System and Method for Targeting Advertisements or Other Information Using User Geographical Information

Abstract

A request for information items may include content information associated with one or more electronic messages and geographical information associated with the requesting user. A set of information items is identified based on the user geographical information and the message content of the one or more electronic messages. In some embodiments, at least one of the information items is identified based on both the user geographical information and the message content. In some embodiments, if the user geographical information is different from the user's default geographical information, at least one of the information items is identified based on the user geographical information, but not the message content. A subset of the identified information items may be selected in accordance with a scoring or ranking function. The selected information items are transferred to the requesting client and displayed concurrently with (e.g., next to) the electronic messages.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of serving information items to a user in connection with an electronic message performed on a server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, comprising:
 responding to a request from a client for an electronic message associated with a client messaging application and associated with a user account for storing electronic messages, including:
 identifying user geographical information obtained from the request from the client for an electronic message; 
 identifying a first set of information items based at least in part on the user geographical information; and 
 sending the electronic message and the first set of information items to the requesting client for concurrent display of the electronic message and at least a subset of the first set of information items at the client. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user geographical information is derived from an IP address of the requesting client. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising adjusting rankings of the first set of information items using the user geographical information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first set of information items is an advertisement targeting users at a location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first set of information items is an information item uniquely associated with a location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the information item uniquely associated with the location is a weather forecast of the location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified electronic messages include a message selected from the group consisting of: one or more email messages, IM messages, SMS messages, transcribed voice messages, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying one or more electronic messages in response to the client request;   identifying a second set of information items based on the user geographical information and content of the one or more electronic messages; and   sending the second set of information items to the requesting client along with the first set of information items and the one or more electronic messages.   
     
     
         9 . A system for serving information items to a user in connection with an electronic message, comprising:
 one or more processors; and   memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;   the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
 responding to a request from a client for an electronic message associated with a client messaging application and associated with a user account for storing electronic messages, including:
 identifying user geographical information obtained from the request from the client for an electronic message; 
 identifying a first set of information items based at least in part on the user geographical information; and 
 sending the electronic message and the first set of information items to the requesting client for concurrent display of the electronic message and at least a subset of the first set of information items at the client. 
 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising instructions for deriving the user geographical information from an IP address of the requesting client. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising instructions for adjusting rankings of the first set of information items using the user geographical information. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first set of information items is an advertisement targeting users at a location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first set of information items is an information item uniquely associated with a location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the information item uniquely associated with the location is a weather forecast of the location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the identified electronic messages include a message selected from the group consisting of: one or more email messages, IM messages, SMS messages, transcribed voice messages, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising instructions for:
 identifying one or more electronic messages in response to the client request;   identifying a second set of information items based on the user geographical information and content of the one or more electronic messages; and   sending the second set of information items to the requesting client along with the first set of information items and the one or more electronic messages.   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
 responding to a request from a client for an electronic message associated with a client messaging application and associated with a user account for storing electronic messages, including:
 identifying user geographical information obtained from the request from the client for an electronic message; 
 identifying a first set of information items based at least in part on the user geographical information; and 
 sending the electronic message and the first set of information items to the requesting client for concurrent display of the electronic message and at least a subset of the first set of information items at the client. 
   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , further comprising instructions for deriving the user geographical information from an IP address of the requesting client. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , further comprising instructions for adjusting rankings of the first set of information items using the user geographical information. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein at least one of the first set of information items is an advertisement targeting users at a location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein at least one of the first set of information items is an information item uniquely associated with a location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein the information item uniquely associated with the location is a weather forecast of the location corresponding to the user geographical information. 
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the identified electronic messages include a message selected from the group consisting of: one or more email messages, IM messages, SMS messages, transcribed voice messages, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         24 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 :
 identifying one or more electronic messages in response to the client request;   identifying a second set of information items based on the user geographical information and content of the one or more electronic messages; and   sending the second set of information items to the requesting client along with the first set of information items and the one or more electronic messages.