U.S. patent application number 13/475144 was filed with the patent office on 2016-10-20 for advertiser campaign scripting.
This patent application is currently assigned to GOOGLE INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is Nikhil Bakshi, Prabhu Balasubramanian, Varouj A. Chitilian, Alena R. Fong, Alison B. Miller, Bhanu Narasimhan, Ilya Netchitailo, Chetan Patel, Jiaqi Yu. Invention is credited to Nikhil Bakshi, Prabhu Balasubramanian, Varouj A. Chitilian, Alena R. Fong, Alison B. Miller, Bhanu Narasimhan, Ilya Netchitailo, Chetan Patel, Jiaqi Yu.
Application Number | 20160307228 13/475144 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55487384 |
Filed Date | 2016-10-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160307228 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Balasubramanian; Prabhu ; et
al. |
October 20, 2016 |
ADVERTISER CAMPAIGN SCRIPTING
Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs
encoded on a computer storage medium, for automated management of
campaigns using scripted rules.
Inventors: |
Balasubramanian; Prabhu;
(Mountain View, CA) ; Narasimhan; Bhanu; (Los
Gatos, CA) ; Miller; Alison B.; (San Francisco,
CA) ; Fong; Alena R.; (Fremont, CA) ; Bakshi;
Nikhil; (Mountain View, CA) ; Netchitailo; Ilya;
(Mountain View, CA) ; Yu; Jiaqi; (Hayward, CA)
; Chitilian; Varouj A.; (San Francisco, CA) ;
Patel; Chetan; (Fremont, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Balasubramanian; Prabhu
Narasimhan; Bhanu
Miller; Alison B.
Fong; Alena R.
Bakshi; Nikhil
Netchitailo; Ilya
Yu; Jiaqi
Chitilian; Varouj A.
Patel; Chetan |
Mountain View
Los Gatos
San Francisco
Fremont
Mountain View
Mountain View
Hayward
San Francisco
Fremont |
CA
CA
CA
CA
CA
CA
CA
CA
CA |
US
US
US
US
US
US
US
US
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
GOOGLE INC.
Mountain View
CA
|
Family ID: |
55487384 |
Appl. No.: |
13/475144 |
Filed: |
May 18, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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61525459 |
Aug 19, 2011 |
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61555092 |
Nov 3, 2011 |
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61555086 |
Nov 3, 2011 |
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61555068 |
Nov 3, 2011 |
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61555071 |
Nov 3, 2011 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 9/46 20130101; G06Q
30/0241 20130101; G06Q 30/0277 20130101; G06Q 30/0276 20130101;
G06F 9/542 20130101; G06Q 30/0251 20130101; G06Q 30/0243 20130101;
G06Q 30/0263 20130101; G06Q 30/0275 20130101; G06F 9/5005 20130101;
G06Q 30/0244 20130101; G06Q 30/0258 20130101; G06F 9/448 20180201;
G06F 9/541 20130101; G06Q 30/0242 20130101; G06F 9/547 20130101;
G06Q 10/06 20130101; G06F 16/24552 20190101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20120101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. A system, comprising: a data processing apparatus including one
or more computers; and a computer storage system storing
instructions that when executed by the data processing apparatus
cause the data processing apparatus to perform actions comprising:
accessing advertising campaign data including: a plurality of
campaign management entities including an advertising campaign
entity that defines an advertising campaign; a plurality of rules,
each rule associated with at least one of the advertising campaign
entities and a user identifier, each rule defining an operation and
a corresponding event, the event being an occurrence of a condition
defined for the advertising campaign entity, and the operation
being executed in response to detection of the corresponding event
and specifying an entity change for a campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the
user identifier is an identifier of a user that defined the rule;
detecting the event defined by a given rule that is (i) associated
with the advertising campaign and (ii) defined by a given user
having a given user identifier; determining that the given user
identifier has permission to make the entity change specified by
the operation defined by the given rule for the at least one
advertising campaign entity associated with the given rule and in
response: executing the operation defined by the given rule, and in
response to the execution, changing the campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity according to the
specified entity change; storing, for each changed campaign
management entity, data that identifies the given user identifier
as the source of the change to the changed campaign management
entity; and providing reporting data that presents data (i)
describing the change to the changed campaign management entity and
(ii) identifying the given user identifier as the source of the
change.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein: each rule is associated with a
frequency parameter, the frequency parameter storing a frequency
value that is set by a user and defines a frequency at which the
rule is executed; and the actions further comprise detecting events
defined by the rules, including executing each rule at a frequency
defined by the frequency value of the rule.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the frequency value can range
from a unique occurrence to recurring occurrences of a maximum time
period.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the actions further comprise
detecting events defined by the rules, including executing each
rule at a same frequency.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein, for at least one rule: the
condition of the at least one rule is based on a metric associated
with the advertising campaign; and the operation of the at least
one rule changes one or more of a status or a value for a campaign
management entity.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein, for at least one rule: the at
least one campaign management entity associated with the at least
one rule is an advertisement group entity; the condition of the at
least one rule is a click through rate threshold for a keyword of
an advertisement group of the advertising campaign meeting a
threshold; and the operation of the at least one rule is adjusting
a bid defined by a bid entity associated with the advertisement
group that increases a likelihood that an advertisement of the
advertisement group is displayed on a first page of search
results.
7. The system of claim 5, wherein, for at least one rule: the at
least one campaign management entity associated with the at least
one rule is a targeting entity defining keyword targeting criteria;
the condition of the at least one rule is a click through rate
threshold for an advertisement group of the advertising campaign
meeting a first threshold; and the operation of the at least one
rule is adjusting a bid defined by a bid entity associated with the
advertisement group so that the bid meets a cost per click value
that increases a likelihood that an advertisement of the
advertisement group is displayed.
8. The system of claim 5, wherein, for at least one rule: the at
least one campaign management entity associated with the at least
one rule is an advertising campaign entity; the condition of the at
least one rule is (i) a click through rate threshold for the
advertising campaign meeting a first threshold and (ii) a budget
defined by a budget entity for the advertising campaign meeting a
second threshold; and the operation of the at least one rule is
pausing the advertising campaign to preclude serving advertisements
associated with the campaign.
9. (canceled)
10. The system of claim 1, wherein: the campaign management
entities are associated according to a hierarchy in which
advertisement entities, budget entities, targeting entities, and
bid entities are subordinate to advertisement group entities, and
the advertisement group entities are subordinate to the campaign
management entities; at least one rule is associated with an
advertising campaign entity and all campaign management entities
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity and associated with
the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the condition is
defined for a campaign management entity subordinate to the
advertising campaign entity; the actions further comprise:
detecting events defined by the rules associated with the
advertising campaign, including detection for an occurrence of the
condition for each instance of the campaign management entity
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity; and executing the
operation associated with the event by the rule, including
executing the operation for only the campaign management entities
for which the occurrence of the condition is detected.
11. Software stored on a non-transitory computer storage system,
the software comprising instructions that when executed by a data
processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform
actions comprising: accessing advertising campaign data including:
a plurality of campaign management entities including an
advertising campaign entity that defines an advertising campaign; a
plurality of rules, each rule associated with at least one of the
advertising campaign entities and a user identifier, each rule
defining an operation and a corresponding event, the event being an
occurrence of a condition defined for the advertising campaign
entity, and the operation being executed in response to detection
of the corresponding event and specifying an entity change for a
campaign management entity associated with the advertising campaign
entity, and wherein the user identifier is an identifier of user
that defined the rule; detecting the event defined by a given rule
that is (i) associated with the advertising campaign and (ii)
defined by a given user having a given user identifier; determining
that the given user identifier has permission to make the entity
change specified by the operation defined by the given rule for the
at least one advertising campaign entity associated with the given
rule and in response: executing the operation defined by the given
rule, and in response to the execution, changing the campaign
management entity associated with the advertising campaign entity
according to the specified entity change; storing, for each changed
campaign management entity, data that identifies the given user
identifier as the source of the change to the changed campaign
management entity; and providing reporting data that presents data
(i) describing the change to the changed campaign management entity
and (ii) identifying the given user identifier as the source of the
change.
12. The software of claim 11, wherein: each rule is associated with
a frequency parameter, the frequency parameter storing a frequency
value that is set by a user and defines a frequency at which the
rule is executed; and the actions further comprise detecting events
defined by the rules, including executing each rule at a frequency
defined by the frequency value of the rule.
13. The software of claim 12, wherein the frequency value can range
from a unique occurrence to recurring occurrences of a maximum time
period.
14. The software of claim 11, wherein the actions further comprise
detecting events defined by the rules, including executing each
rule at a same frequency.
15. The software of claim 11, wherein, for at least one rule: the
condition of the at least one rule is based on a metric associated
with the advertising campaign; and the operation of the at least
one rule changes one or more of a status or a value for a campaign
management entity.
16. The software of claim 15, wherein, for at least one rule: the
at least one campaign management entity associated with the at
least one rule is an advertisement group entity; the condition of
the at least one rule is a click through rate threshold for a
keyword of an advertisement group of the advertising campaign
meeting a threshold; and the operation of the at least one rule is
adjusting a bid defined by a bid entity associated with the
advertisement group that increases a likelihood that an
advertisement of the advertisement group is displayed on a first
page of search results.
17. The software of claim 15, wherein, for at least one rule: the
at least one campaign management entity associated with the at
least one rule is a targeting entity defining keyword targeting
criteria; the condition of the at least one rule is a click through
rate threshold for an advertisement group of the advertising
campaign meeting a first threshold; and the operation of the at
least one rule is adjusting a bid defined by a bid entity
associated with the advertisement group so that the bid meets a
cost per click value that increases a likelihood that an
advertisement of the advertisement group is displayed.
18. The software of claim 15, wherein, for at least one rule: the
at least one campaign management entity associated with the at
least one rule is an advertising campaign entity; the condition of
the at least one rule is (i) a click through rate threshold for the
advertising campaign meeting a first threshold and (ii) a budget
defined by a budget entity for the advertising campaign meeting a
second threshold; and the operation of the at least one rule is
pausing the advertising campaign to preclude serving advertisements
associated with the campaign.
19. (canceled)
20. The software of claim 11, wherein: the campaign management
entities are associated according to a hierarchy in which
advertisement entities, budget entities, targeting entities, and
bid entities are subordinate to advertisement group entities, and
the advertisement group entities are subordinate to the campaign
management entities; at least one rule is associated with an
advertising campaign entity and all campaign management entities
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity and associated with
the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the condition is
defined for a campaign management entity subordinate to the
advertising campaign entity; the actions further comprise:
detecting events defined by the rules associated with the
advertising campaign, including detection for an occurrence of the
condition for each instance of the campaign management entity
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity; and executing the
operation associated with the event by the rule, including
executing the operation for only the campaign management entities
for which the occurrence of the condition is detected.
21. A method performed by a data processing apparatus, comprising:
accessing advertising campaign data including: a plurality of
campaign management entities including an advertising campaign
entity that defines an advertising campaign; a plurality of rules,
each rule associated with at least one of the advertising campaign
entities and a user identifier, each rule defining an operation and
a corresponding event, the event being an occurrence of a condition
defined for the advertising campaign entity, and the operation
being executed in response to detection of the corresponding event
and specifying an entity change for a campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the
user identifier is an identifier of user that defined the rule;
detecting the event defined by a given rule that is (i) associated
with the advertising campaign and (ii) defined by a given user
having a given user identifier; determining that the given user
identifier has permission to make the entity change specified by
the operation defined by the given rule for the at least one
advertising campaign entity associated with the given rule and in
response: executing the operation defined by the given rule, and in
response to the execution, changing the campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity according to the
specified entity change; storing, for each changed campaign
management entity, data that identifies the given user identifier
as the source of the change to the changed campaign management
entity; and providing reporting data that presents data (i)
describing the change to the changed campaign management entity and
(ii) identifying the given user identifier as the source of the
change.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein: each rule is associated with a
frequency parameter, the frequency parameter storing a frequency
value that is set by a user and defines a frequency at which the
rule is executed; and the actions further comprise detecting events
defined by the rules, including executing each rule at a frequency
defined by the frequency value of the rule.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the frequency value can range
from a unique occurrence to recurring occurrences of a maximum time
period.
24. The method of claim 21, further comprising detecting events
defined by the rules, including executing each rule at a same
frequency.
25. The method of claim 21, wherein, for at least one rule: the
condition of the at least one rule is based on a metric associated
with the advertising campaign; and the operation of the at least
one rule changes one or more of a status or a value for a campaign
management entity.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein, for at least one rule: the at
least one campaign management entity associated with the at least
one rule is an advertisement group entity; the condition of the at
least one rule is a click through rate threshold for a keyword of
an advertisement group of the advertising campaign meeting a
threshold; and the operation of the at least one rule is adjusting
a bid defined by a bid entity associated with the advertisement
group that increases a likelihood that an advertisement of the
advertisement group is displayed on a first page of search
results.
27. The method of claim 25, wherein, for at least one rule: the at
least one campaign management entity associated with the at least
one rule is a targeting entity defining keyword targeting criteria;
the condition of the at least one rule is a click through rate
threshold for an advertisement group of the advertising campaign
meeting a first threshold; and the operation of the at least one
rule is adjusting a bid defined by a bid entity associated with the
advertisement group so that the bid meets a cost per click value
that increases a likelihood that an advertisement of the
advertisement group is displayed.
28. The method of claim 25, wherein, for at least one rule: the at
least one campaign management entity associated with the at least
one rule is an advertising campaign entity; the condition of the at
least one rule is (i) a click through rate threshold for the
advertising campaign meeting a first threshold and (ii) a budget
defined by a budget entity for the advertising campaign meeting a
second threshold; and the operation of the at least one rule is
pausing the advertising campaign to preclude serving advertisements
associated with the campaign.
29. (canceled)
30. The method of claim 21, wherein: the campaign management
entities are associated according to a hierarchy in which
advertisement entities, budget entities, targeting entities, and
bid entities are subordinate to advertisement group entities, and
the advertisement group entities are subordinate to the campaign
management entities; at least one rule is associated with an
advertising campaign entity and all campaign management entities
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity and associated with
the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the condition is
defined for a campaign management entity subordinate to the
advertising campaign entity; the method further comprises:
detecting events defined by the rules associated with the
advertising campaign, including detection for an occurrence of the
condition for each instance of the campaign management entity
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity; and executing the
operation associated with the event by the rule, including
executing the operation for only the campaign management entities
for which the occurrence of the condition is detected.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.
119(e) of U.S. Patent Application No. 61/525,459, entitled
"Advertiser Campaign Scripting," filed Aug. 19, 2011; U.S. Patent
Application No. 61/555,092, entitled "Advertiser Campaign Script
Execution Management," filed Nov. 3, 2011; U.S. Patent Application
No. 61/555,086, entitled "Advertiser Service Scripting," filed Nov.
3, 2011; U.S. Patent Application No. 61/555,068, entitled
"Application Program Interface Script Caching And Batching," filed
Nov. 3, 2011; and U.S. Patent Application No. 61/555,071, entitled
"Advertising Campaign Script Execution Management," filed Nov. 3,
2011; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference
in their entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] This specification relates on-line advertising.
[0003] The Internet enables access to a wide variety of content
items, e.g., video and/or audio files, web pages for particular
subjects, news articles, etc. Such access to these content items
likewise enables opportunities for targeted advertising. For
example, advertisements can be provided with search results in
response to a search query provided by a user; provided for web
pages of third party online publishers that have content related to
the advertisement; or provided in response to a specific request
from a user, such as when a user requests information for
particular products or services.
[0004] An advertising management system can be used to facilitate
the value exchange between advertisers and publishers. Advertisers
provide advertisements, specify targeting criteria for ad
campaigns, and offer bids for the opportunities to have their
advertisements presented on publishers' webpages. Online
advertisers use advertising management tools to manage their
advertising campaigns. These management tools include an account
interface that allows an advertiser to create and define various
aspects of advertising campaigns and ad groups, such as keywords,
targeting criteria, budgets, bids for ad placement, duration,
different types of advertisements, and so on. After the advertiser
has specified the campaign and ad group data and activated the
advertising campaigns and/or ad groups, advertisements can be
dynamically selected and served on publishers' webpages according
to the various keywords and other targeting criteria specified by
the advertiser.
[0005] Once an advertising campaign is launched, and advertiser
uses the advertising management tools to monitor the performance of
the advertising campaign. Depending on the performance of the
advertising campaign, the advertiser may desire to change
targeting, bids, budgets, advertisements, etc., of the advertising
campaign. However, the advertising campaign may have hundreds of
bids, time sensitive budgets, and thousands of targeting criteria.
Furthermore, the changing of any one of these parameters may be
dependent on various conditions. Thus, the monitoring of an
advertising campaign and changing of multiple parameters at various
times during the life of the advertising campaign can be a
labor-intensive task.
SUMMARY
[0006] In general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in methods that
include the actions of accessing advertising campaign data
including a plurality of campaign management entities including an
advertising campaign entity that defines an advertising campaign, a
plurality of advertisement group entities, each advertisement group
entity defining an advertisement group and specifying respective
advertisement entities, a budget entity, targeting entities, and
bid entities, wherein each respective advertisement entity defines
an advertisement, the budget entity defines a budget, each
targeting entity defines a targeting criterion, and each bid entity
defines a bid, and each are associated with the advertisement group
entity, and a plurality of rules, each rule associated with at
least one of the advertising campaign entities and a user
identifier, each rule defining an operation and a corresponding
event, the event being the occurrence of a condition defined for
the advertising campaign entity, and the operation being executed
in response to the detection of the corresponding event and
specifying an entity change for a campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the
user identifier is an identifier of user that defined the rule;
detecting events defined by the rules associated with the
advertising campaigns, and for each detected event: executing the
operation associated with the event by the rule, and in response to
the execution, changing the campaign management entity according to
the specified entity change and attribute the change to the user
identifier. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding
systems, apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform
the actions of the methods, encoded on computer storage
devices.
[0007] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in systems that
include a data processing apparatus including one or more
computers; a data store storing advertising campaign data used by
an advertising service, the advertising campaign data including a
plurality of campaign management entities including an advertising
campaign entity that defines an advertising campaign, a plurality
of advertisement group entities, each advertisement group entity
defining an advertisement group and specifying respective
advertisement entities, a budget entity, targeting entities, and
bid entities, wherein each respective advertisement entity defines
an advertisement, the budget entity defines a budget, each
targeting entity defines a targeting criterion, and each bid entity
defines a bid, and each are associated with the advertisement group
entity; a computer storage system storing instructions that when
executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing
apparatus to perform actions comprising: accessing a candidate rule
associated with at least one of the advertising campaign entities,
the candidate rule defining an operation and a corresponding event,
the event being the occurrence of a condition defined for the
advertising campaign, and the operation being executed in response
to the detection of the corresponding event and specifying an
entity change for a campaign management entity associated with the
advertising campaign entity; determining whether the candidate rule
has been executed in a preview context; in response to determining
that that candidate rule has not been executed in a preview
context, precluding acceptance of the candidate rule for use in an
automated management of the advertising campaign; and only in
response to determining that that candidate rule has been executed
in a preview context, allowance acceptance of the candidate rule
for use in an automated management of the advertising campaign.
Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding methods,
apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions
of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
[0008] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in systems that
include a data processing apparatus including one or more
computers; a computer storage system storing instructions that when
executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing
apparatus to perform actions comprising: accessing advertising
campaign data used by an advertising service, the advertising
campaign data including: a plurality of campaign management
entities including an advertising campaign entity that defines an
advertising campaign, a plurality of advertisement group entities,
each advertisement group entity defining an advertisement group and
specifying respective advertisement entities, a budget entity,
targeting entities, and bid entities, wherein each respective
advertisement entity defines an advertisement, the budget entity
defines a budget, each targeting entity defines a targeting
criterion, and each bid entity defines a bid, and each are
associated with the advertisement group entity; a plurality of
rules, each rule associated with at least one of the advertising
campaign entities, each rule defining an operation and a
corresponding event, and the operation being executed in response
to the detection of the corresponding event; monitor the
advertising service and each of a plurality of application services
that are external to the advertising service for events defined by
the rules, each of the application services providing a respective
application to users and hosted in a network external to client
devices of the users; and in response monitoring an event defined
by a rule, executing the operation defined by the rule. Other
embodiments of this aspect include corresponding methods,
apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions
of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
[0009] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in systems that
include a data processing apparatus including one or more
computers; a computer storage system storing instructions that when
executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing
apparatus to perform actions comprising: accessing advertising
campaign data including: a plurality of campaign management
entities including an advertising campaign entity that defines an
advertising campaign, a plurality of advertisement group entities,
each advertisement group entity defining an advertisement group and
specifying respective advertisement entities, a budget entity,
targeting entities, and bid entities, wherein each respective
advertisement entity defines an advertisement, the budget entity
defines a budget, each targeting entity defines a targeting
criterion, and each bid entity defines a bid, and each are
associated with the advertisement group entity, and a rule
associated with the advertising campaign entity and defining and
defining an operation and an event, the event being the occurrence
of a condition defined for the advertising campaign, and the
operation being executed in response to the detection of the event
and specifying an entity change for a plurality of campaign
management entity associated with the advertising campaign entity;
detecting the event defined by the rule associated with the
advertising campaign, and for each detected event: determining
whether a value of a processing metric for the rule exceeds a
maximum threshold; in response to determining that the value does
not exceed the maximum threshold, executing the operation
associated with the event by the rule and in response to the
execution change the campaign management entities according to the
specified campaign entity change; and in response to determining
that the value exceeds the maximum threshold: partitioning the
plurality of campaign management entities into a plurality of
subsets, each subset being a subset for which a respective value of
the processing metric for the rule does not exceed the maximum
threshold when the operation is executed on only the subset; and
instantiating, for each subset, a separate execution fragment in
which the operation is executed on only the subset to change the
campaign management entities that belong to the subset according to
the specified campaign entity change. Other embodiments of this
aspect include corresponding methods, apparatus, and computer
programs, configured to perform the actions of the methods, encoded
on computer storage devices.
[0010] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in systems that
include the actions of a data processing apparatus including one or
more computers; a data store storing advertising campaign data used
by an advertising service, the advertising campaign data conforming
to a flat Application Programming Interface (API), and including a
plurality of campaign management entities including an advertising
campaign entity that defines an advertising campaign, a plurality
of advertisement group entities, each advertisement group entity
defining an advertisement group and specifying respective
advertisement entities, a budget entity, targeting entities, and
bid entities, wherein each respective advertisement entity defines
an advertisement, the budget entity defines a budget, each
targeting entity defines a targeting criterion, and each bid entity
defines a bid, and each are associated with the advertisement group
entity; a computer storage system storing instructions that when
executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing
apparatus to perform actions comprising: accessing a plurality of
rules, each rule associated with at least one of the advertising
campaign entities, each rule defining an operation and a
corresponding event, the event being the occurrence of a condition
defined for the advertising campaign, and the operation being
executed in response to the detection of the corresponding event
and specifying an entity change for a campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity, and wherein the
rules utilize a hierarchical data-model API to access the campaign
management entities; converting, during execution of a rule, each
hierarchical data-model API call for campaign entities specified in
a rule to a flat API call for the campaign management entities; and
accesses the advertising campaign data using the flat API calls.
Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding methods,
apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions
of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
[0011] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in systems that
includes a data processing apparatus including one or more
computers; a computer storage system storing instructions that when
executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing
apparatus to perform actions comprising: providing data defining a
template user interface for defining a rule template that can be
used to generate a rule that defines an operation and a
corresponding event, the event being the occurrence of a condition
defined for an advertising campaign identified by an advertising
campaign entity, and the operation being executed in response to
the detection of the corresponding event and specifying an entity
change for a campaign management entity associated with the
advertising campaign entity, the template user interface including:
an entity selection menu from which a campaign management entity
can be selected from a plurality of campaign management entities of
advertising campaign data, the campaign management entities
including an advertising campaign entity, an advertisement group
entity, an advertisement entity, and a targeting entity; a variable
declaration menu from which a variable type from a plurality of
variable types can be selected; a script editing environment in
which a script can be edited by a user, the script defining the
operation and which operates on corresponding campaign entities
that correspond to the variables; wherein: in response to receiving
a selection of a variable type, a variable declaration is generated
in the script editing environment; and in response to receiving a
selection of an campaign entity, the operation is associated with
the selected campaign entity so that the entity change affects the
corresponding campaign entities to which the variable correspond
and which are associated with the selected campaign entity. Other
embodiments of this aspect include corresponding methods,
apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions
of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
[0012] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in methods that
include the actions of generating a user interface for an
application in the display device, the user interface including
first and second user interface environment selectors for the
application, wherein each of the fist and second user interface
environment selector corresponds to respective first and second
user interface environments that provide editing tools for first
and second data types that respectively correspond to the first and
second user interface environments; in response to receiving a
selection of the first interface environment selector: generating
the first user interface environment in the user interface;
displaying, in the first user interface environment, a first menu
that, in response to a selection, displays a first selection
options that corresponds to a first operation on the first data
type and a second selection option that corresponds to a second
operation on the second data type; in response to receiving a
selection of first selection option, displaying an operation user
interface for the first operation with the first user interface
environment; and in response to receiving a selection of the second
selection option, transitioning in the user interface from the
first user interface environment to the second user interface
environment and displaying an operation user interface for the
second operation with the second user interface environment. Other
embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems,
apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions
of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
[0013] In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in systems that
include a data processing apparatus including one or more
computers; a computer storage system storing instructions that when
executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing
apparatus to perform actions comprising: accessing advertising
campaign data including: a plurality of campaign management
entities including an advertising campaign entity that defines an
advertising campaign, a plurality of advertisement group entities,
each advertisement group entity defining an advertisement group and
specifying respective advertisement entities, a budget entity,
targeting entities, and bid entities, wherein each respective
advertisement entity defines an advertisement, the budget entity
defines a budget, each targeting entity defines a targeting
criterion, and each bid entity defines a bid, and each are
associated with the advertisement group entity; a rule associated
with the advertising campaign entity and defining and defining an
operation and a first event, the first event being the occurrence
of a condition defined for the advertising campaign, and the
operation being executed in response to the detection of the first
event and specifying an entity change for a campaign management
entity associated with the advertising campaign entity; detecting
the first event defined by the rule associated with the advertising
campaign and in response: executing the operation associated with
the event by the rule, and in response to the execution, changing
the campaign management entity according to the specified entity
change; and for each campaign management entity changed by the
operation, storing a first value for the campaign management entity
in a change log, the first value being the value of the campaign
management entity before being changed by the operation. Other
embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems,
apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions
of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
[0014] Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in
this specification can be implemented to realize one or more of the
following advantages. The invocation of various rules based on
detected events allows advertisers to automate the changing of many
features of an advertising campaign. The automation of such changes
allows advertisers to focus more time on the effects of the change
and less time on manual processes to implement changes. This shift
in focus, in turn, allows advertisers to devote more time to
achieving the goals of their campaign, and this leads to better
campaign management.
[0015] Rules can be triggered by events that are observed by an
advertising service that is used to manage the advertising
campaign, and by other application services that are external to
the advertising service. This allows advertisers to manage their
advertising campaigns from a variety of different application
services, and have reports published in the format for different
application services.
[0016] The execution of a rule can be partitioned into subsets that
are executed in corresponding execution fragments that are executed
in parallel. This can, for example, ensure that the rules are
executed within a timeout constraint defined by an existing
scripting system. This results in fewer data collisions and an
increase in throughput. The batching into subsets is scalable, so
that scripts for very large campaigns with hundreds of thousands of
affected entities can be run within the timeout period.
[0017] The translation of calls scripted according to a
hierarchical data model API into a flat data model API allows for
entities to be handle in scripts in a way that matches a user's
mental model of an advertising campaign. Such handling, in turn,
provides users with a more intuitive framework for creating
customized scripts.
[0018] A development user interface allows users to create
customized scripts in an automated fashion based on selected
parameters. Users have the ability to define templates, declare
input output arguments, and events for each rule. Accordingly,
users are not limited to predefined sets of scripting rules for an
advertising campaign. Instead, users can generate multiple
different types of rules for an advertising campaign, all within a
user development interface framework that eliminates many script
programming steps that would otherwise be required without the use
of the development interface.
[0019] The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter
described in this specification are set forth in the accompanying
drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and
advantages of the subject matter will become apparent from the
description, the drawings, and the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an example online advertising
environment.
[0021] FIG. 1B is a flow diagram of an example process for
executing rules associated with a campaign.
[0022] FIG. 2A is an illustration of a user interface through which
rules associated with an advertising campaign can be accessed.
[0023] FIGS. 2B and 2C are illustrations of automation menus for
different campaign entities at different campaign levels.
[0024] FIG. 3 is an example user interface for keyword rules at an
ad group level.
[0025] FIG. 4 is an example user interface for ad group rules at an
ad group level.
[0026] FIG. 5 is an example user interface for campaign rules at an
ad group level.
[0027] FIGS. 6A-6B are illustrations of user interfaces for
previewing rules.
[0028] FIG. 6C is a flow diagram of an example process for
executing a rule in a preview context.
[0029] FIGS. 7A-7B are illustrations of user interfaces for
executing rules on demand.
[0030] FIGS. 8A and 8B are illustrations of permission dialogs.
[0031] FIGS. 9A-9E are illustrations of user interfaces for
developing customized rules for a campaign.
[0032] FIG. 10A is a block diagram of example system for
partitioning the execution of a script into batches.
[0033] FIG. 10B is a flow diagram of an example process for
partitioning the execution of a script into batches.
[0034] FIG. 11A is a block diagram of example system for monitoring
services that are external to the advertising service for events
defined by rules.
[0035] FIG. 11B is a flow diagram of an example process for
monitoring services that are external to the advertising service
for events defined by rules.
[0036] FIG. 12A is a flow diagram of an example process for
accessing campaign data using a flat Application Programming
Interface (API).
[0037] FIG. 12B is a flow diagram of an example process for
determining a flat API call from a hierarchal data-model rule.
[0038] FIG. 13A is a block diagram of an example system for
reverting an operation performed by a rule.
[0039] FIG. 13B is a flow diagram of an example process for
reverting an operation performed by a rule.
[0040] FIGS. 14A-14D are illustrations of a user interface in which
environments may be contextually selected in response to a
selection of a menu operation.
[0041] FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a data processing apparatus
system.
[0042] Like reference numbers and designations in the various
drawings indicate like elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Example Environment
[0043] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example online advertising
environment 100. The online advertising environment 100 utilizes an
advertising management system 102 to facilitate the sale and
purchase of online advertising opportunities between publishers and
advertisers.
[0044] The online advertising environment 100 includes a computer
network 104, such as a local area network (LAN), wide area network
(WAN), the Internet, or a combination thereof, connecting publisher
websites 106, publisher client devices 108, advertiser websites
110, advertiser client devices 112, user client devices 114, and
the advertising management system 102. The advertising management
system 102 further has access to an advertising content store 124,
a campaign data store 126, and a campaign statistics store 128.
[0045] Each publisher website 106 has one or more webpage resources
associated with a domain name, and each publisher website 106 is
hosted by one or more servers. An example website is a collection
of webpages formatted in hypertext markup language (HTML) that can
contain text, images, multimedia content, and programming elements.
Each publisher website 106 is maintained by a publisher, e.g., an
entity that manages and/or owns the website.
[0046] Publisher client devices 108, advertiser client devices 112,
and user client devices 114 are electronic devices that are under
the control of users. In particular, the publisher client devices
108 are under control of users that are agents of the publishers,
the advertiser client devices 112 are under the control of users
that are agents of the advertisers, and user client devices 114 are
under the control of users that are not associated with the
publishers or advertisers. A client device typically includes a
user application, such as a web browser, to facilitate the sending
and receiving of data over the network 104.
[0047] The advertising management system 102 facilitates the sale
and purchase of advertising opportunities between publishers 106
and advertisers 110. The advertising management system 102 includes
components such as a management system 116, a scripting system 118,
an advertising serving system 120, and a reporting system 122. The
advertiser management system 116 provides user interfaces for
advertisers (e.g., using advertiser client devices 112) to define
advertising campaigns and ad groups, submit advertising content,
and specify various targeting and/or ad placement criteria for the
advertising content in each advertising campaign and/or ad group.
The advertising content is stored in the advertising content store
124 and the targeting and ad placement criteria are stored in the
campaign data store 126. For each ad group or campaign, the
advertisers can also specify bids for ad slots associated with
particular keywords through the interface provided by the
advertiser management system 116. Advertisers' bids, budgets, as
well as other campaign related preferences are also stored in the
campaign data store 126.
[0048] An account management tool can be employed by an advertiser
to create and manage a large number of online advertising campaigns
for various products and services that the advertiser offers. The
account management tool can be made available to the advertiser
either through an online interface provided by the advertiser
management system 116 or as a account management software
application installed and executed locally at the advertiser's
client devices 112. The online interface and/or the locally
executed account management software application can be used for
downloading existing account data from the advertiser management
system 116 and for uploading new and/or modified account data to
the advertiser management system 116.
[0049] The advertiser can create and manage multiple advertising
campaigns using the account management tool offered by the
advertiser management system 116. The advertiser can further
specify multiple ad groups under each ad campaign, and specify
respective advertisements, budgets, keywords, and other targeting
and/or ad placement criteria for each of the ad groups. Typically,
the advertising account can be abstracted into a hierarchical
structure. For example, the advertising account can include one or
more ad campaigns, each ad campaign can include one or more ad
groups, and each ad group can include one or more advertisements
and keywords.
[0050] Each advertising campaign is represented in the campaign
data stores as a collection of associated campaign entities. Each
particular advertising campaign is represented by an advertising
campaign entity for the advertising campaign, and each advertising
campaign entity can be associated with one or more advertisement
group entities, each of which defines an advertisement group. Each
advertising group entity, in turn, is associated with respective
advertisement entities, a budget entity, targeting entities, and
bid entities. Each respective advertisement entity defines an
advertisement, the budget entity defines a budget, each targeting
entity defines a targeting criterion, and each bid entity defines a
bid. Other entity associations are also possible, e.g., an
advertising campaign entity can be associated with a budget entity
defining an overall budget, etc.
[0051] To create a new ad campaign, a user can first specify values
for the campaign level advertising parameters of the ad campaign.
The campaign level advertising parameters include, for example, a
campaign name, a preferred content network for placing ads, a
budget for the ad campaign, start and end dates for the ad
campaign, a schedule for ad placements, a targeted language, and
targeted geographical locations. Other campaign level advertising
parameters includes, for example, a payment scheme such as a
cost-per-click (CPC), cost per thousand impressions (CPM),
cost-per-action (CPA), and so on.
[0052] For the ad campaign, the user can further define one or more
ad groups. An ad group contains one or more advertisements, which
target a particular set of keywords, ad placements, or both. Ad
groups under the same campaign can share the same campaign level
advertising parameters, but have tailored specifications for
particular ad group level advertising parameters, such as keywords,
bids for keywords, budget, and so on.
[0053] Generally, an advertiser can create different ad groups to
have more focused targeting on different product lines or services.
For example, different sets of keywords specific to the different
product lines or services can be used for the different ad groups.
Sometimes, different ad groups can also target different market
segments and/or demographic characteristics. Keywords specific for
the different market segments and/or demographic characteristics
can be included in the different ad groups.
[0054] To create a new ad group, the user can first specify values
for the ad group level advertising parameters of the ad group. The
ad group level advertising parameters include, for example, an ad
group name, and various bids for different ad placement
opportunities (e.g., automatic placement, advertiser managed
placement, etc.) or outcomes (e.g., clicks, impressions,
conversions). An ad group name can be one or more terms that the
user can use to concisely capture a topic or subject matter that
the ad group is targeting. For example, a car dealership can create
a different ad group for each type of vehicles it carries, and may
further create a different ad group for each model of vehicles it
carries. Examples of the ad group themes that the car dealership
can use include, for example, "sports car," "sedan," "truck,"
"hybrid," and so on.
[0055] After creating the campaign and one or more ad groups under
the campaign, the advertiser can specify one or more keywords and
advertisements to each ad group. The keywords are typically terms
that are relevant to the product or services that the user wishes
to promote for the ad group. Each keyword can include one or more
terms. For example, the car dealership may include "automobile",
"sports car," "V-6 engine," "four-wheel drive," "fuel efficiency,"
and so on as keywords for its ad groups and ad campaigns. The
advertiser can also specify whether exact match of keywords are
required for ad placements on the content network.
[0056] In addition to keywords, for each ad group, the advertiser
can also specify a number of advertisements for selection by the ad
server when an advertising opportunity becomes available that
matches the budget, ad schedule, maximum bids, keywords, and other
targeting criteria specified for the ad group. Different types of
ads can be included in an ad group, such as a text ad, an image ad,
a local business ad, a mobile ad, and so on.
[0057] Other aspects of the ad group can be defined in terms of
various advertising parameters and specified by user-entered values
or default values for those various advertising parameters. After
the advertiser has specified all the required advertising
parameters for each level and aspect of the ad campaign(s), the
advertising campaign entity data (e.g., including the campaign
structure and the advertising parameters on each level within the
campaign structure) can be uploaded to the advertiser management
system 116, and the data are persisted to the campaign data store
126. The advertising campaign can be created and activated
according to the advertising campaign data specified by the
advertiser.
[0058] The management system 116 also provides an interface for
publishers (e.g., using publisher client devices 108) to specify ad
slots available on the publisher's online properties. For example,
the publishers can specify the cost, type, dimensions, and
targeting criteria (e.g., keywords associated with the content of
the online properties) for each ad slot. The publisher management
server 118 provides scripts or references to scripts to the
publishers according to the specifications of the ad slots.
[0059] Each publisher 106 can insert instructions into its webpages
or content items. When the webpages and content items are
downloaded to user client devices 114, the instructions are
executed to generate one or more ad requests to the advertising
management system 102. The advertising serving system 120 of the
advertising management system 102 responds to the ad requests by
sending advertisements to the requesting user client device 114 for
insertion into appropriate ad slots in the publisher's webpages or
content items as rendered on the requesting user client device 114.
The advertisements can include embedded links to landing pages
(e.g., webpages on the advertisers' websites 110) that a user is
directed to when the user clicks on the advertisements presented on
the publisher's webpages or in the content items.
[0060] The ad requests are optionally associated with user
characteristics (e.g., user's age, gender, income, language
preferences, and so on) and advertising context (e.g., keywords
associated with webpage content, location, local time of ad
request, and so on).
[0061] Various user privacy measures are implemented to remove
personally identifiable information from the user characteristics
data. The advertising serving system 120 can select advertisements
from the advertising content store 124 for each ad request based on
a match between an advertiser's campaign criteria in the campaign
data store 126 and the user characteristics and advertising context
associated with the ad request.
[0062] The advertisements provided after a successful match, and
optionally user responses (e.g., click-throughs, conversions, and
so on) to the advertisements, can be tracked by various tracking
mechanisms (e.g., tracking cookies, pixel callbacks, etc.), sent
back to the advertising management system 102, and stored in the
campaign statistics store 128. The tracking is enabled by various
user opt-in processes. The reporting system 122 provides user
interfaces for advertisers and publishers to review reports on the
campaign statistics in various formats. Performance of particular
keywords, ad groups, and campaigns can be measured based on various
performance metrics, such as cost per action (e.g., click or
conversion), conversion length (e.g., number of clicks between
initial impression and conversion), and so on.
Scripting System
[0063] The advertising management system 102 also includes a
scripting system 118 that facilitates advertising server scripting
for automated management of an online advertising campaign. In some
implementations, the scripting system 118 can be a part of the
advertisement management system 116, and be realized by series of
online user interfaces or a user interfaces generated from locally
executed account management software.
[0064] Each advertiser, by means of user interface provided by the
scripting system 118, can define scripted rules 130 and associate
the rules with their advertising campaigns. The scripting system
118 facilitates the automation of actions that allow advertisers to
associate campaign management operations with events that trigger
the automations. The combination of one or more events and one or
more operations is defined as a rule. The advertisement management
system 102 monitors for the events, and upon the occurrence of
events associated with a particular rule, the operations associated
with that rule are executed.
[0065] In some implementations, the scripting system 118
pre-authorizes the operation of a rule based on the credentials of
a particular user that is generating the rule. For example, if a
particular advertising executive of an advertiser generates a rule
by use of the scripting system 118, and the user is authorized to
manually perform the operations defined by the rule, then the
scripting system pre-authorizes the execution of the rule on behalf
of the user. In addition, changes made to the campaign according to
the specified changes of the rule are attributed to the user.
Conversely, if the user is not authorized to manually perform the
operations defined by the rule, then the scripting system does not
pre-authorize the execution of the rule on behalf of the user.
[0066] Each rule is associated with an advertising campaign entity
(e.g., directly associated with an advertising campaign entity or
associated with a child entity of the advertising campaign entity)
and defines an operation and a corresponding event. As used in this
specification, an event is the occurrence of a condition defined
for the advertising campaign(s) (or child entities of the
advertising campaign) by the advertiser. The condition can be
budget related, performance related, date related, targeting
related, user device type related, etc., and combinations of one or
more of these conditions. Events are described in more detail
below.
[0067] The scripting system 118 executes the operation in response
to the detection of the corresponding event. Each operation
specifies an entity change for a campaign management entity
associated with the advertising campaign entity and the rule.
[0068] FIG. 1B is a flow diagram of an example process 150 for
executing rules associated with a campaign. The process 150 can be
implemented by the scripting system 118.
[0069] The scripting system 118 accesses advertising campaign data
that includes campaign entities and rules (152). For example, the
scripting system 118 accesses the campaign data store 126 of the
advertising management system 102, and scripted rules 130 that are
associated with the campaign data and defined by the
advertisers.
[0070] The scripting system 118 detects events defined by the rules
(154). For example, the scripting system 118, for each rule,
determines the condition defined by the rule and checks to
determine if the condition has occurred. If the condition has
occurred, then the event is detected. An example of a condition is
a click through rate associated with an ad group exceeding a
threshold percentage defined by the advertiser. The conditions can
be checked periodically, e.g., according to a frequency parameter
associated with the rule. Conditions and frequencies are described
in more detail below.
[0071] The scripting system 118 executes operations associated with
the detected event for a rule (156). For example, scripting system
118 will change values associated with corresponding campaign
entities affect by the operation and persist the changes to the
campaign data store 126. An example of an operation is a changing
of the cost per click bid associated with a particular ad group by
a predefined percentage. Operations are described in more detail
below.
[0072] In some implementations, each rule is also associated with
the user identifier of the user that defined the rule. When the
operations associated with the event by the rule are executed, the
campaign management entity changes that occur are attributed to the
user identifier. This allows the advertiser to track responsible
parties that authorized the change to particular campaign entities,
and, in some implementations, precludes the execution of the
operation if authorization privileges associated with the user
identifier have been revoked.
Example Scripting User Interfaces
[0073] The scripting system 118 provides a variety of user
interfaces that facilitate the creation of rules for campaigns.
FIG. 2A illustrates a user interface 200 through which rules
associated with an advertising campaign can be accessed. As shown
by the path 202 in FIG. 2A, campaign entities associated with a
campaign identified by the advertising campaign entity "stamp
classes" and an advertising group identified by the advertising
group entity "cards" are displayed. The particular campaign
entities that are shown are keyword targeting entities, as
indicated by the selected tab of the tab list 204.
[0074] Various keywords and associated parameters are identified by
data shown in the columns 206. For example, the keywords "stamping
classes", "stampin up classes", etc., are associated with the ad
group cards of the advertising campaign stamp classes. Thus,
advertisements that are associated with this ad group are targeted
using the keywords shown. The user may select specific keywords
shown in the columns.
[0075] The user interface 200 includes an automate menu button 208
that can be used to access and manage rules associated with the
advertising group "cards." In response to a selection of the
automate menu button 208, the user interface 200 generates an
automation menu 210. The menu includes multiple submenus 212, 214,
216, 218, and 222.
[0076] In some implementations, the submenus 212, 220, and 222 are
static menus that are shown each time an automate menu button 208
is selected, and each additional submenu (e.g., submenus 214, 216,
and 218) are contextual menus that are dependent on the particular
campaign entity to which the user interface 200 corresponds. In
FIG. 2A, for example, the user interface 200 presents keywords at
an advertising group level. The contextual submenu 214 corresponds
to keywords, and can be used to access an environment for creating
rules for keywords. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, rules with
three different types of operations can be created--pausing
keywords, changing a max cost per click (CPC) bid, and raising bids
to a first page CPC. Likewise, the contextual submenu 216
corresponds to ad groups, and can be used to access an environment
for creating rules for ad groups. Here, rules with two different
types of operations can be created--pausing an ad group, and
changing an ad group max CPC. Similarly, the contextual submenu 218
can be used to access environment for creating rules for campaigns.
From the submenu 218, rules with two different types of operations
can be created--pausing the campaign, and changing a daily
budget.
[0077] The rule creation options shown in FIG. 2A are an example
default set of rule creation options that available to all
advertisers. As will be describe in more detail below, advertisers
may also define customized operations for creating rules, and
associate the customized rules with particular campaign entities.
If such customized operations are defined, they are shown in the
automation menu 210 if the user interface from which the automation
menu is invoked is at a campaign level that corresponds to an
associated customized operation.
[0078] In general, an automation menu for a particular user
interface corresponds to particular campaign level and campaign
entities to which the user interface corresponds. FIGS. 2B and 2C
are illustrations of automation menus for different campaign
entities at different campaign levels. The automation menus 230 and
240 of FIG. 2B are automation menus that are generated at the
campaign level for user interfaces that respectively present ad
groups and keywords at the campaign level. The automation menu 230
includes contextual submenus 234 and 236. The contextual submenu
234 corresponds to advertising groups, and can be used to create
rules for advertising groups. Likewise, the contextual submenu 236
corresponds to campaigns, and can be used to create rules for
campaigns. The automation menu 240 is similar to the automation
menu 230, including two contextual submenus 244 and 246. The
contextual submenu 244 corresponds to keywords, and the contextual
submenu 246 corresponds to campaigns.
[0079] The automation menus 250, 260, and 270 of FIG. 2C are
automation menus that are generated for user interfaces that
present all advertising campaigns associated with an advertiser.
The automation menu 250 is generated in the user interface from
which the user may select multiple campaigns, and includes
contextual submenus 254, 256, and 258, that are respectively
associated with campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. Likewise, the
contextual submenu 260 is generated in a user interface in which a
user may select multiple advertising groups from multiple
campaigns, and includes contextual submenus 264, 266, and 268 that
are respectively associated with advertising groups, campaigns, and
keywords. The contextual submenu 270 is generated in a user
interface in which a user may select multiple keywords for multiple
campaigns, and includes contextual submenus 274, 276, and 278 that
are respectively associated with keywords, advertising groups, and
campaigns.
[0080] FIG. 3 is an example user interface 300 for keyword rules at
an ad group level. The user interface 300, for example, can be
accessed through an automation menu, or through another user
interface element that can be used to invoke a rule creation
environment. The user interface 300 is being used to create a rule
titled "Raise bids to first page CPC."
[0081] An apply menu 302 is used to select campaign entities to
which the rule will be associated. As shown in FIG. 3, the rule is
currently selected to be applied to all keywords in a selected
advertisement group. An alternative application selection could be,
for example, a subset of keywords within an advertisement
group.
[0082] The rule defines a corresponding operation 304 that, when
executed, results in an increase in keyword bids for all keywords
in the ad group, up to a maximum bid of $10, or some other value
specified by the advertiser. For example, if the operation were to
be executed, and a current first page cost per click for certain
keywords is $4.50 and current keyword bids in the ad group are
$3.25, then bid entities for the current keyword bids are increased
to $4.50.
[0083] Also associated with the rule are conditions that define the
event that will result in execution of the operation. The
conditions are defined by requirements 306, each with different
corresponding condition thresholds. The example condition shown are
a keyword click through rate of 3.25% or higher, and an
advertisement group spent budget of 90% or less. Accordingly,
provided the budget for the advertisement group is not almost
exhausted (e.g., less than 90% spent), bids for high-performing
keywords (e.g., keywords with the click through rate of 3.25% or
higher) will be increased up to a maximum of $10. Additional
requirements can be added by the user in response to the user
selecting the "+Add requirement" link.
[0084] Frequency menu items 308 are used to define one or more
frequency parameters for the rule. Frequency parameters are used to
define the frequency and frequency conditions at which the rule is
executed. As shown in FIG. 3, the rule is to be executed daily at
1:00 PM using performance data from the prior day. Other
frequencies can also be used, such as weekly, monthly, or even a
one-time frequency. Likewise, different times can be used, and
performance data can be used from other time periods, such as data
from the last week, or even data from the last month. In some
implementations, rules can be defined with frequency parameters,
and each rule defined with the default frequency parameters are
executed at the same frequency.
[0085] The user interface 300 includes a name input field 310 in
which a user may type the name of the rule, and a reporting menu
item 312 through which a user may specify an e-mail reporting
frequency.
[0086] The user interface 300 also includes a preview rule button
314. In some implementations, such as the implementation shown in
FIG. 3, the rule must be previewed before the rule can be persisted
to the scripted rules 130 for use in the automated management of an
advertising campaign. Previewing the rule is described in more
detail with respect to FIGS. 6A-6D.
[0087] A save button 316 and a cancel button 318 are also included
in the user interface 300. As depicted in FIG. 3, the save button
316 is currently disabled, indicating that the rule has not been
previewed. Once the rule is previewed, the rule may be saved by use
of the save button 316. Once the rule is saved, the rule will be
available in the application menu for user interfaces that
correspond to campaign entities to which the rule is to be applied
as specified by the apply menu 302. Accordingly, by creating
multiple rules and associating each with different campaign
entities, the scripting system 118 creates a context-based rule
application environment.
[0088] The options available in the apply menu 302 can, in some
implementations, differ depending upon the particular campaign
entity level from which a user invoked the user interface 300. The
options vary because the campaign management entities are
associated according to a hierarchy in which the advertisement
entities, budget entities, targeting entities, and bid entities are
subordinate to the advertisement group entities, and the
advertisement group entities are subordinate to the campaign
management entities. Thus, in some implementations, a rule applied
to any campaign entity at a particular node in a hierarchy may also
be selectively applied to other campaign entities of the same type
but at different nodes in the hierarchy.
[0089] For example, as described above, the user interface was
invoked at an advertisement group level (i.e., invoked from a user
interface in which keywords for a particular advertisement group
are shown). Accordingly, the available options to which the rule
may be applied are all keywords within the advertisement group, and
selected keywords within the advertisement group. In some
implementations, if the user interface were invoked at a campaign
level (i.e., invoked from a previous user interface in which
keywords for a particular advertisement campaign are shown), then
the available options to which the rule may be applied are all
keywords in the particular campaign, and a subset selected keywords
within the advertisement campaign. Likewise, if the user interface
were invoked from user interface in which keywords were shown for
all advertising campaigns for a particular advertiser (e.g., an
"all campaigns" level), then the available options to which the
rule may be applied are all keywords for all campaigns, and a
subset of selected keywords from the advertisement campaigns.
[0090] Accordingly, any one rule associated with an advertising
campaign entity can further be associated with all campaign
entities subordinate to the advertising campaign entity (e.g.,
targeting entities such as keywords). Likewise, the condition for
the rule can also be defined for a campaign management entity
subordinate to the advertising campaign entity (e.g., the targeting
entities that are subordinate to the advertising campaign
entity).
[0091] In some implementations, the user interface 300 is a default
user interface for one of several default rules that are available
to all advertisers. Other default rules at the keyword level
include, for example, changing the max CPC bid, and pausing
particular keywords. For example, the contextual submenu 214 of
FIG. 2 includes a respective menu item for each of the user
interfaces. Conditions necessary for defining events for the
execution of particular operations to change the max CPC bid of
keywords, and pausing particular keywords, can be defined by users
in the respective user interfaces.
[0092] FIG. 4 is an example user interface 400 for ad group rules
at an ad group level. The user interface 400 can, for example, be
accessed through an automation menu, or through another user
interface element that can be used to invoke a rule creation
interface. The user interface 400 is being used to create a rule
titled "Raise bids to first page CPC." The user interface
environment is similar to the user interface 300 of FIG. 3. The
rule being defined by the user interface 400 results in a 50%
increase in the maximum cost per click for an advertisement group
if two conditions are met. The first condition is that the
advertisement group is a low performing advertisement group (e.g.,
with the click through rate less than 1%), and the second condition
is that the budget for the advertisement group is not almost
exhausted (e.g., less than 90% of the daily budget has been
spent).
[0093] Thus, the condition of the rule is a click through rate
threshold for the advertisement group defined by the advertisement
group entity meeting a first threshold. The operation of the rule
is adjusting a bid defined by a bid entity associated with the
advertisement group entity so that the bid meets a cost per click
value that increases the likelihood that an advertisement of the
advertisement group is displayed.
[0094] The options available in the apply menu 402 can, in some
implementations, differ depending upon the particular campaign
entity level from which a user invoked the user interface 400. As
shown in FIG. 4, the user interface 400 was invoked at an
advertisement group level. Accordingly, the available options to
which the rule may be applied to are selected advertisement group,
all advertisement groups in a selected campaign, and all
advertisement groups in all campaigns. In some implementations, if
the user interface were invoked at a campaign level, then the
available options to which the rule may be applied are selected
advertisement groups, or all advertisement groups in a particular
campaign. Likewise, if the user interface were invoked from an all
campaigns level, then the available options to which the rule may
be applied are selected advertisement groups, all advertisement
groups, and all campaigns.
[0095] In some implementations, the user interface 400 is a default
user interface for one of several default rules that are available
to all advertisers. Other default rules at the advertising group
level include, for example, pausing an advertisement group. For
example, the contextual submenu 216 of FIG. 2 includes a respective
menu item for each of the user interfaces. Conditions necessary for
defining events for the execution of the particular operations
associated with the advertising groups can be defined by users in
the respective user interfaces.
[0096] FIG. 5 is an example user interface for campaign rules at an
ad group level. In FIG. 5, the campaign management entity is an
advertising campaign entity, and the conditions of the rule are a
click through rate threshold for the campaign identified by the
camping entity not meeting a first threshold and a traffic
parameter (impressions) of the campaign not meeting a second
threshold. The operation, upon execution, results in a pausing of
the campaign provided the event defined by the conditions occur to
preclude the serving of advertisements associated with the
campaign.
[0097] The options available in the apply menu 502 can, in some
implementations, differ depending upon the particular campaign
entity level from which a user invoked the user interface 500. As
shown in FIG. 5, the user interface 500 was invoked at an
advertisement group level for a selected campaign. Accordingly, the
available options to which the rule may be applied are currently
selected campaign, and all campaigns. In some implementations, if
the user interface were invoked at an all campaigns level for
advertising campaigns, then the available options are selected
campaigns and all campaigns. Otherwise, the only available option
to which the rule may be applied is all campaigns.
[0098] In some implementations, the user interface 500 is a default
user interface for one of several default rules that are available
to all advertisers. Other default rules at the advertising group
level include, for example, changing a daily budget. For example,
the contextual submenu 218 of FIG. 2 includes a respective menu
item for each of the user interfaces. Conditions necessary for
defining events for the execution of the particular operations
associated with the advertising groups can be defined by users in
the respective user interfaces.
Previewing Execution
[0099] FIGS. 6A-6B are illustrations of user interfaces 300 and 320
for previewing rules. The user interface 300 of FIG. 6A is similar
to the user interface 300 of FIG. 3, except that the preview rule
button 314 has been selected by user, as indicated by the "running
preview" message that is displayed next to the preview rule button
314.
[0100] In some implementations, when a rule is first defined by a
user, the scripting system 118 designates the rule as a candidate
rule. Candidate rules are rules that have not been accepted for use
in automated management of an advertising campaign. The scripting
system 118 requires that candidate rules be previewed before they
can be accepted by users. The scripting system 118 executes the
rule in a preview context to allow users to preview the effects of
the operation on the campaign management entities. When executed in
a preview context, the changes to the campaign management entities
are not persisted to the campaign in 126.
[0101] The process flow from FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B is described with
reference to FIG. 6C, which is a flow diagram of an example process
600 for executing a rule in a preview context.
[0102] In operation, the scripting system 118 accesses a candidate
rule (602) and determines whether the candidate rule has been
executed in a preview context (604). If the scripting system 118
determines that the candidate rule has not been executed in the
preview context, then the scripting system precludes acceptance of
the candidate rule for use in an automated management of the
advertising campaign (608). For example, with respect to FIG. 3,
the save button 316 is disabled because the scripting system 118
has determined that the candidate rule defined by the parameters
displayed in the user interface 300 has not been executed in the
preview context.
[0103] Assume that a user has decided that the conditions 306 are
sufficient for the rule and the user wants to accept the rule. The
user selects the preview rule button 314 to execute the rule in the
preview context. After execution in the preview context, the
scripting system 118 allows for acceptance of the candidate rule
for use in automated management of the advertising campaign. For
example, as shown in FIG. 6B, the user interface 320 includes
preview results 322 that display the resulting candidate entity
changes for the affected campaign entities. If the user is
satisfied with the preview results 322, the user will press the
save button 316 and the candidate rule will be saved as a scripted
rule 130. Conversely, if the user is dissatisfied, the user may
change the parameters associated with the operation or the
conditions and preview the candidate rule again.
[0104] Often it is not necessary to execute the operation on all
affected campaign entities when previewing a candidate rule.
Furthermore, it is likely that the user will be able to determine
whether the rule is acceptable after reviewing only a subset of
affected campaign entities. Accordingly, in some implementations
only a proper subset of campaign management entities for which an
entity change is specified by operation is selected in the preview
context. For example, in some implementations, up to a maximum
number M campaign entities are selected by the scripting system
118, and the operation of the candidate rule is performed only on
the selected campaign entities.
[0105] In other implementations, the scripting system 118
determines whether execution of the candidate rule would exceed a
preview threshold (610). The preview threshold can be a maximum
number of campaign management entities, or be a maximum processing
time. In the case of the former, the scripting system 118
determines whether a number of campaign management entities for
which an entity change is specified exceed the maximum number. If
so, the scripting system 118 selects the proper subset of up to the
maximum number of campaign management entities (614), performs the
operation on the selected campaign entities (616), and displays the
resulting changes for the proper subset of campaign management
entities (618). In the case of the latter, scripting system 118
selects a number of campaign management entities for which the
entity change is specified (614) and for which the processing time
required to process the changes of the campaign management entities
is less than the maximum processing time. The scripting system 118
performs the operation on the selected campaign entities (616) and
displays the resulting changes for the proper subset of the
campaign management entities (618).
[0106] Conversely, if the execution of the candidate rule would not
exceed the preview threshold, the scripting system 188 executes the
operation on the campaign management entities for which the entity
change is specified (612), and displays the resulting changes
(618).
[0107] FIGS. 7A-7B are illustrations of user interfaces 710 and 730
for executing rules on demand. Once a rule has been accepted and
persisted to the scripted rule status store 130, becomes available
in automation menus. For example, in the automation menu 710,
selection of the run existing rules submenu 712 causes the display
to contextual menu 720.
[0108] The contextual menu 720 includes two submenus 722 and 724,
each corresponding to one of two existing rules. The automation
menu 710 is invoked from a user interface that is at a campaign
level that corresponds to the campaign management entities to which
the rules of the submenus 722 and 724 are associated, e.g., the
automation menu 710 may have been invoked, for example, from the
user interface 200 after the rules were created and saved.
Conversely, if the user interface was at the campaign level and
corresponded to ad groups, then the automation menu would of the
type of automation menu 230 in FIG. 2B, and the submenus 722 and
724 would not be displayed, and keyword rules are not displayed in
the automation menu 230. Thus, the saved rules will be available in
the application menu for user interfaces that correspond to
campaign entities and levels to which the rule is to be applied as
specified by the apply menu 302. Accordingly, by creating multiple
rules and associating each with different campaign entities and
levels, the scripting system 118 creates a context-based rule
application environment.
[0109] Each of the submenus 722 and 724 display the rule title, the
frequency at which the rule is to be executed, and the
corresponding conditions associated with the rule. If, however, the
rule is selected using the run existing rule submenu 720, then the
rule is executed independent of the frequency parameter associated
with the rule.
[0110] In some implementations, when a rule is selected for
execution, it is automatically executed and the resulting candidate
entity changes are persisted to the campaign data store 126. In
other implementations, the rule must be previewed when it manually
selected before the changes are persisted to the campaign data
store 126. For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the resulting user
interface 730 is generated in response to selection of the submenu
722.
[0111] The user interface 730 displays various parameter 732 that
are defined by the rule, and preview results 750 that display the
resulting candidate entity changes for the affected campaign
entities. Several options are available to the user after the
preview results 750 are displayed. In particular, the user may
select an edit rule button 752, a run button 754, or cancel button
756. The edit rule button 752 generates a user interface as
previously described with respect to FIGS. 3-5 in which the user
may edit the various parameters of the rule. For example, if the
user is not satisfied with the results of the preview, the user has
the option of editing the rule.
[0112] Selection of the run button 754 causes the scripting system
to execute the rule and perform the operation on all affected
campaign entities, and persists the changes to the campaign
management entities in the campaign data store 126. Selection of
the cancel button 756 cancels the operation.
User Authorization
[0113] FIGS. 8A and 8B are illustrations of permission dialogs 802.
In some implementations, the scripting system 118 associates each
rule with the user identifier that identifies the user to define
the rule. When the rule is executed, changes to campaign entities
according to the specified entity change of the rule are attributed
to the user identifier. Furthermore, by associating rules with user
identifiers, the scripting system 118 can be required to be granted
access to make changes to the advertising campaign
automatically.
[0114] In operation, the scripting system 118 determines a
permission status associated with the user identifier. The
permission status is indicative of whether a user identified by the
user identifier has permission to perform the operation of the
rule. The scripting system 118 allows execution of the operation
only if the permission status associated with the user identifier
indicates that the user identified by the user identifier has
permission to perform the operation of the rule.
[0115] The permission dialog 802 is generated first time a user
attempts to define a rule. Provided the user grants access to the
scripting system 118, and provided the user is authorized to make
changes to an advertising campaign, the grant access button 804 is
enabled. Selecting the grant access button 804 allows the user to
proceed with defining a rule and performing the subsequent
operations described above.
[0116] At a later time, the user's access privileges for automated
rules may be revoked. In the event of this happening, the dialogue
806 is generated. The dialogue 806 informs the user that the
automated rules are not authorized to run in the user's
account.
Customized Operations For Rules
[0117] The rule creation user interface examples of FIGS. 3-5 above
each included predefined operations 304, 404 and 504 for which the
user could define variable values. These predefined operations
define a set of default rules that are available to all advertiser
users. However, in some implementations, the scripting system 118
provides a template user interface that facilitates the defining of
a rule template that can be used to generate rules for customized
operations. FIGS. 9A-9E are illustrations of user interfaces for
developing customized rules for a campaign.
[0118] FIGS. 9A-9E are illustrations of user interfaces for
developing customized rules for a campaign. In FIG. 9A, the user
interface 900 displays an actions listing 902. The actions listing
902 lists operations for various rules. Within the actions listing
902 is a create custom actions button 904. Selection of the create
custom actions button 904 causes a client device to request a
resource from the scripting system 118 to display the template user
interface 910 of FIG. 9B.
[0119] The template user interface 910 is used to generate a rule
template that can be used to generate a rule that defines an
operation and a corresponding event. The template user interface
910 includes input fields 912 in which a user may enter
information, e.g., a name and a description for a custom operation
for a rule.
[0120] The template user interface 910 also includes an entity
selection menu 914 from which a campaign management entity can be
selected from among different campaign entities of advertising
campaign data. The example campaign entities shown in the entity
selection menu 914 include an advertising campaign entity, an
advertisement group entity, an advertisement entity, and a
targeting entity.
[0121] In response to receiving a selection of a campaign
management entity, the custom operation is associated with the
selected campaign entity so that the entity change affects the
corresponding campaign entities. For example, as shown in FIG. 9B,
the targeting campaign entity for keywords is selected, which
results in the operation that is being define by use of the
template user interface 910 being associated with keywords and
operating on keyword campaign entities.
[0122] The template user interface 910 also includes variable
declaration inputs 916 from which a variable type from different
variable types can be specified. In some implementations, each
variable corresponds to a selected campaign entity so that the
available variables are dependent on the selected campaign entity.
For example, if a targeting entity is selected (e.g., a keyword),
the variables may be limited to a click through rate. In other
implementations, the variables are independent of a selected
campaign entity. For example, for the selected targeting entity,
and variable can be selected (e.g., click through rate, percentage
of daily budget exhausted, etc.) can be selected. Multiple
variables can be selected by the user by use of the "+Add another
variable" link option.
[0123] Template user interface 910 also includes a script editing
environment 918 in which a script can be edited by a user. The
script defines the customized operation and operates on
corresponding campaign entities that correspond to the
variables.
[0124] In some implementations, in response to receiving a
selection of the variable type, a variable declaration is generated
in the script in the environment 918. For example, as shown in FIG.
9B, the variable "lower_bid_by_%" has been generated in the
variable declaration menu 916. In response, the variable
declaration 920 is automatically generated in the script editing
environment 918. In variations of this implementation, the user may
specify the name of the variable by typing in the variable name in
a text input field in the variable declaration menu 916, and the
variable is named in accordance with the input. For example, the
user has typed in the variable description "Lower bid by (%)", and
in response to corresponding variable name "lower_bid_by_%" is
automatically generated.
[0125] FIG. 9C shows the template user interface 910 after the user
has selected two variables by use of the variable declaration menu
916, and written a corresponding script for the customized
operation. In particular, two variables--lower_bid_by_% and
min_bid_$--are declared in the variable declaration menu 916, and
corresponding variable declarations 920 and 922 are generated in
the script editing environment 918. In addition, the user has
written additional script instructions 924. The example script
instructions 924 include two instructions 926 that associate the
operation with a particular advertising campaign entity and a
particular ad group entity. Together the script instructions 924
and variable declarations 920 and 922 define a script for the
custom operation.
[0126] After the user has completed the script, scripting system
118 stores the script defining the operations on the variables
corresponding to the selected campaign entity as a rule template.
The rule template may then be invoked to generate a rule in a
manner similar to the way rule templates are invoked to generate
rules as described with respect to FIGS. 3-5. For example, with
respect to FIG. 9D, the user has invoked the user interface
environment 930, which corresponds to keywords for the ad group and
advertising campaign associated by the instructions 926 shown in
FIG. 9C. Accordingly, the automation menu 932, once activated, in
addition to menu selections for default rules, includes a menu
selection 934 that corresponds to the customized operation that the
user defined using the template user interface 910 and associated
with the specified campaign entities.
[0127] Selection of the rule template causes the user interface 930
to generate a rule creation user interface 940 of FIG. 9E. An apply
menu 944 is used to select campaign entities to which the rule will
be associated. As shown in FIG. 9E, the rule is currently selected
to be applied to all keywords in the selected advertisement group.
An alternative application selection could be, for example, a
subset of keywords within an advertisement group.
[0128] The rule has a corresponding operation menu 946 for an
operation that, when executed, results in a lowering of a bid by a
percentage, with an optional minimum bid. For each variable
declaration in the script, a corresponding input field for
receiving a value for a variable corresponding to the variable
declaration is provided in the operation menu 946. Because the user
defined both of these as variable inputs when creating the
customized operation, the user can select the value for each
declared variable by entering the values in the operation menu
946.
[0129] Also associated with the rule are conditions that define the
event that will result in execution of the operation. The
conditions are defined by requirements 948 that can be selected by
the user.
[0130] The user interface 300 also includes a preview rule button
952, and a save button 954. The save button is initially disabled,
indicating that the rule has not yet been previewed.
[0131] In most other respects, a rule generated by use of the rule
creation user interface 940 is subject to the same requirements and
operations as described with respect to the rules generated by the
interfaces of FIGS. 3-5 above.
Script Batching
[0132] The scripting engine 118, in some implementations, may have
timing and resource limitations that are imposed for each execution
of a rule. For example, the system 118 may have a total rule
execution time limit of n hours (e.g., n =1, 2, 3 hours, etc.); and
each instance of an execution of a script may have a different time
limit, e.g., of m minutes. Other resource constraints may also be
imposed.
[0133] Thus, in some implementations, the script system 118
partitions campaign entities into subsets, and instantiates, for
each subset, a separate execution fragment in which the operation
is executed on only the subset to change the campaign management
entities that belong to the subset according to the specified
campaign entity change. The size of each subset is selected so that
the execution of each subset complies with the constraints imposed
on each script execution, and the execution of all subsets complies
with constraints imposed for each execution of a rule.
[0134] FIG. 10A is a block diagram of example system 1000 for
partitioning the execution of a script into batches. Operation of
the example system 1000 is described with reference to FIG. 10B,
which is a flow diagram of an example process 1020 for partitioning
the execution of a script into batches.
[0135] When the script system 118 detects an event for a rule
(1022), the script system 118 invokes the script batching engine
1002 to determine whether the campaign management entities affected
by the operation of the rule should be partitioned into subsets. In
some implementations, the script batching engine 1002 determines
whether a processing metric exceeds a threshold (1024). If the
processing metric does not exceed the threshold, the script engine
118 executes the rule (1026) without fragmenting.
[0136] There are varieties of ways in which the script batching
engine 1002 can determine whether a processing metric exceeds a
threshold. For example, the script batching engine 1002 may
determine whether a number of campaign management entities for
which an entity change is specified exceeds a maximum number. In
some implementations, each of the campaign management entities has
a corresponding maximum number based on its respective entity type,
and the script batching engine 1002 determines whether the number
of campaign management entities for which an entity change is
specified exceeds the corresponding maximum number of the
respective entity type of campaign management entities. To
illustrate, assume that a maximum number of entities in a fragment
must not exceed X, and a different value of X is picked for each
entity type (campaigns, ad groups, keywords, etc.). Accordingly, no
more than 5000 keyword campaign entities can be handled by any
particular execution fragment; no more than 500 ad group campaign
entities can be handled by any particular execution fragment; and
so on.
[0137] By way of another example, the script batching engine 1002
can determine whether a processing time required to process the
changes of the campaign management entities exceeds a maximum
processing time. The script batching engine 1002 can partition the
campaign management entities into subsets so that, for each of the
subsets, a respective processing time required to process the
changes of the campaign management entities is less than the
maximum processing time. The number of campaign management entities
for each fragment may depend on observed performance of previously
executed fragments.
[0138] If the script batching engine 1002 determines that the
processing metric does exceed the threshold, then the script
batching engine partitions the campaign management entities into
subsets (1028), and then instantiates a separate execution fragment
for each subset (1030). For example, the script batching engine
1002 can partition the campaign management entities into subsets
that each have a cardinality that is less than the respective
maximum number associated with the campaign management entity, or
can partition the campaign management entities so that the
execution of any one fragment does not exceed a maximum processing
time.
[0139] In some implementations, the script batching engine 1002
instantiates execution fragments for subsets of campaign management
entities that are subordinate to a same campaign entity in a
hierarchy in serial, and instantiates execution fragments for
subsets of campaign management entities that respectively
subordinate to different campaign entity in parallel. For example,
subsets of entities belonging to different ad groups may be
processed in parallel, while subsets of entities belonging to the
same ad group may only be processed in serial.
[0140] In some implementations, the script batching engine 1002
partitions the campaign management entities into subsets of
campaign management entities that are subordinate to different
campaign entities in the hierarchy so that, for each subset, a
number of different campaign entities to which the campaign
management entities that belong to the subset are subordinate is
less than a maximum threshold. For example, the script batching
engine 1002 may be required to ensure that the total number of ad
groups to which the entities in a fragment belong must not exceed a
maximum value Y. To illustrate, assume Y is 1,000. Thus, sending
5,000 keywords that belong to the same ad group to one execution
fragment group is acceptable, but sending 5,000 keywords that
belong to 2,000 different ad groups is not acceptable. Accordingly,
in the latter case, the script batching engine will partition the
keywords into, for example, 2,000 keywords within 1,000 ad groups
and 3,000 keywords within the other 1,000 ad groups.
[0141] In some implementations, the script batching engine 1002
determines, for each separate execution fragment, an error status
for the execution fragment that indicates whether the execution
fragment executed without error, and persists changes for only
execution fragments having an error status indicating the execution
fragment executed without error. For example, if a change to a
particular campaign entity in a particular execution fragment
fails, then the entire update for the execution fragment fails. In
some implementations, the script batching engine 1002, in response
to detecting one or more change failures in response to execution
of a fragment, removes the campaign management entities for which
the changes failed from the subset and re-executes the execution
fragment 1010 on the modified subset. Provided there are no
failures, the changes are persisted to the campaign data.
Interoperability With External Application Services
[0142] In addition to rules being triggered by events that are
observed by an advertising service that is used to manage
advertising campaign, rules can be trigger by events associated
with other application services that are external to the
advertising service. This allows advertisers to manage their
advertising campaigns from a variety of different application
services, and have reports published in varying format for
different application services. For example, cloud-based
application services, such as spreadsheet service applications,
database service applications, calendar service applications, and
the like can be used in conjunction with the scripting system 118
for managing online advertising campaigns. The application services
their respective applications to users and are hosted in a network
external to client devices of the users, e.g., hosted on servers in
a network that is separate from the network(s) in which the client
devices are connected.
[0143] FIG. 11A is a block diagram of example 1100 system for
monitoring services that are external to the advertising service
for events defined by rules. Operation of the example system 1100
is described with reference to FIG. 11B, which is a flow diagram of
an example process 1120 for monitoring services that are external
to the advertising service for events defined by rule. In
operation, the scripting system 118, using an event broker 1102,
accesses advertising campaign data that includes campaign entities
and rules (1122). The system 1100 then monitors advertising service
and each of a plurality of application services that are external
to the advertising service for events defined by the rules
(1124).
[0144] For example, one application provided by an application
service 1110 is configured to modify data describing campaign
entities associated with an advertising campaign entity. An example
of such an application is a spreadsheet. An event defined by the
rule is the occurrence of modifications of the data describing
campaign entities by the application. Accordingly, the operation
defined by the rule specifies receiving the modifications of the
data describing the campaign management entities from the
application service and changing the campaign management entities
in the advertising campaign data 126 according to the modifications
of the data describing the campaign management entities. Thus, for
example, the event change may be a change in data describing
keyword bids in the spread sheet application, and the changes in
the campaign management entities is a persisting of the changes in
keyword bids to the campaign data 126.
[0145] By way of another example, at least one application provided
by an application service is a scheduling application that
specifies a rule schedule of when particular rules are to be
executed, and the event defined by the rule is the scheduled
execution of the rule as specified by the rule schedule.
[0146] The event for each rule can take into account performance
metrics from advertising campaigns, and conditions for particular
application services. For example, a particular rule to increase a
CPC bid for low performing advertising groups may be scheduled to
run on a weekly basis. However, rule may also run if a user of a
calendar application service having a user identifier that matches
the user identifier associated with the rule uses a calendar
appointment to schedule the rule to run at a time different from
the weekly basis. When the rule runs according the calendar
schedule of the user, the changes to the campaign management
entities are attributed to the user.
[0147] In addition to triggering events based on information
provided by other cloud based application services that are
external to the advertising service provided by the advertisement
management system 102, the scripting system 118 can also publish
results to other services. For example, an operation of a rule may
specify an entity change for campaign entities associated with an
advertising campaign entity, and other parameters of the rule may
define generating and providing reporting data describing the
entity change for a spreadsheet application provided by an
application service. Such reporting data can describe the change in
targeting keywords, the change in bids, the change in ad group
advertisements, etc.
Conversion of Flat API To Hierarchical API
[0148] In some implementations, the advertising campaign data
conforms to a flat Application Programming Interface (API), and
thus the campaign management entities are not called in a
hierarchical manner. However, the scripting system 118 presents the
campaign management entities in a hierarchal manner by means of a
hierarchal data-model API to access campaign entities. Accordingly,
the scripting system 118 is configured to convert, during execution
of a rule, each hierarchical data-model API call for campaign
entities specified in a rule to a flat API call for the campaign
management entities. The flat API uses objects for data and
services for data access. The hierarchical data-model API, on the
other hand, uses objects for both data and data access. For
example, assume that the keyword "pink roses" from the ad group
"flowers" for the campaign "valentine" is required. The following
series of flat API calls would be required to access the data in
the campaign data 126: [0149]
Campaign=CampaignService.getCampaign("name=valentine") [0150]
AdGroup=AdGroupService.getAdGroup("name=flowers,
CampaignId=Campaign.ID") [0151]
Keyword=KeywordService.getKeyword("text=pink roses,
AdGroupId=AdGroup.ID")
[0152] Each of the calls above calls a service stub for data access
and uses an object for the data. Additionally, each subsequent call
for the ad group and keyword respectively passes the parameters of
the identifier of the campaign "valentine" and ad group
"flowers."
[0153] The scripting system 118, however, can use the following
instructions according to the hierarchical data-model API: [0154]
Campaign=AdWords.getCampaign("name=valentine") [0155]
AdGroup=Campaign.getAdGroup("name=flowers") [0156]
Keyword=AdGroup.getKeyword("text=pink roses")
[0157] Instead of requiring the user to call a service stub and
pass the necessary identifiers that are inherently absent in the
flat API, the scripting system 118 allows users to write
instructions that conform to an object hierarchy that is used to
model the advertising campaign. The scripting system 118
automatically converts the each hierarchical data-model API call
for campaign entities specified in a rule to a flat API call for
the campaign management entities.
[0158] FIG. 12A is a flow diagram of an example process 1200 for
accessing campaign data using a flat Application Programming
Interface (API). The process 1200 can be implemented by the
scripting system 118.
[0159] The scripting system 118 accesses rules, each rule
associated with at least one of the advertising campaign entities
(1202). The scripting system 118 converts, during execution of a
rule, each hierarchical data-model API call for campaign entities
specified in a rule to a flat API call for the campaign management
entities (1204). Thereafter, the scripting system 118 accesses
advertising campaign data using the flat API call (1206).
[0160] Each hierarchical data-model API call is a call that uses a
first data object to specify a first campaign entity for a function
of the data-model API call, and a second data object corresponding
to a second campaign entity that is subordinate to the first
campaign entity is used as an argument of the hierarchical
data-model API. Conversely, each flat API call is a call that uses
a service request and a data object to access campaign
entities.
[0161] An example way of converting a hierarchical data-model API
call for campaign entities specified in a rule to a flat API call
for the campaign management entities is described with reference to
FIG. 12B. The scripting system 118 determines, from at least one
data-model API call specified in the rule, a corresponding service
request and a data object for use in a flat API call (1222). For
example, for the data model API call: [0162]
Campaign=AdWords.getCampaign("name=valentine") the scripting
service 118 determines that the "AdWords" object and the
getCampaign( ) access request corresponds to the service request
"CampaignService," and that the data object is "valentine." The
correspondence of a service request and object can, for example, be
predefined. Likewise, for the data model API call : [0163]
AdGroup=Campaign.getAdGroup("name=flowers") the scripting service
118 determines that the "Campaign" object and the getAdGroup(
)access request corresponds to the service request
"AdGroupService," and that the data object is "flowers."
[0164] The scripting service generates the flat API call using the
service call and the data object determined from the at least one
data-model API call (1224). For example, for the data model API
call: [0165] Campaign =AdWords.getCampaign("name=valentine") the
scripting service 118 generates the flat API call: [0166]
Campaign=CampaignService.getCampaign("name=valentine"). Likewise,
the for the data model API call: [0167]
AdGroup=Campaign.getAdGroup("name=flowers") the scripting service
118 generates the flat API call: [0168]
AdGroup=AdGroupService.getAdGroup("name=flowers,
CampaignId=Campaign.ID").
[0169] In general, converting each hierarchical data-model API call
for campaign entities specified in the rules to a flat API call for
the campaign management entities includes determining a
corresponding service request based on the second data object, and
generating the flat API call using the service request that uses
the second data object and the first data object as arguments.
Reversion Of Operation Changes
[0170] In some implementations, the scripting system 118 allows a
user to configure a rule to temporarily modify campaign management
entities until the occurrence of a reversion event. When the
reversion event occurs, the values of the modified campaign
entities are reverted to their original value. The reversion event
can be a period of time, or some other condition specified by a
user. For example, a user can define a rule to turn on campaigns
for "Cyber Monday" in the morning of Cyber Monday and turn the
campaigns off in the evening of Cyber Monday; or define a rule to
increase budgets for a holiday season and revert the budgets back
to their original levels after the holiday season; or define a rule
to change bids for some keywords during the weekend and reverts the
bids back on Monday.
[0171] The reversion event can also be a different condition
defined by the user. For example, a user can define a rule to
change bids for some keywords until N impressions (e.g., N=1,000)
are served for those keywords. Additionally, the reversion can also
be a manual input by the user, e.g., a user may, at any time after
a rule has been executed, invoke a reversion command to revert the
operation of the rule.
[0172] FIG. 13A is a block diagram of an example system 1300 for
reverting an operation performed by a rule. The system 1300
includes the scripting system 118 and a reversion engine 1302 that
handles reversions of operations that are executed for rules.
Operation of the example system 1300 is described with reference to
FIG. 13B, which is a flow diagram of an example process 1320 for
reverting an operation performed by a rule.
[0173] In operation, the system 118 detects a first event for a
rule and executes the rule operation (1322). The detection of an
event and the execution of the operation are as described
above.
[0174] For each campaign management entity changed by the
operation, the reversion engine 1302 stores a first value for the
campaign management entity in the change log 1304 (1324).
[0175] The first value is the value of the campaign management
entity before being changed by the operation. For example, if a bid
for targeting entity is changed from $0.50 to $0.75 as a result of
a rule operation, the first value that is stored is $0.50. The
first value is associated with its corresponding instance of the
campaign entity, and is also associated with an execution
identifier that identifies the instance of the execution of the
rule. As many rules may be executed at different times, the
execution identifier allows the reversion engine 1302 identify the
particular changes that are attributed to a particular execution of
a particular rule.
[0176] After the execution of the rule, the scripting system 118
detects a reversion event for the rule (1326). As described above,
the reversion event can be time based, or based on some other
condition, or even manually caused by the user.
[0177] In response to the detection of the reversion event, the
reversion engine 1302 retrieves the first values for campaign
management entities that were changed by the operation of the rule
from the change log (1328), and then changes the values of the
campaign management entities back to their respective first values
(1330).
[0178] In some implementations, all of the campaign management
entities that were changed by a rule operation revert to their
respective first values. In other implementations, however, some of
the campaign management entities that were change may not be
changed back to their respective first values. For example,
subsequent to the execution of the rule and before the occurrence
of the reversion event, another rule that resulted in changes to
some of the entities changed by the first rule may have been
executed. Accordingly, it may not be desirable to revert to the
first value, as the reversion of the first rule would effectively
revert the operation of the second rule. Similarly, subsequent to
the execution of the rule and before the occurrence of the
reversion event, the user may have manually changed the values of
some of the entities, and it may not be desirable to revert to the
first value, as the reversion of the first rule would effectively
overwrite the changes the user specified.
[0179] In general, the value of a particular campaign entity may
only revert in response to a reversion event if the value has not
changed since the execution of the rule that is being reverted.
There are several ways in which the reversion engine 1302 can
determine whether a particular campaign entity that has been
changed by a rule operation should be reverted. For example, during
the execution of the rule, the reversion engine 1302 stores a
second value for the campaign management entity in the change log
1304. The second value is the value of the campaign management
entity as changed by the operation. Thus, the change log 1304 now
stores, for each changed entity, the value of the entity before the
change and the value of the entity after the change. When a
reversion event for the rule is detected, the reversion engine 1302
determines, for each of the second values for campaign management
entities stored in the change log, whether the second value for the
campaign management entity matches a current value of the campaign
management entity. If there is a match, then it is highly likely
that the value has not changed (i.e., it is unlikely that a
subsequent changes resulted in the same second value). Accordingly,
the reversion engine 1302 changes the value of the campaign
management entity to its corresponding first value stored in the
change log. However, if the second value of the campaign management
entity does not match the current value of the campaign management
entity, then the reversion engine 1302 does not change the value of
the entity.
[0180] In a variation of this implementation, the reversion engine
1302 stores a change flag value for each changed campaign entity
relative to each execution identifier. After a rule is executed,
the change flag for each particular campaign identifier and
execution identifier is 0,indicating the value of the campaign
entity has not been changed since the execution of the rule. If the
entity value is changed at a later time and before a reversion
event for the particular execution identifier, then the change flag
associated with the particular execution identifier and entity is
changed to 1, indicating the campaign entity has changed since the
execution of the rule.
[0181] Use of the change flag reduces the likelihood of a false
negative detection of a subsequent change. While such false
negative detections are unlikely for specific variables that have a
wide range of values (e.g., bids), false negative detections are
more likely to occur for binary variables (e.g.,
suspension/activation of a keyword) if the binary variable are
changed several times.
[0182] When a reversion event for a particular execution identifier
is receive, the reversion engine 1302, for each of the campaign
management entities changed by the operation associated with the
execution identifier, evaluates the change flag for the entity and
execution identifier and determines whether the campaign management
entity was changed after the change by the operation. Only if the
change flag indicates that the campaign management entity was not
changed after the change by the operation does the reversion engine
1302 change the value of the campaign management entity to its
corresponding first value stored in the change log 1304.
[0183] Reversion events can be defined by the user by use of a rule
user interface. For example, a reversion event selection menu item
can be added to any of the user interfaces described above. In some
implementations, if a frequency parameter is selected, the
scripting system limits a time period of a reversion event to
within the time period defined by the frequency parameter. For
example, if a rule is to be executed weekly, the reversion event
time period may be limited to one week or less.
Contextual Environments For Campaign Management
[0184] As described above, the user interfaces may be used to
create rules for different campaign entities at different campaign
levels. For example, FIG. 14A is an illustration of a user
interface 1400 for a campaign management application. The user
interface 1400 includes environment selectors (tabs) 1402, 1404 and
1406 for the application. Each selector corresponds respective user
interface environments that provide editing tools for particular
data sets that respectively correspond to the user interface
environments. For example, for a selection of the tab 1406, which
corresponds to keyword targeting entities, a user interface
environment 1410 that is an editing environment for keyword
entities is displayed. Selection of tabs 1402 and 1404 would cause
the user interface 1400 to transition to interface environments for
advertisement group entities and advertisement entities,
respectively.
[0185] From any particular interface environment, a user may select
to generate a rule for any particular campaign entities. For
example, in FIG. 14A, the user has selected the automate menu 1412
that causes the display selection options 1414 that correspond
operations on a first data type (e.g., the options for "Create rule
for keywords") and other data types (e.g., the options for "Create
rules for ads" and "Create rules for ad groups"). The user may
select from any of these options.
[0186] Often a user may decide to create a rule for a particular
campaign entity from a user interface environment for that campaign
entity. For example, FIG. 14B is an illustration of the user
interface 1400 after the user has selected the "Enable keywords
when . . . " menu option. The user interface 1400 of FIG. 14B is
the same as in FIG. 14A, except that it now includes an operation
user interface portion 1420 displayed within the user interface
environment 1410. The operation user interface portion 1420, for
example, is a user interface that can be used to create a rule to
enable keywords.
[0187] However, a user may just as often decide to create a rule
for a particular campaign entity this does not correspond to the
currently selected user interface environment. For example, in FIG.
14C, the user has selected the selection option "Create rule for
ads", and the resulting contextual rule options "Pause ads when"
and "Enable ads when" 1415 are displayed. In response to the user
selecting the "Pause ads when" option, the user interface 1400
transitions to the display as illustrated in FIG. 14D. The user
interface 1400 of FIG. 14D differs from the interface as depicted
in FIG. 14A in several respects. First, an operation user interface
portion 1440 that correspond to a user interface for creating a
rule pause advertisements is shown. Additionally, the user
interface 1400 has transitioned to the user interface environment
1430, which corresponds to advertisement entities. Additionally,
the selection tab 1404 is now highlighted, which also indicates the
transition from the keyword targeting entity user interface 1410 to
the advertisement entity user interface 1430.
[0188] Accordingly, invocation of rule operation in a first user
interface environment can cause the user interface 1400 to
automatically transition to another user interface environment if
the first user interface environment does not correspond to the
rule operation. This transition facilitates an intuitive navigation
from any interface environment to a rule generation environment
with only a single command. As there are multiple combinations of
environments and rules, the automatic transition of an underlying
environment that corresponds to a selected menu option saves time
for the user.
[0189] While the contextual change of a user environment has been
described in the context of an advertisement management system
application environment, the contextual change features described
above can be used in other applications of different types, as
appropriate.
Additional Implementation Details
[0190] Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations
described in this specification can be implemented in digital
electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or
hardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification
and their structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more
of them. Embodiments of the subject matter described in this
specification can be implemented as one or more computer programs,
i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded
on computer storage medium for execution by, or to control the
operation of, data processing apparatus. Alternatively or in
addition, the program instructions can be encoded on an
artificially-generated propagated signal, e.g., a machine-generated
electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, that is generated
to encode information for transmission to suitable receiver
apparatus for execution by a data processing apparatus. A computer
storage medium can be, or be included in, a computer-readable
storage device, a computer-readable storage substrate, a random or
serial access memory array or device, or a combination of one or
more of them. Moreover, while a computer storage medium is not a
propagated signal, a computer storage medium can be a source or
destination of computer program instructions encoded in an
artificially-generated propagated signal. The computer storage
medium can also be, or be included in, one or more separate
physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, or other
storage devices).
[0191] The operations described in this specification can be
implemented as operations performed by a data processing apparatus
on data stored on one or more computer-readable storage devices or
received from other sources.
[0192] The term "data processing apparatus" encompasses all kinds
of apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including
by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, a system on
a chip, or multiple ones, or combinations, of the foregoing The
apparatus can include special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an
FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC
(application-specific integrated circuit). The apparatus can also
include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution
environment for the computer program in question, e.g., code that
constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database
management system, an operating system, a cross-platform runtime
environment, a virtual machine, or a combination of one or more of
them. The apparatus and execution environment can realize various
different computing model infrastructures, such as web services,
distributed computing and grid computing infrastructures.
[0193] A computer program (also known as a program, software,
software application, script, or code) can be written in any form
of programming language, including compiled or interpreted
languages, declarative or procedural languages, and it can be
deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a
module, component, subroutine, object, or other unit suitable for
use in a computing environment. A computer program may, but need
not, correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored
in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one
or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single
file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple
coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules,
sub-programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be
deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers
that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites
and interconnected by a communication network.
[0194] The processes and logic flows described in this
specification can be performed by one or more programmable
processors executing one or more computer programs to perform
actions by operating on input data and generating output. The
processes and logic flows can also be performed by, and apparatus
can also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g.,
an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC
(application-specific integrated circuit).
[0195] Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program
include, by way of example, both general and special purpose
microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of
digital computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions
and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both.
The essential elements of a computer are a processor for performing
actions in accordance with instructions and one or more memory
devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer
will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from
or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for
storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical
disks. However, a computer need not have such devices.
[0196] Devices suitable for storing computer program instructions
and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, media and memory
devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices,
e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks,
e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto-optical
disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory
can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic
circuitry.
[0197] To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the
subject matter described in this specification can be implemented
on a computer having a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray
tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, for displaying
information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device, e.g.,
a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provide input to the
computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for
interaction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to
the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual
feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from
the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech,
or tactile input. In addition, a computer can interact with a user
by sending documents to and receiving documents from a device that
is used by the user; for example, by sending web pages to a web
browser on a user's client device in response to requests received
from the web browser.
[0198] Embodiments of the subject matter described in this
specification can be implemented in a computing system that
includes a back-end component, e.g., as a data server, or that
includes a middleware component, e.g., an application server, or
that includes a front-end component, e.g., a client computer having
a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user
can interact with an implementation of the subject matter described
in this specification, or any combination of one or more such
back-end, middleware, or front-end components. The components of
the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital
data communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples of
communication networks include a local area network ("LAN") and a
wide area network ("WAN"), an inter-network (e.g., the Internet),
and peer-to-peer networks (e.g., ad hoc peer-to-peer networks).
[0199] The computing system can include clients and servers. A
client and server are generally remote from each other and
typically interact through a communication network. The
relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer
programs running on the respective computers and having a
client-server relationship to each other. In some embodiments, a
server transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a client device
(e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving user input
from a user interacting with the client device). Data generated at
the client device (e.g., a result of the user interaction) can be
received from the client device at the server.
[0200] An example of computing system in which the above-described
techniques can be implemented is shown in FIG. 14, which shows a
block diagram of a data processing apparatus system. The system
2000 can be utilized to implement the systems and methods described
herein. The architecture of the system 2000 can, for example, be
used to implement a computer client, a computer server, or some
other computer device.
[0201] The system 2000 includes a processor 2010, a memory 2020, a
storage device 2030, and an input/output device 2040. Each of the
components 2010, 2020, 2030, and 2040 can, for example, be
interconnected using a system bus 2050. The processor 2010 is
capable of processing instructions for execution within the system
2000. In one implementation, the processor 2010 is a
single-threaded processor. In another implementation, the processor
2010 is a multi-threaded processor. The processor 2010 is capable
of processing instructions stored in the memory 2020 or on the
storage device 2030.
[0202] The memory 2020 stores information within the system 2000.
In one implementation, the memory 2020 is a computer-readable
medium. In one implementation, the memory 2020 is a volatile memory
unit. In another implementation, the memory 2020 is a non-volatile
memory unit.
[0203] The storage device 2030 is capable of providing mass storage
for the system 2000. In one implementation, the storage device 2030
is a computer-readable medium. In various different
implementations, the storage device 2030 can, for example, include
a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or some other large
capacity storage device.
[0204] The input/output device 2040 provides input/output
operations for the system 2000. In one implementation, the
input/output device 2040 can include one or more of a network
interface device, e.g., an Ethernet card, a serial communication
device, e.g., and RS-232 port, and/or a wireless interface device,
e.g., an 802.11 card. In another implementation, the input/output
device can include driver devices configured to receive input data
and send output data to other input/output devices, e.g., keyboard,
printer and display devices 2060.
[0205] While this specification contains many specific
implementation details, these should not be construed as
limitations on the scope of any inventions or of what may be
claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to
particular embodiments of particular inventions. Certain features
that are described in this specification in the context of separate
embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single
embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the
context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple
embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover,
although features may be described above as acting in certain
combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more
features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised
from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed
to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.
[0206] Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in
a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that
such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in
sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed,
to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances,
multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover,
the separation of various system components in the embodiments
described above should not be understood as requiring such
separation in all embodiments, and it should be understood that the
described program components and systems can generally be
integrated together in a single software product or packaged into
multiple software products.
[0207] Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been
described. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following
claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can be
performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.
In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do
not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential
order, to achieve desirable results. In certain implementations,
multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.
* * * * *