Patent Publication Number: US-2022222707-A1

Title: System and Method For Contextual Advertising and Merchandizing Based On User Configurable Preferences

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application No. of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/974,764 filed Aug. 23, 2013, which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/774,671 filed Jul. 9, 2007, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This disclosure relates to methods and systems supporting online advertising and online transactions by a user. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to contextual advertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences. 
     RELATED ART 
     An increasingly popular way of delivering Internet advertisements is to tie the presentation of advertisements to particular user behaviors and/or user profiles, and/or user demographics. Such user behaviors include user access to a particular web page, user selection (also called mouse-clicking or clicking) of a particular location on a web page, user entry of a particular search string or keyword, and the like. In order to target advertising accurately, advertisers or vendors pay to have their advertisements presented in response to certain kinds of events—that is, their advertisements are presented when particular user behaviors warrant such presentation. If a particular advertisement (ad) leads to some user action, an advertiser may receive remuneration for the ad. 
     Using other systems and processes on the Web, users can search for goods and services via the Internet and shop or make purchases of goods or services over the Internet. Unfortunately, conventional systems have not been able to create an effective way of extracting keywords from web pages and create contextual advertisements that may lead to a user purchase transaction. 
     Some conventional web-based merchants use affiliate programs. In an affiliate program, the merchant itself must track purchase transactions and reward 3 rd  party affiliates when purchase transactions are completed. This transaction tracking and rewarding process imposes a significant administrative burden on the merchant. Moreover, the tracking/reward functionality must be replicated for each merchant that chooses to use such a system. Current technology does not provide a solution for off-loading this tracking/reward functionality to a 3 rd  party without risking an increase in fraudulent transactions and a decrease in the time-efficiency of processing purchase transactions. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061 discloses methods and apparatuses for targeting the delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet. Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and the use of the advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of the advertisements of individual users. In response to requests from affiliated sites, an advertising server transmits to people accessing the page of a site an appropriate one of the advertisements based upon profiling of users and networks. However, the user is not offered the opportunity to opt-out of the advertising or to configure the preferences or profile that was automatically created based on user activity. 
     Thus, a system and method for contextual advertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences is needed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate an example advertisement with the user selectable display object associated with the ad in an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an example embodiment of a preferences webpage displayed to a user when the user activates the display object. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an example embodiment of a webpage used to configure user advertising preferences. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a system architecture for delivering advertising to users in a networked system. 
         FIG. 6  is a processing flow diagram of an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a network system on which an embodiment may operate. 
         FIGS. 8 and 9  are block diagrams of an example computer system on which an embodiment may operate. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A computer-implemented system and method for contextual advertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences is disclosed. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known processes, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the clarity of this description. 
     As described further below, according to various example embodiments of the disclosed subject matter described and claimed herein, there is provided a computer-implemented system and method for contextual advertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences. The system includes an advertising (ad) preferences service to obtain user preference information related to advertising and to modify the presentation of advertising to the user based upon the user preference information. Various embodiments are described below in connection with the figures provided herein. 
     Typical contextual advertising implementations show advertisements that are textually related to the content that the user is browsing or has browsed. In newer systems, behavioral information and day parting is used to improve upon the contextual advertising. Other systems enhance contextual advertising with user demography gleaned from various sources. In these example embodiments, the advertisements shown are not necessarily related to the context of the content; rather, the advertisements shown can be related to a merchandizing opportunity based on a user&#39;s automatically determined demographic profile to create a new dimension in contextual advertising. Such a new dimension in contextual advertising leverages user demographic information obtained in previous user interactions unrelated to the current user interaction or behavior. 
     By observing search, view, bid, buy, payment and other activities of known user demographies, a host system can use various heuristics to generate associations between user demographic profiles and Item Groups, with associated levels of interest of users of those demographic profiles in that Item Group. Item Groups may represent Products, Services, or other web items. Demographic profiles may be aggregated along one or more dimensions (e.g. age, gender, location, etc.). Item Groups may also be aggregated along one or more dimensions (e.g. category, price, vendor, payment method, etc.). The term Item Group may also represent items for sale as well as web pages/sections, and/or sites. 
     As the description above indicates, targeted advertising has become more complex. However, even the best algorithms for targeting ad content to particular users can produce errant or annoying ad content that may not be considered relevant or useful to the user. As such, it would be beneficial to enable the user to configure the advertising-related parameters or profiles that have been automatically created by various systems that monitor user behaviors, collect demographic information, or otherwise associate users with particular types of ads. The various embodiments described herein enable the user to configure (e.g. edit, modify, select, de-select, enable, disable, etc.) various advertising-related parameters or preference information. 
     An example embodiment is described in the following section. Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an example advertisement  310  is illustrated. Ad  310  represents a typical ad displayed to an on-line computer user is conventional systems. Such an ad  310  may have been automatically selected for display to a particular user (i.e. targeted) because of the user&#39;s previous behavior or demographics. Conventional systems do not provide a way for the user to opt-out of the targeted advertising system. Further, conventional systems do not provide a way for the user to configure advertising parameters to increase the likelihood that subsequent targeted ads will be more relevant for the particular user. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an example embodiment includes a display object  320  that enables the user to configure advertising parameters. In one embodiment, display object  320  is a hyperlink that re-directs the user to a separate preferences configuration webpage when the user clicks on the display object  320 . In another embodiment, the display object  320  can activate a preferences configuration box when the display object  320  is clicked or activated with a mouseover. In other embodiments, the display object  320  can cause the activation of a set of preferences checkboxes when the display object  320  is selected and right-clicked. Many other alternative implementations can be used to indicate the selection and/or activation of display object  320  thereby activating the enables the functionality of various embodiments to enable a user to configure advertising parameters. In yet other embodiments, the activation of advertising configuration functionality can be offered as part of a tool bar or drop-down menu selection associated with the configuration of other system parameters. In the particular embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the display object  320  is a link that redirects the user to a separate preference configuration webpage when a user clicks on the display object  320 . In addition, the particular embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  provides additional information for the user when a user performs a mouseover on the display object  320 . As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the user has performed a mouseover of display object  320  by position cursor  322  in a proximate position to display object  320 . As a result, an information box  324  has been displayed for the user to explain the purpose of display object  320 . If the user clicks on the display object  320  while cursor  322  is in a proximate position to display object  320 , the user will be redirected to a separate webpage, such as the webpage  410  shown in  FIG. 3  and described below. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates and embodiment in which the display object  320  is displayed outside of the borders of the underlying ad  310 . In this embodiment, no portion of the ad  310  is obscured by display object  320 . An alternative embodiment is shown in  FIG. 2 . In  FIG. 2 , the display object  320  is shown overlaid on a portion of the underlying ad  310 . In this embodiment, the display object  320  can appear as a watermark on the ad  310 . It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that either of these particular implementations and equivalent embodiments can be used to enable a user to configure advertising parameters. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , an example embodiment illustrates a preferences webpage displayed to a user when the user activates the display object  320  using any of the various methods described above. In an example embodiment, preferences page  410  includes a portion  412  (e.g. a link) that enables a user to link to a separate page used to configure advertising preferences. If the user clicks on the portion  412  while the cursor is in a proximate position to portion  412 , the user will be redirected to a separate webpage, such as the webpage  510  shown in  FIG. 4  and described below. In an alternative embodiment, the user can be linked directly to webpage  510  when the user activates the display object  320  using any of the various methods described above. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , an example embodiment of a webpage used to configure user advertising preferences is illustrated. In one embodiment, the user is presented with a webpage  510  upon activation of display object  320  as described above. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that page  510  may equivalently be implemented as a dialog box, a pull-down menu, or other type of user interface for receiving a set of preference selections. In the example embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , the user may select or de-select (i.e. enable/activate or disable/deactivate) a set of advertising-related parameters or preferences. These user-configurable advertising-related parameters or preferences can include an opt-out selection  512 . The opt-out control allows a user to specify whether or not s/he wants to participate in targeted advertising. If the user selects “opt-out” at selection  512  by clicking and marking the associated shaded box, the user&#39;s profile information is not used or provided for use by others for the purpose of targeted advertising. If the user de-selects “opt-out” at selection  512  by clicking and un-marking the associated shaded box, the user&#39;s profile information can be used or provided for use by others for the purpose of targeted advertising. 
     In the example embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , the user may also select or de-select (i.e. enable/activate or disable/deactivate) a set of advertising-related segment parameters or preferences. Segments can be considered groupings into which a particular user has been automatically placed based on user behavior or demographics. For example, one segment may be based on gender; male users get classified in a male segment and female users get classified in a female segment. Other examples of segments include, age ranges, income ranges, location, marital status, parental status, historical buying habits, etc. It is common in conventional systems to classify particular users into a plurality of segments for the purpose of targeted advertising. Given that a plurality of segments have been created for each particular user, page  510  provides an opportunity for the system to present the pre-defined user segments to the particular user with whom the segments are associated. In this manner, the user is given information defining how the user has been previously classified into a plurality of segments for the purpose of targeted advertising. These user-specific segment classifications can be displayed to the user in page  510  as a list of segments  514 . Each segment is configured with a selectable shaded box with which the user may select or de-select (i.e. enable/activate or disable/deactivate) each of the plurality of advertising-related segments previously associated with the user. If the user selects a particular segment at segment options  514  by clicking and marking the associated shaded box, the user&#39;s segment classification for that segment can be used or provided for use by others for the purpose of targeted advertising. If the user de-selects a particular segment at segment options  514  by clicking and un-marking the associated shaded box, the user&#39;s segment classification for that segment is not used or provided for use by others for the purpose of targeted advertising. Further, a user can add or remove particular individual elements or demographic data to the user&#39;s individual profile. For example, a user could specify that s/he is interested in receiving information regarding financial offers. A plurality of profile parameters or preferences can be offered to a user for configuration by the user. In this manner, a user can configure a set of parameters or preferences associated with advertising. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a system architecture for delivering advertising to users in a networked system. Referring to  FIG. 1 , a system can provide techniques for manipulating networked content. For example, a publishing system  610  can be used to insert an advertisement (ad)  611  obtained from an advertiser  603  into publisher media  605  at a publisher website  615  (a website is one type of media or networked content). To accomplish this ad insertion, the publisher  610  can insert a piece of code provided by the advertising partner  603  into the publisher website&#39;s  615  source code. This code is then rendered when the page is viewed by a viewer  618  to display the publisher media with the advertisement in the location on the page indicated in the inserted code. Should the publisher  610  want to move or modify the ad, the publisher  610  changes the code at the site  615  to effect the change to the ad. The advertiser  603  can employ user ad profile information  604  to target a particular ad for a particular user viewing publisher media  605  via publisher website  615 . User ad profile information  604  can be automatically created and updated with user behavior information and user demographics. In addition, the user ad profile information  604  can be used for the storage of the user-configurable set of parameters or preferences associated with advertising as described above. These user configurable preferences can be accessed and used by advertiser  603  when advertiser  603  determines which ad should be served to a particular user fia publisher  610 . For example, if the “opt-out of advertising” parameter has been previously selected by a user as described above, the advertiser  603  can offer up an ad to publisher  610  that is not targeted per the selection request of the user. For another example, if the “opt-in to segment  1 ” parameter has been previously selected by a user as described above, the advertiser  603  can offer up an ad to publisher  610  that is targeted to individuals of segment  1  per the selection request of the user. In this manner, the ads shown to a particular user can be configured by a user by user manipulation of a set of user-configurable parameters or preferences associated with advertising as described above. 
     In an example embodiment described herein and shown by example in  FIG. 5 , the display object  320  used to enable user configuration of the advertising parameters can be inserted into the ad  611  by advertiser  603  or inserted into the publisher media content with inserted ad  612  by the publisher  610 . In either case, the activation of the display object  320  by a user can cause a link to the appropriate host of the user-configurable parameters or preferences associated with advertising as described above. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a processing flow for an example embodiment. The example embodiment includes an advertising (ad) preferences service to obtain user preference information related to advertising (processing block  702 ), enable user configuration of the user preference information related to advertising (processing block  704 ), and modify the presentation of advertising to the user based upon the user configured preference information (processing block  706 ). 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , a diagram illustrates a network environment in which various example embodiments may operate. In this conventional network architecture, a server computer system  100  is coupled to a wide-area network  110 . Wide-area network  110  includes the Internet, or other proprietary networks, which are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Wide-area network  110  may include conventional network backbones, long-haul telephone lines, Internet service providers, various levels of network routers, and other conventional means for routing data between computers. Using conventional network protocols, server  100  may communicate through wide-area network  110  to a plurality of client computer systems  120 ,  130 ,  140  connected through wide-area network  110  in various ways. For example, client  140  is connected directly to wide-area network  110  through direct or dial-up telephone or other network transmission line. Alternatively, clients  130  may be connected through wide-area network  110  using a modem pool  114 . A conventional modem pool  114  allows a plurality of client systems to connect with a smaller set of modems in modem pool  114  for connection through wide-area network  110 . In another alternative network topology, wide-area network  110  is connected to a gateway computer  112 . Gateway computer  112  is used to route data to clients  120  through a local area network (LAN)  116 . In this manner, clients  120  can communicate with each other through local area network  116  or with server  100  through gateway  112  and wide-area network  110 . 
     Using one of a variety of network connection means, server computer  100  can communicate with client computers  150  using conventional means. In a particular implementation of this network configuration, a server computer  100  may operate as a web server if the Internet&#39;s World-Wide Web (WWW) is used for wide area network  110 . Using the HTTP protocol and the HTML coding language across wide-area network  110 , web server  100  may communicate across the World-Wide Web with clients  150 . In this configuration, clients  150  use a client application program known as a web browser such as the Internet Explorer™ published by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., the user interface of America On-Line™, or the web browser or HTML renderer of any other supplier. Using such conventional browsers and the World-Wide Web, clients  150  may access image, graphical, and textual data provided by web server  100  or they may run Web application software. Conventional means exist by which clients  150  may supply information to web server  100  through the World Wide Web  110  and the web server  100  may return processed data to clients  150 . 
     Having briefly described one embodiment of the network environment in which an example embodiment may operate,  FIGS. 8 and 9  show an example of a computer system  200  illustrating an exemplary client  150  or server  100  computer system in which the features of an example embodiment may be implemented. Computer system  200  is comprised of a bus or other communications means  214  and  216  for communicating information, and a processing means such as processor  220  coupled with bus  214  for processing information. Computer system  200  further comprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device  222  (commonly referred to as main memory), coupled to bus  214  for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor  220 . Main memory  222  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor  220 . Computer system  200  also comprises a read only memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device  224  coupled to bus  214  for storing static information and instructions for processor  220 . 
     An optional data storage device  228  such as a magnetic disk or optical disk and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system  200  for storing information and instructions. Computer system  200  can also be coupled via bus  216  to a display device  204 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD), for displaying information to a computer user. For example, image, textual, video, or graphical depictions of information may be presented to the user on display device  204 . Typically, an alphanumeric input device  208 , including alphanumeric and other keys is coupled to bus  216  for communicating information and/or command selections to processor  220 . Another type of user input device is cursor control device  206 , such as a conventional mouse, trackball, or other type of cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selection to processor  220  and for controlling cursor movement on display  204 . 
     Alternatively, the client  150  can be implemented as a network computer or thin client device. Client  150  may also be a laptop or palm-top computing device, such as the Palm Pilot™. Client  150  could also be implemented in a robust cellular telephone, where such devices are currently being used with Internet micro-browsers. Such a network computer or thin client device does not necessarily include all of the devices and features of the above-described exemplary computer system; however, the functionality of an example embodiment or a subset thereof may nevertheless be implemented with such devices. 
     A communication device  226  is also coupled to bus  216  for accessing remote computers or servers, such as web server  100 , or other servers via the Internet, for example. The communication device  226  may include a modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interface devices, such as those used for interfacing with Ethernet, Token-ring, or other types of networks. In any event, in this manner, the computer system  200  may be coupled to a number of servers  100  via a conventional network infrastructure such as the infrastructure illustrated in  FIG. 7  and described above. 
     The system of an example embodiment includes software, information processing hardware, and various processing steps, which will be described below. The features and process steps of example embodiments may be embodied in articles of manufacture as machine or computer executable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a general purpose or special purpose processor, which is programmed with the instructions to perform the steps of an example embodiment. Alternatively, the features or steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hard-wired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components. While embodiments are described with reference to the Internet, the method and apparatus described herein is equally applicable to other network infrastructures or other data communications systems. 
     Various embodiments are described herein. In particular, the use of embodiments with various types and formats of user interface presentations and/or application programming interfaces may be described. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that alternative embodiments of the implementations described herein can be employed and still fall within the scope of the claimed invention. In the detail herein, various embodiments are described as implemented in computer-implemented processing logic denoted sometimes herein as the “Software”. As described above, however, the claimed invention is not limited to a purely software implementation. 
     Thus, a computer-implemented system and method for contextual advertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences is disclosed. While the present invention has been described in terms of several example embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description herein is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.