Patent Publication Number: US-2012030005-A1

Title: Method and system for providing advertisements

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Over a period of time, advertising using websites has become a common activity. Website owner generates revenue by displaying advertisements on their website. Website owner also generates revenue based on number of advertisements being clicked or accessed by users. Hence, it is desired to increase number of clicks by using better ways of advertising. 
     SUMMARY 
     An example of a method includes electronically blending an advertisement into a web page based on physical attributes of the web page and providing the web page with the advertisement. 
     An example of a system includes a server. The server includes a communication interface, a memory to store instructions and a processor coupled to the memory and the communication interface which is responsive to the instructions to blend an advertisement into a web page based on physical attributes of the web page and to provide the web page with the advertisement. 
     An example of an article of manufacture includes a machine-readable medium, and instructions carried by the machine-readable medium and operable to cause a programmable processor to perform blending of an advertisement into a web page based on physical attributes of the web page and providing the web page with the advertisement. 
     Another example of method includes step of determining physical attributes associated with an interface of an application and electronically modifying an advertisement based on the physical attributes associated with the interface of the application. The method further includes electronically positioning the advertisement on the interface of the application and enabling display of the interface with the advertisement. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  depicts a block diagram of an environment, in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a method for providing advertisements by a server, in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a method for providing advertisements by a server, in accordance with another embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a web page with an advertisement, in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a method for providing advertisements by an electronic device, in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  depicts a block diagram of a server, in accordance with one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  depicts a block diagram of an environment  100 . The environment  100  includes a server  110  connected to a network  105 . The environment  100  further includes one or more electronic devices, for example an electronic device  115   a,  an electronic device  115   b  and an electronic device  115   c  which can communicate with each other through the network  105 . Examples of the electronic devices include, but are not limited to, computers, mobile devices, laptops, palmtops, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The electronic devices can also communicate with the server  110  through the network  105 . 
     The server  110 , for example a Yahoo!® server can be coupled to a storage device  120 . 
     The environment  100  can also include an advertisement server that can be in electronic communication with the server  110  through the network  105 . 
     An example of interaction among various entities in the environment  100  is now provided using the electronic device  115   a.    
     A user of the electronic device  115   a  wishes to open a web page. The user types a uniform resource locator (URL), for example www.yahoo.com, for the webpage in a browser. 
     A plug-in installed in the electronic device  115   a  detects physical attributes of the web page. The URL along with the physical attributes of the web page is electronically sent to the server  110 . 
     The server  110  receives the URL and the physical attributes of the web page. Examples of the physical attributes include color of the web page, size of the web page, texture of the web page, contrast of the web page, theme of the web page and layout of the web page. 
     In some embodiments, the electronic device  115   a  may not have the plug-in installed and in such cases the server  110  receives the URL, and determines the physical attributes of the web page. The physical attributes are determined from code of the web page. Examples of a format of the code include hyper text markup language (HTML) format and extensible markup language (XML) format. The code can be parsed and processed to extract the physical attributes. 
     The server  110  identifies or receives one or more advertisements that need to be displayed on the web page. The advertisement can be accessed from a storage device  120 . The server  110  then blends the advertisements into the web page. Blending includes at least one of modifying the advertisements and positioning the advertisements onto the web page. The modifying and the positioning are based on the physical attributes. Modifying an advertisement includes at least one of changing color of the advertisement, changing size of the advertisement, changing texture of the advertisement and changing contrast of the advertisement. 
     The server  110  or the plug-in also determines a position on the web page for displaying the advertisements. Different positions can be determined for different advertisements. The web page is divided into various frames. A frame can be defined as a block of content having similar physical attributes. Each frame can be in HTML or XML format. The frames can be accessed from the code. Locations of the frames on the web page can also be determined. If gap between end of a first frame and start of a second frame exceeds a predefined threshold then the gap can be determined as the position for displaying an advertisement. The advertisement can then be resized to fit into the position. 
     The server  110  then sends the web page with the advertisements blended into the web page to the electronic device  115   a  via the network  105 . 
     The electronic device  115   a  receives the web page with the advertisements and displays the web page with the advertisements. 
     Blending an advertisement into the web page makes the advertisement look like part of content of the web page. This increases probability of the advertisement being accessed or clicked. Moreover, user experience is also enhanced as the user does not see the advertisement separately but as a part of the web page. 
     It is noted that the disclosure is explained with help of the web page as an example. The blending of the advertisement can be performed for various applications where advertising is performed. For example, blending the advertisement into interfaces of various applications including Yahoo! Messenger. 
     Examples of the advertisements include images, video files, flash files, animation, text, and smart advertisements. 
     A smart advertisement is an advertisement that can be customized based on various factors. For example, converting creative campaign elements and offers into customized and relevant display advertisements by delivering advertisements according to the Web surfer&#39;s age, gender, location and online activities. If a user is browsing for hybrid cars in Yahoo! Autos and has selected San Francisco as default location, Yahoo&#39;s smart advertisement platform can assemble and deliver an advertisement in real time that showcases a hybrid vehicle from a major auto brand, as well as local dealer information and current lease rate, thereby providing a relevant experience to the user and allowing the marketer to reach a user who is likely to become a customer. 
     Blending of advertisements into the web page can be performed for different type of web pages, for example content based web pages and search pages. In search pages, the user enters a search string. The advertisements are identified based on the search string and are blended into a web page including the search results. The web page including the search results and the advertisement is then displayed. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a method for providing advertisements by a server, for example the server  110 , in accordance with one embodiment. 
     At step  205 , an advertisement is blended into a web page based on physical attributes of the web page. The physical attributes can either be determined by the server or can be received as an input from an electronic device via a network. The URL of the web page is also received by the server. 
     The advertisement is then blended into the web page. Blending includes at least one of modifying the advertisements and positioning the advertisements onto the web page. The modifying and the positioning are based on the physical attributes. The physical attributes include various parameters, associated with the web page, which can be used to help blending of the advertisement into the web page. Position or place where the advertisement is to be placed is also determined using the physical attributes. The position is determined based on the location of frames in the web page. Modifying an advertisement includes at least one of changing color of the advertisement, changing size of the advertisement, changing texture of the advertisement and changing contrast of the advertisement. 
     At step  210  the web page is provided with the advertisement blended in the web page. Providing the web page with the advertisement includes transmitting information of the web page and the advertisement. In one example, the transmission happens through network and the information is received by the electronic device. The web page along with the advertisement is then displayed on the electronic device. 
     In some embodiments, performance of the advertisement is tracked. The performance can be tracked by determining number of clicks made on the advertisement. A learning model can be developed based on the tracking. The learning model helps in improving blending of the advertisement. For example, if the advertisement when placed in X position and with Y size results in high number of clicks then the advertisement can be determined to be blended based on X position with Y size. The learning can also be applied to other advertisements. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a method for providing advertisements by a server, for example the server  110 , in accordance with another embodiment. 
     At step  305 , the URL of the web page along with the physical attributes of the web page is determined by the server. The physical attributes can either be determined by the server or can be received as an input from an electronic device via the network. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, physical attributes include color of the web page, size of the web page, texture of the web page, contrast of the web page, theme of the web page and layout of the web page. 
     At step  310 , the advertisement is determined using various techniques, for example using various algorithms to determine what all advertisements are relevant based on content of the web page or intent of the user. The advertisement is then modified based on physical attributes of the web page. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, modification of the advertisement include at least one of changing color of the advertisement, changing size of the advertisement, changing texture of the advertisement and changing contrast of the advertisement. 
     At step  315 , the position or place where the advertisement is to be placed is determined based on physical attributes of the web page. The position is determined based on the location of frames in the web page. The server determines a free space to display the advertisement in the web page. In an embodiment of the invention, the server determines the best suitable position to display the advertisement in the web page. 
     At step  320 , the web page is provided with the advertisement blended in the web page to an interface of the electronic device. Providing the webpage with the advertisement includes transmitting information of the web page and the advertisement. In an embodiment of the invention, the transmission happens through network and the information is received by the electronic device. The web page along with the advertisement is then displayed on the electronic device. An example of the steps in  FIG. 3  are shown in  FIG. 4   
       FIG. 4  illustrates a web page  400  with one or more advertisements. 
     The web page is divided into various frames  405   a,    405   b,    405   c,    405   d,    405   e,    405   f,    405   g  and  405   h.    
     First advertisement  410  is displayed in accordance with existing art. The first advertisement  410  is visible as an additional content on the web page. Second advertisement  415  is in accordance with the disclosure. The second advertisement  415  is blended into the web page. The second advertisement  415  is visible as content of the web page and hence, has high probability of being clicked as compared to the first advertisement  410 . Similarly, third advertisement  420  is blended into the web page. The third advertisement is modified to fit into a frame  405   f.  The frame  405   f  is determined by using location of frame  405   e  and frame  405   g.  End of frame  405   e  and start of frame  405   g  are determined from the code of the web page. Size of the third advertisement  420  is modified to fit into the frame  405   f.  The third advertisement  420  is then positioned at the frame  405   f.    
       FIG. 5  illustrates a method for providing advertisements by an electronic device, for example the electronic device  115 A, in accordance with one embodiment. 
     At step  505 , the URL of the webpage is received. The URL can be typed by a user in a browser open on the electronic device. At step  510 , the physical attributes of the web page are determined. The physical attributes can either be determined by the server or can be sent as an output from an electronic device via a network. The URL along with the physical attributes of the web page is electronically sent to the server in step  515 . 
     At step  520 , the electronic device receives the web page with one or more modified advertisement blended in the web page by the server via the network. Modifying an advertisement includes at least one of changing color of the advertisement, changing size of the advertisement, changing texture of the advertisement and changing contrast of the advertisement. At step  525 , the web page is provided with the blended advertisement. The electronic device displays the web page with the advertisement. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a block diagram of the server  110 , in accordance with one embodiment. The server  110  includes a bus  605  for communicating information, and a processor  610  coupled with the bus  605  for processing information. The server  110  also includes a memory  615 , for example a random access memory (RAM) coupled to the bus  605  for storing instructions to be executed by the processor  610 . The memory  615  can be used for storing temporary information required by the processor  610 . The server  110  further includes a read only memory (ROM)  620  or other static storage unit coupled to the bus  605  for storing static information and instructions for processor  610 . A storage unit  650 , such as a magnetic disk or hard disk, can be provided and coupled to the bus  605  for storing information. 
     The server  110  can be coupled via the bus  605  to a display  625 , for example a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD), for displaying information. An input device  630 , including various keys, is coupled to the bus  605  for communicating information and command selections to the processor  610 . In some embodiments, cursor control  635 , for example a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, or cursor direction keys, for command selections to the processor  610  and for controlling cursor movement on the display  625  can also be present. The functioning of the input device  630  can also be performed using the display  625 , for example a touch screen. 
     Various embodiments are related to the use of the server  110  for implementing the techniques described herein, for example in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 . The techniques can be performed by the server  110  in response to the processor  610  executing instructions included in the memory  615 . The instructions can be read into the memory  615  from another machine-readable medium, such as the storage unit  650 . Execution of the instructions included in the memory  615  causes the processor  610  to perform the techniques described herein. 
     The term machine-readable medium can be defined as a medium providing data to a machine to enable the machine to perform a specific function. The machine-readable medium can be a storage media. Storage media can include non-volatile media and volatile media. The memory  615  can be a volatile media. All such media must be tangible to enable the instructions carried by the media to be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into the machine. 
     Examples of the machine readable medium includes, but are not limited to, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, a CD-ROM, optical disk, punchcards, papertape, a RAM, a PROM, EPROM, and a FLASH-EPROM. 
     In some embodiments, the machine-readable medium can be transmission media including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that include the bus  605 . Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications. Examples of machine-readable medium may include but are not limited to carrier waves as describer hereinafter or any other media from which the server  110  can read, for example online software, download links, installation links, and online links. For example, the instructions can initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The 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 the server  110  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 bus  605 . The bus  605  carries the data to the memory  615 , from which the processor  610  retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by the memory  615  can optionally be stored on the storage unit  650  either before or after execution by the processor  610 . All such media must be tangible to enable the instructions carried by the media to be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into a machine. 
     The server  110  also includes a communication interface  640  coupled to the bus  605  for enabling data communication. Examples of the communication interface  640  include, but are not limited to, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, a modem, a local area network (LAN) card, an infrared port, a Bluetooth port, a zigbee port, and a wireless port. 
     The server  110  can be coupled to a storage device  120  that stores the advertisements. 
     In some embodiments, the processor  610  can include one or more processing units for performing one or more functions of the processor  610 . The processing units are hardware circuitry performing specified functions. 
     While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been disclosed, the present disclosure may be practiced in other ways. Various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the claims.