Patent Publication Number: US-2022237665-A1

Title: Method for determining advertising identifier of specific telecommunication device and advertisement server

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present disclosure generally relates to an advertising mechanism, in particular, to a method for determining advertising identifier of specific telecommunication device and advertisement server. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     In general, each telecommunication device is designed with an advertising identifier. However, it is difficult for advertisers to know the association between a telecommunication device and the advertising identifier thereof. 
     Therefore, for improving the advertising effect, it is crucial to develop a mechanism for obtaining the advertising identifier of the telecommunication device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the disclosure is directed to a method for determining an advertising identifier of a specific telecommunication device and an advertisement server, which may be used to solve the above problems. 
     The disclosure provides a method for determining an advertising identifier of a specific telecommunication device. The method includes: receiving a bid request from an advertising trading platform, wherein the bid request includes a first advertising identifier of a first telecommunication device; generating an advertisement link based on the first advertising identifier of the first telecommunication device; transmitting a bid response to the advertising trading platform, wherein the bid response includes the advertisement link; obtaining a deep packet inspection data, wherein the deep packet inspection data includes the advertisement link and a first user identifier of the first telecommunication device; extracting the first advertising identifier of the first telecommunication device from the advertisement link in the deep packet inspection data; in response to determining that the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device matches a specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device, determining that the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device is the first advertising identifier of the first telecommunication device. 
     The disclosure provides an advertisement server including a storage circuit and a processor. The storage circuit stores a program code. The processor is coupled to the storage circuit, accessing the program code to perform: receiving a bid request from an advertising trading platform, wherein the bid request includes a first advertising identifier of a first telecommunication device; generating an advertisement link based on the first advertising identifier of the first telecommunication device; transmitting a bid response to the advertising trading platform, wherein the bid response includes the advertisement link; obtaining a deep packet inspection data, wherein the deep packet inspection data includes the advertisement link and a first user identifier of the first telecommunication device; extracting the first advertising identifier of the first telecommunication device from the advertisement link in the deep packet inspection data; in response to determining that the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device matches a specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device, determining that the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device is the first advertising identifier of the first telecommunication device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
         FIG. 1  is a functional diagram illustrating an advertisement server according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  shows a flow chart of the method for performing marketing to a telecommunication device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  shows the particular mechanism to find out the specific telecommunication user according to the second embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  shows a system for obtaining the advertising identifier according to the third embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  shows a flow chart of the method for determining the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device according to the third embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     See  FIG. 1 , which is a functional diagram illustrating an advertisement server according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In various embodiments, the advertisement server  100  may be implemented as an independent server or the like. In some embodiments, the advertisement server  100  may be implemented as a demand side platform (DSP) built in the server of telecommunication service provider, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In  FIG. 1 , the advertisement server  100  includes a storage circuit  102  and a processor  104 . The storage circuit  102  is one or a combination of a stationary or mobile random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk, or any other similar device, and which records a program code and/or a plurality of modules that can be executed by the processor  104 . 
     The processor  104  may be coupled with the storage circuit  102 , and the processor  104  may be, for example, a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. 
     In the embodiments of the disclosure, the processor  104  may access the program code stored in the storage circuit  102  to implement the performing marketing to a telecommunication device provided in the disclosure, which would be further discussed in the following. 
     See  FIG. 2 , which shows a flow chart of the method for performing marketing to a telecommunication device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method of this embodiment may be executed by the advertisement server  100  in  FIG. 1 , and the details of each step in  FIG. 2  will be described below with the components shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     In step S 210 , the processor  104  may provide a specific advertisement via a specific advertisement carrier, wherein the specific advertisement carrier is disposed at a specific address. In step S 220 , in response to determining a specific telecommunication user of a specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement, the processor  104  may obtain an advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device. In step S 230 , the processor  104  may perform a marketing operation to the specific telecommunication device based on the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device. 
     In various embodiments, the method of  FIG. 2  may be implemented in different ways, which would be discussed in the following first and second embodiments. 
     In the first embodiment, the specific advertisement carrier may be any objects that can be used to present advertisements, such as digital signages, boards, walls, particular spaces (e.g., a room, a container, or the like), but the disclosure is not limited thereto. Correspondingly, the specific advertisement may be any kind of advertisements that can be presented by the specific advertisement carrier, such as digital advertisements, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the first embodiment, the specific address where the specific advertisement carrier is disposed may be defined as the GPS location and/or the physical address where the specific advertisement carrier locates, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the first embodiment, the processor  104  may determine whether the specific telecommunication device has stayed at the specific address by a predetermined time length (e.g., 3 minutes). In response to determining that the specific telecommunication device has stayed at the specific address by the predetermined time length, the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement, and hence the processor  104  may obtain the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device (step S 220 ). 
     On the other hand, in response to determining that the specific telecommunication device has not stayed at the specific address by the predetermined time length, the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has not seen the specific advertisement, and hence the processor  104  may neglect the specific telecommunication device, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the first embodiment, the processor  104  may obtain the device location (e.g., GPS coordinates) of the specific telecommunication device from the telecommunication service provider of the specific telecommunication device, and the processor  104  may determine whether the distance between the device location of the specific telecommunication device and the specific address is smaller than a distance threshold (e.g., 10 meters) by the predetermined time length. In response to determining that the distance between the device location of the specific telecommunication device and the specific address is smaller than the distance threshold by the predetermined time length, the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication device has stayed at the specific address by the predetermined time length, and hence the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement. 
     On the other hand, in response to determining that the distance between the device location of the specific telecommunication device and the specific address is not smaller than the distance threshold by the predetermined time length, the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication device has not stayed at the specific address by the predetermined time length, and hence the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has not seen the specific advertisement, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the embodiments of the disclosure, the processor  104  may use any possible ways to obtain the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device. In the embodiments of the disclosure, the processor  104  may determine an association between the specific telecommunication device and the advertising identifier thereof via a third embodiment (which would be introduced later) of the disclosure. Accordingly, in response to determining that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement, the processor  104  may obtain the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device based on the above association, which would be introduced later as well. 
     With the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device, the processor  104  may accordingly perform the marketing operation to the specific telecommunication device (step S 230 ). In the first embodiment, the processor  104  may provide one or more advertisement related to the specific advertisement to the specific telecommunication device based on the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device. 
     In various embodiments, the one or more advertisement related to the specific advertisement may correspond to the same advertiser, the same commercial type, or the same product with the specific advertisement. For example, if the specific advertisement is about a cosmetic product A from an advertiser B (which may be the manufacture of the product A), the one or more advertisement related to the specific advertisement may also be about the cosmetic product A from the advertiser B. Alternatively, the one or more advertisement related to the specific advertisement may be about another product from the advertiser B or another cosmetic product from another advertiser, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     As could be understood in the above, the method of the disclosure may find out which telecommunication user has seen the specific advertisement and use the corresponding advertising identifier to further provide other advertisements related to the specific advertisement to the telecommunication device of the telecommunication user. Accordingly, accurate advertising may be achieved, and hence the advertising effects may be improved. 
     In the second embodiment, the specific advertisement carrier may include a media player disposed at the specific address, such as a set top box, an IPTV box, a cable TV modem, or the like. Correspondingly, the specific advertisement may include a media advertisement played by the media player, such as the advertisement shown in the user interfaces (e.g., home page) provided by the set top box, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the second embodiment, the processor  104  may perform a particular mechanism shown in  FIG. 3  to find out which of the numerous telecommunication users of a telecommunication service provider is more possible to see the specific advertisement played by the specific advertisement carrier disposed at the specific address. Without loss of generality, the telecommunication user which is more possible to see the specific advertisement played by the specific advertisement carrier would be referred to as the specific telecommunication user, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     See  FIG. 3 , which shows the particular mechanism to find out the specific telecommunication user according to the second embodiment of the disclosure. In step S 310 , the processor  104  may obtain a plurality client addresses from a media service provider of the media player (e.g., the manufacture of the set top box and/or the IPTV box), wherein the client addresses correspond to a plurality of clients of the media service provider (e.g., the subscribers of the media service provider). In the second embodiment, the specific address may be one of the client addresses. That is, the specific telecommunication user is assumed to be one of the clients of the media service provider. 
     In step S 320 , the processor  104  may obtain a plurality of telecommunication bill addresses from the telecommunication service provider, wherein the telecommunication bill addresses correspond to a plurality of telecommunication users of the telecommunication service provider. In the embodiments of the disclosure, the telecommunication service provider may be used to provide telecommunication service (e.g., 4G/5G telecommunication services, etc.) to the telecommunication users thereof, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In step S 330 , the processor  104  may find a specific telecommunication bill address from the telecommunication bill addresses, wherein the specific telecommunication bill address matches the specific address. 
     In step S 340 , the processor  104  may define a first telecommunication user corresponding to the specific telecommunication bill address as the specific telecommunication user. 
     In brief, the processor  104  may perform cross-reference between the telecommunication bill addresses of the telecommunication service provider and the client addresses of the media service provider to find which of the telecommunication user corresponds to the specific address. Since the first telecommunication user is determined to correspond to the specific telecommunication bill address (which matches the specific address where the specific advertisement carrier is disposed), the processor  104  may determine that the first telecommunication is the specific telecommunication user. 
     In the second embodiment, during the operation of the processor  104  determining whether the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement, the processor  104  may obtain a playing duration of the specific advertisement, wherein the playing duration of the specific advertisement may be understood as the duration when the specific advertisement is displayed by the specific advertisement carrier (e.g., set top box and/or IPTV box), but the disclosure is not limited thereto. In general, the advertisements provided by the media service provider are scheduled to be displayed by the specific advertisement carrier (e.g., set top box and/or IPTV box). That is, the playing time when the specific advertisement will be displayed by the specific advertisement carrier may be obtained before the specific advertisement is displayed. In addition, the advertisement length of the specific advertisement may be obtained before the specific advertisement is displayed as well. Therefore, the processor  104  may estimate the playing duration of the specific advertisement based on the playing time and the advertisement length of the specific advertisement, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     Next, the processor  104  may obtain a staying duration of the specific telecommunication device at the specific address, wherein the staying duration of the specific telecommunication device at the specific address may be understood as the duration of the specific telecommunication device staying at the specific address, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the second embodiment, the processor  104  may determine whether a distance between the device location (e.g., GPS coordinates) of the specific telecommunication device and the specific address is smaller than the distance threshold. In response to determining that the distance between the device location of the specific telecommunication device and the specific address is smaller than the distance threshold, the processor  104  may accumulate the staying duration. 
     Next, the processor  104  may determine whether the playing duration overlaps with the staying duration by a predetermined time length (e.g., 30 seconds). In response to determining that the playing duration overlaps with the staying duration by the predetermined time length, it represents that the specific telecommunication device is at the specific address for a while when the specific advertisement is displayed, which means that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device is possible to see the specific advertisement. Therefore, the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement. Accordingly, the processor  104  may accordingly obtain the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device (step S 220 ) and perform the marketing operation to the specific telecommunication device based on the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device (S 230 ). The details of steps S 220  and S 230  may be referred to the first embodiment, which would not be repeated herein. 
     On the other hand, in response to determining that the playing duration does not overlap with the staying duration by the predetermined time length, it represents that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device may be less possible to see the specific advertisement. Therefore, the processor  104  may determine that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has not seen the specific advertisement, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     As could be understood in the above, in the second embodiment, the method of the disclosure may find out the specific telecommunication user corresponding to the specific address by performing cross-reference between the telecommunication bill addresses of the telecommunication service provider and the client addresses of the media service provider. Next, the method of the second embodiment may determine whether the specific telecommunication user has seen the specific advertisement by comparing the playing duration of the specific advertisement and the staying duration of the specific telecommunication device at the specific address. In response to determining that the specific telecommunication user has seen the specific advertisement, the method of the second embodiment may use the corresponding advertising identifier to further provide other advertisements related to the specific advertisement to the telecommunication device of the telecommunication user. Accordingly, accurate advertising may be achieved, and hence the advertising effects may be improved. 
     As mentioned in the above, the disclosure also provides a method for obtaining the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device, which would be introduced in the following third embodiment. 
     See  FIG. 4 , which shows a system for obtaining the advertising identifier according to the third embodiment of the disclosure. In  FIG. 4 , the system may include the advertisement server  100 , an advertising trading platform  410 , a specific telecommunication device  420 , and a telecommunication service provider  430 . In the third embodiment, the advertisement server  100 , the specific telecommunication device  420 , and the telecommunication service provider  430  may correspond to the advertisement server  100 , the specific telecommunication device, and the telecommunication service provider discussed in the first and second embodiments. In addition, the advertising trading platform  410  may be a platform where advertisers may bid for performing advertising, such as Ad exchange, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     See  FIG. 5 , which shows a flow chart of the method for determining the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device according to the third embodiment of the disclosure. The method of this embodiment may be executed by the advertisement server  100  in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 4 , and the details of each step in  FIG. 5  will be described below with the components shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 4 . 
     Firstly, in step S 510 , the processor  104  may receive a bid request BQ from the advertising trading platform  410 , wherein the bid request BQ may include a first advertising identifier AD 1  of a certain telecommunication device. For better understanding, the certain telecommunication device would be assumed to be the first communication device, i.e., the specific telecommunication device  420 . However, in the phase where the processor  104  receives the bid request BQ, the processor  104  does not know that the first telecommunication is the specific telecommunication device, which means that the processor  104  does not know the first advertising identifier AD 1  is the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420 . Therefore, the processor  104  may perform the following steps to associate the first advertising identifier AD 1  with the specific telecommunication device  420 , such that the processor  104  may use the first advertising identifier AD 1  as the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420  to perform the above marketing operation. 
     In the third embodiment, the bid request BQ may be a real time bidding (RTB) request created based on an OpenRTB Specification by the advertising trading platform  410 . According to the OpenRTB Specification, the bid request BQ may include an identifier field of a user object, and the identifier field of the user object in the bid request BQ may be referred to as a device identifier of the first telecommunication device. In addition, the bid request BQ may also include other advertisement-related identifiers, such as an identifier for advertisers (IDFA), an android advertising identifier (AAID) of the first telecommunication device, or an identifier for vendor (IDFV), but the disclosure is not limited thereto. Since the device identifier, the IDFA, and the AAID of the first telecommunication device may be used to provide advertisement to the first telecommunication device (i.e., the specific telecommunication device), the device identifier, the IDFA, and the AAID of the first telecommunication device may be generally referred to as the first advertising identifier AD 1  in the bid request BQ, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the first telecommunication device may be disposed with other device-related identifiers that could be used by the operating system provider for representing the first telecommunication device in the bid request, and these device-related identifiers may be referred to as the first advertising identifier AD 1  as well, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     Next, with the bid request BQ, in step S 520 , the processor  104  may generate an advertisement link AL 1  based on the first advertising identifier AD 1  of the first telecommunication device. For example, assuming that the device identifier and the IDFA of the first telecommunication device are characterized by “userid1” and “idfa1”, respectively, the advertisement link AL 1  generated by the processor  104  may be implemented as “https://userid1_idfa1.ghtinc.com/userid1_idfa1”, “https://userid1.ghtinc.com/userid1_idfa1”, “https://idfa1.ghtinc.com/userid1_idfa1”, or the like, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In step S 530 , the processor  104  may transmit a bid response RS to the advertising trading platform  410 , wherein the bid response RS may include the advertisement link AL 1 . The details about how the advertisement link AL 1  is included in the bid response RS may be referred to the specification of Ad exchange, which would not be provided herein. 
     After the advertising trading platform  410  receives the bid response RS from the advertisement server  100 , the advertising trading platform  410  may determine whether the advertisement server  100  has won the opportunity to provide a first advertisement FA to the first telecommunication device. The determination procedure of the advertising trading platform  410  may be referred to related documents, such as the specification of Ad exchange, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In the third embodiment, assuming that the advertising trading platform  410  determines that the advertisement server  100  has won the opportunity to provide the first advertisement FA to the first telecommunication device, the advertising trading platform  410  may generate the first advertisement FA based on the advertisement link AL 1  and push the first advertisement to the first telecommunication device. In this case, the first advertisement FA may be shown in some advertisement fields in the user interface of the first telecommunication device for the user to see. 
     In the third embodiment, if the first advertisement FA is shown or triggered (e.g., clicked by the user (referred to as a first telecommunication user) of the first telecommunication device), the telecommunication service provider  430  would correspondingly generate a deep packet inspection (DPI) data D 1 . 
     Afterwards, in step S 540 , the processor  104  may obtain the DPI data D 1  from the telecommunication service provider  430 , wherein the DPI data D 1  may include the advertisement link AL 1  and a first user identifier of the first telecommunication device. 
     In general, the DPI data stored in the telecommunication service provider is unavailable. However, in the case where the advertisement server  100  is implemented as a demand side platform (DSP) built in the server of telecommunication service provider, the DPI data become available for the advertisement server  100 , but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     In various embodiments, the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device may be a telecommunication identifier corresponding to the first telecommunication user of the first telecommunication device. In addition, the telecommunication identifier comprises an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) or a Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (MSISDN), or the like, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     Assuming that the advertisement link AL 1  was implemented as “https://userid1_idfa1.ghtinc.com/userid1_idfa1”, the format of the DPI data D 1  may be exemplarily shown in the following Table 1. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                 the first user  
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 identifier of the first 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 telecommunication 
                   
                   
               
               
                 timestamp 
                 device 
                 domain name 
                 URL 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 YYYY:MM: 
                 (IMSI/MSISDN) 
                 userid1_idfa1.ghtinc.com 
                 /userid 
               
               
                 DD:mm:SS 
                   
                   
                 1_idfa1 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Therefore, in step S 550 , the processor  104  may extract the first advertising identifier AD 1  of the first telecommunication device from the advertisement link AL 1  in the DPI data D 1 . For example, the processor  104  may extract “userid1” and “idfa1” from the advertisement link AL 1  in the DPI data D 1  as the first advertising identifier AD 1  of the first telecommunication device. 
     For another example, if the first advertising identifier AD 1  was implemented as “https://userid1.ghtinc.com/userid1_idfa1” or “https://idfa1.ghtinc.com/userid1_idfa1”, the processor  104  may extract “userid1” and “idfa1” from the advertisement link AL 1  in the DPI data D 1  as the first advertising identifier AD 1  of the first telecommunication device. 
     In the third embodiment, the processor  104  may determine whether the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device matches a specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420 , wherein the specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420  may be the IMSI/MSISDN corresponding to the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device  420 . 
     In the third embodiment, if the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device matches the specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420 , it represents that the first telecommunication device is the same as the specific telecommunication device  420 . Therefore, in step S 550 , in response to determining that the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device matches the specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420 , the processor  104  may determine that the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420  is the first advertising identifier AD 1  of the first telecommunication device, such that the first advertising identifier AD 1  may be associated with the specific telecommunication device  420 . 
     As mentioned in the above, in response to determining that the specific telecommunication user of the specific telecommunication device has seen the specific advertisement, the processor  104  may obtain the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device based on the above association. Specifically, since the processor  104  has determined that the first advertising identifier AD 1  is associated with the specific telecommunication device  420 , the processor  104  may obtain the first advertising identifier AD 1  as the advertising identifier corresponding to the specific telecommunication device  420 , but the disclosure is not limited thereto. 
     On the other hand, in response to determining that the first user identifier of the first telecommunication device does not match the specific user identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420 , it represents that the first telecommunication device is not the specific telecommunication device  420 . Therefore, the processor  104  may determine that the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device  420  is not the first advertising identifier AD 1  of the first telecommunication device. 
     In summary, the method of the disclosure may find out which telecommunication user has seen the specific advertisement and use the corresponding advertising identifier to further provide other advertisements related to the specific advertisement to the telecommunication device of the telecommunication user. Accordingly, accurate advertising may be achieved, and hence the advertising effects may be improved. In addition, the disclosure also provides a novel method for determining the advertising identifier of the specific telecommunication device. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.