WO2001073626A2 - Advertisement method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for the direct advertising by a user comprises the steps of: (1) preparing an advertisement by the user; (2) transmitting to a web site said advertisement, wherein the web site is connected over a network to a plurality of display devices; (3) defining by the user display parameters according to which the advertisement will be displayed; (4) adjusting the display parameters, if needed, in response to information provided by said web site , in respect of a limitation of availability of display devices or in respect of display costs; (5) confirming to the web site by the user the final advertising parameters; and (6) displaying the advertisement by the web site on the selected display devices, at the selected display times and with the selected display intervals.

Description

ADVERTISEMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an advertising method and system. More

particularly, the invention relates to a method and system for the personal

advertising over and through the Internet.

Background of the Invention

Computer networks have quickly become a powerful advertising tool,

because of the ease with which information is transmitted from one

workstation to the other, and from web site s to the workstations. WO

97/21183 describes a web site containing a collection of advertisements

that are retrieved in response to a query entered by the user and

dynamically mixed with the content of the pages. WO 97/07656 describes

a system that downloads advertisements to the user's PC and displays

them. US 5,740,549 describes another advertising system, in which

advertisements are retrieved from a web site. EP 869,446 describes a

system that schedules and controls the delivery of advertisements in a

communication network. WO 00/00917 discloses a system that controls

the distribution and display of advertisements and other short messages via a data network. A major drawback in this system is due to the architecture of the system

according to which there is a main computer unit (i.e. MCU m Fig. 1),

which is used as an interface between a potential advertiser and the rest

of the network. Any advertisement data, sent by the mam computer unit,

has to be transferred to other intermediate control units (i.e. ICU m Fig.

1) and/or building control units (i.e. BCU m Fig 1), before it reaches its

corresponding graphic display unit (i.e. GDU m Fig. 1). Using many

computers in such a way is cumbersome, in terms of number of computers

involved, communication protocols, handling of data (and other) files,

scalability of the network, and its maintenance. Moreover, broadcasting

advertisements, according to the method of WO 00/00917, is not fully

deterministic (see page 7, lines 29-33 and page 15, lines 25-33).

While the art has done much to develop communication and distribution

software and devices, it has not yet provided a simple method by which a

user may generate on demand an advertisement tailored to his

geographical needs. There is no system that provides an End To End

(ETE) prompt solution for public advertising.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide such a method and

system, that overcomes the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior arts It is another purpose of this invention to provide a system and method by

means oi which an end user may generate an advertisement, decide on the

locations and timing at which it will be presented, and cause it to be

displayed as desired, thus eliminating the need for an advertisement

agency or other intermediator

It is a further object of the invention to provide such an advertisement

method that maximizes the utilization of the advertising equipment

It is stil another object of the invention to provide an advertisement

method that allows essentially any user to be directly connected to the

advertisement system

It is stil another object of the invention to provide an advertisement

method that allows an advertiser to preview the advertisement costs

on-line, while changing the advertisement parameters

Other purposes and advantages of this invention will appear as the

description proceeds

Summary of the Invention

The invention is directed to a method for the direct advertising by a user,

comprising the steps of -__.-

- preparing an advertisement by the user;

- transmitting to an Internet web site said advertisement, wherein the

said web site is connected over a network to a plurality of display devices;

- defining by the user display parameters according to which the

advertisement will be displayed;

- adjusting the display parameters, if needed, in response to information

provided by said web site, m respect of a limitation of availability of

display devices or in respect of display costs;

- confirming to the web site by the user the final advertising parameters;

and

- displaying the advertisement by the web site on the selected display

devices, at the selected display times and with the selected display

intervals.

While refernce is made here mainly to ''Internet Web sites", it should be

understood that this is meant to include all kinds of intranets and

extranets, and any kind of sites, whether located on the internet or on any

other network.

The contents of the advertisement can be prepared by the user either

on-line, m cooperation w th the web site, and typically using a suitable help system, or can be prepared off-line, using a suitable editing software,

and then transmitted to the web site

The web site, in regard to the new invention, is an Internet site through

which users/advertisers may enter the advertisement system This site

may comprise several servers to handle different tasks. For example, one

server may handle the graphical aspects of the advertisements, another

server may be dedicated to the assignements of the ads to the right

displays at the right time A third server may handle the paying

procedure, etc.

When preparing to advertise, the user must select the display parameters

according to which his advertisement must be displayed. Illustrative

examples of such display parameters include display time, intervals

between displays and maximal allowed cost per display.

In another aspect the invention is directed to a system for the direct

advertising by a user, comprising:

- a computer network connected to a workstation of said user, and to an

advertising web site;

- a network connected to said advertising web site and to a plurality of

display devices controlled by said web site , and

- software to permit said user to communicate to said web site advertising

parameters and/or contents. Accordmg to a preferred embodiment of the invention the network

connected to a workstation of said user, and to an advertising web site ,

and the network connected to said advertising web site and to a plurality

of display devices controlled by said web site are the same network, e.g.,

the Internet.

Many display devices commonly recognized in the art can be employed.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the display device is

suitable to convey to a viewer visual and audio information.

The above and other characteristics and advantages of the invention will

become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments.

Brief Description of the Drawings

In the drawings:

- Fig. 1 schematically shows the general layout and functioning of

the advertisement system, according to a preferred embodiment of the

invention.

- Fig. 2 is a schematic v ew of an example of a simple advertising

network;

- Fig. 3 schematically shows the operation of a system, according to

another preferred embodiment of the invention, over the Internet; and - Fig 4 is a flowchart of the user^'s activities on the system,

according to a still another preferred embodiment of the invention

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

Referring to Fig 1, a general illustration of the system layout and

functioning, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention

According to the particular example illustrated in Fig 1, an end user

sends s x requests/orders for advertisements (I e Adl -twice, Ad2, Ad3.

Ad4-tw ce), by communicating with three displays, using an Internet web

site (designated as "EyeMedia") in this example. If, for example,

advertisement Adl is required to be displayed on display D2 on

datel/timel, and also on display D3 on datel/tιme2. Advertisement Ad2 is

required to be displayed only on display Dl on date2/tιme2, etc. Each

display compares the new incoming request with its planned scheduling,

and sends a response to the initiating user, which details which parts of

the original request are approved For example, display D l approves

advertisements Ad2 on datel/timel and Ad3 on datel/tιme3 Display D2,

on the other hand, rejects the requested advertisement Adl on

datel/timel, etc Additionally, each display calculates the overall

advertising cost (not shown m Fig. 1), according to the approved parts

from the original order Upon the user's confirmation, the ordered

displays, as well as the ordered scheduling, are guaranteed The invention will now be described with reference to a simple practical

example In this example, a shop, indicated Fig 2 as AD, wishes to

advertise a sale that will take place at a given hour. The shop is

connected, v a a network such as the Internet, to an advertising system

that, m turn, is connected to a plurality of display devices. Such display

devices may be, e.g., electronic billboards, monitors, etc. This situation is

schematically illustrated m Fig. 3, which shows the workstation of the

user, located at location AD of Fig. 2, which is connected to an

advertisement web site 2 via a wide area network (WAN) 3, which may

convemently be the Internet. Web site 2 is connected, m turn, v a the

WAN which can be different, but in Fig. 3 is depicted as being the same

WAN, for the sake of simplicity, to a plurality of display devices, Dl - D10

(only ten such devices being used in this specific example, for the sake of

brevity). The connection to the display devices Dl-DlO can be of any

suitable type, e.g., it can be carried out by cable or by broadcasting,

through a directional data transmission made, e.g., via satellite, or using a

cellular telephone infrastructure. The actual communication method

between the web site 2 and the display devices Dl - D10 is not important,

and different commumcation methods can be devised by the skilled

person.

The user decides first on the parameters of his advertising. These will

typically include - but are not limited to - the graphical form of the advertisement, the length of display time and the time intervals between

displays, and will further decide on the location of the displays where his

advertisement must be displayed. Advertisement parameters may be the

same or different for different display locations. Of course, m addition to

graphical information also video and audio information can be displayed,

the term "display" including the playing of any kind of information,

including sound.

The display devices can further be conveniently provided with rotation

means, such as a motor, in order to enable their remote rotation to face

the desired direction. This may be particularly useful, e.g., when a display

device is located at a junction where it can face the traffic coming from

more than one direction. Then the display device will have to be rotated

according to the specific requirements of the user who is currently

displaying an advertisement, and may be rotated with each different

advertisement, if the advertising policy calls for it.

In order to facilitate the preparation of the advertisement, various

graphical templates may be provided by the system, so that a user logging

mto web site 2 may chose among them and modify them to fit his needs.

More sophisticated user, however, may also transmit to the web site an

advertisement that has been entirely prepared by them offline. Typically, the advertising system should comprise a review procedure by

which the contents of the advertisement are reviewed, to avoid the danger

of offensive material being displayed. This, however, is not a technical

requisite of the system and, as will be appreciated by the skilled person,

the system may function properly without any such review

Once the selection of the display parameters by the user is completed, the

web site will check availability of the various selected displays at the

desired times If one or more displays are not available to the user at the

selected times, the system will advise the user and may display to him

available time slots, or even suggest alternative display parameters, such

as a different time interval between displays, for one or more given

display devices. The user will then decide whether to use different display

parameters or to postpone the advertisement to an available time slot. As

w ll be apparent to the skilled person, this method allows for the

optimization of the usage of display devices by a plurality of users

Returning now to Fig. 2, the picture shown m the figure may be that

shown to the user by web site 2, indicating the availability of the displays

m the chosen area. If a display device is not in working conditions or is

fully booked, it can be so indicated on the map of Fig. 2, or the display

device may be omitted from it altogether Assuming that user AD is only interested m traffic moving toward his

location, the relevant display devices for his advertisement are. D l, D4,

Do, D6 (with a 50% probabilityj, D8 and DlO The remaining display

devices are either outside the area, or located m the wrong direction, and

will therefore not be considered by the user. If, for instance, the traffic is

slower in the road where D5 is located, the time intervals between

displays may be greater than in the remaining streets. Additionally,

displaying on D5 may be more expensive than m other, less central,

displays, and therefore t may be possible to save expenses by optimizing

the frequency of display

Of course, may other different combinations of display strategies can be

devised, which are only limited by the imagination of the user, and which

may be much more complex than that illustrated by Fig. 2

An alternative way to use the invention could be, for instance, a very

intensive use for a limited period of time and radius. Assuming that a

small shop intends to hold a sale on a given day, the shop owner can check

the availability of the electronic billboards around his area, and book them

for a given period of time over which a very intensive display (a display of

the advertisement with high frequency) takes place The advertisement

can be displayed alomost immediately after the request is generated,

allowing for a high flexibility of planning Payment for the advertisement may be effected by any suitable procedure

For instance, the user may have an account with the web site , from which

payment can be detracted, or credit card information can be supplied to

the web site . However, the invention is not concerned with the actual

payment procedure, and any suitable procedure can be employed.

An illustrative and non-limitative example of a software suitable for use

with the invention comprises:

1. Different ad templates from which the user can choose the one that

best suits his needs;

2. A dynamic price-list system calculating the cost of all the combinations

a user can buy (taking into consideration, e.g., the size of the billboards,

their geographic zone, times of screening, intervals between shows, etc.);

3. An analyzing system to offer the user the best utilization of the money

spent.. This in practice means that the user has to fill-m some details

about his budget and geographic zone, and the system will analyze the

information taking into consideration, for instance, the following

parameters: free space of billboards m the specified zone, statistics on

traffic information, client's price-list, etc.. The program will then offer the

user a mode of publicity that is the best for him. according to the

parameters set by him Additionally, the software that operates the system may carry out one or

more of the following operations:

1. It may transmit substitute ads for all the vacant billboards at all

times;

2. It may contain an exchange system to translate different

broadcasting formats;

3. It may also contain a control system to control the technical

operation of the billboards;

4. It may analyze the information discarded at all times from the

billboards and the users, in order to create a database for statistic

purposes;

5. It may also obtain data about the traffic situation from surveillance

and transmitting system installed on every billboard. This information

can be used to update the prices of publishing on each billboard. The

surveillance/transmitting system may also be able to transmit relevant

information to cellular or satellite personal equipment (such as a cellular

phone).

Providing programs such as described above is within the skill of the

routineer, and such programs are therefore not described herein in detail,

for the sake of brevitv. It should be understood that one great advantage of the invention is that

it can be exploited by an unskilled user using his own PC, to generate

advertising power that, with prior art methods, requires longer times and

much more advanced skills.

Turning now to Fig. 4, a flowchart of the user's activities on the system is

shown, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention The process

proceeds as follows-

- In step 100, the process starts;

- In the next step 101, the user invokes the advertising wizard During

the session, the user selects whether he would like to work online or

off-line. In case the user selects the off-line option, the control goes to step

102, where a client software is invoked, otherwise control goes to step 103,

where the user connects to the advertising-center Web site,

- In the next step 104, the process of designing the advertising starts. In

this step the user selects the media for the advertisement The media can

be, e.g., TV, electronic street signs and cell phone. The design must take

into consideration the selected media

- In the next step 105, the user selects the display media, which may be,

e.g., a video-clip, animation or a still picture

- In the next step 106, the user designs the advertisement clip, m

relation to the above selected parameters The design procedure differs accordmg to the means of the display. If. for instance, the user selected

the video clip as the display media for the advertising, then he should

provide the system with a video clip. This clip should be sent to the

advertising center. If the user selected animation as the display media, he

can use appropriate software for design. During the session the user

indicates his preferences, such as background, text, logo etc. The user does

the same for the still pictures.

- In the next step 107, the advertisement file is transmitted for approval

to the advertising center.

- From the next step 108, if the advertising center approved the

advertisement, then the control goes to next step 109, otherwise, control

goes to step 106, in order to let the user adjust the advertisement

according to the received remarks;

- In the next step 109, the user designs the advertising program. In this

session he selects the regιon(s) where his advertisement will be presented,

the time of day, frequency, etc. During this session the system may

display the alternatives to the user, such as the available options etc.

During selection of alternatives, the user is shown the cost of the

advertising program;

- In the next step 110, the process ends. Further Advantages of the present invention

1. Adding another display to those already existing is simply made by

connecting it to the WAN;

2. Adding another advertiser is simply made by connecting him to the

Internet network;

3. Given the budget and geographical area defined by an advertiser,

the advertisement system may offer the advertiser, 'on-line', a proper

schedule/timing table for his advertisement;

4. The advertising system is deterministic, i.e., the advertising

system guarantees an advertiser the remote displays and frequency as

was concluded in the interactive session;

5. Every PC owner may directly connect, through the Internet, to the

advertisement system;

6. A potential advertiser does not need to use the services of agency, or

other intermediator, because he can make all the arrangements by

himself, including designing the advertisement, sending it to the right

displays and paying for the service.

While embodiments of the invention have been described by way of

illustration, it will be understood that the invention can be carried out by

persons skilled m the art with many modifications, variations and

adaptations, without departing from its spirit or exceeding the scope of the

claims.

Claims

-IT-CLAIMS

1. A method for the direct advertising by a user, comprising the steps

of.

preparing an advertisement by the user;

transmitting to a web site said advertisement, wherein the web

site is connected over a network to a plurality of display devices;

defining by the user display parameters according to which the

advertisement will be displayed;

adjusting the display parameters, if needed, m response to

information provided by said web site , m respect of a limitation of

availability of display devices or m respect of display costs;

confirming to the web site by the user the final advertising

parameters; and

displaying the advertisement by the web site on the selected

display devices, at the selected display times and with the selected display

intervals.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the contents of the

advertisement are prepared by the user on-line, m cooperation with the

web site.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the contents of the

advertisement are prepared by the user off-line, and are then transmitted

to the web site.

4. A method according to claim 1. wherein the contents of the

advertisement are prepared by the user on-line, using a suitable help

system.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the display parameters are

selected from display time, intervals between displays and maximal

allowed cost per display.

6. A system for the direct advertising by a user, comprising:

(a) a computer network connected to a workstation of said user,

and to an advertising web site :

(b) a network connected to said advertising web site and to a

plurality of display devices controlled by said web site ;

(c) software to permit said user to communicate to said web site

advertising parameters and/or contents.

7. A system according to claim 5, wherein the network connected to a

workstation of said user, and to an advertising web site, and the network connected to said advertising web site and to a plurality of display devices

controlled by said web site are the same network.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the network is the Internet.

9. A system according to claim 6, wherein the display device is

suitable to convey to a viewer visual and audio information.

10. Software for use m the system of claim 6, comprising different Ad

templates from which the user can choose.

11. Software for use in the system of claim 6, comprising a dynamic

price-list system calculating the cost of all the combinations a user can

buy.

12. Software for use in the system of claim 6, comprising an analyzing

system to offer the user the best utilization of the money spent.

13. Software for use m the system of claim 6, comprising a program for

transmitting substitute ads for all the vacant billboards at all times.

14. Software for use m the system of claim 6, comprising an exchange

system to translate different broadcasting formats.

15. Software for use m the system of claim 6, comprising a control

system to control the technical operation of the billboards.

16. Software for use m the system of claim 6. comprising a program for

analyzing the information discarded at all times from the billboards and

the users, in order to create a database for statistic purposes

17. Software for use m the system of claim 6, comprising a program for

obtaining data about the traffic situation from a surveillance and

transmitting system installed on one or more billboards.

18. Software according to claim 17, comprising a program using the

surveillance information to update the prices of publishing on each

billboard.