Managing sponsored content based on device characteristics

Abstract

Improved mobile content presentation capabilities are disclosed for mobile communications facilities, such as cell phones. Information relating to the user characteristics associated with a mobile communication facility and rendering capabilities thereof are employed to improve the presentation and relevance of mobile content to appropriate or desirable mobile communication facilities.

1 . A computer-implemented method for distribution of advertising of a first or second sponsor on a plurality of mobile communication facilities, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) providing a database containing a list of at least a first and second type of mobile communication facility, wherein the first type of mobile communication facility has a different rendering capability associated therewith than the second type of mobile communication facility;   (b) receiving at least a first and second advertisement content associated with an advertising of the first sponsor, wherein the first advertisement content has a rendering requirement corresponding only to the rendering capability of the first type of mobile communication facility and the second advertisement content has a rendering requirement corresponding only to the rendering capability of the second type of mobile communication facility;   (c) receiving at least a first and second advertisement content associated with an advertising of the second sponsor, wherein the first advertisement content has a rendering requirement corresponding only to the rendering capability of the first type of mobile communication facility and the second advertisement content has a rendering requirement corresponding only to the rendering capability of the second type of mobile communication facility;   (d) receiving a first advertisement content request in response to a first user accessing mobile content using the first type of mobile communication facility;   (e) receiving a second advertisement content request in response to a second user accessing mobile content using the second type of mobile communication facility;   (f) determining that the advertising of the first sponsor is to be used to fulfill the first advertisement content request instead of the advertising of the second sponsor based upon a determination that the advertising of the first sponsor is more relevant than the advertising of the second sponsor;   (g) determining that the advertising of the first sponsor is to be used to fulfill the second advertisement content request instead of the advertising of the second sponsor based upon a determination that the advertising of the first sponsor is more relevant that the advertising of the second sponsor; and   (h) based on a determination that the first user is accessing the mobile content using the first type of mobile communication facility and the second user is accessing the mobile content using the second type of mobile communication facility:
 (i) transmitting the first advertisement content of the first sponsor to the first type of mobile communication facility for display in or for association with the mobile content; and 
 (ii) transmitting the second advertisement content of the first sponsor to the second type of mobile communication facility for display in or for association with the mobile content. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second type are manufacturers or models. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering capability is a predefined screen resolution. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering capability is video playback support. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the rendering capability further includes one or more of:
 (a) MIDP support;   (b) polyphonic ringtone support;   (c) ringtone support;   (d) video download support;   (e) video streaming support;   (f) WAP push support;   (g) WML support;   (h) wallpaper support;   (i) XHTML support; and   (j) touch screen support.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the respective relevancies relate to the first user and the second user, wherein the relevancy is determined using one or more mobile subscriber characteristics of the first user and the second user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile subscriber characteristic is a geographic region. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile subscriber characteristic is a demographic selected from the list consisting of:
 (a) age or birthdate of the user;   (b) gender of the user;   (c) race of the user;   (d) religion of the user;   (e) marital status of the user;   (f) area code of the phone number assigned to the mobile communication facility;   (g) zip code of the user;   (h) home address of the user;   (i) work address of the user;   (j) billing address of the user;   (k) type of credit card the user uses to pay for service for the mobile communication facility;   (l) birthplace of the user;   (m) employer of the user;   (n) employment position of the user; and   (o) income bracket of the user.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile subscriber characteristic is selected from the list consisting of:
 (a) payment and billing history associated with the user of the mobile communication facility;   (b) the duration of on-line interactions by the user from using the mobile communication facility;   (c) number of on-line interactions of the user via the mobile communication facility;   (d) usage patterns of the mobile communication facility dependent on location or time of day of use thereof;   (e) type of content accessed by the user via the mobile communication facility; and   (f) previous search queries entered by the user via the mobile communication facility.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the respective relevancies relate to yield optimization, wherein a yield associated with the advertising of the first sponsor is greater than the yield associated with the advertising of the second sponsor. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile content is a web page. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile content is a video. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile content is an application. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile content is an MMS message. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the mobile content is a WAP push.