Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYNTHESIZING MESSAGING USING CONTEXT PROVIDED BY CONSUMERS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to synthesized messaging and real-time consumer
contextual
information. The present invention more specifically relates to synthesizing
messaging to
automate advertising processes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Online advertising has seen phenomenal growth over the last few years, growing
hand-in-hand
with the expansion of the Internet. It has evolved from randomly displayed,
passive
advertisements to advertisements targeted to specific individuals based on
their demographic and
psychographic profile. Examples of such technologies are given by US Patent
No. 7062466, US
Patent No. 7007074 and US Patent Applications 20050216335, 20070038500,
20080243480,
20080228568 and 20090070219. What all these approaches to advertising hold in
common is
establishing the appropriate context for the advertisement. This context is
established by
matching a specific individual or consumer group with the media or content
that provides the
context for the advertisement. Broadly, contextualizing is known as relevance
matching. It is
apparent that online advertising is struggling to resolve the problem of
matching the message of
the advertisement with the context of media placements such as web pages.
Relevance matching, however, is only one small portion of a much larger
advertising process.
The typical advertising process is complex and time-intensive. As a result, it
excludes many
small businesses and individuals who lack the professional expertise. Some of
the essential
elements of the typical advertising process comprise:
= recognizing an audience by identifying prospects of unmet needs and
evaluating the
environment within which the audience exists;
= evaluating and identifying market segments;
= developing a strategy to target audiences by positioning and developing
messaging as
well as choosing appropriate media placement and buys;
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= developing and managing an advertisement campaign;
= developing and executing sales-related feedback;
= performing analysis on sales-related data; and
= making necessary corrections to the whole process in light of campaign
performance.
This cumbersome situation has only become more complex with the advent of
online advertising
and the evolution to context-generated advertisements. These approaches
represent technical
improvements, but are still rooted within the conventional process; the
advertiser must still
perform the demanding tasks of market analysis, segmentation, messaging, and
campaign
management. Other companies are already using keywords and semantic technology
to improve
the matching of existing advertiser-created messages with target segments, but
the segmentation
must be determined in advance by the advertiser. Analyzing a web page for its
meaning allows
them to better determine whether to target it with a given message, but the
targeting is based on
many difficult and expensive decisions on the part of the advertiser. Again,
these examples
represent technical improvements within the existing conventional process for
advertising.
There is presently no technique directed to the over-riding process for
advertising, to enable the
discovery of the optimal market segmentation and messaging for promoted
content; to identify
and generate relevant relationships and messaging between an advertiser's
content and an
individual consumer that can be beneficially utilized by a consumer in
response to a consumer
action.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a computer network implementable method for
synthesizing
messaging from a domain of information, using a consumer-generated context,
the method
characterized by: (a) obtaining or receiving content from the domain of
information; (b)
receiving a consumer-generated context; and (c) synthesizing, or facilitating
a synthesis, by one
or more computer processors, messaging based on the said content and the
consumer-generated
context, wherein the messaging is traceable to at least one promoter.
Nit
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The present invention also provides a computer system for synthesizing
messaging from a
domain of information, using a consumer-generated context over a computer
network linked to a
plurality of computing devices, the system characterized by: (a) a first set
of computing devices,
and a second set of computing devices for receiving or obtaining content from
the domain of
information from the first set of computing devices; (b) a third set of
computing devices for
obtaining, receiving or generating a consumer-generated context and providing
the consumer-
generated context to the second set of computing devices; and (c) a
synthesizing means linked to
the second set of computing devices for synthesizing messaging based on the
said content and
the consumer-generated context, wherein the messaging is traceable to the at
least one promoter.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in
detail, it is to be
understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details
of construction and to
the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or
illustrated in the
drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced
and carried out
in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and
terminology employed
herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as
limiting.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates relevance matching between promoters' messaging and media
placements.
FIG. 2 illustrates a comparison between a prior art approach and the present
invention where the
present invention makes a promoter's content available through dispersed
concepts.
FIG. 3 illustrates bypassing of the process where a promoted message is
matched to media
placement.
FIG. 4 illustrates a process where promoted content is a processed integral
output.
FIG. 5 illustrates an analysis stage where a message is grouped with non-
promoted content as
part of the concept definition generated by various algorithms.
FIG. 6 illustrates a synthesis stage where a consumer-related input initiates
semantic synthesis.
FIG. 7 illustrates a semantically synthesized web page.
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FIG. 8 illustrates a networked implementation in accordance with the present
invention, in one
aspect thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Definitions
The following words, when used in the present specification, have the
following meanings:
"concepts" means content constituting abstract thoughts, ideas,
conceptualizations, and
semantics that may or may not be associated with other content;
"consumer" includes any entity to whom synthesized messaging created in
accordance with the
present invention is directed; it may be a person, a collection of people, or
in other system
integration scenarios a consumer may be a machine-based consumer of the
information in
support of further processing;
"content" includes any data or media content including raw data, information,
text, documents,
images, or multimedia, more complex content such as web pages or websites,
documents,
advertisements, market analytics, etc. "content" includes information that
describes other
content, such as semantic data, metadata, and information that describes
abstract "concepts";
"domain" means a source of content that is made available to the present
invention;
"domain administrator" includes any entity that makes available to the present
invention one or
more domains; domain administrators may be "promoters" but may also be service
operators of
the present invention, or non-affiliated individuals or organizations within
the broader value
chain (such as public website operators);
"media representation" provides the container for the promoted message or
messaging, which
may take different forms across different media, such as text, audio, video,
etc., so that the same
message or messaging may be represented in different forms to suit the media;
"message" or "messaging" includes the synthesized content created in
accordance with the
present invention and directed to a consumer;
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"non-promoted content" has the meaning provided in the Overview, below;
"promoted content" has the meaning provided in the Overview, below;
"promoter" includes an entity that wishes to benefit from the present
invention by directing
messaging, whether for promoting specific content, seeding concepts or
content, or influencing a
consumer to read or view content, think about ideas, take an action (such as
visit a website), etc.;
and
"seed" or "seeding" includes directing "concepts" or other high level content
to consumers in
order to identify reaction of consumers with such concepts or other high level
content in order to
gather information regarding consumers, such as their interests, requirements,
intentions, or
otherwise.
Overview
The present invention provides a computer system, computer implemented method,
and
computer program, to create messaging based on, or informed by, one or more
domains of
content and to direct a consumer of the domain to, or present to a consumer of
the domain,
messaging comprising relevant content from one or more domains. Content can be
utilized for a
wide range of purposes as outlined below, whether for a specific commercial
purpose such as
generating messaging such as advertising, or influencing the creation of new
content by
presenting ideas from a domain that embody "looser" associations to encourage
lateral thinking
by the consumers. The created messaging provides advertising process
automation.
In accordance with the present invention, the domain may be semantically
analyzed, and a means
of semantic synthesis may be used for generating or creating a semantic
network to represent the
domain. The semantic network may be a thought network, in accordance with that
disclosed in
PCT/CA2009/000567, however, it should be understood that other means for
generating or
creating a semantic network may be used.
In order to aid in the understanding of the invention the operation of the
invention is explained
from the perspective of the varying purposes of interacting with the present
invention, and the
different processes for creating and displaying messaging that are enabled by
the functionality of
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the present invention. The present invention includes interaction between a
promoter and the
functionality of the present invention, wherein the promoter directs messaging
created by the
present invention to a consumer such that the
messaging may be based on (i) promoted
content; (ii) promoted content and additionally non-promoted content; or (iii)
non-promoted
content.
By operation of the invention, a promoter is able to direct a consumer to
messaging comprising
the content from the domain by seeding "concepts" or other content in the
domain (a specific
example of "seeding" is provided below under the heading "Providing a Domain
of Information
and a Semantic Representation of the Domain". The present invention discovers
relations
between the seeded concepts or content and the promoted or non-promoted
content within the
domain of information. The promoter may supply the concepts or other content
directly to the
domain to use as an underpinning for the domain as promoted content and/or the
promoter may
direct a domain administrator to use as underpinning for the domain, non-
promoted content that
are already part of the domain. The present invention could automatically
provide the relations,
however a promoter or domain administrator may leverage their knowledge of the
relations that
may be made in order to appropriately seed concepts and/or content.
Connections can be created
or inferred (for example, hyperlinks that encode links between data,
documents, semantics, or
other informational entities) between the non-promoted content and the
particular concepts or
other content. The promoted content and non-promoted content that comprises
the underpinning
of the domain is combined, integrated or blended prior to a consumer
interaction with the
domain. Alternatively, the promoter may optionally supply concepts or other
content directly to
the domain as promoted content while the non-promoted content that comprises
the underpinning
of the domain may be combined, integrated or blended prior to a consumer
interaction with the
domain.
A consumer can interact with the semantic network representing the domain.
When the consumer
interacts with the semantic network, consumer interaction information (which
provides a
context) interacts with this combined, integrated or blended content and
delivers messaging
comprising content derived from the underpinning of the domain, which may
include promoted
content, non-promoted content, or new content, to the consumer based on the
concepts and
content and the connections between the concepts or other content and the
domain. The
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consumer perceives the message, for example, as part of a consumer experience
but in fact is
receiving a specific message tuned to the specific consumer interaction
(consumer input or other
consumer action) at hand by operation of the present invention. Also, the
combination,
integration or blending by semantic analysis and/or synthesis can be used to
position the message
in an association that is close to the consumer interaction occurring in that
instant.
This integration and interaction approach displaces the current practise of
matching a message
(which may be promoted), for example to a consumer based on media placement,
in a way that it
is believed will be of interest to the consumer. The integration and
interaction approach is
responsive to actual consumer interaction rather than consumer interaction
that is likely in
relation to a particular media placement location, therefore enabling more
targeted messaging
(such as advertising). In addition, the promoter need not incur the time and
cost of creating
relatively complex messaging such as advertisements, or multiple versions of
advertisements for
different consumer contexts, but rather may simply provide the underpinning of
the domain by
integrating content with many different consumer contexts by leveraging the
creation of, through
the operation of the present invention, messaging closely associated with such
different
consumer contexts.
Furthermore, the promoter is able to direct the consumer to the messaging by
leveraging the
domain and the connections between the concepts or other content represented
by the domain
and the consumer.
The promoted content may be created or generated from a number of sources. For
example, the
promoted content may be any content created by or for a promoter, or collected
by or for a
promoter, whether for monetary or non-monetary purposes. This may include
content for which
the promoter is willing to pay for distribution to a consumer. An example of
such content is
advertising that includes hyperlinks to a related website, wherein the
promoter is interested in
ensuring that advertising reaches a target audience.
The non-promoted content may be content that exists in the domain without any
current
contribution or collection by or on behalf of the promoter. The non-promoted
content could
relate to previously contributed information (for example, advertisements that
were used in
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previous advertising campaigns), contributions by others not associated with
the promoter, or
generally available content (e.g. content obtained from public domains).
A domain administrator administering or facilitating the use of the present
invention may create
or facilitate the creation or inference of connections between the non-
promoted content and
concepts or other content of interest to the promoter. The domain
administrator has knowledge of
the connections in the domain and can target particular consumer contexts to
the concepts or
other content of interest to or desired by the promoter. Thus, the consumer
experiences an
automated process whereby it receives messaging desirable to the promoter. The
promoter can
direct this messaging to the consumer without being required to provide
promoted content.
It should be understood in the present invention that the functions provided
herein may be
performed by different entities. For example, the domain administrator may
facilitate the
selection or accumulation of non-promoted content, whereas another entity may
determine what
consumers are interested in, and yet another may allow the connection or
inference between the
content and the consumer interest. The entity can use automated means for
performing these
processes. Additionally, the various functionalities of the present invention
can be distributed
across a plurality of different computer systems.
It should also be understood that promoted content and non-promoted content in
certain cases are
not mutually exclusive. For example, a promoter may want to promote specific
content within a
domain of publicly available content made available by the promoter. The
specific content may
be put forward by the promoter (promoted content), and also be represented in
the broader
domain of publicly available information used as the underpinning for the
promoted information
objects (i.e. non-promoted content).
To enable the directing of a consumer to the messaging or presenting of the
messaging to a
consumer, the present invention comprises a computer network implemented
method to create or
generate a semantic network, including receiving promoted or non-promoted
content,
semantically analyzing the content and combining, integrating or blending the
content by
generating semantic representations of concepts (hereafter, "concept
definitions"), such that a
media representation of the relevant promoted or non-promoted content within
the generated
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concept definitions is traceable to the promoter. Additionally, the concept
definitions that are
generated may be used as part of the non-promoted content.
The generated concept definitions are compared to consumer interaction
information, and
relevant concept definitions may be semantically synthesized along with the
consumer
interaction information into consumer concept definitions with promoted and
non-promoted
content, such that a media representation of relevant promoted or non-promoted
content within
the synthesized consumer concept definitions is traceable to the promoter and
is provided to the
consumer.
It should be understood that the sequence of the steps performed in carrying
out the invention are
not essential to the operation of the invention. For example, the system can
obtain a consumer
interaction information before, concurrently, or after obtaining promoted and
optionally non-
promoted content. For clarity, it will generally be the case that the promoted
and optionally non-
promoted content is obtained prior to the consumer interaction information,
but the order can be
changed without affecting the invention.
1 5 The present invention also comprises a computer-network-based
implementation that includes
simultaneously receiving promoted content and non-promoted content,
semantically analyzing
the promoted content with the non-promoted content and combining, integrating
or blending the
promoted content with the non-promoted content at a consumer interaction
stage, such that such
that a media representation of relevant promoted or non-promoted content
within the combined,
integrated or blended content is traceable to a promoter. The consumer
interaction, with the
semantically analyzed content, results in messaging that is a semantic
synthesis of the relevant
semantically analyzed content to be displayed as part of a network web page,
for example, such
that the combined, integrated or blended content is in a hypertext format.
The present invention further comprises a computer-network-implementable
method to combine,
integrate or blend consumer interaction information with promoted and non-
promoted content by
semantically synthesizing all content with the consumer interaction
information into consumer
concept definitions, such that a media representation of relevant promoted or
non-promoted
content within the synthesized consumer concept definitions is traceable to a
promoter.
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The present invention still further comprises a system for executing a
computer-network-
implementable method to combine, integrate or blend promoted and non-promoted
content
before a consumer interaction with the network, the system comprising a
computer network,
means to receive content, means to perform semantic analysis, and means to
output combined,
integrated or blended synthesized content on the network, the system operable
to receive
promoted and non-promoted content, semantically analyze the content and
combine, integrate or
blend the content by generating concept definitions, such that a media
representation of relevant
promoted or non-promoted content within the generated concept definitions is
traceable to a
promoter.
In the present invention, the full implementation of the invention is operable
on a distributed and
networked computing environment. This includes implementation of the invention
based on
Internet-based technology development and service development wherein users
are able to
access technology-enabled services "in the cloud" without knowledge of,
expertise with, or
control over the technology infrastructure that supports them ("cloud
computing"). Internet-
based computing further includes software as a service ("SaaS"), distributed
web services,
variants described under Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 models, and other Internet-based
distribution
mechanisms. In order to illustrate the implementation of the present invention
in such distributed
and networked computing environments, including through cloud computing, the
disclosure
refers to certain implementations of the invention using multiple sets of
computers. It should be
understood that the present invention is not limited to its implementation on
any particular
computer system, architecture or network. It should also be understood that
the present invention
is not limited to a wired network and is implementable using mobile computers
and wireless
networking architectures, for example by linking wireless devices to the
system by a wireless
gateway.
Typically, at least one set of computing devices would generate or retrieve
and send the
promoted or non-promoted content (or both) over the network to a second set of
computing
devices to stage, semantically analyze and synthesize relevant content to
provide a domain of
information, and at least a third set of computing devices from which the
consumer interaction
information originates sends the consumer interaction information to the
second set of computing
devices, where it is received. The third set of computing devices also
receives the messaging
r,
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provided by the second set of computing devices over the network and displays
the messaging to
the consumer.
The present invention may include a feedback loop from the output to the
analysis stage (or to
the synthesis stage). This represents a feedback report on the performance of
promoted or non-
promoted content that comprise the message displayed within the output, as
well as a mechanism
for revealing to the promoter the market segmentation and other market
analytics discovered by
the system. The semantic analysis and synthesis processes are adaptive to the
performance
report, with resulting adjustment to more optimally integrate the promoted or
directed content
into the messaging over time.
Providing a Domain of Information and a Semantic Representation ofthe Domain
As earlier stated, the present invention provides a system, computer network
implementable
method and computer program to create or generate messaging based on, or
informed by, a
domain of information and direct a consumer of the domain to the messaging,
which comprises
relevant content.
A promoter of the particular information is able to direct the consumer to the
messaging by
seeding concepts or other content in the domain to provide the underpinning of
the domain. The
seeded concepts or other content may relate to promoted or non-promoted
content within the
domain of information. For example, the promoter may supply the concepts
directly to the
domain as promoted content or may direct a domain administrator to mine or
create non-
promoted content that is already part of the domain and create or facilitate
the creation or
inference of connections by automated means between the non-promoted content
and the
concepts desired by the promoter. The promoted and non-promoted content are
combined,
integrated or blended prior to a consumer interaction with the domain.
For clarification purposes, the domain comprises either or both of promoted or
non-promoted
content.
It should be understood that promoted content need not be created by the
promoter. It could
instead comprise non-promoted content that is collected and contributed by the
promoter to the
domain, or this could be done on the promoter's behalf. The promoter, or an
entity on its behalf,
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creates or collects content that creates or facilitates the creation of
connections between a
particular context and the message to which the consumer is directed.
Non-promoted content, on the other hand, may be content that exists in the
domain without any
current contribution or collection by the promoter. The non-promoted content
could relate to
previously contributed information (for example, advertisements that were used
in previous
advertising campaigns), or contributions by others not tied to the promoter. A
domain
administrator can mine this information to create or facilitate the creation
or inference of
connections by automated means between the non-promoted content and concepts
or other
content desired by the promoter. The non-promoted content may also consist of
publicly
available information (public domains) that by operation of the invention can
provide the
underpinning for the creation of content.
The domain administrator may have access to one or more domains that contain
non-promoted
content that is semantically relevant to the promoter. The domain
administrator may have
knowledge of the connections in each domain and can target particular consumer
contexts to the
concepts or other content desired by the promoter. Thus the promoter can
direct a consumer to
the messaging without being required to provide promoted content.
For example, the domain administrator may compile a list of keywords or terms
that relate to
other keywords or terms. A promoter can consult with the domain administrator
regarding non-
promoted content to which it desires connections and can engage the domain
administrator to
create or discover connections between keywords and terms, relevant to a given
context, on such
a list with other terms of relevant non-promoted content. These new
connections, when
semantically analyzed with the domain and when the semantic network is created
or generated,
enable a consumer to be directed to messaging comprising the content when a
given context is
provided by the consumer. It should be understood that the domain
administrator can use
automated processes to carry out its functions, including for example
assembling content from
the one or more domains.
The domain, comprising either or both of promoted or non-promoted content, may
be
semantically analyzed and a means of semantic synthesis may be used for
generating or creating
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a semantic network to represent the domain. The semantic network may be a
thought network, in
accordance with that disclosed in PCT/CA2009/000567, as previously described.
A consumer can interact with the semantic network representing the domain.
When the consumer
interacts with the network, consumer interaction information (which provides a
context) interacts
with this combined, integrated or blended content and delivers a directed
message to the
consumer based on the concepts and the connections between the concepts and
the domain. The
consumer is provided with a media representation of the directed message as
part of a consumer
experience. The combination, integration or blending by semantic analysis and
synthesis can be
used to position the message as close as possible to the consumer interaction
tasks at that instant.
The one or more domains providing non-promoted content for the messaging can
be selected as
directed by the domain administrator or on an automated basis. For example,
the one or more
domains can be selected based on consumer interaction information or other
consumer-generated
context. The one or more domains can also be selected as a subset, either
randomly or on a
systemic basis, from a plurality of domains that are semantically relevant to
the consumer
interaction information, for example where only a limited amount of non-
promoted content is
required for the messaging, but a greater amount of non-promoted content is
available across the
plurality of domains.
The consumer interaction information may be consumer driven or machine driven.
For example,
consumer interaction information may include consumer input provided via a
user interface,
consumer demographic information, consumer browsing information, machine
generated data,
GPS data, sensor data, or any combination thereof. The consumer input may be
provided in
response to a web based search query. The consumer browsing information can
also be analysed
to determine a major theme or themes of consumer browsing (such as one that
recurs or is
dominant relative to other themes).
Alternatively, the consumer may store information, for example thoughts,
gathered during the
course of one or more consumer interactions. Further still, the consumer may
select content for
gathering of consumer interaction information, for example by selecting part
of a web page,
document or email. The thoughts or selection can be set aside by the consumer,
or by the present
invention as so configured, and later provided as the consumer interaction
information. A tool
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could be provided for enabling the consumer to set aside these thoughts and
selections and
provide them as the consumer interaction information by a consumer action or
on an automated
basis.
Additionally, the consumer interaction information can be provided in real-
time, on a delayed
basis, or in a collective set. A collective set of consumer interactions
which, for example, may
consist of a set built up over time and processed on a set frequency or a set
built up to a threshold
number of consumer interactions, can be processed together by the system. The
collective set can
be parsed prior to its use with the system.
This integration and interaction approach displaces the current practise of
matching message to
media placement. The promoter, therefore, does not have to incur the time and
expense of
creating and disseminating several complex and intricate promoted materials
since the promoter
can simply use the present invention to automatically integrate content with
many different
consumer contexts. Through the present invention, the promoter is able to
direct the consumer to
the messaging by leveraging the underpinnings of the domain and the
connections between the
concepts represented by the domain and the consumer.
To enable the directing of a consumer of the domain to the messaging, the
present invention
comprises a computer network implementable method to create or generate a
semantic network,
including receiving promoted or non-promoted content, semantically analyzing
the content and
combining, integrating or blending the content by generating concept
definitions, such that a
media representation of the relevant promoted or non-promoted content within
the generated
concept definitions is traceable to the promoter. The generated concept
definitions are compared
to a consumer interaction information, and relevant concept definitions are
semantically
synthesized along with the consumer interaction information into consumer
concept definitions
with promoted and non-promoted content, such that a media representation of
relevant promoted
or non-promoted content within the synthesized consumer concept definitions is
traceable to the
promoter and is provided to the consumer.
Combining, Integrating or Blending Promoted and Non-promoted Content
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The present invention provides an interactive consumer experience wherein
shaping of
messaging that is consumer directed information is based substantially on
consumer
participation. The consumer may be an existing or potential customer or
existing customer or
end-user of a product or service. The messaging may include promoted and non-
promoted
content. The promoted content may be, for example, any content that are
desired by a promoter
to be included in the consumer directed information for a consumer, as
previously described. For
example, the promoter may be an advertiser promoting the sales of a product or
service, a
political advocacy group promoting a particular cause, a government body
distributing
information into the public domain, a community or social group distributing
information to its
members, among many other use cases. The messaging may include advertisements
and/or other
communications directed to a consumer, or an information product, for example
information
created specifically for the consumer and based on a consumer interaction. The
messaging may
also include non-promoted content, for example publicly provided content or
content enabling
the creation or inference of connections to the consumer interaction.
Messaging may be created by inferring connections between a consumer context
and the
promoted content, non-promoted content and related content. The connections
may be inferred
using a means of semantic synthesis. The resulting consumer directed content
are conceptually
relevant to the consumer context.
The interactive consumer experience could also be implemented by utilizing the
information
source of promoted content (for example, a promoted communication), for
example an
advertisement or other message, to bypass the relevance matching process by
performing an
information process on not just the consumer-related or created content, but
also on the
information source. This approach enables consumers, through their own
activity, to
automatically find and interact with conceptually relevant promoted or non-
promoted content
and enables these consumers to shape in real-time both the consumer context
and the messaging.
Where the promoted content consist of advertising-related content, an approach
to processing the
information source of promoted content with non-promoted content may disrupt
much of the
onerous practices of conventional advertising at the process level. With it,
consumers, not
promoters, can shape both the consumer context and the messaging, allowing
advertisers to
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bypass much of the hard work in such areas as market analysis, strategy
development and
positioning steps that are generally required to effectively direct messaging
to consumers with a
particular purpose in mind. Further, there is no longer a need for expensive
and time-consuming
communication development, audience segmentation, or complex media buying and
placement
activities, thus dramatically lowering the cost of advertising and promotion.
Additionally, the
messaging and associated relevant promoted or non-promoted content, and an
effective context
for their presentation, are defined by the consumer, not the promoter,
increasing the overall
effectiveness of the messaging. Another major advantage is that properly
targeted and timed
messages are perceived by consumers as useful information, not an annoyance
(unlike most
advertising as delivered under the conventional process). Moreover, market
feedback and
analysis are greatly simplified by displacing traditionally laborious upfront
activities with market
analytics that are automatically discovered and reported through the operation
of the present
invention. The present invention thus provides a discovery-based mode of
advertising and
promotion, since the promoters do not need to precisely define and target
their audiences.
Broader and unanticipated audiences are another advantage of this discovery-
based approach.
Since the requirements of market analysis and segmentation are diminished or
displaced entirely,
promoters can promote activities without a precise definition of their
audience and in turn learn
what are the optimal audiences and markets for their promotional needs.
Further, advertisers can
discover what aspects of their content resonate with the market, enabling them
to make
appropriate adjustments to their content.
Semantic synthesis may be provided for performing synthesis on a lexicon of
terms provided by
the results of a semantic analysis on a domain of information. A means of
semantic analysis may
optionally be provided for generating consumer concept definitions that are
input for semantic
synthesis. In one particular implementation of the present invention, semantic
analysis and
synthesis are applied to the problem space of promoting content to consumers.
It simplifies and
disrupts the conventional approach by displacing many of the conventional
activities altogether.
The present invention may be enabled by a process such as that illustrated in
FIG. 4, which is
more fully described below. The system enabled by the present invention, in
accordance with
this aspect, may include the steps of staging, analysis, synthesis, generation
of consumer concept
definitions, output, and feedback, as is more fully described below. This
process could
furthermore be made dependent on limitations to achieve real-time process
efficiency. In other
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words, a consumer interaction in accordance with the present invention can
result in meaningful
output within particular constraints to provide a more cost-effective result.
The constraints may
be provided for optimizing the system based on physical limitations presented
by the system or
environment. For example, the limitations may include staging, analysis or
generation time limits
based on processing time, available CPU cycles or maximum CPU cycles desired
to be used,
limits on the volume of data to be occupied, bandwidth limitations, or any
other meaningful
limitation that can impact the performance of the system.
Alternatively, instead of requiring staging and semantic analysis of the
domain, a domain of
already analysed content can be provided. For example, an annotated domain or
structured
domain providing a semantically analyzed domain can be used by the system.
In addition, the means for semantic analysis, if provided, could be provided
by a third party
and/or at a remote location. Input to the semantic synthesis stage could be
provided by obtaining
or receiving semantic analysis rather than generating it.
The system may load, retrieve or otherwise be provided with content from
sources the promoter
creates or collects and provides or identifies, and it may deconstruct this
content to an elemental
level. In response to a consumer action, the system may create messaging, for
example
advertisements assembled from those elements, using information about consumer
context to
ensure that the messaging is relevant and appropriate. The content could be
created or derived by
an entity based on the consumer's interests, which could be based on indirect
means, for
example, websites the consumer is visiting, profiling data such as social
networking profiles, or
service usage analytics and logs. Another entity could process promoted
content, while a third
entity could manage the connection between the information and the promoted
content. The third
entity can provide the messaging to the consumer's computing device for
output. The system
may collect data regarding the nature and volume of the messaging it creates.
From this, it may
create reports that the promoter can use to make adjustments to its source
content and to monitor
its promotion.
The system may be implemented using a distributed and networked computing
environment
comprising, for example, at least three sets of computing devices including
devices associated
with the source promoted content, the consumer, and the processing engines
described herein.
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The consumer may provide inputs and receive outputs from the computing devices
using a
consumer interface, or the consumer information could be provided by other
means, such as
tracking of demographic information or browsing information related to the
consumer.
Matching Advertisement to Consumer
The following describes an implementation of the present invention wherein the
underpinning of
the domain is promoted content consisting of advertising. The non-promoted
content in this
example consists of content available in the public domain. However, it should
be understood
that the underpinning of the domain can be non-promoted content, for example
where a domain
administrator enables or facilitates the creation or inference of connections
between the non-
promoted content and the domain of information.
The present invention provides a computer-implemented method and system to
match
advertisement source content in a media representation (such as a web page)
with a consumer-
generated input on a network such as the Internet. The domain of information
could comprise all
or a subset of media representations (such as web pages and other digital
media) on the Internet.
In contrast to the practice common in conventional prior art given by FIG. 1,
where consumer-
generated information is matched with an advertisement, the present invention
uses
advertisement source content to match to a consumer. This can be implemented
by
deconstructing the advertisement source content to an atomic level (that is,
deconstructing many
different concepts that taken together comprise the meaning of the
advertisement) and
synthesizing messaging leads that are associated with the atomised concepts.
The advertisement
source content is semantically analyzed with the domain of information, or
provided to the
system, and a means of semantic synthesis of the collection of atomised
concepts provides a
semantic network for representing the domain (including the source content).
Possible methods
for semantic analysis and synthesis are more fully described below.
The atomised concepts here refer to elemental concepts that may be
progressively broken down
further into increasingly narrow meaning. Correspondingly, while the messaging
leads as a
whole casts a wide net around consumer-generated information, they can further
get matched
individually to measurable semantic differences of consumer interests within a
unique topic. This
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micro-level matching bypasses the whole process of relevance matching, by
combining,
integrating or blending consumer interests with advertisement source content
that has already
been combined, integrated or blended with relevant public and/or private
domain information.
A comparison between prior art approaches and the present invention is
illustrated by FIG. 2,
where the prior art advertisement is conveyed to a consumer in whole. In
contrast, as shown in
the lower part FIG. 2, the present invention makes promoted or non-promoted
content available
by attaching them to concepts dispersed across an output, wherein the output
is a result of
consumer-defined context, which forms the basis for one or more messages.
As shown in FIG. 3, by semantically engineering the context of a message into
messaging leads,
it is possible to match the message to context from consumers (in this case
web users) at a very
refined level, thus bypassing media placement altogether. This is achieved by
staging content
from various sources. Staging of content refers to a phase where external
content (from various
sources, including the domain of information, promoted content, and non-
promoted content) are
mapped to the system schema. The external content may be identified based on
criteria including
the nature of the content that can be processed. For example, content from a
selectable domain
may include all content that is operable to be processed by a means of
semantic analysis
(including approaches such as natural language processing of unstructured
text, named entity
extraction, mapping to linked data through open standards for semantic
representation, and many
other approaches that are well known in the art).
External content may also be provided by other structured domains of
information, for example
semantically annotated web content or a thought network from one or more
consumers. A tool
may be provided for enabling a thought network to be provided as external
content to be staged.
It should be understood as well that other forms of external content can be
provided.
Subsequently, staged content is deconstructed into semantically analyzed and
annotated content
that is then synthesized into a message that matches a consumer context
created by consumer
information. The semantic analysis of content refers to a phase where content
from all sources
has been deconstructed to an elemental level (atomised concepts) and is ready
for semantic
synthesis. The content may include promoted content, either directly disclosed
or collected by
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the promoter, and non-promoted content, either from public websites or non-
public sources, such
as an intranet, RSS feeds, private blogs or any sources of network-available
private content.
After the staging and analysis of content, the processed advertisement source
content may
include messaging leads synthesized using the atomised concepts or elemental
content from the
content source of the advertisement message. The source of this content may be
any source
linked to a promoter including, for example, an advertiser's web page, a third-
party web page
containing an advertisement for the promoter, direct content disclosed by the
promoter, content
linked by a promoter, content related to a promoter's product, technical
content relating to
advertiser promoter or its products, etc. An additional source for content may
be provided by
facilitating promoters with a self-service utility having a user interface.
This self-service utility
would allow promoters to register and disclose, online, their information
source, whether it be a
link to a website or direct material submission. The promoters would be able
to choose from a
selectable options list to enter into a commercial transaction for the service
with which they
would be provided. Once the synthesized messaging is positioned within the
consumer-generated
I 5 context, the promoter's interactive information may be made available
to consumer interactions.
This enables the promoter to enter into transactions with consumers in a way
that is more
conceptually relevant to the consumer context.
For example, a promoter might register through the self-service utility to
identify one or more
domains as a source for consumer interactions. A website or an online store
are examples of this
type of domain. Consumers that are existing users of these domains, such as
customers at a store,
may elect to include these domains as a source of their synthesized
information and messaging.
In one example, a customer of an online electronics store may wish to be
informed of related
products from this store as they are exploring subjects related to
electronics. There are numerous
monetization and revenue models to support this type of promoter-consumer
interaction,
including affiliate models, transactional advertising models, sponsorship
models, and many
others.
With reference to FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the advertisement information
source, such as a
public website, may be provided as input to staging to prepare it for
generation or creation of
semantic representation along with the public and other related content, which
for example may
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be processed by semantic analysis. The means for generating or creating
semantic representation
may produce consumer concept definitions relevant to the consumer context.
Semantic analysis, as one example of a means for generating or creating these
consumer concept
definitions, can be performed using a number of approaches including, but not
limited to, schema
mapping, statistical clustering, natural language processing, entity
extraction and facet analysis.
In the semantic analysis stage, the advertisement information is processed
along with non-
promoted information and is tracked. The information generated through the
analysis stage may
be stored in the form of semantic representations such as concept definitions,
where the
advertiser information is grouped with relevant subjects.
An example is:
Concept definition C: {domain advertisement 1, Subjects k 1 , k2}
Concept definition Cl: {Sunrise Apple Farms, Apple, Farm)
Concept definition C2: {Great Furniture Co, Chair, Table, Wood)
As previously mentioned, instead of requiring staging and semantic analysis of
the domain, a
domain of already analysed content can be provided.
The semantic analysis stage may be followed by a semantic synthesis stage
where consumer
interaction information is submitted to generate or create semantic
representations, such as
consumer concept definitions. The consumer interaction information may be
consumer-provided
information, including search queries, semantic networking creation
information or consumer-
related collected information, such as demographic information, content of a
third-party website
that has been browsed by the consumer or a browsing history that is submitted
to construct
consumer concept definitions. The semantic network to be created could, for
example, be a
thought network, wherein the consumer interaction information is part of
building the thought
network and the output is a web page with content organized and collated by
the resulting
thought network.
The semantic synthesis may be performed using any number of semantic synthesis
approaches,
including but not limited to, faceted classification, semantic reasoners,
formal concept analysis,
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multi-document summarization or a hybrid semantic synthesis protocol that
combines many such
approaches. Consumer concept definitions are concepts made from relevant
concept definitions
related to consumer-submitted information as shown in FIG. 6. The consumer
concept
definitions are created by applying semantic synthesis rules, which might be
dependent on the
type of algorithm being used. At all phases of semantic processing, promoted
or non-promoted
content in a media representation can be traceable to a promoter (such as an
advertiser). Making
promoted or non-promoted content in a media representation traceable to a
promoter could be
implemented, for example, by providing a unique identifier (ID) for each
promoted or non-
promoted content. The media representation generated by the semantic synthesis
may also be
linked to the ID so that the media representation is linked to the promoter.
This traceability
enables not only the identification of the promoter for specific represented
content, but also the
feedback loop described herein.
The combined, integrated or blended output of promoted and non-promoted
content essentially
complete the process whereby the combined, integrated or blended semantically
synthesized
content are now ready to be utilized as a base for a wide range of
applications including
developing knowledge-bases, displaying search results, creating automatically -
generated
documents such as a web page as displayed by FIG. 7, or any other customized
application
taking a consumer input and displaying an output result. These applications
will combine,
integrate or blend the synthesized content within the media representation.
One example of a
media representations is shown in FIG. 7, wherein a web page being accessed by
a consumer is
modified by embedding the promoted content using the messaging leads.
As shown by FIG. 4, there could be a feedback loop from the output to the
analysis stage and/or
the synthesis stage. This represents a feedback report on the performance of
the message within
the media representations. By semantically processing the feedback report, the
promoted or non-
promoted content may be deconstructed and recombined, reintegrated or
reblended into a variety
of different messages and consumer-generated contexts. This feedback report is
thus able to
inform the promoter (an advertiser for example) as to the messaging and
content that is
resonating with consumers. It allows the promoter to avoid trying to predict
and measure this
effectiveness in advance, and rather discover the messaging and content that
should be targeted.
Metrics that may be used to inform this feedback report may include
information about the
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number of times particular promoted content is clicked or followed-up
(accessed), the followed-
up/times-displayed ratio over all consumer contexts, and the followed-up/times-
displayed ratio
within each different consumer context.
The semantic processing of the feedback report can be at the analysis stage
and/or the synthesis
stage.
This performance report may be fed into the analysis stage, which may be
automatically
configured to adjust the display priority for promoted or non-promoted
content. These display
priorities may include removing or re-ordering a promoter's content from a
certain consumer
context, where it has a low followed-up/times-displayed ratio, to replace it
with another
promoter's content within the same consumer context. This process ensures a
redistribution of
promoted and non-promoted content takes place within a given consumer context.
The
redistribution may be further enhanced by automatically replacing optimally
successful
promoters for a given consumer context with other promoters after a certain
definable or
arbitrary time limit or for a trial basis. This step would make way for the
exposure of new
promoters testing their content.
The performance report may also or alternatively be fed back to the synthesis
stage. The
synthesis stage could adapt to those metrics which can be processed by the
synthesis stage such
as discontinuing a promoter and bringing in a new promoter or shuffling the
priority of a
promoter based upon feedback data, where the analysis need not be changed,
just the priority.
A higher display priority for a promoter can also be used to assign a higher
probability that the
promoter's content will be displayed and/or to assign a higher number in an
order sequence for
display.
Content from a third-party website that is browsed by the consumer can also
act as a context
generator (providing consumer interaction information as well as the non-
promoted content from
which to generate messaging leads). A promoter can direct a domain
administrator to enable or
facilitate the creation or inference of connections between the content from
the third-party
website and the consumer context. The content from the third-party website
would provide both
context and non-promoted content that will be semantically processed along
with promoted
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content. The semantic process may begin with staging, shift to analysis and
eventually synthesize
messaging based upon consumer context that is inferred or implied by the
subject matter of the
page. This aspect would support a distributed content network and would
effectively outsource
management of non-promoted content in a conventional promoter-publisher model.
This
distribution model would, for example, support the operations of advertising
networks, affiliate
networks, or similar multi-party promotion models.
Once the media representation is ready to be displayed, there are issues to
deal with regarding
placement of the number of messages suitable for the same place or page in the
output. One way
to deal with this issue is to make a simple adjustment affecting the display
priority of messages
by using a single parameter or a combination of parameters. Examples of
parameters include, but
are not limited to, relevancy, higher fees, and IP address locality of the
consumer and/or GPS
coordinates of the consumer for providing locally-relevant messages. Another
plausible way of
placing more promoted and/or non-promoted content in the messages is to time
slice the results
by updating the output in order to accommodate more than one promoter or
message.
Monetization may take place upon display of a message within a media
representation. Once the
media representation is displayed, monetization may also take place after the
consumer clicks the
message or after an actual purchasing action takes place. Monetization may
depend on a
combination of transactions or interactions. Monetization may also depend, in
portion, on the
service of processing of promoted content at the semantic analysis stage.
Another form of
monetization would be by a CPM model, which refers to advertising bought on
the basis of
impressions. Further, another form of monetization could come from forwarding
performance
results and feedback reports to the promoter.
It should be understood that the present invention also provides matching of
messaging (for
example, advertising) to consumers based on only non-promoted content, i.e.
without promoted
content, without need for a promoter to provide any source domain information.
In this example,
the promoter may provide concepts only, without specifying content on which
messaging created
by operation of the invention will be based.
There are two main modes of operation of the invention for non-promoted
content based
messaging: (1) promoters influence the analysis and synthesis operations by
manipulating
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parameters for creating content rather than providing promoted content other
than the concepts;
and (2) promoters take a "passive" approach to creation of messaging that is
similar to "seeding"
concepts as described above.
In the first mode of operation, a user interface provided by operation of the
system can expose
parameters within the system's analysis and synthesis methods to promoters.
The promoters can
use these parameters to bring about different outcomes in the analysis and
synthesis of concepts
and connections. Tuning these parameters can create a different consumer
experience in relation
to the created messaging, which can in turn be tied to specific promoter goals
or objectives. For
example, if the promoter wants to create a conservative impression in keeping
with their brand,
they can tighten the parameters to reduce the variability in the concepts and
connections
produced. Similarly, if a promoter wants to make more of a freewheeling,
creative impression,
the parameters can be tuned to increase the variability of concepts and
connections produced.
There are many ways to tie promotional objectives (such as marketing and
branding objectives)
to optimal system parameter configurations, simplifying operations for non-
technical promoters.
In the second mode of operation, the promoter takes a passive role and does
not try to influence
the operations of the system through domain information or method parameters.
Instead, the
promoter selects from one or more possible promotional goals which a service
design
implemented by the system of the invention provides. These goals may include
activities such as
directing consumers to a specific website or supporting messaging for specific
branding
programs. As with the first mode, the system can align these goals to specific
configurations of
method parameters and community (public or shared) domains. In both modes of
operation, the
system can evolve and optimize advertising campaigns over time via the
feedback loop described
above.
For example, communities of users may represent the market as a whole. These
communities
may be an aggregation of consumers providing interactions, a focus group
providing aggregate
consumer interaction information, or a combination of the two wherein
individual consumer
interactions are first aggregated and then provided to the system. The
community need not be
structured, as individual consumers can be placed in a community by the
system, based for
example on shared interests of the consumers.
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The community may create or add to the domain by contributing content or by
linking to content
external to the domain.
The system of the present invention can combine these modes of operation with
other
embodiments of the invention. For example, promoters may take a largely
passive role, but still
provide promoted content. Promoters may also provide promoted content
implicitly by providing
a website address as a goal. The system can then automatically harvest the
website for particular
promoted content. It should be understood that in this last example, by
providing the website
address, the advertiser will have still provided promoted content by putting
forward a location
where these can be found.
Implementation
FIG. 8 illustrates a networked implementation in accordance with the present
invention. The
present invention should not be considered to be limited to the particular
network
implementation illustrated. The present invention may be implemented using a
distributed and
networked computing environment comprising at least one computing device. In a
particular
implementation, at least three sets of computing devices may be provided. Each
set of computing
devices may comprise one or more computing devices linked by a network.
Typically, at least
one set of computing devices would generate and send the promoted and/or non-
promoted
content over the network to a second set of computing devices. The second set
of computing
devices receives the content, and may combine, integrate or blend the content.
The second set of
computing devices would stage, semantically analyze and synthesize relevant
content. However,
it should be understood that the generation of the content, the combination,
integration or
blending of content, and the analysis and synthesis of content may be
processed on any number
of computing devices from one to many.
At least a third set of computing devices may be used to obtain or receive or
be the source of the
consumer interaction information also sent to the second set of computing
devices for further
staging, analysis, and synthesis. Again, the consumer interaction information
could be provided
on the same computing devices as described above, or any number of other
computing devices.
The consumer interaction information may be consumer generated or machine
generated. For
example, the consumer interaction information may be generated by the consumer
using an
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interface, which may be operable to receive queries or other contextual input
from the consumer,
may be generated using demographic information or browsing information related
to the
consumer, or may be provided as any other consumer interaction as described
above. Machine
generated consumer interaction information may be based on, for example, UPS
data, other
sensor data, etc. The third set of computing devices would also receive the
resulting content and
information over the network and display to the consumer the output that has
been semantically
customized by the second set of computing devices. The means for displaying
the output could
be a monitor or other display device linked to the third set of computing
devices. In particular,
where the third set of computing devices includes a wireless gateway and one
or more wireless
devices for displaying the output, the wireless devices may be equipped with
video/image
stabilizers, for example accelerometers, to enhance the user experience.
The consumer may be associated with a consumer profile linked to the third set
of computing
devices. The profile may be operable to link consumer information to the
consumer each time the
consumer interacts with the network. The consumer information can be provided
back to the
consumer as it is generated or created.
The second set of computing devices may be linked to a staging engine,
analysis engine, and
synthesis engine. The staging engine extracts, transforms, and loads content
from the promoted
content sources into the system for analysis. The system may maintain promoted
content
separately from non-promoted content, such as that from public sources. This
may enable both
tracing of the promoted content to a promoter and the ability to process
promoted content
differently than non-promoted content. The analysis engine deconstructs all
the staged content,
including promoted content, to an elemental level, extracting semantic data
and compressing it
into a semantic kernel. After analysis, promoted and non-promoted content may
be maintained as
separate data sources. The synthesis engine synthesizes the relevant promoted
or non-promoted
content into messaging leads that the system dynamically assembles into
messages, which are the
output of the system. The output may be provided to the consumer using the
applications
described above. In one aspect of the invention, the output is displayed in
one or more web pages
containing links in hypertext or hypermedia format. The links may be embedded
based on the
messaging leads linked to the promoted content, such as the promoter's website
or other content
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provided by the promoter, as described above, or non-promoted content
including public content
linked to a promoter.
In a further implementation, synthesis could be provided on a computing device
either local to or
under the control of the consumer. The relevant messaging provided by the
synthesis could,
therefore, be kept under more private control of the consumer.
A utility may be provided wherein the engines can be configured to process
promoted content
and non-promoted content differently, so that it is more or less likely that
promoted content will
surface in the output to the consumer.
Furthermore, a facility may be provided for direct or indirect configuration
of the ratio of
promoted to non-promoted content placed in the output. The ratio may be
determined based on
the likelihood of particular promoters or classes of promoters having their
content used. This
content could be collected based on offline statistical analysis or real-time
automated analysis.
The facility could also be used to configure monetization as described above,
or to configure the
appropriate actions to be taken with respect to the performance report (for
example, the display
priorities) described above or the metrics described above.
It should be understood that further enhancements to the disclosed system,
method and computer
program are envisioned, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
the following
specific enhancements are envisioned.
Optionally, an additional initial step may be provided for performing a
synthesis of a portion of
the domain to enhance the performance of delivering relevant messaging to the
consumer. For
example, a portion of the domain can be input to the analysis and/or synthesis
engine along with
the consumer interaction information to provide relevant messaging faster than
would otherwise
be possible.
In addition, a pre-analysis stage could be provided to enhance the
functionality of the invention,
for example summarizing particular content prior to analysis and/or synthesis
of the domain. For
example, already existing semantic databases or already completed semantic
representations may
be input. The annotated web is a particular example of this type of content.
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Furthermore, optionally a specific level of the domain could be defined for
limiting the amount
of the domain to interact with, for increasing performance.
Further enhancements may be provided wherein one or more of the computing
devices are
mobile devices or wirelessly networked devices. For example, the network may
be or include a
wireless network, the wireless network including a wireless gateway for
linking the wireless
network to the Internet. The first set of computing devices may include or be
linked to a wireless
gateway, the wireless gateway being linked to the Internet so as to enable one
or more wirelessly
networked devices to access the Internet. One or more of the second set of
computing devices
could similarly be provided as wirelessly networked devices linked to the
Internet by a wireless
gateway. The third set of computing devices may include for example wireless
smartphones,
wireless computers or computers linked wirelessly to the Internet by a
wireless computer
network or cellular network, for example. The wireless networked devices
described may include
a browser for obtaining, receiving or being the source of consumer interaction
information and
for displaying or otherwise providing output to the consumer. The wirelessly
networked devices
could also be equipped with additional functionality for providing consumer
interaction
information, including for example a UPS receiver operable to provide GPS
location information
as part of the consumer interaction information and/or one or more
accelerometers or other
movement sensors operable to provide movement-based or gesture-based
information. Thus the
messaging to be returned to the consumer may include location, movement and/or
gesture
relevant content.
