Systems and methods for providing targeted advertisements to a charging station for electric vehicles
Systems and methods are described which provide targeted advertisements to a charging station for electric vehicles. A data collector records data associated with individuals near a charging station. A meter determines whether the charging station is being used to charge an electric vehicle. When the charging station is being used, a display displays advertisements targeted to the individuals. The targeted advertisements are selected from a database according to the data recorded by the data collector, and the database stores advertising content with discrete advertising segments that are electronically accessible. A processor is coupled to the data collector, the meter, and the display. The processor transmits the data recorded by the data collector, and receives the targeted advertisements.
1. A server system in communication with an electric vehicle charging station that includes a display, the server system comprising:
a communications interface;
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions for:
receiving, via the communications interface, a computational model that predicts a relative length of time that an individual will engage with a candidate advertisement of a plurality of candidate advertisements, wherein:
the computational model is generated based on data collected from a plurality of individuals, a plurality of advertisements, and measured lengths of time that the plurality of individuals engaged with the plurality of advertisements;
a plurality of features characterize each individual in the plurality of individuals; and
a plurality of advertisement features characterize each advertisement in the plurality of advertisements;
determining that an electric vehicle is charging at the electric vehicle charging station;
determining whether a length of time remaining for charging the electric vehicle at the electric vehicle charging station is above a threshold;
in accordance with a determination that the length of time remaining is above the threshold:
retrieving, in real time, based on data recorded by a sensor coupled to the charging station, a plurality of features for an individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station;
using the computational model, selecting a first advertisement from a plurality of candidate advertisements to target the individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station based on the retrieved features for the individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station; and
providing the first advertisement to the display of the electric vehicle charging station;
in accordance with a determination that the length of time remaining is not above the threshold:
retrieving, in real time, a plurality of features for a user that is associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station that characterize the user;
using the computational model, selecting a second advertisement from the plurality of candidate advertisements, different from the first advertisement, to target the user that is associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station based on the retrieved user features for the user; and
providing the second advertisement to the display of the electric vehicle charging station.
2. The server system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores instructions for receiving, in real time, an indication that the individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station is interacting with the display.
3. The server system of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the length of time remaining for charging the electric vehicle at the electric vehicle charging station is above the threshold includes receiving meter data, from a meter at the charging station, wherein the meter data provides an estimated length of time until electric vehicle charging at the charging station is complete.
4. The server system of claim 1 , wherein the computational model selects a respective advertisement from the plurality of candidate advertisements based on optimizing a plurality of scores, the plurality of scores indicative of the plurality of features for the target user or individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station and a predicted relative length of time of engagement for the target user that is associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station or individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station.
5. The server system of claim 1 , the memory further stores instructions for:
determining that an electric vehicle is not charging at the electric vehicle charging station;
in accordance with the determination that an electric vehicle is not charging at the electric vehicle charging station, selecting to target a second individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station;
retrieving, in real time, based on data recorded by the sensor coupled to the charging station, a plurality of features for the second individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station;
using the computational model, selecting a third advertisement from the plurality of candidate advertisements, different from the first advertisement and the second advertisement, to target the second individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station based on the retrieved features for the second individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station; and
providing the third advertisement to the display of the electric vehicle charging station.
6. The server system of claim 1 , wherein the predicted relative length of time corresponds to an amount of user involvement with the display, and a respective advertisement from the plurality of candidate advertisement is selected to be provided to the display in response to determining that the predicted relative length of time exceeds a threshold.
7. The server system of claim 6 , wherein the amount of user involvement includes the predicted relative length of time and a predicted relative extent of engagement between the user or individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station and the respective advertisement.
8. The server system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores instructions for:
determining whether the user or individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station is engaging with the selected advertisement, including determining whether the selected individual is facing the display; and
determining the length of time that the user or individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station faces the display, wherein the computational model is updated according to the determined length of time, the plurality of retrieved features, and a plurality of advertisement features that characterize the selected advertisement.
9. The server system of claim 1 , wherein the charging station is a first charging station, the memory further stores instructions for:
detecting that the user or individual that is not associated with the electric vehicle plugged into the electric vehicle charging station is leaving a vicinity of the first charging station and moving in a direction of a second charging station; and
transmitting a signal indicative of the selected advertisement to the second charging station.