Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TARGETED ADVERTISING
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
100011 The present invention relates generally to the field of
telecommunications and has
particular utility in providing targeted advertising to users in a
telecommunication system.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0002] Telecommunication services are continually becoming integrated with
networks
such as the Internet and users who subscribe to such services often expect to
obtain access to
the service at little or no cost. In order to cover some or all of the cost
for providing a service
such as access to the Internet, service providers are known to provide
advertising along with
the service, whereby revenue generated from the advertising can offset or even
completely
cover the cost of providing the service.
[0003] It is often difficult to determine which advertisers and advertisements
are most
suitable for complementing the service. For example, advertisements that are
suitable for
older audiences may not have the same effect on a young consumer if the
content of the
advertisement is not relevant to consumers of that age. Advertisers may become
reluctant to
advertise through an Internet service if they believe that the content is not
being noticed
and/or is not being directed to the intended audience.
[0004] It is therefore an object of the following to obviate or mitigate the
above
disadvantages.
SUMMARY
[0005] In one aspect, there is provided a method for providing advertising to
a user in a
telecommunication system. The method comprises obtaining information related
to the user;
assigning one or more identifier to the user based on the nature of the
information;
identifying an advertisement applicable to the user based on at least one of
the one or more
identifier; and providing the advertisement to the user using the
telecommunication system.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example
only
with reference to the appended drawings wherein:
[0007] Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a telecommunication system;
[0008] Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a graphical user interface
(GUI) for
connecting to the telecommunication system of Figure 1;
[0009] Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating steps for providing an
advertisement to a user
of Figure 1 in one embodiment;
[0010] Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating steps for creating a user
profile;
[0011] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating steps for determining a suitable
advertisement;
and
[0012] Figure 6 is a schematic representation of a user profile.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
100131 Referring therefore to Figure 1, a first user (hereinafter "User A")
utilizing a first
personal computer (PC) 18 communicates with a second user (hereinafter "User
B") utilizing
a second PC 20 over a network 14. Typically, User A and User B are located in
different
geographical areas served by the network 14. It will be appreciated that the
functions
performed by the PCs 18, 20 can also be accomplished using any suitable
device, such as an
Analog Telephony Adaptor (ATA) device used with a telephone, whereby a phone
display is
capable to displaying text or video to a user.
[0014] User A connects to the network 14 through PC 18 using a connection 22
and User
B connects to the network through PC 20 using a connection 24. The connections
22 and 24
may be provided by any suitable means for connecting to the infrastructure
used by the
network 14, e.g. any wireless or hard-wired link between the users and the
infrastructure.
[0015] User A and User B utilize one or more services provided by a
telecommunication
system 16 such as Internet access, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP),
television services
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etc. In the present example, the telecommunication system 16 is an Internet
Service Provider
(ISP) that provides Internet-based services to User A and User B, in
particular a VoIP
telephone service.
[0016] The system 16 comprises a server 26 for hosting Internet-based services
provided
using the network 14, in particular, the server 26 is used to monitor and
control access to the
services, e.g., billing, registration etc. The system 16 also comprises a
telecommunications
administrator 28 for controlling the distribution of the Internet-based
services. The system 16
also comprises an advertising system 30 for providing targeted advertising
content to the
users of the telecommunication system 16. The advertising system 30 utilizes a
user database
32 for storing user profiles for each user registered with the
telecommunication system 16, an
advertisement database 34 for storing advertising content to be provided to
the users, and a
market database 36 for storing market data that is used for correlating
information related to a
user to suitable advertisement content, an example of which is explained in
greater detail
below.
[0017] User A and User B interact with PCs 18 and 20 using a graphical user
interface
(GUI) 50 shown in Figure 2. The GUI 50 is provided by an operating system
residing on PC
18 or 20 and is used to execute and interact with various software programs.
In Figure 2, a
VoIP application program interface (API) 52 is provided by the GUI 50 for
connecting, e.g.,
User A, to a VoIP service provided by the telecommunication system 16. The API
52
comprises a connection option 54 for connecting the user to the
telecommunication system 16
through the network 14, and an advertisement portion 56 that is dedicated to
displaying
advertising content to User A. It will be appreciated that the API 52 is
typically proprietary
software distributed by the telecommunication system 16 and uses conventional
means for
providing a gateway to the Internet-based service.
[0018] User A is capable of communicating with User B over the network 14
using the
VoIP service provided by the telecommunication system 16. In this example, the
administrator 28 provides the VoIP service to User A at a considerable
discount, e.g. free, in
exchange for the opportunity to compile information related to User A that can
be used to
generate one or more identifier that indicates User A's relevance to a
particular category, that
is in turn used by the advertising system 30 to provide a targeted
advertisement to User A
within the advertisement portion 56.
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100191 Referring now to Figure 3, in general, the advertising system 30
obtains data
pertaining to the users at step 100, creates a user profile for each user that
is registered with
the system 30 at step 200, determines suitable advertising content for the
particular user at
step 300, and provides a targeted advertisement to the user at step 400.
[0020] The data pertaining to the users, e.g. User A, may be obtained in step
100 using
various means. For example, User A agrees to provide personal data upon
registering with
the telecommunication system 16 for VoIP service. Preferably, User A is
requested to
provide information such as name, language, ethnic background, gender,
interests,
occupation, marital status, geographical information, educational background
etc, in
exchange for a discounted rate for using the VoIP service or for free. User A
also agrees to
allow the advertising system 30 to analyze information related to them for
providing targeted
advertising in order to cover the cost associated with offering the discounted
rate.
[0021] In addition to, or instead of, requiring User A to enter such personal
information,
the advertising system 30 may also, with the appropriate permission, acquire
data and build a
personal profile based on conversations between User A and a called number,
e.g. that for
User B. For example, the advertising system 30 records details of the VoIP
communication
and later analyzes the content of the communication to extract useful
information related to
User A. In such a scenario, the advertising system 30 utilizes predetermined
criteria to make
its own determination regarding a user's interests and, using voice
recognition software, may
also determine the gender and likely age category for User A without
inconveniencing them
with the task of entering the data.
[0022] In yet another alternative, the advertising system 30 may also utilize
information
that was used to register for the VoIP service and/or to register the API
software 52 when the
service is installed. It will be appreciated that any means may be used to
acquire the
necessary information regarding User A, the choice of which typically depends
on the type of
service being provided and the relationship between the customer and the
administrator 28.
[0023] The data pertaining to each user is preferably acquired prior to using
the service,
however, the data may also be gathered in real-time, preferably while the user
first uses the
service in order to build and update a user profile for later use.
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100241 A exemplary user profile 60 is shown pictorially in Figure 6. The
profile 60
comprises a name indicator 62 and personal information 64 regarding the user,
as well as a
profile 66 that includes identifiers for the user, such as a score 70 for each
of a number of
market categories 68 stored in the market database 36. Each profile 60 is
preferably stored as
a database entry in the user database 32. The profile 60 also contains a
history log 72 for
tracking the activity of the particular user. The history 72 may also be used
to further
distinguish certain advertising content from others.
100251 An exemplary set of steps for building a user profile 60 is shown in
Figure 4. It
will be appreciated that the following describes one example and is used for
illustrative
purposes only.
[0026] In addition to obtaining information regarding users (i.e. step 100),
the advertising
system 30, in conjunction with the server 26 and/or administrator 28, also
identifies the
particular user when they attempt to use the service. For example, the
originating telephone
number or Internet Protocol (IP) address is used to identify a particular
entity and/or location
such as a household or place of business and voice recognition software is
used to identify a
particular user at that location. In the present example, User A first
attempts to register for
free VoIP service by loading and running the API 52. When User A attempts to
connect
using the connect option 54, the API 52 runs a registration module (not shown)
to acquire
data from User A. Preferably User A provides their name 62 and some personal
information
64 at step 202 that can be used to identify them as User A in subsequent
connections. This
may include having an auditory sample recorded for voice recognition.
Alternatively, the
API 52 allows User A to connect for a certain period of time that is
sufficient to allow the
advertising system 30 to gather enough data to generate a profile 60.
[0027] The first connection attempt by User A will also preferably require
that User A
agree to having their communications analyzed in exchange for the VoIP
service. At step
204, the advertising system 30, using the API 52 running on the PC 18,
determines if User A
has a profile 60. This can be performed using a message sent from the API 52
to the
advertising system 30 when the connection option 54 is first used, or can be
performed by the
advertising system 30 cross-referencing an IP address or telephone number with
a user name
62. If a profile 60 for User A does not exist (e.g. at registration time) then
an empty user
profile 60 is created at step 206. At this time any information that is
available to the
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advertising system 30 can be added to the profile 60. If a profile 60 does
exist then the
advertising software 30 bypasses step 206 and initiates a VoIP connection for
User A.
100281 User A then uses the API 52 to make a call to User B. It will be
appreciated that
User B does not need to subscribe to a VoIP service to receive a call.
Preferably, the
advertising system 30 will, in addition to using information 64 provided by
User A, monitor
the call made by User A, and a portion of the conversation, in order to
determine the nature of
the call. User B may be associated with a particular commercial sector, e.g. a
car dealership
and thus this information can be used by the advertising system 30 to
determine whether or
not User A is likely to be interested in servicing, buying or leasing a car.
Therefore, the
advertising system 30 also preferably records the beginning of the
conversation and using
voice recognition software extracts keywords from the conversation in order to
narrow the
number of relevant categories 68 at step 208. For example, User A calls User B
and asks if
their car can be dropped off for service. If the keywords "car" and "service"
can be
distinguished from the conversation using the voice recognition software they
can be
correlated to categories 68 such as "car servicing", "car leasing" or "car
buying" that are
stored in the market database 36.
100291 Based on this information, a score 70 can be calculated at step 212
saved in the
user profile for the category "vehicle" at step 214. The score reflects how
relevant an
advertisement is likely to be to the user and how relevant it may be at that
time. The user
profile 60 and market data that is collected is used to calculate the score
70. In addition, the
words and patterns of words detected during the telephone conversation are
also considered.
The score 70 can be calculated based on various methods that utilize pattern
recognition, in
order to correlate the user to one or more particular market category 68.
Pattern recognition
algorithms that are capable of teaching the advertising system 30 how to
calculate the score
70 can also be used. The algorithm used to calculate the score 70 can be as
simple as
counting the number of times particular keywords are detected, or can be as
sophisticated as
such a pattern recognition algorithm with learning capabilities. It will be
noted that any
suitable algorithm can be used and that the choice of which algorithm is
implemented is
dependent on the nature of the application and the desired accuracy for the
results.
100301 The value indicated by the score 70 enables the advertising system 30
to
determine the likelihood that User A would be interested in advertisements
related to that
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category 68. Typically the score 70 from each category 68 is used to assemble
a
advertisement queue from the highest score to the lowest score (excluding
zeros).
[0031] In this example, a commercial or advertisement related to a vehicle
would be
given a relatively high score. The advertising system 30 would also gather
other data
pertaining to User A, based on other conversations and/or their existing
profile 60. For
example the age and occupation of User A could be used to determine a
particular model of
car in a particular price range. A score 70 for each category 68 is calculated
(default zero) in
step 212 and the user profile 60 for User A updated accordingly at step 214.
[0032] Referring now to Figure 5, step 300 of Figure 3 is described in greater
detail.
User A first connects to the telecommunication system 16 at step 302 to make a
phone call
using the API 52. Preferably, the steps outlined in Figure 4 have been
completed such that a
user profile 60 already exists. User A then calls User B to inquire regarding
a vehicle they
have dropped off for service. At step 304, User A is identified by the
advertising system 30
based on their IP address and preferably the dialled number for User B is
analyzed at step
306. The dialled number is used to narrow andlor re-prioritize the advertising
content. The
advertising system 30 can use a reverse look-up to determine the place of
business. If this
cannot be determined, e.g. a private number is used, then this data may be
ignored.
[0033] At step 308, the advertising system 30 analyzes the profile 60 for User
A and
determines a number of potential commercials and banner advertisements that
could be
provided to User A at step 310 based on any non-zero score 70 given to a
respective category
68. Preferably, the dialled number is used to narrow the choices to vehicle-
related
advertisements, which are given priority and then ranked in order based on
score 70, to
develop an advertising queue at step 312. The advertisements are then
presented in order of
priority using the advertisement portion 56 at step 400 (shown in both Figure
5 and Figure 3)
during a period of time that User A is making use of the telecommunication
system 16.
[0034] The advertisements can be presented to User A during a call, just
before a call, as
the call is being initiated, or at the end of the call. The advertising system
30 may also store a
list of competitors for particular dialled numbers and upon User A dialing
such numbers,
prioritize advertisements related to the competitors. In such cases, the
advertising system 30
can establish a relationship with certain advertisers in order to provide
varying levels of
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service for varying remuneration. Similarly, coupons or other "deals" can be
presented based
on the nature of the agreement with the particular advertiser. Typically, the
advertisements
comprise one or more of an image, video and audio file that can be presented
within the API
52 or another portion of the GUI 50. The advertisement can also be displayed
or played as
part of a streaming audio or video on the devices. In that case the
advertisements would be
inserted at places where it is indicated to be inserted. If the device is used
by several users,
the profile of the most used user or the category of the household would be
used to determine
what ad to play.
[0035] The advertisement/special messages could also be recorded in the
advertisement
server remotely through a PC/Phone or any other devices that can be used for
communication
and the category the message should be targeted can be entered by the recorder
or the system
would identify the category by recognizing the recorder by getting the user to
enter a
password to enter into the advertisement server to record the message. The
advertisement
server could also be programmed by the advertiser through PC, phone and other
devices the
preference on when the message should be broadcasted (real time, as soon as
possible,
between such and such time, whenever user use the phone).
[0036] The administrator will also have the flexibility to put the formula for
selecting the
advertisers based on the user or household. For example, he can set that for
certain users (by
any indicator) certain advertiser or person leaving special message will have
preference over
all the other advertisers in terms of priority.
[0037] The user itself can also indicate the priority in terms of
advertisement or special
messages that he/she likes to get on his/her devices. The user will also have
the flexibility to
choose what music he likes to listen to on the streaming and what messages or
advertisement
will have what kind of priority (during certain time, when available or at
request by dialing a
number in the device). The user can rewind, forward or skip the streaming
audio or
advertisement by pressing a number on the phone.
[0038] All the advertisers' phone numbers would also be stored in the system,
so that
whenever a user calls those numbers, it would be recorded as to how many times
it was
called, whether it was connected and how long the call lasted. This can also
be used to
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charge advertisers on per call basis. The users calls to identified
competitors number would
also be recorded for market analysis.
100391 Preferably, after each advertisement is presented, the advertising
system 30 then
determines if User A is still connected at step 314 and if not, the
application ends at step 316.
If User A is still connected then the next advertisement in the queue can be
presented.
Preferably, the advertising system 30 will accept additional user information
entered by User
A using the API 52 and/or continuously monitors the content of the
conversation between
User A and User B and other dialled numbers and update the profile
accordingly. In this case
the advertising system 30 re-evaluates the priorities for each targeted
advertisement and
adapts to changes in the user profile in real time.
100401 For example, User A completes a call with User B and then dials another
number
associated with another user (not shown). If this other user is not also
associated with a
vehicle then the priority given to vehicle-related categories is removed and
the categories re-
evaluated. The conversation with the other user may relate to a different
category-type such
as real estate, in which case the vehicle-type categories are no longer of
priority but financial,
mortgage and other real estate categories are of priority.
100411 Therefore it is seen that the advertising system 30 can continuously
refine and
develop the user profile 60 based on both historical data 72 and current data
in order to
provide the best possible match between user and advertising content.
[0042] In another embodiment, the service provided by the telecommunications
system
16 is a standard Internet connection to the world wide web, in which case,
website addresses
are used similar to the dialled numbers discussed above to further narrow the
advertisement
choices.
[0043] It will be appreciated that the above principles can be applied to
other
telecommunications systems 16 such as those for mobile phones, conventional
telephone
lines, and mobile email devices, whereby advertising content is displayed on a
display screen
provided by the device. Therefore, any communication system that can display
information
in one or more of an audio, a video and a textual format can be linked with
the advertising
system 30 to target advertising to a particular demographic.
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[0044] The user can connect to the system by dialing a given phone number
through any
devices including cell phone, home phone or VOIP phone that works on Wi-Fl or
WI Max.
The user can also connect to the system any other ways including using a
Callerid Call-back
method as described in Canadian Patent application No. 2,464,815. Once the
user is
connected to the system, he can use any services provided by the system
including listening
to a streaming radio, discounted or free local and long distance calls, Voice
Smiley as
described in Canadian Patent Application No.2,474,083 and others. The services
might be
provided free or at a discounted rate in return for allowing commercials. The
commercials
can be an audio file that is played before, during or after the service is
used. The commercial
can be video or text that is sent to the display of the phone, cell phone or
communication
devices that is used to access the service.
[0045] Although the invention has been described with reference to certain
specific
embodiments, various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled
in the art
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in
the claims
appended hereto.
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