U.S. patent application number 13/589740 was filed with the patent office on 2012-12-13 for method and apparatus for advertisement delivery in wireless networks.
Invention is credited to Katherine H. Guo, Arun N. Netravall, Krishan K. Sabnani.
Application Number | 20120316966 13/589740 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40133214 |
Filed Date | 2012-12-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120316966 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Guo; Katherine H. ; et
al. |
December 13, 2012 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADVERTISEMENT DELIVERY IN WIRELESS
NETWORKS
Abstract
The invention provides for advertising content selection,
presentation, and statistics reporting at a wireless user terminal.
The invention includes a method for selecting a subset of
advertising content for presentation at the wireless user terminal.
The invention includes a method for presenting advertising content
at a wireless user terminal in response to one or more conditions
detected at the wireless user terminal. The invention includes a
method for collecting advertising content presentation statistics
and providing the advertising content presentation statistics to at
least one network system. In one embodiment, the invention may
include one or more of the advertising content selection,
presentation, and statistics reporting functions.
Inventors: |
Guo; Katherine H.; (Scotch
Plains, NJ) ; Netravall; Arun N.; (Westfield, NJ)
; Sabnani; Krishan K.; (Westfield, NJ) |
Family ID: |
40133214 |
Appl. No.: |
13/589740 |
Filed: |
August 20, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11763813 |
Jun 15, 2007 |
8249922 |
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13589740 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.64 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0239 20130101;
G06Q 30/0269 20130101; G06Q 30/0256 20130101; G06Q 30/0277
20130101; G06Q 30/0267 20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.64 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20120101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory
communicatively connected to the processor, the processor
configured to: receive advertising content at a wireless user
terminal; and receive, from a network device based on detection of
a condition associated with the wireless user terminal, signaling
for instructing the wireless user terminal to present advertising
content at the wireless user terminal.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the condition comprises at
least one of the wireless user terminal being powered on, the
wireless user terminal searching for a signal, termination of a
connection associated with the wireless user terminal, the wireless
user terminal being in an idle state, the wireless user terminal
being connected to a power source, or the wireless user terminal
being disconnected from a power source.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signaling specifies at
least one aspect associated with presentation of the advertising
content at the wireless user terminal.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one aspect
comprises at least one of a format of the advertising content to be
presented, a type of the advertising content to be presented,
identification of the advertising content to be presented, or a
periodicity with which the advertising content is to be
presented.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured
to: control presentation of the advertising content via at least
one presentation interface of the wireless user terminal.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to
present the advertising content periodically.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to
present the advertising content at least one of a predetermined
number of times or for a predetermined length of time.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to
present the advertising content while the condition exists at the
wireless user terminal.
9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to
present the advertising content by alternating between presentation
of standard display information and presentation of the advertising
content.
10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured
to present the advertising content using a scroll bar.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the advertising content is a
portion of a set of advertising content received at the wireless
user terminal, wherein the processor is configured to: store the
set of advertising content at the wireless user terminal; and
select the advertising content from the set of advertising content
based on the signaling received from the network device.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured
to: receive the advertising content in conjunction with other
content; and present the advertising content independent of
presentation of the other content.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured
to: receive the advertising content at the wireless user terminal
via one or more sessions; and present the advertising content
independent of the one or more sessions.
14. A method, comprising: using a processor for: receiving
advertising content at a wireless user terminal; and receiving,
from a network device based on detection of a condition associated
with the wireless user terminal, signaling for instructing the
wireless user terminal to present advertising content at the
wireless user terminal.
15. An apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory
communicatively connected to the processor, the processor
configured to: detect, at a network device, a condition associated
with a wireless user terminal storing advertising content; and
propagate, from the network device toward the wireless user
terminal, based on detection of the condition at the network
device, signaling for instructing the wireless user terminal to
present the advertising content at the wireless user terminal.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the signaling specifies at
least one aspect associated with presentation of the advertising
content at the wireless user terminal.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one aspect
comprises at least one of a format of the advertising content to be
presented, a type of the advertising content to be presented, or a
periodicity with which the advertising content is to be
presented.
18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured
to: propagate user profile information from the network device
toward the wireless user terminal for use by the wireless user
terminal in selecting the advertising content to be presented at
the wireless user terminal.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured
to determine the user profile information based on at least one of
a type of content reviewed at the wireless user terminal most
often, a type of content reviewed at the wireless user terminal
most recently, or a format of content reviewed at the wireless user
terminal.
20. A method, comprising: using a processor for: detecting, at a
network device, a condition associated with a wireless user
terminal storing advertising content; and propagating, from the
network device toward the wireless user terminal, based on
detection of the condition at the network device, signaling for
instructing the wireless user terminal to present the advertising
content at the wireless user terminal.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/763,813, filed Jun. 15, 2007, entitled
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADVERTISEMENT DELIVERY IN WIRELESS
NETWORKS, which application is hereby incorporated herein by
reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to the field of communication networks
and, more specifically, to delivering advertisements in wireless
networks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] With increasing bandwidth available in Third Generation (3G)
wireless networks, wireless service providers have started
providing multimedia content, e.g., streaming video content, in
addition to existing voice and data services. Wireless service
providers are using a number of approaches to send data and video
streams to wireless user terminals, such as using 3G unicast
channels, 3G multicast channels, and 3G broadcast networks (e.g.,
Europe's Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) network and
North America's Forward Link Only (FLO) network). In order to
generate additional revenue, advertising is increasingly becoming
an integral part of the content delivery strategy.
[0004] Using unicast channels to deliver content, the network
typically delivers advertisements upon requests from users. For
example, in exchange for free Internet searching service,
advertisements are shown next to the search results (e.g., using
Google, Yahoo, and like Internet search sites). Another example is
Multimedia Ringback Service, in which content, including
advertisements, is provided to the calling party before the called
party answers the incoming call. Disadvantageously, however,
delivery of advertisements over unicast channels often requires the
same advertisements to be transmitted over the unicast network many
times to many different users, thereby consuming valuable network
resources.
[0005] Using multicast channels to deliver content, users with
similar interests can join the same multicast group in order to
receive content available over that multicast group. Using
broadcast channels to deliver content, the network typically
delivers advertisements along with the content by broadcasting the
content to users. Disadvantageously, however, while advertisements
delivered to users over multicast channels and broadcast channels
may be tailored to the geographical location of the group of users
receiving the multicast or broadcast content, advertisements
delivered to such users may not be tailored to those individual
users receiving the multicast or broadcast content.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Various deficiencies in the prior art are addressed through
an invention providing for advertising content selection,
presentation, and statistics reporting at a wireless user terminal.
The invention includes a method for selecting a subset of
advertising content for presentation at the wireless user terminal.
The invention includes a method for presenting advertising content
at a wireless user terminal in response to one or more conditions
detected at the wireless user terminal. The invention includes a
method for collecting advertising content presentation statistics
and providing the advertising content presentation statistics to at
least one network system. In one embodiment, the invention may
include one or more of the advertising content selection,
presentation, and statistics reporting functions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The teachings of the present invention can be readily
understood by considering the following detailed description in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 depicts a high-level block diagram of a communication
network;
[0009] FIG. 2 depicts a high-level block diagram of the wireless
user terminal of the communication network of FIG. 1;
[0010] FIG. 3 depicts a method according to one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0011] FIG. 4 depicts a method according to one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0012] FIG. 5 depicts a method according to one embodiment of the
present invention; and
[0013] FIG. 6 depicts a high-level block diagram of a
general-purpose computer suitable for use in performing the
functions described herein.
[0014] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals
have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements
that are common to the figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The present invention enables improved delivery and
presentation of advertising content at wireless user terminal. The
present invention provides advertising content selection functions
for selecting a subset of received advertising content for
presentation at a wireless user device. The present invention
provides advertising content presentation functions for presenting
advertising content on a wireless user terminal under various
conditions. The present invention provides advertising content
presentation statistics reporting functions for reporting
information regarding advertising content presented on a wireless
user terminal. The advertising content selection, presentation, and
statistics reporting functions of the present invention may be
implemented alone or in different combinations.
[0016] FIG. 1 depicts a high-level block diagram of a communication
network for propagating content from content sources to wireless
user terminals. Specifically, communication network 100 includes
content sources including content servers 110 and live content
source(s) 120, a media server 130, a unicast wireless network (UWN)
140, a broadcast wireless network (BWN) 150, and a wireless user
terminal (WUT) 160. Although depicted and described with respect to
specific types, numbers, and configurations of networks and
associated network elements, the various advertising content
control functions of the present invention may be implemented using
various other types, numbers, and configurations of networks and
associated network elements.
[0017] The content servers 110 include a multimedia content server
112 and an advertising content server 114. The content servers 110
provide a combination of multimedia content from multimedia content
server 112 and advertising content from advertising content server
114 to media server 130 for distribution over UWN 140 and/or BWN
150. The content servers 110 provide the combination of multimedia
content from multimedia content server 112 and advertising content
from advertising content server 114 to media server 130 using a
communication path 115. Although depicted as a direct connection
between content servers 110 and media server 130, communication
path 115 may traverse one or more networks, such as private
networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), and the like, as
well as various combinations thereof.
[0018] The multimedia content stored on multimedia content server
112 may include text content, audio content, video content,
multimedia content, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. The advertising content stored on advertising content
server 114 may include any advertising content, in any format
(e.g., text-based advertisements, audio advertisements, image
advertisements, video advertisements, and the like, as well as
various combinations thereof. Although depicted as individual
servers, multimedia content server 112 and advertising content
server 114 may be implemented as one server.
[0019] The live content source(s) 120 provide streaming content
including a combination of multimedia content and advertising
content. For example, live content source(s) 120 may include
Internet television servers providing streaming television channels
to media server 130 for distribution over UWN 140 and/or BWN 150.
The live content sources 120 may provide other live content
including multimedia content and advertising content. The live
content source(s) 120 provide the combination of multimedia content
and advertising content to media server 130 using a communication
path 125. Although depicted as a direct connection between live
content source(s) 120 and media server 130, communication path 125
may traverse one or more networks, such as private networks, public
networks (e.g., the Internet), and the like, as well as various
combinations thereof.
[0020] The media server 130 receives content from content servers
110 and live content source(s) 120. The media server 130 may
provide the content toward WUT 160 using UWN 140 and/or BWN 150.
The media server 130 provides content to UWN using a communication
path 141. Although depicted as a direct connection between media
server 130 and UWN 140, communication path 141 may traverse one or
more networks, such as private networks, public networks (e.g., the
Internet), and the like, as well as various combinations thereof.
The media server 130 provides content to BWN 150 using a
communication path 151. Although depicted as a direct connection
between media server 130 and BWN 150, communication path 151 may
traverse one or more networks, such as private networks, public
networks (e.g., the Internet), and the like, as well as various
combinations thereof.
[0021] The UWN 140 is a unicast wireless network supporting
communication between media server 130 and WUT 160. The UWN 140
includes a base station (BS) 142 supporting communication between
media server 130 and WUT 160. The BS 142 communicates with WUT 160
using a wireless communication path (WCP) 149. For example, UWN 140
may be implemented as a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
wireless network, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) wireless network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
2000 (CDMA2000)-based Evolution Data Optimized (EvDO) wireless
network, and the like.
[0022] The UWN 140 supports a bidirectional unicast wireless
channel (denoted as unicast channel 145) between media server 130
and WUT 160. The UWN 140 supports a multicast wireless channel
(denoted as multicast channel) 146 between media server 130 and WUT
160 (as well as other wireless user terminals that join that
multicast group, omitted here for purposes of clarity). The UWN 140
supports downstream communication of content from media server 130
to WUT 160 using unicast channel 145 and/or multicast channel 146.
The content may include a combination of multimedia content (i.e.,
non-advertising content such as audio clips, video clips, and the
like) and advertising content. In one embodiment, the content may
include advertising content only (i.e., not provided in combination
with non-advertising content). The UWN 140 supports upstream
communication of information (e.g., control information, content
requests, advertising content presentation statistics, and the
like) from WUT 160 to media server 130 (and other network
components, depending on the type and purpose of the information)
using unicast channel 145.
[0023] The BWN 150 is a broadcast wireless network supporting
broadcast channels. The BWN 150 includes a broadcast base station
(BBS) 152 supporting communication from media server 130 to WUT
160. The BBS 152 broadcasts information to WUT 160 using a wireless
communication path (WCP) 159. For example, BWN 150 may be
implemented as a Media-Forward Link Only (MediaFLO) network, a
Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) network, a Digital
Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) network, and the like.
[0024] The BWN 150 supports a broadcast wireless channel denoted as
broadcast channel 155) between media server 130 and WUT 160. The
broadcast channel 155 is a unidirectional channel supporting
wireless broadcasting of content from media server 130 to WUT 160.
The content may include a combination of multimedia content (i.e.,
non-advertising content such as television programming, movies, and
the like) and advertising content. In one embodiment, the content
may include only advertising content (i.e., not provided in
combination with non-advertising content). The BWN 150 does not
support upstream communications from WUT 160 to media server 130
(which is instead provided by UWN 140, specifically, by unicast
channel 145 of UWN 140).
[0025] The WUT 160 is any wireless user terminal. As depicted in
FIG. 1, WUT 160 is adapted for receiving content from media server
130 over UWN 140 via WCP 149 using unicast channel 145 and/or
multicast channel 146 and receiving content from media server 130
over BWN 150 via WCP 159 using broadcast channel 155. The WUT 160
is adapted for presenting received content to one or more users
using one or more presentation interfaces. The WUT 160 is adapted
for providing information (e.g., control information, requests for
content, advertising content presentation statistics information,
and the like) over UWN 140 via WCP 149 using unicast channel 145.
For example, WUT 160 may include a laptop computer, a mobile phone,
a personal digital assistant (PDA), and the like.
[0026] The WUT 160 is adapted for performing functions associated
with received advertising content, including one or more of
selecting a subset of received advertising content for
presentation, presenting advertising content according to one or
more advertising content presentation rules, and collecting
advertising content presentation statistics and propagating
collected advertising content presentation statistics to one or
more network systems, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. The WUT 160 may be better understood with respect to FIG.
2. The operation of WUT 160 in performing advertising content
selection, advertising content presentation, and advertising
content presentation statistics reporting may be better understood
with respect to FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5, respectively.
[0027] FIG. 2 depicts a high-level block diagram of the wireless
user terminal of the communication network of FIG. 1. Specifically,
WUT 160 includes a network interface module (NIM) 210, a processor
220, a memory 230, an input-output module (IOM) 240, and support
circuits (SCs) 250. The processor 220 cooperates with NIM 210,
memory 230, IOM 240, and SCs 250 to provide various functions of
the present invention, including performing advertising content
selection, advertising content presentation, and advertising
content statistics reporting, and like functions, as well as
various combinations thereof.
[0028] The NIM 210 operates as a transceiver, receiving information
from UWN 140 (over one or both of unicast channel 145 and multicast
channel 146), receiving information from BWN 150 (over broadcast
channel 155), and transmitting information to UWN 140 (over unicast
channel 145). The NIM 210 provides received information (e.g.,
multimedia content, advertising content, and the like) to processor
220 for processing and, depending on the information, storage in
memory 230. Although primarily depicted and described with respect
to one NIM 210, WUT 10 may include multiple network interface
modules adapted for interfacing with different types of wireless
networks.
[0029] The memory 230 stores content 231, applications 235, and
user profile 239. The content 231 includes content received over
UWN 140 and/or BWN, multimedia content 232 and advertising content
233. The processor 220 may process a combination of multimedia
content and advertising content in order to separate the multimedia
content and advertising content for storage as multimedia content
232 and advertising content 233, respectively. The content 231 may
further include collected advertising content presentation
statistics 234. The applications 235 include an advertising content
selection application 236 (depicted and described with respect to
FIG. 3), an advertising content presentation application 237
(depicted and described with respect to FIG. 4), and an advertising
content presentation statistics application 238 (depicted and
described with respect to FIG. 5). The user profile 239 includes
user profile information.
[0030] The IOM 240 includes one or more user interfaces and one or
more presentation interfaces. The user interfaces include any
interfaces by which a user may request content, control content,
interact with content, provide feedback regarding content, and
perform like input functions. For example, user interfaces of a
wireless user terminal may include keyboards, keypads, touch
screens, microphones, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. The presentation interfaces include any interfaces by
which content may be presented to a user. For example, presentation
interfaces of a wireless user terminal may include display screens,
speakers, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof.
[0031] The processor 220 controls processing of input information
received via IOM 240, providing information to NIM 210 for
transmission over UWN 140, providing information to memory 230 for
local storage of information, and the like, as well as various
combinations thereof. The processor controls presentation of
content via IOM 240, receiving information from NIM 210 and
providing the received information to IOM 240 for presentation to
the user, retrieving information from memory 230 and providing the
retrieved information to IOM 240 for presentation to the user, and
the like, as well as various combinations thereof.
[0032] The processor 220, in cooperation with NIM 210, memory 230,
IOM 240, and SCs 250, controls various functions of the present
invention. The processor 220 may execute advertising content
selection application 236 in order to select a subset of received
advertising content for presentation via IOM 240, as depicted and
described with respect to FIG. 3. The processor 220 may execute
advertising content presentation application 237 in order to
control presentation of advertising content via IOM 240, as
depicted and described with respect to FIG. 4. The processor 220
may execute advertising content presentation statistics application
238 in order to collect statistics regarding advertising content
presented at WUT 160 and provide the collected advertising content
presentation statistics to NIM 210 for transmission over UWN 140,
as depicted and described with respect to FIG. 5.
[0033] FIG. 3 depicts a method according to one embodiment of the
present invention. Specifically, method 300 of FIG. 3 includes a
method for selecting a subset of received advertising content for
presentation using one or more presentation interfaces. Although
depicted and described as being performed serially, at least a
portion of the steps of method 300 of FIG. 3 may be performed
contemporaneously, or in a different order than depicted and
described with respect to FIG. 3. The method 300 begins at step 302
and proceeds to step 304.
[0034] At step 304, advertising content is received. The
advertising content is received at a wireless user terminal. The
advertising content may be received over one or more of a unicast
wireless channel(s), a multicast wireless channel(s), and a
broadcast wireless channel(s). The advertising content may be
received in combination with other content and/or separately from
other content. The advertising content may include any content
format, such as text-based advertisements, audio advertisements,
image-based advertisements, video advertisements, multimedia
advertisements, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof.
[0035] At step 306, the received advertising content is stored at
the wireless user terminal. In one embodiment, in which the
advertising content is received by itself (i.e., not in combination
with other content), the received advertising content may be stored
without any additional processing. In one embodiment, in which the
advertising content is received in combination with other content,
the advertising content may be separated or extracted from the
other content for storage at the wireless user terminal. For
example, where television programming is streamed to a wireless
user terminal, video advertisements included within in commercial
breaks in the television programming may be extracted from the
television programming for storage at the wireless user
terminal.
[0036] At step 308, a subset of the stored advertising content is
selected. The subset of the stored advertising content is selected
using user profile information. The user profile information
includes information from a user profile stored on the wireless
user terminal. The user profile information may include any
information adapted for selecting a subset of available advertising
content.
[0037] In one embodiment, the user profile information may specify
one or more content formats preferred by the user. For example, the
user may prefer to be presented only image-based advertisements,
video advertisements, and multimedia advertisements. In one
embodiment, the user profile may specify one or more different
types of advertising content. For example, one user may prefer to
be presented with advertisements related to sports, cars, and
television programs while another user may prefer to be presented
with advertisements related to upcoming movies, upcoming concerts,
and newly released books. In one embodiment, the user profile may
include rankings for different formats and types of advertising
content such that the subset of advertising content selected is
selected according to such rankings.
[0038] In other words, from the embodiments and examples described
above, it is clear that there is no limit to the different formats
and types of content which may be specified by user profile
information. The user profile information may include any
information which may be used to select between advertising content
such that a subset of available advertising content may be selected
for presentation via a user terminal. Furthermore, selection of the
subset of stored advertising content may be performed using any
means of selecting content using user profile information.
[0039] In one embodiment, for example, in which an advertisement
has one or more keywords associated with it that describes the type
of content, the one or more keywords associated with the
advertisement may be compared with keywords of the user profile
information in order to determine whether to select that
advertisement for presentation to the user. In another embodiment,
for example, at least a portion of the advertising content may be
parsed in order to identify the type or types of content included
within the advertisement, and the identified type(s) of content may
be compared with keywords of the user profile information in order
to determine whether to select that advertisement for presentation
to the user. Other methods of selecting advertising content may be
used as well.
[0040] The user profile information stored at the wireless user
terminal may be updated manually by the user, automatically by the
wireless user device (e.g., based on the types of content reviewed
by the user most often, the types of content reviewed the user most
recently, the format of content reviewed by the user, and the
like), automatically by one or more network devices (e.g., by one
or more network devices which may push user profile information to
the wireless user terminal for storage in the user profile, which
may be determined by the one or more network devices based on the
types of content reviewed by the user most often, the types of
content reviewed the user most recently, the format of content
reviewed by the user, and the like), and the like, as well as
various combinations thereof.
[0041] At step 310, the selected subset of advertising content is
presented. In one embodiment, the selected subset of advertising
content may be presented in combination with other content (e.g.,
presented within a web page, as advertising within a television
program, and the like). In one embodiment, the selected subset of
advertising content may be presented independent of other content.
In one embodiment, the selected subset of advertising content may
be presented independent of any session between the wireless user
terminal and a network system or component, or at least independent
of the session by which the advertising content was received at the
wireless user terminal.
[0042] For example, advertising content originally included within
a web page and extracted from the web page for storage at the
wireless user terminal may be presented at the wireless user
terminal at a later time, e.g., after the Internet session has been
terminated. For example, advertising content originally included
within a television programming stream and extracted from the
television programming stream for storage at the wireless user
terminal may be presented at the wireless user terminal at a later
time, e.g., after the television programming session has
terminated.
[0043] The selected subset of advertising content is presented
using one or more presentation interfaces of the wireless user
device (e.g., one or more display screens, speakers, and the like).
For example, for a mobile phone having two display screens (e.g.,
an inner screen and an outer screen), advertising content may be
presented on one or both of the screens. In one embodiment, one or
more advertising content presentation streams may be generated for
presenting the advertising content.
[0044] In one embodiment, selection of the subset of stored
advertising content and subsequent presentation of the selected
subset of advertising content may be performed in conjunction with
the advertising content display mechanism depicted and described
with respect to FIG. 4. In one embodiment, depicted as optional
step 311, advertising content presentation statistics may be
recorded. In one such embodiment, advertising content presentation
statistics may be recorded in accordance with the advertising
content presentation statistics collection mechanism depicted and
described with respect to FIG. 5. At step 312, method 300 ends.
[0045] FIG. 4 depicts a method according to one embodiment of the
present invention. Specifically, method 400 of FIG. 4 includes a
method for presenting advertising content using one or more
presentation interfaces. Although depicted and described as being
performed serially, at least a portion of the steps of method 400
of FIG. 4 may be performed contemporaneously, or in a different
order than depicted and described with respect to FIG. 4. The
method 400 begins at step 402 and proceeds to step 404.
[0046] At step 404, advertising content is received. The
advertising content is received at a wireless user terminal. The
advertising content may be received over one or more of a unicast
wireless channel(s), a multicast wireless channel(s), and a
broadcast wireless channel(s). The advertising content may be
received in combination with other content and/or separately from
other content. The advertising content may include any content
format, such as text-based advertisements, audio advertisements,
image-based advertisements, video advertisements, multimedia
advertisements, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. At step 406, the received advertising content is stored at
the wireless terminal.
[0047] At step 408, a determination is made as to whether a
condition is detected (or exists). If a condition is not detected,
method 400 remains within step 408 until a condition is detected.
If a condition is detected, method 400 proceeds to step 410. At
step 410, advertising content is presented in response to detection
and/or existence of the condition at the wireless user terminal.
The advertising content is presented independent of any session
between the wireless user terminal and a network system or
component. The advertising content is presented using one or more
presentation interfaces of a wireless user device (e.g., display
screen(s), speaker(s), and the like). In one embodiment, one or
more presentation streams may be generated for presenting the
advertising content.
[0048] The advertising content may be presented in any manner,
depending on various factors, such as type and format of
advertising content, capabilities of the wireless user terminal,
and the like, as well as various combinations thereof. For example,
advertising content may be presented using display screens,
speakers, and like presentation interfaces. The advertising content
may be displayed using the entire area of the display screen, a
portion of the area of the display screen (e.g., using
picture-in-picture, split screen, scrolling display such as a
scrolling streamer of advertising content, and the like), and the
like, as well as various combinations thereof. In one embodiment,
for a mobile phone having two display screens (e.g., an inner
screen and an outer screen), advertising content may be presented
on one or both of the screens.
[0049] The condition is a condition detected or existing at the
wireless user terminal which causes presentation of advertising
content at the wireless user terminal. The condition causing
presentation of advertising content may be: (1) detection of a
condition, in which advertising content is presented in response to
detection of the condition at the wireless user terminal; and/or
(2) existence of a condition, in which advertising content is
presented while the condition exists (or does not exist, depending
on the type of condition) at the wireless user terminal. The
advertising content may be presented based on various different
conditions.
[0050] In one embodiment, advertising content is presented in
response to the wireless user terminal being powered on. In one
embodiment, advertising content is presented while the wireless
user terminal is searching for a signal. In one embodiment,
advertising content is presented in response to termination of a
connection associated with the user terminal (e.g., when a user
hangs up from a voice call, when a user terminates a web browsing
session or Instant Messaging session, and the like). In one
embodiment, advertising content is presented while the wireless
user terminal is idle. The advertising content may be presented in
response to combinations of such conditions, as well as in response
to various other conditions associated with wireless user terminals
(e.g., trigger conditions, wireless user terminal states, and the
like, as well as various combinations thereof).
[0051] In such embodiments, in response to the condition(s) or
during the existence of the condition(s), one or more
advertisements may be retrieved from memory and presented using one
or more presentation interfaces of the wireless user terminal. The
advertisements may be presented aperiodically, periodically, and/or
continuously, as well as various combinations thereof. The
advertisements may be presented a predetermined number of times,
for a predetermined length of time, as long as the condition
exists, and the like, as well as various combinations thereof. The
advertisements may be presented with any frequency and for any
length of time (e.g., for a predetermined length of time after a
condition is terminated, for the entire time a condition exists,
and the like).
[0052] For example, the one or more advertisements may be presented
during initial start-up of the wireless user terminal after the
wireless user terminal is powered on, and may continue to be
presented (after the initial start-up of the wireless user terminal
(e.g., if the wireless user terminal is searching for a signal
after being powered on, if the wireless user terminal is in an idle
state after the signal is located, or in response to any other
trigger condition or existing condition during which advertising
content is to be presented, as described herein).
[0053] For example, the one or more advertisements may continue to
be presented while the wireless user terminal is searching for a
signal (possibly until a signal is found), and the one or more
advertisements may continue to be presented even after a signal is
found (e.g., if the wireless user terminal is in an idle state
after the signal is found, or in response to any other trigger
condition or existing condition during which advertising content is
to be presented, as described herein).
[0054] For example, the one or more advertisements may be presented
in response to termination of a connection, e.g., when a user hangs
up from a voice call, when a user terminates a web browsing session
or Instant Messaging session, and the like. The one or more
advertisements may continue to be presented (e.g., if the wireless
user terminal remains in an idle state after the connection is
terminated, or in response to any other trigger condition or
existing condition during which advertising content is to be
presented, as described herein). In such embodiments, presentation
of advertising content may depend on the type of wireless user
terminal being used, the manner in which the user terminates the
session, and like factors, as well as various combinations
thereof.
[0055] For example, consider a mobile phone having two display
screens (e.g., an inner screen and an outer screen typical in
flip-type cell phones). In this example, if the user presses a key
on the keypad to terminate the session, the advertisement(s) may be
presented on the inner screen (e.g., until the user closes the flip
phone, at which time the advertisement(s) is switched to being
presented on the outer screen. Similarly, in this example, if the
user closes the flip phone to terminate the session, the
advertisement(s) may be presented on the outer screen (e.g., until
the user opens the flip phone, at which time the advertisement(s)
may be switched to being presented on the inner screen).
[0056] In one embodiment, one or more display screens of the
wireless user terminal may alternate between presenting standard
display information (e.g., date, time, background, and the like)
and presenting advertising content. In one embodiment, multiple
advertisements may be periodically presented using scrolling. For
example, scrolling may include displaying scrolling text-based
advertisements on one or more display screens, alternately
presenting video advertisements on one or more display screens
(e.g., in a round-robin manner which may or may not include breaks
between the video advertisements), and the like, as well as various
combinations thereof.
[0057] In one embodiment, presentation of advertising content on
the wireless user terminal may depend on whether or not the
wireless user terminal is connected to a power outlet. In one such
embodiment, regardless of detection and/or existence of other
conditions, advertising content may or may not be presented
depending on whether or not the wireless user terminal is connected
to a power outlet. For example, advertising content may only be
presented in response to one of the other conditions while the
wireless user terminal is connected to a power outlet.
[0058] In one embodiment, presentation of advertising content on
the wireless user terminal may vary depending on whether or not the
wireless user terminal is connected to a power outlet. (i.e.,
presentation of advertising content when the wireless user terminal
is connected to a power outlet is different than presentation of
advertising content when the wireless user terminal is not
connected to a power outlet). For example, parameters such as
frequency of presentation, quality of presentation, and the like
may vary depending on whether or not the wireless user terminal is
connected to a power outlet.
[0059] In one embodiment, while the user terminal is connected to a
power outlet, advertising content may be presented with a higher
frequency (e.g., one advertisement each minute rather than one
advertisement every five minutes) than when the wireless user
terminal is not connected to a power outlet, advertising content
may be presented at a higher quality (e.g., presenting video clips
rather than image-based content, presenting image-based content
rather than text-based content, presenting a high quality version
of a video clip, and the like) than when the wireless user terminal
is not connected to a power outlet, and the like, as well as
various combinations thereof.
[0060] In one embodiment, while the user terminal is not connected
to a power outlet, advertising content may be presented with a
lower frequency (e.g., one advertisement every five minutes rather
than one advertisement each minute) than when the wireless user
terminal is connected to a power outlet, advertising content may be
presented at a lower quality (e.g., presenting text-based content
rather than image-based content, presenting image-based content
rather than video clips, presenting a lower quality version of a
video clip rather than a higher quality version of the video clip,
and the like) than when the wireless user terminal is connected to
a power outlet, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof.
[0061] In such embodiments, when a wireless user terminal detects
that the wireless user terminal has been connected to a power
outlet, the wireless terminal may automatically modify one or more
such parameters according to which advertising content is being
presented on the wireless user terminal (e.g., increasing
frequency, increasing quality, and the like). Similarly, in such
embodiments, when a wireless user terminal detects that the
wireless user terminal has been disconnected from a power outlet,
the wireless terminal may automatically modify one or more such
parameters (e.g., decreasing frequency, decreasing quality, and the
like) according to which advertising content is being presented on
the wireless user terminal.
[0062] Thus, advertising content may be presented: (1) in response
to one or more conditions (e.g., in response to the wireless user
terminal being powered on, in response to termination of a
connection, and the like, as well as various combinations thereof)
and/or (2) during the existence of one or more conditions (e.g.,
the wireless user terminal being in a particular state such as an
idle state, a searching-for-signal state, and the like, the
wireless user terminal being connected to or disconnected from a
power outlet, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof). Furthermore, although primarily depicted and described
herein with respect to conditions associated with starting,
continuing, and modifying presentation of advertising content,
presentation of advertising content may be terminated in response
to one or more trigger conditions or during the existence of one or
more conditions.
[0063] In one embodiment, in which advertisements are presented in
response to different conditions, different advertisements or
different sets of advertisements may be presented. The different
advertisement or different sets of advertisements may be presented
in response to the different trigger conditions or existing
conditions. The different advertisements or sets of advertisements
may be group based on one or more factors, such as the format of
advertising content, the type of advertising content, and like
factors, as well as various combinations thereof.
[0064] For example, one advertisement may be presented in response
to a wireless user terminal being powered on, while one or more
other advertisements may be presented thereafter (e.g., while the
wireless user terminal is searching for a signal, while the
wireless user terminal is idle, and the like, as well as various
combinations thereof). For example, one set of advertisements may
be presented while the wireless user terminal is searching for a
signal and a different set of advertisements may be presented while
the wireless user terminal is idle. For example, text-based
advertisements may be presented as a wireless user terminal is
searching for a signal while video advertisements may be presented
while the wireless user terminal is idle and plugged into a power
outlet.
[0065] In one embodiment, a subset of the stored advertising
content may be selected for presentation. In one such embodiment,
the subset of stored advertising content selected for presentation
may be selected using the advertising content selection mechanism
depicted and described with respect to FIG. 3. In one embodiment,
depicted as optional step 411, advertising content presentation
statistics may be recorded. In one such embodiment, advertising
content presentation statistics may be recorded in accordance with
the advertising content presentation statistics collection
mechanism depicted and described with respect to FIG. 5. At step
412, method 400 ends.
[0066] This advertising content presentation mechanism is
advantageous because it decouples the presentation of
advertisements from specific applications. For example, advertising
content is not only presented during a web browsing session or
during a video clip play-out time; rather, advertising content may
be presented on the wireless user terminal at any time.
Furthermore, using different embodiments described herein,
presentation of advertising content can be targeted to occur during
times at which users are more likely to be paying attention to the
wireless user device (e.g., when the wireless user terminal is
powered on, while the user is waiting for the wireless user
terminal to locate a wireless signal, when the user terminates a
session, and the like).
[0067] Although primarily depicted and described herein with
respect to embodiments in which the advertising content
presentation mechanism is controlled on the wireless user terminal,
in one embodiment, the advertising content presentation mechanism
may be controlled by one or more network components. In one
embodiment, a network component may detect different conditions
associated with the wireless user terminal and, in response to
detecting one or more conditions, may initiate signaling to the
wireless user terminal that is adapted to instruct the wireless
user terminal to present advertising content. In one embodiment,
such signaling from the network component may specify details about
presentation of the advertising content, e.g., as format, type
(including identifying specific advertisements), periodicity, and
like factors, as well as various combinations thereof, as described
herein.
[0068] FIG. 5 depicts a method according to one embodiment of the
present invention. Specifically, method 500 of FIG. 5 includes a
method for collecting advertising content presentation statistics
at a wireless user terminal and providing collected advertising
content presentation statistics to one or more network systems.
Although depicted and described as being performed serially, at
least a portion of the steps of method 500 of FIG. 5 may be
performed contemporaneously, or in a different order than depicted
and described with respect to FIG. 5. The method 500 begins at step
502 and proceeds to step 504.
[0069] At step 504, advertising content is presented at a wireless
user terminal. The advertising content may include any format and
type of advertising content. The advertising content may be
presented using one or more presentation interfaces. In one
embodiment, advertising content may be presented using one or both
of the advertising content selection mechanism of method 300
depicted and described herein with respect to FIG. 3 and the
advertising content presentation mechanism of method 400 depicted
and described herein with respect to FIG. 4. The advertising
content may be presented using various other content presentation
schemes.
[0070] At step 506, one or more advertising content presentation
statistics is recorded at the wireless user terminal in response to
the advertising content being presented. The advertising content
presentation statistics may record the amount of advertising
content presented at the wireless user terminal, which may be
measured using one or more of the length of time during which
advertising content was presented (e.g., in second, minutes, and
the like), the number of times advertising content was presented,
and like measures, as well as various combinations thereof. In some
embodiments, advertising content presentation statistics may record
an indication as to whether a particular advertisement was
presented at the wireless user terminal, the number of times
specific advertisements were presented at the wireless user
terminal, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof.
[0071] The advertising content presentation statistics may include
any other information about advertising content presented on the
wireless user terminal. In some embodiment, many different types of
such statistics may be recorded. Furthermore, in some embodiments,
such statistics may be further sub-classified to record the
statistics according to categories such as formats of advertising
content presented (e.g., amount of text-based advertising content,
amount of video advertisements, and the like), types of advertising
content (e.g., amount of advertising content related to sports,
amount of advertising content related to television programming,
and the like), and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. The present invention is not limited by these examples of
advertising content presentation statistics.
[0072] At step 508, a determination is made as to whether a trigger
is detected (i.e., triggering transmission of advertising content
presentation statistics upstream to one or more network systems).
If a trigger is not detected, method 500 returns to step 504 such
that advertising content may continue to be presented, and
associated advertising content presentation statistics continue to
be collected, until a trigger is detected. In other words, although
depicted and described as a serial process, since a trigger may be
detected at any time, advertising content presentation statistics
may be transmitted upstream by the wireless user terminal at any
time. If a trigger is detected, method 500 proceeds to step
510.
[0073] In one embodiment, the trigger condition may be completion
of the presentation of the advertising content at the wireless user
device (e.g., after an advertisement is finished being presented at
the wireless user terminal, the wireless user terminal generates
and transmits one or more associated statistics). In one
embodiment, the trigger condition may be a periodic trigger
condition such that advertising content presentation statistics are
transmitted upstream by the wireless user terminal periodically
(e.g., once per day, once per week, and the like). The advertising
content presentation statistics may be transmitted by the wireless
user terminal in response to various combinations of aperiodic and
periodic triggers.
[0074] At step 510, one or more advertising content presentation
statistics (depending on types of statistics collected,
implementation of the trigger, and like factors) is transmitted by
the wireless user terminals. The advertising content presentation
statistics are transmitted using a unicast channel of the wireless
user terminal. The advertising content presentation statistics may
be transmitted to one or more network systems. At step 512, the one
or more advertising content presentation statistics are received at
the one or more network systems. The network systems may include
any system or systems which may utilize advertising content
presentation statistics, such as media servers, trend processing
systems, user account management systems, billing management
systems, and the like, as well as various combinations thereof.
[0075] At step 514, the one or more network systems process the
received advertising content presentation statistics. In one
embodiment, the advertising content presentation statistics may be
combined with advertising content presentation statistics received
from other wireless user terminals for various different purposes.
In one embodiment, the advertising content presentation statistics
may be stored in a manner for associating the advertising content
presentation statistics with the user from which the advertising
content presentation statistics are received (and/or the wireless
user terminal associated with the wireless user terminal from which
the statistics are received).
[0076] In one embodiment, in which advertising content presentation
statistics of different wireless user terminals are combined, the
combined advertising content presentation statistics may be
processed for various purposes. In one embodiment, for example, the
combined statistics may be processed for use in selecting
advertising content to multicast and/or broadcast to users in the
future. In another embodiment, for example, the combined statistics
may be processed in order to generate advertising trend data. The
advertising trend data may be used by content providers,
advertisers, and the like, as well as various combinations thereof.
For example, advertising trend data may be used by advertisers in
order to assess levels of interest by consumers for various
services and products.
[0077] In one embodiment, in which the advertising content
presentation statistics are associated with the user from which the
advertising content presentation statistics are received, the
advertising content presentation statistics may be used for various
purposes. In some such embodiments, the advertising content
presentation statistics may be associated with one or more profiles
and/or accounts of the user, e.g., for use in selecting advertising
content delivered to the user in the future, for use in
remunerating the user for reviewing the advertising content (e.g.,
for reviewing specific advertising content, for reviewing specific
quantities of advertising content, and the like), and the like, as
well as various combinations thereof.
[0078] In one embodiment, in which the advertising content
presentation statistics are used to remunerate the associated user
for reviewing advertising content (or at least for presentation of
advertising content at the wireless user terminal of the user,
where or not the user is actually reviewing the presented
advertising content), various different remuneration schemes may be
used. In one embodiment, the user may be provided x remunerations
for y advertising content presented at the wireless user terminal.
The x remunerations provided to the user may include various
different types and quantities of remunerations. The y advertising
content upon which the user remunerations are based may be measured
in various different ways.
[0079] The determination of remunerations x may depend on various
factors, such as the type of remuneration offered, the type of
content reviewed, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. For example, the user may be rewarded with a credit to
their bill. For example, the user may be rewarded with x free
minutes of connection time, x amount of free bandwidth, x number of
free text messages, and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof. For example, the user may be rewarded with x free coupons
(or x free dollars worth of coupons) for various services,
products, and the like (e.g., coupons to their favorite
restaurants, generic gift certificates good at various locations,
and the like), and the like, as well as various combinations
thereof.
[0080] The advertising content y may be measured based on various
factors, such as the number of advertisements presented, length of
time of presentation of advertisements, the formats and/or types of
advertisements presented, weights given to specific advertisements,
and like, factors, as well as various combinations thereof. For
example, remuneration provided to users for reviewing image-based
advertisements and reviewing video-based advertisements may be
different (e.g., remuneration x for reviewing y number of
advertisements). For example, advertisers may have an option to pay
more to have their advertisements weighted higher so that, in turn,
users are more likely to review those advertisements to receive the
higher level of remuneration.
[0081] FIG. 6 depicts a high-level block diagram of a
general-purpose computer suitable for use in performing the
functions described herein. As depicted in FIG. 6, system 600
comprises a processor element 602 (e.g., a CPU), a memory 604,
e.g., random access memory (RAM) and/or read only memory (ROM), an
advertising content control module 605, and various input/output
devices 606 (e.g., storage devices, including but not limited to, a
tape drive, a floppy drive, a hard disk drive or a compact disk
drive, a receiver, a transmitter, a speaker, a display, an output
port, and a user input device (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a
mouse, and the like)).
[0082] It should be noted that the present invention may be
implemented in software and/or in a combination of software and
hardware, e.g., using application specific integrated circuits
(ASIC), a general purpose computer or any other hardware
equivalents. In one embodiment, the present advertising content
control process 605 can be loaded into memory 604 and executed by
processor 602 to implement the functions as discussed above. As
such, advertising content control process 605 (including associated
data structures) of the present invention can be stored on a
computer readable medium or carrier, e.g., RAM memory, magnetic or
optical drive or diskette, and the like.
[0083] It is contemplated that some of the steps discussed herein
as software methods may be implemented within hardware, for
example, as circuitry that cooperates with the processor to perform
various method steps. Portions of the present invention may be
implemented as a computer program product wherein computer
instructions, when processed by a computer, adapt the operation of
the computer such that the methods and/or techniques of the present
invention are invoked or otherwise provided. Instructions for
invoking the inventive methods may be stored in fixed or removable
media, transmitted via a data stream in a broadcast or other signal
bearing medium, and/or stored within a working memory within a
computing device operating according to the instructions.
[0084] Although primarily depicted and described herein with
respect to user profiles being stored on the wireless user
terminals, in one embodiment the user profiles (or at least some
portion of the user profile information) may be stored in the
network (e.g., on one or more network devices) rather than the
wireless user terminals (or at least some user profile information
is stored in the network in addition to user profile information
stored at the wireless user terminals). In one such embodiment, for
example, the user profiles may be provided to the wireless user
terminals such that a wireless user terminal, upon receiving
advertising content and its associated user profile (or user
profile information), can perform the advertising content selection
functions of the present invention.
[0085] For example, in one embodiment, advertising content may be
provided to user terminals using multicast and/or broadcast
wireless channels, and the user profiles (or at least some user
profile information) may be provided to the user terminals using
respective unicast wireless channels, such that the wireless user
terminals may use network-stored user profiles to perform local
selection of a subset of the received advertising content. In one
embodiment, for example, in which user profile information is
stored in the network and provided to the user terminals,
transmission of the user profile information to the wireless user
devices may be initiated by the network or, alternatively, may be
requested by the wireless user terminals (e.g., a user profile
stored on a wireless user terminals may store a URL to a network
site from which the wireless user device can retrieve additional
user profile information for use in performing advertising content
selection functions).
[0086] Furthermore, various other functions of the present
invention may be supported using user profiles stored on the
network rather than the wireless user terminals (or at least using
some user profile information that is stored on the network in
addition to user profile information stored at the wireless user
terminals).
[0087] Although various embodiments which incorporate the teachings
of the present invention have been shown and described in detail
herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other
varied embodiments that still incorporate these teachings.
* * * * *