United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7,822,637 B2 Shkedi (45) Date of Patent: *Oct

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 US007822637B2

(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7,822,637 B2 Shkedi (45) Date of Patent: *Oct. 26, 2010

(54) METHOD FOR TRANSACTING AN 5,724,521 A 3/1998 Dedrick ADVERTISEMENT TRANSFER (Continued) (75) Inventor: Roy Shkedi, New York, NY (US) FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS (73) Assignee: Almondnet, Inc., New York, NY (US) wo WO 97/41673 11/1997 ( *) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis WO WO 98/34189 8/1998 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 WO WO 9834189 Al * 8/1998 U.S.c. 154(b) by °days. OTHER PUBLICATIONS This patent is subject to a terminal dis claimer. Morrisset, Brian, "Beefing up banner ads: how data-fueled ad exchanges could significantly boost the power of targeted online (21) Appl. No.: 121273,478 display advertising.(Data Revolution)(AT&T Inc.)(Google Inc.)", Brandweek, v51, n.7, p. 10(2): Feb. 15,2010.* (22) Filed: Nov. 18, 2008 (Continued) (65) Prior Publication Data Primary Examiner-Jean D. Janvier US 2009/0094119 Al Apr. 9,2009 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Louis J. Hoffman

Related U.S. Application Data (57) ABSTRACT (63) Continuation of application No. 111479,832, filed on Jun. 30, 2006, now Pat. No. 7,454,364, which is a A method for transacting an advertisement transfer is dis continuation of application No. 111177,184, filed on closed which facilitates expressing the rate structure for the Jul. 8, 2005, now Pat. No. 7,072,853, which is a con individual advertisement as a function of a profile of the tinuation ofapplication No. 09/473,078, filed on Dec. individual potential customer; and which is directed to the 28, 1999, now Pat. No. 6,973,436. creation ofa mechanism from the vantage ofan Internet site that is being visited. It should be appreciated that this must (30) Foreign Application Priority Data include the participation ofother entities in the Internet (such as distributors, clients, intermediary agencies, etc.). The Dec. 31,1998 (IL) 127889 method is for transacting an advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method including, (51) Int. Cl. upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communica G06Q 30/00 (2006.01) tions node, the communication node performing the steps of: (52) U.S. Cl. 705/14.49; 705114.4; 705/26; constructing a visitor profile; broadcasting the profile to at 705/37; 705114.48; 705/51; 705/400 least one distributor; collecting responses from the at least (58) Field of Classification Search 705114.4, one distributor; selecting a response from the at least one 705114.49,37,26,48, 51 responding distributor; contracting, betweenthe node and the See application file for complete search history. at least one distributor ofthe selectedresponse, a transference (56) References Cited of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor; and effecting a transfer ofthe advertisement to the visitor. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,664,948 A 9/1997 Dimitriadis 21 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets

------US 7,822,637 B2 Page 2

u.s. PATENT DOCUMENTS John Evan Frook, "Web sites sell ad space through 5,740,549 A 4/1998 Reilly auctions-Despite industry skepticism, Individual Inc. and 5,752,238 A 5/1998 Dedrick Netscape try out new strategies": Jul. 31, 1995.* 5,761,683 A 6/1998 Logan Wang, Nelson; "Auctioning of Ad Space Gets Boot With 5,774,170 A 6/1998 Hite Successful Launch ofSite"; Mar. 2,1999. 5,794,210 A 8/1998 Goldhaber Fife, Lee; "Affiliate Programs: Glue for Distribution Net 5,802,299 A 9/1998 Logan works"; (http://www.fastwater.com/Library/General/v1 5,848,396 A 12/1998 Gerace 5,855,008 A 12/1998 Goldhaber 4_affiliate-programs-fr.ph); Sep. 20, 1998. 5,974,398 A 10/1999 Hanson Flynn, Laurie; "Goto.com's Search Engine, the Highest Bid 6,029,141 A 2/2000 Bezos der Shall Be Ranked First"; Business/Financial Desk; Mar. 6,269,361 Bl 7/2001 Davis et aI. 16, 1998. 6,285,987 Bl 9/2001 Roth Frook, John E.; "Web sites sell ad space through 6,324,519 Bl 11/2001 Eldering auctions-Despite industry skepticism, Individual Inc. and OTHER PUBLICATIONS Netscape try out new strategies"; Interactive Age; Jul. 31, 1995. Newpoff, Laura, "AdOutlet.com sees market in empty adver Newpoff, Laura; "AdOutlet.com sees market in empty adver tising space" Business First of Columbus-Executive tising space"; Business First of Columbus-Executive Reports:Jun.14,1999.* Reports; Jun. 14, 1999. Laura J. Flynn, "Goto.com's Search Engine, the Highest Bid der Shall Be Ranked First": Mar. 16, 1999.* * cited by examiner ~ 7J). • ~ ~ ~ ~

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I j031 r-LADVERTISER ~

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COMMUNICATION ~35 NODE 1------1 CONTENT PROVIDERS

VISITOR f--' 36 u.s. Patent Oct. 26, 2010 Sheet 4 of8 US 7,822,637 B2

41 LOCATION

42 EUROPE ASIA 43 ENGLAND FRANCE USA CANADA

"\ 44 LONDON MANCHESTER

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r Spl1n 1,5) r~hiflg, Female, LA (22) fishin~ (10) Sport. Ag~ 13().40}, USA (10.> Rille!" ....i~bing (0) "L..hing, .Age (30-401, liSA (IS) SpDrt, Ftmale (12) Spor'. ~e 140-50J~ USA (1 () Fi!lhiag, Female (17) Fj~hjng, Age 140-S0J, USA {16) Sport, Mille (0) SPOU, Al!~ r30-401~ MinD~,)ts (0) Fishing, Male (0) Fishiag. Age I~U-401, MinnesOla (0) Sp()rt~ Age 130--40) (7) Sport. A~~ r4{)·SOJ~ Minnc,'iofa (0) .Fishing, Age 130-4°1 (12) Fishing, Age 140-50J, MiDDesot~ (0) Sport,. I\gc 140·50j (8) Sport, Agr JJD~401. LA 1..12) .Fi!lbine~ A~e [40-501 (13) Fishing. Age 13l1-"OJ, LA {17} Sport, Female, Age (3D-40) (14) Spflrt, Age (40·501. LA (l3) Fi~hiflg, Female, Ate 13D-40J (19) Fj~hing, Age 14fl-SOI, LA (18) S(J(irt, F'crnal£, Age [40-50J (IS) Spor~, Fenmlc, Age (30-40), tlSA (.1.7.) Fisbin~. Fa:m:dJt, A~c [40·50J (20) Fi3bin~, Female, A~c 130-401, USA (22) Sport,l.1S.t\,(8) Spllrf, Ft.mafc, .Age 140-50j. USA (18) fi.shingi USA. (.U) fjsl1in~~ J'ccnlfh:. Age 140-50J, USA (23) Sport. "'tirme.sot.1 (0) Spor1, .l;emalr. Age J31HOI, Minntsota (6) Fi~hing. Minnc.~(lta (UJ Fi5bing~ Fcm'llL:. Age 1.30-40J. MiDlleSOC;\ (0) Sport. LA(lO) Sport,femaJe, Age 140-50), Minm:.,ola (0) Fishing, LA(15) FislJing, Female, Age 140-501, Minnesuta (0) Sport, .FeJllsle. USA (IS) SP()rt, Female, Age [30-40J, LA (L9) Fishing. Female, lJSA (20) FiShing, Feml\le, Age {30-40J~ LA (24) Sport, F\:malc, Minn\.'Sota (0) Sport. fem:,de, A~e 140-501, LA (20)' Fi$bing, FClna[e, Minnesota (0) Fishi.lIg. female. Ace (40-501, LA (25) Sport, ti:Qlufc, LA «(7) -.-._------~------( 70 Figure 7 ~ 7J). • ~ ~ ~ USA (15) ~ MATCHING 81 TREE =~ LA (17) o ~ M1NNESOTA (0) N 0\ ~ N o 84 o.... AGE [30-40](1 4 )

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I -I FISHING (10) d rJl ...... :J 00 I .... , RIVER FISHING (0) N FIG.8 N 0-., W ...... :J N= u.s. Patent Oct. 26, 2010 Sheet 8 of8 US 7,822,637 B2

FIG.9

110 100

101 102 103 104 105 106

FIG.lO US 7,822,637 B2 1 2 METHOD FOR TRANSACTING AN tisement as a function ofa profile ofthe individual potential ADVERTISEMENT TRANSFER customer. Expressing the rate structure for the individual advertisement, as a function of a profile of the individual CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED potential customer, is not a described nor a delivered product APPLICATIONS ofany ofthe aforesaid service agencies.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 111479,832, filed lun. 30, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,454,364, issued Nov. 18, 2008, which is a continuation ofapplication The method ofthe present invention facilitates expressing Ser. No. 111177,184, filed luI. 8, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 10 the rate structure for the individual advertisement as a func 7,072,853, issued luI. 4, 2006, which is a continuation of tion ofa profile ofthe individual potential customer. application Ser. No. 09/473,078, filed Dec. 28, 1999, now Thepresent inventionis directed to the creationofa mecha- U.S. Pat. No. 6,973,436, issued Dec. 6, 2005, and applicant nism from the vantage ofan Internet site that is being visited. claims the right of priority to Israeli application Serial No. It should be appreciated that this must include the participa 127889, filed Dec. 31,1998. The disclosures ofthe 1998-filed 15 tion of other entities in the Internet (such as distributors, and 1999-filed priority applications, including all references clients, intermediary agencies, etc.). cited in connection with those applications, are hereby incor The present invention relates to a method for transacting an porated by reference. advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method comprising, upon the occurrence of a FIELD OF THE INVENTION 20 visitor visitation at a communications node, the communication node performing the steps of: This invention relates to a method for transacting an adver (One) constructing a visitor profile; tisement transfer. More specifically, this invention relates to (Two) broadcasting the profile to at least one distributor; advertisement transferring in data-communications net (Three) collecting responses from the at least one distribu- works, such as the Intemet. 25 tor; (Four) selecting a response from the at least oneresponding BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION distributor, (Five) contracting, between the node and the at least one Simple advertising involves placing a notice describing an distributor ofthe selected response, a transference ofan availability ofgoods or services. To be an effective advertise- 30 advertisement from the distributor to the visitor, and ment, the notice should be placed where a party, interested in (Six) effecting a transfer ofthe advertisement to the visitor. the goods or services, will give attention to the notice. The There are three basic embodiment types according to the advertising industry actively competes, according to the present invention. Each type relates to a different mercantile nature ofthe notice, to optimize the placing ofthe notice and perspective on contracting (step "e"): Auction; Tender; and to optimize the attention that the notice will receive. 35 Future inventory purchase. Until recently, the advertisement industry placednotices as billboards, signs, inclusioninnewspapers, direct mailing, and Auction: The communication node broadcasts a visitor's profile to using broadcast media. Today the Internet and other interac tive electronic data-communications systems provide new distributors. The interested distributors reply to the node with a price ground for effective advertising. 40 In this respect, numerous developments in the advertising offer for that profile. industry are noteworthy: The highest offer for that profile wins the auction, which U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,170 System and method for delivering the node conducted for that profile. The node sends the targeted advertisements to consumers; distributor a message ofhis winning the auction and also sends a predetermined protocol or transactional autho U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,238 Consumer-driven electronic infor- 45 mation pricing mechanism; rization to pass to the visitor the auctioned advertise U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,549 Information and advertising dis ment. tribution system and method; The distributor sends the advertisement to the visitor and U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,948 Delivery of data including pre also sends a confirmation to the node. Alternatively, the visitor collects the advertisement from the distributor, loaded advertising data; 50 U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,299: Interactive system for authoring and a confirmation is sent to the node. hypertext document collections; Tender: U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,683: Techniques for changing the The communication node receives price offers for prede behavior ofa link in a hypertext; and termined profile classes from at least one distributors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,210 Attention brokerage. 55 When a visitor arrives, the node constructs a profile for These technologies (and the like) are being exploited by him. many types of"advertising distributors" such as: There may be among the price offers that the node has Ad reach Networks (e.g. Doubleclick, 24/7 Media, Fly- already received from the distributors, at least one price cast); offer for a profile or a partial profile like that of the Local Networks (e.g. digital cities); 60 current visitor. The highest bidder, among the at least Broadcast Networks (e.g. Pointcast, Marimba); one price offers, wins the tender. The node sends the Content Networks, (e.g. CNET, Disney, AOL, etc.); and winning distributor a message ofhis winning the tender Navigation Hubs (e.g. Yahoo, Excite, Netscape, etc.). and also sends a predeterminedprotocol ortransactional What is nevertheless lacking in today's advertising indus- authorization to pass to the visitor the tendered adver try is a mechanism which actively matches an individual 65 tisement potential customer with individual advertisements and then The distributor sends the advertisement to the visitor and which expresses the rate structure for the individual adver- also sends a confirmation to the node. Alternatively, the US 7,822,637 B2 3 4 visitor collects the advertisement from the distributor, FIG. 4 illustrates a typical hierarchical regional stratifica- and a confirmation is sent to the node. tion organization; FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram ofbid attributes; Future Inventory Purchase: FIG. 6 illustrates a hierarchical structuring for a new offer, Note: here the term "site" is used to relate to the communi FIG. 7 illustrates a listing ofbids following the organiza- cationnode having a visitor visitation. Ifan "intennediary" is tion presented in FIG. 6; visited, then it too will represent a site. FIG. 8 illustrates a typical matching tree; The distributor sends a query to at least one site, in orderto FIG. 9 a schematic diagram of the device of the present find out the price they charge for a specific profile that invention; and the distributor is looking for. 10 FIG. lOis a schematic drawing ofa device for transacting The sites return to the distributor the price they charge for an advertising transfer. the purchase of future inventory of the profile the dis tributor is looking for. According to the preferred DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED embodiment of the present invention in this variation, EMBODIMENT the returned price is given as a function of quantity of 15 profiles, and of pIarmed time of advertisement cam In the context ofthe present invention, a "communications paign. The site might insert inherent discounts in the node" is the server ofan Internet site oris a theoretical pairing price quotes as a function ofthe scale ofthe distributor or ofthe server ofthe Internet site with the server ofan "inter for a preferred customer ofthe node. mediary" site, or the like. Equivalently, according to the The distributor runs an optimization program that builds a 20 present invention, a "communication node" may be an appa purchase plan ofhow many profiles to buy, from which ratus in a data-communications transfer architecture wherein sites, and for what price. The optimized purchase plan is located automatic data processing or like computer related makes sure that for a given budget, the plan will include taskprocesses, ormaybea wired orwireless communications the highest quantity ofprofiles possible. The mentioned network routingjuncture. Furthennore, inthe context ofother plan considers predetennined priorities and restrictions. 25 applicable communications architectures, a communications For example, a specific percentage of the purchased node is a web-TV content provider, a multi-media contents inventory must come from a specific site that in the past provider, or any intermediary purveyor transferring these proved itselfas a good source for buyers for that adver contents. tiser. In the context ofthe present invention, a "distributor" is a The purchase plan is executed by sending requests to the 30 contracting agent responsible for assigning at least one adver sites in the plan having quotes ofthe amount ofprofiles tisement to a specific medium: for example, placing a bauner that the distributorwants to purchase, the scheduledtime ona web page, placing a notice for sale onan accessible index ofcampaign, and the price that will be paid. The price is entry, a content referral or an advertisement. In the context of just for clarity purpose since it was the outcome ofthe the present invention, the payment couldbe for showing an ad offer sent by the site. 35 to the visitor with the profile looked after by the distributor, or The sites send confinnation to the distributor. for that visitor clicking the distributor's ad and visiting the Furthermore, the present invention relates to a device for distributor's site; or for that visitor giving infonnation about transacting an advertisement transfer, from an advertisement himself to the distributor whether through the ad or on the distributor to a visitor, upon the occurrence of a visitor visi distributor's site after reaching the site by clicking the ad; or tation at a communications node, comprising a sequentially 40 for that visitordownloading a software from the distributor, or linked series ofmodules: for that visitor buying a merchandise from the distributor; and (One) a first module for constructing a visitor profile; so forth. (Two) a second module for broadcasting the profile to at The present invention relates to a method for transacting an least one distributor, advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a (Three) a third module for collecting responses from the at 45 visitor, the method comprising, upon the occurrence of a least one distributor, visitor visitation at a communications node, the communica- (Four) a fourth module for selecting a response from the at tion node perfonning the steps of: least one responding distributors; (One) constructing a visitor profile; (Five) a fifth module for contracting, betweenthe node and (Two) broadcasting the profile to at least one distributor; the at least one distributor of the selected response, a 50 (Three) collecting responses from the at least one distribu transference ofan advertisement from the distributor to tor, the visitor, and (Four) selecting a response from the at least oneresponding (Six) a sixth module for effecting a transfer ofthe adver distributors; tisement to the visitor. (Five) contracting, between the node and the at least one 55 distributor ofthe selected response, a transference ofan BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS advertisement from the distributor to the visitor; and (Six) effecting a transfer ofthe advertisement to the visitor. In order to understand the invention and to see how it may In general, the transactional universe ofthe Internet may be becarried out in practice, a preferredembodimentwill now be described as including visitors, sites that they visit, and dis- described, by way ofnon-limiting example only, with refer 60 tributors who provide network advertisements for viewing by ence to the accompanying drawings, in which: the visitors. Thetransferring, per se, is not an essential feature FIG. 1 illustrates an organizational chart for basic adver ofthe present method wherein selecting is in order to facili tisement transfer transacting; tate such an eventual transfer. FIG. 2 illustrates an organizational chart for centralized Visitors are normally individuals who elect to view an servicing ofadvertisement transfer transacting; 65 Internet page. In most circumstances, this election is facili FIG. 3 illustrates equivalent-level parallel-structuring tated by following a hyperlink from some other Internet page, between an advertiser sector and a distributor sector; whichhas redirected the present electedviewing. Sometimes, US 7,822,637 B2 5 6 this election is done with the aid of a search engine, while support element and not as a source of value itself. An inte other times the user elects an Intemet page to view by choos grated suite ofvalue chain management solutions is designed ing from a personal list of hyperlinks. Of somewhat lesser to synchronize demand opportunities with supply constraints importance, a visitor may be a "robotic Internet tourist" such and logistics operations. In the context of information com as an agent, a search engine, an auditing or monitoring pro merce, the value chain model is facile for structuring the gram, etc. electronic advertisement transaction processes ofthe present Sites which are visited are Internet HTML pages (or invention. VRML "pages" or the like) which generally reside in server Turning to FIG. 3, there is a vertical value chain from the accessible data storage archives. These sites often include advertiser 31 to an advertising agency 32 to an interactive hyperlink references for allowing a visitor to simultaneously 10 advertising agency 33 to anadvertising network34 to a virtual view external content items from other Internet addresses. matching center (not shown) to a content provider 35 to a Presently, the most widely used reference inclusion is for visitor36. Inparallel there is a value chainhaving a distributor advertisement banners. The content of these banners is not 37 at the top and a communications node 38 below. In the included at the site. Rather the site includes an Internet context of the understanding of the present invention, the address for the banner, and the visitor's software visits the 15 distributor has transaction interaction with the advertising banner to bring a copy ofit for inclusion into the overall site network, and the communications node has transaction inter viewing. action with the virtual matching center (according to the Often, banners are grouped into cyclically repeating aggre preferred embodiment) orto the content provider. Sometimes gations by anadvertisement distributor. The distributor estab there is a media buyer 39 who can be between 33 and 34; lishes an Internet site for downloading banners. Furthennore, 20 which may alternatively be included in other segments ofthe the distributor effects a substitution of the content of this vertical chain 31-33. Internet site on a frequent basis. The result is that the visitor According to an embodiment ofthe present invention, the will view a different banner (insertedinto a site) virtually each visitor profile includes at least one item selected from: con time he accesses that site. Clearly, the reference inclusion of tent's categories of the content the visitor requested or is the site is to a dynamic advertisement management distribu 25 watching; key words, which classifY the content the visitor tor. requested or is watching; Time of day relative to server; FIG. 1 is an organizational chart for basic advertisement Derivatives of the visitor's IP address, e.g., Domain; Geo transfer transacting. For schematic clarity, the topologically graphic location of the visitor's ISP (Internet Service Pro complex Internet has been represented as having three strata. vider) or asp (On line Service Provider), Geographic loca- The lower stratum is for visitors, the central stratum is for 30 tion of the visitor's company or organization if connected sites, and the upper stratum is for distributors. Actually, the through a pennanent point to point connection, Time ofday visitors, sites, and distributors are clients or servers or relative to user as a derivative of his geographic location, memory storage locations accessible therein. Internet Service Provider (ISP), On-line Service Provider Here the "Visitor" 11 visits "Site 3" 12; site 3 builds the (aSP); Browser type; Operating system; or SIC code. visitor profile and broadcasts it to advertisement Network 1-n 35 For example, Geographic location ofthe visitor's ISP (In (distributors) 13-15; advertisement "Network 2" 14 wins the ternet Service Provider) or asp (On line Service Provider) if contract; and provides the visitor with the "Ad" 16. connected through dial modem or cable modem; or Geo FIG. 2 is an organizational chart for centralized servicing graphic location ofthe visitor's company or organization if of advertisement transfer transacting. Here the "Visitor" 21 connected through a permanent point to point connection. In visits "Site 3" 22; "site 3" builds the visitor profile and trans 40 that case additional infonnation from some databases might fers it to the intermediary 23. The intermediary enhances the be given on the visitor's organization such as: company's profile and broadcasts it to advertisement Network 1-n (dis revenues and number ofemployees. tributors) 24-26; advertisement "Network I" 24 wins the There are also the possibilities of enhancing the visitor contract; and provides the visitor with the "Ad" 27. 45 profile using databases connected to the system to provide According to an embodiment ofthe present invention, the additional infonnation about the visitor, which might be communications node collects generalized response descrip available. This information is divided into non-volunteered tors from the at least one distributor, and the broadcasting information and volunteered infonnation. (step b) is done internally using the collected descriptors as proxy for the at least one distributor. Non-volunteered informationis informationabout the visi- For example, any entity that owns an advertisement dis 50 tor's history in the site or other sites connected to the same tributing mechanism, such as advertisement management network or sites that are connected to the same global data software, can become a distributor. Nevertheless, the typical base. Suchhistory may include all the immediate infonnation distributor will probably be one ofthe following: available on the user at the time ofthese visits, products he An advertiser wishing to integrate the vertical chain was interested in or bought, advertisements he clicked on. between him and the visitor; 55 Volunteered infonnation is any infonnation the visitor An advertising agency wishing to cut down advertisement might have given out of his own free-will, such as demo distribution' costs; graphic (or psycho-graphic) infonnation, including: gender; An interactive advertising agency wishing to cut down the age; annual household income; number, gender, age and sta advertisement distribution costs; tus ofhousehold members; occupation; Hobbies and tenden- Advertisement Network; or 60 cies; or Name and address. Content Providers wishing to expand the reach they offer According to the preferred embodiment of the present their advertisers by becoming distributors to other con invention, the node or the distributor or the intermediary is tent providers. audited. In the context of the present invention, "Auditing" Economically, creating value has been described as a logis relates to: measurement of web traffic; analysis of online tics composite model called the value chain, which is a series 65 advertisement campaign results; analysis oftransaction data; ofvalue-adding activities that connect a company's supply or analysis of customer profiles. Furthennore, auditing may side with its demand-side. The model treats infonnation as a include: verification ofany combination ofthe above; analy- US 7,822,637 B2 7 8 sis of any combination ofthe above; or analysis ofany bills Both using and in the absence ofthe intermediary, accord that are derivatives ofthe above. ing to an enhanced embodiment ofthe present invention, the The analysis ofthe above is done in off line mode or real visitor discloses his node-appropriate cookie and said cookie time mode; and is made through the perspective ofone ofthe is analyzed by the node, the intermediary, the distributor, or following: Site, advertisements distributor, online campaign an address associated with the transacted advertisement. manager, or e-commerce merchant. Examples ofcompanies Another enhanced embodiment ofthe present invention may that perform some or all ofthe above are: I/PRO, MediaMe include: the visitor specifies a self imposed censorship trix and Andromedia. restriction in order to void acceptance of certain classes of According to the preferred embodiment of the present advertising, or in order to designate a class of advertising invention, the broadcasting, contracting, or transferring is 10 preferences; or constructing a visitor profile includes corre encrypted. lating known visitor identification parameters with a data According to the present invention, the advertisements are base. selected from the list: banners, text, HTML page address Further enhanced embodiments of the present invention pointers, text, hypertext, audio content, visual content, or any include: the logic protocol ofthe selecting is according to a combination thereof. Equivalently, the advertisement may be 15 relational database query semantic; the visitor is associated of any kind and size: static, animated, DHTML, multime with a commercial enterprise, a search engine, an automaton, dia-video and/or audio, three dimensional, VRML, intersti a corporate person, or a human; effecting, contracting, or tial, interactive banner, "transitional" interstitial (a multime constructing includes recording or storing advertisements dia advertisement in a pop up window between page views), transferred to the visitor for intentional subsequent transfer to InfoAd, Active Ad, expanding banners, nano site or mini site 20 the same visitor or for intentional avoidance of subsequent in a banner. transfer to the same visitor. According to the preferred embodiment of the present The present invention also relates to a device for transact invention, the method further includes the construction ofat ing an advertisement transfer, from anadvertisement distribu least one ofthe following: ane-mail list ora database. Equiva tor to a visitor, upon the occurrence ofa visitor visitation at a lently, the construction is ofat least one ofthe following: an 25 communications node, comprising a sequentially linked e-mail list, traffic analysis ofthe site which is enhancedby the series ofmodules: additional information about the visitors' profiles, databases (One) a first module for constructing a visitor profile; ofpotential customers to different products according to their (Two) a second module for broadcasting the profile to at profiles. least one distributor; According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the 30 Three) a third module for collecting responses from the at selecting (step "d") is ofmultiple responses. least one distributor; According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the contracting (step "e") is with any responding distributor bid (Four) a fourth module for selecting a response from the at ding above a predeterminedthreshold price, andthe threshold least one responding distributors; price is not broadcast. 35 (Five) a fifth module for contracting, betweenthe node and According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the the at least one distributor of the selected response, a visitor submits a self-disclosure profile to the node. Accord transference ofan advertisement from the distributor to ing to one embodiment of the present invention, the visitor the visitor, and profile is constructed from header information in the visitor's (Six) a sixth module for effecting a transfer of the adver transmission. According to one embodiment of the present 40 tisement to the visitor. invention, a rate structure for the contracting is determined According to the preferred embodiment, the modules are according to a matching between the visitor's profile and an distributed or fragmented between more than one computer advertisement specification in the response. processor or network communications server or network According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the communications router. contracting includes at least one transaction segment describ- 45 According to the preferred embodiment, there is further ing the visitor, describing the node, describing the advertise provided at least one memory media containing data col ment, and describing the distributor. For example, the at least lected or data constructed in at least one ofthe modules. one segment includes a Boolean logic section, a rate structure According to the preferred embodiment, there is further logic, disclosure information, or disclosure logic informa included a distributor response module for optimizing a tion. 50 selection from a plurality ofbroadcast profiles. According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the Furthermore, according to the preferred embodiment, the method further includes a follow-up visit by the visitor to an optimizing is according to a fixed budget, or according to an address associated with the transacted advertisement. Fur advertisement campaign model, or according to subsequent thermore, the follow-up visit may be audited; the audit may modifications thereto. include anitem selectedfrom the list: a purchasebythe visitor 55 of a service or commodity at a "site" specified in the trans The preferred embodiment ofthe present invention may be briefly described as allowing: ferred advertisement, or pointed to therefrom. According to another enhanced variation ofthe present invention, the node The distributor can choose the number of advertisement or his authorized agent receives a payment resulting from the exposures for a visitor with a specific profile. visitor's purchase at a site specified in the transferred adver- 60 The system will make sure it will be done for anyone tisement, or pointed to therefrom. person with such a profile. According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the There is no need to store or record the advertisement since method further includes an intermediary between the node a distributor gives a price offer for a specific profile and having a visitation and the at least one distributor, and the intends to show a specific advertisement for that profile. intermediary is for effecting additions to the visitor profile 65 After a given number of advertisement exposures to a constructed by the node in step "a" or is for effecting any of specific person, the distributor will no longer bid for that steps "b" through "f'. person although suited for the required profile. US 7,822,637 B2 9 10 The person is identified by a cookie that differentiates two a price limit for a desired profile in order to enhance his people with the same profile but different number of winning probability or strategically there may be pro exposures to the same ad. vided facilities for expressing a priority given to bigger A distributor is constantly updated in real time by the budgets in the case of similar price offers.). node/nodes (node in the intennediary architecture and Suppliers are Publishers or Content Providers sites, or a nodes in the distributed architecture) that are members server ofan ISP, etc.; ofits network, ofthe winning bids for different profiles The assets are Visitors' profiles ofvisitors to the Publish in the sites. ers' sites; or even The distributor can choose to change its price offers for Commodities selling (electronic commodities or tangible different profiles in different sites in order to change its 10 commodities). odds for winning. Furthermore, implementations may include: a Central sys The distributor can run an optimization program that will tem with a star configuration which connects all participating change the price offers in real time. The optimization sites: Suppliers, Mediators\Buyers; or a distributed system factors are the campaign progression and the budget where the tenders are taking place at the Suppliers locations spending (in general the factors are based on the adver 15 according to pre given bids by Mediators\Buyers. tising model). A visitor can limit his profile by approaching the site he A Description ofAlgorithmic Procedures Used to visits and specifYing restrictions to his profile, by his Implement the Preferred Embodiment ofthe Method own choice or demands. The visitor can point out ofthe Present Invention whether he wants the restrictions to be for the commu- 20 nication node use only or for the intermediary or for the This description presents an efficient method ofcreating a distributor orany combinationthereof. Ifthe restrictions profile-matchingtree. This matching tree is a memory-cached are for the intermediary or for the distributor the com structure used for efficiently matching an incoming user pro munication node will point it out to the intennediary. file to the highest bidder using an online tender or to a buyer Furthermore, there is an opportunity to pay for the visitor's 25 who bought such a profile in advance (referred as 'Future name and address, without need to refer to this specific Inventory Purchase' or 'FIP'). For example, an implementa- since the name and address are among the volunteered tion of a real time tender over a visitor's profile may be information and therefore a price can be set for them as according to predefined price offers (bids) which are supplied for any other component composing the profile. by advertisers through their representatives. The system Areal time updated bidding system among unlimitednum- 30 allows a price limit to be set (in accordance with a fixed or a ber ofSuppliers and Mediators\Buyers for electronic or dynamic advertising budget), such that the advertiser speci- tangible assets\commodities (hereafter will be referred fies a maximum price it is willing to pay to the visitor's ad as the 'system'). space owner. Likewise, in the event that two ormore distribu The system makes the market for those assets economi tors are equally well suited to convey the advertisement, cally efficient as follows: 35 provision may be made to give preference to the distributor Enabling "Many-to-Many" business relations among all having the largest campaign budget or turnover or the like. the participating sites; There are three stages in this process: Each Mediator\Buyer can compete for every asset Creating a price offer (bid) by the advertiser. The price offered by a Supplier; offer is represented by a collection of attributes and Each Mediator\Buyer can update its bid in real time 40 attribute values. Each such collection represents a num according to infonnation about the winning bids in ber of profile combinations according to the logic the system. defined in this collection. Using a tree ofattribute values For example: A Mediator conveys to the system a bid ofa makes the process of defining the price offer very easy Buyerthat includes a price list for the asset he is looking and intuitive for the user. for according to the potential characteristics ofthe asset. 45 Building a matching tree in a batch process. This matching When a Supplier has an asset or commodity to sell, he tree contains all possible profiles for which an advertiser conveys its characteristics to the system (hereafter we is willing to pay. Every node in the matching tree con will refer to the asset's characteristics as the asset's tains a list ofall relevant bids sorted in descending order profile). The system performs a semi-real time tender by their prices. over the asset's profile between the pre given bids (it is 50 In real time, for every incoming visitor's profile, the high semi real time since the tender is performed over already est bidfor the visitor is found by searching the matching existing bids in the system). The highest bidder is noti tree. The highest bidder has the right to present his fied ofhis winning andthe whereabouts ofthe asset. The advertisement to that visitor. rest ofthe bidders and Mediators connected to the sys As part of the above described process of a real-time tem are notified ofthe asset's profile that just been sold 55 matching between an incoming visitor's profile to a profile and its winning bidding price. The Mediators\Buyers, in required by an advertiser, the advertiser has the alternative of return to the infonnation can update their bids in real buying in advance the visitor's profile he is looking for, with time using manually intervention or automatic optimi out participating in a tender. zation software. Equivalently, the preferred embodiment of the present 60 Introduction inventionmaybe briefly describedas allowing Internet adver A software engine, according to the present invention, tising where the: supplies a method for efficient allocation ofa visitor's adver Buyers are Advertisers or Advertising agencies or media tisement space according to its profile by conducting an buyers (entities inthe value chain may integrate forward online tender among all advertisers that are connected to the or backward); 65 system via their representatives, the advertisement networks, Mediators are advertisement Networks; (The advertiser's outsourcing services or privately owned advertisement man may accordingly be further providedwithability to enter agement software. Each advertiser presents a collection of US 7,822,637 B2 11 12 advertisement campaigns intended for the visitors. There are CategoryAttribute-An attribute whose values can be rep certain criteria for each advertisement campaign that are resented by a final set ofknown elements (e.g. Gender, based on the required visitor's profile. These criteria deter Location). mine which visitor will get an advertisement of this cam Numeric Attribute-An attribute whose values can be rep paign. For every advertisement campaign, the advertiser's resented by two numbers which form a range (e.g. Age, price offer includes a set ofrequired profiles that needs to be Income). matchedwith any visitor's profile. The advertiser places price Value-An element that is assigned to an attribute's value tags and logic tags on every requested characteristic, thus tree. creating a combination ofuser profiles. Logic tag-Any attribute or value can have a logic tag that The collection ofall price offers, sent or otherwise estab- 10 can be one ofthe following: Ii shed by the advertisers, creates a profile pool. For every a Must-The visitor must have the attribute or value. visitor which is directed to the system there is a three-stage Must not-The visitor must not have this value (for process: values only). Finding the price offers that matches the incoming visitor's Note: Must "logic" cannot be set on multiple values that profile. 15 shares the same attribute. Ofall matching price offers finding the one with the highest Price-can be set for each value (that does not have a price. "MustNot" tag). Values that have a price and do not have Allocating the visitor's advertisement spaceto the matched any logic tags, are optional values that mayor may not advertiser from those found having the highest price. exist ina matching profile (the value is not a requirement As part of the above process, the method of the present 20 set by the advertiser, but the advertiser is willing to pay invention allows advertisers to receive required profiles with more for a visitor's profile that contains this value). outparticipating in a tender. The advertiser purchases a future The price offer can have a maximum price that represents inventory ofvisitors' profiles from sites using the method of an upper bound that the advertiser is willing to pay for any the present invention. In the "finding the one with the highest given profile (note that a single price offer can offer different price" stage, in front of the price offers participating in the 25 prices for different profiles according to the attributes in the tender, a priority will be given to an advertiser who bought incoming profile). If the sum of prices for profile attributes such a profile in advance. If such a profile was bought in results in a price higher than the maximum price, then the advance by an advertiser, first, the visitor's advertisement price for this combination ofattribute values will be set to the space will be allocated to him in the allocating stage. maximum price. The load is producedbythe visitors' traffic to Internet sites, 30 Visitor's Profile-This is the collection of pairs thus creating a potentially enormous number of hits. The Attribute=Value for a current visitor. The Attributes in matching process must take a minimal time to calculate (see this collection are sorted by the attribute's predefined use ofconstraints and optimizations below). order. This collection represents the information known In orderto minimize the search, match and allocation time, about the incoming visitor. a matching tree is built, which serves as a structure for the 35 Matching Tree Branch-Each branch in the matching tree search and match operation. The tree is modified for every represents a possible collection of values that were addition or extraction ofa price offer. Using a matching tree, extracted from price offer(s), and have a price in the the operation offinding the best match is merely a question of system (zero can be also a price for profiles which searching the matching tree. include a value with a Must Not logic). This collection 40 forms a possible visitor's profile. More Specifically, the Process will be Described in the Fol Value trees and Inheritance-the values ofan attribute are lowing Sections: presented and managed as a hierarchical structure. Creating and spreading the price offer, Descendant values inherit their ancestor's value (in the Constructing and managing a matching tree; hierarchical structure) price and logic tags. For example, the Searching the matching tree for the Profile; and 45 Location attribute can have the values: Asia, Europe, Africa Allocating the visitor's advertisement space. etc. Each ofthese continents have descendants countryvalues that inherit the continents prices and logic tags and so on Nomenclature Examples (states, cities etc.). If an advertiser places a price Px on Europe, then all the sub values ofEurope will have the same Price Offer/Bid-A collection of attributes or attributes' 50 price Px. If a visitor's profile contains the location London, values which form a combination ofvisitors' profiles: then the advertiser will be willing to pay a Px price for this Attribute-An attribute is used for describing a user char attribute. Similarly, a Must tag set on the Sports value ofthe acteristic using a value from the attribute's set ofvalues. Content attribute determines that the visitor has to have a Each attribute has a tree of its own unique values. For content value that is Sports or a descendant of Sports (Bas- example, the Gender attribute has the values: such as 55 ketball will be accepted as well). Male, Female (one level tree). The Location attribute has a tree ofvalue, where Europe can be a value in the tree, Overview ofthe Price Offer Phase England and France can be sub values of Europe (its Creating a price offer-The advertiser/media buyer/sales children in the value tree), and London can be a sub person uses a GUI (graphical user interface) to enter a valid value ofEngland. 60 price offer. There are two types of attributes allowed in the Attribute Order-All attributes are organized in a pre system. defined orderedvector. Each attribute has its ownunique Category attributes-The attribute is a category with pre order, which is determined by the position of the defined values. The values are all named. For example: attribute in the vector. The order is used for the process attribute Gender with the values Male, Female. ofbuilding and searching the matching tree. Any collec- 65 Numeric Attributes-These are also category attributes tion of attributes is usually sorted according to their withpredefined numeric ranges. For example, Income is such unique order. an attribute, Age is another. US 7,822,637 B2 13 14 All attributes have predefined values. The values are deter values appear in the bid Bi with price tags, Must tags or mined according to well known conventions that make it Must Not tags. This results in a vector of bid attributes easier to measure them. Also, all hierarchies are predefined A1 ... Am. and known in advance. The advertiser may set the prices and For each bid attribute Aj (1 <=j<=m) create a vector of logic tags for these predefined attributes/values, and may not values. Each Aj will include all the values in the bid Bi be able to define other attributes ofvalues. that correspond to the attribute Aj. Note that every The available attributes are presented in a tree-like view. attribute must have at least one value that corresponds to This means that there is a predefined hierarchy between the it. values. The hierarchy is always defined for a specific Attach Must tag to each bid attribute Aj ifthe correspond attribute. For example under the attribute Location we can 10 ing attribute was marked with Must tag in the bid, or if define the following values: one ofits values was markedwith Must tag (there can be Turning to FIG. 4, a root node "location" 41 is divided into only one Must value to that bid attribute). continents 42, therein into countries 43, andtherein into cities FIG. 5 is a diagram of bid attributes, where each bid 44. All these values will be declared "under" the Location attribute 51 (e.g. AI' Ai' ... Am) holds its corresponding attribute, as a hierarchy. 15 attribute, an optional Must tag, and a vector ofvalues, e.g. 52, An important attribute, which has a complex value tree, is 53,54. the content attribute. This structure is used in orderto create all combinations of For every attribute and value, a logic tag can be attached: attribute values that actually define the profiles. To construct all the profile combinations follow these two 'Must'-This logic indicates that the attribute or value 20 steps: must exist in the visitor's profile or else the visitor will be of Step one: find which bid attributes will be part ofthe next no interestto this price offer. Ifthe'Must' is putona value (for attribute combination. This is done in the following way: example 'Sports') it means that the specific value must exist Suppose there are p free (non Must) bid attributes in the in the visitor's profile, ora descendant value ofthis value (for vector "A"; Then the total number of subsets of these free example, 'Basketball'). Ifthe 'Must' is put on the attribute 25 attributes (sorted in their predefined order) is 2P . itself then it means that "one" of the tagged values of this Run a counter from 0 to 2P -1. We will use the binary attribute must appear in any visitor's profile. The tagged representation of this counter to determine which bid values are any ofthe values which belong to the attribute and attributes will take part in the next attribute combination. For have a price tag attached. each iteration ofthe counter, select the bid attributes that will 'Must Not'-The logic means that the "value" must not 30 take part inthe next combinationvector inthe following way: exist in the incoming profile. This logic is only acceptable For each attribute Aj in the vector "A": when put over values and not attributes. IfAj has a Must tag, select it to the next combination. Theuser shouldprovide a price tag for all values ofinterest. Otherwise, Aj is a free bid attribute. Let k be its index It is important to note that ifa value was set to 'Must', a price among the free bidattributes (O<=k