US20090182631A1 - System and method for word-of-mouth advertising - Google Patents

System and method for word-of-mouth advertising Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US20090182631A1
US20090182631A1 US12/180,499 US18049908A US2009182631A1 US 20090182631 A1 US20090182631 A1 US 20090182631A1 US 18049908 A US18049908 A US 18049908A US 2009182631 A1 US2009182631 A1 US 2009182631A1
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
group
advocates
sub
marketing
recited
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US12/180,499
Inventor
Christopher William Higgins
Marc Davis
Joseph O'Sullivan
Ronald Martinez
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Yahoo Inc
Original Assignee
Yahoo Inc until 2017
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Yahoo Inc until 2017 filed Critical Yahoo Inc until 2017
Priority to US12/180,499 priority Critical patent/US20090182631A1/en
Assigned to YAHOO! INC. reassignment YAHOO! INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: DAVIS, MARC, O'SULLIVAN, JOSEPH, HIGGINS, CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM, MARTINEZ, RONALD
Publication of US20090182631A1 publication Critical patent/US20090182631A1/en
Assigned to YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC. reassignment YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: YAHOO! INC.
Assigned to OATH INC. reassignment OATH INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC.
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00Commerce
    • G06Q30/02Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00Commerce
    • G06Q30/02Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G06Q30/0207Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
    • G06Q30/0225Avoiding frauds
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00Commerce
    • G06Q30/02Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G06Q30/0241Advertisements
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q50/00Systems or methods specially adapted for specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
    • G06Q50/01Social networking

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to an online marketing system providing a consumer accessing content on the network with a set of network accessible users with connections to the marketed brands, products, or services, and possibly having a relation to the consumer.
  • Network marketing is not limited by a lack of available information; the Internet consumer is typically able to access a plethora of information available online.
  • the digital information consumer perceives information conveyed over the network through various forms of media objects, including text, icons, voice, audio recordings, pictures, animations, videos, interactive widgets, and other audiovisual information. Descriptions of one or more forms of media objects may be combined in a data object, which the consumer accesses over the network.
  • the data object may contain additional “metadata” information which is not typically observed by the consumer, but may instead define parameters useful in conveying information to the consumer, such as user identifiers, data locaters, data types, or data interpretation resources, as described below.
  • Network users typically operate a physical device, such as a telephone, a text messenger, a cell phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a networked music/video player, a personal computer, or a public terminal, to interconnect with other users on the network.
  • the network user typically utilizes a number of application programs to consume content on the network.
  • Example application programs include a “media object player” and a “browser”.
  • a browser is an application program that is generally intended to display “web pages.”
  • a web page is typically a two-dimensional image appearing as an individual page of information including one or more types of contained media objects.
  • Multimedia content on the network appears in a virtual book format, which typically is displayed as an individually framed web page along with means for navigating to other related web pages.
  • a web page may also be associated with audio output perceived by a page consumer.
  • Data for web pages is often described in a format known as a Document Object Model (DOM).
  • DOM Document Object Model
  • Multimedia content may be directly perceived on a web page or may be indirectly accessible.
  • Content on the page may be directly perceived by including one or more static media objects, such as a displayed image, or one or more dynamic media objects, such as a video in a media object player rendered within the image of the page.
  • Examples of indirect access include access to an audio recording through background music, access through an auxiliary page or pop-up window, access through a sidebar or drawer attached to a window, access by invoking a menu item or toolbar, access provided through a link to another page, or access through an auxiliary program, such as a media object player.
  • Two media object players are the Windows Media Player® available from Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash. or the Apple QuickTime® player available from Apple Computer, Inc.
  • the source code for a media object or a web page may also contain one or more instances of script languages.
  • ECMAScript is a script programming language, standardized by Ecma International of Geneva, Switzerland, in the ECMA-262 specification. JavaScript and Jscript are the most common implementations of the EMCAScript standard. “JavaScript” is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; technology is further developed and implemented under license by the Mozilla Foundation of Mountain View, Calif. “JScript” is an ECMAScript implementation from Microsoft, Corporation. JavaScript and Jscript are often used for client-side interactive web applications.
  • script functions can interact with the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web page to perform one or more tasks.
  • Scripts may also be used to make service requests to remote servers after a page has loaded. These requests can obtain new information or data, as well as load or launch additional applications, e.g., media object players, content viewers, application plug-ins, or software codes.
  • Script code can merge with the DOM of the underlying page so that one or more additional media objects are displayed or otherwise rendered on the page.
  • the script code may initiate one or more additional pages or other rendering for the additional media object(s).
  • the client application may retrieve and execute the script.
  • the script may initiate service requests to one or more remote servers to retrieve and render one or more media objects that enhance the underlying content of the page, optionally using parameter values assigned in the embed code.
  • the script when executed, may access stored locally stored user preferences or user attributes stored in relation to the use of browser “cookies” and contain one or more user attributes in a dynamically generated service request.
  • scripts may be inserted in tags within the media object or within the published web page, and invoked when a consuming user accesses the web page or clicks on a link in the page.
  • a media object may be displayed in physical proximity with related advertising.
  • the tags may additionally allow for various functions to be executed in association with the consumption of the advertising.
  • an Internet service provider ISP may use embedded tags to track the number of reactions of the consumer to the advertising associated with the media object.
  • a goal of the present invention is to augment network advertising and branding with a plethora of social network opportunities to further marketing goals.
  • a service provider facilitates word-of-mouth advertising and sales support associated with displayed media objects on distributed networks.
  • the system provides one or more advocates a network user accessing advertising of a brand, product, or service.
  • One or more of the advocates may be socially related to user.
  • User interactions with the advocates are facilitated through a real-time communication network, follow-on commercial activity is tracked, and the value of word-of-mouth advocacy is captured and distributed.
  • the present invention provides detailed methods, apparatuses and systems directed to interactive, word-of-mouth advocacy of consumption.
  • a service provider facilitates social interaction with a group of advocates leading to the consumption of goods, brands, or services on the network.
  • the service provider monitors access to network content objects, identifying marketing opportunities for advocacy.
  • the opportunities are ranked, and one or more high ranking content objects are augmented with one or more advocates.
  • a consumer is provided with one-click access to one or more live personalized advocates related to the consumer and the marketed goods, brands, or services.
  • FIG. 1 is an example of a prior art user interface displaying a search result.
  • FIG. 2 shows an augmented display associating various items with social halos.
  • FIG. 3 shows an augmented display associating a web page with a halo.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates associating a sub-page event with a halo.
  • FIG. 5 is an example flowchart for a method of populating a single halo.
  • FIG. 6 is an example flowchart for a method of populating a page with halos.
  • FIG. 7 is an example flowchart for a halo user interface daemon.
  • FIG. 8 shows an example of computer server architecture.
  • FIG. 9 shows an example of a social networking environment.
  • FIG. 10A-10B show two steps in social network advertising on a cell phone.
  • FIG. 11A-11B show two additional steps in social network advertising on a cell phone.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art browser window display using the Mozilla Firefox browser.
  • a browser window such as the one shown, is typically divided into one or more control areas and one or more content areas.
  • the browser window contains typical control and display regions, such as title bar 101 , browser control bar 102 , Yahoo!® Tool bar 103 , and a main window content area 104 .
  • Browser control 108 is an interface for a Yahoo!® search engine. In this hypothetical example, a consumer has entered the search phrase “BCZ Motors,” the name of a fictitious motorcycle manufacturer.
  • the main window content area 104 displays fictitious results of the search request.
  • the area 105 contains the beginning of typical search results, with two line items 106 - 107 displayed.
  • a “line item” is a listed element of a display associated with or linked to a different network location.
  • the line item will contain an explanatory title, one or more excerpts of text from a web page, and a link connected to the uniform resource locater (URL) for the web site hosting the web page.
  • URL uniform resource locater
  • line item 106 is a link to the website for the North American distributor for BCZ motorcycles
  • line item 107 is a link to the website for a local BCZ motorcycle dealer.
  • the invention may be used to augment various line items as described further below.
  • the hypothetical web page also contains three sponsored search results, which are typically advertisements for products, services, brands, or other web sites.
  • a sponsor may be any party in a commercial supply chain, from manufacturer or service provider to consumer.
  • a media object 109 consisting of a manufacturer logo is displayed as a sponsored advertisement with a goal to increase brand awareness.
  • a media object 110 depicting a motorcycle, is an advertisement for a product.
  • the media object may be a static object, such as an image or illustration, or it may be a dynamically changing object, such as a flash movie, an MPEG-4 video, or some other streaming audio/music video.
  • a banner ad 111 advertises the services of a fictitious law group.
  • the invention may also be used to augment various sponsored content objects, as described further below.
  • Example prototypical environments for the invention are shown in FIGS. 2-4 .
  • Displayed content is augmented with one or more groups of available advertisers to promote goods, services, other web sites and/or brands.
  • a halo of advertisers is a group of one or more advertisers associated with a common marketing theme.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates an example where the three sponsored content objects of FIG. 1 are augmented in a modified page content area 200 .
  • Each sponsored or un-sponsored content object presents a new potential marketing theme, and the invention may be applied to an individual content object on a page as described further below.
  • the sponsored content objects are shown augmented in FIG. 2 .
  • the content to be augmented is an entire web page.
  • a single marketing theme is embedded in the metadata of the page or determined from the content of the page.
  • each media object contained within the page presents a new potential marketing theme.
  • a consumer may dynamically access a group of advertisers associated with one or more sub-page events or themes.
  • a motorcycle distributor may provide a media object that any motorcycle rider may post on a personal webpage, consisting of an image of one of the distributor's products.
  • the data for the media object includes metadata and or script function calls implementing a social halo connected with the distributor.
  • a web page that contains L line items and M media objects may be augmented with zero to (L+M+1) marketing theme halos, one for each line item, one for each media object, and one for an overall page theme.
  • the halos may be constantly visible, dynamically displayed, and/or dynamically generated.
  • representations of the one or more halos associated with a page are always visible as shown in the three example halos of FIG. 2 .
  • a consumer may obtain additional information about a marketing agent by a consumer action, such as by touching the image of the agent on a touch-screen, or clicking/holding a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over a marketing agent's image, or allowing the screen cursor to hover over a marketing agent's image.
  • a consumer action such as by touching the image of the agent on a touch-screen, or clicking/holding a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over a marketing agent's image, or allowing the screen cursor to hover over a marketing agent's image.
  • various interfaces support various consumer actions to select an image within a page.
  • an exaggerated cursor arrowhead hovers above image 202 .
  • a pop up window containing one or more items related to the marketing agent appears above the page content.
  • one or more of the name of the marketing agent (title), the affiliation of the marketing agent (company), and the social bond between the marketing agent and the consumer (bonds) is shown in text area 206 .
  • image 202 may be a picture of a local BCZ motorcycle rider and area 206 may indicate his name, that he is a BCZ rider, and that he lives in Oakland, the same location as the consumer.
  • the pop-up window may indicate one or more means to communicate directly with the agent, as displayed in communication area 207 .
  • the communication area typically has a redundant indicator for each means of initiating a communication.
  • the consumer may select a phone contact by selecting the text “phone” or clicking the associated icon (shown as a bullet in close proximity to “phone”).
  • a best means of communication common to the consumer and marketing agent, is selected as a default means.
  • the consumer may override the selection in a pop-up menu, a set of user preferences, or via a pull-down menu or toolbar menu selection.
  • a consumer activation of any visible halo image results in a direct, live connection to the marketing agent using the default means of communication.
  • consumer selection of an image within a screen display may be accomplished in an interface by detecting various consumer actions, such as a tap on the image of the agent on a touch-screen, or clicking/releasing (including double-clicking, option-clicking, and so on) a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over a marketing agent's image.
  • the halo of marketing agents may include one or more alternative agents.
  • the motorcycle distributor for example, may have a queue of available sales agents. In the event that a displayed agent goes offline or otherwise becomes unavailable, a replacement agent is ready.
  • the image and information of the offline marketing agent is replaced by the image and information of the replacement agent.
  • a failure to establish communication with a first marketing agent results in an attempt to establish communication with a first replacement agent
  • a failure to establish communication with a first replacement results in an attempt to establish communication with a second replacement agent, and so on, until the list of replacements is exhausted or communication is established.
  • a failure to establish communication to an agent by a first selected means of communication results in an attempt to establish communication by a second best means of communication, and so on, until the list of means of communications is exhausted or communication is established.
  • a failure to establish communication to an agent results in an indication to the consumer that the agent is temporarily busy, and retries of the same communication means may be attempted.
  • a failure to establish communication to an agent by a first selected means of communication results in an indication to the consumer of a variety of alternate contact means and/or alternative marketing agents, and allows the consumer to select the alternative desired.
  • agent communication means include, but are not limited to, telephone, cell phone, instant messaging, the short message service (SMS) protocol, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), video teleconferencing, e-mail, audio teleconferencing, and other computer, phone, smart phone, cell phone, personal digital assistant, satellite phones, and other telephonic means of communication.
  • SMS short message service
  • VoIP voice over internet protocol
  • the consumer may replace one or more marketing agents with an alternative agent.
  • the function of the pop-up window associated with the mouse hovering above image 202 may be different than that shown in FIG. 2 .
  • a hovering cursor or other consumer action associated with image 202 brings up a pop-up menu of alternative agents for that slot, such as the pop-up bubble 400 of FIG. 4 .
  • the consumer may click and drag the mouse (or take some other selection action) to select one of the alternative agents.
  • the image and information of the rejected marketing agent is replaced by the image and information of the replacement agent and results in transmission of information to track the popularity of halo members.
  • the marketing agents are partitioned into categories and a replacement must come from within the same category.
  • a motorcycle distributor may specify that one agent in a two person halo is a sales agent, while the other is a service technician. If a sales agent (or service technician) goes offline or becomes busy, a replacement sales agent (or service technician) is selected.
  • one or more marketing agents are considered required agents, with one or more required attributes. The replacement of a required agent must have the same required attributes.
  • FIGS. 2-4 Three different methods of augmenting the user interface with available advertisers are also illustrated in FIGS. 2-4 .
  • the combinations shown are by way of example and not by way of limitation.
  • company logo 109 is augmented with two marketing agents, H 1 A 201 and H 1 B 202 , in a halo H 1 embedded within the page and placed in close proximity to 109 .
  • Motorcycle advertisement 110 is augmented with three marketing agents, denoted H 2 A 203 , H 2 B 204 , and H 2 C 205 in a halo H 2 in close proximity to 110 .
  • Banner ad 111 is augmented with a single marketing agent 208 . Each of these three halos is shown embedded in the content of the page and visible in the page.
  • one or more additional content objects may also be augmented with a halo which is only visible through activation by the user, such as by hovering or clicking/holding a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over an object associated with a halo. This is illustrated in FIG. 4 , as described further below.
  • the embedded representations may be alternatively placed to the side of the augmented item, above or below the augmented item, or surrounding the augmented item, as long as the representations are embedded in the page content area of the page in close proximity to the augmented item.
  • FIG. 3 in a second example, shows a web page augmented with a halo of four advertisers, with images 308 - 311 embedded in a separate left drawer 304 .
  • the web page has a hypothetical content area 301 with a text phrase 302 (“My new motorcycle!”) and displaying a media object 303 consisting of an image of a motorcycle.
  • My new motorcycle! a text phrase
  • the halo with four advertisers is not embedded in the content of the augmented page, but is instead displayed in a separate area.
  • the separate area may be a user interface known in the art as a left drawer (shown), a right drawer, a left or right sidebar, a bottom bar, a bottom drawer, a toolbar, a tear-off window, a pop-up window, a pop-up menu list, or in a separate tabbed window.
  • the user may utilize optional control button 307 by clicking and dragging to the right to slide the drawer partially under the window or close it entirely.
  • the halo window may be dragged apart from the main window as a tear-off window.
  • a halo window has various controls to close, minimize, restore, resize, and/or scroll through a subset of visible members in the halo window.
  • the halo window contains one or more images for the advertisers, such as examples 308 - 311 , and may contain a title area 305 to display the halo theme.
  • various advertiser text labels may be displayed (not shown). If the user desires to contact one of the advertisers in FIGS. 2-3 , the consumer activates a selection of the advertiser's image, as described above. In an alternative implementation, the consumer may redundantly select the advertiser by selecting the advertiser's text label. In a further embodiment, the image and label of the advertiser may be combined in a single area, such as 208 . In one implementation, title text and communication selection icons are placed on top of the advertiser's image (not shown).
  • the halo displays as shown in FIGS. 2-3 are static in the sense that the halo images remain on the screen when the page is displayed.
  • An alternative example utilizes dynamic “floating” halos as shown in FIG. 4 .
  • the underlying page content 300 is the same as in the main window of FIG. 3 .
  • a browser user perceives a cursor location 401 that typically is moved with a mouse.
  • the cursor location hovers above a media object 303 consisting of an image of a motorcycle.
  • a user interface process monitors the amount of time the cursor is above the media object, and provides a floating halo window, such as halo 400 containing four advertisers 401 - 404 , if the cursor remains above the media object beyond a time-out period. If the user desires to contact one of the advertisers, the user moves the cursor to the halo display and clicks a mouse button with the cursor location over the advertiser's image. In an alternate embodiment, the user initiates display of the floating halo window 400 by clicking on the media object and holding the mouse button down. As a result, the floating halo window 403 remains on display as long as the mouse button is held down.
  • a floating halo window such as halo 400 containing four advertisers 401 - 404
  • the user drags the cursor location over the advertiser and releases the mouse button.
  • Other interfaces are possible. For example, on a touch screen a consumer may touch a media object to pop-up the associated halo, and drag the finger or stylus to the image of an advertiser for selection purposes.
  • An advantage of this embodiment is that a distributor may show a larger number of products on a page when one or more halos are not displayed, and the consumer observes only those halos related to products of interest.
  • FIGS. 2-4 the interfaces share some common features.
  • a marketing halo is shown in close proximity to the item, media object, or page content to be augmented. With one click or other consumer activation, a user can initiate immediate contact with an advertiser, as explained further below.
  • Each halo of advertisers promotes a common marketing theme.
  • the various halo interfaces may be combined in the display of a web page (not shown) or other display.
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example halo population process, where a service provider determines the members of a halo organized around a marketing concept.
  • the halo population process begins in step 500 .
  • step 501 the marketing concept or theme, consumer attributes, the halo context, and desired advertiser attributes are input to the process.
  • the process also inputs a number of required halo members, N, and a limit on the number of optional halo members, M. In other embodiments, the number N or M may be determined dynamically.
  • Consumer attributes may include the age, sex, location, income, and other demographics of the consumer, expressed preferences of the consumer, and implied preferences of the consumer such as buying or browsing habits, and so on.
  • a consumer-profiling server maintains a database of consumer attributes.
  • a consumer may register with the consumer-profiling server to obtain an identifier and store one or more expressed attributes.
  • a consumer-profiling server may assign user identifiers.
  • a consumer identifier may be transmitted to the populating server, which is used to index the consumer attribute server to obtain the consumer attributes.
  • external consumer profiling services may be used.
  • any consumer action related to a halo is tracked and used to adaptively modify consumer attributes.
  • consumer browser habits may be tracked to estimate an expected time of purchase. For example, a motorcycle shopper typically first accesses a variety of web sites related to different brands of motorcycles, and gradually narrows his choice to concentrate on a limited number of brands and models, and, as the purchase approaches, the shopper is likely to be more interested in exact price and availability. By tracking the focus of the shopper, a service provider can estimate a time for the shopper's purchase.
  • a service provider tracks and estimates the proper context of a halo. For example, in one embodiment the service provider tracks the position of the consumer in a purchasing timeline, and biases the selection of halo participants accordingly.
  • the halo context may also include the intended type of display device or other display attributes, interface attributes, and desired halo characteristics, such as halo type, relative fulfillment of marketing goals, geographic limitations, age limitations, demographic targets, and so on.
  • a marketing deal identifier may be assigned, and a marketing-logging server tracks the fulfillment of various marketing deals. For example, a motorcycle distributor may be willing to pay for up to 1000 halo referrals to a sales agent, and the marketing deal may be registered in the marketing-logging server.
  • the populating server receives the marketing deal identifier, accesses the marketing-logging server with the identifier as a deal index to check on the fulfillment of the marketing deal. While the goal remains unfulfilled, the selection of halo members may be biased in favor of sales agents.
  • a halo has, for example, a population of N required (or specified) members and exactly M optional (or optionally specified) members.
  • the halo may have a number of required members, N, determined as a default value, a preference value, or an embedded value contained in metadata for the DOM of the web page, and the process may determine one or more optional halo members, with an upper limit of M optional members.
  • a marketing plan for motorcycles may require at least three advertisers, and may allow for up to two additional advertisers. The marketing agency may further specify additional desired attributes.
  • a marketing agency may specify that of the three required advertisers, one is a motorcycle sales agent, one is a motorcycle service agent, and it is preferred but not necessary that the third is a local motorcycle dealer.
  • a data object may be configured with metadata to specify one or more attributes of halo members.
  • Step 502 evaluates a pool of advertisers as potential required members of a halo. For each required member of the halo, the attributes of each member of a pool of advertisers are compared to a set of required advertiser attributes, and if member of the pool meets the qualifications, the member is considered a prospective advertiser.
  • the set of prospective advertisers is processed to determine a degree of social connection with the consumer, which is assigned a social connection score (SCS) and a degree of marketing benefit, which is assigned a market benefit score (MBS).
  • SCS social connection score
  • MVS market benefit score
  • Social connections may have multiple dimensions, and an axis is assigned for each dimension. For example, a consumer may feel a degree of social connection with an advertiser in a nearby geographic location. One potential axis of advertiser/consumer commonality is therefore geographic location.
  • the social connection score for geographic location may be inversely proportional to the estimated distance between the consumer and advertiser. A prospective advertiser who is nearer to the consumer achieves a higher score for a location axis.
  • the various social connections to be considered may be embedded as metadata in the DOM for the web page, or may be assigned by default or user preferences. Examples of social connections may include ethnicity, age, sex, educational level, educational institutions, economic class, profession, geographic area, expressed or derived user preferences, and membership in various other demographic groups.
  • a prospective advertiser may have more than one social connection with the consumer, and a score is assigned for each dimension.
  • the scores for various dimensions of advertiser/consumer connection are accumulated for each prospective advertiser to determine a combined SCS.
  • the scores for various dimensions of advertiser/consumer connection are squared, and the squares of the scores are accumulated to determine a combined SCS.
  • the subset of prospective members is processed to determine a degree of marketing benefit to the product, which is assigned a marketing benefit score (MBS).
  • MBS marketing benefit score
  • Marketing benefit may have multiple dimensions, and an axis is assigned for each dimension.
  • an advertiser may be evaluated in sub-categories including, but not limited to, knowledge of the product, product training, familiarity with the product or brand, attitude toward the product, image appeal, likeability, personality, fame, track record in selling the product, general marketing skills, and so on.
  • a potential marketing agent is assigned a marketing benefit score.
  • the scores for all included dimensions are accumulated to determine a combined MBS.
  • the scores for included dimensions of marketing benefit are squared, and the squares of the scores are accumulated to obtain a combined MBS.
  • step 503 the accumulated scores are processed to identify the Nbest scoring advertisers.
  • an advertiser's overall score is proportional to the product of a social connection score and a marketing benefit score
  • w is a constant of proportionality.
  • An advantage of such a scoring system is that it results in a diverse source of marketing materials. A manufacturer's representative, for example, would likely have a relatively high marketing benefit score, which could overcome a relatively low social connection score. On the other hand, a close social connection of the consumer would likely have a high social connection score, which could overcome a relatively low marketing benefit score. In one implementation, prospective marketing agents who have a negative marketing benefit or marginal marketing benefit are not included.
  • the constant of proportionality is a product of K weighting factors
  • an advertiser's marketing benefit score may be decreased or increased based upon a user preference rating by adjusting a weighting factor.
  • step 503 the scores for various prospective advertisers are sorted to identify the N advertisers with the best scores. These advertisers are assigned as the N required halo members.
  • Step 505 initializes an empty group of optional advertisers as having zero members and a score of zero. Step 505 checks if there is a possibility of identifying additional optional members. If so, step 505 proceeds to step 506 .
  • each number L of potential optional members in the range of one up to M is evaluated.
  • Prospective advertisers are identified and assigned scores by accumulating MBS and SCS scores as above.
  • a group satisfaction score is determined for each value of L.
  • the group satisfaction score is proportional to the sum of the best L advertiser's scores divided by the total number of halo members.
  • step 507 the group satisfaction scores are compared to identify the value of L with the highest group satisfaction score.
  • the corresponding group list is used to identify L optional group members.
  • the optional group members and the required group members are combined in step 508 , and the halo population process terminates in step 509 .
  • FIG. 6 illustrates an example page population process which augments a page with one or more social halos.
  • the process begins in step 601 .
  • step 602 the process takes in consumer attributes, page content, and halo context.
  • step 603 the analyzed page content is parsed to process any meta-tags which specify one or more required halo attributes.
  • the required halos are populated using a halo population process such as that shown in FIG. 5 .
  • the meta-tags may also specify that a page theme halo is required.
  • a page theme halo may also be indicated as a consumer preference, in response to a consumer action, by default preferences, or by estimating whether a page theme halo score exceeds a minimum threshold.
  • Step 604 checks if a page theme halo should be generated.
  • a page theme is determined by page meta-data.
  • a dominant page theme is determined by analyzing the page content.
  • prospective marketing themes for the page are compared and a best theme is chosen.
  • a best theme may be implemented as a theme that generates the most halo service provider revenue.
  • a number of page themes are analyzed to determine a page theme with the best social marketing benefit.
  • Step 604 or 605 proceeds to step 606 , which checks if there is a possibility of adding halos to one or more media objects or line items. If so step 606 proceeds to step 607 .
  • each media object or line item is evaluated as a halo prospect.
  • Meta-data in the line item or media object may determine a best marketing concept, or alternatively, a best marketing concept may be determined from the contextual theme of the line item or media object. In one embodiment, meta-data may also remove a line item or media object from active consideration.
  • a prospective halo is populated using a halo population process such as that shown in FIG. 5 . Each prospective halo is assigned a social marketing score. In one embodiment, each prospective halo is also scored on the enhancement it provides if embedded in a page display. Social marketing scores are compared to find the best prospect halo for each media object or line item considered.
  • the social marketing scores are compared and sorted to find the N best prospect halos.
  • N halos Mare embedded in the page, where M is a non-negative number less than or equal to N.
  • the page enhancement scores are compared and sorted to find the M best halos to embed in the page, and the page content is modified to include the M best embedded halos.
  • the remaining halos are configured as floating or dynamically generated halos.
  • duplicate advertisers are replaced with substitutes in post-processing.
  • the advertiser is removed from the pool of prospective advertisers for that consumer, so that no duplicates are chosen.
  • the page population process terminates in step 609 .
  • FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example interface process typically, but not necessarily, implemented in a consumer's client-side device. Because of firewalls and other intruder/hacker protection measures, a server system may encounter difficulty in pushing content that is not requested to a client-side device. In a preferred embodiment, a client-side process monitors consumer actions and network conditions, and transmits requests to pull additional content from one or more network servers as needed.
  • An example client side process begins in step 701 .
  • step 702 it is assumed that the consumer has accessed a page of content from a network server or a file system.
  • the page content is input and analyzed, and a stored consumer identifier is accessed.
  • one or more additional consumer attributes are accessed.
  • a server request may contain additional consumer attributes identified by a consumer cookie.
  • additional consumer attributes stored on the server side may also be accessed.
  • a page content identifier and consumer identifier are used to populate the page with one or more halos, using a page population process such as that shown in FIG. 6 .
  • step 704 the populated page with constantly displayed (static) halos is rendered and displayed on a client-side screen display.
  • a timer is reset to zero to determine the amount of elapsed time since the last rendering of the display.
  • Step 705 is the center of an event loop. The display timer and user interfaces are monitored to detect an event. When an event occurs, step 705 compares the event to an enumerated list of events, and takes the corresponding path in the flowchart. For example, when a consumer cursor or other pointing indicator remains above a media object or line item with a configured floating halo for a pre-determined amount of time, the consumer actions are considered to be performing a “floating halo hover” event, and step 705 proceeds to step 706 .
  • a floating halo is rendered on the consumer screen display, preferably as a top layer on top of the underlying display content and in close proximity to the corresponding media object or line item. Further consumer actions are monitored to check if the consumer proceeds to select a floating halo member in step 707 . If not, the floating halo (if any) is removed as a top layer in step 708 , the page display with static halos is refreshed in step 704 , and consumer actions are monitored for a next event in step 705 .
  • step 705 If a consumer clicks on a halo member embedded in the page in step 705 , or drags and releases a mouse button with a screen cursor over a floating halo member in step 707 , the indicated halo member is selected for a marketing contact.
  • step 709 attempt is made to facilitate contact with the halo member, as, for example, by one of several means as discussed above. If a live communication to the advertiser is established, the process waits in the background in step 710 until the communication is completed and proceeds afterwards to step 708 , to remove a floating halo if necessary, as explained above. If a preferred communication link is not established, step 710 proceeds to step 711 to implement a backup communication plan, by, for example, one of several means discussed above. In step 712 , any halo members found to be offline in the communication attempt(s) are replaced, and the flowchart proceeds to step 708 , as described above.
  • step 705 if the elapsed time counter exceeds a threshold, it is assumed that the page content has become stale and needs to be refreshed.
  • a page refresh may also be initiated by an express consumer action, such as by clicking on a browser refresh button.
  • step 705 proceeds to step 713 .
  • step 713 the underlying page content is refreshed. If the page content is unchanged from a marketing perspective, the previously populated halos are re-used. If not, the page is repopulated with one or more new halos (not shown). Step 713 proceeds to step 712 to replace offline halo members, as described above.
  • monitored consumer actions may indicate a “newpage” event, where the consumer navigates to a different content page, and the flowchart proceeds to step 702 to restart the interface process with the new page content.
  • the consumer may navigate to a new page by, for example, typing a new URL or search phrase in a browser control or clicking on a page link.
  • monitored consumer actions may indicate the consumer desires to quit the process.
  • step 705 proceeds to step 715 where the process terminates.
  • Other events encountered in step 705 are assumed to be browser control events, processed in step 714 . After a browser control event is processed, the halo members are refreshed as described above in step 712 .
  • Server systems are typically used to populate a page with one or more marketing halos, to edit and store halo-enabled pages, to maintain a presence system indicating the availability of advertisers, to track consumer attributes and advertiser attributes, to determine halo contexts, to respond to requests for marketing tracking updates, and to manage billing and accounting for marketing plans.
  • Server and client systems described herein can be implemented by a variety of computer systems and architectures.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates suitable components in an exemplary embodiment of a general-purpose computer system.
  • the exemplary embodiment is only one example of suitable components and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the configuration of components be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of a computer system.
  • the invention may be operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computer system environments or configurations.
  • the invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer.
  • program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
  • the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.
  • program modules may be located in local and/or remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
  • an exemplary system for implementing the invention may include a general-purpose computer system 800 .
  • Computer system 800 accesses one or more applications and peripheral drivers directed to a number of functions described herein.
  • Components of the computer system 800 may include, but are not limited to, a CPU or central processing unit 802 , a system memory 808 , and a system bus 822 that couples various system components including the system memory 808 to the processing unit 802 .
  • a signal “bus” refers to a plurality of digital signal lines serving a common function.
  • the system bus 822 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.
  • such architectures include the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, the Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, the Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, the PCI-Express bus (PCI-X), and the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) bus.
  • ISA Industry Standard Architecture
  • EISA Enhanced ISA
  • MCA Micro Channel Architecture
  • VLB Video Electronics Standards Association local
  • PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect
  • PCI-X PCI-Express
  • AGP Accelerated Graphics Port
  • An operating system manages the operation of computer system 800 , including the input and output of data to and from applications (not shown).
  • the operating system provides an interface between the applications being executed on the system and the components of the system.
  • the operating system is a Windows® 95/98/NT/XP/Vista/Mobile operating system, available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.
  • the present invention may be used with other suitable operating systems, such as an OS-X® operating system, available from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a UNIX® operating system, or a LINUX operating system.
  • the computer system 800 may include a variety of computer-readable media.
  • Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer system 800 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media.
  • Computer-readable media may include volatile and nonvolatile computer storage media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data.
  • Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact-disk ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic tape cassettes, magnetic tape, hard magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, floppy disk storage devices, magnetic diskettes, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by the computer system 800 .
  • RAM random access memory
  • ROM read-only memory
  • EEPROM electrically erasable programmable ROM
  • CD-ROM compact-disk ROM
  • DVD digital versatile disks
  • magnetic tape cassettes magnetic tape
  • hard magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices floppy disk storage devices
  • magnetic diskettes or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by the computer system 800 .
  • Communication media may also embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media.
  • modulated data signal means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.
  • communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, cellular networks, and other wireless media.
  • the system memory 808 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 806 and random access memory (RAM) 805 .
  • ROM read only memory
  • RAM random access memory
  • a basic input/output system 807 (BIOS) containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer system 800 , such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 806 and other non-volatile storage, such as flash memory.
  • system memory 808 may contain some or all of the operating system 809 , the application programs 812 , other executable code 810 and program data 811 .
  • Memory 808 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by CPU 802 .
  • a CPU may contain a cache memory unit 801 for temporary local storage of instructions, data, or computer addresses.
  • the computer system 800 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates a bulk storage 813 that reads from or writes to one or more magnetic disk drives of non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, and storage device 821 that may be an optical disk drive or a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, a nonvolatile storage medium 830 such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk.
  • removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary computer system 800 include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like.
  • Bulk storage 813 and the storage device 821 may be connected directly to the system bus 822 , or alternatively may be connected through an interface such as storage controller 814 shown for bulk storage 813 .
  • Storage devices may interface to computer system 800 through a general computer bus such as 822 , or may interconnect with a storage controller over a storage-optimized bus, such as the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus, the ANSI ATA/ATAPI bus, the Ultra ATA bus, the FireWire (IEEE 1394) bus, or the Serial ATA (SATA) bus.
  • SCSI Small Computer System Interface
  • ANSI ATA/ATAPI the ANSI ATA/ATAPI bus
  • Ultra ATA the Ultra ATA bus
  • FireWire IEEE 1394
  • SATA Serial ATA
  • the storage devices and their associated computer storage media provide storage of computer-readable instructions, executable code, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 800 .
  • bulk storage 813 is illustrated as storing operating system 809 , application programs 812 , other executable code 810 and program data 811 .
  • data and computer instructions in 813 may be transferred to system memory 808 to facilitate immediate CPU access from processor 802 .
  • processor 802 may access stored instructions and data by interacting directly with bulk storage 813 .
  • bulk storage may be alternatively provided by a network-attached storage device (not shown), which is accessed through a network interface 815 .
  • a user may enter commands and information into the computer system 800 through the network interface 815 or through an input device 827 such as a keyboard, a pointing device commonly referred to as a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad tablet, a controller, an electronic digitizer, a microphone, an audio input interface, or a video input interface.
  • Other input devices may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, and so forth.
  • These and other input devices are often connected to CPU 802 through an input interface 818 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, a game port or a universal serial bus (USB).
  • USB universal serial bus
  • a display 826 or other type of video device may also be connected to the system bus 822 via an interface, such as a graphics controller 816 and a video interface 817 .
  • an output device 828 such as headphones, speakers, or a printer, may be connected to the system bus 822 through an output interface 819 or the like.
  • the computer system 800 may operate in a networked environment using a network 823 to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 825 .
  • the remote computer 825 may be a terminal, a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer system 800 .
  • the network 823 depicted in FIG. 8 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or other type of network.
  • LAN local area network
  • WAN wide area network
  • FIG. 8 illustrates remote executable code 824 as residing on remote computer 825 . It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
  • these elements are intended to represent a broad category of computer systems, including but not limited to general purpose computer systems based on one or more members of the family of CPUs manufactured by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., the family of CPUs manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., or the family of ARM CPUs, originally designed by Advanced RISC Machines, Ltd., as well as any other suitable processor.
  • AMD Advanced Micro Devices
  • ARM CPUs originally designed by Advanced RISC Machines, Ltd.
  • server functionalities described herein may be implemented by a plurality of server sub-systems communicating over a backplane.
  • system bus 822 may be implemented as a plurality of busses interconnecting various subsystems of the computer system.
  • computer system 800 may contain additional signal busses or interconnections between existing components, such as by adding a direct memory access unit (not shown) to allow one or more components to more efficiently access system memory 808 .
  • CACHE 1 and CPU 1 are packed together as “processor module” 802 with processor CPU 1 referred to as the “processor core.”
  • cache memories 801 , 803 , contained in 802 , 804 may be separate components on the system bus.
  • certain embodiments of the present invention may not require nor include all of the above components. For example, some embodiments may include a smaller number of CPUs, a smaller number of network ports, a smaller number of storage devices, or a smaller number of input-output interfaces.
  • computer system 800 may include additional components, such as one or more additional central processing units, such as 804 , storage devices, memories, or interfaces.
  • one or more components of computer system 800 may be combined into a specialized system-on-a-chip (SOC) to further system integration.
  • SOC system-on-a-chip
  • the entire computer system may be integrated in one or more very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit(s).
  • VLSI very large scale integrated
  • operations of one or more of the physical server or client systems described herein is implemented as a series of software routines executed by computer system 800 .
  • Each of the software routines comprises a plurality or series of machine instructions to be executed by one or more components in the computer system, such as CPU 802 .
  • the series of instructions may be stored on a storage device, such as bulk storage 813 .
  • the series of instructions may be stored in an EEPROM, a flash device, or a DVD.
  • the series of instructions need not be stored locally, and could be received from a remote computer 825 or a server on a network via network interface 815 .
  • FIG. 9 illustrates computer system 800 placed in an example wide area network environment, such as the Internet.
  • Network cloud 823 generally represents one or more interconnected networks, connecting computer system 800 , a plurality of example network sites, 900 , 910 , 920 , 930 , 940 , and 950 , and a plurality of example client devices, 942 , 951 , 952 , and 954 .
  • Network cloud 823 may include TCP/IP based wide area networks, private networks, wireless networks, satellite networks, cellular networks, paging networks, and the like.
  • Client systems such as portable device 942 , portable computer 952 , and personal computer 954 are operably connected to the wide area network environment through an internet service provider (not shown), a cellular provider 940 , a wireless provider (not shown), a local wireless network 951 , and/or a local wired network 953 .
  • Computer system 800 is contained within the network site 920 , where one or more computer systems, such as computer system 800 , are connected to a local area network and router 921 .
  • the router 921 manages local computer communication traffic in network site 920 and interconnects with network cloud 823 .
  • Router 921 also functions to translate one or more local area network addresses in network site 920 to provide one or more unique corresponding wide area network addresses in order to facilitate communication between computer systems in network site 920 and other computer systems on the wide area network.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a number of network service provider sites, including content site A 900 , content site B 930 , and network application site 910 .
  • the described invention may operate with one or more content providing or application sites.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates the provider sites as separate local network sites, the functionality of each site may be combined with other sites. Further, a function for a particular site may be performed in a distributed computing environment by one or more computer systems at remote sites. Further still, the functionality represented by each depicted site may be further separated into a plurality of sub-function sites.
  • implementations of the invention may operate in network environments that include multiples of one or more of the individual sites or subsystems of sites described herein. Implementations of the invention may also operate in network environments where one of more of the systems or sites described herein has been eliminated.
  • Content aggregation sites are represented by content site A 900 and content site B 930 in FIG. 3 .
  • Content is stored as one or more digital data objects.
  • a digital data object may include one or more media objects or executable code objects.
  • Content site A 900 is a network addressable system that allows users to access media objects supplied by one or more users.
  • content site A 900 may be a media object aggregation or sharing system, such as the Yahoo! Geocities® blog-sharing site, and similar variants.
  • Content site A 900 comprises one or more physical server systems 901 , 902 , implemented using an architecture such as that of computer system 800 , and containing or connected to one or more bulk storage systems, such as that of bulk storage system 813 , or a network attached storage device (not shown), and a local area network and router 903 .
  • the one or more physical servers allow users to upload and download media objects.
  • the functionality hosted by the one or more physical servers may include web or HTTP servers, FTP servers, and the like.
  • Content site B 930 is a network addressable system that allows users to access content supplied by one of more content suppliers (not shown).
  • Content site B 930 comprises one or more physical server systems 931 , 932 containing or connected to one or more bulk storage systems (not shown), and a local area network and router 933 .
  • Network application site 910 is a network addressable system that allows users to access one or more executable code objects supplied by one or more service providers (not shown).
  • Network application site 910 comprises one or more physical server systems 911 , 912 , 913 containing or connected to one or more bulk storage systems, shown as network-attached storage device 914 , and a local area network and router 915 .
  • Executable code objects may include code to be executed on a client device as well as code executed within a server system, such as server 912 .
  • An example of an executable code object is an informational web site where users request and receive identified web pages and other content over the network cloud 823 .
  • the executable code object may also be a posting forum, where users may submit or otherwise configure media objects to be perceived by other users.
  • the executable code object may also be a social network application, such as a chat client or e-mail client, adapted to establish intermediated or peer-to-peer communications with other clients.
  • the executable code object may also be a web-posting application, allowing users to configure and maintain personal web pages.
  • One or more executable code objects may also combine to form a content distribution application that displays available media objects and transmits them to users. Examples of network application sites include Yahoo! Music Engine®, Apple iTunes®, and podcasting servers.
  • Network application site 910 and sites 900 , 930 also represent a suitable architecture for invention.
  • server systems are used to populate a page with one or more marketing halos, to edit and store halo-enabled pages, to maintain a presence system indicating the availability of advertisers, to track consumer attributes and advertiser attributes, to determine halo contexts, to respond to requests for marketing tracking updates, to manage billing/accounting for marketing plans, to adapt attributes, and to facilitate and/or log communications between a consumer and an advertiser.
  • One suitable configuration allocates site 900 for common consumer accesses.
  • site 900 may comprise a consumer site, where server 901 performs as a halo-enabled object server and server 902 may track consumer access to halo-enabled objects and consumer attributes.
  • Site 930 may comprise a marketing site, where advertisers store attributes and generate/edit halo-enabled web pages in advertiser server 931 , and a service provider manages marketing accounts in billing server 932 .
  • Network application site 910 may comprise a population server, with a populating server 911 , an advertiser presence server 912 , and a communications server 913 . Other arrangements and assignments of the social marketing functions are possible.
  • a “virtual server” is physically one or more server systems connected to the network and support circuitry to execute application programs for processing data.
  • Data may be stored by means which facilitate efficient processing, such as by storing the data in a “database” consisting of a collection of data organized by relationships between the various forms of data contained therein.
  • a database consisting of a collection of data organized by relationships between the various forms of data contained therein.
  • a virtual server executes a sequence of low-level CPU commands to complete instructions for processing data.
  • a virtual server typically accepts instructions and executes commands for a multitude of “clients”.
  • the instructions may include, but are not limited to, instructions to store or retrieve data, to modify, verify or erase data, or to reorganize data.
  • a virtual server may also initiate instructions for other network-attached devices.
  • a virtual “music server” might maintain a database to locate a library of musical compositions. The music server might receive commands to store new songs or retrieve old ones from a number of clients.
  • the music server might send commands to other devices on the network, e.g., to disseminate the musical database among various subservient servers, such as a “jazz server,” a “hip-hop server,” a “classical server,” and so on, to register paying user requests in a “billing server,” to verify the identity, preferences, and access privileges of a user in a “registration server” and so on.
  • the music server may therefore also be a client of other servers.
  • virtual servers and clients are abstract interactive devices controlled by software instructions, whose interaction protocols may be flexibly defined.
  • a “client” as used herein may include functionally to process information and programs, as well as to issue commands.
  • a virtual server as used herein may include functionally to initiate commands to users and other servers as well as to respond to instructions.
  • a database should not be construed to be a single physical collection of data.
  • a database is an abstract collection of data which may be distributed over one or more physical locations. Said data may be stored physically within a single or multiple servers, within attached physical device(s), network attached device(s), or user devices(s).
  • an application program should not be construed to be a single physical collection of commands.
  • an application program is an abstract collection of CPU commands, which may be physically executed, in whole or in part, within a single or multiple servers, within attached physical devices(s), within network attached device(s), or within user device(s).
  • FIGS. 10-11 depict four consecutive steps in use of the interface, denoted FIGS. 10A , 10 B, 11 A, and 11 B, respectively.
  • a typical portable client-side device 1000 includes a keypad 1004 and a pointing means.
  • the pointing means is provided by a four-position rocker switch, with up arrow 1002 , down arrow 1003 , left arrow 1008 and right arrow 1012 .
  • a pointing means is provided by a screen sensitive to touch, known as a touch-screen. As shown in FIG.
  • the consumer may access different scrolling pages of advertisements pressing the up/down switches 1002 - 1003 , or with a touch-screen, by touching a media object and dragging it up or down.
  • An advertisement 1001 for a mobile phone known as the RAZR®, manufactured by Motorola, Inc. is scrolling into view in FIG. 10A .
  • the advertisement 1001 occupies a full advertising page on the device. Because the advertisement is a halo-enabled object, a marketing halo appears, represented by title 1005 , left halo scroll indicator 1006 , left-hand member 1007 , center member 1009 , right-hand member 1011 , and right halo scroll indicator 1010 .
  • Center halo member 1009 is selected as a default advertiser. If the consumer activates an assigned selection control, the default advertiser is selected.
  • the selection control may be implemented by various means, such as by pressing the center of the rocker switch, pushing a designated button, or tapping on the image in a touch-screen. If the consumer desires a different default advertiser, the consumer may scroll the halo display leftward using the left arrow button 1008 or touching 1006 on a touch-screen, or rightward using the right arrow button 1012 or touching 1010 on a touch-screen.
  • image 1009 is shrunk to replace image 1007
  • image 1011 is enlarged and replaces 1009
  • a new halo member is depicted in the space formerly occupied by 1011 .
  • the consumer has acted to request additional information about the default advertiser depicted in 1009 .
  • the default advertiser is an advertiser in the set of halo members with the most social marketing benefit.
  • the request may be indicated by holding a finger or stylus on the image 1009 in a touch-screen, or by pressing an information or help button.
  • a pop-up window with elements 1101 (advertiser title), 1102 (advertiser affiliation) and redundant indicators 1103 , 1104 for means of communication with the advertiser appear.
  • the consumer drags a touch-screen pointer to the pop-up window to initiate communication by the default means.
  • the consumer may initiate a communication by tapping or otherwise selecting the default advertiser image without requesting additional information about the advertiser.
  • a consumer may initiate communications by displaying communication options and selecting a communications means, such as by displaying the pop-up information window and touching 1103 or 1104 on a touch-screen.
  • a communication status display shows one or more attributes of the communication, such as, for example, an icon for the means of communication, 1105 , text explaining the status of the communication 1106 , and an image for the advertiser 1009 .
  • the means of communication is by video chat, and instead of displaying a static image of the advertiser, a streaming video image of the advertiser is displayed instead.
  • FIG. 11B also illustrates an additional or alternative embodiment of the user interface.
  • a cursor is displayed on the video screen, such as exaggerated cursor 1108 .
  • display of a cursor pointing to the product may be used to indicate that a sale may be completed by a consumer action such as the activation of a keyboard button.
  • the cursor 1108 provides an indicator of a selection means similar to that of a mouse cursor on a computer screen.
  • the cursor location is moved via navigational switches, such as 1002 - 1003 of FIG. 10A for up/down motion, and 1008 , 1012 of FIG. 10B for left/right motion.
  • button 1107 may be configured, for example, as an “INFO” button. Activation of INFO button 1107 while the cursor is above an image of Lynn might display the pop-up window 1101 - 1104 of FIG. 11A for example.
  • Button 1109 may also be configured, for example, as a “SELECT” button. Activation of SELECT button 1109 while the cursor is above an image of Lynn might initiate the call to Lynn as shown in FIG. 11B , for example.
  • the user experience is personalized with increased efficiency of consumer research and purchasing decision making.
  • the halo system offers an additional advertising and/or personalization opportunity related to their objects or inventory that allows detailed, real-time explanation, question/answer sessions, or other user interest-based knowledge transfer between two or more live humans related to the media object or subject/advertiser.
  • the present invention creates a new advertising channel to monetize human to human interactions related to existing published advertisements by populating a real-time, socially-appropriate communications network of users willing to act as advocates or advertiser-representatives with regards to specific products, services, interests or actual media objects.
  • the halo system delivers social media marketing to users that is timely and relevant while providing advertisers another channel of sales support and publishers another monetization opportunity.
  • the present invention also relates to apparatus for performing the operations herein.
  • This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise one or more general-purpose computers selectively activated by one or more computer programs to achieve the required results.
  • Such a computer program may be stored in any suitable computer-readable storage medium.
  • a computer-readable storage medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form that is usable by a machine, such as a general-purpose computer.

Abstract

A system and method to facilitate word-of-mouth advertising and sales support associated with displayed media objects on distributed networks is described. The system provides one or more advocates to a network user accessing advertising of a brand, product, or service. One or more of the advocates may be socially related to the user. User interactions with the advocates are facilitated through a real-time communication network, follow-on commercial activity is tracked, and the value of word-of-mouth advocacy is captured and distributed.

Description

    CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
  • This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/015,115, filed on Jan. 16, 2008, entitled “System and Method for Word-of-Mouth Advertising”, by Higgins et al.
  • TECHNICAL FIELD
  • The present disclosure relates generally to an online marketing system providing a consumer accessing content on the network with a set of network accessible users with connections to the marketed brands, products, or services, and possibly having a relation to the consumer.
  • BACKGROUND
  • At any point in time, there are literally millions of Internet users online and yet for most users the experience of using the Internet is a solitary, non-social activity. Although real-time communications channels such as the voice over internet protocol (VoIP), instant messaging (IM), and short message service (SMS) protocol are available, those systems do not allow object-specific, context-relative real-time communications directly associated with the object.
  • Likewise, the billions upon billions of media objects on the Internet exist in isolation unrelated to the users who may have created, consumed, commented on or are otherwise knowledgeable with regards to them. Although systems like bulletin boards or user groups exist to allow user interconnection related to specific subject matters, interests or media objects, those mediums are shifted in time. They do not present the media in any personalized or dynamic way to facilitate a real-time communication between users with the ease of one-click.
  • When users are doing commercial research or actually trying to purchase something online, this problem impedes efficient transactions and increases the number of unsatisfied customers due to a lack of real-time sales support to help them make happy and support efficient buying decisions. Although some businesses do offer real-time online sales support, it is not personalized, nor diversified, nor deployed in context on the web.
  • As means of communication improve, users of communication devices have an increased ability to consume, generate, and disseminate information, and to interact over the network through the sharing of information. In addition, the Internet has become a marketplace for goods and services offering wide selection at low prices. Despite these advantages, some consumers prefer the personalized experience of in-person sales and retain loyalty to so-called “brick and mortar” stores. Manufacturers, distributors, retailers, service providers, and advertisers seek improved means of marketing over the Internet and other networks.
  • Network marketing is not limited by a lack of available information; the Internet consumer is typically able to access a plethora of information available online. The digital information consumer perceives information conveyed over the network through various forms of media objects, including text, icons, voice, audio recordings, pictures, animations, videos, interactive widgets, and other audiovisual information. Descriptions of one or more forms of media objects may be combined in a data object, which the consumer accesses over the network. The data object may contain additional “metadata” information which is not typically observed by the consumer, but may instead define parameters useful in conveying information to the consumer, such as user identifiers, data locaters, data types, or data interpretation resources, as described below. Network users typically operate a physical device, such as a telephone, a text messenger, a cell phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a networked music/video player, a personal computer, or a public terminal, to interconnect with other users on the network. The network user typically utilizes a number of application programs to consume content on the network. Example application programs include a “media object player” and a “browser”.
  • A browser is an application program that is generally intended to display “web pages.” A web page is typically a two-dimensional image appearing as an individual page of information including one or more types of contained media objects. Multimedia content on the network appears in a virtual book format, which typically is displayed as an individually framed web page along with means for navigating to other related web pages. A web page may also be associated with audio output perceived by a page consumer. Data for web pages is often described in a format known as a Document Object Model (DOM).
  • Multimedia content may be directly perceived on a web page or may be indirectly accessible. Content on the page may be directly perceived by including one or more static media objects, such as a displayed image, or one or more dynamic media objects, such as a video in a media object player rendered within the image of the page. Examples of indirect access include access to an audio recording through background music, access through an auxiliary page or pop-up window, access through a sidebar or drawer attached to a window, access by invoking a menu item or toolbar, access provided through a link to another page, or access through an auxiliary program, such as a media object player. Two media object players are the Windows Media Player® available from Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash. or the Apple QuickTime® player available from Apple Computer, Inc.
  • The source code for a media object or a web page may also contain one or more instances of script languages. ECMAScript is a script programming language, standardized by Ecma International of Geneva, Switzerland, in the ECMA-262 specification. JavaScript and Jscript are the most common implementations of the EMCAScript standard. “JavaScript” is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; technology is further developed and implemented under license by the Mozilla Foundation of Mountain View, Calif. “JScript” is an ECMAScript implementation from Microsoft, Corporation. JavaScript and Jscript are often used for client-side interactive web applications.
  • When a consumer accesses a web page, script functions can interact with the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web page to perform one or more tasks. Scripts may also be used to make service requests to remote servers after a page has loaded. These requests can obtain new information or data, as well as load or launch additional applications, e.g., media object players, content viewers, application plug-ins, or software codes. Script code can merge with the DOM of the underlying page so that one or more additional media objects are displayed or otherwise rendered on the page. Alternatively, the script code may initiate one or more additional pages or other rendering for the additional media object(s). When script code is embedded into an HTML document and subsequently accessed by a client application, the client application may retrieve and execute the script. The script may initiate service requests to one or more remote servers to retrieve and render one or more media objects that enhance the underlying content of the page, optionally using parameter values assigned in the embed code. For example, the script, when executed, may access stored locally stored user preferences or user attributes stored in relation to the use of browser “cookies” and contain one or more user attributes in a dynamically generated service request.
  • When a media object is published on the network, scripts may be inserted in tags within the media object or within the published web page, and invoked when a consuming user accesses the web page or clicks on a link in the page. For example, a media object may be displayed in physical proximity with related advertising. The tags may additionally allow for various functions to be executed in association with the consumption of the advertising. For example, an Internet service provider (ISP) may use embedded tags to track the number of reactions of the consumer to the advertising associated with the media object.
  • Research has shown that some consumers prefer, and are more likely to be influenced by, marketing efforts provided by access to persons familiar with the marketed goods, brands, or services. In a brick and mortar store, consumers prefer retailers who provide individualized service, trustworthy knowledge, superior support, and easy access to quality goods. Some consumers prefer the social experience of personal interaction. Consumers are also heavily influenced by the consumption preferences of their social peers.
  • At this time, there is no simple way to access analogous marketing social functions over the Internet. A goal of the present invention is to augment network advertising and branding with a plethora of social network opportunities to further marketing goals.
  • SUMMARY
  • A service provider facilitates word-of-mouth advertising and sales support associated with displayed media objects on distributed networks. The system provides one or more advocates a network user accessing advertising of a brand, product, or service. One or more of the advocates may be socially related to user. User interactions with the advocates are facilitated through a real-time communication network, follow-on commercial activity is tracked, and the value of word-of-mouth advocacy is captured and distributed.
  • The present invention provides detailed methods, apparatuses and systems directed to interactive, word-of-mouth advocacy of consumption. In a particular implementation, a service provider facilitates social interaction with a group of advocates leading to the consumption of goods, brands, or services on the network. The service provider monitors access to network content objects, identifying marketing opportunities for advocacy. The opportunities are ranked, and one or more high ranking content objects are augmented with one or more advocates. A consumer is provided with one-click access to one or more live personalized advocates related to the consumer and the marketed goods, brands, or services.
  • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • FIG. 1 is an example of a prior art user interface displaying a search result.
  • FIG. 2 shows an augmented display associating various items with social halos.
  • FIG. 3 shows an augmented display associating a web page with a halo.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates associating a sub-page event with a halo.
  • FIG. 5 is an example flowchart for a method of populating a single halo.
  • FIG. 6 is an example flowchart for a method of populating a page with halos.
  • FIG. 7 is an example flowchart for a halo user interface daemon.
  • FIG. 8 shows an example of computer server architecture.
  • FIG. 9 shows an example of a social networking environment.
  • FIG. 10A-10B show two steps in social network advertising on a cell phone.
  • FIG. 11A-11B show two additional steps in social network advertising on a cell phone.
  • DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, apparatuses and methods meant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more of the above-described goals have been achieved.
  • The specification sets the framework by describing a typical network environment and user operation of the invention. Following that is a description of the algorithms employed and a network infrastructure to support the invention. Finally, an alternative environment and interface shows the general applicability and variations of the method.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art browser window display using the Mozilla Firefox browser. A browser window, such as the one shown, is typically divided into one or more control areas and one or more content areas. The browser window contains typical control and display regions, such as title bar 101, browser control bar 102, Yahoo!® Tool bar 103, and a main window content area 104. Browser control 108 is an interface for a Yahoo!® search engine. In this hypothetical example, a consumer has entered the search phrase “BCZ Motors,” the name of a fictitious motorcycle manufacturer. In response, the main window content area 104 displays fictitious results of the search request.
  • The area 105 contains the beginning of typical search results, with two line items 106-107 displayed. As used hereinafter, a “line item” is a listed element of a display associated with or linked to a different network location. Typically, the line item will contain an explanatory title, one or more excerpts of text from a web page, and a link connected to the uniform resource locater (URL) for the web site hosting the web page. In this fictitious example, line item 106 is a link to the website for the North American distributor for BCZ motorcycles, while line item 107 is a link to the website for a local BCZ motorcycle dealer. The invention may be used to augment various line items as described further below.
  • The hypothetical web page also contains three sponsored search results, which are typically advertisements for products, services, brands, or other web sites. A sponsor may be any party in a commercial supply chain, from manufacturer or service provider to consumer. A media object 109 consisting of a manufacturer logo is displayed as a sponsored advertisement with a goal to increase brand awareness. A media object 110, depicting a motorcycle, is an advertisement for a product. The media object may be a static object, such as an image or illustration, or it may be a dynamically changing object, such as a flash movie, an MPEG-4 video, or some other streaming audio/music video. A banner ad 111 advertises the services of a fictitious law group. The invention may also be used to augment various sponsored content objects, as described further below.
  • Example prototypical environments for the invention are shown in FIGS. 2-4. Displayed content is augmented with one or more groups of available advertisers to promote goods, services, other web sites and/or brands. As used hereinafter, a halo of advertisers is a group of one or more advertisers associated with a common marketing theme.
  • Marketing or promotion themes are either supplied in source metadata or derived from the various environments, as explained further below. FIG. 2 illustrates an example where the three sponsored content objects of FIG. 1 are augmented in a modified page content area 200. Each sponsored or un-sponsored content object presents a new potential marketing theme, and the invention may be applied to an individual content object on a page as described further below. For illustration purposes only, and not by way of limitation, only the sponsored content objects are shown augmented in FIG. 2.
  • In FIG. 3, the content to be augmented is an entire web page. A single marketing theme is embedded in the metadata of the page or determined from the content of the page.
  • In FIG. 4, each media object contained within the page presents a new potential marketing theme. A consumer may dynamically access a group of advertisers associated with one or more sub-page events or themes. For example, a motorcycle distributor may provide a media object that any motorcycle rider may post on a personal webpage, consisting of an image of one of the distributor's products. The data for the media object includes metadata and or script function calls implementing a social halo connected with the distributor.
  • Although three prototypical environments are shown separately in FIGS. 2-4, the invention is applicable in combinations present within a web page. For example, a web page that contains L line items and M media objects may be augmented with zero to (L+M+1) marketing theme halos, one for each line item, one for each media object, and one for an overall page theme. The halos may be constantly visible, dynamically displayed, and/or dynamically generated.
  • In one implementation, representations of the one or more halos associated with a page are always visible as shown in the three example halos of FIG. 2. In one embodiment, a consumer may obtain additional information about a marketing agent by a consumer action, such as by touching the image of the agent on a touch-screen, or clicking/holding a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over a marketing agent's image, or allowing the screen cursor to hover over a marketing agent's image. As known in the art, various interfaces support various consumer actions to select an image within a page.
  • In FIG. 2, an exaggerated cursor arrowhead hovers above image 202. As a result, a pop up window containing one or more items related to the marketing agent appears above the page content. In this example, one or more of the name of the marketing agent (title), the affiliation of the marketing agent (company), and the social bond between the marketing agent and the consumer (bonds) is shown in text area 206. For example, image 202 may be a picture of a local BCZ motorcycle rider and area 206 may indicate his name, that he is a BCZ rider, and that he lives in Oakland, the same location as the consumer. In addition, the pop-up window may indicate one or more means to communicate directly with the agent, as displayed in communication area 207. The communication area typically has a redundant indicator for each means of initiating a communication. In this example, the consumer may select a phone contact by selecting the text “phone” or clicking the associated icon (shown as a bullet in close proximity to “phone”). In a preferred implementation, a best means of communication, common to the consumer and marketing agent, is selected as a default means. In one embodiment, the consumer may override the selection in a pop-up menu, a set of user preferences, or via a pull-down menu or toolbar menu selection.
  • In a preferred embodiment, a consumer activation of any visible halo image results in a direct, live connection to the marketing agent using the default means of communication. As known in the art, consumer selection of an image within a screen display may be accomplished in an interface by detecting various consumer actions, such as a tap on the image of the agent on a touch-screen, or clicking/releasing (including double-clicking, option-clicking, and so on) a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over a marketing agent's image.
  • In an additional embodiment, the halo of marketing agents may include one or more alternative agents. The motorcycle distributor, for example, may have a queue of available sales agents. In the event that a displayed agent goes offline or otherwise becomes unavailable, a replacement agent is ready. In a preferred embodiment, the image and information of the offline marketing agent is replaced by the image and information of the replacement agent. In a further embodiment, a failure to establish communication with a first marketing agent results in an attempt to establish communication with a first replacement agent, a failure to establish communication with a first replacement results in an attempt to establish communication with a second replacement agent, and so on, until the list of replacements is exhausted or communication is established. In an alternate embodiment, a failure to establish communication to an agent by a first selected means of communication results in an attempt to establish communication by a second best means of communication, and so on, until the list of means of communications is exhausted or communication is established. In one embodiment, a failure to establish communication to an agent results in an indication to the consumer that the agent is temporarily busy, and retries of the same communication means may be attempted. In an alternate embodiment, a failure to establish communication to an agent by a first selected means of communication results in an indication to the consumer of a variety of alternate contact means and/or alternative marketing agents, and allows the consumer to select the alternative desired.
  • Examples of agent communication means include, but are not limited to, telephone, cell phone, instant messaging, the short message service (SMS) protocol, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), video teleconferencing, e-mail, audio teleconferencing, and other computer, phone, smart phone, cell phone, personal digital assistant, satellite phones, and other telephonic means of communication.
  • In an alternate embodiment, the consumer may replace one or more marketing agents with an alternative agent. In one example implementation, the function of the pop-up window associated with the mouse hovering above image 202 may be different than that shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, a hovering cursor or other consumer action associated with image 202 brings up a pop-up menu of alternative agents for that slot, such as the pop-up bubble 400 of FIG. 4. The consumer may click and drag the mouse (or take some other selection action) to select one of the alternative agents. In one embodiment, when the consumer selects an alternative halo member, the image and information of the rejected marketing agent is replaced by the image and information of the replacement agent and results in transmission of information to track the popularity of halo members.
  • In another embodiment, the marketing agents are partitioned into categories and a replacement must come from within the same category. For example, a motorcycle distributor may specify that one agent in a two person halo is a sales agent, while the other is a service technician. If a sales agent (or service technician) goes offline or becomes busy, a replacement sales agent (or service technician) is selected. In one embodiment, one or more marketing agents are considered required agents, with one or more required attributes. The replacement of a required agent must have the same required attributes.
  • Three different methods of augmenting the user interface with available advertisers are also illustrated in FIGS. 2-4. The combinations shown are by way of example and not by way of limitation. In FIG. 2, company logo 109 is augmented with two marketing agents, H1A 201 and H1B 202, in a halo H1 embedded within the page and placed in close proximity to 109. Motorcycle advertisement 110 is augmented with three marketing agents, denoted H2A 203, H2B 204, and H2C 205 in a halo H2 in close proximity to 110. Banner ad 111 is augmented with a single marketing agent 208. Each of these three halos is shown embedded in the content of the page and visible in the page. In one implementation, one or more additional content objects may also be augmented with a halo which is only visible through activation by the user, such as by hovering or clicking/holding a computer mouse button with the active screen cursor over an object associated with a halo. This is illustrated in FIG. 4, as described further below.
  • In the user interface of FIG. 2, the embedded representations may be alternatively placed to the side of the augmented item, above or below the augmented item, or surrounding the augmented item, as long as the representations are embedded in the page content area of the page in close proximity to the augmented item.
  • FIG. 3, in a second example, shows a web page augmented with a halo of four advertisers, with images 308-311 embedded in a separate left drawer 304. The web page has a hypothetical content area 301 with a text phrase 302 (“My new motorcycle!”) and displaying a media object 303 consisting of an image of a motorcycle. In this example, the halo with four advertisers is not embedded in the content of the augmented page, but is instead displayed in a separate area. The separate area may be a user interface known in the art as a left drawer (shown), a right drawer, a left or right sidebar, a bottom bar, a bottom drawer, a toolbar, a tear-off window, a pop-up window, a pop-up menu list, or in a separate tabbed window. The user may utilize optional control button 307 by clicking and dragging to the right to slide the drawer partially under the window or close it entirely. In one embodiment, the halo window may be dragged apart from the main window as a tear-off window. In one embodiment, a halo window has various controls to close, minimize, restore, resize, and/or scroll through a subset of visible members in the halo window. The halo window contains one or more images for the advertisers, such as examples 308-311, and may contain a title area 305 to display the halo theme. In addition, various advertiser text labels may be displayed (not shown). If the user desires to contact one of the advertisers in FIGS. 2-3, the consumer activates a selection of the advertiser's image, as described above. In an alternative implementation, the consumer may redundantly select the advertiser by selecting the advertiser's text label. In a further embodiment, the image and label of the advertiser may be combined in a single area, such as 208. In one implementation, title text and communication selection icons are placed on top of the advertiser's image (not shown).
  • The halo displays as shown in FIGS. 2-3 are static in the sense that the halo images remain on the screen when the page is displayed. An alternative example utilizes dynamic “floating” halos as shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the underlying page content 300 is the same as in the main window of FIG. 3. In FIG. 4, a browser user perceives a cursor location 401 that typically is moved with a mouse. In this example, the cursor location hovers above a media object 303 consisting of an image of a motorcycle.
  • In one embodiment, a user interface process monitors the amount of time the cursor is above the media object, and provides a floating halo window, such as halo 400 containing four advertisers 401-404, if the cursor remains above the media object beyond a time-out period. If the user desires to contact one of the advertisers, the user moves the cursor to the halo display and clicks a mouse button with the cursor location over the advertiser's image. In an alternate embodiment, the user initiates display of the floating halo window 400 by clicking on the media object and holding the mouse button down. As a result, the floating halo window 403 remains on display as long as the mouse button is held down. If the user desires to contact one of the advertisers, the user drags the cursor location over the advertiser and releases the mouse button. Other interfaces are possible. For example, on a touch screen a consumer may touch a media object to pop-up the associated halo, and drag the finger or stylus to the image of an advertiser for selection purposes. An advantage of this embodiment is that a distributor may show a larger number of products on a page when one or more halos are not displayed, and the consumer observes only those halos related to products of interest.
  • Although alternate interfaces are shown in FIGS. 2-4, the interfaces share some common features. By default, a marketing halo is shown in close proximity to the item, media object, or page content to be augmented. With one click or other consumer activation, a user can initiate immediate contact with an advertiser, as explained further below. Each halo of advertisers promotes a common marketing theme. Although only one interface is shown in each of FIGS. 2-4, the various halo interfaces may be combined in the display of a web page (not shown) or other display.
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example halo population process, where a service provider determines the members of a halo organized around a marketing concept. The halo population process begins in step 500. In step 501, the marketing concept or theme, consumer attributes, the halo context, and desired advertiser attributes are input to the process. In this example process, the process also inputs a number of required halo members, N, and a limit on the number of optional halo members, M. In other embodiments, the number N or M may be determined dynamically.
  • Consumer attributes may include the age, sex, location, income, and other demographics of the consumer, expressed preferences of the consumer, and implied preferences of the consumer such as buying or browsing habits, and so on. In a preferred embodiment, a consumer-profiling server maintains a database of consumer attributes. A consumer may register with the consumer-profiling server to obtain an identifier and store one or more expressed attributes. Alternatively, a consumer-profiling server may assign user identifiers. In one implementation of the halo population process, a consumer identifier may be transmitted to the populating server, which is used to index the consumer attribute server to obtain the consumer attributes. In an alternative embodiment, external consumer profiling services may be used. In one embodiment, any consumer action related to a halo is tracked and used to adaptively modify consumer attributes. In addition, consumer browser habits may be tracked to estimate an expected time of purchase. For example, a motorcycle shopper typically first accesses a variety of web sites related to different brands of motorcycles, and gradually narrows his choice to concentrate on a limited number of brands and models, and, as the purchase approaches, the shopper is likely to be more interested in exact price and availability. By tracking the focus of the shopper, a service provider can estimate a time for the shopper's purchase.
  • In one embodiment, a service provider tracks and estimates the proper context of a halo. For example, in one embodiment the service provider tracks the position of the consumer in a purchasing timeline, and biases the selection of halo participants accordingly. The halo context may also include the intended type of display device or other display attributes, interface attributes, and desired halo characteristics, such as halo type, relative fulfillment of marketing goals, geographic limitations, age limitations, demographic targets, and so on. In one embodiment, a marketing deal identifier may be assigned, and a marketing-logging server tracks the fulfillment of various marketing deals. For example, a motorcycle distributor may be willing to pay for up to 1000 halo referrals to a sales agent, and the marketing deal may be registered in the marketing-logging server. Whenever a consumer action results in population of the related halo, the populating server receives the marketing deal identifier, accesses the marketing-logging server with the identifier as a deal index to check on the fulfillment of the marketing deal. While the goal remains unfulfilled, the selection of halo members may be biased in favor of sales agents.
  • In one embodiment, it may be specified that a halo has, for example, a population of N required (or specified) members and exactly M optional (or optionally specified) members. Alternatively, the halo may have a number of required members, N, determined as a default value, a preference value, or an embedded value contained in metadata for the DOM of the web page, and the process may determine one or more optional halo members, with an upper limit of M optional members. For example, a marketing plan for motorcycles may require at least three advertisers, and may allow for up to two additional advertisers. The marketing agency may further specify additional desired attributes. For example, a marketing agency may specify that of the three required advertisers, one is a motorcycle sales agent, one is a motorcycle service agent, and it is preferred but not necessary that the third is a local motorcycle dealer. In one implementation, a data object may be configured with metadata to specify one or more attributes of halo members.
  • Step 502 evaluates a pool of advertisers as potential required members of a halo. For each required member of the halo, the attributes of each member of a pool of advertisers are compared to a set of required advertiser attributes, and if member of the pool meets the qualifications, the member is considered a prospective advertiser. The set of prospective advertisers is processed to determine a degree of social connection with the consumer, which is assigned a social connection score (SCS) and a degree of marketing benefit, which is assigned a market benefit score (MBS).
  • Social connections may have multiple dimensions, and an axis is assigned for each dimension. For example, a consumer may feel a degree of social connection with an advertiser in a nearby geographic location. One potential axis of advertiser/consumer commonality is therefore geographic location. In one embodiment, the social connection score for geographic location may be inversely proportional to the estimated distance between the consumer and advertiser. A prospective advertiser who is nearer to the consumer achieves a higher score for a location axis. The various social connections to be considered may be embedded as metadata in the DOM for the web page, or may be assigned by default or user preferences. Examples of social connections may include ethnicity, age, sex, educational level, educational institutions, economic class, profession, geographic area, expressed or derived user preferences, and membership in various other demographic groups. A prospective advertiser may have more than one social connection with the consumer, and a score is assigned for each dimension. In one embodiment, the scores for various dimensions of advertiser/consumer connection are accumulated for each prospective advertiser to determine a combined SCS. In an alternate embodiment, the scores for various dimensions of advertiser/consumer connection are squared, and the squares of the scores are accumulated to determine a combined SCS.
  • At the same time, the subset of prospective members is processed to determine a degree of marketing benefit to the product, which is assigned a marketing benefit score (MBS). Marketing benefit may have multiple dimensions, and an axis is assigned for each dimension. For example, an advertiser may be evaluated in sub-categories including, but not limited to, knowledge of the product, product training, familiarity with the product or brand, attitude toward the product, image appeal, likeability, personality, fame, track record in selling the product, general marketing skills, and so on. For each applicable dimension, a potential marketing agent is assigned a marketing benefit score. In one embodiment, the scores for all included dimensions are accumulated to determine a combined MBS. In an alternate embodiment, the scores for included dimensions of marketing benefit are squared, and the squares of the scores are accumulated to obtain a combined MBS.
  • In step 503, the accumulated scores are processed to identify the Nbest scoring advertisers. In one implementation, an advertiser's overall score is proportional to the product of a social connection score and a marketing benefit score,

  • SCORE=w*SCS*MBS,
  • where w is a constant of proportionality. An advantage of such a scoring system is that it results in a diverse source of marketing materials. A manufacturer's representative, for example, would likely have a relatively high marketing benefit score, which could overcome a relatively low social connection score. On the other hand, a close social connection of the consumer would likely have a high social connection score, which could overcome a relatively low marketing benefit score. In one implementation, prospective marketing agents who have a negative marketing benefit or marginal marketing benefit are not included. In one embodiment, the constant of proportionality is a product of K weighting factors,

  • w=w[1]*w[2]* . . . * w[K],
  • which account for various contextual factors. For example, an advertiser's marketing benefit score may be decreased or increased based upon a user preference rating by adjusting a weighting factor.
  • In step 503, the scores for various prospective advertisers are sorted to identify the N advertisers with the best scores. These advertisers are assigned as the N required halo members. Step 505 initializes an empty group of optional advertisers as having zero members and a score of zero. Step 505 checks if there is a possibility of identifying additional optional members. If so, step 505 proceeds to step 506.
  • In step 506, each number L of potential optional members in the range of one up to M is evaluated. Prospective advertisers are identified and assigned scores by accumulating MBS and SCS scores as above. Finally, a group satisfaction score is determined for each value of L. In one implementation, the group satisfaction score is proportional to the sum of the best L advertiser's scores divided by the total number of halo members. Although each additional member adds some social marketing score, there are diminishing value returns as the consumer becomes overwhelmed with a plethora of advertisers. The group satisfaction score accounts for these diminishing returns.
  • In step 507, the group satisfaction scores are compared to identify the value of L with the highest group satisfaction score. The corresponding group list is used to identify L optional group members. The optional group members and the required group members are combined in step 508, and the halo population process terminates in step 509.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates an example page population process which augments a page with one or more social halos. The process begins in step 601. In step 602, the process takes in consumer attributes, page content, and halo context. In step 603, the analyzed page content is parsed to process any meta-tags which specify one or more required halo attributes. The required halos are populated using a halo population process such as that shown in FIG. 5. The meta-tags may also specify that a page theme halo is required. A page theme halo may also be indicated as a consumer preference, in response to a consumer action, by default preferences, or by estimating whether a page theme halo score exceeds a minimum threshold. Step 604 checks if a page theme halo should be generated.
  • If a page theme halo is generated, step 604 proceeds to step 605. In one embodiment, a page theme is determined by page meta-data. In one embodiment, a dominant page theme is determined by analyzing the page content. In an alternative embodiment, prospective marketing themes for the page are compared and a best theme is chosen. For example, in one embodiment, a best theme may be implemented as a theme that generates the most halo service provider revenue. In one embodiment, a number of page themes are analyzed to determine a page theme with the best social marketing benefit.
  • Step 604 or 605 proceeds to step 606, which checks if there is a possibility of adding halos to one or more media objects or line items. If so step 606 proceeds to step 607. In step 607, each media object or line item is evaluated as a halo prospect. Meta-data in the line item or media object may determine a best marketing concept, or alternatively, a best marketing concept may be determined from the contextual theme of the line item or media object. In one embodiment, meta-data may also remove a line item or media object from active consideration. A prospective halo is populated using a halo population process such as that shown in FIG. 5. Each prospective halo is assigned a social marketing score. In one embodiment, each prospective halo is also scored on the enhancement it provides if embedded in a page display. Social marketing scores are compared to find the best prospect halo for each media object or line item considered.
  • Proceeding to step 608, the social marketing scores are compared and sorted to find the N best prospect halos. Of these N halos, Mare embedded in the page, where M is a non-negative number less than or equal to N. The page enhancement scores are compared and sorted to find the M best halos to embed in the page, and the page content is modified to include the M best embedded halos. The remaining halos are configured as floating or dynamically generated halos. In one embodiment, duplicate advertisers are replaced with substitutes in post-processing. In an alternate embodiment, when an advertiser is assigned to a halo for a consumer, the advertiser is removed from the pool of prospective advertisers for that consumer, so that no duplicates are chosen. The page population process terminates in step 609.
  • The methods indicated in the flowcharts of FIGS. 5-6 are typically, but not necessarily, implemented in network server systems. By contrast, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example interface process typically, but not necessarily, implemented in a consumer's client-side device. Because of firewalls and other intruder/hacker protection measures, a server system may encounter difficulty in pushing content that is not requested to a client-side device. In a preferred embodiment, a client-side process monitors consumer actions and network conditions, and transmits requests to pull additional content from one or more network servers as needed.
  • An example client side process begins in step 701. In step 702, it is assumed that the consumer has accessed a page of content from a network server or a file system. The page content is input and analyzed, and a stored consumer identifier is accessed. In one embodiment, one or more additional consumer attributes are accessed. In a further embodiment, a server request may contain additional consumer attributes identified by a consumer cookie. In one embodiment, additional consumer attributes stored on the server side may also be accessed. In step 703, a page content identifier and consumer identifier are used to populate the page with one or more halos, using a page population process such as that shown in FIG. 6.
  • In step 704, the populated page with constantly displayed (static) halos is rendered and displayed on a client-side screen display. A timer is reset to zero to determine the amount of elapsed time since the last rendering of the display. Step 705 is the center of an event loop. The display timer and user interfaces are monitored to detect an event. When an event occurs, step 705 compares the event to an enumerated list of events, and takes the corresponding path in the flowchart. For example, when a consumer cursor or other pointing indicator remains above a media object or line item with a configured floating halo for a pre-determined amount of time, the consumer actions are considered to be performing a “floating halo hover” event, and step 705 proceeds to step 706.
  • In step 706, a floating halo is rendered on the consumer screen display, preferably as a top layer on top of the underlying display content and in close proximity to the corresponding media object or line item. Further consumer actions are monitored to check if the consumer proceeds to select a floating halo member in step 707. If not, the floating halo (if any) is removed as a top layer in step 708, the page display with static halos is refreshed in step 704, and consumer actions are monitored for a next event in step 705.
  • If a consumer clicks on a halo member embedded in the page in step 705, or drags and releases a mouse button with a screen cursor over a floating halo member in step 707, the indicated halo member is selected for a marketing contact. In step 709, attempt is made to facilitate contact with the halo member, as, for example, by one of several means as discussed above. If a live communication to the advertiser is established, the process waits in the background in step 710 until the communication is completed and proceeds afterwards to step 708, to remove a floating halo if necessary, as explained above. If a preferred communication link is not established, step 710 proceeds to step 711 to implement a backup communication plan, by, for example, one of several means discussed above. In step 712, any halo members found to be offline in the communication attempt(s) are replaced, and the flowchart proceeds to step 708, as described above.
  • In step 705, if the elapsed time counter exceeds a threshold, it is assumed that the page content has become stale and needs to be refreshed. A page refresh may also be initiated by an express consumer action, such as by clicking on a browser refresh button. In this case, step 705 proceeds to step 713. In step 713, the underlying page content is refreshed. If the page content is unchanged from a marketing perspective, the previously populated halos are re-used. If not, the page is repopulated with one or more new halos (not shown). Step 713 proceeds to step 712 to replace offline halo members, as described above.
  • In step 705, monitored consumer actions may indicate a “newpage” event, where the consumer navigates to a different content page, and the flowchart proceeds to step 702 to restart the interface process with the new page content. The consumer may navigate to a new page by, for example, typing a new URL or search phrase in a browser control or clicking on a page link. In step 705, monitored consumer actions may indicate the consumer desires to quit the process. In this case, step 705 proceeds to step 715 where the process terminates. Other events encountered in step 705 are assumed to be browser control events, processed in step 714. After a browser control event is processed, the halo members are refreshed as described above in step 712.
  • Server systems are typically used to populate a page with one or more marketing halos, to edit and store halo-enabled pages, to maintain a presence system indicating the availability of advertisers, to track consumer attributes and advertiser attributes, to determine halo contexts, to respond to requests for marketing tracking updates, and to manage billing and accounting for marketing plans. Server and client systems described herein can be implemented by a variety of computer systems and architectures.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates suitable components in an exemplary embodiment of a general-purpose computer system. The exemplary embodiment is only one example of suitable components and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the configuration of components be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of a computer system. The invention may be operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computer system environments or configurations.
  • The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and/or remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
  • With reference to FIG. 8, an exemplary system for implementing the invention may include a general-purpose computer system 800. Computer system 800 accesses one or more applications and peripheral drivers directed to a number of functions described herein. Components of the computer system 800 may include, but are not limited to, a CPU or central processing unit 802, a system memory 808, and a system bus 822 that couples various system components including the system memory 808 to the processing unit 802. As used by those skilled in the art, a signal “bus” refers to a plurality of digital signal lines serving a common function. The system bus 822 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architectures include the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, the Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, the Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, the PCI-Express bus (PCI-X), and the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) bus.
  • An operating system manages the operation of computer system 800, including the input and output of data to and from applications (not shown). The operating system provides an interface between the applications being executed on the system and the components of the system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the operating system is a Windows® 95/98/NT/XP/Vista/Mobile operating system, available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. However, the present invention may be used with other suitable operating systems, such as an OS-X® operating system, available from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a UNIX® operating system, or a LINUX operating system.
  • The computer system 800 may include a variety of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer system 800 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media. For example, computer-readable media may include volatile and nonvolatile computer storage media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact-disk ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic tape cassettes, magnetic tape, hard magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, floppy disk storage devices, magnetic diskettes, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by the computer system 800.
  • Communication media may also embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. For instance, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, cellular networks, and other wireless media.
  • The system memory 808 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 806 and random access memory (RAM) 805. A basic input/output system 807 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer system 800, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 806 and other non-volatile storage, such as flash memory. Additionally, system memory 808 may contain some or all of the operating system 809, the application programs 812, other executable code 810 and program data 811. Memory 808 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by CPU 802. Optionally, a CPU may contain a cache memory unit 801 for temporary local storage of instructions, data, or computer addresses.
  • The computer system 800 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only, and not by way of limitation, FIG. 8 illustrates a bulk storage 813 that reads from or writes to one or more magnetic disk drives of non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, and storage device 821 that may be an optical disk drive or a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, a nonvolatile storage medium 830 such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary computer system 800 include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. Bulk storage 813 and the storage device 821 may be connected directly to the system bus 822, or alternatively may be connected through an interface such as storage controller 814 shown for bulk storage 813. Storage devices may interface to computer system 800 through a general computer bus such as 822, or may interconnect with a storage controller over a storage-optimized bus, such as the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus, the ANSI ATA/ATAPI bus, the Ultra ATA bus, the FireWire (IEEE 1394) bus, or the Serial ATA (SATA) bus.
  • The storage devices and their associated computer storage media, discussed above and illustrated in FIG. 8, provide storage of computer-readable instructions, executable code, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 800. For example, bulk storage 813 is illustrated as storing operating system 809, application programs 812, other executable code 810 and program data 811. As mentioned previously, data and computer instructions in 813 may be transferred to system memory 808 to facilitate immediate CPU access from processor 802. Alternatively, processor 802 may access stored instructions and data by interacting directly with bulk storage 813. Furthermore, bulk storage may be alternatively provided by a network-attached storage device (not shown), which is accessed through a network interface 815.
  • A user may enter commands and information into the computer system 800 through the network interface 815 or through an input device 827 such as a keyboard, a pointing device commonly referred to as a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad tablet, a controller, an electronic digitizer, a microphone, an audio input interface, or a video input interface. Other input devices may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, and so forth. These and other input devices are often connected to CPU 802 through an input interface 818 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, a game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A display 826 or other type of video device may also be connected to the system bus 822 via an interface, such as a graphics controller 816 and a video interface 817. In addition, an output device 828, such as headphones, speakers, or a printer, may be connected to the system bus 822 through an output interface 819 or the like.
  • The computer system 800 may operate in a networked environment using a network 823 to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 825. The remote computer 825 may be a terminal, a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer system 800. The network 823 depicted in FIG. 8 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or other type of network. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet. In a networked environment, executable code and application programs may be stored in the remote computer. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, FIG. 8 illustrates remote executable code 824 as residing on remote computer 825. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
  • Collectively, these elements are intended to represent a broad category of computer systems, including but not limited to general purpose computer systems based on one or more members of the family of CPUs manufactured by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., the family of CPUs manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., or the family of ARM CPUs, originally designed by Advanced RISC Machines, Ltd., as well as any other suitable processor. Of course, other implementations are possible. For example, the server functionalities described herein may be implemented by a plurality of server sub-systems communicating over a backplane.
  • Various components of computer system 800 may be rearranged, deleted, or augmented. For example, system bus 822 may be implemented as a plurality of busses interconnecting various subsystems of the computer system. Furthermore, computer system 800 may contain additional signal busses or interconnections between existing components, such as by adding a direct memory access unit (not shown) to allow one or more components to more efficiently access system memory 808.
  • As shown, CACHE1 and CPU1 are packed together as “processor module” 802 with processor CPU1 referred to as the “processor core.” Alternatively, cache memories 801, 803, contained in 802, 804 may be separate components on the system bus. Furthermore, certain embodiments of the present invention may not require nor include all of the above components. For example, some embodiments may include a smaller number of CPUs, a smaller number of network ports, a smaller number of storage devices, or a smaller number of input-output interfaces. Furthermore, computer system 800 may include additional components, such as one or more additional central processing units, such as 804, storage devices, memories, or interfaces. In addition, one or more components of computer system 800 may be combined into a specialized system-on-a-chip (SOC) to further system integration. In some computer system environments where component count is critical, the entire computer system may be integrated in one or more very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit(s).
  • As discussed below, in one implementation, operations of one or more of the physical server or client systems described herein is implemented as a series of software routines executed by computer system 800. Each of the software routines comprises a plurality or series of machine instructions to be executed by one or more components in the computer system, such as CPU 802. Initially, the series of instructions may be stored on a storage device, such as bulk storage 813. However, the series of instructions may be stored in an EEPROM, a flash device, or a DVD. Furthermore, the series of instructions need not be stored locally, and could be received from a remote computer 825 or a server on a network via network interface 815.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates computer system 800 placed in an example wide area network environment, such as the Internet. Network cloud 823 generally represents one or more interconnected networks, connecting computer system 800, a plurality of example network sites, 900, 910, 920, 930, 940, and 950, and a plurality of example client devices, 942, 951, 952, and 954. Network cloud 823 may include TCP/IP based wide area networks, private networks, wireless networks, satellite networks, cellular networks, paging networks, and the like. Client systems, such as portable device 942, portable computer 952, and personal computer 954 are operably connected to the wide area network environment through an internet service provider (not shown), a cellular provider 940, a wireless provider (not shown), a local wireless network 951, and/or a local wired network 953.
  • Computer system 800 is contained within the network site 920, where one or more computer systems, such as computer system 800, are connected to a local area network and router 921. The router 921 manages local computer communication traffic in network site 920 and interconnects with network cloud 823. Router 921 also functions to translate one or more local area network addresses in network site 920 to provide one or more unique corresponding wide area network addresses in order to facilitate communication between computer systems in network site 920 and other computer systems on the wide area network.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a number of network service provider sites, including content site A 900, content site B 930, and network application site 910. The described invention may operate with one or more content providing or application sites. Although FIG. 9 illustrates the provider sites as separate local network sites, the functionality of each site may be combined with other sites. Further, a function for a particular site may be performed in a distributed computing environment by one or more computer systems at remote sites. Further still, the functionality represented by each depicted site may be further separated into a plurality of sub-function sites. In addition, implementations of the invention may operate in network environments that include multiples of one or more of the individual sites or subsystems of sites described herein. Implementations of the invention may also operate in network environments where one of more of the systems or sites described herein has been eliminated.
  • Content aggregation sites are represented by content site A 900 and content site B 930 in FIG. 3. Content is stored as one or more digital data objects. A digital data object may include one or more media objects or executable code objects. Content site A 900 is a network addressable system that allows users to access media objects supplied by one or more users. In one implementation, content site A 900 may be a media object aggregation or sharing system, such as the Yahoo! Geocities® blog-sharing site, and similar variants. Content site A 900 comprises one or more physical server systems 901, 902, implemented using an architecture such as that of computer system 800, and containing or connected to one or more bulk storage systems, such as that of bulk storage system 813, or a network attached storage device (not shown), and a local area network and router 903. The one or more physical servers allow users to upload and download media objects. In one implementation, the functionality hosted by the one or more physical servers may include web or HTTP servers, FTP servers, and the like.
  • Content site B 930 is a network addressable system that allows users to access content supplied by one of more content suppliers (not shown). Content site B 930 comprises one or more physical server systems 931, 932 containing or connected to one or more bulk storage systems (not shown), and a local area network and router 933.
  • Network application site 910 is a network addressable system that allows users to access one or more executable code objects supplied by one or more service providers (not shown). Network application site 910 comprises one or more physical server systems 911, 912, 913 containing or connected to one or more bulk storage systems, shown as network-attached storage device 914, and a local area network and router 915. Executable code objects may include code to be executed on a client device as well as code executed within a server system, such as server 912. An example of an executable code object is an informational web site where users request and receive identified web pages and other content over the network cloud 823. The executable code object may also be a posting forum, where users may submit or otherwise configure media objects to be perceived by other users. The executable code object may also be a social network application, such as a chat client or e-mail client, adapted to establish intermediated or peer-to-peer communications with other clients. The executable code object may also be a web-posting application, allowing users to configure and maintain personal web pages. One or more executable code objects may also combine to form a content distribution application that displays available media objects and transmits them to users. Examples of network application sites include Yahoo! Music Engine®, Apple iTunes®, and podcasting servers.
  • Network application site 910 and sites 900, 930 also represent a suitable architecture for invention. As stated above, server systems are used to populate a page with one or more marketing halos, to edit and store halo-enabled pages, to maintain a presence system indicating the availability of advertisers, to track consumer attributes and advertiser attributes, to determine halo contexts, to respond to requests for marketing tracking updates, to manage billing/accounting for marketing plans, to adapt attributes, and to facilitate and/or log communications between a consumer and an advertiser. One suitable configuration allocates site 900 for common consumer accesses. For example, site 900 may comprise a consumer site, where server 901 performs as a halo-enabled object server and server 902 may track consumer access to halo-enabled objects and consumer attributes. Site 930 may comprise a marketing site, where advertisers store attributes and generate/edit halo-enabled web pages in advertiser server 931, and a service provider manages marketing accounts in billing server 932. Network application site 910 may comprise a population server, with a populating server 911, an advertiser presence server 912, and a communications server 913. Other arrangements and assignments of the social marketing functions are possible.
  • In the context of a computer network, a “virtual server” is physically one or more server systems connected to the network and support circuitry to execute application programs for processing data. Data may be stored by means which facilitate efficient processing, such as by storing the data in a “database” consisting of a collection of data organized by relationships between the various forms of data contained therein. When a virtual server consists of more than one computer server system, the set of computer server systems is interconnected hierarchically to perform high-level functions as combined functions of several servers under central control.
  • Functionally, a virtual server executes a sequence of low-level CPU commands to complete instructions for processing data. A virtual server typically accepts instructions and executes commands for a multitude of “clients”. The instructions may include, but are not limited to, instructions to store or retrieve data, to modify, verify or erase data, or to reorganize data. A virtual server may also initiate instructions for other network-attached devices. For example, a virtual “music server” might maintain a database to locate a library of musical compositions. The music server might receive commands to store new songs or retrieve old ones from a number of clients. Further, the music server might send commands to other devices on the network, e.g., to disseminate the musical database among various subservient servers, such as a “jazz server,” a “hip-hop server,” a “classical server,” and so on, to register paying user requests in a “billing server,” to verify the identity, preferences, and access privileges of a user in a “registration server” and so on. The music server may therefore also be a client of other servers. Practitioners of the art will recognize that virtual servers and clients are abstract interactive devices controlled by software instructions, whose interaction protocols may be flexibly defined. A “client” as used herein may include functionally to process information and programs, as well as to issue commands. Similarly, a virtual server as used herein may include functionally to initiate commands to users and other servers as well as to respond to instructions.
  • Similarly, a database should not be construed to be a single physical collection of data. As used herein, a database is an abstract collection of data which may be distributed over one or more physical locations. Said data may be stored physically within a single or multiple servers, within attached physical device(s), network attached device(s), or user devices(s). Similarly, an application program should not be construed to be a single physical collection of commands. As used herein, an application program is an abstract collection of CPU commands, which may be physically executed, in whole or in part, within a single or multiple servers, within attached physical devices(s), within network attached device(s), or within user device(s).
  • An example of a less conventional social network marketing interface is shown in FIGS. 10-11, which depict four consecutive steps in use of the interface, denoted FIGS. 10A, 10B, 11A, and 11B, respectively. In these figures, a typical portable client-side device 1000 includes a keypad 1004 and a pointing means. In one embodiment, the pointing means is provided by a four-position rocker switch, with up arrow 1002, down arrow 1003, left arrow 1008 and right arrow 1012. In an alternate or augmented embodiment, a pointing means is provided by a screen sensitive to touch, known as a touch-screen. As shown in FIG. 10A, the consumer may access different scrolling pages of advertisements pressing the up/down switches 1002-1003, or with a touch-screen, by touching a media object and dragging it up or down. An advertisement 1001 for a mobile phone known as the RAZR®, manufactured by Motorola, Inc., is scrolling into view in FIG. 10A. In FIG. 10B, the advertisement 1001 occupies a full advertising page on the device. Because the advertisement is a halo-enabled object, a marketing halo appears, represented by title 1005, left halo scroll indicator 1006, left-hand member 1007, center member 1009, right-hand member 1011, and right halo scroll indicator 1010. Center halo member 1009 is selected as a default advertiser. If the consumer activates an assigned selection control, the default advertiser is selected. The selection control may be implemented by various means, such as by pressing the center of the rocker switch, pushing a designated button, or tapping on the image in a touch-screen. If the consumer desires a different default advertiser, the consumer may scroll the halo display leftward using the left arrow button 1008 or touching 1006 on a touch-screen, or rightward using the right arrow button 1012 or touching 1010 on a touch-screen. When the consumer pushes 1008 for example, image 1009 is shrunk to replace image 1007, image 1011 is enlarged and replaces 1009, and a new halo member is depicted in the space formerly occupied by 1011.
  • In FIG. 10C, the consumer has acted to request additional information about the default advertiser depicted in 1009. In a preferred embodiment, the default advertiser is an advertiser in the set of halo members with the most social marketing benefit. The request may be indicated by holding a finger or stylus on the image 1009 in a touch-screen, or by pressing an information or help button. In a response similar to FIG. 2's pop-up window 206-207, a pop-up window with elements 1101 (advertiser title), 1102 (advertiser affiliation) and redundant indicators 1103, 1104 for means of communication with the advertiser appear. In a preferred embodiment, the consumer drags a touch-screen pointer to the pop-up window to initiate communication by the default means.
  • In one embodiment, the consumer may initiate a communication by tapping or otherwise selecting the default advertiser image without requesting additional information about the advertiser. In one embodiment, a consumer may initiate communications by displaying communication options and selecting a communications means, such as by displaying the pop-up information window and touching 1103 or 1104 on a touch-screen.
  • Finally, in FIG. 11B, the default communication is initiated by calling advertiser Lynn, and the halo display process is put in the background while the communication is completed. In a preferred embodiment, a communication status display shows one or more attributes of the communication, such as, for example, an icon for the means of communication, 1105, text explaining the status of the communication 1106, and an image for the advertiser 1009. In one embodiment, the means of communication is by video chat, and instead of displaying a static image of the advertiser, a streaming video image of the advertiser is displayed instead.
  • FIG. 11B also illustrates an additional or alternative embodiment of the user interface. In this interface, a cursor is displayed on the video screen, such as exaggerated cursor 1108. For example, after the marketing call to Lynn is initiated, display of a cursor pointing to the product may be used to indicate that a sale may be completed by a consumer action such as the activation of a keyboard button.
  • In an alternative interface embodiment, the cursor 1108 provides an indicator of a selection means similar to that of a mouse cursor on a computer screen. The cursor location is moved via navigational switches, such as 1002-1003 of FIG. 10A for up/down motion, and 1008, 1012 of FIG. 10B for left/right motion. In FIG. 11B, button 1107 may be configured, for example, as an “INFO” button. Activation of INFO button 1107 while the cursor is above an image of Lynn might display the pop-up window 1101-1104 of FIG. 11A for example. Button 1109 may also be configured, for example, as a “SELECT” button. Activation of SELECT button 1109 while the cursor is above an image of Lynn might initiate the call to Lynn as shown in FIG. 11B, for example.
  • By delivering a user-specific halo of people connected to the user and related to the products or services the user encounters as he moves through a network, the user experience is personalized with increased efficiency of consumer research and purchasing decision making.
  • From the perspective of media object creators and publishers, the halo system offers an additional advertising and/or personalization opportunity related to their objects or inventory that allows detailed, real-time explanation, question/answer sessions, or other user interest-based knowledge transfer between two or more live humans related to the media object or subject/advertiser.
  • From the advertising delivery network perspective, the present invention creates a new advertising channel to monetize human to human interactions related to existing published advertisements by populating a real-time, socially-appropriate communications network of users willing to act as advocates or advertiser-representatives with regards to specific products, services, interests or actual media objects.
  • By leveraging the network of engaged users, their relations and interests and appropriate economic incentive models, the halo system delivers social media marketing to users that is timely and relevant while providing advertisers another channel of sales support and publishers another monetization opportunity.
  • The description above sets forth numerous details to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, algorithms for processing data and symbolic representations of algorithmic operations are the means used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm, as used herein, is a sequence of operations leading to a desired result, said operations requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of a sequence of electrical signals representing binary numbers to be stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated.
  • The present invention also relates to apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise one or more general-purpose computers selectively activated by one or more computer programs to achieve the required results. Such a computer program may be stored in any suitable computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form that is usable by a machine, such as a general-purpose computer.
  • The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used in accordance with the teachings herein, and it may prove expedient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the algorithm operations. The required structure for a variety of these systems may appear from the description below. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein.
  • While a number of exemplary aspects and embodiments have been discussed above, those of skill in the art will recognize certain modifications, permutations, additions and sub-combinations thereof. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims and claims hereafter introduced are interpreted to include all such modifications, permutations, additions and sub-combinations as are within their true spirit and scope.

Claims (20)

1. A method, comprising:
selecting from a group of advocates a first sub-group of advocates, wherein each member of the first sub-group of advocates meets a set of criteria that defines a marketing concept;
ranking the first sub-group of advocates based on each member's social connection with respect to a target user and marketing benefit with respect to the marketing concept;
selecting from the first sub-group of advocates a second sub-group of advocates having the highest rankings; and
presenting the second sub-group of advocates to the target user as advocates for the marketing concept.
2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:
associating with each member of the second sub-group of advocates at least one activatable communication channel; and
presenting each member's activatable communication channel to the target user when presenting the second sub-group of advocates to the target user.
3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of criteria further defines at least one attribute of the target user.
4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the set of criteria further defines at least one desirable attribute of an advocate for the marketing concept.
5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the set of criteria further defines a context for the advocates for the market concept.
6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein ranking the first sub-group of advocates includes:
assigning each member of the first sub-group a social connection score and a marketing benefit score;
calculating for each member of the first sub-group a total score, wherein a member's total score equals a product of the member's social connection score, the member's marketing benefit score, and a constant of proportionality; and
ranking the first sub-group of advocates based on each member's total score.
7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an advocate's social connection with the target user has one or more dimensions.
8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an advocate's social connection with the target user is at least one selected from the group consisting of ethnicity, age, sex, educational level, educational institutions, economic class, profession, geographic area, expressed user preferences, derived user preferences, and membership in a demographic group.
9. A computer program product having a plurality of programming instructions stored in a computer readable medium, wherein the plurality of programming instructions are operable to cause at least one electronic device to:
select from a group of advocates a first sub-group of advocates, wherein each member of the first sub-group of advocates meets a set of criteria that defines a marketing concept;
rank the first sub-group of advocates based on each member's social connection with respect to a target user and marketing benefit with respect to the marketing concept;
select from the first sub-group of advocates a second sub-group of advocates having the highest rankings; and
present the second sub-group of advocates to the target user as advocates for the marketing concept.
10. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the plurality of programming instructions are further operable to cause the at least one electronic device to:
associate with each member of the second sub-group of advocates at least one activatable communication channel; and
present each member's activatable communication channel to the target user when presenting the second sub-group of advocates to the target user.
11. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the set of criteria further defines at least one attribute of the target user, at least one desirable attribute of an advocate for the marketing concept, and a context for the advocates for the market concept.
12. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein rank the first sub-group of advocates includes:
assign each member of the first sub-group a social connection score and a marketing benefit score;
calculate for each member of the first sub-group a total score, wherein a member's total score equals a product of the member's social connection score, the member's marketing benefit score, and a constant of proportionality; and
rank the first sub-group of advocates based on each member's total score.
13. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein an advocate's social connection with the target user has one or more dimensions.
14. A computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein an advocate's social connection with the target user is at least one selected from the group consisting of ethnicity, age, sex, educational level, educational institutions, economic class, profession, geographic area, expressed user preferences, derived user preferences, and membership in a demographic group.
15. An electronic message, comprising:
an advertisement; and
at least one augmenting object, each augmenting object representing an advocate associated with a subject matter of the advertisement and including at least one activatable communication channel with the advocate,
wherein activation of each of the at least one augmenting object initiates communication between a receiver of the electronic message and the advocate represented by the augmenting object.
16. A electronic message as recited in claim 15, wherein the advocate represented by each of the at least one augmenting object is socially connected to the receiver of the electronic message.
17. A electronic message as recited in claim 16, wherein a social connection between an advocate and the receiver of the electronic message is one selected from the group consisting of ethnicity, age, sex, educational level, educational institutions, economic class, profession, geographic area, expressed user preferences, derived user preferences, and membership in a demographic group.
18. A electronic message as recited in claim 15, wherein each of the at least one augment object further includes an affiliation between the advocate represented by the augment object and a sponsor of the advertisement.
19. A electronic message as recited in claim 15, wherein selected ones of the at least one augmenting object are embedded in the electronic message.
20. A electronic message as recited in claim 15, wherein selected ones of the at least one augmenting object are attached to the electronic message.
US12/180,499 2008-01-16 2008-07-25 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising Abandoned US20090182631A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12/180,499 US20090182631A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-07-25 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12/015,115 US20090182618A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-01-16 System and Method for Word-of-Mouth Advertising
US12/180,499 US20090182631A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-07-25 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/015,115 Continuation US20090182618A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-01-16 System and Method for Word-of-Mouth Advertising

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20090182631A1 true US20090182631A1 (en) 2009-07-16

Family

ID=40851476

Family Applications (5)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/015,115 Abandoned US20090182618A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-01-16 System and Method for Word-of-Mouth Advertising
US12/180,499 Abandoned US20090182631A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-07-25 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising
US12/180,486 Expired - Fee Related US10074093B2 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-07-25 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising
US16/125,830 Active 2029-08-05 US11144934B2 (en) 2008-01-16 2018-09-10 System and method for user interaction detection and communication
US17/471,950 Pending US20210406922A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2021-09-10 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/015,115 Abandoned US20090182618A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-01-16 System and Method for Word-of-Mouth Advertising

Family Applications After (3)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/180,486 Expired - Fee Related US10074093B2 (en) 2008-01-16 2008-07-25 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising
US16/125,830 Active 2029-08-05 US11144934B2 (en) 2008-01-16 2018-09-10 System and method for user interaction detection and communication
US17/471,950 Pending US20210406922A1 (en) 2008-01-16 2021-09-10 System and method for word-of-mouth advertising

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (5) US20090182618A1 (en)
EP (1) EP2235673A2 (en)
KR (2) KR101163324B1 (en)
CN (1) CN102150175A (en)
TW (1) TW200939147A (en)
WO (1) WO2009091655A2 (en)

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100082427A1 (en) * 2008-09-30 2010-04-01 Yahoo! Inc. System and Method for Context Enhanced Ad Creation
US20100125569A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for autohyperlinking and navigation in url based context queries
US20130103470A1 (en) * 2011-10-24 2013-04-25 Sears Brands, Llc Systems and methods for distributing customizable and shareable tiered offers
US20140052527A1 (en) * 2012-08-15 2014-02-20 Nfluence Media, Inc. Reverse brand sorting tools for interest-graph driven personalization
US20140310096A1 (en) * 2013-04-16 2014-10-16 Anuthep Benja-Athon Global Commerce Synergy
US9158794B2 (en) 2008-06-27 2015-10-13 Google Inc. System and method for presentation of media related to a context
US9883326B2 (en) 2011-06-06 2018-01-30 autoGraph, Inc. Beacon based privacy centric network communication, sharing, relevancy tools and other tools
US9898756B2 (en) 2011-06-06 2018-02-20 autoGraph, Inc. Method and apparatus for displaying ads directed to personas having associated characteristics
US10470021B2 (en) 2014-03-28 2019-11-05 autoGraph, Inc. Beacon based privacy centric network communication, sharing, relevancy tools and other tools

Families Citing this family (47)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8229819B2 (en) * 2008-03-03 2012-07-24 Wildfire Interactive, Inc. Providing online promotions through social media networks
GB0804164D0 (en) * 2008-03-06 2009-01-07 Software Hothouse Ltd Enhancements to unified communications and messaging systems
US8060828B2 (en) * 2008-08-08 2011-11-15 Yahoo! Inc. Window overlay for online collaboration platform
US8495141B2 (en) * 2009-02-17 2013-07-23 International Business Machines Corporation Efficient maintenance of a distributed system membership view
US20100228582A1 (en) * 2009-03-06 2010-09-09 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for contextual advertising based on status messages
US20110161792A1 (en) * 2009-12-31 2011-06-30 Edward Florence Producing interactive documents
US8296175B2 (en) * 2010-01-11 2012-10-23 International Business Machines Corporation Social network marketing plan comparison method and system
US8332256B2 (en) * 2010-01-11 2012-12-11 International Business Machines Corporation Social network marketing plan monitoring method and system
US20110231233A1 (en) * 2010-03-19 2011-09-22 Marianne Iannace Systems and methods to provide offers to mobile devices in accordance with proximity-sensitivity scores
US20110271194A1 (en) * 2010-04-29 2011-11-03 Google Inc. Voice ad interactions as ad conversions
US20110307826A1 (en) * 2010-06-09 2011-12-15 Ebay Inc. User interface with mouse-over function
US20120089457A1 (en) * 2010-10-08 2012-04-12 Yahoo! Inc. Search Container
US8881042B2 (en) 2011-03-10 2014-11-04 Blackberry Limited System and method for providing secondary content using a colour controller
US9552376B2 (en) 2011-06-09 2017-01-24 MemoryWeb, LLC Method and apparatus for managing digital files
US10127522B2 (en) * 2011-07-14 2018-11-13 Excalibur Ip, Llc Automatic profiling of social media users
US10560498B2 (en) 2011-08-01 2020-02-11 Interdigital Ce Patent Holdings Contextual based communication method and user interface
US9594729B2 (en) * 2011-08-30 2017-03-14 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Content navigation and zooming on a mobile device
CN103096311B (en) * 2011-10-31 2018-11-09 中兴通讯股份有限公司 The method and system of Home eNodeB secure accessing
US10338937B2 (en) * 2011-11-30 2019-07-02 Red Hat, Inc. Multi-pane graphical user interface with dynamic panes to present web data
KR101819513B1 (en) * 2012-01-20 2018-01-17 엘지전자 주식회사 Mobile terminal and method for controlling the same
DE102012107550A1 (en) * 2012-08-17 2014-05-15 Claas Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen Gmbh Display device for agricultural machinery
US9781223B2 (en) 2012-12-28 2017-10-03 Facebook, Inc. Conserving battery and data usage
US10249007B2 (en) 2012-12-28 2019-04-02 Facebook, Inc. Social cover feed interface
US10761672B2 (en) 2012-12-28 2020-09-01 Facebook, Inc. Socialized dash
US10649607B2 (en) * 2012-12-28 2020-05-12 Facebook, Inc. Re-ranking story content
WO2014124097A2 (en) * 2013-02-06 2014-08-14 Content Delivery Ads, Inc. Internet vending machine/mobile vending machine system and method
GB201305837D0 (en) * 2013-03-29 2013-05-15 Mid City Holdings Llc Electronic presentation aid
US9760964B2 (en) 2013-04-11 2017-09-12 Facebook, Inc. Application-tailored object re-use and recycling
US9207986B2 (en) 2013-04-11 2015-12-08 Facebook, Inc. Identifying a next window of idle time to perform pre-generation tasks of content portions outside of the displayable region stored in a message queue
US10126903B2 (en) * 2013-04-15 2018-11-13 Facebook, Inc. Application-tailored object pre-inflation
US8788338B1 (en) * 2013-07-01 2014-07-22 Yahoo! Inc. Unified marketplace for advertisements and content in an online system
CN104254020B (en) * 2013-09-25 2015-12-02 腾讯科技(深圳)有限公司 The player method of media data, device and terminal
US10104022B2 (en) * 2013-11-15 2018-10-16 Google Llc Messaging for event live-stream
US10134053B2 (en) 2013-11-19 2018-11-20 Excalibur Ip, Llc User engagement-based contextually-dependent automated pricing for non-guaranteed delivery
EP2881898A1 (en) * 2013-12-09 2015-06-10 Accenture Global Services Limited Virtual assistant interactivity platform
US11010042B2 (en) * 2014-02-13 2021-05-18 Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Display of different versions of user interface element
CN105139106A (en) * 2015-07-31 2015-12-09 山东大学 Enterprise network architecture based on bill of product materials and constructing method therefor
CN105183767B (en) * 2015-07-31 2018-07-20 山东大学 A kind of business event similarity calculating method and system based on enterprise network
TWI562084B (en) * 2015-11-12 2016-12-11 Teng Li A motorcycle mudguard advertisement matching system
EP3188106A1 (en) * 2015-12-28 2017-07-05 Sony Corporation Integrated multi-platform user interface/user experience
WO2017134487A1 (en) * 2016-02-05 2017-08-10 Myclickbox Sa Method for dynamically displaying multimedia contents
CN106022595B (en) * 2016-05-16 2019-10-01 山东大学 Self cyberrelationship circle division methods of enterprise based on procurement data and server
US10648829B2 (en) * 2017-06-08 2020-05-12 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Selecting content items using map contexts by background applications
CN109492142A (en) * 2018-09-20 2019-03-19 上海雅高文化传播有限公司 Influence power detection method, electric terminal and storage medium suitable for perpetual object
US10936178B2 (en) 2019-01-07 2021-03-02 MemoryWeb, LLC Systems and methods for analyzing and organizing digital photos and videos
US11537937B2 (en) 2019-02-27 2022-12-27 Walmart Apollo, Llc Systems and methods for behavior based messaging
US11803593B2 (en) * 2020-02-14 2023-10-31 Coupang Corp. Systems and methods for receiving and propagating efficient search updates in real time

Citations (99)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5493692A (en) * 1993-12-03 1996-02-20 Xerox Corporation Selective delivery of electronic messages in a multiple computer system based on context and environment of a user
US5761662A (en) * 1994-12-20 1998-06-02 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Personalized information retrieval using user-defined profile
US5764906A (en) * 1995-11-07 1998-06-09 Netword Llc Universal electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system
US5903848A (en) * 1996-03-25 1999-05-11 Nec Corporation Method of and apparatus for dynamic channel allocation
US6014638A (en) * 1996-05-29 2000-01-11 America Online, Inc. System for customizing computer displays in accordance with user preferences
US6212552B1 (en) * 1998-01-15 2001-04-03 At&T Corp. Declarative message addressing
US20020019849A1 (en) * 2000-07-14 2002-02-14 Eldar Tuvey Information communication system
US20020019857A1 (en) * 2000-07-12 2002-02-14 Microsoft Corporation System and method for accessing directory service via an HTTP URL
US20020023091A1 (en) * 2000-06-23 2002-02-21 Silberberg David P. Architecture for distributed database information access
US20020023230A1 (en) * 2000-04-11 2002-02-21 Bolnick David A. System, method and computer program product for gathering and delivering personalized user information
US20020035605A1 (en) * 2000-01-26 2002-03-21 Mcdowell Mark Use of presence and location information concerning wireless subscribers for instant messaging and mobile commerce
US20020049968A1 (en) * 2000-06-09 2002-04-25 Wilson Daniel C. Advertising delivery method
US20020052786A1 (en) * 2000-08-09 2002-05-02 Lg Electronics Inc. Informative system based on user's position and operating method thereof
US20020052785A1 (en) * 1999-11-11 2002-05-02 Tenenbaum Samuel Sergio Computerized advertising method and system
US20030009495A1 (en) * 2001-06-29 2003-01-09 Akli Adjaoute Systems and methods for filtering electronic content
US20030008661A1 (en) * 2001-07-03 2003-01-09 Joyce Dennis P. Location-based content delivery
US20030027558A1 (en) * 2001-08-01 2003-02-06 Alcatel Method for executing a service for organisation of meetings for participants in a communications network, and service computer and program module for this
US20030032409A1 (en) * 2001-03-16 2003-02-13 Hutcheson Stewart Douglas Method and system for distributing content over a wireless communications system
US6523172B1 (en) * 1998-12-17 2003-02-18 Evolutionary Technologies International, Inc. Parser translator system and method
US20030065762A1 (en) * 2001-09-28 2003-04-03 Cable & Wireless Internet Services, Inc. Configurable adaptive global traffic control and management
US20030069880A1 (en) * 2001-09-24 2003-04-10 Ask Jeeves, Inc. Natural language query processing
US20030069877A1 (en) * 2001-08-13 2003-04-10 Xerox Corporation System for automatically generating queries
US20030078978A1 (en) * 2001-10-23 2003-04-24 Clifford Lardin Firmware portable messaging units utilizing proximate communications
US20030080992A1 (en) * 2001-10-29 2003-05-01 Haines Robert E. Dynamic mapping of wireless network devices
US20040015588A1 (en) * 2002-07-22 2004-01-22 Web.De Ag Communications environment having multiple web sites
US20040030798A1 (en) * 2000-09-11 2004-02-12 Andersson Per Johan Method and device for providing/receiving media content over digital network
US6694316B1 (en) * 1999-03-23 2004-02-17 Microstrategy Inc. System and method for a subject-based channel distribution of automatic, real-time delivery of personalized informational and transactional data
US20040034752A1 (en) * 1999-02-23 2004-02-19 Ohran Richard S. Method and system for mirroring and archiving mass storage
US6701315B1 (en) * 1997-11-07 2004-03-02 Bell & Howell Mail And Messaging Technologies Company Systems, methods, and computer program products for delivering information in a preferred medium
US20040043758A1 (en) * 2002-08-29 2004-03-04 Nokia Corporation System and method for providing context sensitive recommendations to digital services
US20040044736A1 (en) * 2002-08-27 2004-03-04 Austin-Lane Christopher Emery Cascaded delivery of an electronic communication
US6708203B1 (en) * 1997-10-20 2004-03-16 The Delfin Project, Inc. Method and system for filtering messages based on a user profile and an informational processing system event
US6731940B1 (en) * 2000-04-28 2004-05-04 Trafficmaster Usa, Inc. Methods of using wireless geolocation to customize content and delivery of information to wireless communication devices
US6741980B1 (en) * 1999-03-23 2004-05-25 Microstrategy Inc. System and method for automatic, real-time delivery of personalized informational and transactional data to users via content delivery device
US6845370B2 (en) * 1998-11-12 2005-01-18 Accenture Llp Advanced information gathering for targeted activities
US20050015599A1 (en) * 2003-06-25 2005-01-20 Nokia, Inc. Two-phase hash value matching technique in message protection systems
US20050015451A1 (en) * 2001-02-15 2005-01-20 Sheldon Valentine D'arcy Automatic e-mail address directory and sorting system
US6853982B2 (en) * 1998-09-18 2005-02-08 Amazon.Com, Inc. Content personalization based on actions performed during a current browsing session
US20050050027A1 (en) * 2003-09-03 2005-03-03 Leslie Yeh Determining and/or using location information in an ad system
US20050055321A1 (en) * 2000-03-06 2005-03-10 Kanisa Inc. System and method for providing an intelligent multi-step dialog with a user
US20050060381A1 (en) * 2002-07-01 2005-03-17 H2F Media, Inc. Adaptive electronic messaging
US20050065950A1 (en) * 2000-01-07 2005-03-24 Naren Chaganti Online repository for personal information
US20050065980A1 (en) * 2003-09-10 2005-03-24 Contact Network Corporation Relationship collaboration system
US20050076060A1 (en) * 2003-10-06 2005-04-07 Cemer Innovation, Inc. System and method for creating a visualization indicating relationships and relevance to an entity
US20050108213A1 (en) * 2003-11-13 2005-05-19 Whereonearth Limited Geographical location extraction
US20050120006A1 (en) * 2003-05-30 2005-06-02 Geosign Corporation Systems and methods for enhancing web-based searching
US20060047615A1 (en) * 2004-08-25 2006-03-02 Yael Ravin Knowledge management system automatically allocating expert resources
US7010492B1 (en) * 1999-09-30 2006-03-07 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for dynamic distribution of controlled and additional selective overlays in a streaming media
US20060069749A1 (en) * 1997-12-05 2006-03-30 Pinpoint Incorporated Location enhanced information delivery system
US7027801B1 (en) * 2001-02-06 2006-04-11 Nortel Networks Limited Method delivering location-base targeted advertisements to mobile subscribers
US20060085392A1 (en) * 2004-09-30 2006-04-20 Microsoft Corporation System and method for automatic generation of search results based on local intention
US20060089876A1 (en) * 2004-10-21 2006-04-27 Boys Mark A Proximal advertising using hand-held communication devices
US7181438B1 (en) * 1999-07-21 2007-02-20 Alberti Anemometer, Llc Database access system
US7185286B2 (en) * 2001-08-28 2007-02-27 Nvidia International, Inc. Interface for mobilizing content and transactions on multiple classes of devices
US20070067267A1 (en) * 2005-09-21 2007-03-22 Stephen Ives Systems and methods for managing the display of sponsored links together with search results in a search engine system
US20070072591A1 (en) * 2005-09-23 2007-03-29 Mcgary Faith Enhanced directory assistance system and method including location search functions
US20070073641A1 (en) * 2005-09-23 2007-03-29 Redcarpet, Inc. Method and system for improving search results
US20070073583A1 (en) * 2005-08-26 2007-03-29 Spot Runner, Inc., A Delaware Corporation Systems and Methods For Media Planning, Ad Production, and Ad Placement
US20070087756A1 (en) * 2005-10-04 2007-04-19 Hoffberg Steven M Multifactorial optimization system and method
US7209915B1 (en) * 2002-06-28 2007-04-24 Microsoft Corporation Method, system and apparatus for routing a query to one or more providers
US20070112762A1 (en) * 2005-10-25 2007-05-17 Brubaker Curtis M Method and apparatus for obtaining revenue from the distribution of hyper-relevant advertising through permissive mind reading, proximity encounters, and database aggregation
US20070121843A1 (en) * 2005-09-02 2007-05-31 Ron Atazky Advertising and incentives over a social network
US20080005651A1 (en) * 2001-08-13 2008-01-03 Xerox Corporation System for automatically generating queries
US7320025B1 (en) * 2002-03-18 2008-01-15 Music Choice Systems and methods for providing a broadcast entertainment service and an on-demand entertainment service
US20080021957A1 (en) * 2006-07-10 2008-01-24 Jonathan William Medved Pushed media content delivery
US20080028031A1 (en) * 2006-07-25 2008-01-31 Byron Lewis Bailey Method and apparatus for managing instant messaging
US20080040283A1 (en) * 2006-08-11 2008-02-14 Arcadyan Technology Corporation Content protection system and method for enabling secure sharing of copy-protected content
US20080046298A1 (en) * 2004-07-29 2008-02-21 Ziv Ben-Yehuda System and Method For Travel Planning
US20080070588A1 (en) * 2006-09-19 2008-03-20 Drew Morin Device based trigger for location push event
US20080086431A1 (en) * 2006-09-15 2008-04-10 Icebreaker, Inc. Social interaction messaging and notification
US20080086356A1 (en) * 2005-12-09 2008-04-10 Steve Glassman Determining advertisements using user interest information and map-based location information
US20080091796A1 (en) * 2006-09-29 2008-04-17 Guy Story Methods and apparatus for customized content delivery
US20080104227A1 (en) * 2006-11-01 2008-05-01 Yahoo! Inc. Searching and route mapping based on a social network, location, and time
US20080104061A1 (en) * 2006-10-27 2008-05-01 Netseer, Inc. Methods and apparatus for matching relevant content to user intention
US20080109843A1 (en) * 2006-09-14 2008-05-08 Shah Ullah Methods and systems for securing content played on mobile devices
US20080114751A1 (en) * 2006-05-02 2008-05-15 Surf Canyon Incorporated Real time implicit user modeling for personalized search
US20080120308A1 (en) * 2006-11-22 2008-05-22 Ronald Martinez Methods, Systems and Apparatus for Delivery of Media
US20080120690A1 (en) * 2006-11-17 2008-05-22 Microsoft Corporation Client enforced network tunnel vision
US20090005987A1 (en) * 2007-04-27 2009-01-01 Vengroff Darren E Determining locations of interest based on user visits
US20090006336A1 (en) * 2007-06-28 2009-01-01 Apple Inc. Location based media items
US20090012965A1 (en) * 2007-07-01 2009-01-08 Decisionmark Corp. Network Content Objection Handling System and Method
US20090012934A1 (en) * 2007-07-03 2009-01-08 Corbis Corporation Searching for rights limited media
US20090043844A1 (en) * 2007-08-09 2009-02-12 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for name conflict resolution
US20090044132A1 (en) * 2007-06-28 2009-02-12 Microsoft Corporation Rich conference invitations with context
US7496548B1 (en) * 2005-09-26 2009-02-24 Quintura, Inc. Neural network for electronic search applications
US20090070186A1 (en) * 2007-09-07 2009-03-12 Microsoft Corporation Interactively presenting advertising content offline
US20090076889A1 (en) * 1999-12-14 2009-03-19 Imahima Inc. Systems for communicating current and future activity information among mobile internet users and methods therefor
US20090100052A1 (en) * 2007-10-16 2009-04-16 Stern Edith H Enabling collaborative networks
US7529811B2 (en) * 2003-08-21 2009-05-05 Microsoft Corporation Systems and methods for the implementation of a core schema for providing a top-level structure for organizing units of information manageable by a hardware/software interface system
US20090125517A1 (en) * 2007-11-14 2009-05-14 Qualcomm Incorporated Method and system for keyword correlation in a mobile environment
US20100063993A1 (en) * 2008-09-08 2010-03-11 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for socially aware identity manager
US7681147B2 (en) * 2005-12-13 2010-03-16 Yahoo! Inc. System for determining probable meanings of inputted words
US20100118025A1 (en) * 2005-04-21 2010-05-13 Microsoft Corporation Mode information displayed in a mapping application
US20100125604A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo, Inc. System and method for url based query for retrieving data related to a context
US20100125569A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for autohyperlinking and navigation in url based context queries
US20100125605A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for data privacy in url based context queries
US20100125563A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for deriving income from url based context queries
US7725492B2 (en) * 2005-12-23 2010-05-25 Facebook, Inc. Managing information about relationships in a social network via a social timeline
US7925708B2 (en) * 2008-01-04 2011-04-12 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for delivery of augmented messages

Family Cites Families (277)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6850252B1 (en) 1999-10-05 2005-02-01 Steven M. Hoffberg Intelligent electronic appliance system and method
US5446891A (en) 1992-02-26 1995-08-29 International Business Machines Corporation System for adjusting hypertext links with weighed user goals and activities
US5583763A (en) 1993-09-09 1996-12-10 Mni Interactive Method and apparatus for recommending selections based on preferences in a multi-user system
US5758257A (en) 1994-11-29 1998-05-26 Herz; Frederick System and method for scheduling broadcast of and access to video programs and other data using customer profiles
US5651068A (en) 1995-03-08 1997-07-22 Hewlett-Packard Company International cryptography framework
JP3134040B2 (en) 1995-05-25 2001-02-13 三菱電機株式会社 Time division multiplex communication control method
WO1997019415A2 (en) 1995-11-07 1997-05-29 Cadis, Inc. Search engine for remote object oriented database management system
US5794210A (en) 1995-12-11 1998-08-11 Cybergold, Inc. Attention brokerage
US5802510A (en) 1995-12-29 1998-09-01 At&T Corp Universal directory service
US5781879A (en) 1996-01-26 1998-07-14 Qpl Llc Semantic analysis and modification methodology
US6457004B1 (en) 1997-07-03 2002-09-24 Hitachi, Ltd. Document retrieval assisting method, system and service using closely displayed areas for titles and topics
US6021403A (en) 1996-07-19 2000-02-01 Microsoft Corporation Intelligent user assistance facility
US5920854A (en) 1996-08-14 1999-07-06 Infoseek Corporation Real-time document collection search engine with phrase indexing
US5933811A (en) * 1996-08-20 1999-08-03 Paul D. Angles System and method for delivering customized advertisements within interactive communication systems
US20050165699A1 (en) 1996-11-12 2005-07-28 Hahn-Carlson Dean W. Processing and management of transaction timing characteristics
US6098065A (en) 1997-02-13 2000-08-01 Nortel Networks Corporation Associative search engine
US7236969B1 (en) 1999-07-08 2007-06-26 Nortel Networks Limited Associative search engine
US20010013009A1 (en) 1997-05-20 2001-08-09 Daniel R. Greening System and method for computer-based marketing
US6182068B1 (en) 1997-08-01 2001-01-30 Ask Jeeves, Inc. Personalized search methods
US6047234A (en) 1997-10-16 2000-04-04 Navigation Technologies Corporation System and method for updating, enhancing or refining a geographic database using feedback
US6112181A (en) 1997-11-06 2000-08-29 Intertrust Technologies Corporation Systems and methods for matching, selecting, narrowcasting, and/or classifying based on rights management and/or other information
SE511584C2 (en) 1998-01-15 1999-10-25 Ericsson Telefon Ab L M information Routing
JP3004254B2 (en) 1998-06-12 2000-01-31 株式会社エイ・ティ・アール音声翻訳通信研究所 Statistical sequence model generation device, statistical language model generation device, and speech recognition device
US6141010A (en) 1998-07-17 2000-10-31 B. E. Technology, Llc Computer interface method and apparatus with targeted advertising
US6859799B1 (en) 1998-11-30 2005-02-22 Gemstar Development Corporation Search engine for video and graphics
US6324519B1 (en) 1999-03-12 2001-11-27 Expanse Networks, Inc. Advertisement auction system
US7073129B1 (en) 1998-12-18 2006-07-04 Tangis Corporation Automated selection of appropriate information based on a computer user's context
US6826552B1 (en) 1999-02-05 2004-11-30 Xfi Corporation Apparatus and methods for a computer aided decision-making system
US7039639B2 (en) 1999-03-31 2006-05-02 International Business Machines Corporation Optimization of system performance based on communication relationship
US6327590B1 (en) 1999-05-05 2001-12-04 Xerox Corporation System and method for collaborative ranking of search results employing user and group profiles derived from document collection content analysis
US6490698B1 (en) 1999-06-04 2002-12-03 Microsoft Corporation Multi-level decision-analytic approach to failure and repair in human-computer interactions
US6889382B1 (en) 1999-07-27 2005-05-03 Mediaone Group, Inc. Remote TV control system
CN1176432C (en) 1999-07-28 2004-11-17 国际商业机器公司 Method and system for providing national language inquiry service
US7424678B2 (en) 1999-09-16 2008-09-09 Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. Audiovisual information management system with advertising
EP1087321A1 (en) 1999-09-24 2001-03-28 Alcatel A method of manipulating an already sent E-Mail and a corresponding server
AUPQ312299A0 (en) 1999-09-27 1999-10-21 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Method and system for addressing audio-visual content fragments
JP2003529054A (en) 1999-10-19 2003-09-30 アメリカン カルカー インコーポレイティド Effective navigation technology based on user preferences
US6665640B1 (en) 1999-11-12 2003-12-16 Phoenix Solutions, Inc. Interactive speech based learning/training system formulating search queries based on natural language parsing of recognized user queries
US7139557B2 (en) 1999-11-15 2006-11-21 Pango Networks, Inc. Systems, devices and methods for providing services in a proximity-base environment
US6968313B1 (en) 1999-11-15 2005-11-22 H Three, Inc. Method and apparatus for facilitating and tracking personal referrals
US20010047384A1 (en) 1999-11-29 2001-11-29 John Croy Methods and systems for providing personalized content over a network
US7062510B1 (en) 1999-12-02 2006-06-13 Prime Research Alliance E., Inc. Consumer profiling and advertisement selection system
US7284033B2 (en) 1999-12-14 2007-10-16 Imahima Inc. Systems for communicating current and future activity information among mobile internet users and methods therefor
US20030191816A1 (en) 2000-01-11 2003-10-09 Spoovy, Llc System and method for creating and delivering customized multimedia communications
US6314365B1 (en) 2000-01-18 2001-11-06 Navigation Technologies Corp. Method and system of providing navigation services to cellular phone devices from a server
US6662195B1 (en) 2000-01-21 2003-12-09 Microstrategy, Inc. System and method for information warehousing supporting the automatic, real-time delivery of personalized informational and transactional data to users via content delivery device
US6829333B1 (en) 2000-01-31 2004-12-07 Frazier Spaeth Llc Automated system for messaging based on chains of relationships
US6789073B1 (en) 2000-02-22 2004-09-07 Harvey Lunenfeld Client-server multitasking
FI112433B (en) 2000-02-29 2003-11-28 Nokia Corp Location-related services
US20010035880A1 (en) 2000-03-06 2001-11-01 Igor Musatov Interactive touch screen map device
WO2001069452A2 (en) 2000-03-14 2001-09-20 Blue Dolphin Group, Inc. Method of selecting content for a user
US6785670B1 (en) 2000-03-16 2004-08-31 International Business Machines Corporation Automatically initiating an internet-based search from within a displayed document
US6601012B1 (en) 2000-03-16 2003-07-29 Microsoft Corporation Contextual models and methods for inferring attention and location
US6773344B1 (en) 2000-03-16 2004-08-10 Creator Ltd. Methods and apparatus for integration of interactive toys with interactive television and cellular communication systems
US7260837B2 (en) 2000-03-22 2007-08-21 Comscore Networks, Inc. Systems and methods for user identification, user demographic reporting and collecting usage data usage biometrics
KR20000036897A (en) 2000-03-31 2000-07-05 이진수 Method for providing map and area information in computer network system, and record medium thereof
AU2001253161A1 (en) 2000-04-04 2001-10-15 Stick Networks, Inc. Method and apparatus for scheduling presentation of digital content on a personal communication device
US6757661B1 (en) 2000-04-07 2004-06-29 Netzero High volume targeting of advertisements to user of online service
US20060173702A1 (en) * 2000-04-12 2006-08-03 Saxena Ashok R Network-based interaction and review service for facilitating communication in a network-based commerce environment
US6714158B1 (en) 2000-04-18 2004-03-30 Sirf Technology, Inc. Method and system for data detection in a global positioning system satellite receiver
US6985839B1 (en) 2000-05-05 2006-01-10 Technocom Corporation System and method for wireless location coverage and prediction
KR20000054319A (en) 2000-06-01 2000-09-05 권영준 System and method for providing geographic information in network system
US7404084B2 (en) 2000-06-16 2008-07-22 Entriq Inc. Method and system to digitally sign and deliver content in a geographically controlled manner via a network
AU2001283004A1 (en) 2000-07-24 2002-02-05 Vivcom, Inc. System and method for indexing, searching, identifying, and editing portions of electronic multimedia files
US6494457B2 (en) 2000-07-26 2002-12-17 Shelly Conte Enhanced hide and seek game and method of playing game
US6778986B1 (en) 2000-07-31 2004-08-17 Eliyon Technologies Corporation Computer method and apparatus for determining site type of a web site
US6882977B1 (en) 2000-07-31 2005-04-19 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Method and facility for displaying customer activity and value
US6931254B1 (en) 2000-08-21 2005-08-16 Nortel Networks Limited Personalized presentation system and method
KR20000064105A (en) 2000-08-22 2000-11-06 문지환 Advertisement network system involving community service system on internet and method thereof
US7437312B2 (en) 2000-08-23 2008-10-14 Bizrate.Com Method for context personalized web browsing
US20020111956A1 (en) 2000-09-18 2002-08-15 Boon-Lock Yeo Method and apparatus for self-management of content across multiple storage systems
US6907465B1 (en) 2000-09-22 2005-06-14 Daniel E. Tsai Electronic commerce using personal preferences
US7865306B2 (en) 2000-09-28 2011-01-04 Michael Mays Devices, methods, and systems for managing route-related information
JP2003044708A (en) 2000-10-02 2003-02-14 Omron Corp Information mediating system and information mediating method to be used in the system
US6502033B1 (en) 2000-10-05 2002-12-31 Navigation Technologies Corp. Turn detection algorithm for vehicle positioning
US6904160B2 (en) 2000-10-18 2005-06-07 Red Hen Systems, Inc. Method for matching geographic information with recorded images
WO2002037334A1 (en) 2000-10-30 2002-05-10 Elias Arts Corporation System and method for performing content experience management
US6961731B2 (en) 2000-11-15 2005-11-01 Kooltorch, L.L.C. Apparatus and method for organizing and/or presenting data
US20020103920A1 (en) 2000-11-21 2002-08-01 Berkun Ken Alan Interpretive stream metadata extraction
US20020065844A1 (en) 2000-11-30 2002-05-30 Rich Robinson Metadata internet platform for enabling customization of tags in digital images
AUPR230700A0 (en) 2000-12-22 2001-01-25 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha A method for facilitating access to multimedia content
US7058508B2 (en) 2001-01-12 2006-06-06 Energy Control Technologies Automated building service broker
JP2002222145A (en) 2001-01-26 2002-08-09 Fujitsu Ltd Method of transmitting electronic mail, computer program, and recording medium
US20020138331A1 (en) 2001-02-05 2002-09-26 Hosea Devin F. Method and system for web page personalization
US6701311B2 (en) 2001-02-07 2004-03-02 International Business Machines Corporation Customer self service system for resource search and selection
CA2437726A1 (en) 2001-02-15 2002-08-22 Suffix Mail Inc. E-mail messaging system
US20020133400A1 (en) 2001-03-13 2002-09-19 Boomerangmarketing.Com Incorporated Systems and methods for internet reward service
US7266085B2 (en) 2001-03-21 2007-09-04 Stine John A Access and routing protocol for ad hoc network using synchronous collision resolution and node state dissemination
US7512407B2 (en) 2001-03-26 2009-03-31 Tencent (Bvi) Limited Instant messaging system and method
US20020173971A1 (en) 2001-03-28 2002-11-21 Stirpe Paul Alan System, method and application of ontology driven inferencing-based personalization systems
ITTO20010296A1 (en) 2001-03-30 2002-09-30 Telecom Italia Lab Spa METHOD FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF LOCALIZATION DATA OF MOBILE APPARATUS FOR MOBILE TELEPHONY.
JP2002297753A (en) 2001-03-30 2002-10-11 Fujitsu Ltd System for providing image data
US7039643B2 (en) 2001-04-10 2006-05-02 Adobe Systems Incorporated System, method and apparatus for converting and integrating media files
JP3709423B2 (en) 2001-04-13 2005-10-26 繁幸 梨木 Word-of-mouth information transmission device, word-of-mouth information transmission method, and word-of-mouth information transmission program
US7620621B2 (en) 2001-05-01 2009-11-17 General Electric Company Methods and system for providing context sensitive information
EP1393179A4 (en) 2001-05-08 2005-10-05 Ipool Corp Privacy protection system and method
US20020198786A1 (en) 2001-05-30 2002-12-26 Tripp Cynthia Pope Marketing system
US7194512B1 (en) 2001-06-26 2007-03-20 Palm, Inc. Method and apparatus for wirelessly networked distributed resource usage for data gathering
US6798358B2 (en) 2001-07-03 2004-09-28 Nortel Networks Limited Location-based content delivery
US20030009367A1 (en) 2001-07-06 2003-01-09 Royce Morrison Process for consumer-directed prescription influence and health care product marketing
FI115419B (en) 2001-08-20 2005-04-29 Helsingin Kauppakorkeakoulu User-specific personalization of information services
ATE495423T1 (en) 2001-11-02 2011-01-15 Panasonic Corp TERMINAL DEVICE
US7136871B2 (en) 2001-11-21 2006-11-14 Microsoft Corporation Methods and systems for selectively displaying advertisements
US6781920B2 (en) 2001-12-05 2004-08-24 International Business Machines Corporation Method for resolving meeting conflicts within an electronic calendar application
KR100467578B1 (en) 2001-12-14 2005-01-24 삼성전자주식회사 Method and apparatus for providing POI data
WO2003067497A1 (en) 2002-02-04 2003-08-14 Cataphora, Inc A method and apparatus to visually present discussions for data mining purposes
US20030149574A1 (en) 2002-02-05 2003-08-07 Rudman Daniel E. Method for providing media consumers with total choice and total control
EP2211520A3 (en) 2002-02-14 2010-11-10 Avaya Inc. Presence and availability tracking
US20060069616A1 (en) 2004-09-30 2006-03-30 David Bau Determining advertisements using user behavior information such as past navigation information
US7013149B2 (en) 2002-04-11 2006-03-14 Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. Environment aware services for mobile devices
US7065345B2 (en) 2002-04-19 2006-06-20 Stephen J. Carlton Data processing apparatus and method for correlation analysis
US20050192025A1 (en) 2002-04-22 2005-09-01 Kaplan Richard D. Method and apparatus for an interactive tour-guide system
US20040148341A1 (en) 2003-01-29 2004-07-29 Web.De Ag Web site having an individual event settings element
US20050182824A1 (en) 2002-04-30 2005-08-18 Pierre-Alain Cotte Communications web site
US8611919B2 (en) 2002-05-23 2013-12-17 Wounder Gmbh., Llc System, method, and computer program product for providing location based services and mobile e-commerce
US7194463B2 (en) 2002-05-28 2007-03-20 Xerox Corporation Systems and methods for constrained anisotropic diffusion routing within an ad hoc network
US20060026067A1 (en) 2002-06-14 2006-02-02 Nicholas Frank C Method and system for providing network based target advertising and encapsulation
US7752072B2 (en) 2002-07-16 2010-07-06 Google Inc. Method and system for providing advertising through content specific nodes over the internet
JP4300767B2 (en) 2002-08-05 2009-07-22 ソニー株式会社 Guide system, content server, portable device, information processing method, information processing program, and storage medium
US20100100437A1 (en) * 2002-09-24 2010-04-22 Google, Inc. Suggesting and/or providing ad serving constraint information
US7657907B2 (en) 2002-09-30 2010-02-02 Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. Automatic user profiling
US7254581B2 (en) 2002-11-13 2007-08-07 Jerry Johnson System and method for creation and maintenance of a rich content or content-centric electronic catalog
US7802724B1 (en) 2002-12-20 2010-09-28 Steven Paul Nohr Identifications and communications methods
US8538895B2 (en) 2004-03-15 2013-09-17 Aol Inc. Sharing social network information
US20040203909A1 (en) 2003-01-01 2004-10-14 Koster Karl H. Systems and methods for location dependent information download to a mobile telephone
US8225194B2 (en) 2003-01-09 2012-07-17 Kaleidescape, Inc. Bookmarks and watchpoints for selection and presentation of media streams
US7305445B2 (en) 2003-01-28 2007-12-04 Microsoft Corporation Indirect disposable email addressing
US7406502B1 (en) 2003-02-20 2008-07-29 Sonicwall, Inc. Method and system for classifying a message based on canonical equivalent of acceptable items included in the message
US7543237B2 (en) 2003-03-19 2009-06-02 Accenture Global Servicecs Gmbh Dynamic collaboration assistant
KR100478019B1 (en) 2003-04-03 2005-03-22 엔에이치엔(주) Method and system for generating a search result list based on local information
US7007014B2 (en) 2003-04-04 2006-02-28 Yahoo! Inc. Canonicalization of terms in a keyword-based presentation system
US7069308B2 (en) 2003-06-16 2006-06-27 Friendster, Inc. System, method and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks
US7392311B2 (en) 2003-06-19 2008-06-24 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for throttling events in an information technology system
US20040267880A1 (en) 2003-06-30 2004-12-30 Kestutis Patiejunas System and method for delivery of media content
US7219013B1 (en) 2003-07-31 2007-05-15 Rockwell Collins, Inc. Method and system for fault detection and exclusion for multi-sensor navigation systems
US8200775B2 (en) 2005-02-01 2012-06-12 Newsilike Media Group, Inc Enhanced syndication
US20060236258A1 (en) 2003-08-11 2006-10-19 Core Mobility, Inc. Scheduling of rendering of location-based content
US7213036B2 (en) 2003-08-12 2007-05-01 Aol Llc System for incorporating information about a source and usage of a media asset into the asset itself
US7840892B2 (en) 2003-08-29 2010-11-23 Nokia Corporation Organization and maintenance of images using metadata
US8321278B2 (en) * 2003-09-30 2012-11-27 Google Inc. Targeted advertisements based on user profiles and page profile
US7529215B2 (en) 2003-11-17 2009-05-05 Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) Encapsulation of independent transmissions over internal interface of distributed radio base station
US20050203801A1 (en) 2003-11-26 2005-09-15 Jared Morgenstern Method and system for collecting, sharing and tracking user or group associates content via a communications network
US8306874B2 (en) 2003-11-26 2012-11-06 Buy.Com, Inc. Method and apparatus for word of mouth selling via a communications network
EP1716525A4 (en) 2003-11-26 2008-05-21 Buy Com Inc Method and system for word of mouth advertising via a communications network
CA2490220A1 (en) 2003-12-15 2005-06-15 Gordon Wilson Method and interface system for facilitating access to fantasy sports leagues
KR100556438B1 (en) 2004-01-02 2006-03-03 엘지전자 주식회사 Remote Controller of The Display Device and Method for Controlling of The Same
US20050151849A1 (en) 2004-01-13 2005-07-14 Andrew Fitzhugh Method and system for image driven clock synchronization
US20050160080A1 (en) 2004-01-16 2005-07-21 The Regents Of The University Of California System and method of context-specific searching in an electronic database
US8015119B2 (en) 2004-01-21 2011-09-06 Google Inc. Methods and systems for the display and navigation of a social network
US7269590B2 (en) 2004-01-29 2007-09-11 Yahoo! Inc. Method and system for customizing views of information associated with a social network user
US7707122B2 (en) 2004-01-29 2010-04-27 Yahoo ! Inc. System and method of information filtering using measures of affinity of a relationship
US7522995B2 (en) 2004-02-05 2009-04-21 Nortrup Edward H Method and system for providing travel time information
US10417298B2 (en) 2004-12-02 2019-09-17 Insignio Technologies, Inc. Personalized content processing and delivery system and media
US20050216295A1 (en) 2004-02-27 2005-09-29 Abrahamsohn Daniel A A Method of and system for obtaining data from multiple sources and ranking documents based on meta data obtained through collaborative filtering and other matching techniques
US7496500B2 (en) 2004-03-01 2009-02-24 Microsoft Corporation Systems and methods that determine intent of data and respond to the data based on the intent
JP2005293020A (en) 2004-03-31 2005-10-20 Fujitsu Ltd Method for searching for video data of moving object, apparatus for imaging/detecting moving object, and apparatus for searching for video data of moving object
US7379968B2 (en) 2004-06-03 2008-05-27 International Business Machines Corporation Multiple moderation for networked conferences
US7746376B2 (en) 2004-06-16 2010-06-29 Felipe Mendoza Method and apparatus for accessing multi-dimensional mapping and information
US7984037B2 (en) 2004-07-16 2011-07-19 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Method for evaluating xpath-like fragment identifiers of audio-visual content
US7958115B2 (en) 2004-07-29 2011-06-07 Yahoo! Inc. Search systems and methods using in-line contextual queries
US20070043766A1 (en) 2005-08-18 2007-02-22 Nicholas Frank C Method and System for the Creating, Managing, and Delivery of Feed Formatted Content
US20060040719A1 (en) 2004-08-20 2006-02-23 Jason Plimi Fantasy sports league pre-draft logic method
US8615731B2 (en) 2004-08-25 2013-12-24 Mohit Doshi System and method for automating the development of web services that incorporate business rules
US20060053058A1 (en) 2004-08-31 2006-03-09 Philip Hotchkiss System and method for gathering consumer feedback
US20060047563A1 (en) 2004-09-02 2006-03-02 Keith Wardell Method for optimizing a marketing campaign
US20060069612A1 (en) * 2004-09-28 2006-03-30 Microsoft Corporation System and method for generating an orchestrated advertising campaign
DE102004050785A1 (en) 2004-10-14 2006-05-04 Deutsche Telekom Ag Method and arrangement for processing messages in the context of an integrated messaging system
WO2006044939A2 (en) 2004-10-19 2006-04-27 Rosen James S System and method for location based social networking
US20060129313A1 (en) 2004-12-14 2006-06-15 Becker Craig H System and method for driving directions based on non-map criteria
KR100703468B1 (en) 2004-12-29 2007-04-03 삼성전자주식회사 Apparatus and method for guiding path in personal navigation terminal
US20060184579A1 (en) 2005-01-05 2006-08-17 Michael Mills Framework for providing ancillary content in a television environment
US7472397B2 (en) 2005-01-11 2008-12-30 International Business Machines Corporation Method and system to correlate and consolidate a plurality of events
WO2006089994A1 (en) 2005-01-12 2006-08-31 Nokia Corporation Name service in a multihop wireless ad hoc network
US7895574B2 (en) 2005-01-14 2011-02-22 Microsoft Corporation System and methods for automatically verifying management packs
US7689556B2 (en) 2005-01-31 2010-03-30 France Telecom Content navigation service
US7343364B2 (en) 2005-02-04 2008-03-11 Efunds Corporation Rules-based system architecture and systems using the same
US20060212401A1 (en) 2005-03-15 2006-09-21 Apple Computer, Inc. Method and system for network-based promotion of particular digital media items
US20060212330A1 (en) 2005-03-16 2006-09-21 Erkki Savilampi Network based processing of calendar meeting requests
US20080285886A1 (en) 2005-03-29 2008-11-20 Matthew Emmerson Allen System For Displaying Images
US8732175B2 (en) 2005-04-21 2014-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. Interestingness ranking of media objects
US7466244B2 (en) 2005-04-21 2008-12-16 Microsoft Corporation Virtual earth rooftop overlay and bounding
US10210159B2 (en) 2005-04-21 2019-02-19 Oath Inc. Media object metadata association and ranking
US7607582B2 (en) 2005-04-22 2009-10-27 Microsoft Corporation Aggregation and synchronization of nearby media
US7606580B2 (en) 2005-05-11 2009-10-20 Aol Llc Personalized location information for mobile devices
US7451102B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2008-11-11 Shadow Enterprises Inc. Ordering method utilizing instant messaging
US20060282455A1 (en) 2005-06-13 2006-12-14 It Interactive Services Inc. System and method for ranking web content
US7259668B2 (en) 2005-07-12 2007-08-21 Qwest Communications International Inc. Mapping the location of a mobile communications device systems and methods
US7899469B2 (en) 2005-07-12 2011-03-01 Qwest Communications International, Inc. User defined location based notification for a mobile communications device systems and methods
CA2614364C (en) 2005-08-11 2016-09-27 Contextweb, Inc. Method and system for placement and pricing of internet-based advertisements or services
US20070050253A1 (en) 2005-08-29 2007-03-01 Microsoft Corporation Automatically generating content for presenting in a preview pane for ADS
US20070150359A1 (en) 2005-09-09 2007-06-28 Lim Kok E S Social marketing network
US7577665B2 (en) 2005-09-14 2009-08-18 Jumptap, Inc. User characteristic influenced search results
US7499586B2 (en) 2005-10-04 2009-03-03 Microsoft Corporation Photographing big things
US7933897B2 (en) 2005-10-12 2011-04-26 Google Inc. Entity display priority in a distributed geographic information system
US20070088852A1 (en) 2005-10-17 2007-04-19 Zohar Levkovitz Device, system and method of presentation of advertisements on a wireless device
US7796285B2 (en) 2005-10-18 2010-09-14 Dialogic Corporation Supplementing facsimile image data
US20070100956A1 (en) 2005-10-29 2007-05-03 Gopesh Kumar A system and method for enabling prospects to contact sponsoring advertisers on the telephone directly from an Internet-based advertisement with just a single-click, and efficiently tracking from what Internet location (URL) the telephone contacts are initiated.
KR100837695B1 (en) 2005-11-18 2008-06-16 한국전자통신연구원 System and method for providing personalized advertisement service
US20070168430A1 (en) 2005-11-23 2007-07-19 Xerox Corporation Content-based dynamic email prioritizer
US7580926B2 (en) 2005-12-01 2009-08-25 Adchemy, Inc. Method and apparatus for representing text using search engine, document collection, and hierarchal taxonomy
US9135304B2 (en) 2005-12-02 2015-09-15 Salesforce.Com, Inc. Methods and systems for optimizing text searches over structured data in a multi-tenant environment
US20070150168A1 (en) 2005-12-12 2007-06-28 Microsoft Corporation Traffic channel
US7729901B2 (en) 2005-12-13 2010-06-01 Yahoo! Inc. System for classifying words
US9183599B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2015-11-10 Facebook, Inc. Mapping relationships between members in a social network
US7451162B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2008-11-11 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Methods and apparatus to determine a software application data file and usage
KR100763835B1 (en) 2006-01-04 2007-10-05 한영석 Method and system for providing adjunct information with message
US20070155411A1 (en) 2006-01-04 2007-07-05 James Morrison Interactive mobile messaging system
US20070162850A1 (en) 2006-01-06 2007-07-12 Darin Adler Sports-related widgets
US20070161382A1 (en) 2006-01-09 2007-07-12 Melinger Daniel J System and method including asynchronous location-based messaging
WO2007084616A2 (en) 2006-01-18 2007-07-26 Ilial, Inc. System and method for context-based knowledge search, tagging, collaboration, management and advertisement
US7788188B2 (en) 2006-01-30 2010-08-31 Hoozware, Inc. System for providing a service to venues where people aggregate
US20070185599A1 (en) 2006-02-03 2007-08-09 Yahoo! Inc. Sports player ranker
US8485876B2 (en) 2006-02-27 2013-07-16 Maurice S. Bowerman Monitoring a sports draft based on a need of a sports team and the best available player to meet that need
US20070233585A1 (en) 2006-03-14 2007-10-04 Tal David Ben Simon Device, system and method of interactive gaming and investing
US7519470B2 (en) 2006-03-15 2009-04-14 Microsoft Corporation Location-based caching for mobile devices
US20070239517A1 (en) 2006-03-29 2007-10-11 Chung Christina Y Generating a degree of interest in user profile scores in a behavioral targeting system
EP1843256A1 (en) 2006-04-03 2007-10-10 British Telecmmunications public limited campany Ranking of entities associated with stored content
US7693652B2 (en) 2006-04-05 2010-04-06 Microsoft Corporation Waypoint adjustment and advertisement for flexible routing
US7861176B2 (en) * 2006-04-13 2010-12-28 Touchcommerce, Inc. Methods and systems for providing online chat
US9602512B2 (en) 2006-05-08 2017-03-21 At&T Intellectual Property I, Lp Methods and apparatus to distribute media delivery to mobile devices
US7503007B2 (en) 2006-05-16 2009-03-10 International Business Machines Corporation Context enhanced messaging and collaboration system
US9507778B2 (en) 2006-05-19 2016-11-29 Yahoo! Inc. Summarization of media object collections
US20070282675A1 (en) 2006-05-30 2007-12-06 Kivin Varghese Methods and systems for user-produced advertising content
US20070282621A1 (en) 2006-06-01 2007-12-06 Flipt, Inc Mobile dating system incorporating user location information
US7831586B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2010-11-09 Ebay Inc. System and method for application programming interfaces for keyword extraction and contextual advertisement generation
US20070288278A1 (en) 2006-06-13 2007-12-13 International Business Machines Corporation Method and system for automatically scheduling and managing agendas for presentation-style meetings
US7624104B2 (en) 2006-06-22 2009-11-24 Yahoo! Inc. User-sensitive pagerank
US7742399B2 (en) 2006-06-22 2010-06-22 Harris Corporation Mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) and method for implementing multiple paths for fault tolerance
US20080005313A1 (en) 2006-06-29 2008-01-03 Microsoft Corporation Using offline activity to enhance online searching
US7783622B1 (en) 2006-07-21 2010-08-24 Aol Inc. Identification of electronic content significant to a user
WO2008012834A2 (en) 2006-07-25 2008-01-31 Jain Pankaj A method and a system for searching information using information device
US8403756B2 (en) 2006-07-28 2013-03-26 Yahoo! Inc. Fantasy sports alert generator
US8568236B2 (en) 2006-07-28 2013-10-29 Yahoo! Inc. Fantasy sports agent
KR100801662B1 (en) 2006-08-31 2008-02-05 에스케이 텔레콤주식회사 Management system for recommending a goods and recommend method thereof
US20080172632A1 (en) 2006-09-29 2008-07-17 Stambaugh Thomas M Distributed web-based processing, spatial organization and display of information
US20080109761A1 (en) 2006-09-29 2008-05-08 Stambaugh Thomas M Spatial organization and display of travel and entertainment information
WO2008045981A2 (en) 2006-10-10 2008-04-17 Secondspace, Inc. Virtual network of real-world entities
US7656851B1 (en) 2006-10-12 2010-02-02 Bae Systems Information And Electronic Systems Integration Inc. Adaptive message routing for mobile ad HOC networks
WO2008046043A2 (en) 2006-10-12 2008-04-17 Umagination Labs, L.P. Systems and methods for communicating personal information
US20080102911A1 (en) 2006-10-27 2008-05-01 Yahoo! Inc. Integration of personalized fantasy data with general sports content
US20080114607A1 (en) * 2006-11-09 2008-05-15 Sihem Amer-Yahia System for generating advertisements based on search intent
US8095476B2 (en) * 2006-11-27 2012-01-10 Inquira, Inc. Automated support scheme for electronic forms
KR101171126B1 (en) 2006-11-29 2012-08-03 주식회사 케이티 Customized multimedia ARS system and method of thereof
US20090234814A1 (en) 2006-12-12 2009-09-17 Marco Boerries Configuring a search engine results page with environment-specific information
US8935296B2 (en) 2006-12-14 2015-01-13 Taylor Morgen Corp. Method of facilitating contact between mutually interested people
US7769745B2 (en) 2006-12-15 2010-08-03 Yahoo! Inc. Visualizing location-based datasets using “tag maps”
US20080154720A1 (en) 2006-12-20 2008-06-26 Microsoft Corporation Shopping route optimization and personalization
US20080163284A1 (en) 2006-12-29 2008-07-03 Microsoft Corporation Browse filters on a television interface
US20080281783A1 (en) * 2007-05-07 2008-11-13 Leon Papkoff System and method for presenting media
US7752279B2 (en) 2007-05-29 2010-07-06 Research In Motion Limited System for facilitating thread-based message prioritization
WO2008157842A1 (en) 2007-06-21 2008-12-24 Sreedhar Gaddam System and method for managing data and communications over a network
US9946975B2 (en) 2007-08-24 2018-04-17 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Method and apparatus to identify influencers
WO2009054907A2 (en) 2007-10-19 2009-04-30 Swarmcast, Inc. Media playback point seeking using data range requests
US20090299837A1 (en) 2007-10-31 2009-12-03 Ryan Steelberg System and method for brand affinity content distribution and optimization
US9245041B2 (en) 2007-11-10 2016-01-26 Geomonkey, Inc. Creation and use of digital maps
US10346854B2 (en) 2007-11-30 2019-07-09 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Feature-value attachment, reranking and filtering for advertisements
US20090150507A1 (en) 2007-12-07 2009-06-11 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for prioritizing delivery of communications via different communication channels
US8307029B2 (en) 2007-12-10 2012-11-06 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for conditional delivery of messages
US20090165051A1 (en) 2007-12-19 2009-06-25 United Video Properties, Inc. Methods and devices for presenting an interactive media guidance application
US7769740B2 (en) 2007-12-21 2010-08-03 Yahoo! Inc. Systems and methods of ranking attention
US7865308B2 (en) 2007-12-28 2011-01-04 Yahoo! Inc. User-generated activity maps
US9471898B2 (en) 2007-12-31 2016-10-18 International Business Machines Corporation Endorsing E-mail messages using social network verification
US8073795B2 (en) 2008-01-07 2011-12-06 Symbol Technologies, Inc. Location based services platform using multiple sources including a radio frequency identification data source
US20090204484A1 (en) 2008-02-07 2009-08-13 Grayson Johnson Method of Displaying Targeted Digital Electronic Advertising Using Global Positioning System (GPS) Coordinates and Associated Demographic Data
US20090204676A1 (en) 2008-02-11 2009-08-13 International Business Machines Corporation Content based routing of misaddressed e-mail
US20090204672A1 (en) 2008-02-12 2009-08-13 Idelix Software Inc. Client-server system for permissions-based locating services and location-based advertising
US8930238B2 (en) 2008-02-21 2015-01-06 International Business Machines Corporation Pervasive symbiotic advertising system and methods therefor
US8554623B2 (en) 2008-03-03 2013-10-08 Yahoo! Inc. Method and apparatus for social network marketing with consumer referral
US8560390B2 (en) 2008-03-03 2013-10-15 Yahoo! Inc. Method and apparatus for social network marketing with brand referral
US8682960B2 (en) 2008-03-14 2014-03-25 Nokia Corporation Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for providing filtered services and content based on user context
US8220050B2 (en) 2008-03-31 2012-07-10 Sophos Plc Method and system for detecting restricted content associated with retrieved content
US20090313546A1 (en) 2008-06-16 2009-12-17 Porto Technology, Llc Auto-editing process for media content shared via a media sharing service
US20090320047A1 (en) 2008-06-23 2009-12-24 Ingboo Inc. Event Bundling
US8813107B2 (en) 2008-06-27 2014-08-19 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for location based media delivery
US7792040B2 (en) 2008-07-30 2010-09-07 Yahoo! Inc. Bandwidth and cost management for ad hoc networks
KR101024149B1 (en) 2008-09-11 2011-03-22 야후! 인크. Method of registering advertisements on an electronic map using advertisement registration reference information
US20100185642A1 (en) 2009-01-21 2010-07-22 Yahoo! Inc. Interest-based location targeting engine

Patent Citations (99)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5493692A (en) * 1993-12-03 1996-02-20 Xerox Corporation Selective delivery of electronic messages in a multiple computer system based on context and environment of a user
US5761662A (en) * 1994-12-20 1998-06-02 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Personalized information retrieval using user-defined profile
US5764906A (en) * 1995-11-07 1998-06-09 Netword Llc Universal electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system
US5903848A (en) * 1996-03-25 1999-05-11 Nec Corporation Method of and apparatus for dynamic channel allocation
US6014638A (en) * 1996-05-29 2000-01-11 America Online, Inc. System for customizing computer displays in accordance with user preferences
US6708203B1 (en) * 1997-10-20 2004-03-16 The Delfin Project, Inc. Method and system for filtering messages based on a user profile and an informational processing system event
US6701315B1 (en) * 1997-11-07 2004-03-02 Bell & Howell Mail And Messaging Technologies Company Systems, methods, and computer program products for delivering information in a preferred medium
US20060069749A1 (en) * 1997-12-05 2006-03-30 Pinpoint Incorporated Location enhanced information delivery system
US6212552B1 (en) * 1998-01-15 2001-04-03 At&T Corp. Declarative message addressing
US6853982B2 (en) * 1998-09-18 2005-02-08 Amazon.Com, Inc. Content personalization based on actions performed during a current browsing session
US6845370B2 (en) * 1998-11-12 2005-01-18 Accenture Llp Advanced information gathering for targeted activities
US6523172B1 (en) * 1998-12-17 2003-02-18 Evolutionary Technologies International, Inc. Parser translator system and method
US20040034752A1 (en) * 1999-02-23 2004-02-19 Ohran Richard S. Method and system for mirroring and archiving mass storage
US6741980B1 (en) * 1999-03-23 2004-05-25 Microstrategy Inc. System and method for automatic, real-time delivery of personalized informational and transactional data to users via content delivery device
US6694316B1 (en) * 1999-03-23 2004-02-17 Microstrategy Inc. System and method for a subject-based channel distribution of automatic, real-time delivery of personalized informational and transactional data
US7181438B1 (en) * 1999-07-21 2007-02-20 Alberti Anemometer, Llc Database access system
US7010492B1 (en) * 1999-09-30 2006-03-07 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for dynamic distribution of controlled and additional selective overlays in a streaming media
US20020052785A1 (en) * 1999-11-11 2002-05-02 Tenenbaum Samuel Sergio Computerized advertising method and system
US20090076889A1 (en) * 1999-12-14 2009-03-19 Imahima Inc. Systems for communicating current and future activity information among mobile internet users and methods therefor
US20050065950A1 (en) * 2000-01-07 2005-03-24 Naren Chaganti Online repository for personal information
US20020035605A1 (en) * 2000-01-26 2002-03-21 Mcdowell Mark Use of presence and location information concerning wireless subscribers for instant messaging and mobile commerce
US20050055321A1 (en) * 2000-03-06 2005-03-10 Kanisa Inc. System and method for providing an intelligent multi-step dialog with a user
US20020023230A1 (en) * 2000-04-11 2002-02-21 Bolnick David A. System, method and computer program product for gathering and delivering personalized user information
US6731940B1 (en) * 2000-04-28 2004-05-04 Trafficmaster Usa, Inc. Methods of using wireless geolocation to customize content and delivery of information to wireless communication devices
US20020049968A1 (en) * 2000-06-09 2002-04-25 Wilson Daniel C. Advertising delivery method
US20020023091A1 (en) * 2000-06-23 2002-02-21 Silberberg David P. Architecture for distributed database information access
US20020019857A1 (en) * 2000-07-12 2002-02-14 Microsoft Corporation System and method for accessing directory service via an HTTP URL
US20020019849A1 (en) * 2000-07-14 2002-02-14 Eldar Tuvey Information communication system
US20020052786A1 (en) * 2000-08-09 2002-05-02 Lg Electronics Inc. Informative system based on user's position and operating method thereof
US20040030798A1 (en) * 2000-09-11 2004-02-12 Andersson Per Johan Method and device for providing/receiving media content over digital network
US7027801B1 (en) * 2001-02-06 2006-04-11 Nortel Networks Limited Method delivering location-base targeted advertisements to mobile subscribers
US20050015451A1 (en) * 2001-02-15 2005-01-20 Sheldon Valentine D'arcy Automatic e-mail address directory and sorting system
US20030032409A1 (en) * 2001-03-16 2003-02-13 Hutcheson Stewart Douglas Method and system for distributing content over a wireless communications system
US20030009495A1 (en) * 2001-06-29 2003-01-09 Akli Adjaoute Systems and methods for filtering electronic content
US20030008661A1 (en) * 2001-07-03 2003-01-09 Joyce Dennis P. Location-based content delivery
US20030027558A1 (en) * 2001-08-01 2003-02-06 Alcatel Method for executing a service for organisation of meetings for participants in a communications network, and service computer and program module for this
US20030069877A1 (en) * 2001-08-13 2003-04-10 Xerox Corporation System for automatically generating queries
US20080005651A1 (en) * 2001-08-13 2008-01-03 Xerox Corporation System for automatically generating queries
US7185286B2 (en) * 2001-08-28 2007-02-27 Nvidia International, Inc. Interface for mobilizing content and transactions on multiple classes of devices
US20030069880A1 (en) * 2001-09-24 2003-04-10 Ask Jeeves, Inc. Natural language query processing
US20030065762A1 (en) * 2001-09-28 2003-04-03 Cable & Wireless Internet Services, Inc. Configurable adaptive global traffic control and management
US20030078978A1 (en) * 2001-10-23 2003-04-24 Clifford Lardin Firmware portable messaging units utilizing proximate communications
US20030080992A1 (en) * 2001-10-29 2003-05-01 Haines Robert E. Dynamic mapping of wireless network devices
US7320025B1 (en) * 2002-03-18 2008-01-15 Music Choice Systems and methods for providing a broadcast entertainment service and an on-demand entertainment service
US7209915B1 (en) * 2002-06-28 2007-04-24 Microsoft Corporation Method, system and apparatus for routing a query to one or more providers
US20050060381A1 (en) * 2002-07-01 2005-03-17 H2F Media, Inc. Adaptive electronic messaging
US20040015588A1 (en) * 2002-07-22 2004-01-22 Web.De Ag Communications environment having multiple web sites
US20040044736A1 (en) * 2002-08-27 2004-03-04 Austin-Lane Christopher Emery Cascaded delivery of an electronic communication
US20040043758A1 (en) * 2002-08-29 2004-03-04 Nokia Corporation System and method for providing context sensitive recommendations to digital services
US20050120006A1 (en) * 2003-05-30 2005-06-02 Geosign Corporation Systems and methods for enhancing web-based searching
US20050015599A1 (en) * 2003-06-25 2005-01-20 Nokia, Inc. Two-phase hash value matching technique in message protection systems
US7529811B2 (en) * 2003-08-21 2009-05-05 Microsoft Corporation Systems and methods for the implementation of a core schema for providing a top-level structure for organizing units of information manageable by a hardware/software interface system
US20050050027A1 (en) * 2003-09-03 2005-03-03 Leslie Yeh Determining and/or using location information in an ad system
US20050065980A1 (en) * 2003-09-10 2005-03-24 Contact Network Corporation Relationship collaboration system
US20050076060A1 (en) * 2003-10-06 2005-04-07 Cemer Innovation, Inc. System and method for creating a visualization indicating relationships and relevance to an entity
US20050108213A1 (en) * 2003-11-13 2005-05-19 Whereonearth Limited Geographical location extraction
US20080046298A1 (en) * 2004-07-29 2008-02-21 Ziv Ben-Yehuda System and Method For Travel Planning
US20060047615A1 (en) * 2004-08-25 2006-03-02 Yael Ravin Knowledge management system automatically allocating expert resources
US20060085392A1 (en) * 2004-09-30 2006-04-20 Microsoft Corporation System and method for automatic generation of search results based on local intention
US20060089876A1 (en) * 2004-10-21 2006-04-27 Boys Mark A Proximal advertising using hand-held communication devices
US20100118025A1 (en) * 2005-04-21 2010-05-13 Microsoft Corporation Mode information displayed in a mapping application
US20070073583A1 (en) * 2005-08-26 2007-03-29 Spot Runner, Inc., A Delaware Corporation Systems and Methods For Media Planning, Ad Production, and Ad Placement
US20070121843A1 (en) * 2005-09-02 2007-05-31 Ron Atazky Advertising and incentives over a social network
US20070067267A1 (en) * 2005-09-21 2007-03-22 Stephen Ives Systems and methods for managing the display of sponsored links together with search results in a search engine system
US20070073641A1 (en) * 2005-09-23 2007-03-29 Redcarpet, Inc. Method and system for improving search results
US20070072591A1 (en) * 2005-09-23 2007-03-29 Mcgary Faith Enhanced directory assistance system and method including location search functions
US7496548B1 (en) * 2005-09-26 2009-02-24 Quintura, Inc. Neural network for electronic search applications
US20070087756A1 (en) * 2005-10-04 2007-04-19 Hoffberg Steven M Multifactorial optimization system and method
US20070112762A1 (en) * 2005-10-25 2007-05-17 Brubaker Curtis M Method and apparatus for obtaining revenue from the distribution of hyper-relevant advertising through permissive mind reading, proximity encounters, and database aggregation
US20080086356A1 (en) * 2005-12-09 2008-04-10 Steve Glassman Determining advertisements using user interest information and map-based location information
US7681147B2 (en) * 2005-12-13 2010-03-16 Yahoo! Inc. System for determining probable meanings of inputted words
US7725492B2 (en) * 2005-12-23 2010-05-25 Facebook, Inc. Managing information about relationships in a social network via a social timeline
US20080114751A1 (en) * 2006-05-02 2008-05-15 Surf Canyon Incorporated Real time implicit user modeling for personalized search
US20080021957A1 (en) * 2006-07-10 2008-01-24 Jonathan William Medved Pushed media content delivery
US20080028031A1 (en) * 2006-07-25 2008-01-31 Byron Lewis Bailey Method and apparatus for managing instant messaging
US20080040283A1 (en) * 2006-08-11 2008-02-14 Arcadyan Technology Corporation Content protection system and method for enabling secure sharing of copy-protected content
US20080109843A1 (en) * 2006-09-14 2008-05-08 Shah Ullah Methods and systems for securing content played on mobile devices
US20080086431A1 (en) * 2006-09-15 2008-04-10 Icebreaker, Inc. Social interaction messaging and notification
US20080070588A1 (en) * 2006-09-19 2008-03-20 Drew Morin Device based trigger for location push event
US20080091796A1 (en) * 2006-09-29 2008-04-17 Guy Story Methods and apparatus for customized content delivery
US20080104061A1 (en) * 2006-10-27 2008-05-01 Netseer, Inc. Methods and apparatus for matching relevant content to user intention
US20080104227A1 (en) * 2006-11-01 2008-05-01 Yahoo! Inc. Searching and route mapping based on a social network, location, and time
US20080120690A1 (en) * 2006-11-17 2008-05-22 Microsoft Corporation Client enforced network tunnel vision
US20080120308A1 (en) * 2006-11-22 2008-05-22 Ronald Martinez Methods, Systems and Apparatus for Delivery of Media
US20090005987A1 (en) * 2007-04-27 2009-01-01 Vengroff Darren E Determining locations of interest based on user visits
US20090006336A1 (en) * 2007-06-28 2009-01-01 Apple Inc. Location based media items
US20090044132A1 (en) * 2007-06-28 2009-02-12 Microsoft Corporation Rich conference invitations with context
US20090012965A1 (en) * 2007-07-01 2009-01-08 Decisionmark Corp. Network Content Objection Handling System and Method
US20090012934A1 (en) * 2007-07-03 2009-01-08 Corbis Corporation Searching for rights limited media
US20090043844A1 (en) * 2007-08-09 2009-02-12 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for name conflict resolution
US20090070186A1 (en) * 2007-09-07 2009-03-12 Microsoft Corporation Interactively presenting advertising content offline
US20090100052A1 (en) * 2007-10-16 2009-04-16 Stern Edith H Enabling collaborative networks
US20090125517A1 (en) * 2007-11-14 2009-05-14 Qualcomm Incorporated Method and system for keyword correlation in a mobile environment
US7925708B2 (en) * 2008-01-04 2011-04-12 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for delivery of augmented messages
US20100063993A1 (en) * 2008-09-08 2010-03-11 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for socially aware identity manager
US20100125604A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo, Inc. System and method for url based query for retrieving data related to a context
US20100125569A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for autohyperlinking and navigation in url based context queries
US20100125605A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for data privacy in url based context queries
US20100125563A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for deriving income from url based context queries

Cited By (14)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9158794B2 (en) 2008-06-27 2015-10-13 Google Inc. System and method for presentation of media related to a context
US9858348B1 (en) 2008-06-27 2018-01-02 Google Inc. System and method for presentation of media related to a context
US20100082427A1 (en) * 2008-09-30 2010-04-01 Yahoo! Inc. System and Method for Context Enhanced Ad Creation
US20100125569A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for autohyperlinking and navigation in url based context queries
US10482501B2 (en) 2011-06-06 2019-11-19 autoGraph, Inc. Method and apparatus for displaying ads directed to personas having associated characteristics
US9883326B2 (en) 2011-06-06 2018-01-30 autoGraph, Inc. Beacon based privacy centric network communication, sharing, relevancy tools and other tools
US9898756B2 (en) 2011-06-06 2018-02-20 autoGraph, Inc. Method and apparatus for displaying ads directed to personas having associated characteristics
US20130103470A1 (en) * 2011-10-24 2013-04-25 Sears Brands, Llc Systems and methods for distributing customizable and shareable tiered offers
US11810141B2 (en) 2011-10-24 2023-11-07 Transform Sr Brands Llc Systems and methods for distributing customizable and shareable tiered offers
US10719840B2 (en) * 2011-10-24 2020-07-21 Transform Sr Brands Llc Systems and methods for distributing customizable and shareable tiered offers
US20140052527A1 (en) * 2012-08-15 2014-02-20 Nfluence Media, Inc. Reverse brand sorting tools for interest-graph driven personalization
US10019730B2 (en) * 2012-08-15 2018-07-10 autoGraph, Inc. Reverse brand sorting tools for interest-graph driven personalization
US20140310096A1 (en) * 2013-04-16 2014-10-16 Anuthep Benja-Athon Global Commerce Synergy
US10470021B2 (en) 2014-03-28 2019-11-05 autoGraph, Inc. Beacon based privacy centric network communication, sharing, relevancy tools and other tools

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP2235673A2 (en) 2010-10-06
KR101163324B1 (en) 2012-07-13
US20090182618A1 (en) 2009-07-16
US20090183112A1 (en) 2009-07-16
US11144934B2 (en) 2021-10-12
KR20120092654A (en) 2012-08-21
KR20100102222A (en) 2010-09-20
US10074093B2 (en) 2018-09-11
TW200939147A (en) 2009-09-16
US20210406922A1 (en) 2021-12-30
WO2009091655A2 (en) 2009-07-23
CN102150175A (en) 2011-08-10
US20190005515A1 (en) 2019-01-03
WO2009091655A3 (en) 2009-12-03

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US20210406922A1 (en) System and method for word-of-mouth advertising
US20090182810A1 (en) System and Method for Real-Time Media Object-Specific Communications
US20210319453A1 (en) Capturing and Managing Web Page Content Items
US10489747B2 (en) System and methods to facilitate social media
US10445786B2 (en) Sponsored interfaces in a social networking system
US8538811B2 (en) Method and apparatus for social network marketing with advocate referral
CN106056402B (en) System and method for sharing content on third-party mobile application
US8560390B2 (en) Method and apparatus for social network marketing with brand referral
US8725559B1 (en) Attribute based advertisement categorization
RU2475847C2 (en) Behavioural targeting of advertisement and creating special microgroups by user authentication
US20100268584A1 (en) System and Methods for Marketing and Advertising Referral over a Communications Network
US20100241944A1 (en) Method and apparatus for associating advertising content with computer enabled maps
US20170270551A1 (en) Method and system for distributing targeted messages on social media
US20130297408A1 (en) Determining advertisement preferences
US20170046745A1 (en) Method and system for providing relevant advertisements
KR20150096705A (en) Client-side advertising decisions
US20230421655A1 (en) System and method for application traffic control
US20190075365A1 (en) Reminding a user of an online system about a content item presented to the user in conjunction with a video
US10929883B1 (en) Combining content with a search result
KR20230011213A (en) Online AD agency server, Method for selectively change an execution of each advertisement included in the campaign information and Computer program for executing the method
WO2008093062A1 (en) Method and apparatus for interacting with a user over a network
KR102379159B1 (en) Online AD agency server, Method for selectively change an execution of each advertisement included in the campaign information and Computer program for executing the method
WO2011063122A1 (en) A graphical communications user interface for use on computer systems and mobile devices

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: YAHOO| INC., CALIFORNIA

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HIGGINS, CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM;DAVIS, MARC;O'SULLIVAN, JOSEPH;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:021336/0670;SIGNING DATES FROM 20080428 TO 20080501

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION

AS Assignment

Owner name: YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC., CALIFORNIA

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:YAHOO| INC.;REEL/FRAME:042963/0211

Effective date: 20170613

AS Assignment

Owner name: OATH INC., NEW YORK

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC.;REEL/FRAME:045240/0310

Effective date: 20171231