Computing system for monetizing calendar applications

Abstract

A method is disclosed for advertisers to target specific calendar users with the advertisers' events. When uploading information for an advertisement to a service provider system, the advertiser provides targeting criteria along with advertisement content. The targeting criteria is compared against user data stored about the user within one or more databases in the service provider system to select targeted recipients that meet the targeting criteria. The advertised events are then downloaded for display along side a users' calendar interface, where users may quickly and easily add the event to their calendars.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of advertising in association with the use of a calendar application program of a user, comprising the steps of:
 (a) providing a calendar user interface on a display device;   (b) outputting a portion of a user's calendar to the calendar user interface;   (c) obtaining a plurality of advertisements, wherein one or more of the plurality of advertisements corresponds to an event that may be placed in a calendar; and   (d) displaying the plurality of advertisements adjacent the calendar user interface, wherein one or more of the plurality of advertisements displayed adjacent the calendar user interface includes a selectable graphical button for adding the corresponding event to the user's calendar.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step (e) of receiving an indication through selection of the selectable graphical button to add an event corresponding to an advertisement obtained in said step (c) to the calendar user interface. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step (f) of adding an event corresponding to an advertisement to the calendar user interface upon receiving the indication to add the event in said step (e). 
     
     
         4 . The method recited in  claim 3 , further comprising the step (g) of automatically modifying the event added to the calendar user interface in said step (f) by automatically and periodically contacting a computing device supported by the advertiser to determine if information associated with the event has changed. 
     
     
         5 . The method recited in  claim 3 , further comprising the step (h) of automatically modifying the event added to the calendar user interface by automatically receiving notification and new information relating to a change in the event from a computing device supported by an advertiser. 
     
     
         6 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein said step (c) of obtaining a plurality of advertisements comprises the step of obtaining a plurality of advertisements having a correlation between targeting criteria and the user's profile information. 
     
     
         7 . The method recited in  claim 6 , said step (c) of obtaining a plurality of advertisements having a correlation between targeting criteria and the user's profile information comprising the step of obtaining an advertisement based on the user having stored address information indicating the user has an address within a defined geographical area or defined geographical distance from an advertiser place of business. 
     
     
         8 . The method recited in  claim 6 , said step (c) of obtaining a plurality of advertisements having a correlation between targeting criteria and the user's profile information comprising the step of obtaining an advertisement based on the user having stored information indicating the user is at least one of: i) a gender indicated in the targeting criteria, ii) within an age group indicated in the targeting criteria, iii) a religion indicated in the targeting criteria, iv) a nationality indicated in the targeting criteria, and v) an interest or preference indicated in the targeting criteria. 
     
     
         9 . A system for displaying calendar events, comprising:
 a database for storing events for a user;   a calendar user interface for displaying events for the user; and   one or more advertisements displayed adjacent the user interface, an advertisement of the one or more advertisements including a selectable graphical button, the advertisement including the selectable graphical button being added to the database for storing events for the user upon selection of the selectable graphical button.   
     
     
         10 . The system recited in  claim 9 , the advertisement being displayed on the calendar user interface upon the advertisement being added to the database for storing events for the user. 
     
     
         11 . The system recited in  claim 9 , the advertisement being displayed on the calendar user interface upon selection of the selectable graphical button for the advertisement. 
     
     
         12 . The system recited in  claim 9 , the advertisement having an associated date, the advertisement being displayed on the calendar user interface at the appropriate date upon selection of the selectable graphical button for the advertisement. 
     
     
         13 . The system recited in  claim 9 , the advertisement having an associated date and time, the advertisement being displayed on the calendar user interface at the appropriate date and with the associated time upon selection of the selectable graphical button for the advertisement. 
     
     
         14 . The system recited in  claim 9 , the calendar user interface comprising a first user interface, the system further comprising a second user interface displayed upon selection of the selectable graphical button for the advertisement, the second user interface allowing details of an event associated with the advertisement to be added to the database for storing events for the user. 
     
     
         15 . The system recited in  claim 14 , the second user interface including fields that are automatically populated with information related to the event associated with the advertisement. 
     
     
         16 . The system recited in  claim 9 , wherein the advertisement including the selectable graphical button is targeted to the user. 
     
     
         17 . A graphical user interface for displaying calendar events, the graphical user interface comprising:
 a graphical calendar; and   one or more advertisements displayed adjacent the graphical calendar, an advertisement of the one or more advertisements including a selectable graphical button, the advertisement including the selectable graphical button being displayed as an event on the graphical calendar as a result of selection of the selectable graphical button.   
     
     
         18 . The graphical user interface recited in  claim 17 , the advertisement having an associated date, the advertisement being displayed as an event on the calendar user interface at the appropriate date upon selection of the selectable graphical button for the advertisement. 
     
     
         19 . The graphical user interface recited in  claim 17 , wherein the advertisement including the selectable graphical button is targeted to the user. 
     
     
         20 . The graphical user interface recited in  claim 19 , wherein the advertisement is targeted to the user based on at least one of: i) a predefined geographic distance between a stored user residence and a location of an establishment providing the advertisement, ii) a stored gender of the user, iii) a stored age of the user, iv) a stored religion of the user, v) a stored nationality of the user, and vi) a stored interest or preference of the user.