Abstract: The present invention provides techniques for use in assessing the value of information-related services of particular data providers to an online advertising marketplace participant, such as an advertiser, publisher, market-maker, or another data provider, in connection with activities relating to buying, selling or pricing of marketplace properties. Furthermore, a recommendation may be provided to the marketplace participant as to the value or desirability of the services of particular data providers. Techniques are provided in which actual or hypothetical impact of use of information of the particular data providers is assessed.

Abstract: Techniques are provided relating to optimization of an online advertising campaign. Information is obtained relating to online advertising, associated with a brand associated with an online advertising campaign, directed to each of a set of individuals. Information is also obtained relating to offline behavior of the individuals in association with the brand. One or more metrics are determined that are associated with a relationship between the online advertising and the offline behavior. Optimization of at least one parameter of the online advertising campaign is performed based at least in part on at least one of the one or more metrics.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for association of various online elements with emotional states. A set of emotional states may be generated or obtained, and particular online elements may be assigned to particular emotional states of the set, such as with emotional states that are reflected or represented by or in the online elements. Online elements can be of various types, such as, for example, Web sites, blogs, articles, online events, online activities, online messaging, etc. User association or interaction with online emotional state-associated online elements can be used in classifying users into particular emotional states.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for emotional mapping, such as of online users, based at least in part on online activities of users. Techniques are provided in which information including a set of emotional states is generated or obtained, such as a hierarchical network of emotional states representing a spectrum of human emotions. Information regarding user online activities and content choices of a user is obtained. Based at least in part on this information, the user is classified into an emotional state of the set of emotional states, and advertisements or content may be targeted to the user accordingly.

Abstract: Embodiments of a data representation system for describing specific data sets, such as documents, web pages, or search engine queries, based on data tokens, such as words or n-grams, contained in a collection of documents are described. Such a system can be used in any type of information retrieval application, such as a document, web page, or online advertisement serving process, based on an information request, such as a query executed through an Internet search engine. For example, when a search is performed at a search engine, a content provider uses the system to represent the search query and compares the query representation against representations of a set of content in order to identify, retrieve and aggregate the content from the set most relevant to the search query, in the form of a web page or other data unit for display or access through the web browser.

Abstract: A system and method for exchanging a transformed message with enhanced privacy is presented. A set of input messages is defined. A set of output messages is defined. A message is selected from the input messages set. One or more words in the selected message are efficiently transformed directly into a transformed message different from the selected message, wherein the transformed message belongs to the set of output messages, at least one component of the selected message is recoverable from the transformed message, and the cost of determining whether the transformed message belongs to the input messages set or the output messages set exceeds a defined threshold.

Abstract: A method of trading a future right to a keyword advertisement placement associated with a search results list, wherein the search results list is generated in response to a search query. The method includes creating ownership of the future right to the keyword advertisement placement in an original keyword search engine. Next, the future right to the keyword advertisement placement originally owned by the original keyword search engine is made available for purchase in a keyword advertising market. Then, the future right to the keyword advertisement placement originally owned by the original keyword search engine is traded to another participant in the keyword advertising market.

Abstract: A method of generating a bid for an advertiser for placement of an advertisement in association with a search results list, where the search results list is generated in response to a search query, is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes: a) associating the at least one keyword with the bid, wherein the search query is associated with the at least one keyword, and b) determining an amount of the bid, associated with the at least one keyword, for placement of the advertisement in association with the search results list generated in response to the search query associated with the at least one keyword. The bid is determined based at least in part on bids by other advertisers in competition with the first advertiser for placement of other advertisements with an expectation that the determined bid may elicit a desired change in the bids by the other advertisers.

Abstract: A method of coordinating one or more bids for one or more groups of advertisers for placement of at least one advertisement in association with a search results list is provided. The search results list is generated in response to a search query. The method includes: a) collecting information from at least two advertisers in the advertiser group and b) devising a joint strategy for the advertiser group for bidding in the keyword auction. In another embodiment, a method of generating a bid for a first advertiser for placement of a first advertisement in association with a search results list is provided. In another embodiment, an apparatus for generating the bid for the first advertiser is provided. Is still another embodiment, a method of coordinating bids from a first advertiser and a second advertiser for placement of at least one advertisement in association with a first search results list is provided.

Abstract: A method for generating or determining data sources useful for detecting non-conforming behavior associated with pay-per-click advertising in a keyword searching environment includes: a) observing behavior associated with the pay-per-click advertising, b) predicting behavior associated with the observed behavior, and c) comparing the observed behavior to the predicted behavior to identify unexpected behavior associated with the pay-per-click advertising. In another embodiment, a method of monitoring behavior associated with targeted advertising in a keyword searching environment is provided. In another aspect, an apparatus for monitoring behavior associated with targeted advertising in a keyword searching environment includes: at least one observed behavior model, at least one predicted behavior model, and at least one comparator logic process to identify non-confirming behavior associated with the targeted advertising.

Abstract: A server-based method of automatically generating a plurality of bids for an advertiser for placement of at least one advertisement in association with a search results list is provided. The method includes: a) receiving at least one candidate advertisement, b) creating a list of candidate keywords, c) estimating a click-through rate for each advertisement-keyword pair, d) calculating a return on advertising investment (ROAI) for each advertisement-keyword pair, and e) calculating a bid amount for each advertisement-keyword pair. In another aspect, a server-based method of generating a bid for placement of an advertisement in association with a search results list is provided. In other aspects, a method of selecting one or more keywords in conjunction with the bid is provided as well as a method of determining a return on advertising investment (ROAI) information for an advertiser in conjunction with the bid is provided.

Abstract: Techniques for new event detection are provided. For a new story and a corpus of stories, story-pairs based on the new story and each corpus story are determined. Adjustments to the importance of terms are determined based on story characteristics associated with each story. Story characteristics are based on direct or indirect characteristics. Direct story characteristics include authorship, language associated with a story and the like. Indirect story characteristics may include derived characteristics such as an ROI category characteristic, a same ROI characteristic, a same event-same source characteristic, an average story similarity characteristic or any other known or later developed characteristic associated with a story. Adjustments to the inter-story similarity metrics are then determined based on story characteristics and/or a weighting function.

Abstract: Techniques for training and using linked event detection systems and transforming source-identified stopwords are provided. A training corpus of source identified stories and a reference language is determined. Optionally, stopwords for source-identified stories are transformed based on statistical analysis of parallel verified and un-verified transformations. Reference language and non-reference language terms are selectively included in source-pair term frequency-inverse story frequency models. Optionally, incremental source-identified term frequency-inverse story frequency models are determined. Selected terms are weighted and similarity metrics determined. Associated source-pair statistics, computed in part from a training corpus, are combined with the values of each similarity metric in the set of similarity metrics to form a similarity vector. Similarity vectors and verified link label information are used to determine a predictive model.

Abstract: A system and computer-implemented conflict resolution method for resolving air traffic conflicts involving a plurality of aircraft. The system may comprise an air traffic control system having a computer that implements a conflict resolution method, and a radar coupled to the traffic control system that provides position and velocity information for each aircraft. A communication subnetwork is used to communicate between aircraft and the traffic control system. Each aircraft may have a computer that implements the conflict resolution method, and a data link for transferring position and velocity information between the aircraft and the traffic control system over the communication subnetwork. Thus, either the aircraft, or the air traffic control system, or both implement the present method.