Automatic generation of electronic advertising messages

Abstract

A facility for generating an advertising message is described. The facility extracts visual content from a model web page. The facility then constructs an advertising message that contains the extracted visual content.

1 . A method in a computing system for generating an advertising message, comprising:
 receiving a URL corresponding to a web page;   without any user input:
 retrieving a copy of the web page; 
 matching patterns in the retrieved copy of the web to identify in the retrieved copy of the web page information specifying visual features of the web page; and 
 constructing a plurality of advertising messages each incorporating at least a portion of the visual features of the web page specified by the identified information. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 previewing at least one of the constructed advertising messages; and   providing a user interface usable by a user to modify at least one of the constructed advertising messages.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising launching an advertising campaign for presenting at least one of the constructed advertising messages on publisher web pages. 
     
     
         4 . A method in a computing system for generating an advertising message, comprising:
 extracting visual content from a model web page; and   constructing an advertising message that contains the extracted visual content.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising extracting audio content from the model web page,
 and wherein the constructed advertising message contains the extracted audio content.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracted visual content comprises text in a particular format. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracted visual content comprises text in a particular color. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracted visual content comprises a particular background color. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracted visual content comprises an image. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracted visual content comprises a video sequence. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracted visual content comprises a plurality of images,
 and wherein the constructed advertising message contains a control for navigating among the extracted plurality of images.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the constructed advertising message contains a link to the model web page. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising receiving user input user identifying the model web page,
 wherein the extracting and constructing are performed in response to receiving user input user identifying the model web page, without receiving any further user input.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracting comprises:
 parsing HTML source for the model web page to identify tags each matching one of a set of sought tag types; and   for each of the identified tags, adding an asset to the constructed advertising message that corresponds to the identified tag.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracting comprises:
 parsing HTML source for the model web page to identify strings each matching one of a set of sought regular expressions; and   for each of the identified string, adding an asset to the constructed advertising message that corresponds to the identified string.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising extracting visual content from one or more pages linked to from the model web page, and wherein the constructed advertising message contains the visual content extracted from the pages linked to from the model web page. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the extracting comprises:
 sending a visual content request to a publisher of the model web page; and   receiving from the publisher a visual content response containing the extracted visual content.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising receiving user input generated by a user's operation of a control on the model web page for constructing an advertising message that is based on the model web page,
 and wherein the extracting is performed in response to the user input generated by the user's operation of the control.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising receiving input from a user selecting the visual content to be extracted from the model web page. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising receiving user input specifying payment information to be used to pay for presentation of the constructed advertising message. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising presenting the constructed advertising message among content published by a publisher. 
     
     
         22 . A computing system for generating an advertising message, comprising:
 an extraction subsystem that extracts content from a model web page; and   an advertising message construction subsystem that constructs an advertising message containing the extracted content.   
     
     
         23 . A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to perform a method for generating an advertising message, the method comprising:
 extracting visual content from a model web page; and   constructing an advertising message that includes the extracted visual content.   
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 23  wherein the method further comprises:
 presenting the constructed advertising message to a user, together with a control for modifying the constructed advertising message;   receiving user input manipulating the displayed control; and   modifying the constructed advertising message in accordance with the received user input.   
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 24  wherein the presented control comprises both a drop target region and a gallery of media elements, any of which can be dragged to the drop target region in order to incorporate the media element in the modified constructed advertising message. 
     
     
         26 . One or more computer memories collectively containing an advertising message data structure, comprising information specifying the display of an advertising message comprising visual content extracted from a model web page, such that the contents of the data structure may be used to display the advertising message. 
     
     
         27 . A data transmission network conveying an advertising message data structure, comprising information specifying the display of an advertising message comprising visual content extracted from a model web page, such that the contents of the data structure may be used to display the advertising message. 
     
     
         28 . One or more computer memories collectively containing a web page data structure, comprising information specifying the display of a web page, the web page containing a control that may be activated by a user in order to automatically generate an advertising message that is modeled on the web page. 
     
     
         29 . A data transmission network conveying a web page data structure, comprising information specifying the display of a web page, the web page containing a control that may be activated by a user in order to automatically generate an advertising message that is modeled on the web page. 
     
     
         30 . A method in a computing system for facilitating the generation of an advertising message, comprising:
 receiving from an advertising message generation service a visual content request identifying a published web page;   retrieving from a store of information used to publish web pages including the identified web page visual content of the identified web page; and   returning the retrieved visual content to the advertising message generation service in response to the visual content request.   
     
     
         31 . One or more computer memories collectively containing a web page parsing instructions table data structure corresponding to a group of web pages, comprising a plurality of entries, a each entry comprising information specifying at least one of a container element, a container class, a container attribute, and a search expression identifying a property to be extracted from a web page among the group of web pages,
 such that the contents of the data structure may be used to extract from a web page among a group of web pages the properties identified by the entries.