Ad taking pagination information system

What is claimed is:

1. A network on which personal ads are stored for distribution to a client, comprising:

at least one call center on which are entered a plurality of personal ads to be distributed to the client;

at least one ad response machine on which responses to the personal ads are stored; and

an ad taking system comprising a database including:

an identifier of the client;

the plurality of personal ads to be distributed to the client; and

a profile of the client containing a plurality of identifiers of personal ad parameters and a plurality of weights, each one associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of personal ad parameters, wherein the plurality of weights are verified with statistics regarding the productivity of the respective personal ad parameter in eliciting responses, and wherein the statistics are obtained from the at least one ad response machine over the network.

2. The network of claim 1 wherein the profile further comprises an identifier of a font and a pitch of text characters for the personal ads distributed to the client and free page space allocated by the client for the personal ad.

3. The network of claim 1 further comprising a Centralized Automated Polling System (CAPS) coupled between the network and the at least one ad response machine, wherein the CAPS periodically polls the at least one ad response machine for the statistics and makes the statistics available to the ad taking system.

4. The network of claim 1 further comprising a processor for ordering the personal ads according to the weights contained in the profile.

5. The network of claim 1 wherein personal ads are stored in the database for distribution to a plurality of clients and wherein the database contains an identifier of each of the clients, personal ads to be distributed to each of the clients and a profile of each of the clients.

6. The network of claim 5 further comprising a plurality of ad response machines, each one located proximal to at least one of the plurality of clients.

7. The network of claim 1 wherein the responses stored on the at least one ad response machine are recorded voice messages which are telephone accessible with a box number and a security code and wherein the ad taking system further comprises a processor on which a box management program is executed for maintaining a predetermined number of box numbers and security codes available for the client.

8. A method of providing text of personal ads to a client, comprising the steps of:

receiving the text of a plurality of personal ads to be distributed to the client, the text being received at a call center coupled to a network;

storing responses to the personal ads on an ad response machine coupled to the network;

providing a database on an ad taking system coupled to the network, with the database including an identifier of the client, the personal ads to be distributed to the client and a profile of the client, the profile containing a plurality of identifiers of personal ad parameters and a plurality of weights, each one associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of personal ad parameters; and

collecting from the ad response machine via the network statistics regarding the productivity of each of the plurality of personal ad parameters in eliciting responses, wherein the weights are verified with the collected statistics.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the database providing step includes storing in the database an identifier of a font and pitch for the text of the personal ads and free page space allocated by the client for the personal ads.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the statistics collecting step includes periodically polling the ad response machine to collect the statistics.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of distributing the text of the personal ads to the client in an order determined by the weights contained in the profile.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the personal ad receiving step includes receiving personal ads for a plurality of clients and wherein the database providing step includes storing in the database an identifier of each of the clients, personal ads for distribution to each of the clients and a profile of each of the clients.

13. A method of providing text of personal ads to a client, comprising the steps of:

calculating a point total to assign to each of the personal ads in accordance with a weighting scheme associated with the client;

ordering the personal ads according to the point total calculated for each of the personal ads;

determining a maximum quantity of text to provide to the client based on a profile of the client; and

providing the text of the personal ads to the client in accordance with the determined maximum text quantity and point totals of the personal ads.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the maximum text quantity determining step includes determining a maximum number of text characters to provide to the client and the personal ad providing step includes the steps of:

determining whether the sum of the number of text characters previously provided to the client plus the number of characters of the personal ad having the next highest point total is less than the maximum number of text characters; and

providing to the client the personal ad having the next highest point total if the sum of the number of characters previously provided to the client plus the number of characters of the personal ad having the next highest point total is less than the maximum number of text characters.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the personal ad providing step includes transmitting the text of the personal ads to the client.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the profile includes a font and a pitch of the text characters of the personal ads and free page space allocated by the client for the personal ads.

17. A network on which personal ads are placed for distribution to at least one client comprising:

a call center on which a plurality of personal ads to be distributed to the client are entered;

an ad response machine comprising voice recording media for storing responses to the personal ads; and

an ad taking system coupled to the network and including a processor and a database, wherein the database contains a box pool in which is stored a plurality of box numbers, each one corresponding to a portion of the voice recording media of the ad response machine and a plurality of security codes by which authorized access to the voice recording media is verified, wherein the processor is operative to ensure that a predetermined minimum number of box numbers and security codes are stored in the database for the at least one client,

wherein the database further includes a value representing the predetermined minimum number of box numbers and security codes to be stored for the respective client.

18. The network of claim 17 wherein the database further includes a value representing the number of box numbers and security codes to be ordered whenever the number of stored box numbers and security codes for the respective client is less than the predetermined minimum number.

Description Submit all comments and votes

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Advertisements placed by individuals seeking to meet other individuals are often referred to as personal ads, or "personals". Various types of publications print personals, including newspapers and magazines. The method by which a personal ad is placed and/or responded to can vary. For example, a telephone system may be employed to place ads which are then printed in a newspaper or magazine. Responses to personals may be telephone responses in the form of recorded voice messages which are stored for retrieval.

Some publications (referred to herein as the "client") enlist the services of another organization (referred to herein as the "vendor"), such as Tele-Publishing, Inc., the Assignee of the subject invention, for the purpose of collecting and processing personal ads and providing the text of the ads in a convenient form for publication. The vendor operates a plurality of computers, referred to as call centers, to which telephone access is provided. A call center operator, or ad taker, answers telephone calls from individuals seeking to place ads (referred to herein as "advertisers") and enters the text of the personal ads onto the computer, along with other information, such as information identifying the advertiser.

In one system in which responses to personal ads are recorded voice messages, the vendor maintains a plurality of computers (referred to herein as ad response machines) on which the responses are recorded on a voice recording media. The ad response machines are located remotely relative to the vendor and more locally with respect to the clients in order to reduce the cost of placing telephone call responses. The ad taker provides the advertiser with a box, including a box number and a security code, with which telephone access to the responses is achieved. More particularly, the box number identifies a portion of the voice recording media on which responses to the advertiser's personal ad are stored and the security code ensures that the party accessing such responses is authorized to do so.

Conventionally, a predetermined number of boxes are initially allotted for ads placed for publication by each client and, when the number of available boxes falls below a predetermined level, vendor personnel call the ad response machine servicing the client to download additional box numbers and security codes via a modem. The new box numbers and security codes are then entered onto a computer for future use. However, this technique disadvantageously requires frequent monitoring of the number of boxes available for each client and is susceptible to errors which may occur in transcribing the box numbers and security codes onto the computer.

The vendor accumulates a number of personal ads and provides the text of the ads to the client in a convenient form, such as on a computer diskette or a hard copy. Some clients request the "raw text" of the accumulated personals, with little or no processing by the vendor. Other clients have the vendor process the text of the ads and provide the ads in a format and order ready to print (i.e., "camera ready"). Such processing generally includes determining the number of ads to provide for printing in the space allocated by the client and the optimum order in which to print of the ads on the basis of which ads are most likely to elicit responses. Ordering ads in this manner is advantageous since revenue is based on the number and duration of responses placed with "900" calls.

In sorting and ordering personal ads based on their likelihood of response, typically a vendor account executive relies on experience as to which types of ads (i.e., categories of ads and parameters applicable to the ads) historically obtain the most responses when published by the particular client. However, this task is significant in view of the number of clients serviced by the vendor, the frequency with which ads are delivered to the client, the number of different ad categories and possible ad parameters and the frequency with which changing demographics and other factors cause changes in the success of certain types of ads. The account executive may additionally request from the ad response machine "minutes reports" which are printed reports listing the number of minutes that each box is accessed and use such reports in determining which ad types have the greatest likelihood of response. However, the usefulness of such minutes reports in optimizing the order of presentation of ads varies based on the time lapse between issuance of such reports and production of the personal ad text and, further, by the fact that the number of minutes that a box is accessed is not always an accurate indication of the number of responses received.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a network on which personal ads are stored for distribution to one or more clients. The network includes at least one call center on which personal ads are entered, at least one ad response machine on which responses to the personal ads are stored and an ad taking system comprising a database. The database includes an identifier of each client, the text of the personal ads to be distributed to each client and a profile of each client for use in distributing personal ad text to the client. The profile contains a list of personal ad parameters and a weight associated with each of the listed parameters. In accordance with one feature of the invention, the weights are verified with statistics of the productivity of the respective personal ad parameter in eliciting responses and the statistics are obtained from the ad response machine over the network based on previously published ads. The weights are used in ordering personal ads for distribution to the client in an optimum manner, according to the ad's likelihood of eliciting responses.

With this arrangement, statistical information regarding ads recently published by the client is used to order ads for distribution in a manner which ensures that subsequent ads distributed to the client are those most likely to elicit responses. This arrangement is contrasted to, and overcomes drawbacks associated with the conventional technique of a vendor account executive relying on experience and/or minutes reports in ordering personals for publication.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a method for providing text of personal ads to a client includes calculating a point total to assign to each of the personal ads in accordance with a weighting scheme associated with the client and ordering the personal ads according to their point totals. A maximum quantity of text to be provided to the client is determined based on a profile of the client and the personal ad text is provided to the client in accordance with the determined maximum text quantity and the point totals of the personal ads. In one embodiment, the weighting scheme includes a weight value assigned to each ad parameter and the profile includes attributes of the client publication, such as character font, pitch and free page space allocated for printing personal ads.

Providing the text of personal ads to a client in this manner advantageously ensures that the optimum order and number of ads are provided. The personal ad order is optimized to give priority to those ads eliciting the most responses. The described technique of determining a maximum text quantity to provide to the client based on attributes of the client publication advantageously eliminates problems which can arise if too much or too little text is provided. For example, if too much personal ad text is provided to the client, then some of the provided ads will not be published and an accurate feedback mechanism is required to ensure that such "returned" ads are later published.

In accordance with a still further aspect of the invention, the database of the ad taking system contains at least one box pool for each client in which is stored box numbers corresponding to a portion of voice recording media of an ad response machine and security codes by which authorized access to the voice recording media is verified. More particularly, an advertiser who calls into a call center to place a personal ad receives a box number and a security code with which to access voice message responses recorded on the ad response machine. The processor is operative to ensure that a predetermined minimum number of boxes (i.e., box numbers and security codes) are stored in the database for each box pool of each client. In one embodiment, a value stored in the client profile portion of the ad taking system database represents the predetermined minimum number of boxes to be stored and available for each client. A further value stored in the profile represents the number of boxes to be ordered each time the available number of boxes is less than the predetermined minimum number.

With this arrangement, an effective box management technique is provided for ensuring that a predetermined minimum number of boxes remains available for each client. The decision as to whether to order more box numbers and security codes is made automatically, by the processor and is further made periodically, at a rate sufficient to prevent the number of boxes in reserve from decreasing to a point where new ads can no longer be placed. Further, the number of new boxes ordered is tailored to the client's needs and usage, thereby avoiding unnecessarily tying up box numbers and security codes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, may be more fully understood from the following description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network for placing and responding to personal ads including an ad taking pagination information system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of the ad taking pagination information system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method by which a personal ad is placed on the network of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates the structure of a portion of the database of the ad taking pagination information system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a first portion of a flow diagram illustrating a box management process according to the invention;

FIG. 5A is a second portion of the flow diagram of FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method by which a client profile is verified;

FIG. 7 is a first portion of a flow diagram illustrating a method of personal ad text production; and

FIG. 7A is a second portion of the flow diagram of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a network 10 is shown for receiving personal advertisements ("