NETWORK-BASED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DEFINING AND MANAGING MULTI-DIMENSIONAL, ADVERTISING IMPRESSION INVENTORY
A method for representing and managing an inventory of overlapping multi-dimensional items such as advertising or ad impressions. The method uses an inventory management module to generate unique segment identifiers for sets of inventory items by processing descriptions of the sets of impressions including defining criteria. The method includes processing the unique segment identifiers to create a representation of the inventory as a plurality of inventory regions, which may include non-overlapping regions that correspond to inventory items in a single set of the inventory and also include overlapping regions that correspond to inventory items in two or more of the sets (e.g., items that match two or more sets of defining criteria or attributes). Availability and selection of inventory is determined using the information on inventory regions to control effects of cannibalization, such as by implementing logically necessary allocation to only cannibalize a region on a limited or forced basis.
1 . A method for managing inventory including advertising impressions that may be provided over the Internet, comprising:
providing access to a digital data store comprising historical data records each including a set of information corresponding to an item of the inventory;
with an inventory management module operating on a computing device, transforming the historical data records into a set of product vectors;
determining an accrual of a quantity of the items of the inventory associated with each of the product vectors;
associating the accrued quantities with the product vectors to generate a set of forecast vectors, whereby a result set is provided representing the inventory for a time period against which allocations of inventory can be made; and
operating the inventory management module to perform an allocation of one of the items of inventory, Wherein the forecast vectors are processed to account for impacts of the allocation of the one item belonging to a set of the inventory on other sets of the inventory, whereby the inventory management method fully accounts for cannibalization.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing a time series from the forecast vectors to represent the inventory over the time period.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product vectors are configured such that a list of identifiers produced for each of the historical data records represents each of a number of sets of the inventory defined by one or more criteria for which the item of inventory associated with the historical data records satisfies the one or more criteria.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein a plurality of the identifiers are concurrently represented by the product vectors.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein each of the identifiers corresponds to one of the sets of the inventory from which items of the inventory may be used to satisfy a potential or actual allocation.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing historically based models by processing the forecast vectors to extrapolate an expected change in composition and quantity of the inventory over time.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing of the allocation is limited to a quantity that is logically necessary to achieve a defined quantity of the items in the allocation.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the inventory is overlapping, non-overlapping, or hierarchical and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using a constraining sets method of determining product availability.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the inventory is hierarchical or non-overlapping and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using a hierarchical method of determining product availability.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the inventory is overlapping, non-overlapping, or hierarchical and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using an aggregated forecast vectors method of determining product availability.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing of the allocation is performed consistently across the inventory and comprises discretionary cannibalization of the inventory.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the discretionary cannibalization comprises computing availability information for the items of the inventory using correlation values to account for the cannibalization.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the discretionary cannibalization comprises computing availability information for the items of the inventory using lowest cardinality assignment.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the items of inventory comprise advertisement impressions and the method further comprises receiving a request for an advertisement and in response, fulfilling the request based on the forecast vectors and the allocation performed by the inventory management module.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein data available in the request is transformed into a product vector corresponding in form to the product vectors generated in the transforming step.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the fulfilling of the request comprises selecting one of the sets of the inventory using information in the request to process the forecast vectors.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the fulfilling of the request further comprises selecting a product buy from a set of product buys and associating the selected product buy with the selected one of the sets of the inventory.
18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein inventory information corresponding to the forecast vectors and the allocation is transferred from the inventory management module to a delivery mechanism that operates to deliver the items of the inventory.
19 . A method for managing inventory that may be provided over the Internet, comprising:
with an inventory management module run on a computing device, a product vector or each of a plurality of items of inventory;
with the inventory management module, determining a quantity of the items of the inventory associated with each of the product vectors;
associating the quantities with the product vectors to generate forecast vectors, whereby a result set is generated representing the inventory for a time period against which allocations of the inventory can be made; and
performing, with the inventory management module, an allocation of at least one of the items of inventory, wherein the forecast vectors are processed to account for impacts of the allocation the one time belonging to a set of the inventory on other sets of the inventory, whereby the inventory management method accounts for cannibalization.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the performing of the allocation is limited to a quantity that is logically necessary to achieve a defined quantity of the items in the allocation.
21 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the inventory is overlapping, non-overlapping, or hierarchical and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using a constraining sets method of determining product availability.
22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the inventory is hierarchical or non-overlapping and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using a hierarchical method of determining product availability.
23 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the inventory is overlapping, non-overlapping, or hierarchical and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using an aggregated forecast vectors method of determining product availability.
24 . A method for managing inventory including advertising impressions that may be provided over the Internet, comprising:
providing access to a digital data store comprising historical data records each including a set of information corresponding to an item of the inventory;
with an inventory management module operating on a computing device, transforming the historical data records into a set of product vectors;
determining a quantity of the items of the inventory associated with each of the product vectors;
associating the quantities with the product vectors to generate a set of forecast vectors;
operating the inventory management module to perform an allocation of one of the items of inventory, wherein the forecast vectors are processed to account for impacts of the allocation of the one item belonging to a set of the inventory on other sets of the inventory, whereby the inventory management method fully accounts for cannibalization;
receiving a request for an advertisement, and
fulfilling the request based on the forecast vectors and the allocation performed by the inventory management module.
25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the performing of the allocation is limited to a quantity that is logically necessary to achieve a defined quantity of the items in the allocation.
26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the inventory is overlapping, non-overlapping, or hierarchical and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using a constraining sets method of determining product avail ability.
27 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the inventory is hierarchical or non-overlapping and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using a hierarchical method of determining product availability.
28 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the inventory is overlapping, non-overlapping, or hierarchical and the logically necessary allocation comprises computing availability information on the inventory using an aggregated forecast vectors method of determining product availability.
29 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the performing of the allocation is performed consistently across the inventory and comprises discretionary cannibalization of the inventory.
30 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the discretionary cannibalization comprises computing availability information for the items of the inventory using correlation values to account for the cannibalization.
31 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the discretionary cannibalization comprises computing availability information for the items of the inventory using lowest cardinality assignment.
32 . The method of claim 24 , wherein data available in the request is transformed into a product vector corresponding in form to the product vectors generated in the transforming step.
33 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the fulfilling of the request comprises selecting one of the sets of the inventory using information in the request to process the forecast vectors.
34 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the fulfilling of the request further comprises selecting a product buy from a set of product buys and associating the selected product buy with the selected one of the sets of the inventory.