HK1151374A - System for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices - Google Patents

Description

System for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices

Technical Field

This specification relates generally to systems and methods (generally referred to as systems) for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to serving advertisements targeted to a current geographic location of a mobile device over a mobile device.

Background

Mobile phones may become increasingly important as information and content access devices. Currently, there may be twice as many mobile communication devices as personal computers. Mobile operators are increasingly interested in high-priced data services as a means for overcoming the ever-decreasing average revenue per user voice. Worldwide, billions of dollars may be spent on wireless licenses, and billions are used on pipelines that invest in infrastructure and services for developing wireless services and content providers. Operators can introduce new data, content and multimedia services as a means of generating new revenue streams, reversing negative ARPU trends, retaining and attracting consumers, and increasing return on investment and extending and differentiating the services they offer to consumers. The advent of these wireless technologies may be creating unique opportunities for wireless carriers, advertisers, and publishers to generate additional revenue streams through new and existing consumers. Marketing via mobile devices may become an important part of all integrated data communication strategies as consumer adoption of wireless technology continues to grow.

In the mobile world, mobile advertising may play an important role in generating revenue. As users become more willing to use their mobile phones as web access devices, the mobile advertising market is likely to grow larger. Wherever a consumer goes with their mobile phone, the mobile phone may provide the advertiser with access to the consumer. However, conventional models for targeting advertisements may be inefficient in targeting users on mobile devices. Users may only occasionally use their mobile devices to access the mobile web. The divergent use of the mobile web may make it difficult to develop an accurate user profile (user profile) for targeting user behavior. Additionally, mobile devices may have a limited amount of screen space. The screen of the mobile device may only allow one advertisement to be displayed to the user at a time, which greatly increases the need for accurately providing relevant advertisements.

Disclosure of Invention

A system for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices is disclosed. The system may include a processor, a memory, and an interface. The memory may store requests associated with the mobile device as well as advertisements. The processor may be operatively connected to the memory and the processor and may be operative to communicate with a mobile device. The mobile device may be associated with a mobile operator. The processor may be operatively connected to the memory and the interface. The processor may receive a request associated with a mobile device and may determine a geographic location associated with the request. The processor may identify advertisements targeted to geographic areas and mobile operators. The processor may then provide the identified advertisement to the mobile device.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the embodiments, and be protected by the accompanying claims and defined by the following claims. Further aspects and advantages will be discussed in connection with the description.

Drawings

The system and/or method of the present invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The description with reference to the figures is non-limiting and non-exhaustive. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating principles. In the drawings, like reference numerals in different drawings may indicate like parts unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general overview of a system for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a simplified view of a network environment implementing the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an implementation of the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operations for targeting advertisements to geographic areas in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations for providing geographic area targeted advertisements to mobile operators in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving geographic area targeted advertisements over mobile devices.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a revenue generator (revenuegene) page for configuring targeting of advertisements to geographic areas in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a mobile device displaying advertisements targeted to geographic areas related to content on a page in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a mobile device displaying advertisements targeted to geographic areas unrelated to content on a page in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of a general computer system that can be used in a system for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices.

Detailed Description

A system and method, generally referred to as a system, relates to serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to serving advertisements targeted to a current geographic location of a mobile device over a mobile device. The principles described herein may be embodied in many different forms.

The system may enable an advertising service provider to display advertisements to a user that target a geographic area in which the user is currently located. The advertisement may also be targeted to a mobile operator that provides mobile services to the user. The system may receive the geographic location from a mobile operator, a mobile device, or by parsing the mobile request, and may display advertisements targeted to the mobile operator and targeted to (or related to) a geographic area. An advertising service provider may increase the likelihood of serving advertisements that are of interest to a mobile user by serving advertisements that target the mobile user's current geographic location.

The system may enable advertisers to target advertisements to geographic areas and mobile operators. The system may enable advertisers to perform regional mobile promotional campaigns by allowing advertisers to target advertisements to geographic areas and mobile operators. The advertisement may be displayed on a mobile message (e.g., a text message), on a mobile web page, or on a mobile application such as a mobile email reader.

An advertiser may use the system to target advertisements to users currently located within the advertiser's location (e.g., a physical store) or users currently in a particular area of the advertiser's store. For example, the system may deliver promotional advertisements via text messages or through mobile web pages when a user enters an advertiser's store. If the user walks through a particular area of the advertiser's store (e.g., the electronic product area), the advertiser is able to deliver the electronic product advertisement. Alternatively or additionally, advertisers may use the system to provide advertisements to users when they enter competitor's stores. For example, an advertiser may target an advertisement to a geographic area containing a competitor's store. When the user enters the geographic area, the system may display an advertisement of the advertiser to the user.

FIG. 1 provides a general overview of a system 100 for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. However, not all of the illustrated components may be required, and some implementations may include additional components. Changes may be made in the arrangement and type of the components without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims. More, different or fewer components may be provided.

The system 100 may include one or more revenue generators 110A-N (e.g., mobile advertisers), a service provider 130 (e.g., a portal or advertising service provider), one or more mobile network operators ("MNOs") 115A-N (more generally referred to as mobile operators or simply operators), and one or more users 120AA-NN (e.g., mobile subscribers or consumers). The service provider 130 may implement an advertisement campaign management system that incorporates auction-based and/or non-auction based advertisement serving systems.

The revenue generators 110A-N may pay the service provider 130 to provide or display advertisements, such as online or mobile advertisements, for their goods or services to the users 120AA-NN, such as via mobile messages, the mobile web, the Internet, or generally any means for displaying advertisements. The advertisements may include sponsor listings, banner advertisements, pop-ups, mobile messages, or generally any manner of attracting the users 120AA-NN to the web site or mobile site of the producers 110A-N. The users 120AA-NN may use the services of the service provider 130 through web applications, mobile applications, or standalone applications.

Alternatively or additionally, the advertisement may also be related to the current location of the users 120AA-NN (e.g., a particular geographic area or a particular store). The mobile devices of the users 120AA-NN may include a positioning system chip and may transmit location data, such as location coordinates, data describing the boundaries of an area, or other location descriptive data (e.g., a zip code), representing the geographic location of the users 120AA-NN to the service provider 130. The positioning system may be a global positioning system ("GPS"), EU global navigation satellite system ("GNSS"), beidou positioning system, Galileo (Galileo) positioning system, COMPASS positioning system, GLONASS positioning system, indian regional navigation satellite system ("IRNSS"), QZSS positioning system, or generally any positioning system capable of determining the position of a device. The operating systems of the mobile devices of the users 120AA-NN may communicate the location data directly to the service provider 130. Alternatively or additionally, a mobile application (e.g., a mobile map application) running on the mobile device may transmit the location data to the service provider 130. Alternatively or additionally, the MNOs 115A-N may transmit location data to the service provider 130. The MNOs 115A-N and/or the mobile devices may be able to determine the approximate location of the users 120AA-NN by triangulating (triangulating) signals received by the mobile devices from the cellular telephone towers of the MNOs 115A-N.

Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may store user profiles for the users 120 AA-NN. The user profile may include the home addresses of the users 120 AA-NN. The service provider 130 may be able to identify the likely geographic location of the user AA120AA by obtaining the home location of the user AA120AA from the user profile of the user AA120 AA. Alternatively or additionally, the user AA120AA may provide explicit location information that the service provider 130 may use to infer the likely geographic location of the user AA120 AA.

The service provider 130 may maintain a mobile portal and/or a web portal (e.g., a search site), where the service provider 130 may display advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N to the users 120 AA-NN. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may be an advertising service provider. The service provider 130 may share revenue with the users 120AA-NN as a result of displaying advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N via the mobile networks of their mobile network operators MNOs 115A-N. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may share revenue with individual publishers for displaying advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N on their mobile and/or web sites. The service provider 130 may provide an API to the MNOs 115A-N, thereby enabling the MNOs 115A-N to request advertisements from the service provider 130.

The MNOs 115A-N may provide the users 120AA-NN with a mobile network that may provide the users 120AA-NN with a variety of services, such as the ability to send and receive telephone calls, the ability to send and receive mobile messages, the ability to access the Internet and/or the mobile web, or generally any service that may be implemented on a mobile device. The MNOs 115A-N may store data describing the users 120AA-NN, such as billing addresses, call histories, message histories, or generally any data regarding the users 120AA-NN that may be obtained by the MNOs 115A-N.

The amount the revenue generators 110A-N may pay the service provider 130 may be based on one or more factors. These factors may include impressions, click-through rates (click-through), conversions (conversion), and/or any metrics generally related to the behavior of the advertisements and/or the users 120 AA-NN. The impressions may refer to the number of times an advertisement has been displayed to the users 120 AA-NN. The click-through rate may refer to the number of times a user 120AA-NN has clicked-through an advertisement to a website, mobile website, or mobile landing page of one of the revenue generators 110A-N (e.g., the revenue generator A110A). The conversions may refer to the number of desired actions that the users 120AA-NN may take after clicking on the web site of the revenue generator A110A. The desired action may include submitting a sales lead (sales lead), making a purchase, viewing a key page of a website, downloading a white paper, and/or any other measurable action. If the desired action is making a purchase, the revenue generator A110A may pay the service provider 130A percentage of the purchase.

The users 120AA-NN may be consumers of goods or services who may be searching for a business, such as a business of one of the revenue generators 110A-N. The users 120AA-NN may be searching for the Internet presence of one of the revenue generators 110A-N, or the real world or brick and mortar presence of one of the revenue generators 110A-N. Alternatively or additionally, the users 120AA-NN may be machines or other servers, such as third party servers. The users 120AA-NN may require a user identifier or identification ("user ID") to access the services of the service provider 130. To obtain the user ID, the users 120AA-NN may need to provide information describing themselves to the service provider 130, such as the location of residence, gender, and/or age of the users 120AA-NN, or generally any information the users 120AA-NN may need to utilize the services provided by the service provider 130. The service provider 130 may collect user behavior data from the users 120AA-NN when they log in, such as search queries by the users 120AA-NN, links clicked on by the users 120AA-NN, and/or any user interaction with services provided by the service provider 130. The service provider 130 may also use cookies, such as browser cookies, to collect user behavior data for the users 120AA-NN that are not logged on or otherwise unrecognizable.

The service provider 130 may provide advertisements related to the collected user behavior data to the users 120AA-NN via mobile messages, mobile web pages, or mobile applications. For example, if the user AA120AA performed a search for a sports topic, subscribed to a sports alert, or viewed sports related media or articles, the service provider 130 may provide a sports related advertisement to the user AA120AA along with the alert. The revenue generators 110A-N may identify categories, such as sports, associated with their advertisements. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider server 130 may perform content matching of the advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N and the identified interests of the user AA120AA (e.g., sports). The service provider 130 may provide advertisements directly to the users 120AA-NN or the MNOs 115A-N and/or other third party servers may request advertisements from the service provider 130 for display to the users 120 AA-NN.

Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may provide advertisements that are relevant to the current geographic location of the users 120AA-NN (e.g., the user AA120 AA). The service provider 130 may provide advertisements for the revenue generator A110A having a store or physical presence near the current geographic location of the user AA120 AA. The service provider 130 may provide advertisements for goods of interest to the user AA120AA that are located near the current geographic location of the user AA120 AA. For example, if the behavioral profile of the user AA120AA indicates that the user AA120AA likes sports, the service provider 130 may provide advertisements for the local sports team to the user AA120 AA. If the user AA120AA is physically located in the store of the revenue generator A110A, the revenue generator A110A may provide advertisements related to promotions in the store. Alternatively or additionally, a competitor of the revenue generator A110A (e.g., revenue generator B110B) may target advertisements to the user AA120AA when the user AA120AA is physically within the store of the revenue generator A110A.

In the system 100, the revenue generators 110A-N may interact with the service provider 130, for example, via a web application. The revenue generators 110A-N may send information, such as billing, website or mobile site advertising information, and geographic targeting areas, to the service provider 130 via the web application. The Web application may include a Web browser or other application such as any application capable of displaying Web content. The application may be implemented using a processor, such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, mobile phone, or any other machine capable of implementing a web application.

The users 120AA-NN may also interact separately with the service provider 130 through the mobile network operators 115A-N (e.g., via mobile phones or any mobile devices capable of communicating with the mobile network operators 115A-N). The users 120AA-NN may interact with the service provider 130 via a mobile web-based application, a mobile standalone application, or any application capable of running on a mobile device. The service provider 130 may transmit data to the revenue generators 110A-N over the network and to the users 120AA-NN over the network via the MNOs 115A-N. The following example may refer to the revenue generator A110A as an online advertiser or mobile advertiser; however, the system 100 may be applied to any revenue generator 110A-N that may wish to provide advertisements on a mobile device.

The revenue generator A110A, which is a mobile advertiser, may maintain one or more accounts with the service provider 130. For each account, the revenue generator A110A may maintain one or more campaigns. For each campaign, revenue generator A110A may maintain one or more listings. A listing may include a keyword, or category, and one or more mobile message listings. Each listing may include an ad title, an ad description, a bid amount, and a mobile site URL (if any). The listings may represent associations between keywords, or categories, mobile advertisements, mobile operators, and geographic areas. The listing may also include an option to cause an advertisement to be displayed to the user via a mobile message. The revenue generators 110A-N may be able to specify demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, etc., to which they wish their advertisements to be targeted. The revenue generators 110A-N may be able to specify a minimum number of mobile messages to which their advertisements are attached per month.

The revenue generator A110A may be able to target a campaign, a group of listings, or an individual listing to one or more MNOs 115A-N and one or more geographic areas. The advertisement associated with the listing may be displayed only when an advertisement request is initiated from a device on one of the identified mobile operators and located within one of the identified geographic regions. The revenue generator A110A may specify the MNOs 115A-N to which list items are targeted. Further, the revenue generator A110A may identify the geographic area targeted by the listing. The geographic area may be identified by providing a zip code, geographic coordinates, or GPS coordinates that define the boundaries of the area, city/state, by using a mapping tool to identify the boundaries of the area, or generally by using any method for identifying a geographic area.

If the revenue generator A110A does not have the Mobile site URL of the MNO A115A, the revenue generator A110A may still bid on the keywords for the MNO A115A. In this case, the service provider 130 may dynamically create a "WAP advertisement". The "WAP advertisement" may be an offer landing page that includes the phone number of the revenue generator A110A, a logo (logo) of the revenue generator A110A, and/or descriptive text detailing the products and services offered by the revenue generator A110A. When the user AA120AA clicks on an advertisement for the revenue generator A110A that does not have a mobile site, the user AA120AA may be directed to a page showing the phone number and/or logo of the revenue generator A110A. The user AA120AA may then use their mobile device to call the phone number of the revenue generator A110A and complete their transaction. Data associated with the "WAP advertisement" may be stored in the advertisement title and/or advertisement description field.

The keywords may represent one or more items (term) that the revenue generator A110A wishes to associate with their advertisement. If the keywords appear in a mobile message, web search, or location near the current geographic location of the user AA120AA, an advertisement for the revenue generator A110A is displayed to the user AA120 AA. The advertisement title may represent data that the revenue generator A110A wishes to display to the user AA120 AA. Alternatively or additionally, the advertisement description may represent data that the revenue generator A110A wishes to display to the user AA120AA when the user AA120AA receives a mobile message containing a keyword. The mobile site URL may represent a link to which the revenue generator A110A wishes the user AA120AA to be directed when clicking on the mobile advertisement of the revenue generator A110A, such as the home page of the revenue generator A110A. The bid amount may represent the maximum amount the revenue generator A110A is willing to pay each time the user AA120AA clicks on the mobile advertisement of the revenue generator A110A or each time the mobile advertisement of the revenue generator A110A is displayed to the user AA120 AA.

There may be many instances where multiple revenue generators 110A-N may bid on the same keyword or geographic area for one of the MNOs 115A-N. The service provider 130 may provide the users 120AA-NN with advertisements that the users 120AA-NN are most likely to click on. For example, the service provider 130 may include a relevance evaluation for determining the relevance of a plurality of mobile advertisements to keywords and geographic areas. The more relevant the mobile advertisement is to the keyword, the more likely the user AA120AA is to click on the advertisement. If the physical location of the revenue generators 110A-N is within a geographic area, the geographic location may be relevant to the advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N. Alternatively or additionally, an advertisement may be relevant to a geographic area if the advertisement is for an item located within the geographic area.

Alternatively or additionally, the revenue generators 110A-N may be able to select automatic geographic targeting. Automatic geographic targeting may automatically provide any advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N associated with the current geographic area of the user AA120 AA. The system 100 may determine the geographic area that the advertisement relates to or is associated with the advertisement. For example, if the user AA120AA is physically located within a certain radial distance of the revenue generator A110A, the service provider 130 may display an advertisement for the revenue generator A110A to the user AA120 AA.

In operation, one of the MNOs 115A-N (e.g., the MNO A115A) may request an advertisement from the service provider 130. The MNO A115A may request that an advertisement be displayed to the user AA120AA by making a call to an application programming interface ("API") provided by the service provider 130. The MNO A115A may provide information to the service provider 130 to allow the service provider 130 to return advertisements with relevance. The information may include location data describing the geographic location of the user. The location data may be geographic coordinates, GPS coordinates, data defining the boundaries of an area (e.g., coordinates of a center point and a radial distance extending from the center point), or generally any data that may be used to describe the geographic location of the user. The MNO A115A may retrieve the location data from a GPS chip on the mobile device of the user AA120AA or by triangulating signals sent from the mobile device to one or more cell phone towers. In the case of geographic locations having variable heights (e.g., multi-story buildings), the MNO A115A may provide the height of the user AA120AA to the service provider 130. The height of the user AA120AA may assist the service provider 130 in determining the location of the user AA120AA in a multi-story building. Alternatively or additionally, an application running on the mobile device of the user AA120AA may request an advertisement from the service provider 130. The application may provide location data to the service provider 130. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may request location data from the MNO A115A or from a mobile application running on the mobile device. Alternatively or additionally, the geographic location of the user AA120AA may be transmitted to the service provider 130 in the header of the request.

The service provider 130 may maintain a database of geographic data corresponding to a geographic region, such as a city, state, country, entire planet, or generally any region. The service provider 130 may use the database to determine the revenue generators 110A-N or locations advertised by the revenue generators 110A-N to be located near the current geographic location of the user AA120 AA.

The information received by the service provider 130 with the ad request may be applied to existing client browser targeting mechanisms of the service provider 130. The service provider 130 may use any or all of the received information to target advertisements, such as targeting advertisements to a particular mobile device (e.g., the user AA120 AA), such as the time of day, the user's location, the source of the message, or generally any information provided by the MNO A115A. The advertisement may be transmitted back to the MNO A115A. The MNO A115A may attach or include advertisements to the mobile message or in the mobile webpage and transmit the advertisements to the user AA120 AA. The service provider 130 may store data about the user AA120AA and the advertisement. The data may include demographic data of the user AA120AA and whether the user AA120AA clicked on an advertisement in the mobile message.

Alternatively or additionally, the MNOs 115A-N may display advertisements in the mobile applications of the users 120 AA-NN. For example, the mobile messaging applications of the users 120AA-NN may have advertisement slots in which the MNOs 115A-N may display advertisements. The MNOs 115A-N may request a batch of advertisements for a given geographic area from the service provider 130 for display on the mobile applications of each of the users 120 AA-NN. The MNOs 115A-N may communicate data related to each of the individual users 120AA-NN to the service provider 130. The service provider 130 may use the data associated with each individual user 120AA-NN to retrieve advertisements associated with each of the users 120 AA-NN. The service provider 130 may then transmit batches of advertisements to the MNOs 115A-N relating to the geographic area for each of the users 120 AA-NN. The MNOs 115A-N may then display the advertisements to the users 120 AA-NN.

Further details regarding various aspects of the auction-based system and the structure, function, and operation of the service provider 130 as described above may be found in the following commonly owned patent applications: U.S. patent application No.10/625,082 entitled "TERM-BASED CONCEPT MARKET" filed on 7/22/2003; U.S. patent application No.10/625,000 entitled "CONCEPTVALUATION IN A TERM-BASED CONCEPT MARKET", filed on 7/22/2003; U.S. patent application No.10/625,001 entitled "TERM-BASED CONCEPTINSTRUMENTS" filed on 7/22/2003; and U.S. patent application No.10/489,386 entitled "achitecture FOR AN ADVERTISEMENT DELIVERYSYSTEM," filed 2006, 7, 18, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The systems and methods associated with advertisement campaign management herein may be implemented in conjunction with the methods and systems described in the above-referenced incorporated patent applications.

Further details regarding various aspects of the structure, function, and operation of a mobile advertisement auction based system as described above and a service provider 130 as a mobile advertisement provider may be found in the following commonly owned patent applications: U.S. patent application No.11/712,276, entitled SYSTEM FOR ERVING ADVERTISEMENTS OVER MOBILE DEVICES, filed on 28.2.2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The systems and methods associated with mobile advertising campaign management herein may be implemented in conjunction with the methods and systems described in the above-referenced incorporated patent applications.

In addition, the service provider 130 may generate reports based on data collected from the users 120AA-NN and transmit the reports to the revenue generators 110A-N to assist the revenue generators 110A-N in measuring the effectiveness of their mobile advertisement campaigns in a geographic area. The reports may indicate the number of times the users 120AA-NN viewed the mobile advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N, the number of times the mobile advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N were clicked on by the users 120AA-NN, or generally any information useful to the revenue generators 110A-N.

Alternatively or additionally, the report may also segment the data by displaying the geographic location of the users 120AA-NN as the users 120AA-NN view or interact with the advertisement. The reporting of data segments according to geographic region may allow the revenue generators 110A-N to determine the effectiveness of their advertisement campaigns in each geographic region. The revenue generator A110A may be able to identify the level of detail into which it wishes the geographic area to be segmented. For example, the reports may be divided by country, state, city, or geographic region bounded by the revenue generator A110A. There may be a separate report for each of the MNOs 115A-N on which the advertisement of the revenue generator A110A is displayed. The reports may also generally indicate any data that may help the revenue generators 110A-N measure the effectiveness of their mobile advertising campaigns.

FIG. 2 provides a simplified view of a network environment implementing a system 200 for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. However, not all of the illustrated components may be required, and some implementations may include additional components not shown in the figures. Changes may be made in the arrangement and type of the components without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims. More, different or fewer components may be provided.

The system 200 may include one or more web applications, standalone applications, and mobile applications 210A-N, which may be referred to collectively or individually as client applications of the revenue generators 110A-N. The system 200 may also include one or more mobile applications that may be running on one or more of the mobile devices 220 AA-NN. The system 200 may also include one or more MNO gateway servers 215A-N, a network 230, a network 235, a data store 245, a service provider server 240, a third party server 250, and an advertising services server 260.

Some or all of the advertisement services server 260, the service provider server 240, and the third party server 250 may communicate with each other through the network 235 and may be a system or component described below in FIG. 10. The advertisement services server 260, the third party server 250, and the service provider server 240 may each represent a plurality of linked computing devices. A plurality of different third party servers, such as third party server 250, may be included in system 200. The third party server 250 may be an MNO gateway server 215A-N or a server associated with or in communication with the MNO gateway server 215A-N.

The data store 245 may be operable to store data, such as data regarding interactions with the users 120 AA-NN. Data store 245 may also store data describing geographic regions (e.g., cities, states, countries, or stars). The data may include the name of a place associated with the location data (e.g., geographic coordinates). The location data may describe the geographic location of the place. Data store 245 may include one or more relational or other data stores that may be managed using various known database management techniques, such as SQL and object-based techniques. Alternatively or additionally, data store 245 may be implemented using one or more of magnetic, optical, solid state, or tape drives. The data store 245 may be in communication with the service provider server 240. Alternatively or additionally, the data store 245 may communicate with the service provider server 240 over the network 235.

The networks 230, 235 may include a Wide Area Network (WAN) (e.g., the internet), a Local Area Network (LAN), a campus area network, a metropolitan area network, or any other network that may allow for data communications. Network 230 may include the internet and may include all or part of network 235; network 235 may include all or part of network 230. The networks 230, 235 may be divided into multiple subnets. The subnet may allow access to all other components connected to the networks 230, 235 in the system 200, or the subnet may restrict access between components connected to the networks 230, 235. The network 235 may be considered a public or private network connection and may include, for example, a virtual private network or an encryption or other security mechanism employed over the public internet, among others.

The revenue generators 110A-N may use the web application 210A, standalone application 210B, or mobile application 210N, or any combination thereof, to communicate with the service provider server 240, e.g., via the networks 230, 235. The service provider server 240 may communicate with the revenue generators 110A-N via the networks 230, 235 through a web application, standalone application, or mobile application 210A-N.

The users 120AA-NN may use mobile applications (e.g., mobile web browsers) running on the mobile devices 220AA-NN to communicate with the service provider server 240 via the MNO gateway servers 215A-N and the networks 230, 235. The service provider server 240 may communicate with the users 120AA-NN via the networks 230, 235 and the MNO gateway servers 215A-N through the mobile devices 220 AA-NN.

The web applications, standalone applications, or mobile applications and mobile devices 210A-N, 220AA-NN may be connected to the network 230 in any configuration that supports data transfer. This may include a wired or wireless data connection to the network 230. Any of the web application, standalone application, and mobile applications 210A-N may be referred to individually as a client application. The web application 210A may run on any platform that supports web content, such as a web browser or computer, a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a pager, a network-enabled television, a digital video recorder (e.g., TIVO)) And an automobile and/or any household appliance capable of data communication.

The standalone application 210B may run on a machine that may have a processor, memory, a display, a user interface, and a communication interface. The processor may be operatively connected to the memory, display, and interface, and may perform tasks based on requests of the standalone application 210B or the underlying operating system. The memory is capable of storing data. The display may be operatively connected to the memory and the processor and may be capable of displaying information to the revenue generator B110B. The user interface may be operatively connected to the memory, the processor, and the display, and may be capable of interfacing with the revenue generator A110A. The communication interface may be operatively connected to the memory and processor, and may be capable of communicating with the service provider server 240, the third party server 250, and the advertising services server 260 over the networks 230, 235. The standalone application 210B may be written in any programming language that supports a communication protocol. These languages may include: sun JAVA, C + +, C #, ASP, Sun JAVASCRIPT, asynchronous Sun JAVASCRIPT, or ADOBE FLASH ACTINSCRIPT, and the like.

The mobile application 210N may run on any mobile device that may have a data connection. The mobile application 210N may be a web application 210A, a standalone application 210B, or a mobile browser. The mobile devices 220AA-NN may be one of a wide range of electronic devices that may include mobile phones, PDAs, and laptop and notebook computers. The mobile devices 220AA-NN may have a reduced feature set, such as a smaller keyboard and/or screen, and may not be able to support traditional web searches. The mobile device may have a GPS chip or other hardware device capable of determining the location of the mobile device. Alternatively or additionally, the mobile device may execute an application capable of determining the location of the mobile device, for example, by triangulating signals from the mobile device with cell phone towers or other signal receivers/transmitters.

The data connection of the mobile devices 220AA-NN may be a cellular connection (e.g., a GSM/GPRS/WCDMA connection), a wireless data connection, an Internet connection, an infrared connection, a Bluetooth connection, or any other connection capable of transmitting data. The data connection may be used to connect directly to the network 230 or to connect to the network 230 through the MNO gateway servers 215A-N.

The MNO gateway servers 215A-N may control the access rights that the mobile devices 220AA-NN may have to the networks 230, 235. The MNO gateway servers 215A-N may also control the technology supporting the respective mobile devices 220 AA-NN. This may affect various aspects of the user experience, such as signal strength and availability, speed, and billing mechanisms. For example, the MNO gateway server 215A may only allow the users 120AA-NA access to content provided by the partners of the MNO A115A. Furthermore, the MNO gateway servers 215A-N may only allow the users 120AA-NN to access data having a particular format, such as WML, XHTML, NTT DOCOMO IMODEHTML, or cHTML. Alternatively or additionally, the mobile devices 220AA-NN may only support one of the aforementioned formats.

The MNOs 115A-N may utilize various components to provide these services to the users 120AA-NN, such as a network switching system ("NSS"), a mobile switching center ("MSC"), a mobile switching center server ("MSC-S"), a home location register ("HLR"), an authentication center ("AUC"), a short message service center ("SMSC"), a signal transfer point ("STP"), a message service center ("MSC"), or generally any component that may be used to provide mobile services. The MNOs 115A-N may interface with one or more External Short Message Entities (ESMEs), such as a third party server 250, which may connect to the MNOs 115A-N to send and/or receive mobile messages for the users 120 AA-NN. The ESME may provide voicemail, web, email, or other services to the users 120AA-NN of the MNOs 115A-N.

The service provider server 240 may include one or more of the following: an application server, a data source (e.g., a database server), a middleware (middleware) server, and an advertisement services server. One middleware server may be a mobile commerce platform, such as YAHOO! The SUSHI platform, which may appropriately encode data (e.g., mobile pages or mobile advertisements) into a format specific to the MNO gateway servers 215A-N. The service provider server 240 may coexist on one machine or may run in a distributed configuration on one or more machines. The service provider server 240 may be collectively referred to as a server. The service provider server 240 may receive requests from the users 120AA-NN and the revenue generators 110A-N and may serve mobile pages to the users 120AA-NN and web pages and/or mobile pages to the revenue generators 110A-N based on their requests.

The third party server 250 may include one or more of the following: an application server, a data source (e.g., a database server), a middleware server, and an advertisement services server. The third party server 250 may coexist on one machine or may run in a distributed configuration on one or more machines. Alternatively or additionally, the third party server may be an ESME server. Ad service server 260 may provide a platform for including ads into pages (e.g., web pages or mobile pages). The ad serving server 260 may be used to serve mobile advertisements that may be displayed to the users 120 AA-NN.

The service provider server 240, third party server 250, and advertising services server 260 may be one or more of a variety of computing devices, such as the computing device in FIG. 10. These computing devices may generally include any device that may be configured to perform computations and that is capable of sending and receiving data communications over one or more wired and/or wireless communication interfaces. These devices may be configured to communicate in accordance with any of a variety of network protocols, including but not limited to protocols within the transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite. For example, the web application 210A may use HTTP to request information (e.g., a web page) from a web server, which may be a process executing on the service provider server 240 or the third party server 250.

There may be several configurations of database servers, application servers, middleware servers, and advertising services servers included in the service provider server 240 or the third party server 250. The database servers may include MICROSOFT SQL SERVER, ORACLE, IBM DB2, or any other database software, relationships, and so forth. The application server may be APACHETOMCAT, MICROSOFT IIS, ADOBE COLDFUSION, YAPACHE, or any other application server supporting a communication protocol. The middleware server may be any middleware that connects software components or applications. An application server on the service provider server 240 or the third party server 250 may provide pages, such as web pages, to the users 120AA-NN and the revenue generators 110A-N. The ad serving server may provide a platform for including ads into pages (e.g., web pages). The advertisement service server 260 may also exist independently of the service provider server 240 and the third party server 250.

The networks 230, 235 may be configured to couple one computing device to another computing device to enable data communication between the devices. The networks 230, 235 are generally capable of employing any form of machine-readable media for communicating information from one device to another. Each of the networks 230, 235 may include one or more of the following forms: wireless networks, wired networks, Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), direct connections such as through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, and the like, and may include the collection of interconnected networks that make up the internet. The networks 230, 235 may include any communication method by which information may travel between computing devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an implementation of the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. However, not all of the illustrated components may be required, and some implementations may include additional components not shown in the figures. Changes may be made in the arrangement and type of the components without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims. More, different or fewer components may be provided.

The system 300 may include the service provider server 240, the MNO A gateway server 215A, the mobile devices 220AA-NA, and the users 120 AA-NA. The service provider server 240 may include an MNO API interface 310, a request processor 320, an advertisement delivery system 330, an advertisement data store 340, and a mobile advertisement delivery layer 350. The ad delivery system 330 and ad data store 340 may be used by both web-based and mobile-based ad serving.

In operation, the MNO A gateway server 215A may issue an advertisement request to the service provider server 240 via the MNO API interface 310. The request may include information describing one or more of the users 120 AA-NA. The request may include location data describing the location of one or more of the users 120AA-NA, data identifying the mobile operator, and generally any additional information that may be used to target advertisements. The MNO API interface 310 may transmit the request to the request handler 320. The request processor 320 may process data from the MNO a gateway server 215A to format the data from the request into a standard form used by the ad delivery system 330. The ad delivery system 330 may also provide advertisements for web browser-based targeting and mobile-based targeting. The processing of the data may include parsing the demographic information of the recipient, processing the location data into a standard format, such as geographic coordinates or a matrix of geographic coordinates. The request processor 320 may also determine a maximum length of the advertisement to comply with the space limitations of the mobile devices 220 AA-NA. Alternatively or additionally, the MNO a gateway server 215A may provide a maximum allowable length of the advertisement.

The ad delivery system 330 may retrieve an ad associated with the processed data from the ad data store 340. For example, if the MNO A115A transmits the current location of the user BA120BA to the service provider 130, the advertisement delivery system 330 may retrieve an advertisement that is relevant to the current geographic location of the user BA120 BA. The advertisement may be for an item located near the geographic location of the user BA120BA, a revenue generator a110A located near the geographic location of the user BA120BA, an item matching the behavioral profile of the user BA120BA and located near the geographic location, an item related to the current mobile behavior of the user BA120BA located near the geographic location, or generally any combination of known targeting techniques in conjunction with the geographic location of the user BA120 BA.

The revenue generators 110A-N may elect to participate in the geographic targeting system 100 and may identify the geographic area that they wish their advertisements to be targeted. Alternatively or additionally, the revenue generators 110A-N may elect to participate in an automatic geographic targeting system that may automatically target their advertisements to users in a geographic area associated with the advertisements and/or the revenue generators 110A-N.

The ad delivery system 330 may then transmit the ad to the mobile ad delivery layer 350. The mobile ad delivery layer 350 may shorten the link or URL associated with the advertisement, such as by storing a mapping of the original link to the shortened link. Short links may be required to meet the space requirements of the mobile device. The mobile ad delivery layer 350 may then communicate the text and links of the advertisement to the MNO API interface 310. The MNO API interface 310 may then communicate the advertisement and the link to the MNO A gateway server 215A. The MNO A gateway server 215A may attach advertisements and links to mobile messages, mobile web pages, applications running on one of the mobile devices 220AA-NA, or generally any method of displaying advertisements to the mobile devices 220 AA-NA.

The user BA120BA may view the mobile advertisement on their mobile device 220 BA. If the user BA120BA selects a link, the mobile web browser of the user BA120BA may be directed to the link represented by the short link. The short link may direct the mobile browser of the user BA120BA to the service provider server 240. The service provider server 240 may store data indicating that the user BA120BA clicked on the mobile message advertisement, and may then redirect the browser of the user BA120BA to the link mapped to the short link.

Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may display the geographically targeted advertisement to one of the users 120AA-NA, such as the user AA120 AA. In this example, the service provider server 240 may request data describing the geographic location of the user AA120AA from the mobile device 220AA and/or the MNO A gateway server 215A. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider server 240 may determine the location of the user AA120AA based on the user AA120 AA's request. For example, the user AA120AA may search for "hairdressers in Chicago". The service provider server 240 may determine that the user AA120AA is located in Chicago and may provide the geographically targeted mobile advertisement to the user AA120AA in relation to Chicago. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider 130 may access a user profile of the user AA120AA to determine the home location of the user AA120 AA.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. At block 410, the service provider server 240 may receive a request for advertisements targeted to a mobile operator and a geographic location. The request may originate from a third party server 250 or one of the mobile devices 220AA-NN, such as the mobile device 220 AA. At block 420, the service provider server 240 may identify a mobile operator that provides mobile services to the mobile device 220 AA. Alternatively or additionally, in the case of a roaming mobile device 220AA, the service provider server 240 may identify the home mobile operator associated with the mobile device 220 AA. The service provider server 240 may be able to determine the mobile operator by parsing the request and/or parsing the header of the request.

At block 430, the service provider server 240 may determine the geographic location of the mobile device 220 AA. The geographic location may have been transmitted to the service provider server 240 with the request, for example by a third party application running on the mobile device 220AA or by the MNO A gateway server 215A. Alternatively or additionally, the geographic location may be identifiable based on an item searched by the user AA120AA (e.g., "hairdresser near Chicago"). Alternatively or additionally, the geographic location of the residence of the user AA120AA may be retrieved from the user profile of the user AA120 AA.

At block 440, the system 100 may determine whether the request contains information describing the location of the mobile device 220 AA. If the request does not contain information describing the location of the mobile device 220AA, the system 100 moves to block 450. At block 450, the service provider server 240 may request the geographic location of the mobile device 220AA from the MNO A115A. The MNO A115A may have access to data describing the cell phone tower that the mobile device 220AA is communicating on. The MNO A115A may also be capable of determining the geographic location of the mobile device 220AA by triangulating signals transmitted from the mobile device 220AA to a plurality of cellular telephone towers. These methods may not result in the exact location of the mobile device 220AA, but rather in the approximate area in which the mobile device 220AA may be located. Alternatively or additionally, if the mobile device 220AA has GPS functionality, the MNO A115A may have access to the GPS location of the mobile device 220 AA.

Alternatively or additionally, the service provider server 240 may request the location of the mobile device 220AA from the mobile device 220 AA. The mobile device 220AA may have installed a helper program (e.g., a mapping application) provided by the service provider server 240 on the mobile device 220 AA. If the mobile device 220AA has GPS functionality or other functionality capable of determining the location of the mobile device 220AA, the helper program may be authorized to transmit data describing the location to the service provider server 240.

If, at block 440, the request contains data describing the location of the mobile device 220AA, the system 100 may move to block 460. At block 460, the service provider server 240 may retrieve the advertisement targeted to the geographic location of the mobile device 220AA and the mobile operator. At block 470, the service provider server 240 may provide the advertisement to the mobile device 220AA, such as by transmitting the advertisement to the MNO A115A or by transmitting the advertisement directly to the mobile device 220 AA.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operations for targeting advertisements to geographic areas in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. At block 510, one of the revenue generators 110A-N (e.g., revenue generator A110A) may interact with the service provider server 240, for example, by logging onto a mobile advertising management page. At block 520, the revenue generator A110A may identify one or more mobile operators to which the advertisement will be targeted. The advertisement may only be displayed when one of the users 120AA-NN communicates through the one or more mobile operators.

At block 530, the revenue generator A110A may identify a geographic location or geographic area targeted by the advertisement. The revenue generator A110A may enter one or more of a city name, a state name, a zip code, geographic coordinates, GPS coordinates, or generally any method for identifying a geographic area. The advertisements may be provided to the users 120AA-NN only when the users 120AA-NN are physically located within the geographic area.

At block 540, the revenue generator may identify advertisements to be displayed to the users 120AA-NN when the users 120AA-NN are connected to the identified carrier and within the identified geographic area. At block 550, the service provider server 240 may store the associations between mobile operators, geographic regions, and advertisements in the data store 245.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations for providing geographic area targeted advertisements to mobile operators in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving geographic area targeted advertisements over mobile devices. At block 610, the service provider server 240 may receive a request from one of the MNOs 115A-N (e.g., the MNO A115A) for an advertisement targeted to a geographic area. The request may be transmitted to the service provider server 240 through the MNO API interface 310. At block 620, the service provider server 240 may receive a location descriptor from the MNO A115A describing the targeted geographic area. The location descriptor may be the geographic coordinates of a location or generally use any method for describing a geographic area or location. At block 630, the service provider server 240 may retrieve the advertisement targeted to the geographic location and the MNO A115A. At block 640, the service provider server 240 may provide the advertisement to the MNO A115A, such as by transmitting the advertisement via the MNO API interface 310.

FIG. 7 is a screenshot of a revenue generator's page 700 for configuring targeting advertisements to a geographic area in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. The page may include a campaign name field 710, a geographic market field 720, and a geographic market selector 730. The geographic market region 720 may display the geographic market targeted by the currently selected advertisement campaign. An advertisement campaign may reference one or more listings; each list item may target one or more mobile operators.

In FIG. 7, the campaign targets "United states and Canada". Using the geographic market selector 730, the revenue generators 110A-N can select whether to target the entire market or a particular region of the market. If the revenue generators 110A-N wish to target their advertisement campaigns to a particular area, the system 100 may open an additional page or window that may allow the revenue generators 110A-N to specify the particular geographic area or range to which they wish to target the advertisement campaign.

FIG. 8 illustrates that in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices, the mobile device 220AA displays advertisements targeted to geographic areas related to content on a page. The mobile device 220AA may include a screen 800. Screen 800 may include content 810 and advertisements 820. In FIG. 8, content 810 is associated with a geographic location, which is "New York". When the user AA120AA requests information about the "New York custom," the service provider server 240 may have inferred from the request that the user AA120AA is located in the New York area. The service provider server 240 may then retrieve an advertisement, such as advertisement 820, targeted for the new york area.

FIG. 9 shows an illustration of a mobile device 220AA displaying advertisements targeted to geographic areas unrelated to content on a page in the system of FIG. 1 or other systems for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices. The mobile device 220AA may include a screen 800, and the mobile device 220AA may be physically located within the new york area. The screen 800 may include content 910 and advertisements 810. Content 910 may be unrelated to a geographic area. The service provider server 240 may perform content matching on the content 910 to determine whether the content relates to a geographic area. Alternatively or additionally, the service provider server 240 may traverse the links referenced by the content 910 to determine the geographic region associated with the content 910.

The content 910 in FIG. 9 is not shown as being directly related to a geographic area, and thus the service provider server 240 may not be able to infer the location of the user AA120AA from the content 910. In this case, the service provider server 240 may request the geographic location of the mobile device 220AA from the MNO A115A or from the mobile device 220 AA. After receiving the descriptor of the geographic location, the service provider server 240 may determine that the geographic location is new york. The service provider server 240 may then retrieve advertisements 810 that are geographically targeted to New York, such as for "Visiting New York? "is selected.

FIG. 10 illustrates a general computer system 1000, which may represent the service provider server 240, the third party server 250, the advertising services server 260, one of the mobile devices 220AA-NN, or any other computing device referenced herein. However, not all of the illustrated components may be required, and some implementations may include additional components not shown in the figures. Changes may be made in the arrangement and type of the components without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims. More, different or fewer components may be provided.

The computer system 1000 may include a set of instructions 1024 that may be executed to cause the computer system 1000 to perform any one or more of the methods or computer-based functions disclosed herein. The computer system 1000 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected to other computer systems or peripheral devices, for example, using a network.

In a networked deployment, the computer system may operate in the capacity of a server or as a client user computer in a server-client user network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The computer system 1000 may also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as a Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile device, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a communications device, a wireless telephone, a landline telephone, a control system, a camera, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a printer, a pager, a personal trusted device, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions 1024 (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. In particular embodiments, computer system 1000 may be implemented using electronic devices that provide voice, video, or data communications. Further, while a single computer system 1000 may be illustrated, the term "system" shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or subsystems that individually or jointly execute a set or multiple sets of instructions to perform one or more computer functions.

As shown in fig. 10, computer system 1000 may include a processor 1002, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or both. The processor 1002 may be a component in various systems. For example, the processor 1002 may be part of a standard personal computer or workstation. The processor 1002 may be one or more general processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, servers, networks, digital circuits, analog circuits, combinations thereof, or other now known or later developed devices for analyzing and processing data. The processor 1002 may implement a software program, such as manually generated (i.e., programmed) code.

The computer system 1000 may include a memory 1004 that may communicate via a bus 1008. The memory 1004 may be a main memory, a static memory, or a dynamic memory. Memory 1004 may include, but may not be limited to, computer-readable storage media such as various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media, including but not limited to random access memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, electrically erasable read only memory, flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media, and so forth. In one case, the memory 1004 may include a cache or random access memory for the processor 1002. Alternatively or in addition, the memory 1004 may be separate from the processor 1002 (e.g., a cache memory of a processor), the system memory, or other memory. The memory 1004 may be an external storage device or database for storing data. Examples may include a hard disk drive, a compact disc ("CD"), a digital video disc ("DVD"), a memory card, a memory stick, a floppy disk, a universal serial bus ("USB") memory device, or any other device operative to store data. The memory 1004 may be operable to store instructions 1024 executable by the processor 1002. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures or described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 1002 executing the instructions 1024 stored on the memory 1004. The functions, acts or tasks may be independent of the particular type of instructions set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, micro code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.

The computer system 1000 may also include a display 1014, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), flat panel display, solid state display, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), projector, printer, or other now known or later developed display device for outputting the determined information. The display 1014 may serve as an interface for a user to view the functions of the processor 1002, or specifically as an interface with software stored in the memory 1004 or the drive unit 1006.

Additionally, computer system 1000 may include an input device 1012 configured to allow a user to interact with any of the components of system 1000. The input device 1012 may be a number pad, a keyboard or cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), or a joystick, touch screen display, remote control, or any other device operative to interact with the system 1000.

The computer system 1000 may also include a disk or optical drive unit 1006. The disk drive unit 1006 may include a computer-readable medium 1022 in which one or more sets of instructions 1024, e.g., software, may be embedded. Further, the instructions 1024 may perform one or more of the methods or logic described herein. The instructions 1024 may reside, completely or at least partially, within the memory 1004 and/or within the processor 1002 during execution thereof by the computer system 1000. The memory 1004 and processor 1002 may also include computer-readable media as described above.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium 1022 that includes instructions 1024 or receives and executes instructions 1024 in response to a propagated signal; so that devices connected to the network 235 can communicate voice, video, audio, images, or any other data over the network 235. The instructions 1024 may be implemented using hardware, software, and/or firmware, or any combination thereof. Further, the instructions 1024 may be transmitted or received over the network 235 via the communication interface 1018. The communication interface 1018 may be a part of the processor 1002 or may be a separate component. The communication interface 1018 may be created in software or may be a physical connection in hardware. Communication interface 1018 may be configured to connect to network 235, external media, display 1014, or any other component or combination of components in system 1000. The connection to the network 235 may be a physical connection, such as a wired ethernet connection or may be established wirelessly as described below. Likewise, additional connections to other components of system 1000 may be physical connections or may be established wirelessly. In the case of the service provider server 240, the third party server 250, the advertisement services server 260, the servers may communicate with the users 120AA-NN and the revenue generators 110A-N via the communication interface 1018.

The network 235 may include a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, or WiMax network. Further, the network 235 may be a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., an intranet), or a combination thereof, and may utilize various networking protocols now available or later developed, including but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

The computer-readable medium 1022 may be a single medium, or the computer-readable medium 1022 may be a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable medium" may also include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor and that may cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.

The computer-readable medium 1022 may include a solid-state memory, such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories. The computer-readable medium 1022 may also be a random access memory or other volatile rewritable memory. Additionally, the computer-readable medium 1022 may include a magneto-optical or optical medium, such as a disk or tape, or any storage device for capturing a carrier wave signal (e.g., a signal transmitted over a transmission medium). A digital file attachment to an email or other self-contained information document or collection of documents may be considered a distribution medium that may serve as a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the disclosure may be considered to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored.

Alternatively or in addition, dedicated hardware implementations (e.g., application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices) can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments may broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that may be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system may encompass software, firmware, and hardware implementations.

The methods described herein may be implemented by a software program executable by a computer system. Further, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively or additionally, virtual computer system processing may be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functions described herein.

Although the components and functions may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the components and functions are not limited to these standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and other packet-switched network transmissions (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. These standards are periodically overridden by faster or more efficient equivalents having substantially the same function. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents.

The illustrations described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus, processors, and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Some portions of the illustrations may be exaggerated, while other portions may be minimized. The present disclosure and figures are, therefore, to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description.

The abstract is provided not to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing detailed description, various features may be grouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed to less than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter.

The above-disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.

Claims (20)

1. A method of serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices, comprising:

receiving a request associated with a mobile device, wherein the mobile device is associated with a mobile operator;

determining a geographic location associated with the request;

identifying advertisements targeted to the geographic area and a mobile operator of the mobile device; and

providing the advertisement to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic location associated with the request further comprises receiving a descriptor of the geographic location from the mobile operator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic location associated with the request further comprises retrieving a descriptor of the geographic area from a search request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic location associated with the request further comprises receiving a descriptor of the geographic location from the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic location associated with the request further comprises:

identifying a user profile associated with the request; and

retrieving the geographic location from the user profile.

6. A method of targeting advertisements to a geographic area, comprising:

providing an interface that enables advertisers to identify keywords, mobile operators, geographic regions, and advertisements;

associating the advertisement with the mobile operator, the geographic area, and the keyword; and

providing the advertisement to a mobile device associated with the mobile operator when a user located within the geographic area searches for the keyword using a mobile device associated with the mobile operator.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein associating the advertisement with the mobile operator, the geographic area, and the keyword further comprises: associating a bid amount with the keyword, the mobile operator, and the geographic area for the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the bid amount comprises an amount paid by an owner of the advertisement when the advertisement is displayed on the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the interface comprises a web page.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the mobile device communicates with the mobile operator.

11. A method of providing advertisements targeted to geographic areas to a mobile operator, comprising:

receiving a request from a mobile operator to display an advertisement on a mobile device;

a descriptor identifying a geographic location associated with a physical location of the mobile device;

retrieving an advertisement associated with the descriptor of the geographic location and the mobile operator; and

providing the advertisement to the mobile operator for display on the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the descriptor of the geographic location associated with the physical location of the mobile device further comprises receiving the descriptor of the geographic location from the mobile operator.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the descriptor of the geographic location associated with the physical location of the mobile device further comprises receiving the descriptor of the geographic location from the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the descriptor comprises a set of coordinates, the coordinates identified by a positioning system.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

16. A system for serving advertisements targeted to geographic areas over mobile devices, comprising:

a memory for storing a request and an advertisement associated with a mobile device;

an interface operatively connected to the memory for communicating with the mobile device, wherein the mobile device is associated with a mobile operator; and

a processor operatively connected to the memory and the interface, the processor to execute instructions, wherein the processor receives a request associated with the mobile device, determines a geographic location associated with the request, identifies an advertisement targeted to the geographic area and the mobile operator, and provides the advertisement to the mobile device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the interface is further operative to receive a descriptor of the geographic location from the mobile operator, and the processor is further operative to determine the geographic location from the descriptor.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further operative to retrieve a descriptor of the geographic area from a search request and determine the geographic location from the descriptor.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the interface is further operative to receive a descriptor of the geographic location from the mobile device, and the processor is further operative to determine the geographic location from the descriptor.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further operative to identify a user profile associated with the request, retrieve the geographic location from the user profile, and determine the geographic location from the descriptor.