AU2019202305A1

AU2019202305A1 - A method, an ad server, and computer readable storage medium for recording user advert interaction data

Info

Publication number: AU2019202305A1
Application number: AU2019202305A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Tony PARTRIDGE
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-06-25
Filing date: 2019-04-03
Publication date: 2019-05-02
Also published as: AU2014302033A2; WO2014205506A1; AU2014302033A1

Abstract

Abstract A method for recording user advert interaction data, the method comprising associating a user account with a client computing device (100), the user account comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user; serving advert data to the client computing device (100), the advert data comprising at least one advert; receiving a user selection of the at least one advert; updating the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert. Display Device 1ROM Processor -1000 101,0 AV interface L_ Storage 10itraeNetwork17 device /Ointerface Interface 1050k Audio 4 Network 180 Storage 130,_/ medium reader 120\ Storage media Figure 1

Description

A METHOD, AN AD SERVER, AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM FOR RECORDING USER ADVERT INTERACTION DATA

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to ad serving networks and in particular to a method, an ad server, and computer readable storage medium for recording user advert interaction data.

Background

Pay-per-click, pay-per-impression advertising and the like today is a huge industry wherein industry leaders such as Google have reportedly turned over over $1 billion in advertising revenue recently.

Existing advertising arrangements suffer from several disadvantages however. Specifically, the serving of adverts is generally dictated by the advertiser, wherein ads are selected in accordance with content for serving. In this regal'd, the user generally has no interaction or input into the ads being served to the user.

Furthermore, existing advertiser arrangements suffer from the disadvantage of lack of incentives for users to interact with adverts, generally results in a low conversion rates.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art information is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the information forms part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.

Summary

The invention seeks to provide a method, an server, and computer readable storage medium for recording user advert interaction data which will overcome or substantially ameliorate at least some of the deficiencies of the prior art, or to at least provide an alternative.

According to one aspect, there is provided a method for recording user advert interaction data, the method comprising associating a user account with a client computing device, the user account comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user; serving advert data to the client computing device, the advert data comprising at least one advert; receiving a user selection of the at least one advert; updating the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert.

Preferably, the method further comprises implementing a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction data.

Preferably, implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be transferred to a financial account associated with the user.

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Preferably, implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be transferred to a commission account.

Preferably, implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be deducted from a financial account associated with an advertiser.

Preferably, the method further comprises serving content data to the client computing device; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with content data.

Preferably, selecting the at least one advert comprises selecting the at least one advert further in accordance with demographic data.

Preferably, the user account comprises the demographic data.

Preferably, the demographic data is user-specified demographic data.

Preferably, the method further comprises updating the demographic data in accordance with the advert interaction data.

Preferably, the demographic data comprises at least one of age, gender, interests, preferences and the location.

Preferably, selecting the at least one advert comprises receiving the content data from a content server; and forwarding the content data to the client computing device.

Preferably, forwarding the content data to the client computing device comprises updating the content data to include advert data representing the at least one advert.

Preferably, the method further comprises sending the advert data the client computing device. Preferably, the method further comprises sending a URL associated with the advert data the client computing device.

Preferably, the method further comprises receiving request data from the client computing device, the request data being indicative of content data; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with request data.

Preferably, the request data comprises a content URL.

Preferably, updating the user advert interaction data comprises measuring user interaction with advert content data.

Preferably, measuring comprises measuring interaction time.

Preferably, measuring comprises measuring interaction.

According to another aspect, there is provided an ad server for recording user advert interaction data, the server comprising a processor for processing digital data; a memory device for storing digital data including computer program code, the memory device being operably coupled to the processor; a database connection for connection with a database, the database connection adapted for sending storing and retrieving user account data representing a user account, the user account data comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user; and a

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 network interface for sending and receiving data across a data network, wherein, in use, the processor is controlled by the computer program code to: store, using the database connection, in association of the user account with a client computing device; serve, via the network interface, advert data to the client computing device, the advert data comprising at least one advert; receive, via the network interface, users selection data representing a user selection of the at least one advert; and store, using the database connection, the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to, send, via the network interface, financial transaction instruction data for implementing a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction data.

Preferably, the transaction instruction data comprises instructions for instructing funds to be transferred to a financial account associated with the user.

Preferably, the transaction instruction data comprises instructions for instructing funds to be transferred to a commission account.

Preferably, the transaction instruction data comprises instructions for instructing funds to be deducted from a financial account associated with an advertiser.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to serve, via the network interface, content data to the client computing device; and select, using the database connection, the at least one advert in accordance with content data.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to select, using the database connection, the at least one advert further in accordance with demographic data. Preferably, the user account data comprises the demographic data.

Preferably, the demographic data is user-specified demographic data.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to update, using the database connection, the demographic data in accordance with the advert interaction data.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to receive, via the network interface, the content data from a content server; and serve, via the network interface, the content data to the client computing device.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to update, using the database connection, the content data to include advert data representing the at least one advert.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to send, via the network interface, the advert data the client computing device.

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Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to send, via the network interface, a URL associated with the advert data the client computing device.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to receive, via the network interface, request data from the client computing device, the request data being indicative of content data; and select, from the database connection, the at least one advert in accordance with request data.

Preferably, the request data comprises a content URL.

Preferably, the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to measure measuring user interaction with advert content data.

Preferably, measuring comprises measuring interaction time.

Preferably, measuring comprises measuring interaction.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium comprising computer code instructions executable by computing device for recording user advert interaction, the computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for associating a user account with a client computing device, the user account comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user; serving advert data to the client computing device, the advert data comprising at least one advert; receiving a user selection of the at least one advert; updating the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert.

Preferably, the computer readable storage medium further comprises implementing a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction data.

Preferably, the computer readable storage medium further comprises serving content data to the client computing device; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with content data. Preferably, selecting the at least one advert comprises selecting the at least one advert further in accordance with demographic data.

Preferably, the user account comprises the demographic data.

Preferably, the demographic data is user-specified demographic data.

Preferably, the computer readable storage medium further comprises updating the demographic data in accordance with the advert interaction data.

WO 2014/205506

PCT/AU2014/000681

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Preferably, the computer readable storage medium further comprises sending the advert data the client computing device.

Preferably, the computer readable storage medium further comprises sending a URL associated with the advert data the client computing device.

Preferably, the computer readable storage medium further comprises receiving request data from the client computing device, the request data being indicative of content data; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with request data.

Preferably, the request data comprises a content URL.

Preferably, measuring comprises measuring interaction time.

Preferably, measuring comprises measuring interaction.

Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Pig. 1 shows a computing device on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Pig. 2 shows a network of computing devices on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Pig. 3 shows a system for recording user advert interaction data in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Pig. 4 shows an exemplary interface of the client computing device adapted for recording use adverts interaction data in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

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Description of Embodiments

It should be noted in the following description that like or the same reference numerals in different embodiments denote the same or similar features.

Computing device 100

Fig. 1 shows a computing device 100 on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented.

It should be noted that the computing device 100 may take on different embodiments, including those as will be described in further detail below with reference to figure 3.

In particular the steps of the method of recording user advert interaction data may be implemented as computer program code instructions executable by the computing device 100. The computer program code instructions may be divided into one or more computer program code instruction libraries, such as dynamic link libraries (DLL), wherein each of the libraries performs a one or more steps of the method. Additionally, a subset of the one or more of the libraries may perform graphical user interface tasks relating to the steps of the method.

The device 100 comprises semiconductor memory 110 comprising volatile memory such as random access memory (RAM) or read only memory (ROM). The memory 100 may comprise either RAM or ROM or a combination of RAM and ROM.

The device 100 comprises a computer program code storage medium reader 130 for reading the computer program code instructions from computer program code storage media 120. The storage media 120 may be optical media such as CD-ROM disks, magnetic media such as floppy disks and tape cassettes or flash media such as USB memory sticks.

The device further comprises I/O interface 140 for communicating with one or more peripheral devices. The I/O interface 140 may offer both serial and parallel interface connectivity. For example, the I/O interface 140 may comprise a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), Universal Serial Bus (USB) or similar I/O interface for interfacing with the storage medium reader 130. The I/O interface 140 may also communicate with one or more human input devices (HID) 160 such as keyboards, pointing devices, joysticks and the like. The I/O interface 140 may also comprise a computer to computer interface, such as a Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232) interface, for interfacing the device 100 with one or more personal computer (PC) devices 190. The I/O interface 140 may also comprise an audio interface for communicate audio signals to one or more audio devices 1050, such as a speaker or a buzzer.

The device 100 also comprises a network interface 170 for communicating with one or more computer networks 180. The network 180 may be a wired network, such as a wired Ethernet™ network or a wireless network, such as a Bluetooth™ network or IEEE 802.11 network. The

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 network 180 may be a local area network (LAN), such as a home or office computer network, or a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet or private WAN.

The device 100 comprises an arithmetic logic unit or processor 1000 for performing the computer program code instructions. The processor 1000 may be a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) or complex instruction set computer (CISC) processor or the like. The device 100 further comprises a storage device 1030, such as a magnetic disk hard drive or a solid state disk drive.

Computer program code instructions may be loaded into the storage device 1030 from the storage media 120 using the storage medium reader 130 or from the network 180 using network interface 170. During the bootstrap phase, an operating system and one or more software applications are loaded from the storage device 1030 into the memory 110. During the fetchdecode-execute cycle, the processor 1000 fetches computer program code instructions from memory 110, decodes the instructions into machine code, executes the instructions and stores one or more intermediate results in memory 100.

In this manner, the instructions stored in the memory 110, when retrieved and executed by the processor 1000, may configure the computing device 100 as a special-purpose machine that may perform the functions described herein.

The device 100 also comprises a video interface 1010 for conveying video signals to a display device 1020, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), cathode-ray tube (CRT) or similar display device.

The device 100 also comprises a communication bus subsystem 150 for interconnecting the various devices described above. The bus subsystem 150 may offer parallel connectivity such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and the like or serial connectivity such as PCI Express (PCIe), Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) and the like.

Network 200 of computing devices 100

Fig. 2 shows a network 200 of computing devices 100 on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented. The network 200 comprises a web server 210 for serving web pages to one or more client computing devices 220 over the Internet 230.

The web server 210 is provided with a web server application 240 for receiving requests, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) requests, and serving hypertext web pages or files in response. The web server application 240 may be, for example the Apache™ or the Microsoft ™ IIS HTTP server.

The web server 210 is also provided with a hypertext preprocessor 250 for processing one or more web page templates 260 and data from one or more databases 270 to generate hypertext

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 web pages. The hypertext preprocessor may, for example, be the PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) or Microsoft Asp™ hypertext preprocessor. The web server 210 is also provided with web page templates 260, such as one or more PHP or ASP files.

Upon receiving a request from the web server application 240, the hypertext preprocessor 250 is operable to retrieve a web page template, from the web page templates 260, execute any dynamic content therein, including updating or loading information from the one or more databases 270, to compose a hypertext web page. The composed hypertext web page may comprise client side code, such as Javascript, for Document Object Model (DOM) manipulating, asynchronous HTTP requests and the like.

Client computing devices 220 are provided with a browser application 280, such as the Mozilla Firefox™ or Microsoft Internet Explorer™ browser applications. The browser application 280 requests hypertext web pages from the web server 210 and renders the hypertext web pages on a display device 1020.

System 300 recording user advert interaction data

Turning now to figure 3, there is shown a system 300 for recording user advert interaction data. As will become apparent from the ensuing description, the system 300 is adapted for use in web based advert serving methodologies, wherein, as opposed to existing arrangements where content providers are remunerated for serving adverts on their domains, advert viewers will instead be rewarded directly for interacting with adverts.

Specifically, the system 300 comprises a client computing device 305 adapted for receiving HTML content and the like from content server 320 across the Internet 230, including in the manner described with reference to figure 2. The client computing device 305 may take on different embodiments including that of a mobile communication device 400 as substantially shown in figure 4, desktop computer device or the like.

In this manner, using the client computing device 305, a user would browse the Web in the usual manner.

The system 300 further comprises an ad server 325. As will be described in further detail below, the ad server 325 is adapted for associating the client computing device 305 with user account, serving adverts to the client computing device 305, recording user advert interaction, facilitating financial transactions and the like.

The ad server 325 is in operable communication with a user account database 330. The user account database 330 is adapted to store user account data, the user account data including demographic profile data, advert interaction data, financial institution credential data and the like. Furthermore, the ad server 325 is in operable communication with ad database 335.

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The system 300 further comprises advertiser terminal 315 for use by advertisers in submitting adverts. The advertiser terminal 315 may take on different embodiments, including a client computing device operable to authenticate with the ad server 325 for the purposes of configuring ad campaigns and the like. Alternatively, the advertiser terminal 315 may take the form of a server computing device wherein the ad server 325 is adapted to periodically interact with the advertiser server 315 for the purposes of retrieving ads at periodic intervals.

Generally, an advertiser will, using advertiser terminal 315, populate the ad database 335 by authenticating with the ad server 325. In configuring ad campaigns and the like, advertisers will provide financial credential data for the purposes of being billed for advertising costs.

The system 300 further comprises payment platform 310 adapted for facilitating financial transactions. In this manner, the ad server 335 may, by interacting with the payment platform 310, instruct funds to be transferred to and from various financial transaction accounts, including financial account associated with a user of the client computing device 305, an advertiser associated with the advertiser terminal 315, and a commission account, adapted for deducting commission for adverts served.

A method for recording user advert interaction data

There will now be described a method for recording user advert interaction data utilising the system 300 as substantially shown in figure 3. It should be appreciated that the steps of the method are exemplary only, and variations and departures thereto may be made within the purposive scope of the embodiments described herein.

The method begins where a user creates an account with the ad server 325. The user creates an account with the ad server 325 so as to be remunerated for interacting with adverts served by the ad server 325. Preferably, the user downloads a software application for execution by the client computing device 305, such as a software application downloaded from the Apple iTunes store, Google play store or the like. Alternatively, the user may register with the ad server 325 using conventional web form submission technique.

Generally, during the registration process, the user will provide user financial transaction account data to the ad server 325. Such financial transaction account data may be bank account data, or online payment platform credential data, such as PayPal credential data. The ad server 325 will use the financial transaction account data to make payments to the user for interacting with adverts.

Also, the user may provide demographic data which will be used by the ad server 325 in serving only appropriate ads to the user. The demographic data may comprise usual demographic data such as age, gender, location and the like. Furthermore, the demographic data provided by the user may comprise either demographic data such as interests, preferences or the like. For

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 example, a user may input that the user is interested in the band Garbage, and prefers not to receive adverts relating to motor cars or the like. In one embodiment as will be described in further detail below, the ad server 325 is adapted for updating the demographic data in accordance with the users ad interaction. For example, the ad server 325 may serve a trial adverts to test the user's response. For example, if the ad server 325 serves an ad relating to home loans, the ad server 325 may update the user profile in the user account database 330 to record that the user is interested in home loans. In this manner, and serving further ads, the ad server 325 would serve more ads relating to home loans. In a yet further embodiment, the system 300 is adapted to allow the user to provide real time feedback as to interests and preferences upon receipt of each advert. For example, each advert may be displayed adjacent a thumbs up or thumbs down icon, allowing the user to tailor their preferences on the fly as to which adverts the user is interested in. It should be noted that the term ad interaction as used herein did not specifically be construed as being an active action performed by the user such as clicking an ad or reading ad content. Rather, the system 300 may be adapted for recording simply the serving of ads to the client computing device of the user. In this manner, a user may be remunerated for simply receiving ads with their being no obligation to actively interact with the ads.

Also, one or more advertisers, using advertiser terminal 315 will register with the ad server 335. During the registration process, the advertisers may configure advertising campaigns comprising at least one advert for serving. In association with each advert, the advertiser may specify display data instructing the ad server 325 as to when to serve an advert. Such display data may comprise general display data such as time and date, frequency, cost and the like. Alternatively or additionally, such display data may comprise targeted display data adapted for use by the ad server 335 in targeting specific demographics of users. For example, the advertiser may wish to serve adverts only to females interested in the band Garbage between the ages of 30 and 41.

Now, with at least one advertiser and the user having registered with the ad server 325, the user, using the client computing device 325 will browse the Web in the usual manner by retrieving HTML content and the like from one or more content servers 325.

Upon receipt of the actual content, the client computing device 305 is adapted to display such content.

Now, referring to figure 4, there is shown an exemplary interface displayed by the client computing device 305. As is apparent, the display device 1020 of the client computing device 305 comprises a portion 405 reserved for the HTML content and a portion 410 reserved for the advert. In one embodiment, the client computing device 305 may comprise discreet display devices 1020 adapted for separately displaying the HTML content and the advert. In another

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 embodiment, the browser application 280 of the client computing device 305 is configured with a split screen interface.

For example, in the exemplary embodiment given, the user is browsing for information relating to a BMW Z4 motor vehicle.

Now, the ad server 325 is adapted to as is apparent, the portion 410 for the advert displays and advert for a BMW dealer in Sydney. It should be noted that the system 300 need not serve adverts directly relating to suppliers of the products or services of the content. For example, the system 300 and equally have served an advert relating to a Mazda vehicle.

There are a number of manners in which the ad server 325 may select, from the ad database 335 an appropriate advert.

In one embodiment, the ad server 335 acts as a proxy server, wherein all HTTP requests and responses are routed through the ad server 325. For example, the browser application 280 of the client computing device 305 may be configured with the IP address of the ad server 325. In this manner, where the browser application receives a URL for the BMW motor vehicle, the browser application 280 requests the resource from the ad server 325 wherein the ad server resolves the appropriate content server 320 from the request from the client computing device 305 and obtains the appropriate content accordingly. The ad server 325 then sends the content to the client computing device 305 for display. However, by acting as a proxy, the ad server 325 is well-placed for selecting an advert from the ad database 335.

In one manner, the ad server 325 is adapted to update the HTML content to include the ad. For example, the ad server 325 may inject the ad data HTML into the content HTML, including by way of the addition of appropriate stylesheet or the like so as to configure the advert for displayed beneath or above or the like the content by the browser application 280.

In an alternative embodiment, as opposed to injecting the HTML, the ad server 325 may send the ad data to the client computing device 305 separately. In this manner, the ad server 325 may send ad data HTML to the client computing device 305 for display or alternatively, the ad server 325 may send and ad URL to the client computing device 305 wherein the client computing device 305 separately retrieves the ad data HTML in accordance with the URL.

In an alternative embodiment, as opposed to the ad server 325 acting as a proxy for the client computing device 305, the browser application 280 of the client computing device 305 may, upon receipt of each HTML content, be adapted to request the ad data from the ad server 325.

Now, assuming that the user is interested in the advert for the BMW dealer or in Sydney, the user will click the advert. Generally, the advert is displayed with a URL resolving to the ad server 325 and including a unique identification for the advert. In this manner, as the user clicks on the advert, the client computing device 325 browses to a resource provided by the ad server

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325, wherein upon receipt of the HTML request, the ad server 335 will then redirect the browser

208 of the client computing device 325 to the content server 320 of the BMW dealer in Sydney.

However, by the URL resolving to the ad server 325, the ad server 325 is able to record the user's ad interaction.

And recording the ad interaction, the ad server 325 may be adapted to implement a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction. For example, should the user click on the BMW advert, the ad server 325 may send payment processing instructions to a payment platform 310 to transfer a click amount into the account of the financial institution of the user. Generally, the advertiser is able to control the click amounts paid to users.

Similarly, the ad server 325 may send payment processing instructions to deduct a click amount from the account of the financial institution of the advertiser. In one embodiment, advertisers are required to prepay advertising spend by depositing money into the financial institution of the ad server 325. In this manner, the ad server 325 need only record the amount spent by advertisers and notify the advertisers once the deposit amount has been depleted.

Generally, in making payments from the advertisers to the users in accordance with ad click interaction, the ad server 325 is adapted for deducting a commission amount and depositing the commission amount into on account of a financial institution associated with the ad server 325. In an alternative, less preferred embodiment, the system 300 may be configured such that advertisers pay users directly wherein upon receiving notification of an ad interaction, the advertiser terminal 315 issues payment instructions to depend platform 310 to transfer an amount directly into an account of the client.

Now, so as to prevent click fraud wherein users simply click multiple adverts in order to generate income, the ad server 325 may be adapted to measure the user’s interaction with the advert so as to only pay the use of for meaningful interaction with the advert. Such interaction may comprise the ad server 325 measuring the interaction/viewing time of the user.

For example, the advert landing webpage may comprise client side code such as JavaScript or the like that reports user statistics back to the ad server 325. For example, the system 300 may be configured such that commission is paid to the user only if the ad server 325 receives notification from the browser application 280 displaying the advert landing webpage that the user has viewed the advert for more than 20 seconds.

Other metrics may be employed also such as whether the user “converts” such as by clicks through to other pages, fills in a form, request a product or the like.

In one embodiment, as opposed to the system 300 initiating a financial transaction in accordance with user at click interaction, the system 300 may be adapted to record virtual currency which

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 may be redeemed by the user for consideration at a later stage. For example, the ad server 225 may record “click bucks” which may be used by participating platforms for payment.

Interpretation

Social graph

The term social graph as used herein is a data structure comprising one or more connections describing the relationships between individuals (and the relationships between individuals online in one embodiment) and is defined explicitly by the one or more connections.

Bus

In the context of this document, the term “bus” and its derivatives, while being described in a preferred embodiment as being a communication bus subsystem for interconnecting various devices including by way of parallel connectivity such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and the like or serial connectivity such as PCI Express (PCIe), Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) and the like, should be construed broadly herein as any system for communicating data.

In accordance with:

As described herein, ‘in accordance with’ may also mean ‘as a function of’ and is not necessarily limited to the integers specified in relation thereto.

Composite items

As described herein, ‘a computer implemented method’ should not necessarily be inferred as being performed by a single computing device such that the steps of the method may be performed by more than one cooperating computing devices.

Similarly objects as used herein such as ‘web server’, ‘server’, ‘client computing device’, ‘computer readable medium’ and the like should not necessarily be construed as being a single object, and may be implemented as a two or more objects in cooperation, such as, for example, a web server being construed as two or more web servers in a server farm cooperating to achieve a desired goal or a computer readable medium being distributed in a composite manner, such as program code being provided on a compact disk activatable by a license key downloadable from a computer network.

Database:

In the context of this document, the term “database” and its derivatives may be used to describe a single database, a set of databases, a system of databases or the like. The system of databases may comprise a set of databases wherein the set of databases may be stored on a single implementation or span across multiple implementations. The term “database” is also not limited

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 to refer to a certain database format rather may refer to any database format. For example, database formats may include MySQL, MySQLi, XML or the like.

Wireless:

The invention may be embodied using devices conforming to other network standards and for other applications, including, for example other WLAN standards and other wireless standards. Applications that can be accommodated include IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs and links, and wireless Ethernet.

In the context of this document, the term “wireless” and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices do not contain any wires, although in some embodiments they might not. In the context of this document, the term “wired” and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices are coupled by electrically conductive wires.

Processes:

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as “processing”, “computing”, “calculating”, “determining”, “analysing” or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities into other data similarly represented as physical quantities.

Processor:

In a similar manner, the term “processor” may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data, e.g., from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that, e.g., may be stored in registers and/or memory. A “computer” or a “computing device” or a “computing machine” or a “computing platform” may include one or more processors.

The methodologies described herein are, in one embodiment, performable by one or more processors that accept computer-readable (also called machine-readable) code containing a set of instructions that when executed by one or more of the processors carry out at least one of the methods described herein. Any processor capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken are included. Thus, one example is a typical

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 processing system that includes one or more processors. The processing system further may include a memory subsystem including main RAM and/or a static RAM, and/or ROM.

Computer-Readable Medium:

Furthermore, a computer-readable carrier medium may form, or be included in a computer program product. A computer program product can be stored on a computer usable carrier medium, the computer program product comprising a computer readable program means for causing a processor to perform a method as described herein.

Networked or Multiple Processors:

In alternative embodiments, the one or more processors operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., networked to other processor(s), in a networked deployment, the one or more processors may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer or distributed network environment. The one or more processors may form a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine.

Note that while some diagram(s) only show(s) a single processor and a single memory that carries the computer-readable code, those in the art will understand that many of the components described above are included, but not explicitly shown or described in order not to obscure the inventive aspect. For example, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Additional Embodiments:

Thus, one embodiment of each of the methods described herein is in the form of a computerreadable carrier medium carrying a set of instructions, e.g., a computer program that are for execution on one or more processors. Thus, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a method, an apparatus such as a special purpose apparatus, an apparatus such as a data processing system, or a computer-readable carrier medium. The computer-readable carrier medium carries computer readable code including a set of instructions that when executed on one or more processors cause a processor or processors to implement a method. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a method, an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 take the form of carrier medium (e.g., a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium) carrying computer-readable program code embodied in the medium.

Carrier Medium:

The software may further be transmitted or received over a network via a network interface device. While the carrier medium is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “carrier medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “carrier medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by one or more of the processors and that cause the one or more processors to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. A carrier medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.

Implementation:

It will be understood that the steps of methods discussed are performed in one embodiment by an appropriate processor (or processors) of a processing (i.e., computer) system executing instructions (computer-readable code) stored in storage. It will also be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular implementation or programming technique and that the invention may be implemented using any appropriate techniques for implementing the functionality described herein. The invention is not limited to any particular programming language or operating system.

Means For Carrying out a Method or Function

Furthermore, some of the embodiments are described herein as a method or combination of elements of a method that can be implemented by a processor of a processor device, computer system, or by other means of carrying out the function. Thus, a processor with the necessary instructions for carrying out such a method or element of a method forms a means for carrying out the method or element of a method. Furthermore, an element described herein of an apparatus embodiment is an example of a means for carrying out the function performed by the element for the purpose of carrying out the invention.

Connected

Similarly, it is to be noticed that the term connected, when used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to direct connections only. Thus, the scope of the expression a device A connected to a device B should not be limited to devices or systems wherein an output of device A is directly connected to an input of device B. It means that there exists a path between an output of A and an input of B which may be a path including other devices or means.

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 “Connected” may mean that two or more elements are either in direct physical or electrical contact, or that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other but yet still cooperate or interact with each other.

Embodiments:

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

Similarly it should be appreciated that in the above description of example embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

Specific Details

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Terminology

In describing the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar technical purpose. Terms such as forward, rearward, radially, peripherally, upwardly, downwardly, and the like are used as words of convenience to provide reference points and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

Different Instances of Objects

As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

Comprising and Including

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word “comprise” or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising” are used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Any one of the terms: including or which includes or that includes as used herein is also an open term that also means including at least the elements/features that follow the term, but not excluding others. Thus, including is synonymous with and means comprising.

Scope of Invention

Thus, while there has been described what are believed to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art will recognize that other and further modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is intended to claim all such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the invention. For example, any formulas given above are merely representative of procedures that may be used. Functionality may be added or deleted from the block diagrams and operations may be interchanged among functional blocks. Steps may be added or deleted to methods described within the scope of the present invention.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms.

Industrial Applicability

It is apparent from the above, that the arrangements described are applicable to the pay-per-click, pay-per-impression ad serving infrastructure industries.

Claims

Claims

2019202305 03 Apr 2019

1. A method for recording user advert interaction data, the method comprising: associating a user account with a client computing device, the user account comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user;

serving advert data to the client computing device, the advert data comprising at least one advert;

receiving a user selection of the at least one advert;

updating the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising implementing a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction data.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be transferred to a financial account associated with the user.
4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be transferred to a commission account.
5. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be deducted from a financial account associated with an advertiser.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

serving content data to the client computing device; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with content data.
7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein selecting the at least one advert comprises selecting the at least one advert further in accordance with demographic data.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the user account comprises the demographic data.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the demographic data is user-specified demographic data.
10. A method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising updating the demographic data in accordance with the advert interaction data.
11. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the demographic data comprises at least one of age, gender, interests, preferences and the location.
12. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein selecting the at least one advert comprises: receiving the content data from a content server; and forwarding the content data to the client computing device.
13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein forwarding the content data to the client computing device comprises updating the content data to include advert data representing the at least one advert.

2019202305 03 Apr 2019
14. A method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising sending the advert data the client computing device.
15. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising sending a URL associated with the advert data the client computing device.
16. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving request data from the client computing device, the request data being indicative of content data; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with request data.
17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the request data comprises a content URL.
18. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein updating the user advert interaction data comprises measuring user interaction with advert content data.
19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein measuring comprises measuring interaction time.
20. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein measuring comprises measuring interaction.
21. An ad server for recording user advert interaction data, the server comprising:

a processor for processing digital data;

a memory device for storing digital data including computer program code, the memory device being operably coupled to the processor;

a database connection for connection with a database, the database connection adapted for sending storing and retrieving user account data representing a user account, the user account data comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user; and a network interface for sending and receiving data across a data network, wherein, in use, the processor is controlled by the computer program code to:

store, using the database connection, in association of the user account with a client computing device;

serve, via the network interface, advert data to the client computing device, the advert data comprising at least one advert;

receive, via the network interface, users selection data representing a user selection of the at least one advert; and store, using the database connection, the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert.
22. An ad server as claimed in claim 21, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to, send, via the network interface, financial transaction instruction data for implementing a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction data.

2019202305 03 Apr 2019
23. An ad server as claimed in claim 22, wherein the transaction instruction data comprises instructions for instructing funds to be transferred to a financial account associated with the user.
24. An ad server as claimed in claim 22, wherein the transaction instruction data comprises instructions for instructing funds to be transferred to a commission account.
25. An ad server as claimed in claim 22, wherein the transaction instruction data comprises instructions for instructing funds to be deducted from a financial account associated with an advertiser.
26. An ad server as claimed in claim 21, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to:

serve, via the network interface, content data to the client computing device; and select, using the database connection, the at least one advert in accordance with content data.
27. An ad server as claimed in claim 26, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to select, using the database connection, the at least one advert further in accordance with demographic data.
28. An ad server as claimed in claim 27, wherein the user account data comprises the demographic data.
29. An ad server as claimed in claim 28, wherein the demographic data is user-specified demographic data.
30. An ad server as claimed in claim 28, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to update, using the database connection, the demographic data in accordance with the advert interaction data.
31. An ad server as claimed in claim 27, wherein the demographic data comprises at least one of age, gender, interests, preferences and the location.
32. An ad server as claimed in claim 26, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer problem code to:

receive, via the network interface, the content data from a content server; and serve, via the network interface, the content data to the client computing device.
33. An ad server as claimed in claim 32, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to update, using the database connection, the content data to include advert data representing the at least one advert.
34. An ad server as claimed in claim 26, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to send, via the network interface, the advert data the client computing device.

2019202305 03 Apr 2019
35. An ad server as claimed in claim 34, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to send, via the network interface, a URL associated with the advert data the client computing device.
36. An ad server as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:

receive, via the network interface, request data from the client computing device, the request data being indicative of content data; and select, from the database connection, the at least one advert in accordance with request data.
37. An ad server as claimed in claim 36, wherein the request data comprises a content URL.
38. An ad server as claimed in claim 21, wherein the processor is further controlled by the computer program code to measure measuring user interaction with advert content data.
39. An ad server as claimed in claim 38, wherein measuring comprises measuring interaction time.
40. An ad server as claimed in claim 38, wherein measuring comprises measuring interaction.
41. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer code instructions executable by computing device for recording user advert interaction, the computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for:

associating a user account with a client computing device, the user account comprising advert interaction data representing advert interaction of a user;

serving advert data to the client computing device, the advert data comprising at least one advert;

receiving a user selection of the at least one advert;

updating the advert interaction data in accordance with the user selection of the at least one advert.
42. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 41, further comprising implementing a financial transaction in accordance with the advert interaction data.
43. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 42, wherein implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be transferred to a financial account associated with the user.
44. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 42, wherein implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be transferred to a commission account.
45. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 42, wherein implementing a financial transaction comprises instructing funds to be deducted from a financial account associated with an advertiser.
46. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 41, further comprising:

2019202305 03 Apr 2019 serving content data to the client computing device; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with content data.
47. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 46, wherein selecting the at least one advert comprises selecting the at least one advert further in accordance with demographic data.
48. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 47, wherein the user account comprises the demographic data.
49. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 48, wherein the demographic data is user-specified demographic data.
50. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 48, further comprising updating the demographic data in accordance with the advert interaction data.
51. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 47, wherein the demographic data comprises at least one of age, gender, interests, preferences and the location.
52. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 46, wherein selecting the at least one advert comprises:

receiving the content data from a content server; and forwarding the content data to the client computing device.
53. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 52, wherein forwarding the content data to the client computing device comprises updating the content data to include advert data representing the at least one advert.
54. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 46, further comprising sending the advert data the client computing device.
55. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 54, further comprising sending a URL associated with the advert data the client computing device.
56. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 41, further comprising: receiving request data from the client computing device, the request data being indicative of content data; and selecting the at least one advert in accordance with request data.
57. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 56, wherein the request data comprises a content URL.
58. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 41, wherein updating the user advert interaction data comprises measuring user interaction with advert content data.
59. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 58, wherein measuring comprises measuring interaction time.

2019202305 03 Apr 2019
60. A computer readable storage medium as claimed in claim 58, wherein measuring comprises measuring interaction.