WO2001077989A1

WO2001077989A1 - An integrated ad view certification system

Info

Publication number: WO2001077989A1
Application number: PCT/IN2001/000086
Authority: WO
Inventors: Na Vijayashankar
Original assignee: Na Vijayashankar
Priority date: 2000-04-11
Filing date: 2001-04-04
Publication date: 2001-10-18
Also published as: AU5505901A

Abstract

The invention provides an integrated ad view certification system which comprises a parent unit (P) connected through internet to plurality of child units (C). The parent unit (P) comprises a processor with an input interface (I) and an output interface (O) for receiving and delivering information respectively from and to an ad server (AS), a website owner (WO), an ad view certifier (AVC) and netizens (N) and a data base system prepared from the information received from the control unit, ad server (AS), website owner (WO), ad view certifier (AVC) and netizens (N).

Description

AN INTEGRATED AD VIEW CERTIFICATION SYSTEM

The invention relates to an integrated ad view certification system for certifying the exposures of a advertisements to the visitors of a member website with an advertisement object by monitoring and regulating the activities on website. The system according to the invention also obtains confirmations about exposure of an advertisement object on a website from the viewers and provides incentives for such confirmation.

Background of the invention

Internet has today grown to be a global information system supported by content supplied by millions of netizens all round the world. Content aggregators maintaining portal sites add further value to the content generated by individuals through appropriate packaging, distribution and publicity.

One of the important sources of income to any content provider/website owner and particularly the portal owner is the revenue generated by online advertisements. These advertisements in the form of ad banners and hyperlinks act as "Brand Reminders" and as "gateways" for bringing visitors to the advertiser's own web site. The revenue stream generated by these ads is a reliable source of income for the website owner to reward the content contributors and to defray the cost of operation of the portal. This ad revenue would go a long way in bringing many of the Internet's community services free to the netizen population. A healthy online advertising industry will therefore benefit the consumers in the internet industry.

In order that the online ad industry flourishes, the ad industry and the website owners should have a mutually rewarding relationship. One of the key aspects of such a relationship is a satisfactory payment mechanism linked to an agreed ad delivery standard.

The first and the most obvious method is the "Period based" payment system where the advertiser pays a certain amount of money for displaying his banner/message on a web page for a certain period. The number of potential customers of the advertiser who have an opportunity to view such ads would depend on the traffic on the site and the profile of the visitors. These are normally certified by the site owner based on his server log records and the advertiser has no choice but to accept the same as correct.

The second method by which advertisements on the internet are paid for is the "Click Through" method where the payment is based on the number of times visitors click through the hyperlink on the ad message. The number of clickthroughs can be tracked by the advertiser to some extent by monitoring the activity on the page linked to the ad. This does not however always tally with the click through figures claimed by the site owner since some of the clickthroughs may be abandoned by the visitors before they reach the target site.

The third and the more popular method by which advertisements are paid for, is the "Per View" basis (Also referred to as the CPM basis). Under this system, the website owner contracts to deliver a stated number of exposures of the advertiser's ad banner to his visitors at a given cost. A satisfactory conclusion of this contract requires a certification from the website owner of the number of visitors who have visited the web page where the ad message is displayed. The advertiser has no means of verifying the statement made by the site owner in this regard since he has no control over the server where the ad is placed.

The essence of a successful payment system is to ensure that the advertiser is fully satisfied that the contracted number of ad exposures has taken place.

Yet another challenge in the online ad delivery is that, the banner ads are normally accompanied by embedded pictures or software codes that may not load on some browsers. Some times the visitor might have switched off the facility on his browser to view pictures or Java programs because of which the ad may not be exposed even though other contents of a particular web page are viewed by the surfer. In such cases, there would be a variance between the page visit statistics of the web site owner and the ad view benefits derived by the advertiser.

In view of the above problems inherent in the technology, the advertiser is unable to get an accurate measure of his ad exposures. However, since this type of payment for internet advertising on exposure basis is otherwise popular, there is a need to develop a suitable system that can measure ad exposures independent of the server logs owned and maintained by the website owner. A reliable system of such certification may require a tool that even a third party can use to certify the number of people who might have viewed the advertisement.

Summary of the invention

The integrated adview certification system (IAVCS) according to the invention comprises a parent unit and one or more child units connected to a said parent unit. The parent unit is a primary processing unit and is under the control of the owner of the software system and work like a central application service provider. Each child unit resides between the netizen and the web server, where the web page containing the advertisement object to be certified exists. The invention provides an integrated ad view certification system comprising a parent unit connected through internet to plurality of child units, said parent unit comprising a processor with an input interface and an output interface for receiving and delivering information respectively from and to an ad server, a website owner, an ad view certifier and netizens and a data base system prepared from the information received form the ad server, website owner, ad view certifier and netizens; each said child unit being interposed between the corresponding web-page with advertisement and the netizen visiting the web page for regulating, monitoring and reporting the activities on the web page with advertisement in accordance with the instructions from the parent unit.

Drawings :

Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the integrated ad view certification system according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows the interconnection between the parent unit, child unit, netizen and the web page with advertisement object.

Figure 3 shows the functional break up of the integrated ad view certification system. Detail description :

The integrated adview certification system (IAVCS) according to the invention consists of a combination of a parent unit (P) and one or more child units (C).

The parent unit (P) is a primary processing unit and would be under the control of the owner of the software system and work like a central application service provider.

The child unit would reside between the web server where the web page containing the advertisement object to be certified exists and the browser of the netizen.

The parent unit (P) will have a web interface with the users of the system such as the ad view certifier, ad server web server administrator (or website owner), and the netizens. There will be two types of interfaces one for the input and the other for the output.

The input interface (I) will consist of a web form to capture relevant information from the user. The output interface (O) will consist of web pages to deliver relevant information to the user. The parent unit (P) is supported by data bases consisting the following information :

a) Details of the web page (WPD) where the advertisement object to be certified exists. b) Details of the advertisements (ASD) to be served by the ad server. c) Details of the netizens (MD) who become members of the system. d) Details of the monitored activity (ASD).

The details of the web page where the subject advertisement object exists would be configured by the administrator of the web server where the advertisement object resides during the system initiation process. No body else including the ad view certifier would have access to this part of the database. The set of details will also consist of a primary set of decision rules that the web server administrator alone can configure.

The details of the advertisements to be served would be configured by the ad server (AS). This function can be discharged by the web server administrator himself or a third party ad server. Once the web server administrator assigns an "Object Identification Code" along with the limiting parameters if any, the control of the other parameters of the object will be available only to the ad server. For example, the web server administrator may assign an object identification code for a "banner of size 468X60 pixels at the top of the page for a file size not exceeding 20K". Then the ad server can configure any image and any hyper link to be assigned to the given object identification code provided the limitations of pixel and file sizes are met.

The details of the netizens (N) who become members of the system will be created initially through a membership application form on the web. The information captured would consist of details such as the name, preferred log in ID, preferred password, E-mail and Snail mail address etc. Some of these particulars would be editable by the member himself subsequent to registration. This database will also consist of information on the incentive system applicable to the member and the status of the incentives earned, encashed etc. The incentive particulars are automatically updated by the system and can be controlled only by the IAVCS administrator.

Details of the monitored activity would be under the control of the IAVCS administrator who will configure the system at the initiation time. The database would be subsequently updated automatically by the system. All databases take the inputs from the respective input interfaces (I) and deliver the output through the relevant output interfaces (O). The processor of the parent unit delivers and picks data from the databases (ASD, AVD, WPD and MD) as required, besides processing the input and output requests and responses.

The child unit (C) resides between the web server containing the web page to be monitored by the IAVCS and the browser of the netizen. It regulates and monitors all activities taking place on the web page. All ht p requests and responses concerning the monitored web page are passed through the child unit and it will identify each packet, check for the decision rule concerning the packet and allow or disallow the passage as per the rule. The child unit will also identify members and non members amongst the visitors and react as per the pre-set decision rules communicated to it from the parent unit. All activities passing through the child unit are reported to the parent unit.

The functions of the IAVCS can be divided into three sub systems

1. Page object load Management Subsystem

2. Incentive management Subsystem

3. Report management Subsystem

1.Page Object Load management Subsystem : This subsystem recognizes a web page as a conglomerate of different object components, track the appearance of such objects on the browser during the process of browsing, regulate and monitor such loading. For the purpose of this function, each banner advertisement or a picture or text component is considered as an individual object. This will consist of the advertisement object that has to be certified and also other objects.

In the initiation process, the web server administrator configures the subsystem giving a specific identity to each of the page objects. He will also define limits to parameters of loading such as the file size, the length and breadth of the object. He will also specify if any object that has to be either excluded from the system or given a special priority.

In assigning the "Advertisement object" for monitoring, the server administrator will allocate the position of the object and size limitations. The Ad server can however allocate different banner images or sub objects, within the assigned limits.

The initiation by the server administrator as well as the Ad server is done through the web interface for inputs. During this initial configuration, the details of the output reports will also be set up by them. The system will make these reports available from the database through the web interfaces for outputs. The ad view certifier will also interact with the system through the web interfaces for input and output and will configure the system for monitoring parameters and report generating purpose.

2. The Incentive Management Subsystem :

This subsystem prompts visitors to a given web page to become members of the IAVCS, captures the membership details, confirms membership, provides for customization of membership benefits, identifies the member on subsequent visits, customizes ad display, prompts and captures adview confirmation, calculates incentives earned, keeps account of the incentives earned and encashed, monitors and reports the status of the account.

It has the following sub components.

1. Customer detection system

2. Membership prompt

3. Member enrolment

4. Configuration of benefits

5. Adview Confirmation prompt

6. Recording of Confirmation

7. Calculation of Incentives

8. Approving Incentive debits

9. Maintenance of Membership account.

n Customer detection may be through a "Cookie" system. Absence of cookie may trigger the new member invitation through the "membership prompt". Presence of cookie may trigger customized display parameters where the netizen has consented to and installed the child unit on his browser , the child unit will be inbuilt with a self identifying system to report to the parent unit.

Membership prompt when responded positively, will lead the prospect to the membership enrolment component. This will capture the details of the member such as his name, snail mail address, e-mail address and adview preferences.

During the enrolment process of a new member and subsequently through a membership information edit module, the member can set his preferences for display of advertisements.

Besides, he can also exercise his choice of incentive options which will include the manner of encashment of the incentives.

Ad view confirmation prompt is a uniqe system which will display a visual prompt when the member has viewed a particular advertisement being monitored by the system. When clicked, this will record his confirmation and calculate the "incentives" based on the pre-set parameters. Whenever the member tries to encash the incentives, the approval system checks the identification of the member and the membership particulars. After approval of the debit, the account is updated.

Report Management Sub System:

The report management subsystem enables every user to configure the report within pre-set limits through the input interface and to receive the output to the web or through e-mail at pre-set time intervals.

The IAVCS captures all the activities occurring on the page from the first time a visitor enters the site untill he exits. During this time different page load objects are loaded on the visitors browser at different points of time. The log system in the child unit records these happenings and transmits the data to the parent unit. The data is stored in the data base in the parent unit and used for preparing the various reports that would be required by the users.

Each user such as the web server administrator, the ad server, the ad certifier, netizen (member and non Member) and the IAVCS central administrator will have access to different templates of reports that can be customized within the limit of the parameters that they are allowed to configure and monitor.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. An integrated ad view certification system comprising a parent unit connected through internet to plurality of child units, said parent unit comprising a processor with an input interface and an output interface for receiving and delivering information respectively from and to an ad server, a website owner, an ad view certifier and netizens and a data base system prepared from the information received from the control unit, ad server, website owner, ad view certifier and netizens; each said child unit being interposed between the corresponding web-page with advertisement and the netizen visiting the web page for regulating, monitoring and reporting, the activities on the web page with advertisement in accordance with the instructions form the parent unit.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the child units are located in the web server hosting the web page containing at least one advertisement object.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the child unit is located in the netizen' s browser.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data base system comprises ad serving data, ad view data, web page data and netizen member data.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the instructions of the parent unit includes means for prioritisation of loading of objects contained in the web page, an incentive management subsystem of membership for customised ad display, prompting and recording of ad view confirmation, and calculating and maintaining of incentive account.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the child unit has means to make the adview confirmation prompt appear on netizen' s browser only after the pre-set activity on the web page such as loading of the monitored ad is completed, and not otherwise.