Patent Publication Number: US-2010121720-A1

Title: Method and apparatus for user generated advertising

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
     This regular U.S. patent application is based on and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 from provisional U.S. patent application No. 61/093,685, filed on Sep. 2, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
     The present invention relates generally to advertising on the Internet and more specifically to enabling user-generated advertising on the Internet. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART  
     Several widely used internet portals permit their users to generate private advertisings or listings. For example, users of online auctions can generate descriptions of the merchandise that they offer for sale. Other sites permit users to generate classified-type advertisings for various merchandise or services as well as personal-type advertisings. 
     However, the existing systems do not allow the individual users to generate advertisings to be inserted into other content owned or posted on the internet by other individual users. Also, the existing systems concentrate on commercial-type advertisings and do not permit users to submit non-commercial advertisings, such as advertisings of the user-generated content. Moreover, the existing systems do not allow users to advertise within a specific geographical location, such as a neighborhood or a city. Finally, the existing systems do no allow users to advertise on wireless networks maintained by other users. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventive methodology is directed to methods and systems that substantially obviate one or more of the above and other problems associated with conventional techniques for generating advertisings. 
     In accordance with one aspect of the inventive concept, there is provided a computerized system including a database operable to store parameters of a plurality of user networks; a search module operable to receive information from a user on user&#39;s advertising requirements and to match the user advertising requirements with the parameters of at least one of the plurality of user networks; and an ad exchange module, operable to facilitate ad exchange between the user and an owner of the matching at least one of the plurality of user networks. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the inventive concept, there is provided a system comprising an advertising generating module configured to enable at least one individual user to generate an advertising and an advertising placement module configured to insert the generated advertising into other content owned or posted on an internet by other individual users. 
     In accordance with yet another aspect of the inventive concept, there is provided a method involving enabling at least one individual user to generate an advertising; and inserting the generated advertising into other content owned or posted on an internet by other individual users. 
     Additional aspects related to the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Aspects of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations of various elements and aspects particularly pointed out in the following detailed description and the appended claims. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing and the following descriptions are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended to limit the claimed invention or application thereof in any manner whatsoever. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification exemplify the embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain and illustrate principles of the inventive technique. Specifically: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive system. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a computer platform upon which the inventive system may be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description, reference will be made to the accompanying drawing(s), in which identical functional elements are designated with like numerals. The aforementioned accompanying drawings show by way of illustration, and not by way of limitation, specific embodiments and implementations consistent with principles of the present invention. These implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and it is to be understood that other implementations may be utilized and that structural changes and/or substitutions of various elements may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be construed in a limited sense. Additionally, the various embodiments of the invention as described may be implemented in the form of software running on a general purpose computer, in the form of a specialized hardware, or combination of software and hardware. 
     Many users spend substantial amount of time generating their own content for posting on the Internet. For example, a user may produce his or her own video and place it on a video portal or create a custom online profile. In many cases, after investing substantial time and effort in generating such custom content, the user may be willing to pay to advertise the created content to other users. 
     One embodiment of the inventive concept permits users to generate non-commercial advertisings and place those advertisings for insertion into other content accessed, viewed or requested by other users. In one particular embodiment, the inventive system may be implemented using, for example, ad exchange methodology, which permits free exchange of advertisings between individual users. 
     It should be noted that modern computer technology allows users to provide advertisings to other users. This can be accomplished, for example, using the DD-WRT technology, well known to persons of skill in the art, which is operable to split a wireless network of a user into two or more portions. In one configuration, one portion of the wireless network is preserved as a private network of the user, for user&#39;s own exclusive use. The other portion(s) of the user&#39;s network are made available to other users (public portions). In an embodiment of the inventive system, the public network portion is configured to insert advertisements into the content accessed by other user(s) (not the owner of the network) using the aforesaid public portion of the user&#39;s wireless network. Thus, the owner of the network may provide advertisings to other users of the network. 
     The above-described inventive technology allows an individual user to offer other users an advertising-supported free wireless access service. To monetize the available advertising capability, the owner of the wireless network may start selling the advertisings on the public portion of his or her network to other users. In another embodiment of the invention, the user may participate in ad exchange program with another user, whereby the user may place the other user&#39;s advertisings on his or her network in exchange for reciprocal placement of the user&#39;s ads by the other user. Such ad exchange may be with or without additional payment being made from one user to the other. 
     To facilitate the aforesaid ad selling and/or ad exchange, an inventive system may include a central or distributed database(s) containing information on advertising capabilities of networks of different individual users. In one embodiment, such a database may include the information on the location of the user&#39;s network, the available bandwidth, the network coverage (reception radius), the number of other users that use the particular network during predetermined time period, and other suitable information. The database may also include the statistics of the network usage by other users, as well as network reliability (percentage of down time). In an embodiment of the invention, the database may also include the information on the pricing of the ads that the user requests as well as the information on whether the user-owner of the network is willing to participate in an ad exchange program and the requirements of the user as they relate to the ad exchange. 
     The inventive system may also include a facility that would enable a particular user to search the content of the aforesaid database and find other users with advertising capabilities that match the user&#39;s advertising needs. In one embodiment of the inventive system, the user may locate the other users by searching the aforesaid database and enter into advertising arrangements with other users using an automated facility. To this end, in one embodiment of the invention, the inventive system may facilitate ad exchanges between users by accepting, storing and furnishing advertisings from one party to the other. In the same or another embodiment of the invention, the system has capability to accept payment by one user (ad buyer) and forward it to the other party (ad seller). 
     Thus, in one embodiment, the inventive system facilitates the creation of a user-to-user advertising network, wherein users may exchange ads with each other or buy ads from each other. In one embodiment of the invention, the advertisings by the users are of non-commercial nature. 
     In one embodiment of the invention, the inventive ad network is implemented to place user&#39;s advertisings on the Internet. In this implementation, the advertisings of other users are placed together with content created by the user on the internet. For example, if a user creates a new video and places it on a video portal, he or she may sell advertising space on a page associated with that content. In another embodiment, the user may place a new and original content on user&#39;s own website and sell or exchange advertising space on the page associated with that content. 
     Such sale or exchange of the content may be with one or more other users. In case of sale/exchange with several other users, the ad of each other user is displayed on the user&#39;s page with a predetermined frequency. 
     One embodiment of the inventive concept is implemented as a free ad exchange in a neighborhood, which makes the displayed advertisings location-specific. In this embodiment, one or more users may utilize the aforesaid DD-WRT technology incorporated into the wireless device to provide advertisings to persons using the wireless network in their neighborhood. Thus, using this embodiment, by participating in the neighborhood ad exchange, a user may advertise any location specific events or other content, such as a party at user&#39;s own house. Any other users that would use the wireless services in the neighborhood that are provided by other users participating in the aforesaid ad exchange would be able to see such local advertisements. 
     It should be noted that the inventive system is not limited to any specific wireless network protocol or router technology, such as DD-WRT technology. Any such suitable technologies may be used. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment  100  of the inventive system. The system incorporates one or more wireless routers  101  coupled to a central computer system  102 . The routers  101  are configured to enable local wireless networks  104 , which may be located in the same or different locations. The routers  101  are also configured to provide advertising capability for owners of the routers  101 , such that the users using the networks  104  are shown various advertisings. The central computer system  102  is configured to collect information on advertising capabilities of each router  101 , as well as information on the location and other parameters of the router  101  and the associated network  104  and store those parameters in a database  103 . The central system  102  is further configured to enable searching the information on the location and advertising capabilities of the routers/networks  101 / 104  and to enable ad purchases or exchanges between users. For this purpose, a client terminal  105  is provided, using which a user may purchase the advertising or submit advertisings for ad exchange. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a computer/server system  200  upon which an embodiment of the inventive methodology may be implemented. The system  200  includes a computer/server platform  201 , peripheral devices  202  and network resources  203 . 
     The computer platform  201  may include a data bus  204  or other communication mechanism for communicating information across and among various parts of the computer platform  201 , and a processor  205  coupled with bus  201  for processing information and performing other computational and control tasks. Computer platform  201  also includes a volatile storage  206 , such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus  204  for storing various information as well as instructions to be executed by processor  205 . The volatile storage  206  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor  205 . Computer platform  201  may further include a read only memory (ROM or EPROM)  207  or other static storage device coupled to bus  204  for storing static information and instructions for processor  205 , such as basic input-output system (BIOS), as well as various system configuration parameters. A persistent storage device  208 , such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state flash memory device is provided and coupled to bus  201  for storing information and instructions. 
     Computer platform  201  may be coupled via bus  204  to a display  209 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma display, or a liquid crystal display (LCD), for displaying information to a system administrator or user of the computer platform  201 . An input device  210 , including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus  201  for communicating information and command selections to processor  205 . Another type of user input device is cursor control device  211 , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor  204  and for controlling cursor movement on display  209 . This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane. 
     An external storage device  212  may be connected to the computer platform  201  via bus  204  to provide an extra or removable storage capacity for the computer platform  201 . In an embodiment of the computer system  200 , the external removable storage device  212  may be used to facilitate exchange of data with other computer systems. 
     The invention is related to the use of computer system  200  for implementing the techniques described herein. In an embodiment, the inventive server  103  may reside on a machine such as computer platform  201 . In an embodiment, the location database  204  may also be deployed on a machine such as computer platform  201 . According to one embodiment of the invention, the techniques described herein are performed by computer system  200  in response to processor  205  executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the volatile memory  206 . Such instructions may be read into volatile memory  206  from another computer-readable medium, such as persistent storage device  208 . Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the volatile memory  206  causes processor  205  to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software. 
     The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor  205  for execution. The computer-readable medium is just one example of a machine-readable medium, which may carry instructions for implementing any of the methods and/or techniques described herein. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device  208 . Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as volatile storage  206 . Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise data bus  204 . 
     Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a flash drive, a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read. 
     Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor  205  for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk from a remote computer. Alternatively, a remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system  200  can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on the data bus  204 . The bus  204  carries the data to the volatile storage  206 , from which processor  205  retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by the volatile memory  206  may optionally be stored on persistent storage device  208  either before or after execution by processor  205 . The instructions may also be downloaded into the computer platform  201  via Internet using a variety of network data communication protocols well known in the art. 
     The computer platform  201  also includes a communication interface, such as network interface card  213  coupled to the data bus  204 . Communication interface  213  provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link  214  that is connected to a local network  215 . For example, communication interface  213  may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface  213  may be a local area network interface card (LAN NIC) to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links, such as well-known 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and Bluetooth may also used for network implementation. In any such implementation, communication interface  213  sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information. 
     Network link  213  typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other network resources. For example, network link  214  may provide a connection through local network  215  to a host computer  216 , or a network storage/server  217 . Additionally or alternatively, the network link  213  may connect through gateway/firewall  217  to the wide-area or global network  218 , such as an Internet. Thus, the computer platform  201  can access network resources located anywhere on the Internet  218 , such as a remote network storage/server  219 . On the other hand, the computer platform  201  may also be accessed by clients located anywhere on the local area network  215  and/or the Internet  218 . The network clients  220  and  221  may themselves be implemented based on the computer platform similar to the platform  201 . 
     Local network  215  and the Internet  218  both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link  214  and through communication interface  213 , which carry the digital data to and from computer platform  201 , are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information. 
     Computer platform  201  can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the variety of network(s) including Internet  218  and LAN  215 , network link  214  and communication interface  213 . In the Internet example, when the system  201  acts as a network server, it might transmit a requested code or data for an application program running on client(s)  220  and/or  221  through Internet  218 , gateway/firewall  217 , local area network  215  and communication interface  213 . Similarly, it may receive code from other network resources. 
     The received code may be executed by processor  205  as it is received, and/or stored in persistent or volatile storage devices  208  and  206 , respectively, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, computer system  201  may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave. 
     It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to any specific types of wireless or wired network protocols. The requisite network configuration may be achieved using a variety of known networking protocols. 
     Finally, it should be understood that processes and techniques described herein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and may be implemented by any suitable combination of components. Further, various types of general purpose devices may be used in accordance with the teachings described herein. It may also prove advantageous to construct specialized apparatus to perform the method steps described herein. The present invention has been described in relation to particular examples, which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many different combinations of hardware, software, and firmware will be suitable for practicing the present invention. For example, the described software may be implemented in a wide variety of programming or scripting languages, such as Assembler, C/C++, perl, shell, PHP, Java, etc. 
     Moreover, other implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. Various aspects and/or components of the described embodiments may be used singly or in any combination in the computerized system for user-generated non-commercial advertisings. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.