Dynamic ad targeting by an internet server

Claim 1

A method of selecting advertisements for display to users of an online service, each user using a client application on a local device, each local device comprising an input device and an output device, the local devices accessing the online service and providing interaction with an OSP server associated with the online service, the method comprising: (a) the client application establishing communication channels from each of the local devices to the online service; (b) the OSP server transmitting an advertisement to the client application; (c) the client application causing the advertisement to be displayed on the output device of the local device of a first user, wherein the first user is associated with a demographic category; (d) the OSP server monitoring whether the first user performs a click-through on the advertisement; (e) if the first user performs a click-through on the advertisement, the OSP server automatically causing the advertisement to be displayed on the output device of the local device of a second user that is the associated with the same demographic category as the first user.

Claim 5

A method of selecting advertisements for display to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device comprising an input device and an output device, the local device accessing the online service and providing interaction with an OSP server associated with the online service, the method comprising: (a) the client application activating; (b) the client application establishing a communication channel from the local device to the online service; (c) the client application displaying a client window on the output device of the local device; (d) the OSP server accessing advertisement records from a data store, the advertisement records comprising at least one ad object associated with a given advertisement, each ad object comprising a resource locator and advertisement targeting criteria; (e) the OSP server accessing a user record comprising user-specific information; (f) the OSP server comparing the targeting criteria of each ad object with the user-specific information in the user record and identifying at least one advertisement for display to the user based upon the comparison; (g) the OSP server compiling an advertisement play list comprised of at least one of the identified ad objects; (h) the client application causing advertisements to be displayed in an ad pane of the client window, wherein the display of advertisements operates in accordance with the play list; (i) the OSP server modifying the targeting criteria of at least one of the ad objects in the advertisement records based upon the performance of the ad object with users of a given demographic category; (j) the OSP server re-comparing the targeting criteria of each ad object with the user-specific information in the user record and identifying at least one advertisement for display to the user based upon the re-comparison; (k) the OSP server compiling a new advertisement play list comprised of at least one of the identified ad objects; and (l) the client application causing advertisements to be displayed in an ad pane, wherein the display of advertisements operates in accordance with the new play list.

Claim 10

A method of selecting advertisements for display to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device comprising an input device and an output device, the local device accessing the online service and providing interaction with an OSP server associated with the online service, the method comprising: (a) the OSP server establishing an advertisement record for at least one advertisement, each advertisement record comprising an ad object comprised of a resource locator for the advertisement and data relating to a desired target audience for the advertisement; (b) the OSP server establishing a user record including data specific to the user, wherein at least a portion of the user-specific data corresponds to the target audience data; (c) the OSP server comparing the target audience data for each advertisement record with the user-specific data for the user; (d) the OSP server compiling a best-fit play list of advertisements for display to the user based upon the comparison of the advertisement records and the user-specific data, wherein the play list identifies an order in which the advertisements in the play list are to be played.; (e) the client application establishing a communication channel from the local device to the online service; (f) the client application causing advertisements to be displayed in an ad pane of a client window on the display device, wherein the display of advertisements operates in accordance with the play list.

Claim 15

A method of provisioning advertisements for display to users of an online service using client applications on local devices, each user being associated with at least one demographic category, the local devices each comprising an input device and an output device, the local devices accessing the online service and providing interaction with an OSP server associated with the online service, the method comprising: (a) the OSP server establishing an ad object comprised of a resource locator for a given advertisement and data relating to a desired target audience for the given advertisement, the target audience data comprising demographic categories; (b) the client device causing the advertisement to be displayed on the output devices of the local devices of the users; (c) the OSP server monitoring the users' click-throughs on the advertisement when the advertisement is displayed on the output devices and compiling a list of user demographic categories that have clicked through the advertisement; (d) the OSP server determining whether there are any user demographic categories that: (i) have performed a click-through on the advertisement and (ii) are not included in the advertisement's target audience data; (e) the OSP server modifying the targeting criteria of the ad object to include any non-included demographic category.

Claim 21

A system for selecting advertisements for display to users of an online service, the users utilizing the online service with respective local devices, wherein the local devices display advertisements from the online service the system comprising a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having ad targeting software for causing an OSP server to: (a) obtain personal profile information and online usage history information about plural users; (b) obtain advertisement provisioning information from plural advertisers; (c) perform a best-fit match between the personal profile information and the online usage history information about the plural users and the advertisement provisioning information for a given advertisement to thereby identify a first group of users for receipt of the given advertisement; (d) transmit instructions to the local devices of the first group of users to display the given advertisement; (e) monitor performance of the given advertisement, wherein performance of the given advertisement comprises whether the users of the first group click-through on the given advertisement; (f) test if the performance of the given advertisement meets predefined performance criteria, and if so, then (1) correlate the personal profile information ands the online usage history information of the users who clicked-through on the given advertisement; (2) identify a second group of users having personal profile information and online usage history information consistent with the correlated personal profile information and online usage history information of the users who clicked-through on the given advertisement; (3) transmit instructions to the local devices of the second group of users to display the given advertisement.

Claim 32

A system for selecting advertisements for display to users of an online service, the users utilizing the online service with respective local devices, the system comprising a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having ad targeting software for causing an OSP server to: (a) obtain personal profile information and online usage history information about plural users; (b) obtain advertisement provisioning information from plural advertisers, wherein each advertisement has associated therewith an ad object, the ad object comprising a resource locator for the display of the advertisement; (c) perform a best-fit match between the personal profile information and the online usage history information about the plural users and the advertisement provisioning information for plural advertisements, (d) based upon the best-fit match, prepare a play list for each user, the play list for a given user comprising the ad objects associated with the matched advertisements for the given user; (e) transmit the play list for each user to the local device of that user for display of the advertisements referenced in the play list by the local device; (f) monitor performance of a given advertisement, wherein performance of the given advertisement comprises whether the users having the given advertisement in their play list click-through on the given advertisement; (g) test if the performance of the given advertisement meets predefined performance criteria, and if so, then (1) correlate the personal profile information ands the online usage history information of the users who clicked-through on the given advertisement; (2) identify a first group of users having personal profile information and online usage history information consistent with the correlated personal profile information and online usage history information of the users who clicked-through on the given advertisement; (3) prepare play lists for the first group of users including the ad object of the given advertisement.