Integrating targeted ads in faxes
A system and method for inserting an advertisement for a document to be faxed. In this embodiment, a processor may be configured to determine a category associated with content in a document being faxed. The processor may select at least one advertisement that is related to the associated category. A determination may be made for a location within the document being communicated for one or more advertisements to be positioned. The processor may be further configured to place one or more selected advertisement into the determined location in the document being communicated.
1. A method for inserting an advertisement in a document being faxed, said method including:
requesting approval from a fax service user for the insertion of the advertisement within the document being fax by a user;
attempting to determine a category associated with content in the document being faxed by identifying a repeated word in the document being faxed;
if the category associated with the content in the document being faxed is determined selecting the advertisement from a plurality of advertisements stored in a storage unit which the plurality of advertisement are related to the associated category;
if the category associated with the content in the document is not determined, selecting a random advertisement from the plurality of advertisements stored in the storage unit;
determining a location within the document being faxed for the selected advertisement to be positioned;
placing the selected advertisement into the determined location in the document being faxed;
providing free or reduced rates to the fax service user for faxing the document with the advertisement;
displaying the selected advertisement within the fax in a clickable manner, thereby creating an additional revenue generating opportunity when the fax is viewed in digital form.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the category includes determining content of an attachment document attached to the document being faxed.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the category associated with the content being faxed further includes selecting the category by identifying a keyword related to the content in the document being faxed and by identifying the repeated word in the document being faxed.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining if sufficient space is available in the document being faxed to place the advertisement; and
if the sufficient space is not available, adjusting an image size of the content to provide the sufficient space for the advertisement.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein adjusting the image size of the content includes reducing the image size of the content on a percentage basis.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
performing an optical character recognition on the document; and
determining content of the document to be faxed.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the category, selecting the advertisement, determining the location and placing the advertisement are performed by a computing unit on a communications network.
8. A system for inserting an advertisement in a document being faxed, said system including:
a storage unite including at least one data repository configured to store advertisements; and
a processor configured to:
request approval from a fax service user for the insertion of the advertisement within the document being fax by a user;
attempt to determine a category associated with content in the document being faxed by identifying a repeated word in the document being faxed;
if the category associated with the content in the document being faxed is determined, select at least one advertisement from a plurality of advertisements stored in said storage unit which the plurality of advertisements are related to the associated category;
if the category associated with the content in the document is not determined, selecting a random advertisement from the plurality of advertisements stored in the storage unit;
determine a location within the document being faxed for the selected advertisement to be positioned;
place the selected advertisement into the determined location in the document being faxed;
provide free or reduced rates to the fax service user for faxing the document with the advertisement; and
displaying the selected advertisements within the fax in a clickable manner, thereby creating an additional revenue generating opportunity when the fax is viewed in digital form.
9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein said processor, in determining the category, is further configured to determine the content in an attachment document attached to the document being faxed.
10. The system according to claim 8 , wherein said processor, in determining the category associated with the content being faxed further configured to select the category by identifying a keyword related to the content in the document being faxed and by identifying the repeated word in the document being faxed.
11. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine if sufficient space is available in the document being faxed to place advertisement; and
if the sufficient space is not available, adjust an image size of the content to provide the sufficient space for the advertisement.
12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said processor, in adjusting the image size of the content, is further configured to reduce the image size of the content on a percentage basis.
13. The system according to claim 8 , wherein said processor is further configured to perform an optical character recognition on the document being faxed to determine content of the document.