Patent ID: 8364541

Claim:
A method implemented in a computer system comprising one or more computers, the method comprising: receiving in the computer system a plurality of sets of bidding criteria, wherein each set of bidding criteria is associated with one or more advertisements and specifies criteria for submitting a bid to serve one of the one or more advertisements; receiving in the computer system an indication of a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request by a browser, the HTTP request indicating an opportunity to place an advertisement in a web page requested by the browser (advertising opportunity); and in real time response to the HTTP request: generating in the computer system a plurality of bids, each bid being based on one of the sets of bidding criteria, the one of the sets of bidding criteria being met by characteristics of the advertising opportunity, wherein the each bid, in accordance with the one of the sets of bidding criteria, is associated with a monetary amount that an advertiser associated with the each bid is willing to pay if the each bid is selected and a specific event occurs; selecting in the computer system a bid from among the plurality of bids; and serving with the computer system an advertisement associated with the selected bid to the browser for placement in the web page in response to the HTTP request, wherein the computer is configured to implement the method.