Patent Publication Number: US-2015073904-A1

Title: Graphical User Interface for a Search Engine Including User Selectable Advertisement Categories

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates generally to an advertising system. More specifically, the invention describes a system and method for delivering a targeted advertising message to a user of a search engine through the user&#39;s proactive interactions using a graphical user interface. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     Advertising using traditional media, such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, is well known. Unfortunately, even when armed with demographic studies and entirely reasonable assumptions about the typical audience of various media outlets, advertisers recognize that much of their advertisement budget is simply wasted. Moreover, it is difficult to identify and eliminate such waste. 
     Personal computing devices have gained significant popularity in recent years. Users are using the personal devices such as, for example, iPhone from Apple Inc, Cupertino, Calif., to access the Internet services. Methods for delivering targeted advertisements to users by employing the personal devices have been developed. 
     Search engines have been widely used by many users of the personal devices to assess contents in the Internet. Search engine advertising involves displaying advertisements on search results pages. The user&#39;s personal device displays advertisements along with search results, and users are able to select either an advertisement link or a search result link to cause their devices to retrieve information pages from the World Wide Web. Conventional search engines cause a separate search results page with the search results to be loaded onto the user&#39;s device, while some modern search engine interfaces display search results and advertisements as the user enters his or her search query without loading a separate results page. But in either case, both the advertisements and the search results are selected for display based on search queries entered by the users in a search engine page through a web browser, or other interface. The search results are produced by a search engine, and are typically based in part on various search algorithms whose purpose is to select web pages that are relevant to the user&#39;s search query. Advertisements, on the other hand, are selected in part based on bids that advertisers make for particular keywords in the user&#39;s search query. 
     It has always been a significant challenge to understand the user&#39;s real interests and to deliver advertising messages with improved accuracy. It is desirable that a search engine receives directly a user&#39;s inputs about his or her commercial interests. Highly targeted advertisements can then be delivered. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an advertisement delivery system for delivering highly targeted advertisements to a user of a personal computing device. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a graphical user interface for receiving a user&#39;s direct inputs on one&#39;s commercial interests while the user is using a search engine. 
     An exemplary system comprises a personal computing device connectable to a communication network. A search engine including a first advertising manager and a content provider including a second advertising manager are located in the network. In one embodiment, the search engine and the content provider are different entities. In another embodiment, the search engine and the content provider are the same entity. 
     In a first embodiment of the graphical user interface, a search box and a search button are displayed on a screen of the personal device. A user actuates the search button before a search query is entered into the search box. Subsequently, an advertising selection menu including a plurality of user selectable advertising categories is displayed. The search engine receives a search query and transmits the search query with the user selected advertising category to a content provider. The advertising manager of the content provider selects an advertising message based on received category. The content provider renders contents matched to the query together with the advertising message through the personal device. The search engine and the content provider may share the advertising revenue based on a predetermined agreement. 
     The user selectable advertising categories may include sub-categories. The categories and sub-categories may be organized and be rendered in a hierarchical manner 
     In a second embodiment of the graphical user interface, an advertising selection menu is displayed together with a search box and a search button. The user actuates the advertising selection menu and selects one or more advertising categories. In one implementation, the advertising selection menu displays one advertising category before the user&#39;s actuation. The displayed category may be based on a history of the user&#39;s selection of the advertising categories using the system. 
     In a third embodiment of the graphical user interface, an advertising selection menu is displayed after a search query is entered. The user may select one or more advertising categories. In one implementation, displayed advertising categories may be related to the search query. In another implementation, displayed categories may not be related to the search query. 
     Before the advertising selection menu is displayed, advertising categories to be displayed may be selected by the search engine based upon additionally on a location of the personal device and/or a personal profile of the user. 
     Advertising messages may be selected by the content provider based upon additionally on a location of the personal device and/or a personal profile of the user. 
     The content provider may be selected by the search engine based on an on line bidding process. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention and its various embodiments, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary system in a first embodiment with a search engine and a content provider as different entities; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary system in a second embodiment with a search engine and a content provider as the same entity; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary graphical user interface for a search engine in a first embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary graphical user interface for a search engine in a second embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary graphical user interface for a search engine in a third embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is an exemplary flowchart illustrating the operation of the user interface according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 7  is an exemplary flowchart illustrating the operation of the user interface according to the second embodiment; 
         FIG. 8  is an exemplary flowchart illustrating the operation of the user interface according to the third embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     References will now be made in detail to a few embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the particular embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of invention as defined by the appended claims. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary system in the first embodiment. Exemplary system  100  comprises a personal computing device  102  and a communication network  104 . Personal device  102  includes but is not limited to a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a netbook and a media player. Communication network  104  includes but is not limited to the Internet. Personal computing device  102  is connectable to network  104 . In an exemplary case, personal device  102  may be connected to network  104  through a wireless communication device. Personal device  102  may also be connected to network  104  through a wired broadband communication device. In the first embodiment, search engine  106  is operated by a search engine company. A user can enter a search query through a search engine graphical user interface (GUI)  103 . After receiving the search query, search engine  106  renders typically on a new page a plurality of search results. For example, a link to a website may be displayed on a display screen of personal device  102  as one of the search results. The user may select the link to the website. As a result, contents matched to the query may be rendered by content provider  108  through network  104 . It should be noted that the search results may also be displayed in the same page as the search box. 
     According to the first embodiment, search engine  106  further includes advertising manager  106 A pertaining to determining user selectable advertising categories to be rendered to the user through GUI  103 . In one implementation, advertising categories may be determined additionally by a personal profile  106 B of the user. Personal profile  106 B may include personal information related to the user including a history of the user&#39;s selection of advertising categories through GUI  103 . A user will need to be identified. Methods for identifying a user of a personal device are well known in the art. In another implementation, personal profile  106 B may also be located in personal device  102  and be transmitted to search engine  106  and be used by advertising manager  106 A. 
     In another implementation, advertising categories may be determined additionally by location data  106 C. Personal device  102  may include a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine its location. Position identifier  102 A in personal device  102  further includes but is not limited to network based techniques utilizing a service provider&#39;s network infrastructure to identify the location of the device, handset based technology requiring the installation of client software on the handset to determine the location and WiFi based technique using crowdsourced WiFi data to identify the location. The location data is transmitted to search engine  106  and is stored as location data  106 C in advertising manager  106 A. Advertising manager  106 A may select location-based advertising categories. For example, search engine  106  may detect the user is in a vicinity of a restaurant area at dinner time. Dinning related advertising categories may be sent to personal device  102 . Personal profile  106 B and location identifier  102 A and location data  106 C are optional. They are not essential functional blocks of the present inventive concept. 
     In the first embodiment, content provide  108  further includes an advertising manager  108 A pertaining to selecting advertising messages based upon received user selection of the advertising categories. Selected advertising messages are rendered by content provider  108  in accompanying with contents matched to the search query. For example, if the content is a video program, the advertising messages may be rendered at beginning of the video program or in any of selected time slots when the video program is being streamed. The present invention as described in the first embodiment enables the user to have flexibility to select preferred categories of advertisements when viewing an advertising message becomes unavoidable. 
     In the first embodiment, revenue generated by the advertising may be shared between search engine  106  and content provide  108 . In one implementation, sharing of the revenue may be based upon an agreement between search engine  106  and content provider  108 . In another implementation, search engine  106  may receive bids from different content providers and award an opportunity to one or multiple selected content providers based upon criteria including but are not limited to pricing. The other criteria may include relevance of the content to the search query. 
     In yet another implementation, advertisers (not shown in  FIG. 1 ) may also be involved. In an exemplary case, content provider  108  may purchase the opportunity from search engine  106  and may receive advertisements from the advertisers in network  104 . 
     In yet another implementation, content provider  108  may send the content matched to the query to search engine  106 . Advertising messages may be added to the contents by search engine  106 . Search engine  106  may need to purchase usages of the content from content provider  108  and receive payment from advertisers. 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary system  200  in a second embodiment. Content provider  108  includes a search engine  106 . Many of today&#39;s content providers such as, for example, Wikipedia include a local search box in its website. A user may enter a search query and receive contents from the content provider. In the second embodiment, content provider  108  renders the content matched to the search query to the user through GUI  103 . Advertising categories are selected by advertising manager  108 A before advertising selection menu is displayed. Advertising messages are then selected based upon selected categories by the same advertising manager  108 A. Advertising categories and messages may be determined based additionally on the user&#39;s profile and/or location of personal device  102 . 
     GUI  103  may be implemented according to three different embodiments.  FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary user interface  300  pertaining to receiving a user&#39;s search query, to displaying user selectable advertising categories and to receiving the user&#39;s selection. As shown in  300 A, search box  302  is displayed on a screen of personal device  102 . Search button  304  is displayed in an adjacent position to search box  302 . In a conventional implementation of a user interface for a search engine, a user may enter a search query and actuate the search button  304  to receive search results in a new page. In modern search engines, search results may also be displayed in the same page as the search box. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , search button  304  is displayed in an exemplary manner on right side of search box  302 . Search button  304  may also be displayed in left side, bottom side and top side of search box  302 . 
     According to the first embodiment of the graphical user interface, the user actuates search button  304  before any search query is entered into search box  302 . In response to the user&#39;s actuation of search button  304 , advertising selection menu  306  including a plurality of user selectable advertising categories is displayed as shown in  300 B. In one implementation as shown in  FIG. 3 , advertising selection menu  306  replaces search button  304  with a larger display window. The implementation is exemplary. Advertising selection menu  306  may also be displayed as a new window in any position on the screen. Search button  304  may be removed temporarily from the screen. In another implementation, search button  304  may be left on the screen while advertising selection menu  306  is displayed. Search button  304  may also be covered with a shadowed area. 
     The user selectable advertising categories may include any category of advertisements. Advertising selection menu  306  as shown in  300 B is for illustrative purpose only. More or less numbers of categories may be displayed. Different categories may be displayed. Categories may be displayed from top to bottom. The categories may also be displayed from left to right. The categories may be displayed in a two dimensional manner. The categories may also be displayed one by one sequentially. The categories may even be displayed in a three dimensional manner The categories may be displayed in accompanying with a voice signal. The categories may be displayed with an animation. 
     The user may select one or more categories through a user input device of personal computing device as well known in the art. The user input devices include but are not limited to a touch-sensitive screen, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchpad and a voice input unit comprising a voice recognition unit. The user&#39;s selection is sent to search engine  106  and is then sent to anyone of the content providers that provides contents matched to the query. 
     In response to the user&#39;s selection of the advertising category, advertising selection menu  306  is removed from the screen and search button  304  is redisplayed on the screen according to one implementation as shown in  300 C. The user enters a search query  308  into search box  302  and actuates search button  304  subsequently. 
     In response to the search query, search engine  106  displays a plurality of search results. The user may select one of the results. Upon the user&#39;s selection, content provider  108  renders contents matched to the query together with advertising messages selected by advertising manager  108 A based on the selected advertising categories. 
     Search engine  106  and content provider  108  may be different entities. Search engine and content provider may the same entity. 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary graphical user interface  400  in a second embodiment. According to the second embodiment of the user interface, search box  402 , search button  404  and advertising selection menu  406  are displayed concurrently as shown in  400 A. Advertising selection menu  406  further includes a display box  405  and a selection button  407 . Display box  405  may display one advertising category initially. In one implementation, the displayed category is the most favorable category of the user assessed by search engine  106  based upon personal file  106 B. 
     Upon the user&#39;s actuation of selection button  407 , a plurality of advertising categories is listed as shown in  400 B. In  400 B, full display window  409  is illustrated in an exemplary manner as an extension of display box  405 . Full display window  409  may be displayed in any selected position on the screen. Similarly, the categories may be displayed in many different manners as discussed in graphical user interface  300 . 
     Upon the user&#39;s selection of one or multiple categories, full display window  409  is replaced by display box  405 . Display box  405  may be displayed with the same or a renewed advertising category as shown in  400 C. In one implementation, the user may select advertising categories displayed in full display window  409  with a priority ranking (not Shown in  FIG. 4 ). As a result, the advertising category favored by the user may be displayed in display box  405 . 
     The user may enter a search query  408  in search box  402  and actuates search button  404  accordingly. Contents matched to the query are delivered with advertising messages through personal device  102 , wherein the advertising messages are selected based on selected advertising category. 
     In a slightly different implementation, display box  405  may be displayed as blanket box. The user selectable advertising categories may be displayed only after the user&#39;s actuation of selection button  407 . 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary graphical user interface  500  in a third embodiment. In  500 A, search box  502  and search button  540  are displayed in a similar manner to a conventional search engine interface. Subsequently, a search query  508  is entered into search box  502  by the user. Upon the user&#39;s actuation of search button  504  through a user input device, advertising selection menu  506  including a plurality of user selectable categories is displayed on the screen as shown in  500 C. In one implementation, the displayed categories may be related to search query  508 . In another implementation, the displayed categories may not be related to search query  508 . Advertising selection menu  506  may be rendered according to a predetermined frequency. The predetermined frequency includes such as, for example, every time when the user enters a search query. However, because the user&#39;s interests in categories of commercial items may not change frequently, it is not necessary to ask for the user&#39;s selection every time the user enters a search query. The predetermined frequency includes but is not limited to once a year, once a month, once a week or once after very one thousand searches. The user may also be opted to be exempted from being asked the selections. 
     Upon the user&#39;s selection, search engine  106  displays exemplarily search results in a new page. The user may select one of the listed search results through the use of the user input device of personal device  102 . Content provider  108  renders contents together with selected advertisements that are selected based on selected advertising categories. Search engine  106  and content provider  108  may be different entities. Search engine  106  and content provider  108  may be the same entity. 
       FIG. 6  is an exemplary flowchart illustrating operations of the graphical user interface according to the first embodiment of user interface ( 300 ). Process  600  starts with step  602  that a search box  302  and a search button  304  are displayed on a screen of personal device  102 . The user actuates search button  304  while search box  302  is being blanket in step  604 . The user&#39;s actuation is received by personal device  102  and is transmitted to search engine  106  in network  104 . In step  606 , advertising selection menu  306  including a plurality of user selectable advertising categories is displayed on the screen. In one implementation, advertising selection menu  306  may replace search button  304  with a larger display window. The categories are selected by advertising manager  106 A before the advertising selection menu is displayed. The categories may be selected based additionally on the user&#39;s personal profile and/or the location of personal device  102 . The user selects one or multiple categories through the use of a user input device of personal device  102  in step  608 . In an exemplary case, the user touches and selects the categories using his or her fingers when the screen of personal device  102  is a touch-sensitive type display. In another exemplary case, the user selects the categories using a mouse, keyboard or a touchpad. 
     The user&#39;s selection is received by personal device  102  and is transmitted to search engine  106  in step  610 . Subsequently, search box  304  is re-displayed to replace advertising selection menu  306 . Personal device  102  receives a search query  308  entered by the user in search box  302  in step  614 . Search query  308  is transmitted from personal device  102  to search engine  106  in step  614 . Search engine  106  displays exemplarily a plurality of search results in a new page. The user selects one of the search results. Search engine  106  receives the selection and transmits the selection and previously selected advertising categories to content provider  108 . In step  616 , content provider  108  renders the contents matched to the user&#39;s search query together with advertising messages selected by advertising manager  108 A. 
       FIG. 7  is an exemplary flowchart illustrating operation of the graphical user interface according to the second embodiment of user interface ( 400 ). Process  700  starts with step  702  that a search box  402 , an advertising selection menu  406  and a search button  404  are displayed on a screen of personal device  102 . Advertising selection menu  406  further includes a display box  405  and a selection button  407 . Display box  405  may display one advertising category. The category may be selected by search engine  106  as the most favorable category by the user based on the user&#39;s personal profile. The user actuates selection button  407  before a search query is entered into search box  402 . The user&#39;s actuation is received by personal device  102  in step  704 . In step  706 , advertising selection menu  406  including a plurality of user selectable advertising categories is displayed on the screen. The categories are selected by advertising manager  106 A of search engine  106  before the advertising selection menu is displayed. The categories may be selected based additionally on the user&#39;s personal profile and/or the location of the personal device. The user selects one or multiple categories through the use of a user input device of personal device  102  in step  708 . In an exemplary case, the user touches and selects the categories using his or her fingers when the screen of personal device  102  is a touch-sensitive type display. In another exemplary case, the user selects the categories using a mouse, a keyboard or a touchpad. The user&#39;s selection is received by personal device  102  and is transmitted to search engine  106  in step  710 . Subsequently, display box  405  is re-displayed to replace advertising selection menu  406 . 
     Personal device  102  receives a search query  408  from the user in search box  302  in step  712 . Search query  408  is transmitted from personal device  102  to search engine  106 . Search engine  106  displays exemplarily a plurality of search results in a new page. The user selects one of the search results. Search engine  106  receives the selection and transmits the selected search result and previously selected categories to content provider  108  in step  714 . In step  716 , content provider  108  renders the contents matched to the user&#39;s search query together with advertising messages selected by advertising manager  108 A. 
       FIG. 8  is an exemplary flowchart illustrating operation of the user interface according to the third embodiment of user interface ( 500 ). Process  800  starts with step  802  that a search box  502  and a search button  504  are displayed on a screen of personal device  102 . In step  804 , a search query  508  entered by the user is received by personal device  102 . Advertising selection menu  506  including a plurality of user selectable advertising categories is displayed in step  806 . The categories may be selected by search engine  106 . The categories may be related to search query  508 . In the third embodiment, advertising menu  506  may be displayed according to a predetermined frequency, i.e., every month. The user selects one or multiple categories through a user input device of personal device  102  in step  808 . The selected category is transmitted from personal device  102  to search engine  106  in step  810 . Search engine  106  transmits the selection of the advertising categories together with search query  508  to content provider  108  in step  812 . In step  814 , content provider  108  renders the contents matched to the user&#39;s search query together with advertising messages selected by advertising manager  108 A based on selected advertising categories. 
       FIGS. 6-8  illustrate three embodiment of the graphical user interface based on the first system embodiment as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The flowcharts can be readily extended to the second system embodiment as illustrated in  FIG. 2  as obvious to one skillful in the art. All such variations fall into scope of the present inventive concept as disclosed.