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Claims  |
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Having thus described the invention, what it is desired to claim and
thereby protect by Letters Patent is:
1. An automated system in an interactive communication medium for
selectively displaying one or more advertisements to a subject comprising:
a collaborative filtering means for determining a subject's community,
using information derived from the activities of the subject in the
interactive communication medium, and
means for determining which of the one or more advertisements to show the
subject based on characteristics of the subject's community, wherein the
means for determining which of the one or more advertisements to show the
subject based on characteristics of the subject's community includes means
for displaying a new advertisement for a training period and means for
determining whether a high or low proportion of members of the subject's
community have viewed further information about the advertisement.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information derived from the
activities of the subject comprises information selected from at least one
of the following:
(1) an identity of one or more sites the subject has visited;
(2) a frequency with which the subject visits each of the one or more
sites;
(3) a nature of the content at the visited sites;
(4) an identity of items purchased by the subject;
(5) a price of any items purchased by the subject;
(6) ratings supplied by the subject;
(7) a selection of advertisements the subject has chosen to view further
information about; and
(8) a selection of advertisements in which the subject has indicated
disinterest.
3. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for recording said
information in a tracking database.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein said means for recording said information
in a tracking database includes at least a portion of a computer program
being executed by a processor which the subject used to visit the sites.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least portion of a computer
program being executed by the processor which the subject used to visit
the sites is selected from at least one of the following: an in-line
application with the ability to write directly to the subject's computer,
a screensaver working in conjunction with a browser, and software
incorporated in a browser.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for determining which
advertisements to show the subject based on characteristics of the
subject's community includes means for associating a demographic profile
with the community and means for associating a demographic profile with
specific advertisements.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for determining which
advertisements to show the subject based on characteristics of the
subject's community is embodied in software being executed by a processing
system used by the subject.
8. A computer implemented process in an interactive medium for selectively
displaying one or more advertisements to a subject comprising the steps
of:
(a) tracking activities of the subject in the interactive medium;
(b) deriving information from the activities of the subject identified in
said tracking step;
(c) determining a community of the subject using all or a portion of the
information; and
(d) determining which of the one or more advertisements to present to the
subject based on the subject's community, wherein said step of determining
which advertisements to show the subject based on characteristics of the
subject's community includes the steps of:
displaying a new advertisement for a training period; and
determining whether a high or low proportion of members of the subject's
community have chosen to view further information about the advertisement.
9. The process of claim 8, wherein the information derived from the
activities of the subject comprises information corresponding to at least
one of:
(1) an identity of one or more sites the subject has visited;
(2) a frequency with which the subject visits each of the one or more
sites;
(3) a nature of the information content at the visited sites;
(4) an identity of items purchased by the subject;
(5) a price of any items purchased by the subject;
(6) ratings supplied by the subject;
(7) a selection of advertisements the subject has chosen to view further
information about; and
(8) a selection of advertisements in which the subject has indicated
disinterest.
10. The process of claim 9, wherein the process further comprises the step
of recording said information in a tracking database.
11. The process of claim 10, wherein said step of recording such
information in a tracking database uses at least a portion of a computer
program being executed by a processor which the subject used to visit the
sites.
12. The process of claim 11, wherein the at least portion of a computer
program being executed by the processor which the subject used to visit
the sites is selected from at least one of the following: an in-line
application with the ability to write directly to the subject's computer,
a screensaver working in conjunction with a browser, and software
incorporated in a browser.
13. The process of claim 10, wherein the step of recording said information
in a tracking database is under Common Gateway Interface control.
14. The process of claim 8, wherein said step of determining which
advertisements to show the subject based on the subject's community
includes the steps of:
associating a demographic profile with the community; and
associating a demographic profile with specific advertisements.
15. The process of claim 8, further comprising the step of filtering the
information from said deriving step to provide filtered information.
16. The process of claim 15, further comprising the step of grouping the
subject into a cluster formed of other subjects with similar communities.
17. A computer program product for selectively displaying at least one or
more host based advertisements to a guest at a remote location comprising:
(a) a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means
embodied therein for tracking activities of the guest at the remote
location;
(b) computer readable program code means for deriving information from the
activities of the guest identified in said tracking step;
(c) computer readable program code means for determining a community of the
guest using all or a portion of the information; and
(d) computer readable program code means for determining which
advertisements to present to the guest based on the guest's community,
wherein the means for determining which advertisements to present the
subject based on the guest's community includes computer readable program
code means for displaying a new advertisement for a training period and
computer readable program code means for determining whether a high or low
proportion of members of the guest's community have chosen to view further
information about the advertisement.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the information
derived from the activities of the guest comprises information selected
from at least one of the following:
(1) an identity of one or more sites the guest has visited;
(2) a frequency with which the guest visits each of the one or more sites;
(3) a nature of the content at the visited sites;
(4) an identity of items purchased by the guest;
(5) a price of any items purchased by the guest;
(6) ratings supplied by the guest;
(7) a selection of advertisements the guest has chosen to view further
information about; and
(8) a selection of advertisements in which the guest has indicated
disinterest.
19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the product further
comprises computer readable program code means for recording the
information in a tracking database stored locally at the guest's remote
location.
20. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising readable
program code means for filtering the information from said deriving step
to provide filtered information.
21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein a plurality of guests
with similar communities are grouped into clusters.
22. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein a demographic profile
is created for the guest based upon the information derived from the
activities of the guest.
23. A computer program product for selectively displaying at least one or
more host based advertisements to a guest at a remote location comprising:
(a) a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means
embodied therein for tracking activities of the guest at the remote
location;
(b) computer readable program code means for deriving information from the
activities of the guest identified in said tracking step;
(c) computer readable program code means for determining a community of the
guest using all or a portion of the information;
(d) computer readable program code means for determining which
advertisements to present to the guest based on the guest's community; and
(e) computer readable program code means for displaying an advertisement,
the computer readable program code means for displaying an advertisement
responsive to the computer readable program code means for determining
which advertisements to present the guest wherein the computer readable
program code means for displaying displays the advertisement determined by
the computer readable program code means for determining which
advertisement to present the guest wherein the guest has the ability to
reject the selected advertisement, whereby the rejected advertisement is
replaced with a second selected advertisement determined by said computer
readable program code means for determining which advertisement to present
the guest.
24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the computer readable
program code means for displaying displays the advertisements in a window
of a display at the guest's remote location.
25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the advertisement
displayed in the window is linked to an advertiser's site. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention involves the display of advertising to users of an
interactive communications medium. It is particularly useful with the
World Wide Web, which utilizes a communications protocol on the Internet.
To access the Internet, and to carry out the methods described in this
document, one must have a CPU, RAM, Internet connection (for instance,
through a phone line and modem), input device such as a keyboard, and an
output device such as a TV, CRT or LCD.
All of the above-identified hardware, necessary to carry out the steps
described in this document, will be considered to be implied in the
following description of the present invention.
INTRODUCTION
Under the old model for the advertising industry, the subject matter of one
"unit of publication" (a magazine, a newspaper section, a radio show, a TV
show) was often the sole means an advertiser possessed in order to guess
the interests of a particular reader or viewer. If for instance, the
magazine was about cars, advertisers knew that anyone reading it was
highly likely to be interested in cars.
However, on the Internet's World Wide Web, multiple units of
publication--that is, multiple Web pages and user actions over time--can
be used to determine the interests of each individual. Moreover, this
information can be gathered very inexpensively. To do this, we take
advantage of the fact that a Web user's actions can be tracked over time.
This rich source of information about each person will be used to bring
about an era of far more efficient advertising. The information used
includes not only which sites were visited by the user and for how long,
but also which ads the user clicked on, as well as other information.
Under the old model, as it exists on the Web today, most of this
information is ignored. It is technically possible to acquire it, but it
isn't generally being done. This is due to reasons of momentum of the old
model, lack of well-known software and statistical tools for making use of
the information, and, not insignificantly, fears of an invasion of privacy
(a problem that must be dealt with and that this concept paper will
explore below). But this information, when acquired and used, will be
extremely useful in trying to make sure that each square inch of the
limited Web advertising space on each site is used to effectively reach
individual customers.
This ignored information, because of its power to enhance advertising
effectiveness, is extremely valuable.
Moreover, the use of this information benefits not only the users, but also
every one of the interested commercial entities--advertisers, ad agencies,
and Web sites. Each entity will be economically motivated to facilitate
the move to the new paradigm.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
On the World Wide Web, and other media such as interactive television, it
is possible to show different ads to different people who are
simultaneously viewing or interacting with the same content. For instance,
a particular Web page may have an area reserved for advertisements. Anyone
of average experience in the field of Web programming would be able to
create code to show different advertisements to different people
simultaneously viewing that page. This can be accomplished, for instance,
by means of a CGI script.
Since different people have different interests, it is apparent that this
can be a useful thing to do. But the question remains: how do we determine
which advertisements to choose for a particular viewer?
This invention is based on the fact that people who have shown a tendency
for similar interests and likes and dislikes in the past will usually
continue to show a tendency for such similarities in the future. In
particular, people who have shown a historical tendency to be interested
in the same ads in the past will usually continue to display such a
tendency as time goes on. Those people who strongly display such
similarities with respect to a particular person (who we will refer to as
"the subject") are referred to as that person's "community."
If the members of a particular consumer's community tend to click on a
particular Web ad, then there is a certain likelihood that the subject
consumer will also tend to click on that ad.
To take advantage of this fact, this invention combines techniques for
solving two problems: determining the subject's community, and determining
which ads to show based on characteristics of the subject's community.
In this invention, the information used to determine whether a given
individual should be in the subject's community is gleaned from the
activities of the individual in the interactive medium in question. For
instance, when the interactive medium is the World Wide Web, the
information may involve such facts as the choices of Web sites the
individuals have each visited, the frequency of such visits, the nature of
the content at those sites, etc. If the sites are online stores, the
information may involve the choice of specific items purchased, as well as
the prices of those items. As another example, if the site is an
entertainment recommendation service based on user-supplied ratings
(Firefly at www.ffly.com is an example), the ratings can be used. One more
example is the selection of Web ads each individual has chosen to click
on. In one embodiment, there is a feature which allows individuals to
indicate their disinterest in an ad; this serves as additional input.
There needs to be a means to track a consumer's activities so all the
information he generates can be tied together in the database. In one
embodiment, this is accomplished by means of Netscape-style "cookies,"
which are stored on the consumer's hard disk under CGI control. In other
embodiments, software running on the consumer's computer, such as an
Netscape-style in-line plug-in, a screensaver working in conjunction with
the Web browser, or the Web browser itself, is used to tie the data
together.
This information is used as the basis for calculations which generate a
(usually numeric) measure of similarity between individuals. Examples of
such similarity measures are well-known to programmers of ordinary skill
in the field of collaborative filtering.
The individuals with the greatest calculated similarity become the
subject's community.
In one embodiment clusters are formed of groups of very similar consumers.
Then, the subjects community consists of all or some of the other members
of his cluster.
The next major task is to decide what ads to show the subject based on his
community.
In one embodiment of the invention, a new ad is displayed randomly or on a
fixed schedule to a certain number of users. During this "training period"
for the new ad, a certain percentage of the members of the subject's
community will click on it. If this is an unusually high proportion, then
there is a relatively high likelihood that the ad will be of relatively
high interest to the subject. In one embodiment, statistical techniques
are used to determine a probability, associated with a fixed confidence
level, with which we can assume a randomly-chosen member of the subject's
community will tend to click on the ad; this probability is used as the
measure of similarity. Other embodiments involve other analytic
techniques.
There are a number of additional features found in other embodiments of the
invention.
In one embodiment, the advertiser specifies the demographic profile he
wants to show the ad to. In that case, as long as we have demographic
information available for some consumers, the system targets ads by
considering the subject's community members who have supplied demographic
information. For instance, by computing the average age of the members of
the subject's community who have supplied their ages, the system is
enabled to make an "intelligent guess" about the subject's age, and use
that guess for the purpose of targeting ads.
In one embodiment of the invention, special Web pages or sites are supplied
which enable advertisers to specify specific specific sites they would
like their ads to run on (or not run on); similarly, special Web pages or
sites are supplied which enable Web site administrators to specify ads
they would like to display or not display.
In other embodiments, means are supplied for consumers to specify and
update their demographic information; these means take the form of a Web
site or page in one embodiment, and software running on the consumer's
computer in another.
In some embodiments, software running on the consumer's computer makes the
choices about which ads are to be displayed for that user. This embodiment
has the advantage that it obviates the need for a central database storing
detailed information about consumer together with an identifier for each
consumer; so the consumer's privacy is protected.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A more complete understanding of the present invention and the attendant
advantages and features thereof will be more readily understood by
reference to the following detailed description when considered in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a flowchart diagram for the steps performed in selectively
displaying one or more advertisements to a subject in accordance with the
teachings of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is
shown. In this embodiment, the system begins by tracking activities of the
subject in the interactive medium (step 10). Next, the system derives
information from the activities of the subject (step 20). The system then
determines a community of the subject using all or a portion of the
information (step 30). Finally, the system determines which of the one or
more advertisements to present to the subject based on the subject's
community by displaying a new advertisement for a training period and
determining whether a high or low proportion of members of the subject's
community have chosen to view further information about the advertisement
(step 40).
Smart Ad Boxes
The centerpiece of this invention is the "Smart Ad Box." A Smart Ad Box is
an area on a Web page (usually rectangular) which is used to display Web
advertising. Special software algorithms are used to determine which ads
are shown to which users; different visitors to a Web page can
simultaneously see different ads.
A number of factors can be used by the software in determining which ads to
show. For instance, based on their Dec. 6, 1995 press release, the company
C.vertline.Net appears to be planning to implement a Smart Ad Box-like
system which decides which ads to present to which users based on such
information as the type of Web browser they're using, their age, gender,
Internet domain (EDU, COM, etc.) and other demographic information. A Dec.
19, 1995 press release from Novo Media Group indicates at least somewhat
similar plans.
This invention involves using automated collaborative filtering (ACF)
either instead of, or in addition to, the above-mentioned techniques. (ACF
is also referred to as social information filtering.) As far as is known,
there is no prior art that involves using ACF in determining which ads to
show to whom.
For ease of discussion, this patent will focus exclusively on the use of
ACF in Web advertising. However, it must be stressed that ACF can be used
in a complementary manner to techniques such as those C.vertline.Net and
Novo Media Group are developing. ACF can give us a certain amount of
evidence that a particular ad should be shown to a particular user; such
information as age, sex, Internet domain, etc. can be considered as well.
From the point of view of a Web site hosting a Smart Ad Box, the Smart Ad
Box consists of a small amount of HTML code. It may optionally involve
non-HTML code, such as Java. It involves calling a CGI routine.
What the user sees.
When a Smart Ad Box appears on a page, a user viewing that page will see an
ad which is targeted to that particular user. Thus, simultaneous viewers
of the same page will often be presented with different ads. The ad is
visually contained in the Smart Ad Box. The Smart Ad Box may or may not be
rectangular in shape; it will often, but not necessarily, exist in a fixed
region on the screen.
The Smart Ad Box will present different ads to a user over time. Certainly,
simply showing the same ad over and over again is not maximally effective.
The user would simply become used to it and would therefore come to ignore
it. This invention involves rotating the user through different ads which
are of likely to be of interest to that particular user. The rotation
schedule can be chosen for maximal overall advertising effectiveness. One
way to measure effectiveness would be the frequency of clicks on ads in
Smart Ad Boxes--the rotation schedule could be chosen to maximize this
number. It could involve such information as the number of times the user
has seen each ad in the past, and the predicted likelihood that the user
will be interested in the given ad. Another factor that could be
considered is resonance with the Web page showing the ad--perhaps ads that
relate in some way to the subject matter of the page will be more likely
to be clicked on.
Like most current Web advertisements, clicking on a Smart Ad Box will cause
the user to be transported to a Web site chosen by the advertiser.
Moreover, particular implementations of the present invention can
optionally include certain additional features, such as the ability to
reject an ad--for instance, with an option-click of the mouse. A user
would do this for an ad that had no interest for him. The rejected ad
would automatically be replaced with another ad targeted to that user.
Control features for advertisers and Web site managers.
The central database can optionally contain rules or control records
provided by advertisers and Web site managers. These could be used for the
following purposes:
An advertiser may not want to be associated with certain Web sites or types
of Web sites; alternatively there may be certain sites or types of sites
they would like to be associated with as strongly as possible. Advertisers
could specify such inclinations, and they can be stored in a database.
Then, when the software is choosing the next ad to show to a particular
user who is visiting a particular Web site, those factors can be taken
into account.
Similarly, a Web site may prefer certain advertisers or advertisements or
types of advertisements to others. The Web site can specify such
inclinations, and they can be taken into account when the next ad is
chosen for a particular user currently visiting that Web site.
One way for advertisers and Web sites to supply these rules would be for a
Web site to be constructed which would do the following:
1. There would be a page which would present advertisers with a list of Web
sites which are currently running Smart Ad Boxes. (Optionally, these Web
sites could be grouped according to subject matter. For instance, Web
sites concerning automobiles could be grouped together. In addition,
individual pages of Web sites could be listed. Thus, there could be a
three-level hierarchy.)
2. It would allow the advertiser to input identification information about
an ad--for instance, its URL. This will tell the software that the
information given will apply to that particular ad.
3. It would allow the advertiser to indicate which Web sites he would like
to have display his ad. If Web sites are grouped by subject matter and/or
individual pages are listed, the advertiser should be able to indicate
choices on those items, too.
For instance, a check box could appear next to each item. If the advertiser
clicks a checkbox for an item which has subordinate items (for instance,
the user may have clicked on the checkbox for a Web site which was listed
with its individual pages) then the checkboxes for the subordinate items
could be automatically "checked" or "filled in" by the software. (Java or
JavaScript could be used to do this in "real-time" instead of requiring
the user to submit the form.) But a number of other mechanisms could be
used instead of checkboxes--for instance, the listings could change color
to indicate having been chosen. Checkboxes are probably preferable,
though, since their meaning is so intuitively clear.
4. Optionally, there could be a page that would work the opposite way. It
would allow an advertiser to identify a particular ad, and then it would
allow him to specify the sites (subject groups, pages) which have Smart Ad
Boxes but which he would rather not allow to show his ad. Thus, his ad
would be distributed to all pages with Smart Ad Boxes except those that
were specified. Again, pages could be specified by means of checkboxes at
page, site, or subject matter levels.
5. In the above, whenever a page is listed, it should optionally be
possible to click on the listing to be transported to that page in order
to investigate it.
6. Optionally, advertisers should be able to retrieve the information
already entered for a particular ad. For instance, an advertiser may
change his mind about showing an ad on a given site. So, by specifying the
ad's identifier, the advertiser should be presented with a listing of
pages which indicate the choices he has already made; ideally, he should
be able to change those choices using the same techniques used to enter
those choices originally--for instance, by clicking on the checkboxes.
7. Through the pages described above, an advertiser would be able to
specify the pages which will be allowed to display the ad. However, the
Web sites with Smart Ad Boxes also need to have a choice. So a page could
be set up for them which listed all the ads which they are allowed to
show. As in the other case, checkboxes could be used to indicate which ads
will be chosen; again as in the other case, the webmaster should be able
to indicate either the specific ads he wants to present on his page
(automatically disallowing the rest) or the ads he doesn't want to present
(automatically including the rest).
8. As in the other case, allowed ads could be presented hierarchically by
subject matter, with checkboxes at both levels.
9. The ad listings could, optionally, consist of the ad banners themselves.
Alternatively, they could be "hot-linked" text that the webmaster could
click on to be transported to a page containing the banner (which might
additionally have other information supplied by the advertiser about the
ad). There should optionally also be a way for the webmaster to visit the
site that the banner will be linked to; this could be accomplished simply
by hotlinking the banner to the site, just as will be the case for users.
It could also be accomplished other ways, including having a button, next
to the listing for the ad, which is hotlinked to the related site.
10. Alternatively, the system could work the opposite way. Instead of
enabling advertisers to offer ads to chosen Web sites, the process could
start with Web sites offering pages to advertisers, which could then
choose which pages they want to accept.
11. In cases where hierarchies are displayed, the hierarchies could be
collapsible, similar to the way files are listed in the Finder of
Macintosh's System 7 operating system when View is "by Name." This would
enable people using the lists to navigate them more effectively,
especially if the actions for expanding and collapsing hierarchy levels
were very fast. To achieve a quick and responsive user interface, a Java
applet could be written which handled some or all aspects of the user
interaction.
Control features for users.
Demographic data.
Web pages can optionally display a hot link to a site where users can enter
their demographic data. Users can optionally be given the ability to
modify their demographic data at any time. Finally, if they wish to, they
can optionally be given the ability to delete their demographic data at
any time.
This control over their demographic data will alleviate many user's privacy
concerns.
In addition, users should have easy access to information statin | | |
