while editorial mention must have journalistic rationale. 
     The term “brand” has been defined numerously in the academic world. Yet, a practitioner&#39;s view is more relevant for the present invention. The following quotation is from an April 2004 Interbrand brochure entitled What is a Brand? “The visual distinctiveness of a brand may be a combination of any of the following: name, letters, numbers, a symbol, a signature, a shape, a slogan, a color, a particular typeface. But the name is the most important element of the brand as its use in language provides a universal reference point. The name is also the one element of the brand that should never change. All other elements can change over time . . . , but the brand name should be . . . as constant as the northern star.” With this rational, brand names and brand claims, and additional textual identifications are a solid base for detecting brand mention in editorial content. 
     D Example Implementation 
     The present invention or any part(s) or function(s) thereof, including but not limited to Web page server  120 , content distribution server  130 , and ads server  140 , may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof, and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems. Useful machines for performing some or all of the operations of the present invention include digital computers or similar devices. In fact, in one embodiment, the present invention is directed toward one or more computer systems equipped to carry out the functions described herein. An example of such computer system  600  is shown in  FIG. 6 . 
     The computer system  600  includes at least one processor  604 . The processor  604  is connected to a communication infrastructure  606  (e.g., a communications bus or a network), which is in communication with, inter alia, a browser  636  connected to an internet or intranet. Although various software embodiments are described herein in terms of this exemplary computer system  600 , after reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the invention using other computer systems and/or architectures. 
     The computer system  600  also includes a display interface  602  that forwards graphics, text, and other data from the communication infrastructure  606  (or from a frame buffer (not shown)) for display on a display unit  630  or on a browser  632  connected to an intranet or internet. The computer system  600  also includes a main memory  608 , which preferably is a random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory  610 . The secondary memory  610  may include, for example, a hard disk drive  612  and/or a removable storage drive  614  (e.g., a floppy disk drive, an optical disk drive, and the like). The removable storage drive  614  reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit  618  in a well-known manner. The removable storage unit  618  may be, for example, a floppy disk, an optical disk, and the like, which is written to and read by the removable storage drive  614 . As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit  618  includes a computer-usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data. 
     In alternative embodiments, the secondary memory  610  may include other similar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into the computer system  600 . Such devices may include a removable storage unit  622  and an interface  620  (e.g., a program cartridge); a removable memory chip, and an associated memory socket; and other removable storage units  622  and interfaces  620  that allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit  622  to the computer system  600 . 
     The computer system  600  may also include a communications interface  624 , which allows software and data to be transferred between the computer system  600  and external devices (not shown). Examples of the communications interface  624  may include a modem, a network interface (e.g., an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (“PCMCIA”) interface, and the like. Software and data transferred via the communications interface  624  are in the form of signals  628 , which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or another type of signal that is capable of being received by the communications interface  624 . These signals  628  are provided to the communications interface  624  via a communications path  626  (e.g., a channel). The communications path  626  carries the signals  628  and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radio-frequency (“RF”) link, or the like. 
     As used herein, the phrases “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” may be used to generally refer to a removable storage unit  618  used with the removable-storage drive  614 , a hard disk installed in the hard disk drive  612 , or the signals  628 , for example. These computer program products provide software to the computer system  600 . The present invention may be implemented or embodied as one or more of such computer program products. 
     Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) are stored in the main memory  608  and/or the secondary memory  610 . The computer programs may also be received via the communications interface  624 . Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system  600  to perform the features of the present invention, as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor  604  to perform the features of the present invention. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system  600 . 
     In an embodiment where the present invention is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into the computer system  600  using the removable-storage drive  614 , the hard drive  612 , or the communications interface  624 . The control logic (software), when executed by the processor  604 , causes the processor  604  to perform the functions of the present invention as described herein. In another embodiment, the present invention is implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such as application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”). Implementation of such a hardware arrangement so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s). In yet another embodiment, the present invention is implemented using a combination of both hardware and software. Computer modules may carry out various features of the present invention. 
     E. Conclusion 
     As noted above, the various embodiments of the present invention described above have been presented by way of example and not limitation. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant arts that various changes in form and detail can be made therein (e.g., different hardware, communications protocols, and the like) without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments. 
     In addition, it should be understood that the attached drawings, which highlight the functionality and advantages of the present invention, are presented as illustrative examples. The architecture of the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized (and navigated) in ways other than that shown in the drawings.