Abstract: Example methods, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture are disclosed that may be used to provide or otherwise support contract auctions for sponsored search advertising for use in auction management systems.

Abstract: The subject matter disclosed herein relates to returning cached object results based at least in part on a non-exact comparison with a query key.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to systems and methods for identifying compatible advertisement contracts to satisfy an advertisement opportunity. The systems and methods include receiving a number of attribute values associated with a user accessing a network-based location. The systems and methods include sorting an index of lists for a plurality of advertisement contracts on the basis of a number of contract term values. The systems and methods include traversing the index of lists to return a set advertisement contracts compatible with the number of attribute values associated with the user. The systems and methods include selecting a given advertisement contract from the set of advertisement contracts compatible with the number of attribute values associated with the user. The systems and methods include presenting an advertisement associated with the given advertisement contract on a display viewable by the user accessing the network-based location.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method for optimizing an advertisement plan for allocating advertisements to a contract in a network-based environment. The system and method includes determining a shadow price for an advertisement placement where the advertisement placement is associated with a user having defined characteristics. The system and method includes determining a contract price for the advertisement placement relative to a plurality of advertisement contracts for the user having the defined characteristics. The system and method includes determining an advertisement plan for allocating an advertisement to a given contract on the basis of the shadow price and the contract price. The system and method includes presenting a given advertisement associated with the given contract according to the advertisement plan on network-based output.

Abstract: An improved system and method for aggregating a list of top ranked objects from ranked combination lists using an early termination algorithm is provided. Ranked lists of individual object attributes may be aggregated into ranked lists of combination object attributes. The ranked lists of object attributes, including ranked lists of individual object attributes as well as ranked lists of combination object attributes, may be scanned in parallel. A fixed number of top scoring objects may be stored in a results list of top ranked objects. An upper bound of best possible aggregation scores of unseen object in the ranked lists of object attributes may be computed to incorporate the extra information given by the combination lists of attributes. If the upper bound computed is less than the score of top scoring objects in the results list, then the top scoring objects in the results list may be output.

Abstract: Generally, embodiments of the present invention provide for methods, systems and computer program products for utilizing date constraints in an advertisement serving system. The method according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises receiving a request for one or more advertisements that satisfy one or more constraints. A set of advertisement contracts is generated, wherein the set of advertisement contracts comprise one or more advertisement contracts that satisfy the one or more constraints. The contractual time period for a given advertisement contract in the set of advertisement contracts is then determined. A subset of advertisement contracts is then generated, wherein the subset of advertisement contracts comprises the advertisement contracts in the set of advertisement contracts that are active on a given date. The subset of advertisement contracts is then inputted into an optimization algorithm and one or more advertisement contracts are selected by the optimization algorithm.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method for distributing advertisements in a network-based advertisement campaign. The method and system includes determining a number of advertisement placements for a contract within a contract time interval where the advertisement placements may be presented to users having defined characteristics. The method and system includes reviewing forecasting information regarding user traffic, including forecasting information for predicting a volume of users having the defined characteristics. The method and system includes, in response to the forecasting information, procuring advertisement placements consistent with the contract during the contract time interval and distributing the advertisements in a network-based output.

Abstract: A unique system and method is provided that facilitates improving relevance of search results over the initial searching ranking. The system and method involve obtaining relevancy feedback for at least one search result (user rated) and then generating a connectivity graph or web-graph (for Web searches) for the user rated result. The relative distance between results (or pages) in the graph can indicate relevancy between those results. Thus, results within a particular distance from the rated result can be considered related to the rated result and thus, relevant or irrelevant depending on the particular rating for that result. The connectivity graph can be employed to determine a re-ranking of the search results.

Abstract: A unique system and method is provided that facilitates improving relevance of search results over the initial searching ranking. The system and method involve obtaining relevancy feedback for at least one search result (user rated) and then generating a connectivity graph or web-graph (for Web searches) for the user rated result. The relative distance between results (or pages) in the graph can indicate relevancy between those results. Thus, results within a particular distance from the rated result can be considered related to the rated result and thus, relevant or irrelevant depending on the particular rating for that result. The connectivity graph can be employed to determine a re-ranking of the search results.