Patents Examined by John G. Weiss
  • Patent number: 8700454
    Abstract: An interactive privilege supply system in which a user terminal device, a privilege supply device, and a product supply device are connected via a network, wherein the product supply device generates privilege data in which a privilege is interlocked with time; the user terminal device generates entry data within a predetermined period of time in accordance with the privilege data and with contingency data, which is contained in program data transmitted from the privilege supply device; and the privilege supply device generates result data, which contains validity period information about product privilege purchase, in accordance with the relationship between the contingency data and the entry data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Fukuda, Tetsuo Maruyama
  • Patent number: 8700468
    Abstract: A selection of one or more segment attributes from an offer provider campaign is received at a graphical user interface. The one or more segment attributes define one or more segments that correspond to one or more offers in the offer provider campaign. Further, an expression graph based on the one or more segment attributes is generated. In addition, a portable micro-segment object is generated based on the expression tree such that the portable micro-segment object lacks dependence on the offer provider campaign.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventors: Walter Chang, Geoff Baum
  • Patent number: 8700455
    Abstract: Advertising rewards and referrals are described, including detecting an interaction with an advertisement, recording the interaction, the interaction including an input being provided in response to the advertisement, generating a reward for the interaction, the reward being an action taken to provide a benefit in response to the interaction, analyzing data associated with the advertisement, the data including a plurality of documented interactions, and providing a result from analyzing the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventor: Hopwood Michael
  • Patent number: 8700466
    Abstract: Exemplary methods and devices in accordance with the disclosure relate generally to networked provisioning of content to young users such as children, as well as providing user monitoring and customized feedback and other information to parents and others. More particularly, but not exclusively, embodiments in accordance with the disclosure relate to systems, methods, devices, and computer media for receiving user input associated with provided or available content, processing the input, and providing information such as text, video, audio, other media, advertising, and feedback associated with user inputs and preferences to a person associated with the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Saban Digital Studios LLC
    Inventors: Thomas C. Broadhead, Clifford T. Boro, William J. Von Reis, Brian E. Smith
  • Patent number: 8700467
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus and method for providing a cell-based advertisement broadcast service in a broadband wireless communication system. In an advertisement broadcast service of a service interface server in the broadband wireless communication system, an advertisement content transmission request message containing at least one of information about advertisement broadcast content, information about an advertisement broadcast zone, and information about an advertisement broadcast channel is received from a service provider. The received advertisement content transmission request message is transmitted to an MCBCS controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ji-Hye Ha, Sung-Won Lee, Dong-Keon Kong, Sang-Jun Moon
  • Patent number: 8700464
    Abstract: Activity monitoring techniques monitor user consumption of content. To perform one of the techniques, event data from users that reflects the consumption of content is collected. The collected event data is analyzed to infer a feature within the content that the users are presumed to have consumed. Based on the analysis, an estimated actual impression measurement that reflects aggregate consumption of the feature within the content by the users is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ian A. McAllister, Sean W. Blakey, David M. Lifson
  • Patent number: 8694374
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for processing network activities is described. The method includes identifying a model that specifies attributes for network objects, identifying a network object having one or more attributes that deviate from the model, and providing as an input to a ranking algorithm a value associated with the deviance of the one or more attributes of the identified network object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Michelangelo Diligenti, Diego Federici
  • Patent number: 8694376
    Abstract: This description provides tools and techniques for dynamically and predictively updating mobile devices as mobile users pass through projected locations. These tools may provide methods that include defining thresholds applicable to at least portions of travel itineraries on which mobile users are traveling. The methods may also identify advertisements to send to mobile devices associated with the mobile users, upon meeting the threshold. The methods may also send the selected advertisements, as associated with corresponding advertisers, to the mobile devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventor: Michael L. Bishop
  • Patent number: 8694367
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for allowing a user to access a coupon. In one approach, a social network coupon platform receives a request to display coupon data regarding a particular coupon that is provided by a coupon provider, wherein a user that is registered with a social network provider initiated the request. In response to receiving the request, sending the coupon data is sent form the social network coupon platform to be displayed to the user. Profile data that includes profile information of the user is received at the social network coupon platform from the social network provider. In response to receiving the profile data, the user is allowed access to the particular coupon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Coupons.com Incorporated
    Inventors: Matthias Eichstaedt, Deepak Goel, Sunil Keshav Bopardikar
  • Patent number: 8694378
    Abstract: This specification describes methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage device, for precluding the serving of expandable content items from vendors for publisher hosts that do not support the particular vendors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Pavel Kobyakov, Ksenia Shubina
  • Patent number: 8688515
    Abstract: A method and system for secure distribution and tracking of information and content of a third party via multiple social networks is described. The invention takes information and content marked to be promoted by a third party using an online application, and distributes and promotes the information to the social networks of everyone who is signed up as an ‘ambassador’ for that third party. When published, the information and content includes a personalized link associated with each ambassador to social network combination. Via the nature of social networks, this information is additionally redistributed into the users who are associated with those ambassadors in their social networks. As those users follow the personalized links back to the promoted information and content, the source ambassador to social network combination gets recorded and statistics about that user's viewing of the information and content are recorded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Social Toaster, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Razzaque, Ben Sarsgard, Matthew Cook, Josh Glazer, Anne Sigman, Sarah Razzaque, Tracy Imm
  • Patent number: 8688519
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for identifying keywords for use in targeted advertising. Information concerning a region of interest is derived from data provided by a number of user devices within the region of interest. The information may come from actions such as search queries or communication with other users in the region of interest. In many cases, the information is time sensitive, with the actions occurring within a given timeframe. The time sensitive information for the region of interest is used to derive keywords that are used when selecting advertisements. These advertisements are then provided to users concerning the region of interest. Demographic information may also be used in conjunction with the timeframe and region to further refine the keywords.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Jennifer Lin, Ping Wu, Deepak Chandra
  • Patent number: 8688518
    Abstract: Techniques for improving and optimizing or attempting to optimize performance of messaging campaigns, particularly to marketing campaigns in which advertisements or other messages are distributed over an interactive measurable medium. When message is an advertisement, campaign involves a list of ad alternatives and a target customer population. Goal of message manager or marketing manager is to allocate ad alternatives to customer population to optimize business objectives such as maximizing the number of positive responses received. This is achieved by segmenting customer population into segments and then finding best allocation of ad alternatives for each segment. The number of segments and grouping of a customer population changes at different stages of the campaign. When the message is other than an advertisement, goal is to allocate messages to optimize analogous business or campaign objectives, typically measured by the number of successes or successful responses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Inventors: Sanjay Ranka, E. Diane Chang, Daniel Veiner, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8682728
    Abstract: A network advertising system and method includes an item within electronic media being tagged by a secondary advertiser. A text block unit receives a search query from the secondary advertiser, retrieves primary advertiser information from the primary advertiser database in response to the search query and displays the primary advertiser information to the secondary advertiser, receives the secondary advertiser's selection of the primary advertiser information, and associates the tagged item with advertising content of the primary advertiser in response to the selection of the primary advertiser information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Inventors: Vincent Konkol, Judd Lasarow
  • Patent number: 8682722
    Abstract: A client-side advertising application may work with an advertising back-end and a content downloading system to perform one or more of the following functions: download advertising content, manage the downloaded advertising content, define the user experience, facilitate the dynamic insertion of the downloaded advertising content into or around downloaded programming content, and ensure auditing messages are sent to an auditing server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Advertising.com LLC
    Inventors: G. Thomas Des Jardins, Bryan Slavin, Mark Westling
  • Patent number: 8682724
    Abstract: An improved system and method is provided for using sampling for scheduling advertisements in slots of different quality in an online auction with budget and time constraints. A multi-armed bandit engine may be provided for sampling new advertisements by allocating advertisements for web page placements of different quality and optimizing payments to maximize the welfare of the advertisers while remaining within advertiser's budget and time constraints. Advertisers may report their private information including arrival time, departure time, value per click, and budget. And the multi-armed bandit mechanism may approximate the maximal welfare that may be achieved under budget and time constraints by bounding the possible gain from any possible lie an advertiser might submit in reporting private information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventor: Rica Gonen
  • Patent number: 8682725
    Abstract: In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of identifying a target region and an exclusion region of the target region, where the target region encompasses the exclusion region. A target user is identified within the target region and not within the exclusion region encompassed by the target region. A target advertisement is selected for the target user based on the target user being within the target region and not within the exclusion region encompassed by the target region. The target advertisement is sent to the target user. An exclusion user is identified within the exclusion region encompassed by the target region. An exclusion advertisement different from the target advertisement is selected for the exclusion user based on the exclusion user being with the exclusion region. The exclusion advertisement is sent to the exclusion user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Ravi Jain, Yelena Nakhimovsky
  • Patent number: 8682727
    Abstract: A travel support server (5) distributes a first e-mail to a user terminal device (2-k). The first e-mail has a link to the URL in which transfer function to a web page of a tourism resource corresponding to the user position in a travel destination and user information are embedded. An advertisement server (6) distributes a second e-mail to the user terminal device (2-k). The second e-mail has advertisement information which is provided to the user identified by selecting the link in the first e-mail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Rakuten, Inc.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Kamiyama, Masahiro Morita
  • Patent number: 8676647
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method is described for determining a response attribution value that represents a credit assignment to a communication, for an associated response received from a recipient during a marketing campaign.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Crites, Ruby Kennedy
  • Patent number: 8676646
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method is described for determining a response attribution value that represents a credit assignment to a communication, for an associated response received from a recipient during a marketing campaign.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Crites, Ruby Kennedy