CA2305056A1 - System and methods for distributing display advertising and monitoring advertising efficacy - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for displaying advertisements on a number of distributed display units has a communication server which forwards advertisements in the form of HTML pages together with a schedule for displaying the advertisements to display controllers in the display units. The display controllers can be PC computers running standard web browser software. Each advertisement may have a unique identifier. The identifier is preferably a URL of a web page. The display units may also have touch screens or other associated user input devices. The efficacy of individual advertisements can be monitored by logging and analysing hits on the associated web page or input from user input devices associated with the display units or input derived from Point of Sale tracking mechanisms. The display units can be widely geographically distributed. The display communication server may communicate with some of the display units by way of satellite telecommunication links and other display units by way of the Internet.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DISTRIBUTING DISPLAY
ADVERTISING AND MONITORING ADVERTISING EFFICACY
Technical Field This invention relates to display advertising. In particular the invention relates to a display advertising system which coordinates the display of advertising on a plurality of distributed displays for viewing by consumers or potential consumers of goods and services.
The displays may be very widely distributed. Specific aspects of the system permit users to design and schedule advertisements and to monitor the efficacy of specific advertisements.
Background While there is a steady supply of new advertising concepts, a mainstay of advertising has been display advertising in public locations. Such advertising may be in the form of billboards, paper posters, or the like. The actual cost of preparing each physical advertising display, for example the cost of printing a paper poster, can be relatively low. However, very large costs can be incurred in having static display advertising displayed in many distant locations. The advertising must be physically distributed and manually installed. The advertising must also be frequently moved and changed to retain consumer interest.
Another disadvantage of static advertising is that consumers have become jaded by exposure to sophisticated television advertising, multimedia computer displays and the like. It is very difficult to design static advertising, such as posters and billboards, in a manner which is likely to catch the attention of today's consumers. More and more people are spending time outside their homes.

-2-There are many one-way schemes for delivering advertising content directly to computer users. For example, advertising banners may be displayed when a computer user accesses a particular web page.
These schemes are limited in that they can only reach prospective customers who are computer users and then, only when the computer users are actually using their computers. One-way advertising schemes which simply display advertisements to computer users also provide no way to measure advertising effectiveness in real time.
Fisher et al., U.S. patent No. 5,392,066 discloses a system in which advertising graphics can be distributed to in-store displays by way of satellite communication links. The Fisher et al. system does not provide any way to test the efficacy of advertising delivered to the in-store displays. Further, the creation and scheduling of advertisements in the Fisher et al. system is done from a single location.
There is a need for methods and systems for distributing advertising which are easy for advertisers to access directly and which can be used by advertisers without incurring large start up costs. There is a particular need for such systems which provide the abilities to measure the effectiveness of advertising in real time in a cost-effective manner and to alter advertising content and scheduling in real-time or near real time.
Summary of the Invention The invention provides a system capable of displaying advertisements according to a schedule on a number of widely distributed display units. The display units are preferably located in public places. The display units preferably include display units having

-3-large format displays. Display units having smaller displays may also be provided.
One aspect of the invention provides an advertisement distribution system which comprises a communication server connected to deliver: a plurality of advertisements, each comprising a unique contact information; and, scheduling information for the advertisements;
to a plurality of advertisement display units. The unique contact information preferably comprises a URL for a web page or a telephone number. The unique contact information can be used to assess the efficacy of individual advertisements. A proportion of interested persons who view an advertisement will use the unique contact information to seek more information, to order a product or service, or the like. By tracking the number of persons who use the unique contact information of several advertisements the efficacy of individual advertisements can be compared. The display units may also, or in the alternative, have touch screens or other associated user input devices. Persons can respond to individual advertisements by way of the input devices associated with the display units.
In preferred embodiments, the web page is hosted on a web server configured to log hits on the web page and the system includes a database server configured to generate reports of the number of web page hits for the URL corresponding to each of a plurality of the advertisements. Preferably the web server provides a HTML to WML
conversion function and, the web server is configured to convert HTML
from the web site of the advertiser to WML upon activation of the link to a web site of an advertiser. This makes it easier for interested persons to view the web site of an advertiser with a web-enabled cellular telephone or the like.

-4-Some display units may comprise a plurality of displays connected to the display controller by a wireless local network. The same advertising can then be displayed on a number of displays. The displays may be of different types. The display controller may comprise a microprocessor running web browser software and the advertisements may each comprise a HTML page.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method for distributing advertising. The method comprises providing a plurality of display units, each display unit comprising a display and a display controller; delivering via a telecommunication link a plurality of advertisements and a schedule for displaying the plurality of advertisements on the display to each display controller, each of the advertisements comprising a unique contact information, the contact information, when used, generating a signal; and, detecting and logging hits indicating use of the unique contact information. The logged hits may be used to assess the efficacy of individual advertisements.
The unique contact information preferably comprises a URL for a page on a web server.
In preferred embodiments, the method comprises maintaining a record of advertisements in a local storage at each display unit and delivering via a telecommunication link a plurality of advertisements and a schedule for displaying the plurality of advertisements comprises delivering to each display unit only advertisements not already stored in the local storage of the display unit.
This reduces the amount of data which must be delivered to each display unit.

- 5 -Another aspect of the invention provides an advertisement distribution system comprising: means for delivering a plurality of advertisements, each comprising a unique contact information, and scheduling information for the advertisements to a plurality of display units; a plurality of advertisement display units, each comprising:
means for receiving the advertisements and the scheduling information, and, means for displaying the advertisements according to the scheduling information; means for receiving sales data for products associated with the advertisements; and, means for generating reports correlating changes in the sales data with the advertisements. The system of this aspect of the invention permits the effects of advertising on actual sales of a product or service to be monitored in real time.
Further features and advantages of the invention are described below.
List of Reference Numerals 10 system 12 display unit 14 display 16 display controller 17 sound transducer 18 sound driver 19 wireless network 20A interface 20B local storage 20C controller 20D display driver 20E ad player software 20F web browser 20G communication manager 20H input device 21 display driver 22 advertisement 22A web page 22B script 22C media file 22D unique contact information24 scheduling information communication server 32 network 30 32A satellite link 32B satellite uplink 32C satellite 32D satellite receiver

-6-32E wireless LAN 40 production web server 42 advertiser computer 43 web browser software 44 Internet 46 advertisement editing and scheduling software 48 computer 49 firewall computer 50 database 52 additional text/graphics 53 log 54 billing server 56 web pages 58 advertiser web server 60 POS system 62 advertiser sales database 64 POS sales data 64A sales data 66 database server 100 advertising agency 102 advertiser 104 author 108 create and manage 110 manage billing advertisements 112 data analysis 113 step 116 author advertisements 122 preview advertisement 125 step 124 finalize and save 126 arrow 128 create show 130 approve advertisement 133 create schedule 134 view schedule 136 final check 138 distribute advertisements138A to communication server 138B distribute via Internet138C distribute via satellite 144 display advertisements 146 user feedback 150 log web site hits 152 link to advertiser 154 log link to advertiser 154A convert to WML

160 receive online order 162 log order 166 ship goods 168 pay supplier 170 generate data analysis 172 deliver analysis to advertiser 174 refine advertising Brief Description of the Drawings In figures which illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the invention:
Figure 1 is a schematic view of a network according to an example embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 is a schematic view of a display unit for use in the invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of components of an advertisement for use in preferred embodiments of the invention;
Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of a display unit which includes a wireless connection to several displays; and, Figures SA and SB are a schematic chart illustrating an example of a possible use of the system of Figure 1.
Description I. Advertising Distribution and Display Network This invention provides a system for the wide area distribution of advertising. As shown in Figure 1, an example system 10 includes a number of display units 12 located in public areas. Display units 12 may, for example, be located in airports, hotels, conference centers, shopping malls, alongside streets, or in any other suitable place where they may be viewed by potential customers. Display units 12 may also be located in public conveyances such as buses, trains, elevators, ferry boats, and the like.
Display units 12 each comprise a display 14 and a display controller 16. As shown in Fig. 2, display controller 16 comprises an interface 20A for receiving display advertisements and scheduling information, local storage 20B for display advertisements 22 and _ g _ scheduling information 24, a controller 20C which causes advertisements 22 in local storage 20B to be displayed according to scheduling information 24, and a display driver 20D. Display units 12 may optionally include one or more sound transducers such as loudspeakers 17 driven by a suitable driver 18.
A single display controller 16 may be connected to several nearby displays 14 by either wired or wireless communication channels.
Figure 3 illustrates a single display controller 16 connected to several displays 14 by a wireless local data communication network 19. Each display 14 has a display driver 21 connected to network 19. The wireless local data communication network preferably operates according to an established wireless networking standard such as wireless application protocol ("WAP").
In preferred embodiments of the invention, display controller 16 comprises a programmed personal computer, interface 20A comprises a network adapter, local storage 20B comprises an area on a memory or storage device accessible to the computer, display 14 is any suitable large format display capable of being driven by signals from the personal computer and display adapter 20D is an adapter suitable for driving display 14. Display 14 may comprise, for example, a plasma display, a cathode ray tube ("CRT"), a television, a LED
display, or the like. Smaller format displays 14 may also be used in selected locations.
Advertisement player software 20E running on the computer under a suitable operating system causes a processor in the computer to read scheduling information 24, at each scheduled time retrieve the scheduled advertisement 22 from local storage 20B, and display the scheduled advertisement on display 14. In preferred embodiments of the invention, as shown in Figure 4, each advertisement 22 comprises a HTML ("HyperText Markup Language") web page 22A
and software 20E comprises a web browser 20F which displays web page 22A on display 14 and a component which causes the web browser 20F to load and run advertisements 22 according to schedule 24. Player software 20E also includes a component which receives new advertisements 22 and updates to schedule 24 from communication server 30.
Each display unit 12 may have a different resolution and other display characteristics. In the preferred embodiment described above these differences are accommodated by web browser 20F, display driver 20D and the operating system running on display controller 16.
Advertisements 22 can be the same for all display types.
For example, in a currently preferred embodiment of the invention, software 20E incorporates Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Software 20E comprises a component which invokes Internet Explorer as an Active X control. Software 20E creates two (or more) windows with a copy of the Internet Explorer control on each window.
Each window is capable of displaying an advertisement 22. Software 20E can select one of the windows to be on top of the other window.
The window on top is displayed while the other window is hidden. The Internet Explorer control has the feature that it will not commence playing a new page which is loaded while the window hosting the control is hidden. When the window is subsequently sent to the top, the Internet Explorer control will automatically start playing the advertisement 22. Software 20E causes each of the windows to load a desired advertisement 22 from local storage 20B at a time determined by schedule 24.

Software 20E can load an advertisement in the background (i.e. while another advertisement is playing). Immediately after one advertisement finishes playing (i.e. at the time defined in schedule 24) software 20E can bring the next window to the top to play the next advertisement 22. This avoids delays while advertisements 22 are loaded.
Display units 12 may include a touch screen or other input device 20H. Input device 20H permits persons to respond to advertisements 22, as discussed below.
In the currently preferred embodiment of the invention, schedule 24 indicates the scheduled time/date and the HTML page in local storage 20B for each advertisement 22 to be played. Schedule 24 is sorted in time/date order to ensure easy access to the next advertisement. Schedule 24 can be viewed as a stack. Playback software 20E reads from the top of schedule 24. Newly communicated advertisements 22 are inserted at the bottom of schedule 24. Schedule 24 is updated by communications manager software 20G which resides in display controller 16. Communications manager software 20G
retrieves data for schedule 24 from SQL server database 50 via Microsoft Remote Data Service (RDS). The new data is then added to schedule 24.
In the currently preferred embodiment of the invention, new advertisements 22 are delivered to display units 12 by FTP (File Transfer Protocol) over network 32.
As illustrated schematically in Figure 4, most preferably each advertisement 22 includes animation. This may be provided by embedding in web page 22A one or more scripts 22B which play one or more media files 22C. The scripts may comprise, for example, JavaScript applets. Media files 22C may comprise images stored in any suitable format, animated images, sound files, or video segments. Some examples of possible image formats are bitmaps, Jpeg files, GIF files, TIFF files, or MPEG video files. The media files can be any media files which web browser 20F is capable of playing.
Preferably each advertisement 22 includes unique contact information 22D which is displayed on display 14 when the advertisement 22 is being played. Contact information 22D may comprise, for example, an Internet address, a telephone number, a telephone number and a code, or the like. Contact information 22D may be used to monitor the effectiveness of each advertisement, as described below. Where an advertisement 22 will be played in several different locations then versions of the advertisement 22 having different unique contact information 22D may be used in each location.
System 10 has a communication server 30 (Figure 1) which delivers advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to display units 12 by way of a wide area network 32. Groups comprising some or all of display units 12 may receive the same set of advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24. In the alternative, communication server may prepare and forward a separate set of advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to each display unit 12. Preferably 25 communication server 30 is also capable of uploading updates of advertisement player software 20E to display units 12.
Where display units 12 can be conveniently connected to the Internet, network 32 preferably includes the Internet. Preferably 30 each display unit 12 or each cluster of display units 12 has a static network address. As long as the network address of the display unit does not change, the physical location of the display unit can be changed without affecting the operation of system 10.
Network 32 may include satellite communication links 32A
to permit reliable communication of advertisements to display units 12 which cannot be reliably and conveniently connected directly to the Internet. For example, display units 12 in moving public conveyances may be connected to communication server 30 by a communication path which includes a satellite communication link 32A. Satellite communication link 32A comprises a satellite uplink station 32B which transmits signals containing the data of advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to a satellite 32C . Satellite 32C retransmits the data to a receiver 32D either directly or by way of one or more other satellites. Receiver 32D receives the data and supplies the data to a connected display unit 12. Preferably communication server 30 establishes a data connection with satellite uplink station 32B by way of a wide area computer network such as the Internet.
Mobile display units 12 may also be connected to communication server 30 by short range wireless connections 32E. This is appropriate, for example, where the display units are mobile but do not move out of range of a local transmitter. For example, short range wireless connections 32E may be used to communicate with display units 12 which are located in elevators .
System 10 preferably comprises a mechanism to monitor the operational status of each display unit 12 and to verify that each of display units 12 is operating properly. The mechanism preferably comprises software which runs on display controllers 16 and periodically sends status information for the display 12 to a central server by way of network 32. Preferably each display controller 16 periodically communicates to database 50 data 53 indicating when each advertisement played and a list of any errors that may have occurred during the playing of the advertisements. This data may be communicated to database 50 in a communication session during which new advertisements and/or updates to schedule 24 are communicated to the display controller 16.
Remote management software may also be installed on each display controller 16 to allow support technicians to inspect the operational status of the display controller and correct any software-related problems remotely. Suitable remote management software is commercially available from various suppliers.
System 10 optionally makes available sequences of advertisements 22 as web pages on one or more Internet web sites. This permits potential customers with web-enabled cell phones, Internet appliances or personal digital assistants ("PDAs") to connect to the web site and to view the series of advertisements 22 directed to the web site.
For example, a potential customer might be shopping in a particular shopping mall or other shopping location. System 10 may maintain a web site containing advertisements 22 for that shopping location. The web site causes a series of advertisements 22 pertinent to that shopping location to be displayed on the potential customer's web-enabled cell phone or other Internet appliance. The advertisements may relate to special limited time offers or the like. For example, an advertisement 22 might display "FOR NEXT 20 MINUTES ONLY, FREE SOFT
DRINK WITH EACH HAMBURGER AT [NAME OF
RESTAURANT]".

II. Advertisement Creation and Scheduling Preferably system 10 permits advertisers to upload and schedule advertisements for delivery on displays 14 of system 10 by way of the Internet. System 10 comprises an advertiser interface web server 40 which provides a web-based interface for bidirectional communication with advertiser computers 42 over the Internet or another network indicated generally as 44. Networks 32 and 44 may be the same network. Production web server 40 may, for example, comprise an Internet-connected computer running a suitable operating system, such as Microsoft TM Windows NT, UNIX, or LINUX, and web server software, such as Microsoft T~' Internet Information Server ("IIS"), Microsoft TM Transaction Server ("MTS"), and Microsoft TM
Data Access Component ("MDAC").
Advertisers can connect to system 10 by logging into production web server 40 from computers 42. Production web server 40 provides an interface to user computers 42 and provides authentication of users by requesting and checking a password, receiving a certificate, or performing some other authentication function. Once logged into production web server 40, advertisers can upload advertisements that the advertiser may have created outside of system 10, select advertisements 22 previously designed and saved within system 10 for immediate use, or use an authoring tool to design advertisements 22, or edit previously designed advertisements 22. The advertiser can also schedule the display of advertisements 22, amend the scheduling for previously scheduled advertisements 22, and access billing information relating to the advertiser.
Preferably system 10 comprises a web based integrated development environment within which users can lay out advertisement text, create graphics, upload and arrange the content of media files, add special effects and otherwise arrange the media files to make advertisements. In the illustrated embodiment, advertisement editing and scheduling software 46 runs on a computer 48 located behind a firewall computer 49. Software 46 provides to advertisers tools to create, save, retrieve and edit advertisements 22 in system 10 and to schedule the display of advertisements 22 at selected locations. The cost of displaying an advertisement may vary from location to location and from time to time, as described more fully below.
In currently preferred embodiments of the invention, software 46 comprises Active X Automation Server software which is available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Washington.
Software 46 causes Active X controls to be downloaded to advertiser computers 42 and run under the browser software in advertiser computers 42. The Active X controls allow advertisers to coordinate the building of JavaScript scripts) that will run when an advertisement 22 is displayed. The Active X Controls allow advertisers to specify which media files which are included in an advertisement, the timing and positioning of each multimedia element, the number of frames in the advertisement and the transitions between frames. The controls then create an HTML page with embedded Javascript scripts. The scripts preferably cause Microsoft Direct Animation to play the selected multimedia elements at the selected times and locations. The page can then be displayed on any web browser that supports Microsoft Direct Animation.
Software 46 preferably includes a conventional online "help" function, a library of advertisement templates which advertisers can customize by adding their own text and media files. Most preferably software 46 includes a "wizard" function which leads advertisers through the process of creating an advertisement. Such functions are known to those skilled in the art. For example MicrosoftTM Publisher includes functions which lead users through steps in the creation of various kinds of printed publication. Many word processing programs S include similar functions.
Production web server 40 provides advertiser interfaces to software 46 by dynamically generating web pages which can be displayed by web browser software 43 on advertiser computers 42.
After advertisers have created advertisements 22, which are to their liking, then the advertisers can save advertisements 22 in a database 50 which is accessible to computer 48. Database 50 may comprise, for example, MicrosoftT~' SQL Server software running on a suitable computer.
Computer 48 preferably saves each advertisement 22 as a single file in a compressed format, such as an MPEG format. Currently preferred embodiments of system 10 support MPEG I, II and IV
formats. The MPEG format is known to those skilled in the art and is promulgated by a group within the International Standards Organization having the official name: ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC29 WG 11. MPEG encoders are commercially available from a number of vendors. An advertiser may elect to associate advertisements with one another in a desired sequence so that the collection of associated advertisements can be displayed in sequence as a "show" .
After an advertiser has saved one or more advertisements 22 in database 50 then the advertiser may elect to schedule the display of individual advertisements or shows on the available display units 12.
Software 46 preferably permits the advertiser to schedule specific advertisements 22 for display on specific display units 12 at specific times; to schedule specific advertisements 22 to be displayed on specific display units 12 at repeating times, such as every day at certain time(s), on specified weekdays at certain times, on specified days within a certain range of hours, in prime time or in off hours, or the like; and to schedule specific advertisements to be run on certain types of display units 12 within selected geographical areas at certain times. Preferably system 10 calculates and provides the user with a cost quite for displaying the selected advertising in the selected locations before the user finalizes the schedule for displaying a particular advertisement, or group of advertisements.
Database 50 includes records for all display units 12 available on system 10. Software 46 preferably allows advertisers to query database 50 to identify display units 12 on which they are interested in displaying their advertisements. Preferably, display units 12 are associated in groups according to various characteristics. This permits advertisers to select groups of display units 12 for the display of advertising by querying database 50 without the need to individually specify the display units 12 on which an advertisement should be played. Some examples of groups are as follows:
~ Geographical groups by country - e.g. groups containing all display units 12 in the United States, all display units 12 in Canada, all display units 12 in China and so on;
~ Geographical groups by state, or province - e.g. groups containing all display units 12 in Florida, all display units 12 in Tuscany, and all display units 12 in Saskatchewan, and so on;
~ Geographical groups by region - e.g. groups containing all display units 12 in the south east of the United States or all display units 12 in Southern France, or all display units 12 in the maritime regions of Canada;

~ Geographical groups by city - e.g. groups containing all display units 12 in New York City, all display units 12 in Tokyo, or all display units 12 in Vancouver, Canada;
~ Groups by types of location - e.g. groups containing all display units 12 in rural areas, all display units 12 in metropolitan areas, all display units 12 in well-to-do neighbourhoods, all display units 12 in airports, all display units 12 in resort areas, all display units 12 in public transit system facilities, and so on;
~ Groups sorted by the capabilities of display units 12 - e.g. all display units 12 having display screens larger than a certain size, all display units 12 having full-motion displays, all display units 12 having static displays, all display units 12 having sound capabilities, and so on.
Each record for a display unit 12 in database 50 preferably includes information which identifies the groups) to which the display unit 12 belongs.
This permits advertisers unusual precision in targeting advertising. For example, an advertiser might select the display units 12 for a specific series of advertisements by querying database 50 for all display units 12 in European airports which have display screens larger than 100 cm and sound capabilities. This also permits the operator of system 10 to charge different advertising rates for different groups of display units 12, as is discussed more fully below.
Database 50 also contains records of all future scheduled advertisements. By querying database 50 an advertiser can determine what time slots(s) are available for displaying advertisements 22 on the display units 12 of interest. The advertiser can select from the available time slots to schedule specific advertisements and/or shows for future display.

System 10 preferably has the capability of integrating additional text or graphics 52 with an existing advertisement so that the additional text or graphics 52 will be displayed superimposed on the advertisement 22 when the advertisement 22 is displayed. Preferably additional material 52 is associated both with an advertisement and with one or more locations so that an advertiser can cause additional materials 52 to be displayed only at selected locations. This provides a number of advantages. For example:
~ where a single advertisement is prepared for use in several countries and there is a separate distributor in each country then the same advertisement 22 may be displayed on display units 12 in each of the countries while different additional text identifying the national distributor would be added to the advertisement 22 in each country;
~ where a time limited offer is being advertised then extra text reading, for example, "ONLY 10 DAYS TO GO!" or "LAST
DAY IS TODAY" or "BRAND X ON SALE THIS LOCATION
ONLY FOR NEXT 30 MINUTES" could be added to the advertisement in appropriate locations and at appropriate times.
~ where a single advertisement is prepared for use in several countries the additional text may be presented in the national language of each country.
Software 46 saves any additional text or graphics in separate files 52 and allows an advertiser to schedule an additional text or graphics file 52 to be uploaded to display controllers 16 and displayed at the same time as an advertisement 22.
After an advertiser has selected both the display units) 12 and the time slots) for which an advertisement 22 will be displayed, software 46 generates scheduling information 24, stores the scheduling information in database 50 and provides the scheduling information 24 to communications server 30. Communications server 30 retrieves the advertisements 22 specified by the scheduling information 24 (together with any additional text or graphics files 52) from database 50 and sends the advertisements over network 32 to the applicable display units 12.
Communications server 30 may perform scheduled communications of advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to display units 12. The information may be transmitted, for example, once daily, or hourly. The scheduled transmissions may be timed to take advantage of lower communication rates. Communications server 30 may also communicate the advertisements and scheduling information to a display unit 12 on request. Preferably, communications server 30 maintains a record of the advertisements 22 which are stored in local storage 20B of each display unit 12 and only sends content that is changed to display units 12. Preferably communications server 30 sends to each display unit 12 only advertisements and scheduling information which pertain to that display unit 12. This minimizes the consumption of communication resources by system 10.
As each display unit 12 displays advertisements 22 the display unit 22 preferably maintains a log 53 indicating what advertisements 22 have actually been displayed and when the advertisements 22 were displayed. Logs 53 should correspond exactly with the advertisements scheduled for display on the display unit 12 in database 50 unless there have been interruptions in communication between communication server 30 and the display unit 12 or display unit 12 has had technical problems. Logs 53 are preferably sent by display units 12 back to database server 50 (preferably by way of network 32 and production server 40). The log data may be delivered to database 50 using a suitable protocol such as Microsoft RDS.

Preferably system 10 includes an "online mall" . An online mall is typically a set of world wide web pages 56 accessible to computer users which offer various goods and /or services for sale. E-commerce software for implementing an online mall is commercially available. The online mall preferably offers several types of goods and services. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, one area of the online mall permits advertisers or other users to access particulars of display units available for displaying advertising. People who own display units can advertise the features of their display units and their locations in this area of the online mall. Advertisers can use the online mall to select display units in distant locations. For example, an advertiser from Seattle WA may wish to display an advertisement in prominent locations in London England and Tampa FL. The advertiser could select suitable display units 12 in those locations by reading descriptions of the display units, the demographics of the population viewing the display units and/or viewing images of the display units and their locations in the online mall.
The online mall may also have an area where advertisers can post their requirements for advertising locations and price. The operators of display units 12 can respond if they are interested in carrying the advertiser's advertisements 22. For example, an advertiser might post a notice indicating that it has a 30 second advertisement which it wants to be displayed every 15 minutes at displays in Antwerp and Munich on certain dates. The owners of available display units 12 in those cities could contact the advertisers to negotiate arrangements for their display units 12 to be used by the advertiser.
A third area of the online mall preferably features products and services of interest to advertisers and the operators of display units 12. For example, the online mall could offer for sale large format displays, display controllers, and the like or advertise the availability of locations where an operator of a display unit 12 could install and operate a display unit.
A fourth area of the online mall may offer for sale the goods and services of advertisers who use system 10 to place advertisements. Data regarding sales made in at least the fourth area of the online mall is preferably stored in database 50 so that it can be correlated with ongoing advertising, as described below.
III. Efficacy Monitoring System 10 permits the automatic monitoring of advertising efficacy by allowing advertisers to place unique contact information 22D
in their advertisements. Preferably, unique contact information 22D
comprises the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for an Internet web page. Most preferably, the URL is for a web page which is accessible to web-enabled cellular telephones. Such cellular telephones can display web pages written in WML (Wireless Markup Language), which is a subset of XML (Extensible Markup Language). WML is a markup language which is intended for use in specifying content and user interface for small narrowband devices, including cellular phones and pagers. Such devices typically have small displays, limited user input facilities, narrowband network connections, and limited memory and limited computational resources.
The URL identifies one of a collection 56 of web pages hosted by production web server 40. Whenever one of web pages 56 is accessed by a computer on the Internet (each access to a web page is referred to as a "hit") server 40 records that the hit has occurred. By monitoring how many hits are generated by each advertisement 22 one obtains a measure of the efficacy of the advertisement 22.
Web pages 56 may themselves contain information about the product or service of the advertisement 22 with which they are associated. In the alternative, or additionally, web pages 56 may link to a web server 58 operated by the advertiser who placed the corresponding advertisement 22. Where web pages 56 link to an advertiser's web server 58 production server 40 may optionally include conversion software which converts data from web server 58 into WML
format before forwarding the converted data to the party who generated the web page hit. Production server 40 may track the number of users who activate such links (such activation is called a "click through").
The operator of system 10 may charge advertisers for click throughs to their web sites.
As noted above, web pages 56 preferably provide the ability to purchase goods and services online. To this end, production server 40 runs conventional e-commerce software which implements an on-line mall and allows users to order and pay for goods and/or services by credit card, or some other suitable online payment mechanism. E-commerce software which provides this functionality is commercially available and will therefore not be described here in detail. Where system 10 includes e-commerce capability, data regarding online sales made is preferably stored in database 50 so that it can be. correlated with ongoing advertising.
Unique contact information 22D may also comprise a telephone number. In this case, a computer is connected to the line corresponding to the telephone number. When a user dials the telephone number, the fact of the user's call is communicated to database 50. The computer may provide information to the user by, for example, playing a voice message, or, if the user has called with a digitally enabled telephone, delivering digital data for display on a display associated with the telephone. The computer may also permit a user to place orders for goods and/or services relating to the advertisement. This may be done, for example, by asking the user to respond to voice prompts using a telephone keypad, by providing voice recognition software and/or hardware in the computer or the like. If a user places an order for goods or services then this fact is communicated to database 50.
Where a display unit 12 includes a user input device 20H, such as a touch screen, then persons may interact with display unit 12, for example, by using input device 24H to request more information about the subject matter of the currently playing advertisement 22, or by placing an order for goods or services related to the advertisement 22.
Display unit 12 sends a record of such interactions to database 50.
Preferably user interaction with display unit 12 does not pre-empt all of display 14. Preferably when a user is interacting with a display unit 12 display 14 is split so that an advertisement 22 can continue to be displayed in the bulk of display 14 and a graphical interface for interacting with the user is displayed in a window in a portion of display 14. In the alternative a separate small display is provided to display a graphical interface for interacting with the user.
Database 50 may also receive directly from advertisers, or from merchants who sell the advertisers' products, data regarding the timing and volume of sales of the advertisers' products. For example, an advertiser may sell products at point of sale ("POS") computer systems 60. Data from the POS systems may flow to a sales database 62. Data regarding the timing and volume and location of the advertisers' sales may be provided to database 50 directly from POS

systems 60 as indicated by arrow 64 or from the advertiser's sales database 62 as indicated by arrow 64A.
A database server 66 retrieves data from database 50 and generates reports of interest to advertisers. For example, database server may generate reports which indicate things such as:
~ What locations or types of location produce the greatest response to a particular advertisement 22 as measured by the number of hits generated by the advertisement 22 on a corresponding one of web pages 56;
~ which of two or more advertisements 22 are more effective, as measured by the number of hits generated by each of the advertisements on its corresponding web page 56;
~ what times of day yield the greatest response for a particular advertisement, as measured by the number of hits generated by the advertisement 22 on a corresponding one of web pages 56;
~ what is the efficacy of a group of advertisements 22 displayed individually at different time slots as compared to the efficacy of the same group of advertisements displayed in sequence as a show;
~ for a particular advertisement or group of advertisements, what is the cost for obtaining each hit on a corresponding web page 56;
~ the number of e-commerce sales generated for each advertisement and the advertising cost per sale;
~ the percentage of advertisements which were actually delivered on schedule in the designated location(s); and, ~ how fluctuations in sales of the advertiser's products (as provided by the advertiser) correlate with advertising delivered by way of system 10 either globally or in particular geographical regions.

The reports can be delivered to advertiser computers 42 by way of production server 40. The reports may be generated using standard report generating tools operating on the data in database 50.
IV . Billing System 10 comprises a billing server 54. Billing server 54 queries database 50 to identify the uses made of system 10 by each advertiser. Billing server 54 generates reports for each advertiser which summarize what advertisements 22 have been displayed for the advertiser, the frequency at which the advertisements were displayed and the length of time for which the advertisements were displayed.
Billing server 54 also calculates the amount owing for those advertisements 22 and generates invoices. Most preferably, billing calculations are made on the basis of information from logs 53. The invoices may be automatically delivered to the computers 42 of advertisers by means of Internet e-mail, printed and mailed, or delivered in some other fashion.
Preferably billing server 54 can associate a number of advertising projects with a single advertiser. Billing server 54 can bill the advertiser for all of the advertising projects while separately itemizing the cost for each of the projects. A project may include displaying one or more advertisements one or more times in one or more locations .
Because database 50 includes detailed information about where and when each advertisement 22 is displayed, system 10 may be configured to bill for displaying advertisements 22 in any of a wide variety of ways. Each display unit 12 may have its own set of rates.
Each zone may have its own set of rates. Display units 12 in prime locations can be charged for at higher rates than display units 12 in less desirable locations. Rates may vary with the time of day. For example, a specific display unit may have a standard rate for displaying an advertisement 22. Rates may be higher than the standard rate at certain prime times. Rates may be discounted from the standard rate at other rimes.
Rates may differ depending upon whether the advertiser insists on having its advertisements displayed at specific times or whether the advertiser is willing to have its advertisements displayed in a time window at specific times selected by the operators of system 10.
Rates may also be made to vary depending upon measured advertising efficacy. In this regard, if system 10 tracks sales of the advertisers' goods or services then rates may be based upon the amount of goods or services sold by way of system 10. Rates may also be based upon a correlation between the advertisers' advertising and the advertisers' local or regional sales data.
Group rates may be charged for advertising on multiple display units 12 in a particular group. Packages including a certain number of advertisement placements in certain regions may be provided as well. This flexibility permits the operator of system 10 to maximize the return achievable by operating system 10.
Billing server 54 also tracks the advertisements directed to any display units 12 which are not owned by the operators of system 10.
Billing server 54 can query database 50 for statistics regarding the use made of such display units 12 and can compute amounts payable to the owners of the display units 12 according to a suitable formula. The formula may be based, for example, on the aggregate time in which advertisements 22 were displayed by the display unit 12 during the relevant period, the number of advertisements 22 delivered by the display unit 12 or on other factors. Billing server 54 can also calculate any amounts owing from operators of display units 12 for the use of the software used in display controllers 16 and/or fees for being included in system 10.
Some or all of the "data mining" and efficacy monitoring reports may be offered to advertisers as optional value added services, in which case billing server 54 can include any amounts for such services in invoices to advertisers.
V . Testing Because system 10 operates by sending advertising content to Internet connected computers, system 10 does not distinguish between a display unit 12 and any other computer with which communications server 30 can communicate. For testing, demonstration and/or verification purposes, communications server 30 may be set to deliver advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to any computer that has a network address and the software necessary for receiving and displaying advertisements 22. The advertisements 22 can then be displayed on the computer's display. Preferably suitable software for use in displaying advertisements 22 is available for download via production server 40.
The ability of system 10 to easily direct advertisements to a specific Internet-connected computer makes it possible for advertisers to experiment with system 10 without actually displaying advertising or incurring the costs associated therewith.

VI. Advantages It can be appreciated that the system 10 described above has a number of significant advantages including the following:
~ Advertisers need only have computers 42 equipped with a web browser and an Internet connection. Most advertisers will have such computers already. The advertisers do not need to have special software, hardware or extensive training.
~ The system can automatically take measures of the efficacy of advertisements that have been displayed. This allows advertisers to confirm on an ongoing basis that their advertising is effective, to take immediate steps to correct the situation if the advertising is not effective, and to continuously optimize their advertising for maximum efficacy.
~ The system permits advertisers to target their advertising at specific potential customers much more finely than previous practical systems.
~ The system permits its operator to maximize the value of its services.
~ Display units 12 can be locally owned and operated. Once a display 14 and suitable controller 16 have been set up at a location then the owner can provide the network address (or satellite link address) of controller 16 to the operator of system 10. The operator of system 10 can then make the display unit 12 available to advertisers for displaying advertisements.
~ A display unit 12 can be easily set up anywhere in the world that an Internet connection is available. Where system 10 uses the Internet to send data to and receive data from display units 12 the costs of maintaining a separate communication network are completely avoided.

' ' CA 02305056 2000-04-11 ~ The display units are controlled and monitored remotely by communication server 30 to ensure uptime. Communication server 30 can also remotely update computer software in display units 12.
~ The display units are not necessarily located at locations where a cabled communication infrastructure is available.
~ The system can provide advertisers with the ability to go to market with a display advertising campaign very quickly. The lead time taken to prepare and distribute printed materials for a wide scale advertising campaign is eliminated.
~ The system provides feedback regarding the effect of advertising on sales at one or more points of sale, online sales and/or user responses using unique contact information. The feedback can be used to optimize an advertising campaign.
~ The operator of system 10 can derive a number of revenue streams from use of system 10 including revenue from advertisers for using system 10, revenue from owners of display units for access to advertising from system 10 and use of software, revenue from advertisers for feedback reports and other data mining in database 50, commissions from on-line sales, and click-through fees charged to advertisers when computer users link to the advertisers' web sites from a web page on system 10.
VII. Example An example of a possible use of system 10 is illustrated in Figures SA and SB. An advertising agency 100 recommends to an advertiser 102 that a particular series of advertisements be delivered via system 10. The advertiser arranges for an advertising author 104, who is authorized to access system 10, to prepare a series of advertisements 22. Author 104 might be an employee of the advertising agency or an employee of the advertiser. Author 104 logs into system 10. The author can log onto an advertising creation and management module to create and manage advertisements (Step 108), a billing module to pay for advertisements and to monitor the ongoing costs of various advertising programmes (Step 110), or a data analysis module to obtain reports regarding the efficacy of various advertisements and advertising programs (Step 112) .
In this example, author 104 logs into the advertising creation and management module 108. If advertising for the project in question exists (as determined at 113) then the author is directed to a media management function in which the author can select a previously authored advertisement 22 to edit or elect to start a completely new advertisement 22 (Step 114). After the author has selected an existing advertisement to edit or opted to begin work on a new advertisement, or if no advertisements for the project exist, then the author is delivered to the advertisement creation function (Step 116) . At Step 116 author 104 authors one or more advertisements 22 using software 46 (or edits advertisements selected in Step 114) and stores the advertisements.
After an advertisement 22 has been created then the author previews the advertisement as indicated by 122. If the previewed advertisement is acceptable to the author at 125 then the advertisement is finalized and saved (Step 124). Otherwise the author is returned to advertisement creation function 116 to continue work on the advertisement as indicated by arrow 126.
After an advertisement 22 has been finalized then the author associates the advertisement with other advertisements to make a show by invoking a show creation function (Step 128).

After the advertisements 22 have been created, an approver who may be, for example a member of the management of the advertiser, logs into system 10 to view and approve the advertisements 22 created by author 104 at Step 130. If the advertisements are approved at 132 then the advertisements can be scheduled for display. If the advertisements are not approved then the advertisements are further edited in Step 116.
The advertisements 22 are then be scheduled for display at Step 133. The proposed schedule can be viewed in a calendar format at Step 134. A final check of the proposed advertisements and the schedule for their playback can then be done at Step 136. If the advertisements 22 and schedule 24 are acceptable (Step 138) then they are communicated to the communication server 30 to be distributed to display units 12. If a reviewer indicates in Step 138 that the advertisements 22 and schedule 24 need further work then the process loops back to advertising creation and editing function 116.
Communication server 30 determines whether each of the selected display units 12 is accessible via a wired network, which may include the Internet, or is accessible via a satellite connection or a wireless connection. At Step 140 advertisements and scheduling information are sent over the network to network-connected display units 12. At Step 142 advertisements and scheduling information are sent over one or more satellite links to satellite-connected display units 12. At Step 143 advertisements and scheduling information are sent over one or more wireless links to wireless-connected display units 12.
Display units 12 then display the advertisements at Step 144.
At Step 146 a person who sees an advertisement 22 being displayed connects by way of the Internet to a web page 56 associated with that advertisement on a web site associated with system 10. This connection may be made, for example, from a web-enabled cellular telephone. System 10 logs each hit on the web site in database 50 (as indicated at 150). If the person wishes to obtain further information about the goods then the person selects a link to the advertisers Internet home page (at 152). Activation of the link is also logged in database 50 (at 154). If the advertiser's web page is not formatted in a way which is conducive to viewing on a cellular telephone display then system 10 automatically converts the web page to a WML format (Step 154A).
The person places an order for the advertised goods and services on-line (at 160). System 10 receives payment for the goods, including a commission. The on-line sale is also logged in database 50 (at 162). System 10 automatically generates and transmits and order to the supplier of the advertised goods at 164. The supplier ships the goods at 166. System 10 pays the supplier for the goods at 168.
System 10 generates reports which provide information regarding the efficacy of advertising at 170. The reports are delivered to the advertiser at 172. The advertiser modifies its advertising in response to information in the reports at 174.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. For example, while the above description separately describes a number of servers, the functions of two or more of the servers could be combined in one physical device or the functions of one or more of the servers could be distributed among several physical devices. Similarly the term "database" in this specification means a memory or other storage location into which information can be stored and later retrieved by a host computer system in an organized manner. It is generally preferable to implement the databases of system with the use of commercially available database software such as ORACLETM or Microsoft SQL Server T~'. The databases of system 10 5 may each comprise a single integrated database or may comprise a number of separate databases. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.

Claims (27)

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An advertisement distribution system comprising a communication server connected to deliver:
a plurality of advertisements, each comprising a unique contact information; and, scheduling information for the advertisements, the scheduling information specifying when the advertisements are to be displayed on a display unit;
to a plurality of advertisement display units, and a database connected to receive data indicating that the unique contact information has been used.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the unique contact information comprises a URL for a web page.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the web page is hosted on a web server configured to log hits on the web page.

4. The system of claim 3 comprising a database server configured to generate reports of the number of web page hits for the URL
corresponding to each of a plurality of the advertisements.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the web page comprises a link to a web site of an advertiser.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the web server provides a HTML
to WML conversion function and, the web server is configured to convert HTML from the web site of the advertiser to WML upon activation of the link to a web site of an advertiser.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the unique contact information comprises a telephone number.

8. The system of claim 1 comprising a display unit comprising a display and a display controller, the display controller connected to a data communication network and capable of exchanging data with the communication server.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the display unit comprises a plurality of displays connected to the display controller by a wireless local network.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the display controller comprises a microprocessor running web browser software and the advertisements each comprise a HTML page.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the HTML page comprises a script, the script causing the web browser software to display one or more multimedia objects on the display.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the database is connected to receive sales data from a POS system and the system includes a reporter associated with the database, the reporter generating reports correlating changes in the sales data to displays of advertisements delivered by the communication server.

13. A method for distributing advertising, the method comprising:
a) providing a plurality of display units, each display unit comprising a display and a display controller;
b) delivering via a telecommunication link a plurality of advertisements and a schedule for displaying the plurality of advertisements on the display to each display controller, each of the advertisements comprising a unique contact information, the contact information, when used, generating a signal; and, c) detecting and logging hits indicating use of the unique contact information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the unique contact information comprises a URL for a web server.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the URL requests a web page and, the method comprises converting the web page into a WML
format and transmitting the web page to a requesting party in response to receiving a request for the web page.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the telecommunication link comprises an Internet connection.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the telecommunication link comprises a satellite link.

18. The method of claim 13 comprising associating each of the logged signals with an individual one of the advertisements.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein one or more of the display units comprises a single display controller and a plurality of displays, the method comprising transmitting from the display controller advertisements to display on the plurality of displays by way of a local wireless communication channel.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the advertisements comprise a show comprising a set of associated advertisements and a sequence for displaying the advertisements in the set of associated advertisements.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the schedule specifies a time for displaying the show and does not specify times for displaying the advertisements in the set of associated advertisements.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein an advertiser's web site is associated with the URL, the method comprising linking to the advertiser's web site in response to a request for a page specified by the URL.

23. The method of claim 13 comprising maintaining a record of advertisements in local storage at each display unit wherein delivering via a telecommunication link a plurality of advertisements and a schedule for displaying the plurality of advertisements comprises delivering to each display unit only advertisements not already stored in the local storage of the display unit.

24. The method of claim 13 comprising computing a charge for displaying each advertisement advertising wherein the charge is a function of a number of hits logged in respect of the unique contact information of the advertisement.

25. The method of claim 13 comprising, at each display unit, generating a log identifying what advertisements were displayed by the display unit and comparing the log to the schedule for that display unit.

26. The method of claim 13 comprising forwarding to the display unit additional material comprising text, graphics or text and graphics, corresponding to one of the advertisements, the method comprising displaying on a display the additional material superposed on the one of the advertisements.

27. An advertisement distribution system comprising:
a) means for delivering a plurality of advertisements, each comprising a unique contact information, and scheduling information for the advertisements to a plurality of display units;
b) a plurality of advertisement display units, each comprising:
i) means for receiving the advertisements and the scheduling information, ii) means for displaying the advertisements according to the scheduling information;
c) means for receiving sales data for products associated with the advertisements; and, d) means for generating reports correlating changes in the sales data with the advertisements.