U.S. patent application number 12/732506 was filed with the patent office on 2011-09-29 for method and apparatus for soft limits for advertisement serving.
This patent application is currently assigned to Nokia Corporation. Invention is credited to Kevin Fallis, Serge Rene Haumont, Kimmo A. Kangas.
Application Number | 20110238466 12/732506 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44657407 |
Filed Date | 2011-09-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110238466 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Haumont; Serge Rene ; et
al. |
September 29, 2011 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SOFT LIMITS FOR ADVERTISEMENT SERVING
Abstract
An approach is provided for caching advertisements on a device
according to soft limits. Caching of an advertisement is caused, at
least in part at the device. It is determined that a soft limit
associated with the advertisement has been met. The soft limit
specifies when to request one or more other advertisements to be
downloaded to the cache. Presentation of the advertisement, the
other advertisements, or a combination thereof is caused, at least
in part, based on validity information associated with the
advertisement.
Inventors: |
Haumont; Serge Rene;
(Helsinki, FI) ; Kangas; Kimmo A.; (Kerava,
FI) ; Fallis; Kevin; (Plympton, MA) |
Assignee: |
Nokia Corporation
Espoo
FI
|
Family ID: |
44657407 |
Appl. No.: |
12/732506 |
Filed: |
March 26, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.4 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0241 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.4 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: causing, at least in part, caching of an
advertisement at a device; causing, at least in part, determining
that a soft limit associated with the advertisement has been met,
wherein the soft limit specifies when to request one or more other
advertisements to be downloaded to the cache; and causing, at least
in part, the presentation of the advertisement, the other
advertisements, or a combination thereof based on validity
information associated with the advertisement.
2. A method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the soft
limit; causing, at least in part, transmission of a request for one
or more of the other advertisements based on the determination that
the soft limit has been met; receiving the one or more other
advertisements; and caching the one or more other advertisements at
the device.
3. A method of claim 2, further comprising: determining contextual
information associated with the device, a user of the device, the
advertisement, the other advertisements, or a combination thereof,
wherein the determining when the soft limit has been met is based,
at least in part, on the context information.
4. A method of claim 3, wherein the contextual information includes
advertisement type, advertisement flight, advertisement publisher,
roaming status, device radio type, battery status, time, date,
location, or a combination thereof.
5. A method of claim 1, wherein the soft limit is associated with a
number of the advertisement, the other advertisements, or a
combination thereof to cache.
6. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least
one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory
and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one
processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
cause, at least in part, caching of an advertisement at a device;
cause, at least in part, determining that a soft limit associated
with the advertisement has been met, wherein the soft limit
specifies when to request one or more other advertisements to be
downloaded to the cache; and cause, at least in part, the
presentation of the advertisement, the other advertisements, or a
combination thereof based on validity information associated with
the advertisement.
7. An apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: receive the soft limit; cause, at
least in part, transmission of a request for one or more of the
other advertisements based on the determination that the soft limit
has been met; receive the one or more other advertisements; and
cache the one or more other advertisements at the device.
8. An apparatus of claim 7, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: determine contextual information
associated with the device, a user of the device, the
advertisement, the other advertisements, or a combination thereof,
wherein the determining when the soft limit has been met is based,
at least in part, on the context information.
9. An apparatus of claim 8, wherein the contextual information
includes advertisement type, advertisement flight, advertisement
publisher, roaming status, device radio type, battery status, time,
date, location, or a combination thereof.
10. An apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: categorize the advertisement, the
other advertisements, or a combination thereof according to
predetermined criteria, wherein the soft limit is determined based,
at least in part, on the categorization.
11. A method comprising: determining a soft limit associated with
an advertisement; and causing, at least in part, transmission of
the advertisement and associated soft limit to a device, wherein
the soft limit specifies when to request one or more other
advertisements to be downloaded.
12. A method of claim 11, further comprising: causing, at least in
part, characterization of a device base in which the device
operates; wherein the soft limit is determined based, at least in
part, on a distribution algorithm applied to the characterization
of the device base.
13. A method of claim 11, further comprising: categorizing the
advertisement, the other advertisements, or a combination thereof
according to predetermined criteria, wherein the soft limit is
determined based, at least in part, on the categorization.
14. A method of claim 11, further comprising: causing, at least in
part, characterization of a device base in which the device
operates; wherein the soft limit is determined based, at least in
part, on a distribution algorithm applied to the characterization
of the device base.
15. A method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving advertiser
criteria associated with the soft limits; wherein the determining
of the soft limit is based, at least in part, on the advertiser
criteria.
16. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least
one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory
and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one
processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
determine a soft limit associated with an advertisement; and cause,
at least in part, transmission of the advertisement and associated
soft limit to a device, wherein the soft limit specifies when to
request one or more other advertisements to be downloaded.
17. An apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: cause, at least in part,
characterization of a device base in which the device operates;
wherein the soft limit is determined based, at least in part, on a
distribution algorithm applied to the characterization of the
device base.
18. An apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: categorize the advertisement, the
other advertisements, or a combination thereof according to
predetermined criteria, wherein the soft limit is determined based,
at least in part, on the categorization.
19. An apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: cause, at least in part,
characterization of a device base in which the device operates;
wherein the soft limit is determined based, at least in part, on a
distribution algorithm applied to the characterization of the
device base.
20. An apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further
caused, at least in part, to: receive advertiser criteria
associated with the soft limits; wherein the determining of the
soft limit is based, at least in part, on the advertiser
criteria.
21.-62. (canceled)
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] Service providers and device manufacturers (e.g., wireless,
cellular, etc.) are continually challenged to deliver value and
convenience to consumers by, for example, providing compelling
network services. These network services may generate revenue for
the network services by presenting advertisements to users of the
services. Examples of network services include messaging services,
maps and navigation services, social networking services, media
services, purchasing services, gaming services, and the like.
Advertisements can be positioned in the same screen as an active
service presented to a user and/or as in a separate view before,
after, or during the use of the service. Although advertisements
used in conjunction with these services have become increasingly
popular, device manufacturers and service providers face
significant technical challenges to increasing the effectiveness of
advertisements while balancing the effectiveness with device
capabilities and user experience. For example, it may be
ineffective to present a single ad to a user for weeks or months at
a time.
SOME EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS
[0002] Therefore, there is a need for an approach for utilizing
soft limits for advertisement serving. In certain embodiments, a
soft limit is a limit (e.g., a time since the advertisement was
loaded to a cache of a device or number of impressions the
advertisement has been shown) that triggers a request to fetch
additional advertisements from a server, but does not make invalid
the advertisement stored in the cache that corresponds to the soft
limit.
[0003] According to one embodiment, a method comprises causing, at
least in part, caching of an advertisement at a device. The method
also comprises causing, at least in part, determining that a soft
limit associated with the advertisement has been met. The soft
limit specifies when to request one or more other advertisements to
be downloaded to the cache. The method further comprises causing,
at least in part, the presentation of the advertisement, the other
advertisements, or a combination thereof based on validity
information associated with the advertisement. A different soft
limit may be associated to each advertisement, or a different soft
limit may be associated to each advertisement category (e.g.
sponsorship, guaranteed, remnant, house), or one soft limit may be
used for all ads in cache.
[0004] According to another embodiment, an apparatus comprising at
least one processor, and at least one memory including computer
program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code
configured to, with the at least one processor, cause, at least in
part, the apparatus to cause, at least in part, caching of an
advertisement at a device. The apparatus is also caused, at least
in part, to determine that a soft limit associated with the
advertisement has been met. The soft limit specifies when to
request one or more other advertisements to be downloaded to the
cache. The apparatus further causes, at least in part, the
presentation of the advertisement, the other advertisements, or a
combination thereof based on validity information associated with
the advertisement.
[0005] According to another embodiment, a computer-readable storage
medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions
which, when executed by one or more processors, cause, at least in
part, an apparatus to cause, at least in part, caching of an
advertisement at a device. The apparatus is also caused, at least
in part, determine that a soft limit associated with the
advertisement has been met. The soft limit specifies when to
request one or more other advertisements to be downloaded to the
cache. The apparatus further causes, at least in part, the
presentation of the advertisement, the other advertisements, or a
combination thereof based on validity information associated with
the advertisement.
[0006] According to another embodiment, an apparatus comprises
means for causing, at least in part, caching of an advertisement at
a device. The apparatus also comprises means for causing, at least
in part, determining that a soft limit associated with the
advertisement has been met. The soft limit specifies when to
request one or more other advertisements to be downloaded to the
cache. The apparatus further comprises means for causing, at least
in part, the presentation of the advertisement, the other
advertisements, or a combination thereof based on validity
information associated with the advertisement.
[0007] According to one embodiment, a method comprises determining
a soft limit associated with an advertisement. The method also
comprises causing, at least in part, transmission of the
advertisement and associated soft limit to a device. The soft limit
specifies when to request one or more other advertisements to be
downloaded.
[0008] According to another embodiment, an apparatus comprising at
least one processor, and at least one memory including computer
program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code
configured to, with the at least one processor, cause, at least in
part, the apparatus to determine a soft limit associated with an
advertisement. The apparatus is also caused to cause, at least in
part, transmission of the advertisement and associated soft limit
to a device. The soft limit specifies when to request one or more
other advertisements to be downloaded.
[0009] According to another embodiment, a computer-readable storage
medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions
which, when executed by one or more processors, cause, at least in
part, an apparatus to determine a soft limit associated with an
advertisement. The apparatus is also caused to cause, at least in
part, transmission of the advertisement and associated soft limit
to a device. The soft limit specifies when to request one or more
other advertisements to be downloaded.
[0010] According to another embodiment, an apparatus comprises
means for determining a soft limit associated with an
advertisement. The apparatus also comprises means for causing, at
least in part, transmission of the advertisement and associated
soft limit to a device. The soft limit specifies when to request
one or more other advertisements to be downloaded.
[0011] According to another embodiment, an advertising platform or
ad server comprising means for delivering ads to an ad engine,
means for determining a soft limit associated with the
advertisement stored in cache, wherein the soft limit specifies
when to request one or more other advertisements to be downloaded
to the cache, and means for transferring that soft limit to the ad
engine.
[0012] According to another embodiment, an advertising engine
comprising means for receiving advertisements and means for
enforcing a soft limit associated with the advertisement. The soft
limit specifies when to request one or more other advertisements to
be downloaded to the cache. The advertising engine further
comprises means to serve advertisements previously stored in cache
after a soft limit is reached. The advertising engine further
comprises means to determine said soft limit from its default
configuration, or from contextual information, or from information
received from an advertising platform or service platform.
[0013] According to yet another embodiment, a method wherein
advertisements are stored in a cache and may be served multiple
times from the cache. The method comprises determining at least one
soft limit associated with the advertisements stored in cache,
wherein the soft limit specifies when to request one or more other
advertisements to be downloaded to the cache. The method further
comprises that the advertisements previously stored in cache are
not deleted and may still be served after a soft limit is
reached.
[0014] Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the
invention are readily apparent from the following detailed
description, simply by illustrating a number of particular
embodiments and implementations, including the best mode
contemplated for carrying out the invention. The invention is also
capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details
can be modified in various obvious respects, all without departing
from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the ad
engine may be implemented as part of a mobile device or part of a
proxy (e.g., proxy browser) in a network. Accordingly, the drawings
and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and
not as restrictive.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of
example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the
accompanying drawings:
[0016] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system capable of serving
advertisements to a user using soft limits, according to one
embodiment;
[0017] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the components of user equipment
associated with presenting advertisements to a user, according to
one embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 3 is a diagram of the components of an advertising
platform, according to one embodiment;
[0019] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for caching
advertisements on user equipment based on soft limits, according to
one embodiment;
[0020] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for determining soft
limits based on contextual information, according to one
embodiment;
[0021] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for determining soft
limits based on categories, according to one embodiment;
[0022] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for determining soft
limits based on advertiser criteria, according to one
embodiment;
[0023] FIGS. 8A-8B are diagrams of example user interfaces utilized
in the processes of FIGS. 4-7, according to various
embodiments;
[0024] FIG. 9 is a diagram of hardware that can be used to
implement an embodiment of the invention;
[0025] FIG. 10 is a diagram of a chip set that can be used to
implement an embodiment of the invention; and
[0026] FIG. 11 is a diagram of a mobile terminal (e.g., handset)
that can be used to implement an embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS
[0027] Examples of a method, apparatus, and computer program for
serving advertisements according to soft limits are disclosed. In
the following description, for the purposes of explanation,
numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a
thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention. It is
apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments
of the invention may be practiced without these specific details or
with an equivalent arrangement. In other instances, well-known
structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to
avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of the invention.
[0028] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system capable of serving
advertisements to a user using soft limits, according to one
embodiment. As noted previously, service providers and device
manufacturers may generate revenue or otherwise promote additional
services, features, products, etc. by presenting advertisements on
user devices. Advertisements generally may be presented in
association with various applications and/or services such as
messaging, navigation, maps, social networking, media (e.g., video,
audio, images, etc.), games, stores, etc. For example, a messaging
application may display, in a portion of a graphical user
interface, the advertisement in parallel with presenting the
messaging features. The advertisements can be stored in a cache or
memory of a device executing applications to allow the device to
quickly and conveniently provide the advertisements to users with
almost no delays (e.g., 100 ms) and serve advertisements
consistently on-line and off-line.
[0029] Advertising engines can retrieve advertisements from such
caches to present advertisements with one or more applications. In
certain embodiments, an advertising engine is a program and/or
hardware resident on a device that can retrieve advertisements from
an advertising server and control presentation of the
advertisements. The advertising engine can fetch advertisements
from an advertising server via an Application Programming Interface
(API) to store in the cache for presentation via, for instance, the
applications. By caching advertisements, the advertising engine can
quickly deliver advertisements to the applications while the device
running the application is on-line, and then can present the
advertisements at any later time whether the device is on-line or
off-line. Further, caching advertisements allows for optimizations
of device usage because the device need not request an
advertisement from the advertising server each time an
advertisement is needed. Thus, communications costs (e.g., cellular
radio, wireless local area network (WLAN), LAN, etc.) are lowered
for both the device and the communication network providing
advertisements to the device. For example, a wireless provider
(e.g., American Telephone and Telegraph.RTM.) may offer a flat fee
to users for providing data to devices.
[0030] However, caching advertisements on the device can lead to
various efficiency and/or user experience problems. For example,
user may wish to see a variety of advertisements instead of the
same advertisements over and over. Further, service providers may
want different advertisements to be shown to users because some
advertisements may be more effective on a user than others.
Additionally, there often is a trade-off between communications
costs of retrieving new advertisements and the user
experience/advertising effectiveness (e.g., based on the type of
radio utilized by the device, the monetary costs of data
communications for the user, diversity of advertisements available
on the advertising server, the importance of the user to preserve
user experience, advertisement revenue maximization, etc.). An
option to not fetch any new advertisements while there are valid
advertisements in cache would lead to very optimal communications
costs (e.g., data communications and/or device battery use), but
the user may be presented the same advertisements for an extended
period of time (e.g., weeks or even months). In certain
embodiments, an advertisement is associated with a validity time
(e.g., a particular date and time when the advertisement expires).
In addition or alternatively, the advertisement may be limited
based on an impression limit (e.g., after the advertisement is
shown to the user a predetermined number of times or impressions,
the advertisement will no longer shown to the user).
[0031] In contrast, an option to fetch advertisements after each
impression of the advertisement to the user would allow the
advertising engine to consistently serve new advertisements to the
user, and provide advertisement diversity to the user. However,
this would require additional communications costs, including the
transfer of additional data as well as power costs (e.g., for
battery operated devices). Historically, determining when to cache
advertising information is controlled by "hard limits" that set an
advertisement validity time period or a maximum number of
impressions of an advertisement to serve. In other words, when the
hard limit (e.g., based on a validity time or number of
impressions) for an advertisement is reached, the particular
advertisement expires and is, for instance, cleared from the
cached. When advertisements expire, the advertising engine can then
retrieve additional advertisements. However, because fetching of
new advertisements may require use of the communication network,
the advertising engine may be caused to attempt to fetch
advertisements at an inopportune time (e.g., when a battery of the
device is low, when the user is roaming, when the user does not
have access to a communication network, etc.).
[0032] To address this problem, a system 100 of FIG. 1 introduces
the capability to provide advertisements to a user utilizing soft
limits. In certain embodiments, a "soft limit" is a parameter set
to initiate fetching of additional advertisements and storing them
in the cache, when the soft limit is met. As with a hard limit, the
soft limit can be based, for instance, on a validity time and/or
number of impressions. It is contemplated that any other thresholds
or criteria (e.g., whether the user has responded to the
advertisement, whether the advertised product or service is still
available, etc.) can be used as the soft limit. In one embodiment,
the system 100 can set a soft limit for a particular advertisement
and then begins to monitor progress towards that limit. On reaching
the limit (e.g., reaching a specific time or number of
impressions), the system 100 initiates caching of additional
advertisements at one or more of the user equipment (UEs)
101a-101n. It is noted that in the approach described herein, the
soft limit can act independently of the any hard limit that may be
set for the same advertisement. A primary difference between the
soft limit described herein and the traditional hard limit is that
the soft limit serves as a trigger for when the UE 101 should begin
fetching and caching additional advertisements, whereas the hard
limit triggers when an advertisement should no longer be presented.
In other words, even when the soft limit is reached, the
corresponding advertisement may still be valid if the hard limit is
not reached.
[0033] During the period of time between reaching the soft limit
and reaching the hard limit, the UE 101 may fetch and cache
additional advertisements so that when the hard limit is reach,
additional advertisements would be immediately available even if
the UE 101 is off-line or cannot otherwise immediately retrieve
additional advertisements (e.g., due to network congestion, etc.).
In other embodiments, the soft limit enables the system 100 to more
finely control how often or in what rotation among other
advertisements, a particular advertisement is displayed. For
example, after one advertisement is displayed for five impressions
to a particular user, the system 100 may begin retrieving other
advertisements to rotate with the one initial advertisement so that
the user does not become bored of or jaded to the initial
advertisement. In this example, the initial advertisement remains
valid (e.g., because the hard limit for the advertisement has not
yet been reached) and can be mixed with the presentation other
advertisements until the initial advertisement is no longer
valid.
[0034] As previously discussed, UEs 101a-101n may execute
applications 103 such as messaging applications, navigation
applications, map applications, social networking applications,
media applications (e.g., video, audio, images, etc.), game
applications, retail purchasing applications, etc. which may enable
presentation of advertisements. It is noted that, in certain
embodiments, the advertisements may be displayed directly (e.g., as
a system process) without associated with an application 103. The
approach described herein applies to either situation or any other
situation in which advertisement is presented at the UE 101. By way
of example, an application 103 is a program that can be executed to
perform a task on a UE 101. Some or all of the applications may
obtain services (e.g., network services associated with
applications 103) via a communication network 105 from a service
platform 107. To provide revenue for the application maker, UE
maker, communication network provider, etc., the applications 103
or the UE 101 itself can be associated with an advertising engine
109. The advertising engine 109 can present advertisements to the
user during the execution of the application 103, before execution
of the application 103, after execution of the application, 103, or
a combination thereof. The advertising engine 109 can populate an
advertisement cache 111 via an advertising platform 113. As such,
the advertising engine 109 requests one or more advertisements from
the advertising platform 113 and receives one or more
advertisements from the advertising platform 113.
[0035] Moreover, the advertising engine 109 may utilize the soft
limits to determine when to cache advertising content. As described
above, in certain embodiments, a soft limit is a parameter set to
initiate causing the advertising engine 109 to cache additional
advertisements from the advertising platform 113 when the soft
limit is met. In certain embodiments, the soft limit is defined in
regards to time or a number of impressions of an advertisement
presented on the UE 101. The number of impressions is the number of
times a particular advertisement or advertisements (e.g., a set of
advertisements belonging to a single advertising campaign) is
presented on the UE 101. Further, soft limits can be static or
dynamic. A dynamic soft limit can change based on one or more soft
limit parameters (e.g., contextual information such as availability
of other advertisements, availability of advertised products, etc.)
that can be utilized to decrease or increase a soft limit. In
certain embodiments, the advertising platform 113 sets soft limits
that are applicable at the advertising engine 109. In other
embodiments, the advertising engine 109 may set the soft limits
locally at the UE 101 based on other parameters available at the UE
101 (e.g., contextual parameters associated with the UE 101
executing the advertising engine 109) or a default
configuration.
[0036] The advertising platform 113 may include advertising content
that can be updated via the communication network 105 and/or a
campaign management console 115. The campaign management console
115 can be a workstation or other computing device that may be
utilized to update the advertising platform 113. Further, the
campaign management console 115 may additionally be utilized to
enter input to manually adjust soft limits. For example, a campaign
manager can set a soft limit based on contextual information, such
as advertisement type, advertisement flight, advertisement
publisher, roaming status, device radio type utilized, battery
status, time, date, location, etc. Use of contextual information is
further detailed in the processes of FIG. 5.
[0037] In certain embodiments, the application 103 enables the use
of the advertising engine 109 and advertisement cache 111 to
present advertisements associated with the application 103. As
noted above, the application 103 may present the advertisements in
a portion of a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the
application 103. Further, the advertising engine 109 may control
advertisements provided to and/or presented by the applications
103. As such, the advertising engine 109 can cause, at least in
part, presentation of an advertisement based on validity
information associated with the advertisement. In some embodiments,
the validity information is a hard limit associated with whether or
not the advertisement is valid to be presented. Validity
information may be set based on when the advertisement expires
(e.g., based on a time indicating the validity of the advertising
campaign or a number of impressions sometimes referred as a
frequency capping limit). In certain embodiments, validity
information may be assumed to be "valid forever" if no validity
information is specifically associated with an advertisement.
[0038] As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 comprises a UE 101 having
connectivity to the service platform 107 and advertising platform
113 via the communication network 105. By way of example, the
communication network 105 of system 100 includes one or more
networks such as a data network (not shown), a wireless network
(not shown), a telephony network (not shown), or any combination
thereof. It is contemplated that the data network may be any local
area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area
network (WAN), a public data network (e.g., the Internet), short
range wireless network, or any other suitable packet-switched
network, such as a commercially owned, proprietary packet-switched
network, e.g., a proprietary cable or fiber-optic network, and the
like, or any combination thereof. In addition, the wireless network
may be, for example, a cellular network and may employ various
technologies including enhanced data rates for global evolution
(EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for
mobile communications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem
(IMS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as
well as any other suitable wireless medium, e.g., worldwide
interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution
(LTE) networks, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code
division multiple access (WCDMA), wireless fidelity (WiFi),
wireless LAN (WLAN), Bluetooth.RTM., Internet Protocol (IP) data
casting, satellite, mobile ad-hoc network (MANET), and the like, or
any combination thereof.
[0039] The UE 101 is any type of mobile terminal, fixed terminal,
or portable terminal including a mobile handset, station, unit,
device, multimedia computer, multimedia tablet, Internet node,
communicator, desktop computer, laptop computer, Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs), audio/video player, digital camera/camcorder,
positioning device, television receiver, radio broadcast receiver,
electronic book device, game device, or any combination thereof. It
is also contemplated that the UE 101 can support any type of
interface to the user (such as "wearable" circuitry, etc.).
[0040] By way of example, the UE 101, service platform 107, and
advertising platform 113 communicate with each other and other
components of the communication network 105 using well known, new
or still developing protocols. In this context, a protocol includes
a set of rules defining how the network nodes within the
communication network 105 interact with each other based on
information sent over the communication links. The protocols are
effective at different layers of operation within each node, from
generating and receiving physical signals of various types, to
selecting a link for transferring those signals, to the format of
information indicated by those signals, to identifying which
software application executing on a computer system sends or
receives the information. The conceptually different layers of
protocols for exchanging information over a network are described
in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model.
[0041] Communications between the network nodes are typically
effected by exchanging discrete packets of data. Each packet
typically comprises (1) header information associated with a
particular protocol, and (2) payload information that follows the
header information and contains information that may be processed
independently of that particular protocol. In some protocols, the
packet includes (3) trailer information following the payload and
indicating the end of the payload information. The header includes
information such as the source of the packet, its destination, the
length of the payload, and other properties used by the protocol.
Often, the data in the payload for the particular protocol includes
a header and payload for a different protocol associated with a
different, higher layer of the OSI Reference Model. The header for
a particular protocol typically indicates a type for the next
protocol contained in its payload. The higher layer protocol is
said to be encapsulated in the lower layer protocol. The headers
included in a packet traversing multiple heterogeneous networks,
such as the Internet, typically include a physical (layer 1)
header, a data-link (layer 2) header, an internetwork (layer 3)
header and a transport (layer 4) header, and various application
headers (layer 5, layer 6 and layer 7) as defined by the OSI
Reference Model.
[0042] In one embodiment, the service platform 107 and/or
advertising platform 113 may interact according to a client-server
model with applications 103 and/or advertising engine 109.
According to the client-server model, a client process sends a
message including a request to a server process, and the server
process responds by providing a service (e.g., messaging,
advertisements, etc.). The server process may also return a message
with a response to the client process. Often the client process and
server process execute on different computer devices, called hosts,
and communicate via a network using one or more protocols for
network communications. The term "server" is conventionally used to
refer to the process that provides the service, or the host
computer on which the process operates. Similarly, the term
"client" is conventionally used to refer to the process that makes
the request, or the host computer on which the process operates. As
used herein, the terms "client" and "server" refer to the
processes, rather than the host computers, unless otherwise clear
from the context. In addition, the process performed by a server
can be broken up to run as multiple processes on multiple hosts
(sometimes called tiers) for reasons that include reliability,
scalability, and redundancy, among others.
[0043] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the components of user equipment
associated with presenting advertisements to a user, according to
one embodiment. By way of example, the UE 101 includes one or more
components for caching advertisements to present to a user. It is
contemplated that the functions of these components may be combined
in one or more components or performed by other components of
equivalent functionality. Additionally, the UE 101 and its
components may be considered a means for completing some or all of
the steps in the processes of FIGS. 4-6. In this embodiment, the UE
101 includes user interface 201 to receive input and provide output
at the UE 101, a communication interface 203 to communicate over a
network, runtime module 205 to control the execution of
applications 103 and advertising engine 109 executing on the UE
101, an advertisement cache 207, a soft limit application module
209, a power module 211, and a location module 213.
[0044] The user interface 201 can include various methods of
communication. For example, the user interface 201 can have outputs
including a visual component (e.g., a screen), an audio component,
a physical component (e.g., vibrations), and other methods of
communication. User inputs can include a touch-screen interface, a
scroll-and-click interface, a button interface, etc. In certain
embodiments, the user interface 201 may additionally have a vocal
user interface component. As such, a text-to-speech mechanism may
be utilized to provide textual information to the user. Further, a
speech-to-text mechanism may be utilized to receive vocal input and
convert the vocal input into textual input. Moreover, the user
interface 201 may be utilized to provide visual output of
applications 103 and/or advertisements. As previously noted, the
advertising engine 109 can control which advertisements are
presented with which applications 103.
[0045] The communication interface 203 may include multiple means
of communication. For example, the communication interface 203 may
be able to communicate over SMS, MMS, internet protocol, instant
messaging, voice sessions (e.g., via a phone network), or other
types of communication protocols. The communication interface 203
can be used by the runtime module 205 to communicate with other UEs
101, the service platform 107, the advertising platform 113, and
other devices. In some examples, the communication interface 203 is
used to transmit and receive communication messages to obtain
services from the service platform 107 and/or advertisement
information from the advertising platform 113. In certain
embodiments, advertising information includes advertisements,
advertisement creatives, advertising categorization information
(e.g., the advertisement is associated with a sponsor of an
application 103, the advertisement is a house advertisement
associated with the advertising platform 113, the type of item or
service the advertisement is for, the type of user the
advertisement is geared towards, etc.), soft limits, soft limit
parameters, etc.
[0046] Further, the advertising engine 109 may utilize the
communication interface 203 to update the advertisement cache 207.
As such, the advertising engine 109 can utilize soft limits as
parameters to determine when to update the advertisement cache 207.
A soft limit application module 209 can be utilized to determine
when a soft limit is met and notify the advertising engine 109 to
contact the advertising platform 113 for additional advertising
information. As previously noted, the soft limits can be set based
on contextual information and/or other advertising information.
[0047] As noted, the UE 101 includes a power module 211. The power
module 211 provides power to the UE 101. The power module 211 can
include any type of power source (e.g., battery, plug-in, etc.).
Additionally, the power module 211 can provide power to the
components of the UE 101 including processors, memory, and
transmitters. The power module 211 may further provide the runtime
module 205 and/or advertising engine 109 with a status of the power
supply (e.g., a battery status, such as battery low, a time left
for the battery at current power consumption, a percentage of
battery power left, etc.).
[0048] The location module 213 can determine a user's location. The
user's location can be determined by a system such as a GPS, A-GPS,
Cell of Origin, or other location extrapolation technologies.
Standard GPS and A-GPS systems can use satellites to pinpoint the
location of a UE 101. A Cell of Origin system can be used to
determine the cellular tower that a cellular UE 101 is synchronized
with. This information provides a coarse location of the UE 101
because the cellular tower can have a unique cellular identifier
(cell-ID) that can be geographically mapped. The location module
213 may also utilize multiple technologies to detect the location
of the UE 101. In certain embodiments, the location information is
utilized as contextual information to determine soft limits by the
advertising engine 109 and/or be utilized by the soft limit
application module 209 for determining when a soft limit is met.
Further, the location of the UE 101 can be sent to the advertising
platform 113 to allow for contextual advertising. For example, when
the UE 101 is nearby an advertisement campaign's sponsor, the
advertising platform 113 may provide advertisements associated with
that campaign.
[0049] FIG. 3 is a diagram of the components of an advertising
platform 113, according to one embodiment. By way of example, the
advertising platform 113 includes one or more components for
providing advertisement information to a UE 101. It is contemplated
that the functions of these components may be combined in one or
more components or performed by other components of equivalent
functionality. In this embodiment, the advertising platform 113
includes a communication interface 301, a soft limit determination
module 303 that can determine soft limits for UEs 101, an execution
module 305 that can execute processes and interface between other
modules, a campaign manager 307, and an ad database 309.
[0050] The communication interface 301 can be used to communicate
with UEs 101, a campaign management console 115, and other device
available over the communication network 105. The execution module
305 can receive information (e.g., a request for advertisements
and/or soft limits) from the UE 101 via the communication interface
301 via methods such as internet protocol, Multimedia Messaging
Service (MMS), Short Message Service (SMS), GPRS, or any other
available communication method. Components in the communication
network 105 and/or communication interface 301 may be utilized to
convert one form of communication to another form (e.g., from an
SMS to another form of data).
[0051] The campaign manager 307 can be utilized to receive
communications from the campaign management console 115 and to
obtain advertisement information. As such, an advertising user
associated with one or more advertising campaigns may provide
advertising creatives as well as parameters for when the
advertising creatives should be presented. These advertising
creatives can be stored in the ad database 309. In one example, the
advertising creatives can be associated with parameters to show the
advertisements based on certain demographic information. Further,
the campaign manager 307 can receive information about soft limits
the advertising user wishes to associate with particular
advertising campaigns and/or advertisements. Moreover, the campaign
manager 307 can implement distribution algorithms taking into
account a large base of UEs 101 to provide advertisements to. The
advertisements may be stored in the ad database 309. Further, the
campaign manager 307 can selectively distribute advertisements to
UEs 101 so that advertisements are not over delivered to the UE
base. In this manner, the advertising platform 113 need not deliver
the same advertisements to all UEs 101 and can thus control
advertisement exposure using soft limits on the UEs 101 the
campaign manager 307 determines to deliver the advertisements to.
For example, distribution algorithms may include algorithms to
maximize click-through-rates of individual UEs 101, algorithms to
determine demographic information associated with the user of
particular UEs 101 and target particular UEs 101, etc.
[0052] The campaign manager 307 can provide soft limit parameters
to the soft limit determination module 303. The soft limit
determination module 303 can determine soft limits to be associated
with campaigns, advertisements, soft limits to generally apply
based on categories, etc. In certain embodiments, the soft limit
determination module 303 can be utilized to update or override
current soft limit settings on a UE 101. Further soft limit
determination parameters are detailed in the processes of FIG. 7.
Moreover, the campaign manager 307 may be utilized to provide
reports to managers of campaign advertisements. As such,
statistical data about UEs 101 can be compiled for reporting how
well the advertisement campaign has performed using one or more
metrics and/or provide statistical data. The campaign manager 307
can obtain information about UE click-through-rates via the
communication interface 301 from the UEs 101. The information may
be sent with a request for additional advertisements.
[0053] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for caching
advertisements on user equipment based on soft limits, according to
one embodiment. In one embodiment, the advertising engine 109 of
the UE 101 performs the process 400 and is implemented in, for
instance, a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown
FIG. 10. As such, the advertising engine 109 can provide means for
accomplishing various parts of the process 400 as well as means for
accomplishing other processes in conjunction with other components
of the UE 101. In step 401, the advertising engine 109 causes, at
least in part, caching of an advertisement at the UE 101. The
caching of the advertisement can be based, at least in part, on a
soft limit. Further, the advertisement in the cache can be
associated with a soft limit for caching one or more other
advertisements.
[0054] Next, at step 403, the advertising engine 109 determines a
soft limit associated with the advertisement. In certain
embodiments, the soft limit specifies when to cache one or more
other advertisements. This may include determining when to request
one or more other advertisements to be downloaded to the cache.
When a soft limit is met, the other advertisements are acquired
(e.g., via download). The advertising engine 109 can determine the
soft limit by receiving the soft limit from an advertising platform
113 to guide the caching of ads. In other embodiments, the
advertising engine 109 can determine the soft limits based on
contextual information. One example of contextual information
includes soft-limits for determining upcoming offline periods. A
goal of utilizing soft limits is to have impressions of
advertisements available to present to users of the UE 101 when the
UE 101 is offline. As such, the advertising engine 109 can
determine information about the UE 101 as to time periods when the
UE 101 is without access to communicate with the advertising
platform 113 (e.g., when the UE 101 is below ground, at work,
etc.). Then, the advertising engine 109 or advertising platform 113
can determine soft limits in accordance to historical lack of
access by the UE 101. For example, if the user is out of connection
range between the times of 8 AM to 5 PM on Monday through Friday,
soft limits can be utilized to acquire new advertisements before 8
AM. Further, other contextual information may be utilized to
determine soft limits as further detailed in FIG. 5. Moreover, soft
limits can be set as general (e.g., default) soft limits for each
advertisement or based on categories as further detailed in FIG. 6.
For example, a default soft limit may be set to be at 75% of the
corresponding hard limit.
[0055] Moreover, the advertising engine 109 causes, at least in
part, the presentation of the advertisements, the other
advertisements, or a combination of the advertisements based, at
least in part, on validity information associated with the
advertisement (step 405). As noted above, in some embodiments, the
validity information is a limit associated with whether or not the
advertisement is valid to be presented. As such, the validity
information may be set based on when the advertisement expires
(e.g., based on a time or a number of impressions made to a user of
the UE 101). The presentation of the advertisement(s) can be before
the use of an application 103 (e.g., a full or partial screen
presentation before the application 103 can be utilized), during
the use of the application 103 (e.g., as a portion of a screen
running the application 103 or as an advertisements that
periodically is presented via the screen and/or via audio), or
after the application content is presented (e.g., during shutdown
of the application 103). As previously noted, in other embodiments,
the advertisement may be presented as a system process of the UE
101 and need not be associated with the application 103. In certain
embodiments, the advertising engine 109 causes the application 103
to present the advertisement by providing the advertisement (e.g.,
a location in the advertisement cache 207) and/or an instruction to
present the advertisement. Thus, the advertising engine 109 can
cause presentation of an advertisement by delivering an ad to an
application 103 that request it, or initiating a "pop up" to an
application 103 that supports this type of behavior. A "pop up" may
be considered presented when the advertising engine 109 uses a push
type API to present advertisements via the application 103.
Further, an application 103 may be the idle screen of the UE 101,
or a screen server. The pop up may be initiated by the advertising
engine 109 according one or more contextual parameters such as time
or location (e.g., when the UE 101 is at the user's home).
[0056] The advertising engine 109 determines that the soft limit
has been met (step 407). As previously noted, the soft limit
determination can be made according to one or more criteria
associated with the soft limits. For example, the soft limits can
have a criteria associated with contextual information, categories,
parameters set by a campaign manager, etc. Accordingly, one or more
soft limits may be triggered depending on the criteria associated
with the soft limit. As such, different soft limits can be met
depending on the circumstances or context associated with the UE
101, a user of the UE 101, the advertisement, the advertising
platform 113, etc.
[0057] When the soft limit is met based on the criteria (e.g., time
and/or impression limits based on context), the advertising engine
109 causes caching of the other advertisements on the UE 101 (step
409). The advertising engine 109 can cause transmission of a
request for the advertisements from the advertising platform 113
and receive the advertisements. Further, the advertising engine 109
can determine or receive soft limit parameters associated with the
advertisements and/or other information (e.g., categorical or
campaign information) associated with the advertisements. As such,
soft limits can be associated with the advertisement. Moreover, the
advertisements and/or soft limits can be based on the
click-through-rate of advertisements presented. This can be based
on the individual user of the UE 101 and based on information
gathered by the UE 101 and/or based on other information gathered
by the advertising platform 113 from a device base of other UEs
101.
[0058] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for determining soft
limits based on contextual information, according to one
embodiment. In one embodiment, the advertising engine 109 of the UE
101 performs the process 500 and is implemented in, for instance, a
chip set including a processor and a memory as shown FIG. 10. As
such, the advertising engine 109 can provide means for
accomplishing various parts of the process 500 as well as means for
accomplishing other processes in conjunction with other components
of the UE 101. In certain embodiments, portions of the process 500
can be executed using one or more components of the advertising
platform 113.
[0059] At step 501, the advertising engine 109 determines
contextual information associated with the UE 101, user of the UE
101, advertisements, or a combination thereof. In certain
embodiments, the contextual information includes a roaming status
of the UE 101, a type of radio technology utilized by the UE 101, a
user's data plan, a battery status associated with the UE 101, a
validity time associated with the advertisement and/or
advertisement campaign, a fill rate associated with the
advertisement, based on a click-through-rate associated with the
user or other users, a distribution algorithm utilizing the soft
limits to control advertisement exposure, advertiser input, time of
day, location of UE 101, or a combination thereof. Then, the
advertising engine 109 determines the soft limit based, at least in
part, on the contextual data (step 503).
[0060] In one embodiment, the roaming status of the UE 101, is
utilized to determine the soft limit. As such, a high soft limit
can be set for when the UE 101 is abroad or roaming. A high soft
limit can be determined to be a soft limit with a higher number of
impressions that can be presented or a longer time limit before
requesting additional advertisements, resulting in a lower
frequency of acquiring additional advertisements. The lower
frequency of acquiring additional advertisements can then
advantageously result in reduced network bandwidth use. Likewise,
when availability or cost of bandwidth is not a concern, a low soft
limit can be set to lower the number of impressions or time limit
to acquire additional advertisements, resulting in a higher
frequency of acquiring additional advertisements. In certain
embodiments, a roaming parameter can be associated with a dynamic
soft limit. In this embodiment, the roaming parameter increases a
base soft limit when the UE 101 is roaming.
[0061] In another embodiment, the type of communication technology
(e.g., radio technology) utilized by the UE 101 is a parameter for
setting the soft limit. For example, when the UE 101 is connected
to a low power consumption communication technology, the soft limit
can be lower. As such, because less power is needed to utilize the
communication technology, the frequency of receiving additional
advertisements can be increased. In one example, the UE 101 is a
cellular phone and the types of communication technology used are
cellular radio and wireless local area network. In this example,
the soft limit can be lower for wireless local area network than
for cellular radio. As noted above, the type of communication
technology used can be a parameter in setting up a dynamic soft
limit. Similarly, the user's data plan may be a basis for
determining soft limits. For example, if the user has an unlimited
data plan, the soft limit can be set lower without incurring
additional costs to the user, while if the user has a limited data
plan, the user may not wish to incur fees to receive
advertisements.
[0062] In yet another embodiment, the battery status associated
with the UE 101 is a parameter for setting the soft limit. As such,
when the battery life indicator of the UE 101 is lower, the
advertising engine 109 determines the higher soft limit for
retrieving advertisements. Further, when the battery life indicator
indicates a critically low battery life remaining (e.g., the
battery is below a certain threshold level), the soft limit can be
adjusted even higher (e.g., by setting parameters of a dynamic soft
limit).
[0063] Further, in one embodiment, the validity time associated
with the advertisement and/or advertisement campaign can be
utilized to set a soft limit associated with the advertisement's
useful life. For example, in an advertisement for a sale at a
department store, the advertisement would be less useful after the
sale was completed (e.g., at the end of the week). As such, the
advertising engine 109 can set a soft limit parameter to determine
to acquire additional advertisements in a time period before the
advertisements lose usefulness.
[0064] Moreover, a fill rate associated with advertisements can be
utilized to determine soft limits. A fill rate is the percentage of
advertisements satisfied with an inventory of advertisements. For
example, an inventory of advertisements can be a certain number
based on how many advertisements an advertiser wishes to purchase
from the advertising platform 113. If the fill rate is low, the
soft limit can be high, allowing for the showing of the
advertisement multiple times to users. A high soft limit provides
less control for the advertising platform 113 and can increase the
risk that a campaign is over delivered. However, this is an
acceptable risk if the fill rate is low because there is a higher
inventory of advertisements available.
[0065] Additionally or alternatively, the soft limit can be
determined, based at least in part, on a click-through-rate
associated with the user or other users. As such, the advertising
engine 109 can determine a click-through-rate maximization
algorithm. The goal of the algorithm is to maximize the number of
times the user accesses the advertisements by setting the soft
limit accordingly. For example, the advertising engine 109
determines a soft limit base. Then, the advertising engine 109
utilizes the algorithm to determine soft limits to maximize the
click-through-rate based on the historical click-through-rates
associated with the UE 101 and/or user. Moreover, in certain
embodiments, click-through-rate information is provided to the
advertising platform 113 and the advertising platform 113 can
utilize algorithms to maximize the click-through-rate of a base of
users via a distribution algorithm utilizing soft limits to control
advertisement exposure (e.g., based on the
click-through-rates).
[0066] In certain embodiments, advertiser input can be utilized to
determine soft limits. For example, the advertiser (e.g.,
advertisement publisher, agent, etc.) may set a lower boundary soft
limit parameter. This parameter may set a boundary for the lowest
soft limit available for the advertising engine 109 to utilize.
This may be set so that the advertisement is shown at least a
certain amount of times before newer advertisements are acquired.
This can be useful if an optimal click-through-rate is determined
to be after a certain number of impressions.
[0067] Moreover, the time of day and/or location of the UE 101 may
be utilized to determine soft limits. For example, it may be
beneficial to update advertisements during daytime hours and/or
when the UE 101 is plugged in and not on a battery supply. Further,
it may be beneficial to update soft limits when the UE 101 moves
from one location to another. For example, soft limits may be
higher when the user is at a work place and lower when the user is
at a mall. Further, advertisements can be based on the location of
the UE 101. The advertising engine 109 can retrieve location
coordinates from the location module 213 and can send the location
coordinates to the advertising platform 113 to retrieve
advertisements associated with the location. For example, if the
user is in a location associated with a mall, more frequent updates
may be utilized and/or advertisements for store merchandise may be
provided to the UE 101.
[0068] With this approach, the soft limits may be set by the
advertising platform 113 and/or the advertising engine 109.
Further, multiple parameters associated with soft limits can be
received by the advertising engine 109 from the advertising
platform 113 to determine the soft limit and/or determining that
the soft limit has been met. As such, the parameters may be
criteria used to determine whether the soft limit has been met.
[0069] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for determining soft
limits based on categories, according to one embodiment. In one
embodiment, the advertising engine 109 of the UE 101 performs the
process 600 and is implemented in, for instance, a chip set
including a processor and a memory as shown FIG. 10. As such, the
advertising engine 109 can provide means for accomplishing various
parts of the process 600 as well as means for accomplishing other
processes in conjunction with other components of the UE 101. In
certain embodiments, portions of the process 600 can be executed
using one or more components of the advertising platform 113.
[0070] At step 601, the advertising engine 109 and/or execution
module 305 categorizes advertisements according to predetermined
criteria. In certain embodiments, the criteria are set by the
advertising platform 113. Criteria to determine categories can
include a type of advertisement (e.g., audio, video, image, etc.),
an advertising campaign or flight associated with the
advertisement, a class of advertisement (e.g., sponsorship
advertisement, guaranteed advertisements, remnant advertisements
(e.g., remainder or last minute advertising space that the service
provider has been unable to sell), house advertisement (e.g.,
advertisements generated by the service provider)), etc.).
Categories can allow the advertising platform 113 and/or a campaign
manager to modify or otherwise determine soft limits based on the
categories (step 603). Thus, changes can be made at a large scale
level on many different advertisements. Further, soft limit
parameters may be different for different categories of
advertisements due to priorities.
[0071] The class of advertisements can be utilized to determine a
preference for using the advertisements to present on the UE 101.
For example, sponsorship advertisements and guaranteed
advertisements may generate greater revenues for the advertising
platform 113, thus, soft limits associated with these
advertisements may be higher. A sponsorship advertisement may be an
advertisement where a particular sponsor buys a large amount of
advertising space on one or more UEs 101 and/or applications 103 to
repeatedly publish advertisements associated with the sponsor.
Remnant advertising space can be priced at a lower cost to
advertisers; therefore, it may be beneficial for the advertising
service to utilize a lower soft limit for the remnant
advertisements to increase revenue. Further, house advertisements
may not generate any revenue, but rather generate good will towards
the service. Thus, the service provider may wish to utilize low
soft limits to decrease the chance of publishing house
advertisements in favor of paid advertisements. Additionally, in
certain embodiments, default soft limit parameters can be set for
different categories of advertisements. These soft limit parameters
may be overridden (e.g., if an advertisement is received from the
advertising platform 113 with its own parameters).
[0072] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for determining soft
limits based on advertiser criteria, according to one embodiment.
In one embodiment, the execution module 305 of the advertising
platform 113 performs the process 700 and is implemented in, for
instance, a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown
FIG. 10. As such, the execution module 305 can provide means for
accomplishing various parts of the process 700 as well as means for
accomplishing other processes in conjunction with other components
of the advertising platform 113. In certain embodiments, portions
of the process 700 can be executed using one or more components of
the UE 101.
[0073] At step 701, the execution module 305 associates the
advertising engine 109 of the UE 101 with the advertising platform
113. This may be done by associating an identifier (e.g., phone
number, unique identifier, username and/or password, pin code,
etc.) with the UE 101 and/or user. Further, multiple UEs 101
comprising a device base can be associated with the advertising
platform 113. Further, the execution module 305 can characterize
the device base associated with the UEs 101 (step 703). This
characterization can be based, at least in part, on demographic
information associated with the users of the UEs 101 and/or UE 101
use information.
[0074] Then, at step 705, input associated with advertiser criteria
for soft limits is received. The criteria can include soft limits
minimums and/or maximums. For example, a maximum limit on
impressions may be set if the advertiser does not want more than a
certain number of impressions of an advertisement creative to be
shown to a user. Further, as noted above, the advertiser can adjust
soft limits based on categories via the campaign manager 307.
[0075] At step 707, the execution module 305 can determine soft
limits for a particular advertising engine 109 of a UE 101. As
such, the execution module 305 determines which advertisements to
provide to the UE 101 based on distribution algorithms. The
distribution algorithms may be based, at least in part, on how many
UEs 101 have been targeted for a particular advertisement flight or
campaign. The soft limits on the UE 101 may be set so that as a
whole, the advertisement campaign is not over delivered. An
advertisement campaign can be over delivered if the number of
impressions of the advertisements is more than the number of
impressions sold to a customer. This may mean that revenue is not
generated by the over delivered advertisements. Thus, the
advertising service provider, to maximize revenue, may set the soft
limits so that chance to over deliver the advertisement campaign is
reduced (e.g., by limiting the number of high soft limits to a
certain number of UEs 101). Once a soft limit is determined, the
soft limit is caused, at least in part, to be transmitted to the
advertising engine 109 (step 709). The transmission can be included
with a particular advertising creative associated with the
advertisement.
[0076] FIGS. 8A-8B are diagrams of example user interfaces utilized
in the processes of FIGS. 4-7, according to various embodiments.
FIG. 8A shows a user interface 800 with an advertisement displayed
during the execution of a messaging application. Application
content 801 is presented at the same time as advertisement content
803. Further, the user may click on a portion 805 of the
advertisement to access additional content (e.g., make
reservations). The advertisement content can be determined via soft
limits.
[0077] Further, FIG. 8B shows a user interface 820 with
advertisement content 821 displayed separately from application
content. As such, the user may choose to continue to the
application 823 and/or wait for a given amount of time to continue
to the application. Further, the user can click for more
information 825 about the advertiser. When clicked, information
about the click can be stored in a memory and returned to an
advertising platform 113 as statistical data.
[0078] With the above approaches, advertisements can be provided to
a consumer during advantageous time periods based on soft limits.
The advertisements can thus be provided to maximize use of a UE
101. For example, a soft limit based, at least in part, on the
battery life of the UE 101 can be utilized to conserve battery
power for the UE 101 when the UE 101 is low on battery power.
Further, to conserve power, the UE 101 may have lower soft limits
when the UE 101 is within range of communications technology that
conserves power. Moreover, service provider and/or user costs can
be saved by limiting retrieval of advertisements when the UE 101 is
roaming out of service of the UE service provider.
[0079] The processes described herein for providing advertisements
according to soft limits are disclosed may be advantageously
implemented via software, hardware, firmware or a combination of
software and/or firmware and/or hardware. For example, the
processes described herein, including for providing user interface
navigation information associated with the availability of
services, may be advantageously implemented via processor(s),
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, an Application Specific
Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs),
etc. Such exemplary hardware for performing the described functions
is detailed below.
[0080] FIG. 9 illustrates a computer system 900 upon which an
embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Although computer
system 900 is depicted with respect to a particular device or
equipment, it is contemplated that other devices or equipment
(e.g., network elements, servers, etc.) within FIG. 9 can deploy
the illustrated hardware and components of system 900. Computer
system 900 is programmed (e.g., via computer program code or
instructions) to serve advertisements according to soft limits are
disclosed as described herein and includes a communication
mechanism such as a bus 910 for passing information between other
internal and external components of the computer system 900.
Information (also called data) is represented as a physical
expression of a measurable phenomenon, typically electric voltages,
but including, in other embodiments, such phenomena as magnetic,
electromagnetic, pressure, chemical, biological, molecular, atomic,
sub-atomic and quantum interactions. For example, north and south
magnetic fields, or a zero and non-zero electric voltage, represent
two states (0, 1) of a binary digit (bit). Other phenomena can
represent digits of a higher base. A superposition of multiple
simultaneous quantum states before measurement represents a quantum
bit (qubit). A sequence of one or more digits constitutes digital
data that is used to represent a number or code for a character. In
some embodiments, information called analog data is represented by
a near continuum of measurable values within a particular range.
Computer system 900, or a portion thereof, constitutes a means for
performing one or more steps of serving advertisements according to
soft limits are disclosed.
[0081] A bus 910 includes one or more parallel conductors of
information so that information is transferred quickly among
devices coupled to the bus 910. One or more processors 902 for
processing information are coupled with the bus 910.
[0082] A processor (or multiple processors) 902 performs a set of
operations on information as specified by computer program code
related to serve advertisements according to soft limits are
disclosed. The computer program code is a set of instructions or
statements providing instructions for the operation of the
processor and/or the computer system to perform specified
functions. The code, for example, may be written in a computer
programming language that is compiled into a native instruction set
of the processor. The code may also be written directly using the
native instruction set (e.g., machine language). The set of
operations include bringing information in from the bus 910 and
placing information on the bus 910. The set of operations also
typically include comparing two or more units of information,
shifting positions of units of information, and combining two or
more units of information, such as by addition or multiplication or
logical operations like OR, exclusive OR (XOR), and AND. Each
operation of the set of operations that can be performed by the
processor is represented to the processor by information called
instructions, such as an operation code of one or more digits. A
sequence of operations to be executed by the processor 902, such as
a sequence of operation codes, constitute processor instructions,
also called computer system instructions or, simply, computer
instructions. Processors may be implemented as mechanical,
electrical, magnetic, optical, chemical or quantum components,
among others, alone or in combination.
[0083] Computer system 900 also includes a memory 904 coupled to
bus 910. The memory 904, such as a random access memory (RAM) or
other dynamic storage device, stores information including
processor instructions for serving advertisements according to soft
limits are disclosed. Dynamic memory allows information stored
therein to be changed by the computer system 900. RAM allows a unit
of information stored at a location called a memory address to be
stored and retrieved independently of information at neighboring
addresses. The memory 904 is also used by the processor 902 to
store temporary values during execution of processor instructions.
The computer system 900 also includes a read only memory (ROM) 906
or other static storage device coupled to the bus 910 for storing
static information, including instructions, that is not changed by
the computer system 900. Some memory is composed of volatile
storage that loses the information stored thereon when power is
lost. Also coupled to bus 910 is a non-volatile (persistent)
storage device 908, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk or flash
card, for storing information, including instructions, that
persists even when the computer system 900 is turned off or
otherwise loses power.
[0084] Information, including instructions for serving
advertisements according to soft limits are disclosed, is provided
to the bus 910 for use by the processor from an external input
device 912, such as a keyboard containing alphanumeric keys
operated by a human user, or a sensor. A sensor detects conditions
in its vicinity and transforms those detections into physical
expression compatible with the measurable phenomenon used to
represent information in computer system 900. Other external
devices coupled to bus 910, used primarily for interacting with
humans, include a display device 914, such as a cathode ray tube
(CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD), or plasma screen or
printer for presenting text or images, and a pointing device 916,
such as a mouse or a trackball or cursor direction keys, or motion
sensor, for controlling a position of a small cursor image
presented on the display 914 and issuing commands associated with
graphical elements presented on the display 914. In some
embodiments, for example, in embodiments in which the computer
system 900 performs all functions automatically without human
input, one or more of external input device 912, display device 914
and pointing device 916 is omitted.
[0085] In the illustrated embodiment, special purpose hardware,
such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 920, is
coupled to bus 910. The special purpose hardware is configured to
perform operations not performed by processor 902 quickly enough
for special purposes. Examples of application specific ICs include
graphics accelerator cards for generating images for display 914,
cryptographic boards for encrypting and decrypting messages sent
over a network, speech recognition, and interfaces to special
external devices, such as robotic arms and medical scanning
equipment that repeatedly perform some complex sequence of
operations that are more efficiently implemented in hardware.
[0086] Computer system 900 also includes one or more instances of a
communications interface 970 coupled to bus 910. Communication
interface 970 provides a one-way or two-way communication coupling
to a variety of external devices that operate with their own
processors, such as printers, scanners and external disks. In
general the coupling is with a network link 978 that is connected
to a local network 980 to which a variety of external devices with
their own processors are connected. For example, communication
interface 970 may be a parallel port or a serial port or a
universal serial bus (USB) port on a personal computer. In some
embodiments, communications interface 970 is an integrated services
digital network (ISDN) card or a digital subscriber line (DSL) card
or a telephone modem that provides an information communication
connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. In some
embodiments, a communication interface 970 is a cable modem that
converts signals on bus 910 into signals for a communication
connection over a coaxial cable or into optical signals for a
communication connection over a fiber optic cable. As another
example, communications interface 970 may be a local area network
(LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a
compatible LAN, such as Ethernet. Wireless links may also be
implemented. For wireless links, the communications interface 970
sends or receives or both sends and receives electrical, acoustic
or electromagnetic signals, including infrared and optical signals,
that carry information streams, such as digital data. For example,
in wireless handheld devices, such as mobile telephones like cell
phones, the communications interface 970 includes a radio band
electromagnetic transmitter and receiver called a radio
transceiver. In certain embodiments, the communications interface
970 enables connection to the communication network 105 for serving
advertisements according to soft limits are disclosed to the UE
101.
[0087] The term "computer-readable medium" as used herein refers to
any medium that participates in providing information to processor
902, including instructions for execution. Such a medium may take
many forms, including, but not limited to computer-readable storage
medium (e.g., non-volatile media, volatile media), and transmission
media. Non-transitory media, such as non-volatile media, include,
for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 908.
Volatile media include, for example, dynamic memory 904.
Transmission media include, for example, coaxial cables, copper
wire, fiber optic cables, and carrier waves that travel through
space without wires or cables, such as acoustic waves and
electromagnetic waves, including radio, optical and infrared waves.
Signals include man-made transient variations in amplitude,
frequency, phase, polarization or other physical properties
transmitted through the transmission media. Common forms of
computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a
flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium,
a CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper
tape, optical mark sheets, any other physical medium with patterns
of holes or other optically recognizable indicia, a RAM, a PROM, an
EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier
wave, or any other medium from which a computer can read. The term
computer-readable storage medium is used herein to refer to any
computer-readable medium except transmission media.
[0088] Logic encoded in one or more tangible media includes one or
both of processor instructions on a computer-readable storage media
and special purpose hardware, such as ASIC 920.
[0089] Network link 978 typically provides information
communication using transmission media through one or more networks
to other devices that use or process the information. For example,
network link 978 may provide a connection through local network 980
to a host computer 982 or to equipment 984 operated by an Internet
Service Provider (ISP). ISP equipment 984 in turn provides data
communication services through the public, world-wide
packet-switching communication network of networks now commonly
referred to as the Internet 990.
[0090] A computer called a server host 992 connected to the
Internet hosts a process that provides a service in response to
information received over the Internet. For example, server host
992 hosts a process that provides information representing video
data for presentation at display 914. It is contemplated that the
components of system 900 can be deployed in various configurations
within other computer systems, e.g., host 982 and server 992.
[0091] At least some embodiments of the invention are related to
the use of computer system 900 for implementing some or all of the
techniques described herein. According to one embodiment of the
invention, those techniques are performed by computer system 900 in
response to processor 902 executing one or more sequences of one or
more processor instructions contained in memory 904. Such
instructions, also called computer instructions, software and
program code, may be read into memory 904 from another
computer-readable medium such as storage device 908 or network link
978. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in memory
904 causes processor 902 to perform one or more of the method steps
described herein. In alternative embodiments, hardware, such as
ASIC 920, may be used in place of or in combination with software
to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are
not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software,
unless otherwise explicitly stated herein.
[0092] The signals transmitted over network link 978 and other
networks through communications interface 970, carry information to
and from computer system 900. Computer system 900 can send and
receive information, including program code, through the networks
980, 990 among others, through network link 978 and communications
interface 970. In an example using the Internet 990, a server host
992 transmits program code for a particular application, requested
by a message sent from computer 900, through Internet 990, ISP
equipment 984, local network 980 and communications interface 970.
The received code may be executed by processor 902 as it is
received, or may be stored in memory 904 or in storage device 908
or other non-volatile storage for later execution, or both. In this
manner, computer system 900 may obtain application program code in
the form of signals on a carrier wave.
[0093] Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in
carrying one or more sequence of instructions or data or both to
processor 902 for execution. For example, instructions and data may
initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer such
as host 982. The remote computer loads the instructions and data
into its dynamic memory and sends the instructions and data over a
telephone line using a modem. A modem local to the computer system
900 receives the instructions and data on a telephone line and uses
an infra-red transmitter to convert the instructions and data to a
signal on an infra-red carrier wave serving as the network link
978. An infrared detector serving as communications interface 970
receives the instructions and data carried in the infrared signal
and places information representing the instructions and data onto
bus 910. Bus 910 carries the information to memory 904 from which
processor 902 retrieves and executes the instructions using some of
the data sent with the instructions. The instructions and data
received in memory 904 may optionally be stored on storage device
908, either before or after execution by the processor 902.
[0094] FIG. 10 illustrates a chip set or chip 1000 upon which an
embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Chip set 1000 is
programmed to serve advertisements according to soft limits are
disclosed as described herein and includes, for instance, the
processor and memory components described with respect to FIG. 9
incorporated in one or more physical packages (e.g., chips). By way
of example, a physical package includes an arrangement of one or
more materials, components, and/or wires on a structural assembly
(e.g., a baseboard) to provide one or more characteristics such as
physical strength, conservation of size, and/or limitation of
electrical interaction. It is contemplated that in certain
embodiments the chip set 1000 can be implemented in a single chip.
It is further contemplated that in certain embodiments the chip set
or chip 1000 can be implemented as a single "system on a chip." It
is further contemplated that in certain embodiments a separate ASIC
would not be used, for example, and that all relevant functions as
disclosed herein would be performed by a processor or processors.
Chip set or chip 1000, or a portion thereof, constitutes a means
for performing one or more steps of providing user interface
navigation information associated with the availability of
services. Chip set or chip 1000, or a portion thereof, constitutes
a means for performing one or more steps of serving advertisements
according to soft limits are disclosed.
[0095] In one embodiment, the chip set or chip 1000 includes a
communication mechanism such as a bus 1001 for passing information
among the components of the chip set 1000. A processor 1003 has
connectivity to the bus 1001 to execute instructions and process
information stored in, for example, a memory 1005. The processor
1003 may include one or more processing cores with each core
configured to perform independently. A multi-core processor enables
multiprocessing within a single physical package. Examples of a
multi-core processor include two, four, eight, or greater numbers
of processing cores. Alternatively or in addition, the processor
1003 may include one or more microprocessors configured in tandem
via the bus 1001 to enable independent execution of instructions,
pipelining, and multithreading. The processor 1003 may also be
accompanied with one or more specialized components to perform
certain processing functions and tasks such as one or more digital
signal processors (DSP) 1007, or one or more application-specific
integrated circuits (ASIC) 1009. A DSP 1007 typically is configured
to process real-world signals (e.g., sound) in real time
independently of the processor 1003. Similarly, an ASIC 1009 can be
configured to performed specialized functions not easily performed
by a more general purpose processor. Other specialized components
to aid in performing the inventive functions described herein may
include one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) (not
shown), one or more controllers (not shown), or one or more other
special-purpose computer chips.
[0096] In one embodiment, the chip set or chip 800 includes merely
one or more processors and some software and/or firmware supporting
and/or relating to and/or for the one or more processors.
[0097] The processor 1003 and accompanying components have
connectivity to the memory 1005 via the bus 1001. The memory 1005
includes both dynamic memory (e.g., RAM, magnetic disk, writable
optical disk, etc.) and static memory (e.g., ROM, CD-ROM, etc.) for
storing executable instructions that when executed perform the
inventive steps described herein to serve advertisements according
to soft limits are disclosed. The memory 1005 also stores the data
associated with or generated by the execution of the inventive
steps.
[0098] FIG. 11 is a diagram of exemplary components of a mobile
terminal (e.g., handset) for communications, which is capable of
operating in the system of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment. In
some embodiments, mobile terminal 1100, or a portion thereof,
constitutes a means for performing one or more steps of serving
advertisements according to soft limits are disclosed. Generally, a
radio receiver is often defined in terms of front-end and back-end
characteristics. The front-end of the receiver encompasses all of
the Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry whereas the back-end encompasses
all of the base-band processing circuitry. As used in this
application, the term "circuitry" refers to both: (1) hardware-only
implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or
digital circuitry), and (2) to combinations of circuitry and
software (and/or firmware) (such as, if applicable to the
particular context, to a combination of processor(s), including
digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(ies) that work
together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server,
to perform various functions). This definition of "circuitry"
applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in
any claims. As a further example, as used in this application and
if applicable to the particular context, the term "circuitry" would
also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple
processors) and its (or their) accompanying software/or firmware.
The term "circuitry" would also cover if applicable to the
particular context, for example, a baseband integrated circuit or
applications processor integrated circuit in a mobile phone or a
similar integrated circuit in a cellular network device or other
network devices.
[0099] Pertinent internal components of the telephone include a
Main Control Unit (MCU) 1103, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP)
1105, and a receiver/transmitter unit including a microphone gain
control unit and a speaker gain control unit. A main display unit
1107 provides a display to the user in support of various
applications and mobile terminal functions that perform or support
the steps of serving advertisements according to soft limits are
disclosed. The display 11 includes display circuitry configured to
display at least a portion of a user interface of the mobile
terminal (e.g., mobile telephone). Additionally, the display 1107
and display circuitry are configured to facilitate user control of
at least some functions of the mobile terminal. An audio function
circuitry 1109 includes a microphone 1111 and microphone amplifier
that amplifies the speech signal output from the microphone 1111.
The amplified speech signal output from the microphone 1111 is fed
to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 1113.
[0100] A radio section 1115 amplifies power and converts frequency
in order to communicate with a base station, which is included in a
mobile communication system, via antenna 1117. The power amplifier
(PA) 1119 and the transmitter/modulation circuitry are
operationally responsive to the MCU 1103, with an output from the
PA 1119 coupled to the duplexer 1121 or circulator or antenna
switch, as known in the art. The PA 1119 also couples to a battery
interface and power control unit 1120.
[0101] In use, a user of mobile terminal 1101 speaks into the
microphone 1111 and his or her voice along with any detected
background noise is converted into an analog voltage. The analog
voltage is then converted into a digital signal through the Analog
to Digital Converter (ADC) 1123. The control unit 1103 routes the
digital signal into the DSP 1105 for processing therein, such as
speech encoding, channel encoding, encrypting, and interleaving. In
one embodiment, the processed voice signals are encoded, by units
not separately shown, using a cellular transmission protocol such
as global evolution (EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS),
global system for mobile communications (GSM), Internet protocol
multimedia subsystem (IMS), universal mobile telecommunications
system (UMTS), etc., as well as any other suitable wireless medium,
e.g., microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks,
code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division
multiple access (WCDMA), wireless fidelity (WiFi), satellite, and
the like.
[0102] The encoded signals are then routed to an equalizer 1125 for
compensation of any frequency-dependent impairments that occur
during transmission though the air such as phase and amplitude
distortion. After equalizing the bit stream, the modulator 1127
combines the signal with a RF signal generated in the RF interface
1129. The modulator 1127 generates a sine wave by way of frequency
or phase modulation. In order to prepare the signal for
transmission, an up-converter 1131 combines the sine wave output
from the modulator 1127 with another sine wave generated by a
synthesizer 1133 to achieve the desired frequency of transmission.
The signal is then sent through a PA 1119 to increase the signal to
an appropriate power level. In practical systems, the PA 1119 acts
as a variable gain amplifier whose gain is controlled by the DSP
1105 from information received from a network base station. The
signal is then filtered within the duplexer 1121 and optionally
sent to an antenna coupler 1135 to match impedances to provide
maximum power transfer. Finally, the signal is transmitted via
antenna 1117 to a local base station. An automatic gain control
(AGC) can be supplied to control the gain of the final stages of
the receiver. The signals may be forwarded from there to a remote
telephone which may be another cellular telephone, other mobile
phone or a land-line connected to a Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN), or other telephony networks.
[0103] Voice signals transmitted to the mobile terminal 1101 are
received via antenna 1117 and immediately amplified by a low noise
amplifier (LNA) 1137. A down-converter 1139 lowers the carrier
frequency while the demodulator 1141 strips away the RF leaving
only a digital bit stream. The signal then goes through the
equalizer 1125 and is processed by the DSP 1105. A Digital to
Analog Converter (DAC) 1143 converts the signal and the resulting
output is transmitted to the user through the speaker 1145, all
under control of a Main Control Unit (MCU) 1103--which can be
implemented as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) (not shown).
[0104] The MCU 1103 receives various signals including input
signals from the keyboard 1147. The keyboard 1147 and/or the MCU
1103 in combination with other user input components (e.g., the
microphone 1111) comprise a user interface circuitry for managing
user input. The MCU 1103 runs a user interface software to
facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile
terminal 1101 to serve advertisements according to soft limits are
disclosed. The MCU 1103 also delivers a display command and a
switch command to the display 1107 and to the speech output
switching controller, respectively. Further, the MCU 1103 exchanges
information with the DSP 1105 and can access an optionally
incorporated SIM card 1149 and a memory 1151. In addition, the MCU
1103 executes various control functions required of the terminal.
The DSP 1105 may, depending upon the implementation, perform any of
a variety of conventional digital processing functions on the voice
signals. Additionally, DSP 1105 determines the background noise
level of the local environment from the signals detected by
microphone 1111 and sets the gain of microphone 1111 to a level
selected to compensate for the natural tendency of the user of the
mobile terminal 1101.
[0105] The CODEC 1113 includes the ADC 1123 and DAC 1143. The
memory 1151 stores various data including call incoming tone data
and is capable of storing other data including music data received
via, e.g., the global Internet. The software module could reside in
RAM memory, flash memory, registers, or any other form of writable
storage medium known in the art. The memory device 1151 may be, but
not limited to, a single memory, CD, DVD, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, optical
storage, or any other non-volatile storage medium capable of
storing digital data.
[0106] An optionally incorporated SIM card 1149 carries, for
instance, important information, such as the cellular phone number,
the carrier supplying service, subscription details, and security
information. The SIM card 1149 serves primarily to identify the
mobile terminal 1101 on a radio network. The card 1149 also
contains a memory for storing a personal telephone number registry,
text messages, and user specific mobile terminal settings.
[0107] While the invention has been described in connection with a
number of embodiments and implementations, the invention is not so
limited but covers various obvious modifications and equivalent
arrangements, which fall within the purview of the appended claims.
Although features of the invention are expressed in certain
combinations among the claims, it is contemplated that these
features can be arranged in any combination and order.
* * * * *