Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DISTRIBUTING DISPLAY
ADVERTISING AND MONITORING ADVERTISING EFFICACY
Technical Field
This invention relates to display advertising. In particular
the invention relates to a display advertising system which coordinates
the display of advertising on a plurality of distributed displays for
viewing by consumers or potential consumers of goods and services.
The displays may be very widely distributed. Specific aspects of the
system permit users to design and schedule advertisements and to
monitor the efficacy of specific advertisements.
Background
While there is a steady supply of new advertising concepts,
a mainstay of advertising has been display advertising in public
locations. Such advertising may be in the form of billboards, paper
posters, or the like. The actual cost of preparing each physical
advertising display, for example the cost of printing a paper poster, can
be relatively low. However, very large costs can be incurred in having
static display advertising displayed in many distant locations. The
advertising must be physically distributed and manually installed. The
advertising must also be frequently moved and changed to retain
consumer interest.
Another disadvantage of static advertising is that consumers
have become jaded by exposure to sophisticated television advertising,
multimedia computer displays and the like. It is very difficult to design
static advertising, such as posters and billboards, in a manner which is
likely to catch the attention of today's consumers. More and more
people are spending time outside their homes.
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There are many one-way schemes for delivering advertising
content directly to computer users. For example, advertising banners
may be displayed when a computer user accesses a particular web page.
These schemes are limited in that they can only reach prospective
customers who are computer users and then, only when the computer
users are actually using their computers. One-way advertising schemes
which simply display advertisements to computer users also provide no
way to measure advertising effectiveness in real time.
Fisher et al., U.S. patent No. 5,392,066 discloses a system
in which advertising graphics can be distributed to in-store displays by
way of satellite communication links. The Fisher et al. system does not
provide any way to test the efficacy of advertising delivered to the in-
store displays. Further, the creation and scheduling of advertisements in
the Fisher et al. system is done from a single location.
There is a need for methods and systems for distributing
advertising which are easy for advertisers to access directly and which
can be used by advertisers without incurring large start up costs. There
is a particular need for such systems which provide the abilities to
measure the effectiveness of advertising in real time in a cost-effective
manner and to alter advertising content and scheduling in real-time or
near real time.
Summary of the Invention
The invention provides a system capable of displaying
advertisements according to a schedule on a number of widely
distributed display units. The display units are preferably located in
public places. The display units preferably include display units having
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large format displays. Display units having smaller displays may also be
provided.
One aspect of the invention provides an advertisement
distribution system which comprises a communication server connected
to deliver: a plurality of advertisements, each comprising a unique
contact information; and, scheduling information for the advertisements;
to a plurality of advertisement display units. The unique contact
information preferably comprises a URL for a web page or a telephone
number. The unique contact information can be used to assess the
efficacy of individual advertisements. A proportion of interested persons
who view an advertisement will use the unique contact information to
seek more information, to order a product or service, or the like. By
tracking the number of persons who use the unique contact information
of several advertisements the efficacy of individual advertisements can
be compared. The display units may also, or in the alternative, have
touch screens or other associated user input devices. Persons can
respond to individual advertisements by way of the input devices
associated with the display units.
In preferred embodiments, the web page is hosted on a web
server configured to log hits on the web page and the system includes a
database server configured to generate reports of the number of web
page hits for the URL corresponding to each of a plurality of the
advertisements. Preferably the web server provides a HTML to WML
conversion function and, the web server is configured to convert HTML
from the web site of the advertiser to WML upon activation of the link
to a web site of an advertiser. This makes it easier for interested
persons to view the web site of an advertiser with a web-enabled
cellular telephone or the like.
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Some display units may comprise a plurality of displays
connected to the display controller by a wireless local network. The
same advertising can then be displayed on a number of displays. The
displays may be of different types. The display controller may comprise
a microprocessor running web browser software and the advertisements
may each comprise a HTML page.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method for
distributing advertising. The method comprises providing a plurality of
display units, each display unit comprising a display and a display
controller; delivering via a telecommunication link a plurality of
advertisements and a schedule for displaying the plurality of
advertisements on the display to each display controller, each of the
advertisements comprising a unique contact information, the contact
information, when used, generating a signal; and, detecting and logging
hits indicating use of the unique contact information. The logged hits
may be used to assess the efficacy of individual advertisements.
The unique contact information preferably comprises a
URL for a page on a web server.
In preferred embodiments, the method comprises
maintaining a record of advertisements in a local storage at each display
unit and delivering via a telecommunication link a plurality of
advertisements and a schedule for displaying the plurality of
advertisements comprises delivering to each display unit only
advertisements not already stored in the local storage of the display unit.
This reduces the amount of data which must be delivered to each display
unit.
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Another aspect of the invention provides an advertisement
distribution system comprising: means for delivering a plurality of
advertisements, each comprising a unique contact information, and
scheduling information for the advertisements to a plurality of display
units; a plurality of advertisement display units, each comprising:
means for receiving the advertisements and the scheduling information,
and, means for displaying the advertisements according to the
scheduling information; means for receiving sales data for products
associated with the advertisements; and, means for generating reports
correlating changes in the sales data with the advertisements. The
system of this aspect of the invention permits the effects of advertising
on actual sales of a product or service to be monitored in real time.
Further features and advantages of the invention are
described below.
List of
Reference
Numerals
10 system 12 display unit
14 display 16 display controller
17 sound transducer 18 sound driver
19 wireless network 20A interface
20B local storage 20C controller
20D display driver 20E ad player software
20F web browser 20G communication manager
20H input device 21 display driver
22 advertisement 22A web page
22B script 22C media file
22D unique contact information24 scheduling information
communication server 32 network
30 32A satellite link 32B satellite uplink
32C satellite 32D satellite receiver
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32E wireless LAN 40 production web server
42 advertiser computer 43 web browser software
44 Internet 46 advertisement editing
and
scheduling software
48 computer 49 firewall computer
50 database 52 additional text/graphics
53 log 54 billing server
56 web pages 58 advertiser web server
60 POS system 62 advertiser sales database
64 POS sales data 64A sales data
66 database server 100 advertising agency
102 advertiser 104 author
108 create and manage 110 manage billing
advertisements
112 data analysis 113 step
116 author advertisements 122 preview advertisement
125 step 124 finalize and save
126 arrow 128 create show
130 approve advertisement 133 create schedule
134 view schedule 136 final check
138 distribute advertisements138A to communication server
138B distribute via Internet138C distribute via satellite
144 display advertisements 146 user feedback
150 log web site hits 152 link to advertiser
154 log link to advertiser 154A convert to WML
160 receive online order 162 log order
166 ship goods 168 pay supplier
170 generate data analysis 172 deliver analysis to
advertiser
174 refine advertising
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Brief Description of the Drawings
In figures which illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the
invention:
Figure 1 is a schematic view of a network according to an
example embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 is a schematic view of a display unit for use in the
invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of components of an
advertisement for use in preferred embodiments of the invention;
Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of a display unit which
includes a wireless connection to several displays; and,
Figures SA and SB are a schematic chart illustrating an example
of a possible use of the system of Figure 1.
Description
I. Advertising Distribution and Display Network
This invention provides a system for the wide area
distribution of advertising. As shown in Figure 1, an example system 10
includes a number of display units 12 located in public areas. Display
units 12 may, for example, be located in airports, hotels, conference
centers, shopping malls, alongside streets, or in any other suitable place
where they may be viewed by potential customers. Display units 12 may
also be located in public conveyances such as buses, trains, elevators,
ferry boats, and the like.
Display units 12 each comprise a display 14 and a display
controller 16. As shown in Fig. 2, display controller 16 comprises an
interface 20A for receiving display advertisements and scheduling
information, local storage 20B for display advertisements 22 and
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scheduling information 24, a controller 20C which causes
advertisements 22 in local storage 20B to be displayed according to
scheduling information 24, and a display driver 20D. Display units 12
may optionally include one or more sound transducers such as
loudspeakers 17 driven by a suitable driver 18.
A single display controller 16 may be connected to several
nearby displays 14 by either wired or wireless communication channels.
Figure 3 illustrates a single display controller 16 connected to several
displays 14 by a wireless local data communication network 19. Each
display 14 has a display driver 21 connected to network 19. The
wireless local data communication network preferably operates
according to an established wireless networking standard such as
wireless application protocol ("WAP").
In preferred embodiments of the invention, display
controller 16 comprises a programmed personal computer, interface
20A comprises a network adapter, local storage 20B comprises an area
on a memory or storage device accessible to the computer, display 14 is
any suitable large format display capable of being driven by signals
from the personal computer and display adapter 20D is an adapter
suitable for driving display 14. Display 14 may comprise, for example,
a plasma display, a cathode ray tube ("CRT"), a television, a LED
display, or the like. Smaller format displays 14 may also be used in
selected locations.
Advertisement player software 20E running on the
computer under a suitable operating system causes a processor in the
computer to read scheduling information 24, at each scheduled time
retrieve the scheduled advertisement 22 from local storage 20B, and
display the scheduled advertisement on display 14. In preferred
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embodiments of the invention, as shown in Figure 4, each advertisement
22 comprises a HTML ("HyperText Markup Language") web page 22A
and software 20E comprises a web browser 20F which displays web
page 22A on display 14 and a component which causes the web browser
20F to load and run advertisements 22 according to schedule 24. Player
software 20E also includes a component which receives new
advertisements 22 and updates to schedule 24 from communication
server 30.
Each display unit 12 may have a different resolution and
other display characteristics. In the preferred embodiment described
above these differences are accommodated by web browser 20F, display
driver 20D and the operating system running on display controller 16.
Advertisements 22 can be the same for all display types.
For example, in a currently preferred embodiment of the
invention, software 20E incorporates Microsoft's Internet Explorer
browser. Software 20E comprises a component which invokes Internet
Explorer as an Active X control. Software 20E creates two (or more)
windows with a copy of the Internet Explorer control on each window.
Each window is capable of displaying an advertisement 22. Software
20E can select one of the windows to be on top of the other window.
The window on top is displayed while the other window is hidden. The
Internet Explorer control has the feature that it will not commence
playing a new page which is loaded while the window hosting the
control is hidden. When the window is subsequently sent to the top, the
Internet Explorer control will automatically start playing the
advertisement 22. Software 20E causes each of the windows to load a
desired advertisement 22 from local storage 20B at a time determined
by schedule 24.
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Software 20E can load an advertisement in the background
(i.e. while another advertisement is playing). Immediately after one
advertisement finishes playing (i.e. at the time defined in schedule 24)
software 20E can bring the next window to the top to play the next
advertisement 22. This avoids delays while advertisements 22 are
loaded.
Display units 12 may include a touch screen or other input
device 20H. Input device 20H permits persons to respond to
advertisements 22, as discussed below.
In the currently preferred embodiment of the invention,
schedule 24 indicates the scheduled time/date and the HTML page in
local storage 20B for each advertisement 22 to be played. Schedule 24
is sorted in time/date order to ensure easy access to the next
advertisement. Schedule 24 can be viewed as a stack. Playback software
20E reads from the top of schedule 24. Newly communicated
advertisements 22 are inserted at the bottom of schedule 24. Schedule
24 is updated by communications manager software 20G which resides
in display controller 16. Communications manager software 20G
retrieves data for schedule 24 from SQL server database 50 via
Microsoft Remote Data Service (RDS). The new data is then added to
schedule 24.
In the currently preferred embodiment of the invention,
new advertisements 22 are delivered to display units 12 by FTP (File
Transfer Protocol) over network 32.
As illustrated schematically in Figure 4, most preferably
each advertisement 22 includes animation. This may be provided by
embedding in web page 22A one or more scripts 22B which play one or
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more media files 22C. The scripts may comprise, for example,
JavaScript applets. Media files 22C may comprise images stored in any
suitable format, animated images, sound files, or video segments. Some
examples of possible image formats are bitmaps, Jpeg files, GIF files,
TIFF files, or MPEG video files. The media files can be any media files
which web browser 20F is capable of playing.
Preferably each advertisement 22 includes unique contact
information 22D which is displayed on display 14 when the
advertisement 22 is being played. Contact information 22D may
comprise, for example, an Internet address, a telephone number, a
telephone number and a code, or the like. Contact information 22D may
be used to monitor the effectiveness of each advertisement, as described
below. Where an advertisement 22 will be played in several different
locations then versions of the advertisement 22 having different unique
contact information 22D may be used in each location.
System 10 has a communication server 30 (Figure 1) which
delivers advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to display
units 12 by way of a wide area network 32. Groups comprising some or
all of display units 12 may receive the same set of advertisements 22
and scheduling information 24. In the alternative, communication server
may prepare and forward a separate set of advertisements 22 and
scheduling information 24 to each display unit 12. Preferably
25 communication server 30 is also capable of uploading updates of
advertisement player software 20E to display units 12.
Where display units 12 can be conveniently connected to
the Internet, network 32 preferably includes the Internet. Preferably
30 each display unit 12 or each cluster of display units 12 has a static
network address. As long as the network address of the display unit
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does not change, the physical location of the display unit can be changed
without affecting the operation of system 10.
Network 32 may include satellite communication links 32A
to permit reliable communication of advertisements to display units 12
which cannot be reliably and conveniently connected directly to the
Internet. For example, display units 12 in moving public conveyances
may be connected to communication server 30 by a communication path
which includes a satellite communication link 32A. Satellite
communication link 32A comprises a satellite uplink station 32B which
transmits signals containing the data of advertisements 22 and
scheduling information 24 to a satellite 32C . Satellite 32C retransmits
the data to a receiver 32D either directly or by way of one or more
other satellites. Receiver 32D receives the data and supplies the data to
a connected display unit 12. Preferably communication server 30
establishes a data connection with satellite uplink station 32B by way of
a wide area computer network such as the Internet.
Mobile display units 12 may also be connected to
communication server 30 by short range wireless connections 32E. This
is appropriate, for example, where the display units are mobile but do
not move out of range of a local transmitter. For example, short range
wireless connections 32E may be used to communicate with display
units 12 which are located in elevators .
System 10 preferably comprises a mechanism to monitor
the operational status of each display unit 12 and to verify that each of
display units 12 is operating properly. The mechanism preferably
comprises software which runs on display controllers 16 and
periodically sends status information for the display 12 to a central
server by way of network 32. Preferably each display controller 16
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periodically communicates to database 50 data 53 indicating when each
advertisement played and a list of any errors that may have occurred
during the playing of the advertisements. This data may be
communicated to database 50 in a communication session during which
new advertisements and/or updates to schedule 24 are communicated to
the display controller 16.
Remote management software may also be installed on each
display controller 16 to allow support technicians to inspect the
operational status of the display controller and correct any software-
related problems remotely. Suitable remote management software is
commercially available from various suppliers.
System 10 optionally makes available sequences of
advertisements 22 as web pages on one or more Internet web sites. This
permits potential customers with web-enabled cell phones, Internet
appliances or personal digital assistants ("PDAs") to connect to the web
site and to view the series of advertisements 22 directed to the web site.
For example, a potential customer might be shopping in a particular
shopping mall or other shopping location. System 10 may maintain a
web site containing advertisements 22 for that shopping location. The
web site causes a series of advertisements 22 pertinent to that shopping
location to be displayed on the potential customer's web-enabled cell
phone or other Internet appliance. The advertisements may relate to
special limited time offers or the like. For example, an advertisement 22
might display "FOR NEXT 20 MINUTES ONLY, FREE SOFT
DRINK WITH EACH HAMBURGER AT [NAME OF
RESTAURANT]".
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II. Advertisement Creation and Scheduling
Preferably system 10 permits advertisers to upload and
schedule advertisements for delivery on displays 14 of system 10 by
way of the Internet. System 10 comprises an advertiser interface web
server 40 which provides a web-based interface for bidirectional
communication with advertiser computers 42 over the Internet or
another network indicated generally as 44. Networks 32 and 44
may be the same network. Production web server 40 may, for example,
comprise an Internet-connected computer running a suitable operating
system, such as Microsoft TM Windows NT, UNIX, or LINUX, and web
server software, such as Microsoft T~' Internet Information Server
("IIS"), Microsoft TM Transaction Server ("MTS"), and Microsoft TM
Data Access Component ("MDAC").
Advertisers can connect to system 10 by logging into
production web server 40 from computers 42. Production web server 40
provides an interface to user computers 42 and provides authentication
of users by requesting and checking a password, receiving a certificate,
or performing some other authentication function. Once logged into
production web server 40, advertisers can upload advertisements that
the advertiser may have created outside of system 10, select
advertisements 22 previously designed and saved within system 10 for
immediate use, or use an authoring tool to design advertisements 22, or
edit previously designed advertisements 22. The advertiser can also
schedule the display of advertisements 22, amend the scheduling for
previously scheduled advertisements 22, and access billing information
relating to the advertiser.
Preferably system 10 comprises a web based integrated
development environment within which users can lay out advertisement
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text, create graphics, upload and arrange the content of media files, add
special effects and otherwise arrange the media files to make
advertisements. In the illustrated embodiment, advertisement editing and
scheduling software 46 runs on a computer 48 located behind a firewall
computer 49. Software 46 provides to advertisers tools to create, save,
retrieve and edit advertisements 22 in system 10 and to schedule the
display of advertisements 22 at selected locations. The cost of displaying
an advertisement may vary from location to location and from time to
time, as described more fully below.
In currently preferred embodiments of the invention,
software 46 comprises Active X Automation Server software which is
available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Washington.
Software 46 causes Active X controls to be downloaded to advertiser
computers 42 and run under the browser software in advertiser
computers 42. The Active X controls allow advertisers to coordinate the
building of JavaScript scripts) that will run when an advertisement 22 is
displayed. The Active X Controls allow advertisers to specify which
media files which are included in an advertisement, the timing and
positioning of each multimedia element, the number of frames in the
advertisement and the transitions between frames. The controls then
create an HTML page with embedded Javascript scripts. The scripts
preferably cause Microsoft Direct Animation to play the selected
multimedia elements at the selected times and locations. The page can
then be displayed on any web browser that supports Microsoft Direct
Animation.
Software 46 preferably includes a conventional online
"help" function, a library of advertisement templates which advertisers
can customize by adding their own text and media files. Most preferably
software 46 includes a "wizard" function which leads advertisers
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through the process of creating an advertisement. Such functions are
known to those skilled in the art. For example MicrosoftTM Publisher
includes functions which lead users through steps in the creation of
various kinds of printed publication. Many word processing programs
S include similar functions.
Production web server 40 provides advertiser interfaces to
software 46 by dynamically generating web pages which can be
displayed by web browser software 43 on advertiser computers 42.
After advertisers have created advertisements 22, which are to their
liking, then the advertisers can save advertisements 22 in a database 50
which is accessible to computer 48. Database 50 may comprise, for
example, MicrosoftT~' SQL Server software running on a suitable
computer.
Computer 48 preferably saves each advertisement 22 as a
single file in a compressed format, such as an MPEG format. Currently
preferred embodiments of system 10 support MPEG I, II and IV
formats. The MPEG format is known to those skilled in the art and is
promulgated by a group within the International Standards Organization
having the official name: ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC29 WG 11. MPEG encoders
are commercially available from a number of vendors. An advertiser
may elect to associate advertisements with one another in a desired
sequence so that the collection of associated advertisements can be
displayed in sequence as a "show" .
After an advertiser has saved one or more advertisements
22 in database 50 then the advertiser may elect to schedule the display
of individual advertisements or shows on the available display units 12.
Software 46 preferably permits the advertiser to schedule specific
advertisements 22 for display on specific display units 12 at specific
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times; to schedule specific advertisements 22 to be displayed on specific
display units 12 at repeating times, such as every day at certain time(s),
on specified weekdays at certain times, on specified days within a
certain range of hours, in prime time or in off hours, or the like; and to
schedule specific advertisements to be run on certain types of display
units 12 within selected geographical areas at certain times. Preferably
system 10 calculates and provides the user with a cost quite for
displaying the selected advertising in the selected locations before the
user finalizes the schedule for displaying a particular advertisement, or
group of advertisements.
Database 50 includes records for all display units 12
available on system 10. Software 46 preferably allows advertisers to
query database 50 to identify display units 12 on which they are
interested in displaying their advertisements. Preferably, display units
12 are associated in groups according to various characteristics. This
permits advertisers to select groups of display units 12 for the display of
advertising by querying database 50 without the need to individually
specify the display units 12 on which an advertisement should be
played. Some examples of groups are as follows:
~ Geographical groups by country - e.g. groups containing all
display units 12 in the United States, all display units 12 in
Canada, all display units 12 in China and so on;
~ Geographical groups by state, or province - e.g. groups
containing all display units 12 in Florida, all display units 12 in
Tuscany, and all display units 12 in Saskatchewan, and so on;
~ Geographical groups by region - e.g. groups containing all
display units 12 in the south east of the United States or all
display units 12 in Southern France, or all display units 12 in the
maritime regions of Canada;
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~ Geographical groups by city - e.g. groups containing all display
units 12 in New York City, all display units 12 in Tokyo, or all
display units 12 in Vancouver, Canada;
~ Groups by types of location - e.g. groups containing all display
units 12 in rural areas, all display units 12 in metropolitan areas,
all display units 12 in well-to-do neighbourhoods, all display units
12 in airports, all display units 12 in resort areas, all display units
12 in public transit system facilities, and so on;
~ Groups sorted by the capabilities of display units 12 - e.g. all
display units 12 having display screens larger than a certain size,
all display units 12 having full-motion displays, all display units
12 having static displays, all display units 12 having sound
capabilities, and so on.
Each record for a display unit 12 in database 50 preferably includes
information which identifies the groups) to which the display unit 12
belongs.
This permits advertisers unusual precision in targeting
advertising. For example, an advertiser might select the display units 12
for a specific series of advertisements by querying database 50 for all
display units 12 in European airports which have display screens larger
than 100 cm and sound capabilities. This also permits the operator of
system 10 to charge different advertising rates for different groups of
display units 12, as is discussed more fully below.
Database 50 also contains records of all future scheduled
advertisements. By querying database 50 an advertiser can determine
what time slots(s) are available for displaying advertisements 22 on the
display units 12 of interest. The advertiser can select from the available
time slots to schedule specific advertisements and/or shows for future
display.
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System 10 preferably has the capability of integrating
additional text or graphics 52 with an existing advertisement so that the
additional text or graphics 52 will be displayed superimposed on the
advertisement 22 when the advertisement 22 is displayed. Preferably
additional material 52 is associated both with an advertisement and with
one or more locations so that an advertiser can cause additional
materials 52 to be displayed only at selected locations. This provides a
number of advantages. For example:
~ where a single advertisement is prepared for use in several
countries and there is a separate distributor in each country then
the same advertisement 22 may be displayed on display units 12
in each of the countries while different additional text identifying
the national distributor would be added to the advertisement 22 in
each country;
~ where a time limited offer is being advertised then extra text
reading, for example, "ONLY 10 DAYS TO GO!" or "LAST
DAY IS TODAY" or "BRAND X ON SALE THIS LOCATION
ONLY FOR NEXT 30 MINUTES" could be added to the
advertisement in appropriate locations and at appropriate times.
~ where a single advertisement is prepared for use in several
countries the additional text may be presented in the national
language of each country.
Software 46 saves any additional text or graphics in separate files 52
and allows an advertiser to schedule an additional text or graphics file
52 to be uploaded to display controllers 16 and displayed at the same
time as an advertisement 22.
After an advertiser has selected both the display units) 12
and the time slots) for which an advertisement 22 will be displayed,
software 46 generates scheduling information 24, stores the scheduling
information in database 50 and provides the scheduling information 24
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to communications server 30. Communications server 30 retrieves the
advertisements 22 specified by the scheduling information 24 (together
with any additional text or graphics files 52) from database 50 and sends
the advertisements over network 32 to the applicable display units 12.
Communications server 30 may perform scheduled
communications of advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to
display units 12. The information may be transmitted, for example, once
daily, or hourly. The scheduled transmissions may be timed to take
advantage of lower communication rates. Communications server 30
may also communicate the advertisements and scheduling information to
a display unit 12 on request. Preferably, communications server 30
maintains a record of the advertisements 22 which are stored in local
storage 20B of each display unit 12 and only sends content that is
changed to display units 12. Preferably communications server 30 sends
to each display unit 12 only advertisements and scheduling information
which pertain to that display unit 12. This minimizes the consumption of
communication resources by system 10.
As each display unit 12 displays advertisements 22 the
display unit 22 preferably maintains a log 53 indicating what
advertisements 22 have actually been displayed and when the
advertisements 22 were displayed. Logs 53 should correspond exactly
with the advertisements scheduled for display on the display unit 12 in
database 50 unless there have been interruptions in communication
between communication server 30 and the display unit 12 or display unit
12 has had technical problems. Logs 53 are preferably sent by display
units 12 back to database server 50 (preferably by way of network 32
and production server 40). The log data may be delivered to database 50
using a suitable protocol such as Microsoft RDS.
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Preferably system 10 includes an "online mall" . An online
mall is typically a set of world wide web pages 56 accessible to
computer users which offer various goods and /or services for sale. E-
commerce software for implementing an online mall is commercially
available. The online mall preferably offers several types of goods and
services. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, one area of the
online mall permits advertisers or other users to access particulars of
display units available for displaying advertising. People who own
display units can advertise the features of their display units and their
locations in this area of the online mall. Advertisers can use the online
mall to select display units in distant locations. For example, an
advertiser from Seattle WA may wish to display an advertisement in
prominent locations in London England and Tampa FL. The advertiser
could select suitable display units 12 in those locations by reading
descriptions of the display units, the demographics of the population
viewing the display units and/or viewing images of the display units and
their locations in the online mall.
The online mall may also have an area where advertisers
can post their requirements for advertising locations and price. The
operators of display units 12 can respond if they are interested in
carrying the advertiser's advertisements 22. For example, an advertiser
might post a notice indicating that it has a 30 second advertisement
which it wants to be displayed every 15 minutes at displays in Antwerp
and Munich on certain dates. The owners of available display units 12
in those cities could contact the advertisers to negotiate arrangements
for their display units 12 to be used by the advertiser.
A third area of the online mall preferably features products
and services of interest to advertisers and the operators of display units
12. For example, the online mall could offer for sale large format
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displays, display controllers, and the like or advertise the availability of
locations where an operator of a display unit 12 could install and
operate a display unit.
A fourth area of the online mall may offer for sale the
goods and services of advertisers who use system 10 to place
advertisements. Data regarding sales made in at least the fourth area of
the online mall is preferably stored in database 50 so that it can be
correlated with ongoing advertising, as described below.
III. Efficacy Monitoring
System 10 permits the automatic monitoring of advertising
efficacy by allowing advertisers to place unique contact information 22D
in their advertisements. Preferably, unique contact information 22D
comprises the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for an Internet web
page. Most preferably, the URL is for a web page which is accessible to
web-enabled cellular telephones. Such cellular telephones can display
web pages written in WML (Wireless Markup Language), which is a
subset of XML (Extensible Markup Language). WML is a markup
language which is intended for use in specifying content and user
interface for small narrowband devices, including cellular phones and
pagers. Such devices typically have small displays, limited user input
facilities, narrowband network connections, and limited memory and
limited computational resources.
The URL identifies one of a collection 56 of web pages
hosted by production web server 40. Whenever one of web pages 56 is
accessed by a computer on the Internet (each access to a web page is
referred to as a "hit") server 40 records that the hit has occurred. By
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monitoring how many hits are generated by each advertisement 22 one
obtains a measure of the efficacy of the advertisement 22.
Web pages 56 may themselves contain information about
the product or service of the advertisement 22 with which they are
associated. In the alternative, or additionally, web pages 56 may link to
a web server 58 operated by the advertiser who placed the
corresponding advertisement 22. Where web pages 56 link to an
advertiser's web server 58 production server 40 may optionally include
conversion software which converts data from web server 58 into WML
format before forwarding the converted data to the party who generated
the web page hit. Production server 40 may track the number of users
who activate such links (such activation is called a "click through").
The operator of system 10 may charge advertisers for click throughs to
their web sites.
As noted above, web pages 56 preferably provide the
ability to purchase goods and services online. To this end, production
server 40 runs conventional e-commerce software which implements an
on-line mall and allows users to order and pay for goods and/or services
by credit card, or some other suitable online payment mechanism. E-
commerce software which provides this functionality is commercially
available and will therefore not be described here in detail. Where
system 10 includes e-commerce capability, data regarding online sales
made is preferably stored in database 50 so that it can be. correlated with
ongoing advertising.
Unique contact information 22D may also comprise a
telephone number. In this case, a computer is connected to the line
corresponding to the telephone number. When a user dials the telephone
number, the fact of the user's call is communicated to database 50. The
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computer may provide information to the user by, for example, playing
a voice message, or, if the user has called with a digitally enabled
telephone, delivering digital data for display on a display associated with
the telephone. The computer may also permit a user to place orders for
goods and/or services relating to the advertisement. This may be done,
for example, by asking the user to respond to voice prompts using a
telephone keypad, by providing voice recognition software and/or
hardware in the computer or the like. If a user places an order for goods
or services then this fact is communicated to database 50.
Where a display unit 12 includes a user input device 20H,
such as a touch screen, then persons may interact with display unit 12,
for example, by using input device 24H to request more information
about the subject matter of the currently playing advertisement 22, or by
placing an order for goods or services related to the advertisement 22.
Display unit 12 sends a record of such interactions to database 50.
Preferably user interaction with display unit 12 does not pre-empt all of
display 14. Preferably when a user is interacting with a display unit 12
display 14 is split so that an advertisement 22 can continue to be
displayed in the bulk of display 14 and a graphical interface for
interacting with the user is displayed in a window in a portion of display
14. In the alternative a separate small display is provided to display a
graphical interface for interacting with the user.
Database 50 may also receive directly from advertisers, or
from merchants who sell the advertisers' products, data regarding the
timing and volume of sales of the advertisers' products. For example,
an advertiser may sell products at point of sale ("POS") computer
systems 60. Data from the POS systems may flow to a sales database
62. Data regarding the timing and volume and location of the
advertisers' sales may be provided to database 50 directly from POS
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systems 60 as indicated by arrow 64 or from the advertiser's sales
database 62 as indicated by arrow 64A.
A database server 66 retrieves data from database 50 and
generates reports of interest to advertisers. For example, database
server may generate reports which indicate things such as:
~ What locations or types of location produce the greatest response
to a particular advertisement 22 as measured by the number of
hits generated by the advertisement 22 on a corresponding one of
web pages 56;
~ which of two or more advertisements 22 are more effective, as
measured by the number of hits generated by each of the
advertisements on its corresponding web page 56;
~ what times of day yield the greatest response for a particular
advertisement, as measured by the number of hits generated by
the advertisement 22 on a corresponding one of web pages 56;
~ what is the efficacy of a group of advertisements 22 displayed
individually at different time slots as compared to the efficacy of
the same group of advertisements displayed in sequence as a
show;
~ for a particular advertisement or group of advertisements, what is
the cost for obtaining each hit on a corresponding web page 56;
~ the number of e-commerce sales generated for each advertisement
and the advertising cost per sale;
~ the percentage of advertisements which were actually delivered on
schedule in the designated location(s); and,
~ how fluctuations in sales of the advertiser's products (as provided
by the advertiser) correlate with advertising delivered by way of
system 10 either globally or in particular geographical regions.
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The reports can be delivered to advertiser computers 42 by way of
production server 40. The reports may be generated using standard
report generating tools operating on the data in database 50.
IV . Billing
System 10 comprises a billing server 54. Billing server 54
queries database 50 to identify the uses made of system 10 by each
advertiser. Billing server 54 generates reports for each advertiser which
summarize what advertisements 22 have been displayed for the
advertiser, the frequency at which the advertisements were displayed
and the length of time for which the advertisements were displayed.
Billing server 54 also calculates the amount owing for those
advertisements 22 and generates invoices. Most preferably, billing
calculations are made on the basis of information from logs 53. The
invoices may be automatically delivered to the computers 42 of
advertisers by means of Internet e-mail, printed and mailed, or delivered
in some other fashion.
Preferably billing server 54 can associate a number of
advertising projects with a single advertiser. Billing server 54 can bill
the advertiser for all of the advertising projects while separately
itemizing the cost for each of the projects. A project may include
displaying one or more advertisements one or more times in one or
more locations .
Because database 50 includes detailed information about
where and when each advertisement 22 is displayed, system 10 may be
configured to bill for displaying advertisements 22 in any of a wide
variety of ways. Each display unit 12 may have its own set of rates.
Each zone may have its own set of rates. Display units 12 in prime
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locations can be charged for at higher rates than display units 12 in less
desirable locations. Rates may vary with the time of day. For example,
a specific display unit may have a standard rate for displaying an
advertisement 22. Rates may be higher than the standard rate at certain
prime times. Rates may be discounted from the standard rate at other
rimes.
Rates may differ depending upon whether the advertiser
insists on having its advertisements displayed at specific times or
whether the advertiser is willing to have its advertisements displayed in
a time window at specific times selected by the operators of system 10.
Rates may also be made to vary depending upon measured advertising
efficacy. In this regard, if system 10 tracks sales of the advertisers'
goods or services then rates may be based upon the amount of goods or
services sold by way of system 10. Rates may also be based upon a
correlation between the advertisers' advertising and the advertisers'
local or regional sales data.
Group rates may be charged for advertising on multiple
display units 12 in a particular group. Packages including a certain
number of advertisement placements in certain regions may be provided
as well. This flexibility permits the operator of system 10 to maximize
the return achievable by operating system 10.
Billing server 54 also tracks the advertisements directed to
any display units 12 which are not owned by the operators of system 10.
Billing server 54 can query database 50 for statistics regarding the use
made of such display units 12 and can compute amounts payable to the
owners of the display units 12 according to a suitable formula. The
formula may be based, for example, on the aggregate time in which
advertisements 22 were displayed by the display unit 12 during the
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relevant period, the number of advertisements 22 delivered by the
display unit 12 or on other factors. Billing server 54 can also calculate
any amounts owing from operators of display units 12 for the use of the
software used in display controllers 16 and/or fees for being included in
system 10.
Some or all of the "data mining" and efficacy monitoring
reports may be offered to advertisers as optional value added services,
in which case billing server 54 can include any amounts for such
services in invoices to advertisers.
V . Testing
Because system 10 operates by sending advertising content
to Internet connected computers, system 10 does not distinguish between
a display unit 12 and any other computer with which communications
server 30 can communicate. For testing, demonstration and/or
verification purposes, communications server 30 may be set to deliver
advertisements 22 and scheduling information 24 to any computer that
has a network address and the software necessary for receiving and
displaying advertisements 22. The advertisements 22 can then be
displayed on the computer's display. Preferably suitable software for
use in displaying advertisements 22 is available for download via
production server 40.
The ability of system 10 to easily direct advertisements to a
specific Internet-connected computer makes it possible for advertisers to
experiment with system 10 without actually displaying advertising or
incurring the costs associated therewith.
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VI. Advantages
It can be appreciated that the system 10 described above
has a number of significant advantages including the following:
~ Advertisers need only have computers 42 equipped with a web
browser and an Internet connection. Most advertisers will have
such computers already. The advertisers do not need to have
special software, hardware or extensive training.
~ The system can automatically take measures of the efficacy of
advertisements that have been displayed. This allows advertisers
to confirm on an ongoing basis that their advertising is effective,
to take immediate steps to correct the situation if the advertising is
not effective, and to continuously optimize their advertising for
maximum efficacy.
~ The system permits advertisers to target their advertising at
specific potential customers much more finely than previous
practical systems.
~ The system permits its operator to maximize the value of its
services.
~ Display units 12 can be locally owned and operated. Once a
display 14 and suitable controller 16 have been set up at a
location then the owner can provide the network address (or
satellite link address) of controller 16 to the operator of system
10. The operator of system 10 can then make the display unit 12
available to advertisers for displaying advertisements.
~ A display unit 12 can be easily set up anywhere in the world that
an Internet connection is available. Where system 10 uses the
Internet to send data to and receive data from display units 12 the
costs of maintaining a separate communication network are
completely avoided.
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~ The display units are controlled and monitored remotely by
communication server 30 to ensure uptime. Communication
server 30 can also remotely update computer software in display
units 12.
~ The display units are not necessarily located at locations where a
cabled communication infrastructure is available.
~ The system can provide advertisers with the ability to go to
market with a display advertising campaign very quickly. The
lead time taken to prepare and distribute printed materials for a
wide scale advertising campaign is eliminated.
~ The system provides feedback regarding the effect of advertising
on sales at one or more points of sale, online sales and/or user
responses using unique contact information. The feedback can be
used to optimize an advertising campaign.
~ The operator of system 10 can derive a number of revenue
streams from use of system 10 including revenue from advertisers
for using system 10, revenue from owners of display units for
access to advertising from system 10 and use of software, revenue
from advertisers for feedback reports and other data mining in
database 50, commissions from on-line sales, and click-through
fees charged to advertisers when computer users link to the
advertisers' web sites from a web page on system 10.
VII. Example
An example of a possible use of system 10 is illustrated in
Figures SA and SB. An advertising agency 100 recommends to an
advertiser 102 that a particular series of advertisements be delivered via
system 10. The advertiser arranges for an advertising author 104, who
is authorized to access system 10, to prepare a series of advertisements
22. Author 104 might be an employee of the advertising agency or an
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employee of the advertiser. Author 104 logs into system 10. The author
can log onto an advertising creation and management module to create
and manage advertisements (Step 108), a billing module to pay for
advertisements and to monitor the ongoing costs of various advertising
programmes (Step 110), or a data analysis module to obtain reports
regarding the efficacy of various advertisements and advertising
programs (Step 112) .
In this example, author 104 logs into the advertising
creation and management module 108. If advertising for the project in
question exists (as determined at 113) then the author is directed to a
media management function in which the author can select a previously
authored advertisement 22 to edit or elect to start a completely new
advertisement 22 (Step 114). After the author has selected an existing
advertisement to edit or opted to begin work on a new advertisement, or
if no advertisements for the project exist, then the author is delivered to
the advertisement creation function (Step 116) . At Step 116 author 104
authors one or more advertisements 22 using software 46 (or edits
advertisements selected in Step 114) and stores the advertisements.
After an advertisement 22 has been created then the author
previews the advertisement as indicated by 122. If the previewed
advertisement is acceptable to the author at 125 then the advertisement
is finalized and saved (Step 124). Otherwise the author is returned to
advertisement creation function 116 to continue work on the
advertisement as indicated by arrow 126.
After an advertisement 22 has been finalized then the
author associates the advertisement with other advertisements to make a
show by invoking a show creation function (Step 128).
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After the advertisements 22 have been created, an approver
who may be, for example a member of the management of the
advertiser, logs into system 10 to view and approve the advertisements
22 created by author 104 at Step 130. If the advertisements are
approved at 132 then the advertisements can be scheduled for display. If
the advertisements are not approved then the advertisements are further
edited in Step 116.
The advertisements 22 are then be scheduled for display at
Step 133. The proposed schedule can be viewed in a calendar format at
Step 134. A final check of the proposed advertisements and the schedule
for their playback can then be done at Step 136. If the advertisements 22
and schedule 24 are acceptable (Step 138) then they are communicated
to the communication server 30 to be distributed to display units 12. If a
reviewer indicates in Step 138 that the advertisements 22 and schedule
24 need further work then the process loops back to advertising creation
and editing function 116.
Communication server 30 determines whether each of the
selected display units 12 is accessible via a wired network, which may
include the Internet, or is accessible via a satellite connection or a
wireless connection. At Step 140 advertisements and scheduling
information are sent over the network to network-connected display
units 12. At Step 142 advertisements and scheduling information are
sent over one or more satellite links to satellite-connected display units
12. At Step 143 advertisements and scheduling information are sent
over one or more wireless links to wireless-connected display units 12.
Display units 12 then display the advertisements at Step 144.
At Step 146 a person who sees an advertisement 22 being
displayed connects by way of the Internet to a web page 56 associated
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with that advertisement on a web site associated with system 10. This
connection may be made, for example, from a web-enabled cellular
telephone. System 10 logs each hit on the web site in database 50 (as
indicated at 150). If the person wishes to obtain further information
about the goods then the person selects a link to the advertisers Internet
home page (at 152). Activation of the link is also logged in database 50
(at 154). If the advertiser's web page is not formatted in a way which is
conducive to viewing on a cellular telephone display then system 10
automatically converts the web page to a WML format (Step 154A).
The person places an order for the advertised goods and
services on-line (at 160). System 10 receives payment for the goods,
including a commission. The on-line sale is also logged in database 50
(at 162). System 10 automatically generates and transmits and order to
the supplier of the advertised goods at 164. The supplier ships the goods
at 166. System 10 pays the supplier for the goods at 168.
System 10 generates reports which provide information
regarding the efficacy of advertising at 170. The reports are delivered to
the advertiser at 172. The advertiser modifies its advertising in response
to information in the reports at 174.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of
the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are
possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the
spirit or scope thereof. For example, while the above description
separately describes a number of servers, the functions of two or more
of the servers could be combined in one physical device or the functions
of one or more of the servers could be distributed among several
physical devices. Similarly the term "database" in this specification
means a memory or other storage location into which information can
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be stored and later retrieved by a host computer system in an organized
manner. It is generally preferable to implement the databases of system
with the use of commercially available database software such as
ORACLETM or Microsoft SQL Server T~'. The databases of system 10
5 may each comprise a single integrated database or may comprise a
number of separate databases. Accordingly, the scope of the invention
is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the
following claims.
