WO2008078934A1

WO2008078934A1 - Advertisment method by the terminal and advertisment system thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2008078934A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/006770
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jin Yong Joo
Original assignee: Internet Channel21 Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-12-22
Filing date: 2007-12-22
Publication date: 2008-07-03
Also published as: KR20090000064A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a customized advertising method and system using a user terminal. The customized advertising system includes an advertising agency server (10) and an advertisement application (21). The advertising agency server includes a user information DB (14) for storing information about a user subscribed as a member, an advertising DB (13) for storing advertisement data, a user management module (12) for performing a subscription procedure and storing information, input by the user, in the user information DB, and an advertisement selection module (11) for searching the advertising DB for advertisement data and transmitting found advertisement data to a user terminal. The advertisement application includes a communication module (21a) for checking operation of the user terminal, transmitting an ON signal to the advertising agency server, and accessing the advertising agency server, and an advertising module (21b) for outputting the advertisement data to an output unit.

Description

[DESCRIPTION]

[Invention Tit Ie]

ADVERTISMENT METHOD BY THE TERMINAL AND ADVERTISMENT SYSTEM THEREOF

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates to a customized advertising method and system using a user terminal.

[Background Art]

The development of the Internet has produced various types of subcultures realized in the online environment. The online culture created in this way has produced a plurality of cultural items and various types of content, like cultural items and content implemented in the offline environment. To that extent, the number of persons coming into contact with the online culture increases, and thus a large market is created.

Due to this tendency, large-scale portal sites, which provide various types of items and various types of content in an online environment, yield enormous operating revenue. However, broadcasting stations, which provide broadcast items, obtain profit by providing various types of broadcast content items for free on the condition that viewers see broadcasted advertisements. In contrast, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which provide the communication network that is the basis for the creation of the huge market in the online environment, cannot overcome repeated deficits even if they invest several tens of trillions of Won.

In order to solve this unreasonable problem, technologies and business models that can provide high-quality service for free or at low cost to users (Netizens), who use online environments, while ensuring the profit of ISPs, are required.

[Disclosure]

[Technical Problem]

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a customized advertising method and system using a user terminal, in which an advertising medium applicable to an advertising business, which enables enormous operating revenue to be yielded in an online environment, is created, so that advertising revenue, concentrated on a specific company, can be distributed online, and profit generated through this distribution can be returned to users or society, thus being beneficial to both advertisers and users. [Technical Solution]

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a customized advertising system using a user terminal, comprising an advertising agency server including a user information Database (DB) for storing information about at least one user subscribed as a member, an advertising DB for storing advertisement data, a user management module for performing a subscription procedure for at least one user who subscribes to the advertising agency server online, and storing information, input by the user, in the user information DB, and an advertisement selection module for searching the advertising DB for advertisement data and transmitting found advertisement data to a user terminal of the user; and an advertisement application including a communication module for checking operation of the user terminal when the user terminal is operated, transmitting an ON signal to the advertising agency server, and accessing the advertising agency server, and an advertising module for outputting the advertisement data, provided by the advertising agency server, to an output unit of the user terminal, the advertisement application being installed in the user terminal.

[Advantageous Effects]

According to the present invention, an operator company can provide advertisements to users online without establishing a website on the Internet, thus creating revenue through advertising. Further, since advertisements provided in this way are selected in a customized manner to attract users' attention, the advertising effect can be improved. Meanwhile, users who view advertisements can also be provided with revenue created by an operator company as an additional service, thus allowing all of advertisers, the operator company and users to obtain benefits.

In addition, the present invention is advantageous in that all information and advertisements are ultimately output on the monitor of a terminal, and the ultimately output information and advertisements are shown independent of the program currently being executed in the terminal, regardless of the content of the information and advertisements, thus stably providing advertisements to users. [Description of Drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an advertising system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the construction of an advertisement application according to the present invention installed in a user terminal;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart sequentially showing an advertising method according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the advertisement updating step of FIG. 3 in detail ;

FIG. 5 is a view showing the images of screens of a user terminal to which the advertising method and the advertising system of the present invention are applied; and

FIG. 6 is a view showing the images of other screens of the user terminal to which the advertising method and the advertising system of the present invention are applied. [Mode for Invention] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an advertising system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an advertisement application according to the present invention installed in a user terminal. A description will be made below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The advertising system according to the present invention can be applied to various types of digital TVs or mobile terminals enabling data communication (hereinafter referred to as 'user terminals'), in addition to Personal Computers (PCs), which are computers able to access the Internet. Meanwhile, the users of user terminals 20, 20' and 20" must subscribe to an operator company, which operates the advertising system and the advertising method, as members in order to use the advertising system and the advertising method of the present invention.

The operator company can manage the user terminals 20, 20' and 20" of the subscribing users and can mediate communication with other servers 30 and 40 through an advertising agency server 10.

The communication between the user terminals 20, 20' and 20" and the advertising agency server 10 is performed by an advertisement application (MyAd) 21. The advertisement application 21 can be downloaded in such a way that each user registers as the member of the operator company, or accesses the website of the operator company even if he or she is not a member.

The detailed construction of the above-described advertising agency server 10 and advertisement application 21 and the operation thereof will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart sequentially showing an advertising method according to the present invention, and a description will be made below with reference to FIG. 3.

SlO; User service subscription step

The user permits advertisements to be shown on his or her user terminal 20, 20' or 20", and benefits by being provided with specific content or service from the operator company, which provides the advertisements, for free or at low cost in exchange for permission to show the advertisements.

The user must subscribe to the operator company as a member to obtain this benefit .

In order to subscribe as a member, the user must provide his or her personal information, which includes his or her name, address, resident registration number, etc., and may further include detailed information about the user's occupation, marital status, family information, tastes, etc. Such information is separately stored in a user information Database (DB) 14 provided in the advertising agency server 10 of the operator company, and is protected therein.

Meanwhile, the detailed personal information may be reference particulars used to determine the type and content of advertisements that are provided by the operator company to the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" of the user. This will be described in detail later.

The method in which the user subscribes to the operator company may be variously implemented. Typically, the user accesses the website of the operator company over the Internet and undertakes a member subscription procedure provided by the website through a user management module 12.

Generally, the user sets up an Identification (ID)/Password (PW) when subscribing to the website as a member. When the user accesses the website (advertising agency server) of the operator company using his or her user terminal 20, 20' or 20" and inputs the ID/PW, the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" and the website can communicate with each other after authentication has been performed therebetween. However, the advertising method and the advertising system according to the present invention are preferably implemented such that, when the user accesses the website using his or her user terminal 20, 20' or 20", the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" can receive the service provided by the website while the website and the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" communicate with each other even if the user does not input his or her ID/PW.

For reference, the website is operated by the advertising agency server 10 according to the present invention, and the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" and the advertising agency server 10 actually communicate with each other.

For this purpose, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" are turned on and are operated, an ON signal from the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is transmitted to the advertising agency server 10. The advertising agency server 10, having received a unique ON signal from each user terminal 20, 20' or 20", detects which user terminal 20, 20' or 20" transmitted the operation signal corresponding to the currently received ON signal, and actively communicates with the detected user terminal 20, 20' or 20".

S20; Service program installation step

As described above, when the user accesses the website of the operator company and successfully performs member subscription, the advertisement application 21 is transmitted to and installed in the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" in order to perform smooth communication between the advertising agency server 10 of the website and the user terminal 20, 20' or 20".

In the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", the advertisement application 21, transmitted from the advertising agency server 10, is installed, and thus the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" communicates with the advertising agency server 10 via the advertisement application 21.

The advertisement application 21 includes a communication module 21a and an advertising module 21b, and may further include an advertisement DE 21c, if needed.

This will be described in detail below. The communication module 21a receives various types of advertisement data, transmitted from the advertising agency server 10, or transmits a unique ON signal, required tc guide the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" to the advertising agency server 10 at the time of operating the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", while communicating with the advertising agency server 10. That is, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated by the user's manipulation, the communication module 21a generates the unique ON signal of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" at the same time that the user terminal is operated, and transmits the unique ON signal to the advertising agency server 10.

Meanwhile, the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" may include a digital TV and a mobile terminal, and these devices are all characterized in common in that they can be connected online.

Consequently, since the advertising agency server 10 receives the ON signal, which is an operation signal generated while the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated, online, the advertising agency server 10 can actively recognize that the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operating even if the user does not intentionally input his or her ID/PW.

The advertising module 21b receives the advertisement data provided by the advertising DB 13 of the advertising agency server 10 and outputs the advertisement data to the user terminal 20, 20' or 20".

FIG. 5 is a view showing the images of screens of the user terminal to which the advertising method and the advertising system of the present invention are applied. A description will be made below with reference to FIG. 5.

In the currently operating user terminal 20, 20' or 20", the communication module 21a transmits an ON signal to the advertising agency server 10, as described above, so that the advertising agency server 10 can be aware that the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operating even if the user does not separately manipulate the user terminal. Therefore, the advertising agency server 10 outputs first and second advertisements 101 and 102 to the output unit 100 (monitor or display) of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" according to content agreed upon at the time at which the user subscribed as a member.

In order to output the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 tc the output unit 100 of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", the locations anc output formats of the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 must be restricted or defined. Therefore, the advertising module 21b detects/stores coordinates on the output unit 100, at which the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 will be located, and performs control so that the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 are output according to the output formats thereof.

The output formats of the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 can be variously implemented. For example, the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 may be simple static images or moving images. The static images or moving images may be implemented as a layer independent of the original image, which is output through the output unit 100, or may be fixed at a uniform location while being unchanged, regardless of variation in the original image.

Meanwhile, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is a typical PC, the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 are inserted into script configuring a web page 110 in substitute for a portion of the script, thus enabling the advertisements to be integrated into the web page 110.

Of course, in addition to such a method, it is also possible to utilize a scripting language, such as ActionScript , and to overlay new advertisements on the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 posted on the web page 110 at corresponding locations without deleting the script of the first and second advertisements.

The application of the ActionScript method can be performed by the following procedure.

First, when the overlay locations of the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 are determined, and the advertising DB 13 or the advertisement DB 21c is queried about corresponding parameters, the user terminal is provided with Flash information about advertisements suitable for the overlay locations. At this time, when two or more new first and second advertisements 101 and 102 must be provided to the web page 110, the Flash information causes the new first and second advertisements 101 and 102, each having a Flash format, to naturally overlay the web page 110 and to be output. Typically, when Flash is output separately from the web page 110, the Flash forms an html layer independent of the web page 110, and the layer may be closed as desired by the user.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is a typical PC, and the output unit 100 thereof is a monitor, as shown in FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 5(b), when the user accesses the specific web page 110, the first and second advertisements 101 and 102, which do not pertain to the web page 110, are output. Each of the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 has a layer independent of the script configuring the web page 110 and is output to the output unit 100.

FIG. 6 is a view showing the images of other screens of the user terminal to which the advertising method and the advertising system of the present invention are applied. A description will be made below with reference to FIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 6, the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" can output the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 even when it does not currently access the specific web page 110. That is, even when the output unit 100 does not access the Internet via a web browser, the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 are output through a background image 120. In detail, the advertising method and the advertising system of the present invention are implemented such that, when the user subscribes to the operator company as a member, the advertising agency server 10 of the operator company outputs the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 through the output unit 100 while actively communicating with the user terminal 20, 20' or 20".

For reference, if the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is a digital TV and the user manipulates the digital TV, the communication module 21a of the advertisement application 21, installed in the set-top box of the digital TV, transmits an ON signal to the advertising agency server 10 online. The advertising agency server 10, having received the ON signal, transmits advertisement data to the set-top box, thus enabling the first and second advertisements 101 and 102, related to the advertisement data, to be output on the output unit 100 of the digital TV.

In addition, if the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is a mobile terminal and the user operates the mobile terminal, the communication module 21a of the advertisement application 21, installed in the mobile terminal, transmits an ON signal from the mobile terminal to the advertising agency server 10 via a communication medium, such as the wireless Internet. The first and second advertisements, related to the advertisement data, are output on the screen of the display of the mobile terminal that received the advertisement data.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the embodiments of the present invention show examples in which the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is a typical PC, but the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" according to the present invention is not limited to this PC, and can be applied to a digital TV or a mobile terminal.

The advertisement DB 21c stores the advertisement data transmitted from the advertising agency server 10. As described above, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated, the advertising agency server 10 checks the operation thereof, searches the advertising DB 13 for suitable advertisement data, and transmits the found advertisement data. However, from the standpoint of efficiency, it is not very desirable to receive the advertisement data each time the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated.

Therefore, when the user subscribes to the website of the advertising agency server 10 as a member, the advertisement DB 21c receives the advertisement data, which has been found by the advertising agency server 1C in the advertising DB 13 and has been transmitted from the advertising agency server 10, and stores the advertisement data, thereby enabling the advertising module 21b to search the advertisement DB 21c, instead of the advertising agency server 10, for advertisement data, and to output the advertisement data through the output unit 100 when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated again.

S30; Terminal communication connection step As described above, the advertising method and the advertising system of the present invention are configured such that, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated to transmit an ON signal to the advertising agency server 10, the advertising agency server 10 receives the ON signal and actively performs the subsequent operation.

However, as described above, when the advertisement DB 21c is configured in the advertisement application 21, information about whether the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated is not necessarily transmitted to the advertising agency server 10. That is, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated on a local basis, the advertisement application 21 may be operated to search the advertisement DB 21c for required advertisement data and to output the advertisement data, without being under the control of the advertising agency server 10.

S40; Advertisement updating step

The update of advertisements denotes an operation of updating the advertising DB 13 of the advertising agency server 10 when variation exists in advertisements provided by an advertising company server 30, or an operation of updating a separate advertisement DB 21c for the purpose of managing advertisements in the advertising agency server 10 when the separate advertisement DB 21c exists in the advertisement application 21.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the advertisement updating step of FIG. 3 in detail. A description will be made below with reference to FIG. 4.

S41; New advertisement checking step

When a new advertisement is provided by the advertising company server 30, the advertisement data, stored in the advertising DB 13 and the advertisement DB 21c, is updated.

S42; User information verification step

When the advertising DB 13 and the advertisement DB 21c are updated, advertisement data is classified for respective subscribers subscribed as members. That is, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" of an arbitrary user is operated, the advertisement data, classified according to the personal information of the user, must be transmitted/output. For this purpose, the updated advertisement data is classified in advance according to respective users. Therefore, the information of the user is verified so as to classify advertisement data.

For example, when an ON signal is received from the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", the user of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is verified. When the user is a student, advertisements related to educational institutes or examinations are provided, when the user is an adult, advertisements related to stocks or finances are provided, and when the user is an old person, advertisements related to health are provided to the user terminal 20, 20' or 20".

S43; Updated advertisement classification step

The advertisement selection module 11 classifies the advertisement data of the advertising DB 13 on the basis of the verified user information, and thus links the classified advertisement data to respective users. When the ON signal from the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is checked, the advertisement data, linked to the user of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", is searched for in the advertising DB 13, and thus the found advertisement data can be promptly transmitted. In the above-described advertisement selection method, the advertisement selection module 11 selects advertisement data to be provided to the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", but the present invention is not limited to this method, and it is possible to allow the user to personally select an advertisement. For this operation, the personal selection of an advertisement by the user may be performed in such a way that the user accesses the advertising agency server 10, checks a list of advertisements to be provided, and selects/determines a desired advertisement from the list .

Meanwhile, when the advertising DB 13 of the advertising agency server 10 is updated and the advertisement DB 21c exists in the advertisement application 21, the advertisement data classified by the advertising DB 13 is transmitted/provided to the advertisement DB 21c of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", and thus the advertisement DB 21c is updated.

S44; Advertisement transmission step

The advertisement data, classified as described above, is transmitted to the advertising agency server 10 when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated. Here, the transmission of an advertisement includes the meaning of the transmission of advertisement data from the advertising agency server 10 to the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", and the meaning of the transmission of advertisement data from the advertisement DB 21c to the advertising module 21b.

S50; Advertisement output step using terminal

When the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated, the advertising module 21b, having checked the operation of the user terminal, searches the advertising DB 13 of the advertising agency server 10 or the advertisement DB 21c of the advertisement application 21 for an advertisement to be output, and outputs the found advertisement data through the output unit 100 of the user terminal 20, 20' or 20".

This output method can be variously implemented. As an example, it is possible to change the advertisements that are output whenever the screen of the output unit 100 is changed, and it is also possible to output fixed advertisements at fixed regular periods, regardless of the state of the screen of the output unit 100.

Further, it is also possible to analyze the script of the web page that is currently output to the user terminal 20, 20' or 20", and to replace a previous advertisement placed in the web page with a new advertisement, or to overlay a new advertisement on the previous advertisement, or to insert the new advertisement in an empty space. Next, the operator company can provide predetermined service to the user who uses the advertising method and the advertising system according to the present invention, and examples of this service are described below.

The advertisement application 21 can be equipped with a page that can be manipulated by the user, and can be configured to output a relevant page on the output unit 100, as in the case of a well-known messenger program, when the user terminal 20, 20' or 20" is operated.

The page can be configured such that a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is linked to the page to access the web page of the advertising agency server 10, and such that various types of information provided by the advertising agency server 10 are output .

Meanwhile, in the page, an input box, required in order to input an email address, a phone number, a user name, a user ID, or a URL, is provided. The user can access the blog of another user, who is the member of the operator company, or can transmit an email, by inputting the email address, phone number or URL of that user into the input box. That is, when the user inputs the email address, the phone number or the URL into the input box, the communication module 21a of the advertisement application 21 determines whether the intention of the user who inputted such information is to access the blog of the opposite user, or to transmit a short message (Short Message Service: SMS), and provides a service corresponding to the determined intention. The user's intention can be determined by allowing the user to select a desired service, or by dividing the types of input boxes in detail. For this purpose, the advertising agency server 10 according to the present invention includes a user network communication module 15. The user network communication module 15 enables the service intended by the user to be suitably provided while communicating with a service provision server 40 for providing various types of service, such as various blogs, and an email system 50 for providing email service.

For example, when the user inputs a phone number into an address input box, the user can access the blog of a user corresponding to the phone number, and when the user inputs a phone number into an email address input box, the user can transmit an email to a user corresponding to the phone number .

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the page may be placed at the locations of the first and second advertisements 101 and 102 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and may replace the first and second advertisements 101 and 102.

Claims

[CLAIMS]

[Claim 1]

A customized advertising system using a user terminal, comprising: an advertising agency server including a user information Database (DB) for storing information about at least one user subscribed as a member, an advertising DB for storing advertisement data, a user management module for performing a subscription procedure for at least one user who subscribes to the advertising agency server online, and storing information, input by the user, in the user information DB, and an advertisement selection module for searching the advertising DB for advertisement data and transmitting found advertisement data to a user terminal of the user; and an advertisement application including a communication module for checking operation of the user terminal when the user terminal is operated, transmitting an ON signal to the advertising agency server, and accessing the advertising agency server, and an advertising module for outputting the advertisement data, provided by the advertising agency server, to an output unit of the user terminal, the advertisement application being installed in the user terminal .

[Claim 2]

The customized advertising system according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement application further includes an advertisement DB for storing the advertisement data provided by the advertising agency server.

[Claim 3]

The customized advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the advertisement selection module is configured to search the user information DB for information about the user, to search/classify the advertising DB for advertisement data suitable for the user information, and to transmit classified advertisement data to a user terminal of each user.

[Claim 4]

The customized advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the advertising agency server further includes a user network communication module for connecting the user terminal to a service provision server or an email system, which provides a service for enabling access to a blog of a relevant user or transmitting an email when at least one, selected from among an email address, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a phone number, a user name, and a user ID, is input from the user terminal. [Claim 5]

A customized advertising method using a user terminal in an advertising system in which an advertising agency server and a user terminal communicate with each other over the Internet, comprising: a terminal communication connection step of, if the user terminal of a user, who subscribed to the advertising agency server as a member, is operated, transmitting an ON signal from the user terminal to the advertising agency server; an advertisement checking step of the advertising agency server verifying the user corresponding to the ON signal and searching for advertisement data to be transmitted to the user terminal; an advertisement transmission step of transmitting found advertisement data to the user terminal; and an advertisement output step of outputting an advertisement corresponding to the advertisement data to an output unit of the user terminal . [Claim 6]

The customized advertising method according to claim 5, wherein the advertisement checking step is performed to verify user information and classify advertisement data, which is to be transmitted to the user terminal, according to each user. [Claim 7]

The customized advertising method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the advertisement output step is performed such that script information of the advertisement data is implemented as ActionScript , and is thus output through the output unit in a Flash format.