US 20080028064 A1
A system and method are disclosed for rotating an advertisement on a single page or screen. The advertisement may be rotated when the user is active on the page or screen. In addition, the advertisement that replaces the original ad may be based on the user's activity, or may be based on the content displayed in the page or screen. This system and method may increase advertising inventory that is displayed on a page or screen by displaying advertisements for a set time interval, which results in increased flexibility for sellers and buyers of online advertising.
1. A method for displaying advertisements on a single page, the method comprising:
displaying a first advertisement within the page;
measuring user activity within the page; and
replacing the first advertisement with a second advertisement on the page when the user is active on the page.
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10. In a computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for rotating an advertisement within a single page, the storage medium comprising instructions for:
displaying a first advertisement within the page;
measuring a time period the first advertisement is displayed;
monitoring user activity; and
replacing the first advertisement with a second advertisement when the time period equals a predetermined value and when user activity is measured.
11. The storage medium according to
12. The storage medium according to
13. The storage medium according to
14. The storage medium according to
15. A method for providing advertisements to be displayed on a single page, the method comprising:
transmitting data over a network, wherein the data includes the page;
providing a first advertisement configured to be displayed on the page;
determining interaction with the page; and
providing a second advertisement configured to be displayed in place of the first advertisement on the page when there is interaction.
16. The method according to
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19. A system displaying a page with an advertisement, the system comprising:
a processor configured to be connected with a network;
a user interface coupled with the processor and configured to receive input;
a display coupled with the processor; and
a browser coupled with the processor and configured to display, on the display, data received over the network, the data including a page with a first advertisement, wherein the first advertisement is replaced by a second advertisement within the page when input is received.
20. The system according to
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The present embodiments relate generally to the display of advertisements on various pages or screens, such as websites.
Online advertising may be an important source of revenue for enterprises engaged in electronic commerce. A number of different kinds of page-based online advertisements are currently in use, along with various associated distribution requirements, advertising metrics, and pricing mechanisms. Processes associated with technologies such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) enable a page to be configured to contain a location for inclusion of an advertisement. An advertisement can be selected for display each time the page is requested, for example, by a browser or server application.
Traditional media (television, radio) ads are sold based on a time interval (15 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, etc.). A single programming break may contain multiple advertisements divided into this time interval. The advertisers pay for each advertisement based on the length of the time interval the advertisement occupies. Conversely, online advertisements are typically sold based on a set price or a bid and are displayed once in a web page. Most web pages are static, so a reload of the existing page or the loading of a new page may be necessary to get new content within the page. Each reload of a page is counted as a separate page view. Therefore, if the same web page is reopened or reloaded, a different advertisement may be displayed. Advertisements on each page reload are counted as new ad impressions and are billable.
A page that is opened for viewing without reloading displays the same advertisement. With the contents of a page static, a user is generally expected to spend a relatively short period of time per page view. New advertisements are only displayed after a reload or refresh of a page. Therefore, the advertisements that are displayed are present until a reload, refresh, or opening of a new page.
There has been a shift in terms of how contents are delivered via the web. Pages are becoming increasingly interactive. Interactive technologies are having a very positive impact on the user experience while changing the way a user consumes contents. Users may now spend much longer on the same page without a page reload. Audio, video and other multimedia content are becoming more popular and accessible with increased network speeds. With these types of media user tends to spend more time on an otherwise static website. Accordingly, an advertising system that adapts to the change in user habits may be necessary.
By way of introduction, the embodiments described below include a method and system for advertising. The embodiments relate to a system and method for displaying an advertisement within a page or screen for a set amount of time and then replacing that advertisement after the time period has passed. This advertisement rotation may occur within each advertising slot on a page or screen.
In a first aspect, a method is disclosed displaying advertisements on a single page. A first advertisement is displayed within the page. User activity is then measured within the page and the first advertisement is replaced with a second advertisement on the page when the user is active on the page.
In a second aspect, a computer readable storage medium is disclosed having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for rotating an advertisement within a single page. The storage medium includes instructions for displaying a first advertisement within the page. A time period the first advertisement is displayed is measured and user activity is monitored. The first advertisement may be replaced with a second advertisement when the time period equals a predetermined value and when user activity is measured.
In a third aspect, a method is disclosed for providing advertisements to be displayed on a single page. The method includes transmitting data over a network, wherein the data includes the page. A first advertisement is provided and configured to be displayed on the page. Interaction with the page is determined. A second advertisement is provided and configured to be displayed in place of the first advertisement on the page when there is interaction.
In a fourth aspect, a system displays a page with an advertisement. The system includes a network and a processor configured to be connected with the network. A user interface is coupled with the processor and configured to receive input. A display is coupled with the processor. A browser is coupled with the processor and configured to display, on the display, data received over the network, the data including a page with a first advertisement. The first advertisement is replaced by a second advertisement within the page when input is received.
Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims and be defined by the following claims. Nothing in this section should be taken as a limitation on those claims. Further aspects and advantages are discussed below in conjunction with the preferred embodiments.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures unless otherwise specified.
The principles described herein may be embodied in many different forms. The embodiments relate to a system and method for rotating an advertisement on a single page or screen. The advertisement may be rotated when the user is active on the page or screen. In addition, the advertisement that replaces the original ad may be based on the user's activity, or may be based on the content displayed in the page or screen. This system and method may increase advertising inventory that is displayed on a page or screen by displaying advertisements for a set time interval, which may result in increased flexibility for sellers and buyers of online advertising.
Some or all of advertisement services server 110, portal server 104, and third-party server 102 may be in communication with each other by way of network 108. The advertisement services server 110 and portal server 104 may each represent multiple linked computing devices, and multiple third-party servers, such as third-party server 102, may be included in environment 100. Network 108 may be regarded as a public or private network connection and may include, for example, a virtual private network or an encryption or other security mechanism employed over the public Internet, or the like.
User device 106 and mobile user device 112 are represented by user-interactive devices that typically run browser applications, and the like, to display requested pages received over a network. The user may be a consumer of goods of services that is searching for a business such as a business of the advertiser. Such devices are in communication with portal server 104 and/or third-party server 102 by way of network 109. Network 109 may include the Internet and may include all or part of network 108; network 108 may include all or part of network 109. Network 109 is discussed below relating to
Portal server 104, third-party server 102, advertisement services server 110, user device 106, and mobile user device 112 represent computing devices of various kinds. Such computing devices may generally include any device that is configured to perform computation and that is capable of sending and receiving data communications by way of one or more wired and/or wireless communication interfaces. Such devices may be configured to communicate in accordance with any of a variety of network protocols, including but not limited to protocols within the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite. For example, user device 106 may be configured to execute a browser application that employs HTTP to request information, such as a web page, from a web server, which may be a process executing on portal server 104 or third-party server 102.
Networks 108, 109 may be configured to couple one computing device to another computing device to enable communication of data between the devices. Networks 108, 109 may generally be enabled to employ any form of machine-readable media for communicating information from one device to another. Each of networks 108, 109 may include one or more of a wireless network, a wired network, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a direct connection such as through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, and the like, and may include the set of interconnected networks that make up the Internet. Networks 108, 109 may include any communication method by which information may travel between computing devices. The advertisement services server 110 may be used for providing advertisements that are displayed to users 106.
The processor 204 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), digital signal processor (DSP) or other type of processing device. The processor 204 may be a component in a variety of systems. For example, the processor 204 may be part of a standard personal computer or a workstation. The processor 204 may be one or more general processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, servers, networks, digital circuits, analog circuits, combinations thereof, or other now known or later developed devices for analyzing and processing data. The processor 204 may operate in conjunction with a software program, such as code generated manually (i.e., programmed).
The input device or user input 202 is coupled with the processor 204 and configured to allow a user to interact with any of the components of system 200. The input device 202 may include a keyboard, keypad or a cursor control device, such as a mouse, or a joystick, touch screen display, remote control or any other device operative to interact with the system 200.
The display 214 is coupled with the processor 204 and is configured to display an output from the processor 204. The display 214 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flat panel display, a solid state display, a cathode ray tube (CRT), a projector, a printer or other now known or later developed display device for outputting determined information. The display 214 may act as an interface for the user to see the functioning of the processor 204, or specifically as an interface with the software 208 or browser 210 stored in the memory 206. The software 208 or the browser 210 that are in the display 214 may include advertisements which are visible to the user.
The processor 204 may include a memory 206, or the memory 206 may be a separate component. The communication port 212, software 208, and/or the browser 210 may be stored in memory 206. The memory 206 may include, but is not limited to computer readable storage media such as various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media, including but not limited to random access memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media and the like. In one embodiment, the memory 206 includes a random access memory for the processor 204. In alternative embodiments, the memory 206 is separate from the processor 204, such as a cache memory of a processor, the system memory, or other memory. The memory 206 may be an external storage device or database for storing recorded image data. Examples include a hard drive, compact disc (“CD”), digital video disc (“DVD”), memory card, memory stick, floppy disc, universal serial bus (“USB”) memory device, or any other device operative to store image data. The memory 206 is operable to store instructions executable by the processor 204. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures or described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 204 executing the instructions stored in the memory 206. The functions, acts or tasks are independent of the particular type of instructions set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firm-ware, micro-code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.
In one embodiment, the software 208 and/or a browser 210 may be stored in memory 206. The processor 204 is configured to execute the software 208. The software 208 may include a browser 210. The browser 210 may be a web browser configured to display information and data retrieved from the Internet or other network. For example, the browser 210 may be INTERNET EXPLORER®, or some other web browser. The browser 210 is configured to receive and display advertisements to the user while providing various content.
The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions or receives and executes instructions responsive to a propagated signal, so that a device connected to a network 109 can communicate voice, video, audio, images or any other data over the network 109. Further, the instructions may be transmitted or received over the network 109 via a communication port 212. The communication port 212 may be a part of the processor 204 or may be a separate component. The communication port 212 may be created in software or may be a physical connection in hardware. The communication port 212 is configured to connect with a network 109, external media, the display 214, or any other components in system 200, or combinations thereof. The connection with the network 109 may be a physical connection, such as a wired Ethernet connection or may be established wirelessly as discussed below. Likewise, the additional connections with other components of the system 200 may be physical connections or may be established wirelessly.
The network 109 may include wired networks, wireless networks, or combinations thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, a network operating according to a standardized protocol such as IEEE 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., or WiMax network. Further, the network 109 may be a public network, such as the Internet, a private network, such as an intranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize a variety of networking protocols now available or later developed including, but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.
The system 200 may be a computer enabling a user to view web pages over the network 109, such as the Internet. In one embodiment, a user views a browser 210 containing data from the Internet. The data displayed on the browser may include advertisements. In an alternate embodiment, other software 208 programs may also display advertisements received over the network 109 or from a different source. The advertisements may be displayed as shown in
Screen 300 may be a web page. Examples of web pages from the Internet are shown in
In step 402, a screen is displayed with advertisements. As discussed above, the screen may be a website, or may be a software program configured to receive or display advertisements. In step 404, a determination is made as to whether a user interacts with the screen. In step 406, a time period is measured from which the user is active. Then in step 408, if the measured time period is equal to a predetermined time interval or period, the ad may be rotated.
In one embodiment according to
In one embodiment, the user activity may merely be the total time spent on the page. Alternatively, as discussed above, the user activity may be determined based on user interaction, so that rotation of an advertisement occurs after a measured amount of active time that the user spent on a page. Active time may be a measurement, which does not include time when a user is likely to be doing something else and may not engaged with the screen or page. The active time that a user spends on a page may be calculated and used according to the method in
According to one example of
In alternate embodiments, the time slabs or time intervals may be any length of time. Alternatively, the measure of active time may be calculated with a different technique. In one embodiment, if the user is active within any point of the time interval, the advertisement is rotated after expiration of the time interval. Alternatively, the advertisement may be rotated without measuring active time or utilizing different mechanisms for monitoring user activity.
The embodiments described above in
In an alternate embodiment, advertisers could create a storyboard of advertisements that appear in sequence. For example, the advertiser may buy the first five time periods of advertisements and for each of the periods the advertisements that are displayed may all be related such that they tell a story or are otherwise connected. For example, the first ad may be designed to pique a user's interest, then a second ad would give the product name, the third ad would give the product's use, and the fourth and fifth ads describe the product and include a link for purchasing. This ability to storyboard advertisements within a single page or screen may result in more effective advertisements and greater flexibility in both buying and selling ads.
In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limited embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein.
Although the present specification describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents thereof.
The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.
One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b) and is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed to less than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus, the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter.
The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.