JP2003150841A - Advertising method on public network, host server and computer program product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for urging browse of an advertisement on a public network, a system and a computer program product. SOLUTION: This advertising method on the public network and this host server are released. One or more advertisement banners are served from the host server to a user through the public network. The user requires download of a perfect advertisement from the server. The server records which user requires download of which perfect advertisement. The server decides which user browses the perfect advertisement, and gives a reward to each browse. The decision is done by asking the users one or more questions on the advertisement completely browsed by them. The reward may be a coupon for a travel ticket or have another royalty type form. In addition, an advertiser is asked to pay only for actually completely browsed advertisements.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the introduction of advertisements on public networks such as the Internet, and more particularly to promoting the browsing of advertisements by Internet users.

As used herein, "advertisement" is intended to include one or more text, graphic, video and audio elements related to information about a product or service.
Ads may be independent or have hypertext links to another location.

[0003]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The age of advertising on the Web has truly arrived (for example, "Web Advertisin" by Michael McCandless).
g ", IEEE INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, PP.8-9, May / June 199
See 8). According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, 1
In 997, $ 965 million was spent on Internet advertising in the United States. Internet advertising will reach $ 7.7 billion by 2002, according to Jupiter Communication LLC. The growth of electronic businesses on the Internet has been accompanied by the growth of advertisements shown on websites and by email. However, the web
The introduction of advertising on the page remains a pure opportunity. The user may not be willing to understand what the supplier or advertiser is offering by downloading the ad completely and viewing it. Even truely interested customers may miss their ads due to delays in downloads.

Many customers today view advertising as a current hindrance to their daily lives ("R Cons by Rick Dederick").
umption Model for Targeted Electronic Advertisin
g ", IEEE MultiMedia, 2 (2), pp. 41-49, Summer, 19
See 95). In addition, websites and internet service providers (I
Advertisers who apply to SPs, etc. are generally billed for clicks or successful downloads of the advertisement.
In fact, advertisers are paying for potential audiences, not the actual audience.

[0005] One way advertisers encourage users to look more closely at an ad (and then click on the ad) is with a discount (eg, "50") on the advertised product or service.
% Discount "). Another way to get the user's attention is to offer only relevant ads to the user, the so-called targeted approach.
Is. However, the question remains first of all, how to get the user to fully load the ad. It should be remembered that advertisements typically occupy a small portion of a computer screen and that it is a difficult task to get the user's attention.

Closely related to the issue of user's attention is to charge advertisers on a fair basis. Advertisers must be aware of the value for which they place ads, which is closely tied to the ads viewed.

The first known web advertising format is msn.co.u.
It is used by advertisers of portals such as k. The advertiser specifies the period for which his banner will be posted, on a monthly fixed rate basis. Banners purchased by advertisers are all M
It will be distributed randomly across the SN UK site and will be distributed fairly every day during that period. Pay-per-click advertising (i.e., pay per click) is another way to bill advertisers. The advertiser's banner is displayed on the host's site, and the host bills the advertiser each time the banner is clicked (see Charles D. Alerts, US Pat. No. 5,937,392, issued Aug. 10, 1999).

Yet another billing method is based on impressions (ie, viewing a banner). Impression-based advertising is basically that people pay the host for a set number of impressions. To determine the monetary value, the number of click-throughs or views is taken into account, so it is important to have an attractive banner. In addition, the affiliate (Affi
liate) or commission program pays the host a percentage of the revenue generated through that web page.

Another known possibility is a banner exchange program that works as follows. That is, the host displays a banner on that page, which in turn is displayed on the page of another host. Most companies have a 2: 1 ratio. This means that for every two banners displayed on the host's page, that banner gets one display on the network. Most banner exchanges accept animated GIF files and cost about 14
Has a data size limit of K bytes. Banner exchanges are typically of the following sizes: 400x40 or 468
A banner of x60 (that is, 468 pixel width x 60 pixel height) is accepted.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of encouraging the viewing of advertisements on public networks. The method includes the steps of encouraging the user to download the complete ad, causing the user to see the profitability of searching for the ad, and storing the content.

A second object of the present invention is to bill the advertiser consistent with the actual display of the advertisement.

[0012]

The present invention discloses a method of advertising on a public network. The method comprises the steps of servicing a user from a host server with one or more advertisement banners over the public network, requesting the user to download the complete advertisement from the server, which complete The server records if an ad has been downloaded, the server determines that the user has viewed the complete ad, and rewards the user for viewing the complete ad. And the step of giving.

The present invention further discloses a host server that services client users and supports advertising over public networks. The host server serves the network communication means for connecting to the public network and for connecting to the user and one or more advertisements to the user in response to a download request from the client and complete A processor that downloads the ad to a client, records which full ad has been downloaded, determines that the user has viewed the full ad, and rewards the user for viewing the full ad. And means.

The present invention further discloses a computer program product including a computer-readable medium having a computer program recorded thereon for providing advertisements via a public network. This computer program is 1
Computer program code means for servicing one or more advertisements to a user, computer program code means for downloading a complete advertisement upon request, and computer program code for recording which advertisements have been downloaded Means, computer program code means for determining that the complete advertisement has been viewed, and computer program code means for rewarding for viewing the complete advertisement.

The determining step includes the steps of imposing one or more questions to the user regarding the content of the complete advertisement downloaded, and determining the correctness of the response to the question. Questions are multiple choice. Rewarding steps generally include assigning one or more of money, monetary value, goods or services to a user. The recording step preferably comprises recording the period during which the user's browser program displays the complete advertisement, and passing the downloaded message to the host server if the period exceeds a predetermined time. . Additionally, the host server includes the step of billing the advertisement based on the complete advertisement viewed.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in FIG.
The server 10 (eg, ISP) is connected to a public network 20 such as the Internet via a communication link 15. Three subscriber users 25, 30, 35 are served by the server 10, each person having a respective communication link (eg via modem) 40, 45, 50.
Such configurations are known to those skilled in the art. For simplicity,
Here, only the first user 25 will be described.

Specific Embodiment: On the host server 10 and user (client) machines 25-35,
The present invention is implemented using a computer program product in conjunction with computer system 100, as shown in FIG. In particular, the present invention is implemented as software running on computer system 100 or as computer readable program code.

Computer system 100 includes computer 150, video display device 110, and input device 13.
0 and 132 are included. Further, the computer system 10
The 0 can have any number of other output devices connected to the computer 150, including line printers, laser printers, plotters, and other playback devices. Computer system 100 communicates via communication input / output (I / O) interface 164 with a suitable communication channel 14 such as a modem communication path, electronic network, or the like.
0 can be used to connect to one or more other computers. Networks include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), intranets, and the Internet 120.

The computer 150 has a control module 16
6, memory 170 including random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM), input / output (I
/ O) interfaces 164, 172, video interface 160, and one or more storage devices generally represented by storage device 162. Control module 166
Are implemented using a central processing unit (CPU) that executes computer-readable program code that performs a particular function or set of related functions.

The video interface 160 is connected to the video display device 110 and provides the video signal from the computer 150 on the video display device 110 for display. User input for operating the computer 150 may be input / output through one or more input devices 130, 132.
It is provided via the O interface 172. For example,
A user of the computer 150 may use the keyboard 130
It is used as an I / O interface, or a pointing device such as the mouse 132 is used as an I / O interface. A keyboard and mouse provide input to computer 150. The storage device 162 is a floppy (R) disk, a hard disk drive, a magneto-optical disk drive, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape,
Or include any other non-volatile storage known to those of skill in the art. Each element of computer system 150
Generally, it is connected to other devices via a bus 180, which may include a data bus, an address bus and a control bus.

The method steps of the present invention comprise a computer
This is accomplished by the instructions in software executed by system 100. Once again, the software is implemented as one or more modules that perform the method steps.

In particular, the software is stored in a computer readable medium, including storage 162, or downloaded from a remote location on the Internet 120 or from another network location or site via interface 164 and communication channel 140. To be done. Computer system 100 includes a computer-readable medium having such software or program code recorded thereon to execute the instructions of the software or program code. Use of computer system 100 preferably implements an apparatus for constructing a run-time symbol table of computer programs in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Computer system 100 is provided by way of example, and other configurations may be employed without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The foregoing is merely one example of a type of computer for implementing the embodiments of the present invention. Generally, the process of the examples is
It exists as software recorded on a hard disk drive as a computer-readable medium or as computer-readable program code, which is read and controlled using the control module 166. Intermediate storage of program code and any data such as entities and tickets is accomplished using memory 170 or in response to storage 162.

In some examples, the program is a CD-ROM.
Or encoded on a floppy disk (both commonly shown as storage 162) and provided to the user, or read from the network by the user via a modem device connected to computer 150. . In addition, computer system 100 can load software from other computer-readable media. Such media include magnetic tape and R
OM or integrated circuit, magneto-optical disk, wireless or infrared transmission channel between computer and another device, PC
Included are computer readable cards such as MCIA cards, as well as the Internet 120 and intranets, including electronic mail transmissions and information recorded on Internet sites. However, these are merely examples of associated computer-readable media. Other computer-readable media may be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

The present invention is a computer system 1
Implemented centrally within 00 or in a distributed fashion so that the different elements are spread over several interconnected computer systems.

In the present context, a computer program means or a computer program causes a system capable of processing information to perform a specific function directly, or a) another language, code or notation. Means any representation, in any language, code, or notation, of a set of instructions that is executed after either or both conversion or b) reproduction in different material formats.

Functional operation: The user 25 subscribes to the server 10 based on acceptance of the advertisement. The server 10 is configured to serve advertisements to the user 25,
It has local storage for storing such advertisements while waiting for certain events to complete. The incentive for users to view the complete advertisements downloaded is that they are paid a reward. Remuneration is in the form of money, monetary value, goods or services. One particular form of monetary reward is
Royalty and redemption for products and services such as travel
It is a point.

Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether the user actually viewed a particular downloaded advertisement. This is achieved through a question and answer process. That is, the user 25 is asked a question for each ad, and if the user responds correctly, the ad is considered viewed and the user is entitled to a reward.

Referring to FIG. 3, the flow of events is shown, starting at step 200, where the user is working on the terminal. Then, at step 205, one or more standby advertisements are displayed to the user (or downloaded from server 10) when the user is not interacting with the server. Does the user view the advertisement (step 21)
0), or simply remove the ad from the display (step 21)
5) can be selected. If the user views the advertisement, one or more questions are posed to the user after a short period of time (step 220). Questions may be associated with recently viewed ads or previously viewed ads (ie "batch questions")
(Batched questions)). They are either attached to the advertisement or downloaded separately from the server 10.

The type of question asked is generally related to the material (text, audio, video, etc.) shown in the advertisement. For example, in an ad
When presented with the salient features of a BM ™ laptop, the user is asked to select the correct processor configuration for the laptop (already shown to the user) from a given set of choices. Another example is television advertising. The type of question asked in this case may relate to features that differentiate the product from the features of competing products. For example, the question might be, "What is the name of a television with a Trinitron (TM) picture tube?" The user is given the option of answering the question.

Server 10 serving advertisements to users
Need only know which ads were sent to which users so that related questions could be answered.
The server 10 may track which advertisements the user viewed by querying the user's browser software, which records the duration of the advertisement on the user's screen. If this time period exceeds a preset threshold (eg, 1 second), it is considered that the user has viewed the advertisement.

The user either answers one or more questions (step 225) or chooses to ignore the questions (step 230).

If the user answers the question, step 2
At 35, the answer is returned to the server 10, which determines if the answer is correct (step 240) and, if so, gives the associated reward to that particular user (step 245). The reward may in fact eventually be passed on from another party. For example, the host server 10 may pass the information to the website of the airline, and the airline may notify the user of the provision of some frequent flyer points.

An additional configuration for the server is to record which question was answered correctly. In this way, the advertisement for which the incorrect answer is presented may be serviced again.

The client software that presents advertisements and asks questions to the user may simply be incorporated into the user's browser program (eg a plug-in) or may be a stand-alone application. Advertising is HTM
One example shown to the user by L is to incorporate the GIF file in HTML (currently done in banner ads). The following is the Java (R) Script code that prints out a random banner advertisement each time a page containing Java (R) Script is viewed.

<!-One step to introduce banner ads: 1. Add the first code to the body of your HTML document-><!-Step 1: Add the first code to the body of your HTML document-><BODY><SCRIPT LANGUAGE = "Java (R) Script"><!-This script and many others are available online for free-><!-Java (R) Script source !! http: //javascript.intern
et.com-><!-Begin var how_many_ads = 3; var now = new Date () var sec = now.getSeconds () var ad = sec% how_many_ads; ad + = 1; if (ad == 1) { txt = "The World's Largest Online Bookstore, Amazon.c
om "; url =" http://www.amazon.com "; alt =" amazon.com "; banner =" http://imageserv.imgis.com/images/Ad12669S
t1Sz1Sq1_Ban1.gif "; width =" 468 "; height =" 60 ";} if (ad == 2) {txt =" Palm III by 3Com, in stock! "; url =" http://cybershop.com/ "; alt =" cybershop.com "; banner =" http://imageserv.imagis.com/images/Ad13189
St1Sz1Sq5_Ban10.gif "; width =" 468 "; height =" 60 ";} if (ad == 3) {txt =" Find it at GoTo.com "; url =" http://www.goto.com " alt = "goto.com"; banner = "http://imageserv.imgis.com/images/Ad13700S
t1Sz1Sq1_Ban1.gif "; width =" 468 "; height =" 60 ";} document.write ('<center>'); document.write ('<a href = \''' + url + '\" target = \ "_
top \ ">'); document.write ('<img src = \"'+ banner +' \ "width = ') document.write (width +' height = '+ height +''); document.write (' alt = \\ '+ alt +' \ "border = o><br>'); document.write ('<small>'+ txt +'</small></a>'); document.write ('</center>'); // End __></SCRIPT><p><center><font face = "arial, helvetica" size = "-2"> FreeJaveScri
pts provided <br> by <a href="http://javascritsource.com"> The Java (R)
Script Source </a><font></center><p><!-Script size: 1.44 KB->

In the above code, Amazon and Palm III
Is a trademark.

Advertisements are also represented by applets embedded within HTML code. As mentioned above, advertisements are also served by independent applications. Questions may also be asked in the same manner that advertisements are shown.

As is apparent, all users connected to the host server 10 follow the same operation mode as described above. Similarly, any client of host server 10 may choose not to participate in the advertising program. Users may also be connected to a number of servers that provide advertising features, at their option.

The invention described above provides an incentive for the user to consciously search for advertisements. From the advertiser's perspective, the host service provider is billed based on the number of correct answers given to the advertiser's advertisement (step 250). Thus, a fair basis for billing is provided in that a bill is generated for every real visit.

It goes without saying that the above description has only described one embodiment of the present invention, and modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In summary, the following matters will be disclosed regarding the configuration of the present invention.

(1) A method of advertising on a public network, the host server servicing the user with one or more advertisement banners via the public network; Requesting that the advertisement be downloaded, the server recording which complete advertisement has been downloaded, the server determining that the user has viewed the complete advertisement, and the user completing And rewarding the user for viewing the advertisement. (2) The determining step includes the step of imposing one or more questions on the user regarding the content of the downloaded complete advertisement, and the step of determining whether or not the answer to the question is correct. (1) The method described. (3) The method according to (2) above, wherein the question is a multiple choice method. (4) The method according to (1), wherein the reward includes money, a monetary value, a product or a service. (5) The recording step records a period during which the user's browser program displays a complete advertisement; and, if the period exceeds a predetermined time, download a message to the host server. The method according to (1) above, including a passing step. (6) including the step of the host server billing the advertiser based on the complete advertisement viewed.
The method according to (1) above. (7) A host server that provides services to client users and supports advertisement via a public network, for connecting to the public network,
And a network communication unit for connecting to the user, and 1 in response to a download request from the client.
Serving one or more ads to the user, downloading the full ad to the client, recording which full ad was downloaded, determining that the user has viewed the full ad, and viewing the full ad A host server including a processor means for rewarding a user for doing what is done. (8) In the determination that the complete advertisement has been viewed, the processor means asks the user one or more questions regarding the complete advertisement and determines whether the answer to the question is correct. The server according to (7) above. (9) The server according to (7), wherein when rewarding the user, the server passes the message to another intermediate host, and the intermediate host rewards the user instead. (10) A computer program product including a computer-readable medium in which a computer program for providing an advertisement via a public network is recorded, wherein the computer program serves one or more advertisements to a user. The program code means, the computer program code means for downloading the complete advertisement on request, the computer program code means for recording which advertisement was downloaded, and the complete advertisement being viewed A computer program product comprising a computer program code means for determining and a computer program code means for rewarding for viewing a complete advertisement. (11) The above-mentioned code means for judging that the complete advertisement has been viewed is related to the complete advertisement to be downloaded.
The computer program product of (10) above, comprising one or more questions and an answer to the question. (12) The computer program product of (10), including computer program code means for charging an advertiser based on the complete advertisement viewed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a hardware platform in which the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for implementing a user device and a host server.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart relating to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 host server 15, 40, 45, 50 communication links 25, 30, 35 Subscriber users 100 computer system 132 mice 140 communication channels 150 computers 180 bus

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Manish Gupta             India 100016, New Deli, Nebu Saray               1 ray / 246 (72) Inventor Arock Agawar             United States 10574, Chi, New York             Quaker Street, Yapakuwa 689

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A method of advertising on a public network comprising servicing a user from a host server to one or more advertisement banners via the public network, the user comprising a complete advertisement from the server. Requesting the download of the ad, the server recording which complete ad has been downloaded, the server determining that the user has viewed the complete ad, and the user completing Rewarding a user for viewing the advertisement. 2. The determining step includes the steps of imposing one or more questions to the user regarding the content of the complete advertisement downloaded, and determining whether the answer to the question is correct. The method according to claim 1. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the question is a multiple choice method.
The method described. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward includes money, monetary value, goods or services. 5. The step of recording comprises recording a time period during which the user's browser program displays a complete advertisement; and if the time period exceeds a predetermined time, download the downloaded message to the host. Passing to a server. 6. The method of claim 1 including the step of the host server billing an advertiser based on the complete advertisement viewed. 7. A host server that provides services to client users and supports advertising over public networks, the network communication means for connecting to the public networks and for connecting to the users. And in response to a download request from the client, serve one or more advertisements to the user, download the complete advertisement to the client, record which complete advertisement has been downloaded, and allow the user to display the complete advertisement. A host server that determines that it has viewed and rewards the user for viewing the complete advertisement. 8. The processor means, in determining that the complete advertisement has been viewed, with respect to the complete advertisement,
8. The server according to claim 7, which imposes one or more questions on the user and determines whether the answer to the question is correct. 9. The server of claim 7, wherein in rewarding a user, the server passes the message to another intermediate host, which in turn rewards the user. 10. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having a computer program recorded thereon for providing advertisements over a public network, the computer program serving one or more advertisements to a user. Computer·
The program code means, the computer program code means for downloading the complete advertisement on request, the computer program code means for recording which advertisement was downloaded, and the complete advertisement being viewed Computer to judge
A computer program product comprising a program code means and a computer program code means for rewarding for the viewing of a complete advertisement. 11. The computer of claim 10, wherein the code means for determining that a complete advertisement has been viewed includes one or more questions about the complete advertisement being downloaded and an answer to the question. Program product. 12. Based on the complete advertisement viewed,
The computer program product of claim 10 including computer program code means for billing an advertiser.