Selecting Advertisements from One or More Databases for Sending to a Publisher

Abstract

An advertising system determines the context of a user accessing a publication media (e.g., an online web site). The advertising system retrieves candidate advertisements from one or more databases based on the user's context (e.g., a user search request). The advertising system selects particular advertisements and then sends them to the user (e.g. for display on the user's terminal or device).

1 . A method, comprising:
 determining a user context;   retrieving, via a data processing system, candidate advertisements from at least one advertisement database to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context;   selecting, via the data processing system, a set of advertisements from the advertisement candidate pool; and   sending the set of advertisements.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the determining the user context comprises receiving a first advertisement request comprising user search data corresponding to a search request of a user, the user search data including a search term;   the retrieving is based on the search term; and   the sending the set of advertisements is in reply to the first advertisement request.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the user search data further includes a search location, and the retrieving is further based on the search location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising logging performance data regarding user interactions with the set of advertisements, adding the performance data to an historical performance database, and wherein the retrieving is further based on data in the historical performance database. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selecting the set of advertisements comprises scoring advertisements in the advertisement candidate pool according to a ranking function. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the selecting the set of advertisements comprises selecting the set of advertisements using weighted advertisement rotation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selecting the set of advertisements comprises sorting advertisements in the advertisement candidate pool into at least a first bucket and a second bucket, and the selecting further comprises associating the first bucket with a higher advertisement selection priority than the second bucket. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising providing an annotation to each advertisement in the set of advertisements for use in tracking the respective advertisement, and receiving tracking data corresponding to each respective advertisement. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one advertisement database comprises a first database and a second database, the first database storing subscription advertisements and the second database storing pay-per-call advertisements. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first advertisement request is a request for a subscription advertisement from a first publisher, and the method further comprising receiving a second advertisement request for a pay-per-call advertisement from a second publisher, wherein the first and second requests are received using a common application programming interface supported by the data processing system. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the user context comprises identifying a user as belonging to a demographic category, and wherein the retrieving is based on the demographic category. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the sending the set of advertisements comprises sending the set of advertisements to a publisher, and the method further comprising eliminating advertisement candidates from consideration for the advertisement candidate pool that are not in compliance with business rules provided by the publisher prior to the retrieving. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving, via the data processing system, advertisements from an advertiser, and storing the advertisements from the advertiser in the at least one database. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first advertisement request is received through an application programming interface, and the advertisements from the advertiser are received, via a data processing system of the publisher, through the application programming interface. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions, the instructions causing a data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
 determining a user context;   retrieving, via the data processing system, candidate advertisements from at least one advertisement database to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context;   selecting, via the data processing system, a set of advertisements from the advertisement candidate pool; and   sending the set of advertisements.   
     
     
         16 . The storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the determining the user context comprises receiving a first advertisement request comprising user search data corresponding to a search request of a user, the user search data including a search term;   the retrieving is based on the search term; and   the sending the set of advertisements is in reply to the first advertisement request.   
     
     
         17 . The storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the user search data further includes a search location, and the retrieving is further based on the search location. 
     
     
         18 . The storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the selecting the set of advertisements comprises sorting advertisements in the advertisement candidate pool into at least a first bucket and a second bucket, the first bucket having a higher advertisement selection priority than the second bucket, and the selecting further comprises selecting the set of advertisements using weighted advertisement rotation. 
     
     
         19 . A data processing system, comprising:
 memory storing at least one advertisement database;   at least one processor coupled to access the memory, the at least one processor configured to:
 determine a user context; 
 retrieve candidate advertisements from the at least one advertisement database to in order to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context; 
 select a set of advertisements from the advertisement candidate pool; and 
 send the set of advertisements. 
   
     
     
         20 . The data processing system of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the user context is determined by receiving a first advertisement request comprising user search data corresponding to a search request of a user, the user search data including a search term;   the candidate advertisements are retrieved based on the search term; and   the set of advertisements is sent in reply to the first advertisement request.