Patent Publication Number: US-2010125501-A1

Title: Apparatus and method for providing and receiving mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system

Description:
PRIORITY 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to a Korean Patent Application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Nov. 14, 2008 and assigned Serial No. 10-2008-0113506, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to a mobile advertising system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for providing and receiving mobile advertising services in a mobile advertising system. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The mobile communication market continuously requires creation of new services through recombination or integration of existing technologies. Current development of communication and broadcast technologies has enabled conventional broadcasting systems and mobile communication systems to provide advertising services through portable terminals (or mobile terminals), such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). 
     Due to latent and actual market needs and increasing user demand for multimedia services, service provider intended strategies for providing new services, such as advertising services, in addition to the existing voice service and data service, and the identified interests of Information Technology (IT) companies, which are bolstering their mobile communication businesses to meet user demands, convergence of a mobile communication service and an Internet Protocol (IP) has become a priority in the development of next generation mobile communication technologies. 
     Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), a group studying a standard for interworking between individual mobile solutions, are currently defining various application standards for mobile games, Internet services, etc. Of the OMA working groups, Open Mobile Alliance Requirement (OMA REQ) Working Group and Open Mobile Alliance Content Delivery (OMA CD) Working Group are researching a technology standard for offering Mobile Advertising (MobAd) services. 
     A mobile advertising system includes an Advertising (Ad) Engine and an Ad Server. The Ad Engine and the Ad Server request and provide an advertisement, respectively, by referencing or using (hereinafter referred to as “referencing/using”) Contextualization and Personalization Information (hereinafter referred to as “C &amp; P information”) in order to provide personalized advertising services to users. In some cases, however, the Ad Server may select and provide an advertisement by referencing/using C &amp; P information that is different from C &amp; P information that the Ad Engine sent with an advertisement request, e.g., when there is no advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information the Ad Engine sent with the advertisement request, or when dynamic/static information is changed by a user between the time the Ad Engine requested an advertisement and the time the Ad Server actually selects an advertisement. 
     The Ad Engine sends a request for an advertisement to the Ad Server based on a keyword (e.g., restaurant). Then the Ad Server selects an advertisement corresponding to the keyword and added C &amp; P information (e.g., location (Santa Barbara)), and delivers the selected advertisement to the Ad Engine. At this point, the Ad Server does not deliver the C &amp; P information (e.g., location (Santa Barbara)) to the Ad Engine. Even though the user may be located in another location (e.g., Las Vegas) later on, if the Ad Engine sends a request for the advertisement with the same keyword (e.g., restaurant) using an Advertising Application (Ad App), the Ad Server delivers the same advertisement as the previous one to the Ad Engine, i.e., the advertisement for the restaurant in Santa Barbara, without considering the current location, i.e., Las Vegas. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is designed to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages occurring in the prior art and to provide at least the advantages described below. 
     Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for enabling an Ad Engine to receive an advertisement and C &amp; P information that an Ad Server actually referenced/used during its advertisement selection, to prevent the Ad Server from referencing/using C &amp; P information that is different from the C &amp; P information that the Ad Engine sent with an advertisement request. 
     Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for delivering C &amp; P information used during advertisement selection with an advertisement, when receiving an advertisement requested by an Ad Engine and providing the advertisement to a user through an advertising application. 
     In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a mobile advertising service in an Ad Server of a mobile advertising system. The method includes receiving an advertisement request message and contextualization and personalization information from an Ad Engine; selecting an advertisement corresponding to the contextualization and personalization information; and delivering the selected advertisement and the contextualization and personalization information to the Ad Engine. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a mobile advertising service in an Ad Server of a mobile advertising system. The method includes receiving an advertisement request message and contextualization and personalization information from an Ad Engine; determining whether there is an advertisement corresponding to the contextualization and personalization information; acquiring new contextualization and personalization information from a contextualization and personalization resource unit, when there is no advertisement appropriate for the received contextualization and personalization information; selecting an advertisement corresponding to the new contextualization and personalization information received from the Ad Engine and the acquired contextualization and personalization information; and delivering the selected advertisement and the contextualization and personalization information to the Ad Engine. 
     Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses various embodiments of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a mobile advertising system and interfaces between respective entities, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a detailed block diagram of a terminal and an Ad Server as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     Throughout the drawings, the same drawing reference numerals will be understood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     The matters defined in the description, such as a detailed construction and elements, are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of certain embodiments of the present invention. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of these embodiments can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness. 
     Although the embodiments of the present invention described below will be presented using names of entities defined by 3 rd  Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is a 3 rd  generation mobile communication standard, or by MobAd of Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), which is a standard group providing applications for mobile terminals, the standards and entity names are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and the present invention may be applied to any other systems having similar technical backgrounds. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a mobile advertising system and interfaces between respective entities, to which the present invention is applied. Further,  FIG. 2  illustrates a detailed block diagram of the terminal and the Ad Server illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a mobile advertising system includes an Ad App  150  and an Ad Engine  130 , both being included in an advertisement receiving terminal  100 , and an Ad Server  120 . 
     The Ad Engine  130  and the Ad Server  120  provide personalized advertising services to users by referencing/using C &amp; P information from a C &amp; P resource unit  110 . 
     As indicated above, the term “C &amp; P information” refers to information that becomes criteria for advertisement selection and is associated to users or advertisement receiving terminals. In the C &amp; P information, information that does not changes very often can be further classified as personalization information, and information that changes more frequently can be further classified as contextualization information. For example, the personalization information may include ages, family relations, residences, schools, jobs, hobbies and preferences of users, and model numbers and specifications of advertisement receiving terminals. The contextualization information may include, for example, current locations of advertisement receiving terminals, peripheral information regarding the current locations, types of applications being run in advertisement receiving terminals, types and the number of Ad Apps installed in advertisement receiving terminals, current battery levels of advertisement receiving terminals, keywords, etc. The amount of C &amp; P information considered for advertisement selection can vary from a single type of information to several types of information. 
     The Ad Server  120  selects an advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information received from the Ad Engine  130  and provides the selected advertisement to the Ad Engine  130 . In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the Ad Server  120  provides the Ad Engine  130  with the selected advertisement and the C &amp; P information. However, if there is no advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information, the Ad Server  120  may send a default advertisement or ‘no-advertisement’ status information. 
     The Ad receiving terminal  100 , i.e., a mobile terminal receiving mobile advertisements based on a mobile advertising service, may be a mobile phone, PDA, etc. The Ad receiving terminal  100  includes the Ad Engine  130  and at least one Ad App  150 . 
     The Ad App  150  provides an interface between the user and the Ad Engine  130  to enable an advertisement request and keyword entry by the user. Further, the Ad App  150  describes advertisements received from the Ad Server  120  and provides them for the user. That is, the Ad App  150  may replay video advertisements and voice advertisements or display text advertisements according to their type. 
     The Ad Engine  130  is used to access the Ad Server  120 . The Ad Engine  130  includes a plurality of function blocks including logical modules. The Ad Engine  130  interacts with the Ad App  150  making practical application of advertisements, and supports useful functions that the Ad App  150  uses in accessing the mobile advertising service. The Ad Engine  130 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , includes an Ad handling function  132 , an Ad metrics handling function  133 , and a User/Service/Device data handling function  131 . 
     The Ad handling function  132  receives advertisements from the Ad Server  120  and handles the received advertisements. Further, the Ad handling function  132  selects advertisements stored in a cache (not shown) of the terminal, and provides the selected advertisements to the user through the Ad App  150 . The Ad handling function  132  handles and applies criteria to be used for advertisement request, receives an advertisement request from the Ad App  150 , and provides advertisements corresponding to the advertisement request. 
     The Ad metrics handling function  133  receives metrics (or interaction results) from the Ad App  150 , combines the metrics with information (e.g., a time the metrics were measured) known to the Ad Engine  130 , checks and indicates fraudulence of the received metrics, and provides the metrics to the Ad Server  120 . 
     The User/Service/Device data handling function  131  handles dynamic/static information of the user/device, and provides mobile advertising service-related information (e.g., rule and policy). Further, the User/Service/Device data handling function  131  sends a request for C &amp; P information to the C &amp; P resource unit  110 , and receives the requested C &amp; P information from the C &amp; P resource unit  110 . 
     The Ad Server  120  illustrated in  FIG. 2  is included in a network, and provides advertisements to the Ad Engine  130  and a Service Provider Application (SP App)  140 . Like the Ad Engine  130 , the Ad Server  120  also includes logical modules. The Ad Server  120  includes an Ad selection function  122 , an Ad delivery function  123 , an Ad metrics handling function  124 , and a User/Service/Device data handling function  121 . 
     The Ad selection function  122  handles data provided from other authorized principals for advertisement selection, compares and filters advertisements determined by given criteria, and selects advertisements determined by the rule and criteria. 
     The Ad delivery function  123  supports providing advertisement metadata associated with advertisements or advertising campaigns to the Ad Engine  130  and the service provider application  140 , and delivering rules including usage of advertisements, and instructions. 
     The Ad metrics handling function  124  supports collecting impressions of advertisements and user response information, received from the Ad Engine  130  and the service provider application  140 , collecting and handling metrics-related information (e.g., information about the time the advertisements were impressed or exposed) and integrating the collected several metrics. 
     The User/Service/Device data handling function  121  supports handling user contextualization data and MobAd Enabler Service-related data, creating and selecting groups, creating advertising channels, and handling advertisements and advertisement metadata. Further, the User/Service/Device data handling function  121  sends a request for C &amp; P information to the C &amp; P resource unit  110 , and receives the requested C &amp; P information from the C &amp; P resource unit  110 . 
     Table 1 below shows interfaces used between the components (or logical entities) illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Interface 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 TBD-1 
                 All interfaces between Ad Server and SP App, excluding 
               
               
                   
                 MobAd-2 
               
               
                 TBD-2 
                 All interfaces between Ad Server and Ad Engine, excluding 
               
               
                   
                 MobAd-3 and Delv-1 
               
               
                 TBD-3 
                 All interfaces between Ad Engine and Ad App, excluding 
               
               
                   
                 MobAd-1 
               
               
                 MobAd-1 
                 MobAd-1 is an interface between Ad Engine and Ad App, and 
               
               
                   
                 the interface is provided to Ad App by Ad Engine. This 
               
               
                   
                 interface is used when Ad App sends a request for 
               
               
                   
                 advertisements and advertisement-related identifiers or 
               
               
                   
                 provides advertising metrics to Ad Engine. 
               
               
                 MobAd-2 
                 MobAd-2 is an interface between Ad Server and SP App, and 
               
               
                   
                 the interface is provided to SP App by Ad Server. This 
               
               
                   
                 interface is used when SP App sends a request for 
               
               
                   
                 advertisements or provides advertising metrics to Ad Server, 
               
               
                   
                 or when Ad Server provides advertising identifiers associated 
               
               
                   
                 with an advertisement response to SP App. 
               
               
                 MobAd-3 
                 MobAd-3 is an interface between Ad Server and Ad Engine, 
               
               
                   
                 and the interface is provided by Ad Server to Ad Engine. 
               
               
                   
                 This interface is used when Ad Engine sends a request for 
               
               
                   
                 advertisements and advertisement-related identifiers or 
               
               
                   
                 provides advertising metrics to Ad Server. 
               
               
                 Delv-1 
                 Delv-1 is an optional interface provided by Ad Engine, and 
               
               
                   
                 Ad Engine receives advertisements and advertisement 
               
               
                   
                 metadata over this interface using push and broadcast delivery 
               
               
                   
                 devices in its lower entity. Ad Server uses this interface when 
               
               
                   
                 delivering advertisements, advertisement notification, and 
               
               
                   
                 service notification to Ad Engine. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Because the Ad Server may reference/use C &amp; P information that is different from the C &amp; P information that the Ad Engine sent with an advertisement request in the prior art, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention an Ad Server delivers C &amp; P information that it actually referenced/used during advertisement selection and an advertisement to the Ad Engine. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     In step  301 , a user of the terminal sends an advertisement request to the Ad Engine  130  through the Ad App  150 . Alternatively, Step  301  may also be performed after step  313 . 
     In step  303 , the Ad Engine  130  retrieves C &amp; P information of the current user from the C &amp; P resource unit  110  in order to indicate C &amp; P information of the current user. Step  303  is optional. That is, the Ad Engine  130  may send a request for the C &amp; P information to the C &amp; P resource unit  110  when necessary, or may be periodically provided with the C &amp; P information from the C &amp; P resource unit  110 . When there is C &amp; P information acquired in step  303 , the Ad Engine  130  sends an advertisement request to the Ad Server  120 , after applying the C &amp; P information in step  305 . 
     In accordance with this embodiment of the present invention, location information and a keyword are reflected as C &amp; P information. 
     In step  307 , the Ad Server  120 , which has received the advertisement request, checks the C &amp; P information reflected in the received request message, and retrieves C &amp; P information of the current user from the C &amp; P resource unit  110 , when necessary. 
     In step  309 , the Ad Server  120  determines if there is an advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information received in step  307 . If there is an advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information, the Ad Server  120  selects the advertisement in step  311 . However, if there is no advertisement satisfying the C &amp; P information, the Ad Server  120  may provide a default advertisement. 
     In  FIG. 3 , when there is no advertisement corresponding to the location and there is an advertisement corresponding to the keyword, the Ad Server  120  selects the advertisement corresponding to the keyword. 
     Even though there is C &amp; P information received in step  307 , if there is no advertisement corresponding to all of the location information and the keyword reflected on the received C &amp; P information and there is an advertisement corresponding to the keyword the Ad Server  120  selects the advertisement corresponding to the keyword. 
     In step  313 , the Ad Server  120  delivers the applied C &amp; P information (keyword in this embodiment) to the Ad Engine  130  with the advertisement selected in step  311 . For example, C &amp; P information referenced/used during advertisement selection may be provided in an advertisement response message with an advertisement as shown in Table 2. However, a format of the message is not limited to the example shown in table. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Name 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 Ad Request ID 
                 Identifier of advertisement request message, globally 
               
               
                   
                 unique 
               
               
                 Ad App ID 
                 Identifier of Ad App, globally unique 
               
               
                 Version 
                 Version of advertisement request message. New 
               
               
                   
                 version replaces old version 
               
               
                 User-ID 
                 Identifier of user requesting advertisement 
               
               
                 Name 
                 Name of user requesting advertisement, expressible in 
               
               
                   
                 several languages 
               
               
                 Advertisement 
                 Requested advertisement 
               
               
                 C&amp;P Information 
                 Contextualization and Personalization information 
               
               
                   
                 referenced/used during advertisement selection 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     When the Ad Server  120  delivers the advertisement and the C &amp; P information referenced/used during advertisement selection to the Ad Engine  130 , the Ad Server  120  may use a method of leaving only the C &amp; P information actually referenced/used during advertisement selection in a C &amp; P related metadata list of the advertisement or flagging only the C &amp; P information actually referenced/used during advertisement selection in the list, or may check (select) C &amp; P information in the related metadata and response message. However, the present invention is not limited to these methods. 
     In step  315 , the Ad Engine  130  checks the received advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. If the Ad Engine  130  has pre-fetched an advertisement without a request from the Ad App  150 , as in step  301 , or intends to provide the same advertisement to the user at a later time, without deletion, the Ad Engine  130  stores the advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. In step  317 , the Ad Engine  130  delivers the received advertisement and C &amp; P information (keyword) to the Ad App  150 , thereby providing the advertisement to the user. 
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     Steps  401  and  403  of  FIG. 4  correspond to steps  301  and  303  of  FIG. 3 . Accordingly, a description of these steps will not be repeated. 
     In step  405 , the Ad Engine  130  sends an advertisement request to the Ad Server  120 , after receiving the C &amp; P information. In this embodiment, keyword is reflected as C &amp; P information. 
     The Ad Server  120 , which has received the advertisement request, checks the C &amp; P information reflected in the request message received in step  405  and determines if there is any advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information in step  407 . If additional C &amp; P information is needed as there are too many advertisements corresponding to the keyword received from the Ad Engine  130 , the Ad Server  120  acquires new C &amp; P information by sending a request for the new C &amp; P information to the C &amp; P resource unit  110  in step  409 . In this embodiment, where it is assumed that as there are too many advertisements corresponding to the keyword reflected by the Ad Engine  130 , the Ad Server  120  provides an advertisement by additionally using the new C &amp; P information representing location information of the current user. 
     In step  411 , the Ad Server  120  selects an advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information acquired in step  403  and the C &amp; P information transmitted in step  405 . If there is no advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information acquired in step  403  and the C &amp; P information transmitted in step  405 , the Ad Server  120  may provide a default advertisement. 
     In step  413 , the Ad Server  120  delivers the location information and keyword, which are the applied to the C &amp; P information, to the Ad Engine  130  together with the advertisement. The delivery method of step  413  is equal to the delivery method of step  313  in  FIG. 3 , except for the C &amp; P information provided with the advertisement. 
     In step  415 , the Ad Engine  130  checks the received advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. If the Ad Engine  130  has pre-fetched an advertisement without a request from the Ad App  150 , as in step  401 , or intends to provide the same advertisement to the user later on, without deletion, the Ad Engine  130  stores the advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. In step  417 , the Ad Engine  130  delivers the received advertisement and the C &amp; P information (keyword and location) to to the Ad App  150 , thereby providing the advertisement to the user. 
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     Steps  501  and  503  correspond to steps  301  and  303  in  FIG. 3 . Accordingly, a description of these steps will not be repeated. 
     In step  505 , the Ad Engine  130  sends an advertisement request to the Ad Server  120  after applying the C &amp; P information thereto. In this embodiment, a keyword and a location are reflected as the C &amp; P information. In step  507 , the Ad Server  120 , which has received the advertisement request, retrieves C &amp; P information of the current user from the C &amp; P resource unit  110  to reflect the C &amp; P information of the current user. However, step  507  is optional. 
     In step  509 , the Ad Server  120  checks the C &amp; P information reflected in the received request message, and then determines if there is any advertisement corresponding to all of the C &amp; P information (e.g., the keyword and the location information in this embodiment). If there is no advertisement corresponding to all of the C &amp; P information, the Ad Server  120  selects, in step  511 , an advertisement corresponding to part (e.g., the location information in this embodiment) of the C &amp; P information received from the Ad Engine  130 . In step  513 , the Ad Server  120  delivers the selected advertisement and the part of the C &amp; P information (i.e., the location information) received from the Ad Engine  130 , to the Ad Engine  130 . 
     In step  515 , the Ad Engine  130  checks the received advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. If the Ad Engine  130  has pre-fetched an advertisement without a request from the Ad App  150 , as in step  501 , or intends to provide the same advertisement to the user later on, without deletion, the Ad Engine  130  stores the advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. 
     In step  517 , the Ad Engine  130  delivers the received advertisement and the part of the C &amp; P information (i.e., the location) to the Ad App  150 , thereby providing the advertisement to the user. 
       FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     Step  601  corresponds to step  301  of  FIG. 3 . Accordingly, a description of this step will not be repeated. 
     In step  603 , the Ad Engine  130  sends an advertisement request to the Ad Server  120  without C &amp; P information. Thereafter, in step  605 , the Ad Server  120  sends a request for C &amp; P information to the C &amp; P resource unit  110  and receives the C &amp; P information in response to the request. 
     In step  607 , the Ad Server  120  checks the received C &amp; P information and determines if there is any advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information. If there is an advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information, the Ad Server  120  selects the advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information in step  609 . In step  611 , the Ad Server  120  delivers the selected advertisement and the C &amp; P information received from the C &amp; P resource unit  110 , to the Ad Engine  130 . 
     In step  613 , the Ad Engine  130  checks the received advertisement and the C &amp; P information. If the Ad Engine  130  has pre-fetched an advertisement without a request from the Ad App  150  as in step  601 , or intends to provide the same advertisement to the user later on, without deletion, the Ad Engine  130  stores the advertisement and the C &amp; P information. 
     In step  617 , the Ad Engine  130  delivers the received advertisement and the C &amp; P information to the Ad App  150 , thereby providing the advertisement to the user. 
       FIG. 7  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing and receiving a mobile advertising service in a mobile advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     In step  701 , the Ad Server  20  sends a request for C &amp; P information to the C &amp; P resource unit  100  and then receives the C &amp; P information in response to the request. In step  703 , the Ad Server  120  checks the received C &amp; P information and determines if there is any advertisement that corresponds to the C &amp; P information. If there is an advertisement that corresponds to the C &amp; P information, the Ad Server  120  selects the advertisement corresponding to the C &amp; P information in step  705 . In step  707 , the Ad Server  120  delivers the selected advertisement and the C &amp; P information to the Ad Engine  130 . The delivery method of step  707  corresponds to step  313  in  FIG. 3 , except for the C &amp; P information being provided with the advertisement. 
     In step  709 , the Ad Engine  130  checks the received advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. If the Ad Engine  130  has pre-fetched an advertisement without a request from the Ad App  150 , or intends to provide the same advertisement to the user later on, without deletion, the Ad Engine  130  stores the advertisement and the applied C &amp; P information. Thereafter, the Ad App  150  sends an advertisement request to the Ad Engine  130  in step  711 . Then the Ad Engine  130  determines, in step  713 , whether the advertisement (previously stored advertisement) received in step  709  is identical to the advertisement requested in step  711 . If they are identical, the Ad Engine  130  delivers the advertisement and the C &amp; P information to the Ad App  150 . 
     As is apparent from the foregoing description, the above-described embodiments of the present invention enable a user to receive the C &amp; P information that is used for advertisement selection with an advertisement, when receiving an advertisement requested by an Ad Engine and providing the advertisement to the user through an Ad App. 
     In addition, when there is an intention to later provide an advertisement that was pre-fetched in an Ad Engine or a terminal in response to another advertisement request, the C &amp; P information referenced/used during advertisement selection is provided to the Ad Engine, so that the Ad Engine may provide a proper advertisement requested by the user to the Ad App. 
     While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.