U.S. patent application number 14/066113 was filed with the patent office on 2018-03-15 for advertisement marketplace.
This patent application is currently assigned to Google Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Google Inc.. Invention is credited to Harald Tveit Alvestrand, Sverre Sundsdal, Amund Tveit.
Application Number | 20180075474 14/066113 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49640857 |
Filed Date | 2018-03-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180075474 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tveit; Amund ; et
al. |
March 15, 2018 |
ADVERTISEMENT MARKETPLACE
Abstract
A marketplace (or aftermarket) for advertisements or ad
combinations is established. A first on-line advertisement is
identified in which a performance of the first advertisement during
a past ad campaign is above a threshold. A second on-line
advertisement is identified based on a matching criterion between
the first and second advertisements, in which a performance of the
second advertisement during a past ad campaign is lower than the
first advertisement. The first advertisement or a representation of
the first advertisement and performance data of the first
advertisement are provided to a sponsor of the second
advertisement.
Inventors: |
Tveit; Amund; (Trondheim,
NO) ; Alvestrand; Harald Tveit; (Trondheim, NO)
; Sundsdal; Sverre; (Brooklyn, NY) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Google Inc. |
Mountain View |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Google Inc.
Mountain View
CA
|
Family ID: |
49640857 |
Appl. No.: |
14/066113 |
Filed: |
October 29, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11873079 |
Oct 16, 2007 |
8600802 |
|
|
14066113 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0244 20130101;
G06Q 30/0242 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1-18. (canceled)
19. A computer implemented method comprising: generating, by a
computing device, an anonymized version of a first content item,
by: transmitting, to a translation engine, text of the first
content item, receiving, from the translation engine, translated
text of the sent text, comparing the sent text to the received
translated text to identify one or more words that are unchanged,
and removing the unchanged words from the text of the first content
item to generate the anonymized version of the first content item;
adding, by the computing device, content with content provided by a
candidate sponsor to the anonymized version of the content item to
create a second content item, different from the first content
item; and distributing, for the candidate sponsor and over the
communications network, the second content item to one or more user
devices.
20-25. (canceled)
26. A system comprising: an anonymizer, executed by a computing
device, configured to: generate an anonymized version of a first
content item by: transmitting, to a translation engine, text of the
first content item, receiving, from the translation engine,
translated text of the sent text, comparing the sent text to the
received translated text to identify one or more words that are
unchanged, and removing the unchanged words from the text of the
first content item to generate the anonymized version of the first
content item; replace at least one visual element of the anonymized
version of the content item with content provided by a candidate
sponsor to create a second content item, different from the first
content item; and distribute, for the candidate sponsor and over
the communications network, the second content item to one or more
user devices.
27-32. (canceled)
33. A computer storage apparatus storing instructions that upon
execution by one or more processors cause the one or more
processors to perform operations comprising: generating an
anonymized version of a first content item by: transmitting, to a
translation engine, text of the first content item, receiving, from
the translation engine, translated text of the sent text, comparing
the sent text to the received translated text to identify one or
more words that are unchanged, and removing the unchanged words
from the text of the first content item to generate the anonymized
version of the first content item; adding content provided by a
candidate sponsor to the anonymized version of the content item to
create a second content item, different from the first content
item; and distributing for the candidate sponsor and over the
communications network, the second content item to one or more user
devices.
34-38. (canceled)
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of, and claims priority
under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No.
11/873,079, filed on Oct. 16, 2007. The disclosure of which is
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This document generally relates to information
management.
BACKGROUND
[0003] On-line advertisements allow advertisers to reach a wide
range of audiences through the Internet. The advertisements can be
placed at specific areas of specific web pages. For example, a
department store may place an advertisement on the home page of an
on-line news web site. The advertisements can be associated with
specific keywords and appear as sponsored links on search result
web pages in response to user query having search terms that match
the specific keywords associated with the advertisements. For
example, when a user types the keyword "plumbing" into a search
engine, the search results web page may include, in addition to the
search results, a list of advertisements shown as sponsored links
placed at an area of the search results page. The sponsored link
may include a title, a short text description of the product or
service being advertised, an URL of the advertiser, and a location
of the advertiser. Some of the search results can also be
advertisements. For example, the search results for the keyword
"plumbing" may include web pages of plumbing services. Each search
result may include a title, a snippet of the text in the web page,
and an URL of the web page.
[0004] Advertisers benefit from the advertisements when users click
on links associated with the advertisements or otherwise act on the
advertisements to purchase products or services being advertised.
Whether an advertisement performs well may depend on a number of
factors, such as whether the advertisement appears near the top of
a search results page so that the users can see the advertisement
without having to scroll down several pages. The performance of an
advertisement may depend on the quality of the advertisement, such
as whether the text description of the advertisement is interesting
and provides a positive impression to the user.
SUMMARY
[0005] This document describes a marketplace (or aftermarket) for
advertisements or ad combinations. An ad combination refers to a
combination of an advertisement and one or more other components,
such as keywords or matching configuration associated with the
advertisement. The matching configuration can include, for example,
a landing web page. An infrastructure is provided for buying or
selling advertisements or ad combinations after the advertisements
or ad combinations have been used by advertisers in ad campaigns.
Some measure of performance of the advertisements or ad
combinations may be available. For example, the click-through rate
or conversion rate of an advertisement or ad combination can be
provided to allow potential buyers to evaluate the advertisement or
ad combination before purchasing. The advertisements or ad
combinations can be anonymized or generalized so that the buyer
cannot identify the sponsors of the advertisements or ad
combinations. The owners of the advertisements can be rewarded when
their advertisements are purchased by others.
[0006] In general, in one aspect, a first on-line advertisement is
identified in which a performance of the first advertisement during
a past ad campaign is above a threshold; a second on-line
advertisement is identified based on a matching criterion between
the first and second advertisements, in which a performance of the
second advertisement during a past ad campaign is lower than the
first advertisement; and the first advertisement or a
representation of the first advertisement and performance data of
the first advertisement are provided to a sponsor of the second
advertisement.
[0007] Implementations may include one or more of the following. A
click-through rate or a conversion rate of the first advertisement
can be identified to determine the performance of the first
advertisement. Identifying the second on-line advertisement based
on a matching criterion can include identifying the second
advertisement based on a similarity between at least one of (a) one
or more keywords associated with the first advertisement and one or
more keywords associated with the second advertisement, or (b) text
of the first advertisement and text of the second advertisement.
Identifying the second advertisement can include identifying a
second advertisement associated with a second geographical region
not overlapping a first geographical region associated with the
first advertisement.
[0008] A portion of the first advertisement can be modified to
target a market for which the second advertisement targets. The
first advertisement can be anonymized, and an anonymized
advertisement can be provided to the sponsor of the second
advertisement. Anonymizing the first advertisement can include
removing portions of the first advertisement that can be used to
identify a sponsor of the first advertisement. The first
advertisement can be translated and the translated first
advertisement can be provided to the sponsor of the second
advertisement. A component associated with the first advertisement
or a representation of the component associated with the first
advertisement can be provided to the sponsor of the second
advertisement, in which the component includes a keyword or a
landing web page associated with the first advertisement.
Identifying the second on-line advertisement can include comparing
the first advertisement and a first component associated with the
first advertisement with a second advertisement and a second
component associated with the second advertisement, in which the
first and second components include at least one of (a) one or more
keywords associated with the corresponding advertisement, or (b) a
landing web page for the corresponding advertisement.
[0009] In general, in another aspect, a user interface is provided
to enable a user to search on-line advertisements; an input is
received from the user indicating a selection of one of the
advertisements; the selected advertisement is anonymized; and the
anonymized advertisement and performance data associated with the
advertisement are provided to the user, the performance data
indicating a performance of the selected advertisement during a
past ad campaign.
[0010] Implementations may include one or more of the following. A
component associated with the advertisement or a representation of
the component associated with the advertisement can be provided to
the user, in which the component includes at least one of a keyword
or a landing web page associated with the selected
advertisement.
[0011] In general, in another aspect, an on-line advertisement
marketplace is enabled, including displaying on-line advertisements
or representations of the on-line advertisements and performance
data of the on-line advertisements, and accepting instructions for
purchasing one or more of the on-line advertisements.
[0012] Implementations may include one or more of the following.
Displaying representations of the on-line advertisements can
include displaying anonymized versions of the on-line
advertisements. Customized versions of the on-line advertisements
can be automatically generated by replacing locations or names in
the on-line advertisements with the locations or names of potential
buyers, and the customized versions of the on-line advertisements
can be displayed. Keywords for the automatically generated
customized versions of the on-line advertisements can be
automatically determined.
[0013] In general, in another aspect, a storage device is provided
to store advertisements and performance data indicating performance
of the advertisements during past ad campaigns; and a matching
engine is provided to match a second advertisement with a first
advertisement and provide the first advertisement or a
representation of the first advertisement, and the performance data
associated with the first advertisement, to a sponsor of the second
advertisement.
[0014] Implementations may include one or more of the following.
The performance data can include at least one of a click-through
rate and a conversion rate. The matching engine can identify the
first advertisement by identifying an advertisement having a
performance above a threshold. The matching engine can identify the
second advertisement by identifying an advertisement having a
performance below the threshold. The matching engine can match the
second advertisement with the first advertisement based on a
similarity between at least one of (a) one or more keywords
associated with the first advertisement and one or more keywords
associated with the second advertisement, or (b) text of the first
advertisement and text of the second advertisement. An editing
engine can be provided to modify the first advertisement to target
a market for which the second advertisement targets. An anonymizing
engine can be provided to modify the first advertisement to remove
portions of the advertisement that can be used to identify a
sponsor of the advertisement. A translation engine can be provided
to translate the advertisement.
[0015] In general, in another aspect, a system includes means for
identifying a first on-line advertisement in which a performance of
the first advertisement during a past ad campaign is above a
threshold; means for identifying a second on-line advertisement
based on a matching criterion between the first and second
advertisements, in which a performance of the second advertisement
during a past ad campaign is lower than the first advertisement;
and means for providing the first advertisement or a representation
of the first advertisement and performance data of the first
advertisement to a sponsor of the second advertisement.
[0016] These and other aspects and features, and combinations of
them, may be expressed as methods, apparatus, systems, means for
performing functions, program products, and in other ways.
[0017] The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the
accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,
objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the
description and drawings, and from the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 is diagram of an example system that facilitates a
marketplace for advertisements.
[0019] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example graphical user
interface.
[0020] FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example an ad combo.
[0021] FIG. 4 is a diagram of examples of original ads and
anonymized advertisements.
[0022] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example process for
identifying potential buyers of an advertisement.
[0023] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example process for
identifying an advertisement.
[0024] FIG. 7 shows a schematic representation of a general
computing system.
[0025] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like
elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] FIG. 1 is diagram of an example system 100 that facilitates
a marketplace for advertisements (or ads). Though reference is made
to supporting advertising, other forms of sponsored and
non-sponsored content can be distributed by the system 100. An ads
matchmaker 102 searches an ads depository 104 to find a high
performing ad, and provides the high performing ad and associated
performance data to a potential buyer 106. The performance data can
include, e.g., a click-through rate or a conversion rate of the ad
during past ad campaigns. Providing the performance data allows the
potential buyer 106 to better evaluate whether to purchase the high
performing ad. The ads can be, e.g., on-line or mobile textual
ads.
[0027] The performance of an ad may be influenced by a combination
of factors associated with the ad, such as keywords associated with
the ad, location of the ad on the web property, content of the ad,
and the landing page of the advertiser. The ad and one or more
other factors associated with the ad will be referred to as an ad
combination or "ad combo." The ads matchmaker 102 identifies a high
performing ad combo from the ads depository 104 and provides the
high performing ad combo and associated performance data to the
potential buyer 106. A high performing ad can be one that exceeds a
predetermined performance metric (e.g., historical
click-throughs).
[0028] In the examples below, the system 100 processes high
performing ad combos, but similar techniques can also be applied to
the processing of high performing ads. While the examples describe
processing of textual ads, similar techniques can be applied to ads
having, e.g., images, video, and audio. Further, while the examples
describe delivery of ads in a web environment, other delivery
channels (e.g., radio, gaming, television, printed publication,
etc.) are possible.
[0029] In some implementations, the ads matchmaker 102 allows
potential buyers 106 to sign up as members of the ads marketplace.
The ads matchmaker 102 can provide a graphical user interface (GUI)
to show a list of predetermined products or services, such as
plumbers, carpenters, electricians, gardeners, accountants,
insurance brokers, real estate agents, dentists, web design
consultants, etc. A potential buyer 106 can select one or more of
the predetermined products or services. The ads matchmaker 102
searches the ads depository 104 to find high performing ad combos
related to the selected products or services, and provides a list
of high performing ad combos ranked by, e.g., similarity to the
products or services selected by the buyer 106.
[0030] The ads matchmaker 102, the potential buyers 106, and the
sponsor of ad combo 116 can be connected to each other by a network
109, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN),
the Internet, any other type of network, or any combination of
types of networks. In some implementations, one or more of the ads
matchmaker 102, the ads depository 104, and the rating engine 112
may be integrated into a single server.
[0031] Referring to FIG. 2, an example graphical user interface 120
shows original ad combos 122, the performance 124 of the original
ad combos 122, and examples of customized ad combos 124 to
potential buyers. In this example, the potential buyer is a company
named "PipesRUs". In the customized ad combos 126, the company name
"TubeDrainers" in the original ad combos 122 are replaced by the
potential buyer company name "PipesRUs".
[0032] For example, the potential buyer can click on buttons 128 to
look up keywords associated with the original ad combos 122. The
potential buyer can click on buttons 142 to select particular ad
combos, click on buttons 144 to edit the customized ad combos 126,
and click on buttons 146 to edit the keywords associated with the
customized ad combos 126.
[0033] In some examples, the ads matchmaker 102 identifies the
potential buyer 106 by searching the ads depository 104 to identify
owners of ad combos who may be interested in purchasing other ad
combos. For example, the ads matchmaker 102 searches for a pair of
high performing and low performing ad combos that are correlated to
each other, e.g., related to similar products or services. A high
performing ad combo related to a plumbing service may be matched
with a low performing ad combo also related to a plumbing service.
The sponsor (or owner) of the low performing ad combo is identified
as a potential buyer 106.
[0034] In matching the high performing ad combo and the potential
buyer 106, the ads matchmaker 102 may select a high performing ad
combo that targets a geographical region different from that of the
potential buyer. For example, a plumber who is marketing in the
Chicago area has created high performing ad combos. The ad combo
may be of interest to plumbers in other geographical locations,
e.g., other parts of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom,
Australia, and New Zealand. With translation (of keyword
combinations and the ad text), the ad combo produced by the Chicago
plumber may be of interest for plumbers worldwide. Selling or
licensing the high performing ad combo to plumbers in areas outside
of the Chicago area can provide additional revenue to the plumber
marketing in the Chicago area while at the same time not affecting
his plumbing business in the Chicago area.
[0035] After the ads matchmaker 102 identifies a potential buyer
106 (who is a sponsor of a lower performing ad combo), the ads
matchmaker 102 may send a message to the potential buyer 106 to
inquire whether the potential buyer 106 is interested in obtaining
information about higher performing ads relevant to his or her ad
combo. The message may include a link to a web page that provides
the graphical user interface 120.
[0036] The ads matchmaker 102 may show, via the GUI 120, a list of
higher performing ad combos ranked by, e.g., similarity to the ad
combo sponsored by the potential buyer 106. In some
implementations, the ads matchmaker 102 does not show the content
of the ad combos (e.g., ad text, keywords, etc.) to the buyer 106
until the buyer 106 decides to buy the ad combo. For each ad combo
to be offered to the buyer 106, the ads matchmaker 102 shows a
general description of the ad combo and its performance data (e.g.,
click through rate, conversion rate, number of clicks, number of
impressions, cost per click, and cost to view, etc.) The ads
matchmaker 102 may require the buyer 106 to pay a fee for viewing
the content of the ad combo, and a fee for purchasing the ad combo.
The fees can be based on the past performance of the ad combo.
[0037] The ads matchmaker 102 may require the buyer 106 not to used
the purchased ad combo to compete in the same market (e.g.,
geography) as the sponsor of the original ad combo.
[0038] The operator of the ads matchmaker 102 may also operate an
ads network, in which ads are published on web sites of publishers
that are members of the ads network. The buyer 106, after
purchasing the higher performing ad combo and adding his or her
product or service description to the ad combo, may allow the ad
combo to be shown on web sites associated with the ads network.
Both the buyer 106 and the operator of the ads network may receive
revenue when the ad combo is displayed, clicked on, or acted on by
other users.
[0039] For each high performing ad combo, the ads matchmaker 102
may offer one or more versions of the ad combo to the buyer 106,
such as an unprocessed version, an anonymized version, or a
generalized version. The anonymized and generalized versions are
described below.
[0040] A feature of the system 100 is that the ads matchmaker 102
not only identifies ad combos that are potentially useful to the
potential buyer 106, the ads matchmaker 102 also provides the
potential buyer proof of the high performance of the high
performing ad combo. For example, even though the plumber in New
York can type the keywords "plumbers" or "plumbing service" in a
search engine and find a listing of ads for plumbers or plumbing
services, he will not know how well each ad has performed, and can
only evaluate the ads based on their appearances, not by past
performances. By contrast, the past performance data provided by
the ads matchmaker 102 provides an indication of future
performance. An ad combo that performed well in the past is more
likely to perform well in the future.
[0041] The on-line environment favors high-performing ads. Web
portals and search engines prefer to have fewer ads per page with
higher click-through rates rather than having many ads per page
with lower click-through rates. High performing ad combos can be
difficult to produce. Small to medium enterprises may not have the
expertise to produce good ad combos, and hiring professional ad
agencies to produce the ad combos may be time consuming and
expensive. Because small and medium enterprises and other
advertisers may operate in accordance to certain constraints, e.g.,
constrained spatially, temporally, and/or language-wise, the ad
combos can potentially be re-used outside the constrained market by
similar advertisers in non-overlapping market segments. The system
100 enables the re-use of existing ad combos. The system 100
provides a convenient way for market entrants who do not already
have ad combos to easily find relevant ad combos, and to allow
advertisers who already have ad combos to find better performing ad
combos.
[0042] The performance of an ad combo may be difficult to predict.
An advertiser may design a new ad combo, test it on the market for
a few weeks, and finding that the new ad combo does not perform
very well. Thus, it may be more cost effective to run a re-used ad
combo having a proven high performance track record. An advertiser
can also run a high performance re-used, market-proven ad combo in
parallel to a new, untested ad combo.
[0043] In some implementations, the ads matchmaker 102 anonymizes
the high performing ad combo before providing it to the potential
buyer 106. The anonymization may involve, e.g., removing
information that can be used to identify the owner of the high
performing ad combo. Examples of ad combo content that can be
anonymized include business names and their corresponding
abbreviations, person names, names of geographical locations, and
various numerical properties (e.g., dates, prices, phone numbers,
zip codes, and product properties). For example, an ad combo for a
Chicago plumber may include the word "Chicago" and the URL of the
plumber's company. After anonymization, the word "Chicago" and the
plumber's URL may be removed. The anonymization process generates
an ad combo template that includes blanks for which the identity or
specific properties of the buyer 106 can be filled in.
[0044] FIG. 3 shows an example of an ad combo 130 that includes an
ad 132 and a landing web page 134. After anonymization, an
anonymized ad combo 136 includes an anonymized ad 138 and an
anonymized landing web page 140. The anonymized ad 138 and landing
web page 140 can be used as templates, where blanks can be filled
in with specific information about the product or service of the
buyer 106.
[0045] For example, referring to FIG. 4, an original ad combo 172
may include the message "Got your cellar filled during last
thunderstorm in Maine? Let TubeDrainers fix it and get rid of your
pain." After anonymization, the anonymized ad combo 174 may include
the text "Got your cellar filled during last thunderstorm in
[LOCATION]? Let [COMPANY] fix it and get rid of your pain." The
placeholders [LOCATION] and [COMPANY] can be replaced by the new
location and company name of the advertiser who purchased the ad
combo.
[0046] As an example, an original ad combo 176 may include the
message "Leaking bathroom tubes? Don't worry, just call StopLeak
Plumbers and we'll handle it within 2 business days." After
anonymization, the anonymized ad combo 178 may include the text
"Leaking bathroom tubes? Don't worry, just call [COMPANY] and we'll
handle it within 2 business days." The placeholder [COMPANY] can be
replaced by the new company name of the advertiser who purchased
the ad combo 144.
[0047] The anonymization can be extended to support aliases or
common nicknames. For example, the term "big apple" (for New York)
can be replaced with the [LOCATION] placeholder, and the term "big
blue" (for IBM) can be replaced with the [COMPANY] place
holder.
[0048] The ads matchmaker 102 includes an anonymizer 108 to
anonymize the ad combos. A number of methods can be used to
anonymize an ad combo. For example, dictionary based filtering can
be used, in which dictionaries of allowed names are used to
determine which terms to let through (i.e., not anonymize), and
dictionaries of disallowed names are used to determine which terms
should be filtered (i.e., anonymized). For example, verbs, nouns
that are not names, adverbs, adjectives, do not need to be
anonymized, whereas business names should be anonymized. Regular
expressions can be used to find and filter out numerical or
partially numerical expressions, such as dates, prices, zip codes,
and various product properties.
[0049] Natural language processing with semantic and grammatical
analysis can be used to identify nouns that may potentially be
identifying information (i.e., information that identifies the
owner of the ad combo) and thus should be anonymized.
[0050] Machine translation can be used find identifying
information. For example, machine translation can be used to
translate an ad combo between two or several languages, and words
that are unchanged are filtered out. In some examples, machine
translation does not change names and numerical entities, so the
words that are not changed after machine translation are more
likely to be names or numerical entities. This method can be used
as a supplementary method in addition to the other methods. For
example, a translation of the English phrase "Get a skilled plumber
in Chicago" to Norwegian can be "Fa en dyktig rorlegger i Chicago",
in which the word "Chicago" is not changed after the translation,
so Chicago can be filtered out or be made into a variable for
substitution in the ad combo template.
[0051] The system 100 includes a rating engine 112 that measures
the performance of the ad combos. The performance of an ad combo
can be measured based on, e.g., a click-through rate (as percentage
of number of times displayed), an action-rate (the rate at which
purchases occur after clicking on the ad), and a call rate
(click-to-call rate, which measures the percentages of calls to
salespersons that occur after clicking on the ad). Other metrics
can also be used. For example, the total revenue for the advertiser
(i.e., action-rate*price-advertising cost) and the number of
impressions of the ad can also be used to evaluate the performance
of the ad combo.
[0052] Grouping of high and low performing ad combos can be
performed using a clustering method, in which certain metrics are
used to compare two ad combos. For example, two ad combos can be
grouped together if the number of common words between them is
high. Ad combos can be grouped together based on keywords. For
example, all the ad combos that have the keyword "plumber" can be
grouped together.
[0053] In the implementation shown (though optional), the ads
matchmaker 102 includes a machine translator 110 to translate the
ad combos. For example, the potential buyer 106 may be located in a
country that uses a language different from the one that the ad
combo is written in. The machine translator 110 can use, e.g.,
statistical machine translation. The ads matchmaker 102 can include
a spell checker to check for spelling errors in the translation.
The machine translations may be manually edited to ensure quality
of the ads.
[0054] In some implementations, the ads matchmaker 102 may identify
words with possible spelling errors and provide suggestions of
correct words. For example, words can be clustered using the
Soundex algorithm so that words having similar pronunciation are
grouped together. A word in the ad combo that is not in a
dictionary is compared with a cluster of words that sound
similarly, and if there is another word in the cluster that has a
higher likelihood (e.g., as frequency of queries or web presence),
the other word is suggested as the correct word.
[0055] Suggestion of correct words can also be based on word
clusters that are formed according to edit distance. The edit
distance between two strings of characters is the number of
operations required to transform one of them into the other. Words
that have slightly different spellings and have edit distances
smaller than a threshold can be grouped together. For example,
"googel", "google", and "googlle" can be grouped together. The word
in the cluster that has a higher likelihood (e.g., as frequency of
queries or web presence) is suggested as the correct word.
[0056] After an ad combo has been translated or anonymize, the ad
combo can be "generalized" by comparing the translated or
anonymized ad combo to the original ad combo to measure the
distance between the two. For example, if an anonymized ad combo is
very different from the original one, there is an indication that
the anonymized ad combo can be used for other ad purposes (for
example, other products or services). The anonymized ad comb is
clustered with other ad combos to determine which ad purposes the
anonymized version can be used for.
[0057] For example, an ad combo templates "[SOME PRODUCT OR
SERVICE] keeps the doctor away" or "[SOME PRODUCT OR SERVICE] makes
your day" can be used for various purposes. The placeholder [SOME
PRODUCT, SERVICE] can be replaced with, e.g., "Exercise" or "Diet".
In general, relatively generic (not product specific) ad texts can
be used for several purposes.
[0058] The ads matchmaker 102 includes a rewards engine 114 to
determine the amount of reward to be given to the sponsor of the
high performing ad combo when the potential buyer 106 pays for
viewing the content of the ad combo or purchases the ad combo. The
reward can be in the form of a monetary payment, a discount on
future ad spending (e.g., discount in fees for Google.TM. AdWords),
or a discount on payment system use on the web or mobile web site
of the sponsor (e.g., discount in fees for Google Checkout). The
reward can be discounts on suppliers, producers of goods, parts
that the original advertiser use or sell. The reward can be
discounts on paid Google services or products (e.g., Google Search
Appliance, Google Search Appliance Mini, or Google Apps).
[0059] The reward to the sponsor of the high performing ad combo
can be an up-front payment based on the fees paid by the buyer 106,
and an estimation of the ad combo performance and the future
revenues that can be generated for the operator of the ads
matchmaker. The ads matchmaker 102 may monitor the performance of
the ad combo as used by the buyer 106, and reward the sponsor of
the original ad combo based on the measured performance.
[0060] The ads matchmaker 102 may also provide the potential buyer
106 with the option of generating a new ad combo that has not been
used before. The ads matchmaker 102 may request information from
the buyer 106 about a product or service that is intended to be
advertised, such as a landing page for the product or service. The
text portion of an ad combo can be generated automatically by,
e.g., automatic summarization of the product or service landing
page. The ads matchmaker 102 can also search the database for two
or more relevant ad combos based on the type of product or service,
and use the two or more ad combos as input training to a natural
language generation algorithm to automatically generate the text
portion for a new ad combo. Suggestions of keywords for the new ad
combo can be generated by clustering the text portion of the new ad
combo with the text portions of existing ad combos, and use
keywords from the closest existing ad combo as suggestions for
keywords for the new automatically generated ad combo.
[0061] The ads are not limited to text ads, but can also include
video or audio ads. For example, a high performing video ad combo
can be processed using speech-to-text or automatic lip-reading
analysis to generate the text corresponding to the vide or audio.
The text is analyzed to identify portions that need to be
anonymized. After anonymization, a video or audio ad template is
generated. An anonymized ad combo that includes the video or audio
ad template, and associated performance data, are provided to the
potential buyer 106. The potential buyer 106 can purchase the
anonymized ad combo, add information specific to the buyer 106 to
the video or audio ad template, and use text-to-speech or
text-to-animation of faces that speak to generate the audio or
video ads for suitable use by the buyer 106.
[0062] The ad combos the methods described above can be used for
other types of media, e.g., television, streaming video sent over
networks, or radio.
[0063] FIG. 5 shows an example of a process 150 that can be used to
identify a potential buyer of a high performing advertisement. The
process 150 identifies a first on-line advertisement (152). The
process 150 identifies a second on-line advertisement based on a
matching criterion between the first and second advertisements
(154). For example, the ads matchmaker 102 can be used to identify
the first and second on-line advertisements that are stored in the
ad depository 104.
[0064] The process 150 identifies performance data of the first
advertisement indicating a performance of the first advertisement
during a past ad campaign (156). For example, the performance data
can be the performance data 107 in the ads depository 104 (FIG. 1).
The process 150 provides the first advertisement or a
representation of the first advertisement and the performance data
to a sponsor of the second advertisement (158). For example, the
sponsor can be the sponsor 116.
[0065] FIG. 6 shows an example of a process 160 that can be used to
identify a high performing ad for a user (e.g., a new advertiser).
The process 160 provides a user interface to enable the user to
search on-line advertisements (162). For example, the user
interface can be the graphical user interface 120 of FIG. 2. The
process 160 receives an input from the user indicating a selection
of one of the advertisements (164). For example, the advertisements
can be the advertisements 105 stored in the ads depository 104. The
process 160 anonymizes the selected advertisement (166). For
example, the anonymizing engine 108 can anonymize the selected
advertisement. The process 160 provides the anonymized
advertisement and performance data associated with the
advertisement to the user, the performance data indicating a
performance of the selected advertisement during a past ad campaign
(168). For example, the performance data can be the performance
data 107 stored in the ads depository 104.
[0066] FIG. 7 shows a schematic representation of a general
computing system 200 that can be used to implement the system 100.
Computing device 200 is intended to represent various forms of
digital computers, such as laptops, desktops, workstations,
personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes,
and other appropriate computers. The components shown here, their
connections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to be
exemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementations of the
inventions described and/or claimed in this document.
[0067] Computing device 200 includes a processor 202, memory 204, a
storage device 206, a high-speed interface 208 connecting to memory
204 and high-speed expansion ports 210, and a low speed interface
212 connecting to low speed bus 214 and storage device 206. Each of
the components 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, and 212, are interconnected
using various busses, and may be mounted on a common motherboard or
in other manners as appropriate. The processor 202 can process
instructions for execution within the computing device 200,
including instructions stored in the memory 204 or on the storage
device 206 to display graphical information for a GUI on an
external input/output device, such as display 216 coupled to high
speed interface 208. In other implementations, multiple processors
and/or multiple buses may be used, as appropriate, along with
multiple memories and types of memory. Also, multiple computing
devices 200 may be connected, with each device providing portions
of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server bank, a group of
blade servers, or a multi-processor system).
[0068] The memory 204 stores information within the computing
device 200. In one implementation, the memory 204 is a volatile
memory unit or units. In another implementation, the memory 204 is
a non-volatile memory unit or units. The memory 204 may also be
another form of computer-readable medium, such as a magnetic or
optical disk.
[0069] The storage device 206 is capable of providing mass storage
for the computing device 200. In one implementation, the storage
device 206 may be or contain a computer-readable medium, such as a
floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or
a tape device, a flash memory or other similar solid state memory
device, or an array of devices, including devices in a storage area
network or other configurations. A computer program product can be
tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer program
product may also contain instructions that, when executed, perform
one or more methods, such as those described above. The information
carrier is a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as the
memory 204, the storage device 206, memory on processor 202, or a
propagated signal.
[0070] The high speed controller 208 manages bandwidth-intensive
operations for the computing device 200, while the low speed
controller 212 manages lower bandwidth-intensive operations. Such
allocation of functions is exemplary only. In one implementation,
the high-speed controller 208 is coupled to memory 204, display 216
(e.g., through a graphics processor or accelerator), and to
high-speed expansion ports 210, which may accept various expansion
cards (not shown). In the implementation, low-speed controller 212
is coupled to storage device 206 and low-speed expansion port 214.
The low-speed expansion port, which may include various
communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless
Ethernet) may be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such
as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device
such as a switch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.
[0071] The computing device 200 may be implemented in a number of
different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be
implemented as a standard server 220, or multiple times in a group
of such servers. It may also be implemented as part of a rack
server system 224. In addition, it may be implemented in a personal
computer such as a laptop computer 222. Each of such devices (e.g.,
standard server, rack server system, personal computer, laptop
computer) may contain one or more of computing device 200, and an
entire system may be made up of multiple computing devices 200
communicating with each other.
[0072] Various implementations of the systems and techniques
described here can be realized in digital electronic circuitry,
integrated circuitry, specially designed ASICs (application
specific integrated circuits), computer hardware, firmware,
software, and/or combinations thereof. These various
implementations can include implementation in one or more computer
programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable
system including at least one programmable processor, which may be
special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and
instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a
storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output
device.
[0073] These computer programs (also known as programs, software,
software applications or code) include machine instructions for a
programmable processor, and can be implemented in a high-level
procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in
assembly/machine language. As used herein, the terms
"machine-readable medium" "computer-readable medium" refers to any
computer program product, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic
discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs))
used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable
processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives
machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term
"machine-readable signal" refers to any signal used to provide
machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.
[0074] To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and
techniques described here 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, trackball,
touch-sensitive screen, or iDrive-like component) 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.
[0075] The systems and techniques described here 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 systems and techniques described here), or any combination of
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"), a wide area network ("WAN"), and the Internet.
[0076] 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.
[0077] A number of embodiments of the invention have been
described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various
modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention. For example, various forms of the flows
shown above may be used, with steps re-ordered, added, or removed.
Also, although several applications and methods have been
described, it should be recognized that numerous other applications
are contemplated.
[0078] Different types of user interfaces can be used.
[0079] In addition, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not
require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve
desirable results. Other steps may be provided, or steps may be
eliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be
added to, or removed from, the described systems. Accordingly,
other implementations are within the scope of the following
claims.
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