Method and apparatus for providing electronic advertisements to end users in a consumer best-fit pricing manner
March 3, 2015. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.Patent ReferencesFacsimile publishing system Method for providing targeted profile interactive CATV displays Method and system for generating a description of the distribution of looking time as people watch television commercials Telephone toll service with advertising System and method for automated selection of equipment for purchase through input of user desired specifications Method of interactive communication between a subscriber and a decoder of a system of pay-television and decoder thereof Method and apparatus for providing demographically targeted television commercials Information rental system including processor equipped IC card having data erasing means Method and system for remote delivery of retail banking services Selection of compressed television signals from single channel allocation based on viewer characteristics InventorApplicationNo. 333950 filed on 11/03/1994US Classes:705/26, Electronic shopping (e.g., remote ordering)705/10, Market analysis, demand forecasting or surveying725/1, BILLING IN VIDEO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM725/14, By passively monitoring receiver operation725/32, PROGRAM, MESSAGE, OR COMMERCIAL INSERTION OR SUBSTITUTION725/114, Server or headend725/131Receiver (e.g., set-top box)ExaminersPrimary: Hofsass, JefferyAssistant: Wong, Albert K. Attorney, Agent or FirmInternational ClassH01J 013/00AbstractA method and apparatus for providing electronic advertisements to end users in a consumer best-fit pricing manner includes an index database, a user profile database, and a consumer scale matching process. The index database provides storage space for the titles of electronic advertisements. The user profile database provides storage for a set of characteristics which correspond to individual end users of the apparatus. The consumer scale matching process is coupled to the content database and the user profile database and compares the characteristics of the individual end users with a consumer scale associated with the electronic advertisement. The apparatus then charges a fee to the advertiser, based on the comparison by the matching process. In one embodiment, a consumer scale is generated for each of multiple electronic advertisements. These advertisements are then transferred to multiple yellow page servers, and the titles associated with the advertisements are subsequently transferred to multiple metering servers. At the metering servers, a determination is made as to where the characteristics of the end users served by each of the metering servers fall on the consumer scale. The higher the characteristics of the end users served by a particular metering server fall, the higher the fee charged to the advertiser.Field of SearchMethods of use | |
