Patent ID: 8554628

Claim:
A targeted ad system comprising: an ad display server system configured to receive an ad request for delivery of an ad to a web page display of a client-server system, receive targeting data associated with the ad request, determine whether the ad request is for delivery of an ad to at least a first ad space, from a first set of ad spaces, of the web page display, and determine whether the ad request is for delivery of an ad to at least a second ad space, from a second set of ad spaces, of the web page display, the second ad space of the web page display being different from the first ad space of the web page display; an ad space server system including a first ad space server having a first ad space configuration file configured to identify a targeted ad from a plurality of available ads based on the targeting data associated with the ad request and provide instructions for delivering the targeted ad to the first ad space, a second ad space server having a second ad space configuration file configured to identify a targeted ad from a plurality of available ads based on the targeting data associated with the ad request and provide instructions for delivering the targeted ad to the second ad space of the web page display, the second ad space configuration file being different from the first ad space configuration file; wherein the ad display server system is configured to direct the ad request and the targeting data received by the ad display server system to the first ad space server when the ad display server system determines that the ad request is for delivery of an ad to at least the first ad space of the web page display; wherein the ad display server system is configured to direct the ad request and the targeting data received by the ad display server system to the second ad space server when the ad display server system determines that the ad request is for delivery of an ad to at least the second ad space of the web page display; wherein the first ad space server is configured to receive first ad space update instructions for updating the first ad space configuration file based on ads delivered to the first ad space; wherein the second ad space server is configured to receive second ad space update instructions for updating the second ad space configuration file based on ads delivered to the second ad space; and wherein delivery of ads is balanced between the first set of ad spaces and the second set of ad spaces, the first set of ad spaces (i) being visited more frequently than the second set of ad spaces and (ii) being smaller than the second set of ad spaces.