Promotion system supporting related web content and advertising searching

Abstract

An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity.

1 . A system that operates via an Internet with a plurality of user devices, the system comprising:
 a user interface service through which first search input is received from a first user device of the plurality of user devices via the Internet;   an advertising interface service coupled via the Internet to receive both first advertising elements from a first advertiser device and second advertising elements from a second advertising device, the first advertising elements and the second advertising elements being represented in a database, the first advertising elements including first advertising data and first vector link data relating to first web page data, the second advertising elements including second advertising data and second vector link data relating to second web page data; and   a search service that, based at least in part on the first search input, conducts both web content searching and searching of the database to identify web search results and the first advertising elements, the first advertising elements being arranged for consumption by a first browser interface of the first user device, the consumption including both creating a visual presentation based at least in part on the first advertising data, and responding to a user selection by using the first vector link data to retrieve the first web page data and creating a visual display based on the first web page data.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first advertising elements and the second advertising elements each comprise one or more geographical restrictions. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein first advertising data and the second advertising data each comprise image related data. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein first advertising data and the second advertising data each comprise a banner ad. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising an accounting system that collects advertising service fees associated with the first advertising data and the second advertising data. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the advertising interface service operates via a web browser interface. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the advertising interface service also operates via a program interface. 
     
     
         8 . A system that operates via an Internet with a plurality of user devices, the system comprising:
 a user interface service through which first search input is received from a first user device of the plurality of user devices via the Internet;   an advertising interface service coupled via the Internet to receive both first advertising elements from a first advertiser device and second advertising elements from a second advertising device, the first advertising elements and the second advertising elements being represented in a database, the first advertising elements including first advertising data and vector link data relating to a first web page; and   a search service that, based at least in part on the first search input, conducts both web content searching and searching of the database to identify web search results and the first advertising elements, the first advertising elements being arranged in a format for consumption by a browser interface of the first user device, the consumption including creating a visual presentation based at least in part on the first advertising data and responding to a user selection by using the vector link data to retrieve and display the first web page.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the first advertising elements and the second advertising elements each comprise one or more geographical restrictions. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein first advertising data comprises image related data. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein first advertising data comprises a banner ad. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , comprising an accounting system that collects advertising service fees associated with the first advertising data. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the advertising interface service operates via a web browser interface. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the advertising interface service also operates via a program interface. 
     
     
         15 . A method for conducting advertising related to Internet web page content, the method comprising:
 receiving from a plurality of promoter systems a plurality of advertising data corresponding to a plurality of advertisements, a first of the plurality of advertising data including first link data corresponding to a first web page, a second of the plurality of advertising data including second link data corresponding to a second web page;   storing the plurality of advertising data in a database;   performing a first search of combined web content to identify web page search results;   performing a second search of the database to identify the first of the plurality of advertising data, the second search being related to the first search; and   accounting for services rendered in association with the first of the plurality of advertising data.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 delivering the second of the plurality of advertising data for combination in an area within a third web page, the third web page being hosted by a third party system; and   accounting for services rendered in association with activity relating to the second of the plurality of advertising data.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first of the plurality of advertising data and the second of the plurality of advertising data each comprise one or more geographical restrictions. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first of the plurality of advertising data and the second of the plurality of advertising data each comprise image related data. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first of the plurality of advertising data and the second of the plurality of advertising data each comprise a banner ad. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , comprising operating via a web browser interface. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , comprising also operating via a program interface.