IP Library Granted Patent US 9,208,497
Granted Patent B2
US 9,208,497 · App. 11/559,860 · Granted Dec 8, 2015

Methods and apparatuses for prioritizing advertisements for presentation

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,208,497
App. No.
11/559,860
Granted
Dec 8, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for sorting seller listings or advertisements of a seller network. One embodiment includes: determining an indicator of potential revenue that is expected to be generated from presentation of advertisements, based on statistical data indicating performance of the advertisements; and presenting one or more of the advertisements based at least partially on the indicator of potential revenue.

Claims (42)

1. A method implemented in a communication connection system to make and track connections for telephone communications, the method comprising:

tracking, by the communication connection system, real-time communications responsive to each advertisement of a plurality of advertisements, the real-time communications facilitated at least in part by a telephone router of the communication connection system and at least in part by voice over Internet protocol connections established responsive to user selections corresponding to advertisements of the plurality of advertisements;

generating, by the communication connection system, statistical data related to the real-time communications, the statistical data generated based at least in part on the tracking the real-time communications and comprising tracked communication times;

determining, by the communication connection system, for each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements, a respective indicator of potential revenue to a presenting party, the respective indicator of potential revenue reflecting revenue that is expected to be generated from presentation of the respective advertisement partially based on at least some of the statistical data comprising the tracked communication times and indicating a respective performance of the respective advertisement, the at least some of the statistical data indicating a respective likelihood of generating telephone connections established to a respective advertiser corresponding to each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements via the respective advertisement;

wherein actual revenue generated from presentation of the respective advertisement is divided among a plurality of parties in a seller network, such that the presenting party receives a share of the actual revenue generated from presentation of the respective advertisement according to a respective party percentage of the presenting party,

wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is based, in part, on the respective party percentage of the presenting party, and

wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is based, in part, on a respective weight of a respective one category of a plurality of categories associated with the respective advertisement; and

selecting, by the communication connection system, at least one advertisement of the plurality of advertisements based at least partially on the respective indicator of potential revenue of the respective advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistical data indicates costs to present the respective advertisement.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistical data includes at least one of a likelihood of receiving a request for a connection for communications in response to the respective advertisement, a first expected amount of transaction during an initial connection in response to the respective advertisement, a likelihood of receiving repeated requests for connections for communications after the initial connection, and/or a second expected amount of transaction during subsequent connections in response to the repeated requests.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting the at least one advertisement of the plurality of advertisements comprises:

sorting the plurality of advertisements based at least partially on the respective indicator of potential revenue for each respective advertisement, and

selecting the at least one of the plurality of advertisements based on the sorting.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting the at least one advertisement of the plurality of advertisements for presentation in an order according to the indicator of potential revenue.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the potential revenue is for one or more of:

a supply affiliate of a seller network;

a demand affiliate of the seller network; and/or

an operator of the seller network.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the potential revenue includes first income generated from charging a fee for the respective advertisement.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the potential revenue further includes second income generated from charging fees for facilitating commerce as a result of the respective advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is additionally based, in part, on a respective weight of a respective one media channel of a plurality of media channels through which the respective advertisement is presented.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a respective advertiser of each of the plurality of advertisements is charged in response to the respective performance of the advertisement, including the occurrence of a measurable event responsive to the respective advertisement.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the respective advertiser of each of the plurality of advertisements is charged according to a respective price specified by the respective advertiser.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising: conducting an auction to allow the respective advertiser of each of the plurality of advertisements to specify the respective price for the respective advertisement.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a communication connection system cause the one or more processors to perform a method, comprising:

tracking real-time communications responsive to each advertisement of a plurality of advertisements, the real-time communications facilitated at least in part by a telephone router of the communication connection system and at least in part by voice over Internet protocol connections established responsive to user selections corresponding to advertisements of the plurality of advertisements;

generating statistical data related to the real-time communications, the statistical data generated based at least in part on the tracking the real-time communications and comprising tracked communication times;

determining, for each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements, a respective indicator of potential revenue to a presenting party, the respective indicator of potential revenue reflecting revenue that is expected to be generated from presentation of the respective advertisement partially based on at least some of the statistical data comprising the tracked communication times and indicating a respective performance of the respective advertisement, the at least some of the statistical data indicating a respective likelihood of generating telephone connections established to a respective advertiser of corresponding to each advertisement the plurality of advertisements via the respective advertisement;

wherein actual revenue generated from presentation of the respective advertisement is divided among a plurality of parties in a seller network, such that the presenting party receives a share of the actual revenue generated from presentation of the respective advertisement according to a respective party percentage of the presenting party,

wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is based, in part, on the respective party percentage of the presenting party, and

wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is based, in part, on a respective weight of a respective one category of a plurality of categories associated with the respective advertisement; and

selecting at least one advertisement of the plurality of advertisements based at least partially on the respective indicator of potential revenue of the respective advertisement.

14. A communication connection system to make and track connections for telephone communications, the communication connection system comprising:

one or more servers coupled to one or more network interfaces to facilitate access to a communication network, and memory coupled to the one or more servers and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more servers, cause the system to:

track real-time communications responsive to each advertisement of a plurality of advertisements, the real-time communications facilitated at least in part by a telephone router of the communication connection system and at least in part by voice over Internet protocol connections established responsive to user selections corresponding to advertisements of the plurality of advertisements;

generate statistical data related to the real-time communications, the statistical data generated based at least in part on the tracking the real-time communications and comprising tracked communication times;

determine, for each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements, a respective indicator of potential revenue to a presenting party, the respective indicator of potential revenue reflecting revenue that is expected to be generated from presentation of the respective advertisement partially based on at least some of the statistical data comprising the tracked communication times and indicating a respective performance of the respective advertisement, the at least some of the statistical data indicating a respective likelihood of generating telephone connections established to a respective advertiser corresponding to each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements via the respective advertisement;

wherein actual revenue generated from presentation of the respective advertisement is divided among a plurality of parties in a seller network, such that the presenting party receives a share of the actual revenue generated from presentation of the respective advertisement according to a respective party percentage of the presenting party,

wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is based, in-part, on the respective party percentage of the presenting party, and

wherein the respective indicator of potential revenue is based, in-part, on a respective weight of a respective one category of a plurality of categories associated with the respective advertisement; and

select, at least one advertisement of the plurality of advertisements based at least partially on the respective indicator of potential revenue of the respective advertisement.

Assignments (31)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 7, 2025
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: UTBK LLC
Reel/Frame 069830/0322 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 7, 2025
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS AGENT
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 069830/0495 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 10, 2024
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: PRINT MEDIA LLC; DEX MEDIA, INC.; YP LLC; YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC; YP ADVERTISING & PUBLISHING LLC; CERBERUS YP DIGITAL BLOCKER LLC; CERBERUS YP BLOCKER LLC; YP HOLDINGS LLC; PRINT MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC; YP INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS CORP.; YP WESTERN HOLDINGS CORP.; YP SOUTHEAST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP MIDWEST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP CONNECTICUT HOLDINGS CORP.; PLUSMO HOLDINGS CORP.; INGENIO HOLDINGS CORP.
Reel/Frame 067381/0745 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 7, 2024
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: THRYV, INC.
Reel/Frame 067341/0434 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 3, 2024
From: THRYV, INC.
To: CITIZENS BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067310/0627 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 1, 2024
From: THRYV, INC.
To: CITIZENS BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067287/0759 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Recorded Mar 2, 2021
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: THRYV, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEX MEDIA, INC.); THRYV HOLDINGS, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEX MEDIA HOLDINGS, INC.)
Reel/Frame 055472/0592 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 1, 2021
From: THRYV, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 055452/0258 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 25, 2020
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM, LLC
To: THRYV, INC.
Reel/Frame 052071/0589 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE NATURE OF CONVEYANCE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 043194 FRAME: 0505. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Aug 14, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YP INTERACTIVE LLC
Reel/Frame 043544/0720 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE NATURE OF CONVEYANCE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 043170 FRAME: 0318. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Aug 10, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: UTBK LLC
Reel/Frame 043512/0799 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE NATURE OF CONVEYANCE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 043183 FRAME: 0734. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Aug 9, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 043493/0648 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 28, 2017
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 043363/0518 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 17, 2017
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: INGENIO LLC
Reel/Frame 043217/0875 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 14, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YP INTERACTIVE LLC
Reel/Frame 043194/0585 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 043183/0734 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 12, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: UTBK LLC
Reel/Frame 043170/0318 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jul 3, 2017
From: YP LLC; YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC; YP ADVERTISING & PUBLISHING LLC; PRINT MEDIA LLC; DEX MEDIA HOLDINGS, INC.; CERBERUS YP DIGITAL BLOCKER LLC; CERBERUS YP BLOCKER LLC; YP HOLDINGS LLC; PRINT MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC; YP INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS CORP.; YP WESTERN HOLDINGS CORP.; YP SOUTHEAST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP MIDWEST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP CONNECTICUT HOLDINGS CORP.; PLUSMO HOLDINGS CORP.; INGENIO HOLDINGS CORP.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 043074/0794 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 1, 2016
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
To: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 040540/0948 →
MERGER Recorded Jan 9, 2015
From: YP INTERACTIVE LLC
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 034747/0850 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jun 4, 2014
From: INGENIO LLC
To: YP INTERACTIVE LLC
Reel/Frame 033085/0126 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST -- PATENTS Recorded Feb 28, 2014
From: YP INTERACTIVE LLC (FORMERLY KNOWN AS INGENIO LLC)
To: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 032372/0639 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jul 2, 2013
From: INGENIO LLC
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 030740/0085 →
RELEASE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST -- PATENTS Recorded Jun 5, 2013
From: CERBERUS YP ARRANGER, LLC
To: INGENIO LLC (FORMERLY KNOWN AS INGENIO, INC.)
Reel/Frame 030554/0356 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 3, 2013
From: UTBK LLC
To: INGENIO LLC
Reel/Frame 030341/0882 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 19, 2012
From: UTBK LLC
To: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 029342/0075 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 16, 2012
From: FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: INGENIO, INC.
Reel/Frame 029453/0560 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Nov 9, 2012
From: UTBK, INC.
To: UTBK LLC
Reel/Frame 029275/0129 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST - PATENTS Recorded May 8, 2012
From: INGENIO, INC.
To: FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 028177/0004 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST - PATENTS Recorded May 8, 2012
From: INGENIO, INC.
To: CERBERUS YP ARRANGER, LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 028177/0081 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 15, 2007
From: HO, KELVIN; HIRSON, RON; ALTBERG, EBBE; FABER, SCOTT; VAN DER LINDEN, SEAN
To: UTBK, INC.
Reel/Frame 018895/0819 →