System and method for preparing data used to determine advertisements displayed to communications node visitors

Abstract

A method for transacting an advertisement transfer is disclosed which facilitates expressing the rate structure for the individual advertisement as a function of a profile of the individual potential customer; and which is directed to the creation of a mechanism from the vantage of an Internet site that is being visited. It should be appreciated that this must include the participation of other entities in the Internet (such as distributors, clients, intermediary agencies, etc.). The method is for transacting an advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method including, upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, the communication node performing the steps of: constructing a visitor profile; broadcasting the profile to at least one distributor; collecting responses from the at least one distributor; selecting a response from the at least one responding distributor; contracting, between the node and the at least one distributor of the selected response, a transference of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor; and effecting a transfer of the advertisement to the visitor.

1 - 37 . (canceled) 
     
     
         38 . A method for preparing data used in transacting an advertisement transfer from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method performed prior to the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, the method comprising:
 (a) receiving over the Internet from at least one advertisement distributor an electronic bid that includes:
 (i) a first offer price where a visitor to the communications node has a subset of attributes; and 
 (ii) one or more supplemental offer prices, each for where the visitor has an individual attribute in addition to the subset of attributes; and 
   (b) in response to receipt of the electronic bid, automatically with a computer:
 (i) spreading the electronic bid to form a number of combinations of various attributes; 
 (ii) determining an overall bid price of each of the combinations of attributes based on logically and arithmetically aggregating the offer prices of the bid; and 
 (iii) electronically saving, in an electronic storage accessible to the computer, data identifying each attribute combination with its respective overall bid price and the distributor. 
   
     
     
         39 . The method according to  claim 38  further comprising, upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, with a computer connected to the communication node, automatically electronically: (i) accessing a profile associated with the visitor containing various attributes; (ii) selecting from the data an attribute combination that contains only attributes matching the profile; and (iii) effecting a transfer of an advertisement to the visitor from a distributor associated with the selected attribute combination. 
     
     
         40 . The method according to  claim 39  wherein the attribute combination selected from the data is an attribute combination that yields the highest overall bid price from among all of the attribute combinations in the data that contain only attributes matching the profile. 
     
     
         41 . The method according to  claim 39  wherein the selecting from the data is of multiple attribute combinations. 
     
     
         42 . The method according to  claim 39  further comprising electronically storing a record of the advertisement transferred to the visitor for intentional subsequent transfer to the same visitor or for intentional avoidance of subsequent transfer to the same visitor. 
     
     
         43 . The method according to  claim 39  further comprising, upon the occurrence of the visitor visitation at the communication node, automatically electronically enhancing the visitor profile using at least one profile database connected to the computer connected to the communication node. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the overall bid price identifies the payment that the distributor is offering if the visitor clicks the advertisement. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the overall bid price identifies the payment that the distributor is offering if the visitor is shown the advertisement. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the overall bid price identifies the payment that the distributor is offering if the visitor buys merchandise after viewing the advertisement. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 38  wherein the subset of attributes in part (a)(i) is a subset of attributes consisting of a single attribute. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 38  wherein spreading the electronic bid to form a number of combinations of various attributes comprises creating all possible combinations of the subset of attributes and the additional individual attributes. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 38  wherein the received electronic bid further includes a maximum offer price capping the overall price for delivery of the associated advertisement, regardless of how many matching attributes a visitor has, and the number of combinations of various attributes in part (b) are constrained by the maximum offer price. 
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 49  wherein at least one of the supplemental offer prices is expressed as a fraction of the associated first offer price. 
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 38  wherein at least some attributes comprise the fact that the visitor lacks a certain characteristic. 
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 38  wherein at least one of the supplemental offer prices is expressed as a fraction of the associated first offer price. 
     
     
         53 . A system for preparing data used in transacting an advertisement transfer from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the system comprising an electronic storage, and a computer system coupled to the electronic storage and structured, configured, and programmed to:
 (a) receive over the Internet from at least one advertisement distributor an electronic bid that includes:
 (i) a first offer price where a visitor to the communications node has a subset of attributes; and 
 (ii) one or more supplemental offer prices, each for where the visitor has an individual attribute in addition to the subset of attributes; and 
   (b) in response to receipt of the electronic bid, automatically:
 (i) spread the electronic bid to form a number of combinations of various attributes; 
 (ii) determine an overall bid price of each of the combinations of attributes based on logically and arithmetically aggregating the offer prices of the bid; and 
 (iii) electronically save in the electronic storage data identifying each attribute combination with its respective overall bid price and the distributor. 
   
     
     
         54 . The system according to  claim 53  further comprising a computer connected to the communication node that is structured, configured, and programmed to, upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at the communications node, automatically electronically: (i) access a profile associated with the visitor containing various attributes; (ii) select from the data an attribute combination that contains only attributes matching the profile; and (iii) effect a transfer of an advertisement to the visitor from a distributor associated with the selected attribute combination. 
     
     
         55 . The system according to  claim 54  wherein the computer connected to the communications node is further structured, configured, and programmed to select from the data multiple attribute combinations. 
     
     
         56 . The system according to  claim 54  wherein the computer connected to the communications node is further structured, configured, and programmed to electronically store a record of the advertisement transferred to the visitor for intentional subsequent transfer to the same visitor or for intentional avoidance of subsequent transfer to the same visitor. 
     
     
         57 . The system according to  claim 54  wherein the computer connected to the communications node is further structured, configured, and programmed to, upon the occurrence of the visitor visitation at the communication node, automatically electronically enhance the visitor profile using at least one profile database connected to the computer connected to the communications node. 
     
     
         58 . A tangible, computer-readable storage medium storing a set of computer-readable instructions in one or more modules that, when executed by one or more processors, perform a method for preparing data used in transacting an advertisement transfer from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method performed prior to the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, the method comprising:
 (a) receiving over the Internet from at least one advertisement distributor an electronic bid that includes:
 (i) a first offer price where a visitor to the communications node has a subset of attributes; and 
 (ii) one or more supplemental offer prices, each for where the visitor has an individual attribute in addition to the subset of attributes; and 
   (b) in response to receipt of the electronic bid, automatically:
 (i) spreading the electronic bid to form a number of combinations of various attributes; 
 (ii) determining an overall bid price of each of the combinations of attributes based on logically and arithmetically aggregating the offer prices of the bid; and 
 (iii) electronically saving in an electronic storage data identifying each attribute combination with its respective overall bid price and the distributor. 
   
     
     
         59 . The storage medium according to  claim 58  further comprising a tangible, computer-readable storage medium storing a set of computer-readable instructions in one or more modules accessible by a computer connected to the communication node that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the method of, upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, automatically electronically: (i) accessing a profile associated with the visitor containing various attributes; (ii) selecting from the data an attribute combination that contains only attributes matching the profile; and (iii) effecting a transfer of an advertisement to the visitor from a distributor associated with the selected attribute combination. 
     
     
         60 . The storage medium according to  claim 59  wherein the set of computer-readable instructions accessible by the computer connected to the communication node performs the method wherein the selecting from the data is of multiple attribute combinations. 
     
     
         61 . The storage medium according to  claim 59  wherein the set of computer-readable instructions accessible by the computer connected to the communication node performs the method further comprising electronically storing a record of the advertisement transferred to the visitor for intentional subsequent transfer to the same visitor or for intentional avoidance of subsequent transfer to the same visitor. 
     
     
         62 . The storage medium according to  claim 59  wherein the set of computer-readable instructions accessible by the computer connected to the communication node performs the method further comprising, upon the occurrence of the visitor visitation at the communication node, automatically electronically enhancing the visitor profile using at least one profile database connected to the computer connected to the communication node.