WO2007142424A1

WO2007142424A1 - System and method for providing advertisement on general display region

Info

Publication number: WO2007142424A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/002624
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jong Won Lee
Original assignee: Nhn Corporation
Priority date: 2006-06-08
Filing date: 2007-05-30
Publication date: 2007-12-13
Also published as: JP2009540421A; KR20070117383A; KR100807190B1

Abstract

A method and system which can identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page, and display advertisement information associated with the local information, and map information on a general display advertisement region for a plurality of unspecific users is provided. The method of displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, includes the steps of: storing and maintaining map information about each area in a map database; recognizing a user's access to a web page, and identifying the user's local information from a local information database; verifying whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists; identifying map information, associated with advertisement information, from the map database when the advertisement list exists, wherein the advertisement information is identified in association with the local information; and displaying the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENT ON GENERAL DISPLAY REGION

Technical Field The present invention relates to a method and system which can identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page, and display advertisement information associated with the local information, and map information on a general display advertisement region for a plurality of unspecific users.

Background Art

Generally, a search website providing a search service displays search results corresponding to a query when a user enters the query. For example, the search results may include websites including the query, articles including the query, images including the query in a file name, advertisements corresponding to the query, and the like. In a method of providing an advertisement corresponding to the query in the search website, when an advertiser registers an advertisement query associated with the advertisement or a local advertisement query associated with a corresponding area, and then a user enters either the advertisement query or the local advertisement query, the search website displays the advertisement on a web page. In this instance, the website provides the advertisement only for a specific user which enters the advertisement query or the local advertisement query. Accordingly, when the user enters neither the advertisement query nor the local advertisement query, the user may not utilize the advertisement.

However, the advertisement is used when promoting the advertiser and the advertiser's product to a plurality of unspecific users. Accordingly, on the Internet, all the users become an advertising target regardless of an area, a sex, an age, and the like. However, in the conventional method, an advertisement is selectively provided for a user which enters a search word and thus it is difficult to accomplish the fundamental purpose of the advertisement.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Goals An aspect of the present invention provides a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, which can identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page, and display advertisement information, associated with the local information, and map information on a general display advertisement region, and thereby can provide the local information for a plurality of unspecific users attempting to access the web page.

Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, which can identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page by using the user's Internet Protocol (IP) address information, cookie information, user identification number (ID), and the like, and thereby provide local information even without receiving a query from the user.

Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region which can display both default advertisement information and map information on a general display advertisement region and thereby can effectively display an advertisement for a user, accessing a web page, even when there is no advertisement information associated with local information of the user.

Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region which can provide advertiser pictogram information, advertisement text information, and map information as an advertisement and thereby effectively provide advertiser information. Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, which can provide an advertisement associated with an area where a user is located, that is, a user- tailored advertisement, and thereby improve advertisement effect since the user may directly visit a store due to a location of the store being near to the user's location.

Technical solutions According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, the method including the steps of: storing and maintaining map information about each area in a map database; recognizing a user's access to a web page, and identifying the user's local information from a local information database; verifying whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists; identifying map information, associated with advertisement information, from the map database when the advertisement list exists, wherein the advertisement information is identified in association with the local information; and displaying the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, the system including: a map database configured to store and maintain map information about each area; a local information identification component configured to recognize a user's access to a web page, and identify the user's local information from a local information database; an advertisement information identification component configured to verify whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists; a map information identification component configured to identify map information associated with advertisement information from the map database when the advertisement list exists, wherein the advertisement information is identified in association with the local information; and an advertisement display component configured to display the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates map information and advertisement information, displayed on a general display advertisement region, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a local advertisement on a general display advertisement region of a web page according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the system for displaying the advertisement on the general display advertisement region (hereinafter, referred to as "advertisement providing system") 100 includes a local information database 101, a map database 103, a local information identification component 104, an advertisement information identification component 105, a map information identification component 106, and an advertisement display component 107. The map database 103 stores and maintains map information about each area. Also, the local information identification component 104 recognizes a user's access to a web page, and identifies the user's local information from the local information database 101. Also, the advertisement information identification component 105 verifies whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists. Also, the map information identification component 106 identifies map information associated with advertisement information from the map database when the advertisement list exists. In this instance, the advertisement information is identified in association with the local information. The advertisement display component 107 displays the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement information identification component 104 may 1) identify address information associated with Internet Protocol (IP) address information by verifying IP address information of the user attempting to access the web page, 2) identify address information associated with a user identification number (ID) by verifying the user ID of the user attempting to access the web page, or 3) identify local information associated with the address information from the local information database by verifying cookie information of the user attempting to access the web page and identifying address information associated with the cookie information. Also, according to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement providing system 100 further includes an advertisement database 102 storing and maintaining advertisement information for each area. In this instance, the advertisement information includes advertiser pictogram information, advertisement text information, and map coordinates information. Also, the advertisement information identification component 105 may verify whether advertisement information associated with the local information exists by referring to the advertisement database 102, and identify the advertisement information associated with the local information when the advertisement information exists.

Also, according to yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when the advertisement list associated with the identified local information does not exist, the advertisement information identification component 105 identifies default advertisement information. Also, the advertisement information identification component 105 may verify the default advertisement information even when the identified local information is different from map information associated with map coordinates information of advertisement information.

Also, according to a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement providing system 100 may process the advertisement information and the map information to be suitable for a template of the general display advertisement region and then display the processed advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page, and display advertisement information, associated with the local information, and map information on a general display advertisement region, and thereby to provide the local information for a plurality of unspecific users attempting to access the web page.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this instance, the method of displaying the advertisement on the general display advertisement region may be performed by the advertisement providing system 100 of FIG. 1.

In operation S201, the advertisement providing system 100 recognizes a user's access to a web page. When the user opens the web page provided from the advertisement providing system 100, or when the user accesses the web page, the advertisement providing system 100 may recognize the user's access to the web page.

In operation S202, the local information identification component 104 of the advertisement providing system 100 identifies the user's local information by referring to the local information database 101. In this instance, the local information database 101 may store and maintain local information for each address information. As an example, the local information database 101 may store and maintain the local information, such as "NONHYUN-DONG, GANGNAM-GU, SEOUL", "ILSAN-GU, GOYANG-SI, GYEONGGI-DO", "JEONJU-SI, JOENLABUK-DO", and the like. Also, the local information identification component 104 may identify the user's local information by using any one of the user's IP address information, cookie information, and user ID.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the local information identification component 104 may identify local information associated with address information from the local information database 101 by verifying IP address information of the user attempting to access the web page, and identifying the address information associated with the IP address information. In this instance, the IP address indicates a unique identification address which is assigned to each of all networks connecting with the Internet and computers connected thereto. Also, the IP address may be classified and assigned for each area. When the IP address is identified, a host may be identified. Accordingly, the local information identification component 104 may identify the user's local information by identifying the IP address.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the local information identification component 104 may identify local information, associated with address information, from the local information database 101 by verifying cookie information of the user attempting to access the web page and identifying the address information associated with the cookie information. In this instance, the cookie indicates information which intermediates a website and a user leaving a bulletin message to the website. Accordingly, when the user initially visits a particular website, a cookie storing a user ID and a password is generated. When the user visits the website again, the generated cookie is used to quickly connect the user to the website without a separate procedure. In the present specification, when the user accesses a web page of the advertisement providing system 100, the generated cookie information may be used to identify the user's local information.

According to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the local information identification component 104 may identify local information, associated with address information, from the local information database 101 by verifying a user ID of the user attempting to access the web page and identifying the address information associated with the user ID. In this instance, the user may sign up with the advertisement providing system 100 to use more services provided from the advertisement providing system 100. In this instance, address information corresponding to the generated user ID may be stored in a membership database. Accordingly, when the user logs in the website, the advertisement providing system 100 may identify the address information from the membership database. Also, the advertisement providing system 100 may identify the user's local information by using the address information. As described above, according to the present invention, local information of a user attempting to access a web page may be identified by using the user's IP address information, cookie information, user ID, and the like. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an advertisement about an area where the user is located without receiving a query from the user. In operation S203, the advertisement information identification component 105 of the advertisement providing system 100 verifies whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists. In this instance, the advertisement information identification component 105 may determine whether the advertisement list associated with the local information exists by referring to the advertisement database 102. The advertisement database 102 stores and maintains advertisement information which includes advertiser pictogram information, advertisement test information, and map coordinates information. In this instance, the term "pictogram" of the advertiser pictogram indicates a compound word of a picto which represents a picture, and a telegram. Specifically, the "pictogram" indicates a kind of a pictograph. Specifically, the pictogram indicates a pictograph and also a symbolic character which represents an object, a facility, a behavior, an idea, and the like, as a symbolic pictograph and thereby enables the meaning of the target to be quickly understood.

Also, the advertisement text information indicates information to provide detailed information of an advertiser or a company. In this instance, the advertisement text information may include a name of the company, a location thereof, a type thereof, a telephone number thereof, and the like. For example, the advertisement text information may be represented as "SEONGNAM-SI, GYEONGGI-DO, 031-710-1234, GROCERY, SHINSEGAE SUPERMARKET", and the like.

Also, the map coordinates information indicates coordinates information of an area where the company is located. In this instance, the map coordinates information may be used to identify advertisement information or to identify map information of the company from the map database 103.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement information identification component 105 may determine whether the map coordinates information of the advertisement information associated with the local information exists by referring to the advertisement database 102. When the advertisement list associated with the local information exists, the advertisement providing system 100 may perform operation S204. Conversely, when the advertisement list associated with the local information does not exist, the advertisement providing system 100 may perform operation S203a. In operation S204, the map information identification component 106 of the advertisement providing system 100 identifies map information, associated with the map coordinates information of the advertisement information, from the map database 103. In this instance, the map database 103 stores and maintains local information about each area. For example, the map database 103 may store the map information using large categories, "SEOUL", "GYEONGGI", "INCHEON", ETC. or using small categories, "SINSA-DONG, GANGNAM-GU, SEOUL", "BUCHEON-DONG, SOSA- GU, INCHEON-SI", etc. In operation S205, the advertisement providing system 100 determines whether the identified map information is identical to the local information. According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the map information, identified based on the map coordinates information of the advertisement information, may be different from information about an area where the user is located. However, since the present invention is conceived to provide company advertisement information associated with the area where the user is located, in this case, the company information associated with the user's location may not be provided. Accordingly, when the map information is identical to the local information, the advertisement providing system 100 may perform operation S206. Conversely, when the map information is different from the local information, the advertisement providing system 100 may perform operation S203a to provide a default advertisement unassociated with the area.

In operation S206, the advertisement display component 107 of the advertisement providing system 100 displays the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement information. According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement display component 107 may process the advertisement information and the map information to be suitable for a template of the general display advertisement region and then display the processed advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

In this instance, the term "template" lexically indicates a basic structure which is frequently used in a scheme or a format. Specifically, in the template, a certain structure for processing various types of data is provided and thus a user only needs to enter data. In the present specification, the template enables each of the advertiser pictogram information, the advertisement text information, and the map information to be displayed on a set general display advertisement region.

FIG. 3 illustrates map information and advertisement information, displayed on a general display advertisement region, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the advertisement providing system 100 may display the map information on a top portion of the general display advertisement region, and display advertisement pictogram information and advertisement text information on a bottom portion of the general display advertisement region. In this instance, the map information indicates map data about a predetermined area including an advertised company. Also, the advertiser pictogram information indicates a pictograph. In FIG. 3, the pictograph indicates that a type of an advertised company is a "shopping center", and the advertisement text information indicates detailed information about a company, that is, "EMART BUNDANG-JUM, 031-710-1237, SHINSEGAE SUPERMARKET, GROCERY".

The advertisement providing system 100 may process the map information, the advertiser pictogram information, and the advertisement text information to be suitable for the template of the general display advertisement region, and display the processed advertiser pictogram information and the advertisement text information on each set location.

Also, pictographs shown in the bottom portion of FIG. 3 represent a hospital, a restaurant, a school, a shopping center, and a sauna respectively. As described above, according to the present invention, a type of a company may be represented using a pictograph instead of a character. Accordingly, a user may quickly recognize visually the meaning of the target.

In operation S203a, the advertisement information identification component 105 identifies default advertisement information from the advertisement database 102. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the default advertisement information may be provided when advertisement information associated with a location of a user is not provided. Specifically, the default advertisement information may be unassociated with the local information of the user.

Also, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the default advertisement information may be advertisement information which is unassociated with a small category about a user's location, however, associated with a large category about the user's location. For example, even though advertisement information associated with "JUNGHWASAN-DONG, JEONJU-SI, JEONLABUK- DO" does not exist, advertisement information associated with "JEONLABUK-DO" or "JEONJU-SI, JEONLABUK-DO" may exist. In this case, the advertisement providing system 100 may identify the advertisement associated with "JEONLABUK-DO" or "JEONJU-SI, JEONLABUK-DO" as the default advertisement information. Accordingly, the map information identification component 106 identifies map information associated with map coordinates information of the identified default advertisement information, from the map database 103.

In operation S203b, the advertisement display component 107 may display the default advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region. Even in this case, the advertisement display component 107 may process and display the default advertisement information and the map information to be suitable for the template of the general display advertisement region.

As described above, according to the present invention, even when advertisement information associated with local information of a user accessing a web page does not exist, default advertisement information may be displayed on a general display advertisement region together with map information. Accordingly, it is possible to effectively provide a company advertisement.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a view displaying a local advertisement on a general display advertisement region of a web page according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the advertisement providing system 100 may display a company advertisement, for example, "EMART BUNDANG-JUM", associated with local information of a user accessing a web page without receiving a query from the user. In this case, the web page may be displayed for a plurality of unspecific users visiting the web page. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a user-tailored advertisement and thereby improve advertisement effects since the user may directly visit a store due to a location of the store being near to the user's location.

Also, as shown in FIG. 5, the advertisement providing system 100 may display a company advertisement, for example, "DREAM PLASTIC SURGERY", associated with local information of a user attempting to access a web page together with map information. In this case, the user may utilize the map and the company advertisement without taking pains to retrieve the map information associated with "DREAM

PLASTIC SURGERY". Accordingly, it is possible to improve advertising effect. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention include computer-readable media including program instructions to implement various operations embodied by a computer. The media may also include, alone or in combination with the program instructions, data files, data structures, tables, and the like. The media and program instructions may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as readonly memory devices (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). The media may also be a transmission medium such as optical or metallic lines, wave guides, etc. including a carrier wave transmitting signals specifying the program instructions, data structures, etc. Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, which can identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page, and display advertisement information, associated with the local information, and map information on a general display advertisement region, and thereby can provide the local information for a plurality of unspecific users attempting to access the web page. Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, which can identify local information of a user attempting to access a web page by using the user's Internet Protocol (IP) address information, cookie information, user identification number (ID), and the like, and thereby provide local information even without receiving a query from the user.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region which can display both default advertisement information and map information on a general display advertisement region and thereby can effectively display an advertisement for a user, accessing a web page, even when there is no advertisement information associated with local information of the user.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region which can provide advertiser pictogram information, advertisement text information, and map information as an advertisement and thereby effectively provide advertiser information.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method and system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, which can provide an advertisement associated with an area where a user is located, that is, a user- tailored advertisement, and thereby improve advertisement effect since the user may directly visit a store due to a location of the store being near to the user's location.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method of displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, the method comprising the steps of: storing and maintaining map information about each area in a map database; recognizing a user's access to a web page, and identifying the user's local information from a local information database; verifying whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists; identifying map information, associated with advertisement information, from the map database when the advertisement list exists, wherein the advertisement information is identified in association with the local information; and displaying the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recognizing and identifying comprises the steps of: verifying Internet Protocol (IP) address information of the user attempting to access the web page; and identifying address information associated with the IP address information and thereby identifying local information associated with the address information from the local information database.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recognizing and identifying comprises the steps of: verifying a user identification number (ID) of the user attempting to access the web page; and identifying address information associated with the user ID and thereby identifying local information associated with the address information from the local information database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recognizing and identifying comprises the steps of: verifying cookie information of the user attempting to access the web page; and identifying address information associated with the cookie information and thereby identifying local information associated with the address information from the local information database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of verifying comprises the steps of: storing and maintaining advertisement information in an advertisement database for each area wherein the advertisement information comprises advertiser pictogram information, advertisement text information, and map coordinates information; verifying whether advertisement information associated with the local information exists by referring to the advertisement database; and identifying the advertisement information associated with the local information when the advertisement information exists.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of: identifying default advertisement information from the advertisement database when the advertisement list associated with the identified local information does not exist; identifying map information associated with the default advertisement information from the map database; and displaying the default advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the advertisement information and the map information comprises the steps of: determining whether the identified map information is identical to the local information; and displaying the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region when the map information is identical to the local information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of: identifying default advertisement information from the advertisement database when the map information is different from the local information; identifying map information associated with map coordinates information of the default advertisement information from the map database; and displaying the default advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the advertisement information and the map information comprises the step of: processing the advertisement information and the map information to be suitable for a template of the general display advertisement region and then displaying the processed advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

10. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 through 9.

11. A system for displaying an advertisement on a general display advertisement region, the system comprising: a map database configured to store and maintain map information about each area; a local information identification component configured to recognize a user's access to a web page, and identify the user's local information from a local information database; an advertisement information identification component configured to verify whether an advertisement list associated with the identified local information exists; a map information identification component configured to identify map information associated with advertisement information from the map database when the advertisement list exists, wherein the advertisement information is identified in association with the local information; and an advertisement display component configured to display the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the local information identification component 1) identifies address information associated with IP address information by verifying IP address information of the user attempting to access the web page, 2) identifies address information associated with a user ID of the user attempting to access the web page, by verifying the user ID or 3) identifies local information associated with the address information from the local information database by verifying cookie information of the user attempting to access the web page and identifying address information associated with the cookie information.

13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising: an advertisement database configured to store and maintain advertisement information for each area wherein the advertisement information comprises advertiser pictogram information, advertisement text information, and map coordinates information, wherein the advertisement information identification component verifies whether advertisement information associated with the local information exists by referring to the advertisement database, and identifies the advertisement information associated with the local information when the advertisement information exists.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the advertisement information identification component identifies default advertisement information from the advertisement database when the advertisement list associated with the identified local information does not exist.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the map information identification component determines whether the identified map information is identical to the local information, and the advertisement display component displays the advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region when the map information is identical to the local information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertisement information identification component identifies default advertisement information from the advertisement database when the map information is different from the local information, and the map information identification component identifies map information associated with map coordinates information of the default advertisement information from the map database.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the advertisement display component processes the advertisement information and the map information to be suitable for a template of the general display advertisement region and then displays the processed advertisement information and the map information on the general display advertisement region.