WO2021005480A1

WO2021005480A1 - System and method for displaying and billing advertisements

Info

Publication number: WO2021005480A1
Application number: PCT/IB2020/056308
Authority: WO
Inventors: Aaron DE MIRANDA COLACO; Douglas AUSTIN VAZ
Original assignee: De Miranda Colaco Aaron; Austin Vaz Douglas
Priority date: 2019-07-05
Filing date: 2020-07-04
Publication date: 2021-01-14

Abstract

An integrated display system for displaying advertisements in a pre-defined location, comprising a server configured to receive an advertisement from an advertiser along with one or more parameters including a predefined category, a target number of impressions, a predefined location, and a target audience count. The integrated display system further include a display screen, a two-way mirror superimposedly placed over the display screen, an image capturing unit for capturing an image of a viewer of the display screen, a microcontroller configured to fetch an advertisement from the database based on one or more predefined parameters, display the advertisement on the display screen, register a number of views of the advertisement based on one or more images captured by the image capturing unit, and repeatedly display the advertisement on the display screen, until the number of views of the advertisement reaches the corresponding target audience count.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING AND BILLING

ADVERTISEMENTS

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to displaying and billing advertisements, and more particularly to charging advertisers based on view counts of displayed advertisements.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources of video and/or audio files, as well as web pages relating to specific subjects or specific news articles. The access to these resources also presents additional opportunities for other content like advertisements, to be provided with the resources.

[0003] Advertising is a paid, one-way communication through a medium in which an advertiser may be identified, and the message (i.e., the advertisement or ad) provided by the advertiser is controlled. Advertising is performed for a variety of purposes, including sales promotion, publicity, public relations, product placement, sponsorship, and underwriting. A variety of mediums are used to convey an advertisement, including television, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and billboards.

[0004] Online Advertising relates to the promoting of products and services using computerized networks such as the Internet and World Wide Web (www). Typical online advertisement types include banner ads, floating ads, pop-up ads, and video ads which are provided to a user via the user's computerized device. The user may be browsing websites and in each such website, one or more advertisements may be displayed. Additionally, or alternatively, the advertisements may be displayed within a component of a website, such as a flash-based video-player, or the like. Any location in which an advertisement can be displayed may be referred to as a placeholder.

[0005] There are several advertisement compensation models known in the art. A first model is a user action-based compensation model, which includes Cost Per Click (CPC), Click Per Action (CPA), Cost Per Lead (CPL), or the like. In a user action- based compensation model, the compensation by the advertiser to the owner of the placeholder is contingent upon an action by the person to which the advertisement is targeted (also referred to as a user), such as a click, leaving a lead, performing a predetermined action or acquisition within a site of the advertiser, or the like.

[0006] A second model is a serving-based compensation model in which the compensation is not dependent on an audience action, but rather on serving the advertisement and providing it to the audience. The serving-based compensation model includes, for example, Cost Per View (CPV), Cost Per Mille Impression (CPM), or the like.

[0007] Some of the affiliate value exchange models currently in use are Pay Per Impression (PPI) model, in which the merchant pays the affiliate to show an advertisement of some sort to encourage referrals to the merchant. In pay per click (PPC) model, the merchant pays the affiliate for each referral made from the affiliate to the merchant's site when the visitor to the affiliate's site“clicks” on the hyperlink for the merchant's site. In Pay Per Action (PPA) model, the merchant pays the affiliate for each referral that results in a specified action that happens within a specified period of time, such as the referred filling out a form or purchasing a product from the Merchant within, for example, 24 hours after the referral was initially made. The payment is usually a fixed amount or a fixed percentage of the sale made to the referral from the affiliate.

[0008] However, all of the existing methods described above like PPI advertising may initially be lucrative for a publisher, PPI has proven to be less effective over time because many users become overwhelmed with banner advertisements and begin to ignore them. For advertisers, this means that while they continue to pay for impressions, the value of such impressions is diluted due to the jaded nature of the users. While pay-per-click advertising addresses this issue for some direct-response oriented advertisers, many advertisers are just trying to build brand awareness rather than getting users to their sites, so they are not interested in paying on a pay-per-click basis.

[0009] Moreover, Cost Per Impression (CPI) or Cost Per Mile (CPM) is although widespread as a pricing model for Internet-based advertisements but there is no known usage with physical indoor or outdoor advertising displays. Traditional pricing models were based on statistics of the reach of the media advertisements piggyback on and the probability of being viewed. For example, the number of magazines sold which contain an advertisement or, average site visits to stores which contain the advertisement display.

[0010] Additionally, due to hardware and network limitations, the cost of constructing a system to record CPI on physical advertisement displays, until recently would exceed the revenue earned from advertising.

[0011] Hence, in view of the above drawbacks, the advertisers, therefore, need another method of measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement. The challenge is to develop an advertising system that forces greater accountability on those publishing advertisements to users and allows advertisers to more objectively measure the effectiveness of their advertisements on their intended audience.

[0012] The above-described deficiencies of existing systems and methods are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional systems and corresponding benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.

[0013] There is no easy and direct way for an advertiser to target a certain number of audiences in certain locations and run indoor campaigns, and not billboards and flyers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0014] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an integrated display system for displaying advertisements in a pre-defmed location. The integrated display system includes a server configured to receive an advertisement from an advertiser along with one or more parameters including a predefined category, a target number of impressions, a predefined location, and a target audience count of the advertisement, and store the advertisement in a database. The integrated display system further includes a display screen, and a two-way mirror superimposedly placed over the display screen, such that the display screen and the two-way mirror are fixed inside a frame, wherein the two-way mirror includes a reflective and refractive system having a capability to display and judge reflection and refraction of an object, wherein the two- way mirror enables the user to view their image and view content being displayed on the display screen. The integrated display system further includes an image capturing unit for capturing an image of a viewer of the display screen, and a microcontroller communicatively coupled to the display screen and the image capturing unit, and configured to fetch an advertisement from the database based on one or more predefined parameters, display the advertisement on the display screen, register a number of views of the advertisement based on one or more images captured by the image capturing unit, and repeatedly display the advertisement on the display screen, until the number of views of the advertisement reaches the corresponding target audience count.

[0015] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for displaying advertisements in a pre-defined location. The method includes receiving an advertisement from an advertiser along with one or more parameters including a predefined category, a target number of impressions, a predefined location, and a target audience count of the advertisement, storing the advertisement in a database, fetching an advertisement from the database based on one or more predefined parameters, displaying the advertisement on a display screen, wherein a two-way mirror is superimposedly placed over the display screen, such that the display screen and the two-way mirror are fixed inside a frame, wherein the two-way mirror includes a reflective and refractive system having a capability to display and judge reflection and refraction of an object, wherein the two-way mirror enables the user to view their image and view content being displayed on the display screen, capturing an image of a viewer of the display screen, registering a number of views of the advertisement based on one or more images captured, and repeatedly displaying the advertisement on the display screen, until the number of views of the advertisement reaches the corresponding target audience count.

[0016] Various embodiments of the present disclosure facilitate accurate recordal of advertisement impressions, hence enabling advertisers to obtain a precise measurement of impressions, instead of the conventional practice of using probabilities or extrapolating data. Also, the present disclosure makes pricing flexible enough to enable low-cost advertising by specifying reach and target audience, thereby overcoming the disadvantages associated with traditionally expensive physical media advertising.

[0017] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The summary above, as well as the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the present disclosure, exemplary constructions of the disclosure are shown in the drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed herein. Moreover, those in the art will understand that the drawings are not to scale. Wherever possible, like elements have been indicated by identical numbers.

[0019] FIG. 1 illustrates an integrated display system for displaying advertisements, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the integrated display system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 3 illustrates the display device in detail, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 4 illustrates creation and distribution of advertisements for displaying on the display screen, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 5 illustrates a webpage of a web-based server application that enables a user to upload one or more advertisements, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 6 illustrates a webpage of a web-based server application that displays a dashboard of an advertiser; and [0025] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for displaying advertisements, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] In the accompanying drawings, an underlined number is employed to represent an item over which the underlined number is positioned or an item to which the underlined number is adjacent. A non-underlined number relates to an item identified by a line linking the non-underlined number to the item. When a number is non- underlined and accompanied by an associated arrow, the non-underlined number is used to identify a general item at which the arrow is pointing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0027] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

[0028] Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0029] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0030] It is to be understood that the singular forms“a,”“an,” and“the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0031] By the term“substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including, for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

[0032] Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

[0033] It should be emphasized that the term“comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates an integrated display system 100 for displaying advertisements, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The integrated display system 100 may be installed at various pre-defmed locations to display advertisements to the users in a dynamic manner. Examples of the pre-defmed locations include, but not limited to, indoor locations, outdoor restaurants, pubs, and outdoor party venues.

[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the integrated display system 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] The integrated display system 100 includes a display device 202 for displaying advertisements, and a two-way mirror 204 superimposedly placed over the display device 202. Both the display device 202, and the two-way mirror 204 may be fixedly disposed inside a frame 206, so that they form a single integrated unit. The frame 206 may be made of wood, or any other suitable material.

[0037] The two-way mirror 204 includes a reflective/refractive system having a capability to display as well as judge reflection or refraction of an object. In the context of the present disclosure, the two-way mirror 204 includes a first surface 204a that acts as a mirror for a viewer, and a second surface 204b that is transparent enough to let a viewer view the display device 202. As a result, the user is able to view their image in the two-way mirror 204, as well as view the contents displayed on the display device 202 through the two-way mirror 204. A large number of studies have shown that a large percentage of people look into a mirror or a highly reflective surface when passing by. The present disclosure takes advantage of this psychological fact and makes advertising more effective without forcing advertisements on the users.

[0038] FIG. 3 illustrates the display device 202 in detail, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . The display device 202 includes a display screen 302 for displaying content, an image capturing unit 304 for capturing an image of a viewer, and a microcontroller 306 communicatively coupled thereto for controlling and managing the operation of the display screen 302, and the image capturing unit 304. A server 308 is communicatively coupled to the microcontroller 306 for controlling and managing its operation thereto. Examples of the display screen 302 include, but are not limited to a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, or a Light Emitting Diode (LED) screen.

[0039] Examples of the image capturing unit 304 include, but are not limited to a camera, or any other image capturing device having sufficient resolution to capture faces of the viewer viewing the display screen 302. The video captured by the image capturing unit 304 may be processed locally at the microcontroller 306 to register the number of views for each advertisement.

[0040] The microcontroller 306 may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that manipulate data based on operational instructions. The microcontroller 306 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities thereof. The programming for the microcontroller 306 may be processor executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine -readable storage medium and the hardware for the microcontroller 306 may include a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions.

[0041] In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the microcontroller 306 controls and manages the content to be displayed on the display screen 302. The microcontroller 306 is configured to dynamically fetch content such as time, news, weather, advertisement from the server 308 depending on the location of the display screen 302. In an embodiment, owners of locations where display screens 302 are installed may select certain categories for which they do not want any advertisement. In an example, restaurants may prevent advertisements from the restaurant category. Although, not shown herein, the owners of locations may be provided with a mobile/web application so that they can configure preferences and change settings.

[0042] In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the microcontroller 306 is configured to keep a count of the views of an advertisement based on the images of the viewers captured by the image capturing unit 304. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a‘view’ of the advertisement may be counted as someone looking at the advertisement for a certain period of time, for example, 3 seconds. Thus, the microcontroller 306 is able to measure user engagement locally, without sending any raw input, or personally identifiable information to the server 308.

[0043] The microcontroller 306 is further configured to recognize the faces of viewers and track views of an advertisement by one or more predefined categories of users. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the microcontroller 306 is configured to register the number of views for each advertisement and update the server 308 periodically via calls to the back end Application Programming Interface (API). Thus, the server 308 may track views of advertisements on display screens across multiple locations.

[0044] FIG. 4 illustrates the creation and distribution of advertisements for displaying on the display screen 302, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0045] The server 308 is configured to receive an advertisement 402 from an advertiser 404, and external data related to the news and weather from a general data repository 406. Additionally, the server 308 also maintains a database 407 of advertisements.

[0046] FIG. 5 illustrates a web page 500 of the server 308 that enables the advertiser 404 to create and upload one or more advertisements, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The advertiser 404 may sign up on the website of the server 308, and create advertisements by entering the requisite information and uploading a picture. The webpage 500 enables the user to sign up, and to specify a title of the advertisement, a target number of impressions, a location of the advertisement, a category of the advertisement and also upload a video/audio/image fde.

[0047] Referring back to FIG. 4, the server 308 loads the advertisement 402 or any other advertisement from the database 407, and combines with external data related to news and weather stored in the general data repository 406. The server 308 then distributes the final content to the microcontroller 306 for display on the corresponding display terminal. Alternatively, the microcontroller 306 may fetch new advertisements from the server 308 based on a location, blacklisted categories, etc.

[0048] Referring back to FIG. 3, when an advertisement is being displayed on the display screen 302, the microcontroller 306 periodically records the number of views (impressions) an advertisement has received using the image capturing unit 304 and submits the information to the server 308. The server 308 stores and aggregates the advertisement impression data, and repeatedly displays the advertisement on the display screen 302, until the number of advertisement impressions reaches the target count. When the number of advertisement impressions reaches the target count, the microcontroller 306 stops displaying corresponding content on the display screen 302.

[0049] Although only one microcontroller is being shown here, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, that the server 308 may distribute the advertisement 404 to one or more microcontrollers for display on multiple display screens across multiple locations. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the server 308 may rotate an advertisement across multiple locations until the target count is achieved.

[0050] Referring back to FIG. 4, the microcontroller 306 is configured to periodically update advertisement impressions at the server 308, and the server 308, in turn, is configured to bill the advertiser 404 based on actual view counts of the advertisement. The server 308 is configured to provide a computer implemented revenue model which charges advertisers based on an amount derived from the number of views an advertisement has received. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the server 308 is configured to bill an advertiser based on glance detection and view counter for the corresponding advertisement. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the server 308 is configured to factor the bill price as a function of individual views within a timeframe. In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the server 308 is configured to factor the bill price as a function of multiple people simultaneously viewing an advertisement. Thus, the server 308 provides a method that guarantees a way of pricing on a Cost Per Interaction (CPI) basis aggregated over display devices disposed across multiple locations.

[0051] FIG. 6 illustrates a webpage of a web-based server application that displays a dashboard 600 of an advertiser.

[0052] For each advertiser, dashboard 600 includes the total number of advertisements, advertisements fulfilled, and the total number of advertisement views. The dashboard 600 also illustrates a consolidated list of advertisements along with corresponding target number of impressions, no of impressions achieved, date of creation of the advertisement, and information regarding whether the target has been fulfilled or not.

[0053] Referring back to FIG. 4, the server 308 may receive a plurality of potential advertisements in real-time in a Real-Time Bid (RTB). There are two major ways of selling impressions in display advertising. They are either sold in spot through auction mechanisms or in advance via guaranteed contracts. The former has achieved significant automation via real-time bidding (RTB). The real-time bidding (RTB) also known as programmatic buying, has recently become the fastest growing area in online advertising. Instead of bulk buying and inventory-centric buying, RTB mimics stock exchanges and utilises computer algorithms to automatically buy and sell advertisements in real-time. It uses per impression context and targets the advertisements to specific people based on data about them, and hence dramatically increases the effectiveness of display advertising.

[0054] In RTB, an advertiser may create an advertisement and provide certain fields like target demographics, location, view count, and the maximum amount to pay per view. A display, based on the current locally processed data of the people viewing it, broadcasts information like the number of people, location and location category, demographics, location charges, etc. The backend system (RTB/Matching System) may match requirements and satisfy 'bids' made by either party. [0055] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method 700 for displaying and billing advertisements, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0056] At step 702, an advertisement is received from an advertiser along with one or more parameters including a predefined category, a target number of impressions, a predefined location, and a target audience count of the advertisement.

[0057] At step 704, the advertisement is stored in a database.

[0058] At step 706, an advertisement is fetched from the database based on one or more predefined parameters.

[0059] At step 708, the advertisement is displayed on a display screen, wherein a two- way mirror is superimposedly placed over the display screen, such that the display screen and the two-way mirror are fixed inside a frame, wherein the two-way mirror includes a reflective and refractive system having a capability to display and judge reflection and refraction of an object, wherein the two-way mirror enables the user to view their image and view content being displayed on the display screen.

[0060] At step 710, an image of a viewer of the display screen is captured.

[0061] At step 712, a number of views of the advertisement is registered based on one or more images captured.

[0062] At step 714, the advertisement is repeatedly displayed on the display screen, until the number of views of the advertisement reaches the corresponding target audience count.

[0063] A person having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the disclosed subject matter can be practised with various computer system configurations, including multi-core multiprocessor systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, computers linked or clustered with distributed functions, as well as pervasive or miniature computers that may be embedded into virtually any device. Further, the operations may be described as a sequential process, however, some of the operations may, in fact, be performed in parallel, concurrently, and/or in a distributed environment, and with program code stored locally or remotely for access by single or multiprocessor machines. In addition, in some embodiments, the order of operations may be rearranged without departing from the spirit of the disclosed subject matter.

[0064] Techniques consistent with the present invention provide, among other features, systems and methods for allocating one or more vehicles to one or more passengers. Unless stated otherwise, terms such as“first” and“second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements . While various exemplary embodiments of the disclosed system and method have been described above it should be understood that they have been presented for purposes of example only, not limitations. It is not exhaustive and does not limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practising the invention, without departing from the breadth or scope.

Claims

We claim:

1. An integrated display system for displaying advertisements in a pre-defmed location, comprising: a server configured to: receive an advertisement from an advertiser along with one or more parameters including a predefined category, a target number of impressions, a predefined location, and a target audience count of the advertisement; and store the advertisement in a database; a display screen; a two-way mirror superimposedly placed over the display screen, such that the display screen and the two-way mirror are fixed inside a frame, wherein the two- way mirror includes a reflective and refractive system having a capability to display and judge reflection and refraction of an object, wherein the two-way mirror enables the user to view their image and view content being displayed on the display screen; an image capturing unit for capturing an image of a viewer of the display screen; a microcontroller communicatively coupled to the display screen and the image capturing unit, and configured to: fetch an advertisement from the database based on one or more predefined parameters; display the advertisement on the display screen; register a number of views of the advertisement based on one or more images captured by the image capturing unit; and repeatedly display the advertisement on the display screen, until the number of views of the advertisement reaches the corresponding target audience count.

2. The integrated display system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to load an advertisement from the database, combines with external data related to news and weather, and transmits the combined content to the microcontroller.

3. The integrated display system of claim 1, wherein the server executes an application on a computing device of an owner to enable the owner to configure preferences and change settings related to display of advertisements in the pre-defmed location.

4. The integrated display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server is configured to track views of one or more advertisements on one or more display screens across one or more pre-defmed locations.

5. The integrated display system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the server is configured to display a dashboard that displays a list of advertisements stored in the database, along with corresponding target number of impressions, number of impressions achieved, date of creation, and information regarding whether the target audience count has been fulfilled.

6. The integrated display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server is configured to charge the advertiser based on a number of views of the corresponding advertisement.

7. The integrated display system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the server is configured to factor a bill price of the advertiser as a function of individual views of the advertisement within a timeframe, and wherein the server is further configured to factor a bill price of the advertiser as a function of one or more people simultaneously viewing an advertisement.

8. A method for displaying advertisements in a pre-defmed location, the method comprising: receiving an advertisement from an advertiser along with one or more parameters including a predefined category, a target number of impressions, a predefined location, and a target audience count of the advertisement; storing the advertisement in a database; fetching an advertisement from the database based on one or more predefined parameters; displaying the advertisement on a display screen, wherein a two-way mirror is superimposedly placed over the display screen, such that the display screen and the two-way mirror are fixed inside a frame, wherein the two-way mirror includes a reflective and refractive system having a capability to display and judge reflection and refraction of an object, wherein the two-way mirror enables the user to view their image and view content being displayed on the display screen; capturing an image of a viewer of the display screen; registering a number of views of the advertisement based on one or more images captured; and repeatedly displaying the advertisement on the display screen, until the number of views of the advertisement reaches the corresponding target audience count.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 comprising tracking views of one or more advertisements on one or more display screens across one or more pre-defined locations.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8 comprising charging an advertiser based on a number of views of the corresponding advertisement.