WO2011151394A1

WO2011151394A1 - Providing digital advertisements using a generic protocol

Info

Publication number: WO2011151394A1
Application number: PCT/EP2011/059092
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andres Padilla Fuentes; Javier Arribas De Frutos; Christian Haslwanter
Original assignee: Telefonica, S.A.
Priority date: 2010-06-01
Filing date: 2011-06-01
Publication date: 2011-12-08
Also published as: AR081435A1; EP2577582A1; ES2382649B1; ES2382649A1

Abstract

A method and system are described for providing digital advertisements using a generic protocol. Advertisements are rendered to a user device via any one of a plurality of media channels of different type, which are provided by a plurality of media channel entities (10,11,12). The media channels comprise advertisement space having a predetermined format for providing the advertisements. A media channel entity, which provides one of the plurality of media channels, sends a request for an advertisement to any one of a plurality of advertising servers (20a,20b,20c). The advertisement server selects an advertisement and sends a reply to the media channel entity with a reference to the selected advertisement A common generic protocol is used by the plurality of media channel entities (10,11,12) for sending the request to any one of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c).

Description

PROVIDING DIGITAL ADVERTISEMENTS USING A GENERIC PROTOCOL

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communications and more specifically to the provision of advertisements to user terminals through

communication channels.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

The provision of advertisements to user terminals becomes ever more ubiquitous. Advertisements may be provided through media (communication) channels of different types. A few examples of such media channels are web pages or a WAP portals, mobile and fixed telephone channels, SMS or MMS messages, or channels providing streaming audio or video content. The advertisements are inserted in the advertisement spaces available in these channels. The selection of the advertisements, which are inserted in the advertisement space, is performed by advertisement servers. Thereto, the media channel entity, which provides the media channel comprising the advertisement space to the user terminal, sends a request for an advertisement to the advertisement server. Furthermore, the advertisement server is also informed of the event of the advertisement being shown at the user terminal, better known as impression event and of a user clicking on the advertisement. The notifications of these events are used for billing purposes. At present, each advertisement server communicates with media channel entities by using a proprietary communication protocol.

Of course, the format of the advertisements should be suitable for the type of media channel wherein they are to be included. In this respects advertisements can be classified in the following categories:

Displayable advertisements. This category comprises advertisements related to WWW browsing, such as banners, text links and any possible combination of them within WAP & Web portals. For this type of advertisements, the request to the advertisement server is launched from the media channel entity that supports the advertisement content, for example the WAP or Web portal.

Playable advertisements. This category comprises advertisements such as video streaming services, voice (audio) services, or ring back tones, among others. In these cases, the advertisement content is automatically played. As the service intelligence is located in the operator network, the requests for advertisements to the advertisement server are launched from the network nodes in charge of the user's interaction with audio & video contents. So, these network nodes operate as media channel entities in this case.

In-message advertisements. This category comprises advertisements related to messaging (SMS, MMS, mails, Instant Messaging). The advertisement contents are usually similar to the ones used for displayable advertisements (e.g. banners, links), but the interaction of the media channel entities with the advertisement server is different. An "injection mechanism" must be set in the media channel entities in the operator network, to intercept messages, request proper advertisements to the advertisement server and insert them in the message.

So, at present for any owner of an advertisement space for digital advertising, interfacing with different advertisement servers implies the adoption of the specific protocol established by each advertisement server.

That is, the communication and processing of the information flow among different, heterogeneous, advertisement servers is a major problem for the integration of advertising from different sources. Any change of advertising source (server) implies the adoption and development of a specific interface for the new advertising server.

Besides, the use by operators of different advertisement formats within its media channel portfolio (from video/audio clips for streaming channels, to text links or banners in Web and mobile portals), may cause the need to use different advertisement protocols per advertisement "product".

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a standard advertising protocol for both advertisement servers and media channel entities publishing digital advertisements, to achieve an overall common way of communication regardless of the format of the advertisement, the type of media channel used for publishing the advertisement and the advertisement server.

Consequently, according to the invention, a method and system according to the independent claims are provided. Favourable embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. According to a first aspect the invention the object is realized by a method of providing advertisements to a user device via any one of a plurality of media channels of different type provided by a plurality of media channel entities, the media channels comprising advertisement space having a predetermined format for providing the advertisements, the method comprising the steps of:

a media channel entity, which provides one of the plurality of media channels, sending a request for an advertisement to any one of a plurality of advertising servers;

the advertisement server selecting an advertisement; and - the advertisement server sending a reply to the media channel entity with a reference to the selected advertisement, characterized in that a common generic protocol is used by the plurality of media channel entities for sending the request to any one of the plurality of advertisement servers. "Generic" in the sense of the invention means that any channel, or digital ad content, may be considered. Furthermore, preferably the format of the request message from the media channel entity to the server, i.e. that the request always comprises the same set of parameters, regardless of to which server it is sent.

As a result, the generic advertising protocol according to the invention enables all different media channel entities to access the advertisement servers in a unique, flexible way even though both the format of the advertisements and the way the users access the media channel (and its advertisements) can be very diverse. Prior art specific advertisement protocols for web environments or mobile environment are not able to provide this functionality. The advertisement server does not need to be aware of the technology inside the media channel entities used by the operator. It only needs to be configured for correctly receiving the advertisement requests from the media channel entities.

Furthermore, the generic advertisement protocol according to the invention provides a common, flexible framework for operators or service providers that own advertisement spaces for digital advertising. As the advertisement space of an operator is usually large, the use of a homogeneous, flexible protocol is advantageous. Furthermore, advertisement servers can provide the most accurate advertising to heterogeneous companies, with a plurality of media channels of different type. As a result, advertising brands and advertisement agencies are able to contact broader audiences, through different, varied media (communication) channels and services, such as:

Display (Banners)

Voice

Messaging

In content (Video, Games, etc).

According to an embodiment of the invention, the request comprises an advertisement format parameter identifying the format of the advertising space of the media channel; and the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the advertisement format parameter in the request.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the request comprises a media channel type parameter identifying the type of the media channel provided by the media channel entity; and the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the media channel type parameter in the request.

As a result, an appropriate advertisement can be selected for any type of media channel and any type of advertisement format used with this media channel.

According to a still further embodiment of the invention, the request comprises one or more user property parameters identifying properties of the user of the user terminal other than an unequivocal user identifier; and the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the one or more user property parameters in the request. The user property parameters may comprise one or more of the following: identifier of a service provider providing access to the user, a qualification of the behaviour of the user, user gender, date of birth, user age, user language, user nationality, home location of the user and current location of the user. Furthermore, the request may comprise a context parameter identifying a category of the content provided by the media channel or part of the media channel where the advertisement is to be inserted; and the advertisement server may select the advertisement at least partly based on the context parameter in the request. An important fature of the protocol is, it is designed to add new targeting parameters easily, if needed. Targeting parameters are not mandatory, so the protocol supports backward compatiblility.

The operator of the media channel, wherein the advertisement is to be included, generally has access to the user property parameters and, even more important, to context parameters related to the media channel (for example about the information that is rendered by the media channel, detected behaviour of each user with respect to the communication channel, such as the kind of pages or video contents that have been accessed by the user). It is advantageous to use this information to enable the advertisement server to select the most suitable advertisement for each specific user for insertion in the specific media channel, at any time.

The user property parameters and the context parameter together may be referred to as user "targeting" data. In order to comply with legal requirements, the protocol ensures that these targeting data cannot be related to the user. Therefore, the user identity is unknown to the advertisement server.

According to a still further embodiment, the reply of the advertisement server comprises a reference to the selected advertisement, which is stored at the advertisement server; and the method comprises the further steps of: the media channel entity providing the reference to the advertisement to the user terminal enabling the user terminal to request the advertisement from the advertisement server; and the advertisement server serving the advertisement to the user terminal and registering the rendering of the advertisement.

In this way, the rendering of the advertisement at the user terminal, which may be for example an impression event or a click-event, is registered at the advertisement server in a straightforward way by means of a "synchronous" notification to the advertisement server, i.e. by using a message of the communication protocol which is used for other reasons. This notification may be used for billing purposes.

However, some advertisement types, such as audio or video clips are generally stored at an advertisement repository other than the advertisement server. So, the media channel entity needs to retrieve the advertisements from the advertisement repository in the operator environment and not from the advertisement server in the advertisement provider environment. In this case impressions of and interactions with the advertisement and further data related there to, such as the time at which these events have occurred, should be separately notified to the advertisement server by means of an "asynchronous" notification.

For this purpose according to a yet a further embodiment of the invention, the reply of the advertisement server comprises a reference to the selected advertisement at an advertisement repository other than the advertisement server; and the method comprises the further steps of the media channel entity accessing the advertisement referred to by the reference and providing the advertisement to the user terminal and once the advertisement has been rendered at the user terminal notifying the advertisement server of the rendering of the advertisement at the user terminal.

The reply of the advertisement server may comprise furthermore a link for notifying the rendering of the selected advertisement at the user terminal and the media channel entity may notify the platform of the rendering of the

advertisement at the user terminal using the link.

So, in this latter case, the rendering event is notified to the advertisement server by means of a separate, "asynchronous" notification message.

As a result, according to the invention a protocol is provided able to report the impression and click events for any digital advertisement content, i.e. for advertisements retrieved directly from the advertisement server (which is mostly the case for "displayable" and "in-message" advertisements) and advertisements, which are retrieved from repositories other than the advertisements servers (which is mostly the case for "playable" advertisements, such as video or audio clips).

Preferably, the method according to the invention is implemented by means of a computer program loaded to the media channel entities and the advertisement servers.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the object is realized by a system providing an advertisement to a user device via any one of a plurality of media channels of different type comprising:

- a plurality of media channel entities for providing the plurality of media channels, the media channels comprising advertisement space having a predetermined format for providing the advertisements, and

a plurality of advertisement servers; wherein each of the media channel entities is configured for, sending a request for an advertisement to any one of the plurality of advertising servers; and

each of the plurality of advertisements server is configured for selecting an advertisement and sending a reply to the media channel entity with a reference to the selected advertisement,

characterized in that the plurality of media channel entities are configured for using a common generic protocol for sending the request to any one of the plurality of advertisement servers.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings, in conjunction with the accompanying specification, in which:

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a high level overview of interaction between a user device, a media channel entity and an advertisement server for providing a WAP page with advertisements.

Figure 3 shows a high level overview of interaction between a user device, a media channel entity, an advertisement server and an advertisement repository for advertising in real time contexts.

Throughout the figures like reference numerals refer to like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

With reference to the figures, an exemplary embodiment will be described of a system and method enabling information transferring among digital communication media (further referred to in this description as media channel entities) and advertising servers (platforms) by means of a common generic advertisement protocol. The advertising servers are configured for providing the most suitable advertisements to the users, as will be discussed in more detail herein after. The media channel entities are for example a WAP portal of a telecommunications operator, an SMS platform, etc. The advertising servers may provide digital advertisements of any suitable type, such as texts, images, predefined combinations of image and links, interstitials or any common digital content.

Figure 1 shows a media channel entity of a first type 10, a media channel entity of a second type 1 1 and a media channel entity of a third type 12. The media channel entity of the first type 10 is configured for enabling WWW browsing, through a Web or WAP portal. This type of media comprises advertisement space (inventory) for including advertisements related to WWW browsing, for instance banners, text links and any possible combination of them within the WAP & Web portals. This type of advertisements will herein after be referred to as of "displayable" advertisements.

The media channel entity of the second type 1 1 is configured for providing real time audio and/or video services to a user. This type of media comprises advertisement space for including advertisements by means of streaming video, audio (voice) and ring back tones, among others. This type of advertisements will herein after be referred to as of "playable" advertisements.

The media channel entity of the third type 12 is configured for providing messages such as SMS, MMS, mails and Instant Messaging. The advertisement contents of these messages, herein after referred to as "ln-message" advertisements are usually similar to the ones used for displayable advertisements (e.g. banners, links), but the interaction of the media channel entities with the advertisement server is different. An "injection mechanism" is set in the media channel entities in the operator network, to intercept messages, request proper advertisements to the advertisement server and insert them in the message.

As shown in figure 1 , the media channel entities 10,1 1 ,12 are configured for communication with a plurality of advertisement servers 20a,20b,20c. The advertisement servers 20 are, as is well known in the art, configured for selecting an advertisement to be provided to a certain user based on certain criteria. In order to enable the media channel entities to communicate with any one of the advertisement servers and vice versa a common generic communication protocol, herein after referred to as generic advertisement protocol, is used for the communication between the advertisement servers and the media channel entities. Figure 2 shows a high level overview of interaction between a user device 5, a media channel entity of the first type 10 and an advertisement server 20 for providing a WAP page with advertisements., The same interaction flow is used for SMS/MMS

- First, the user device 5 requests content to the media channel entity 10, in this example a WAP page comprising advertisement space for at least an advertisement (step 101 ).

- The media channel entity 10 (a mobile portal, in the example), on behalf of the user device, requests an advertisement by means of the generic advertising protocol (step 102).

- The advertising server replies with an xml reference to the advertisement, using the generic advertising protocol (step 103).

- The media channel entity includes the digital content of the advertisement within the overall content to be delivered to the user (not shown in the figure). In this particular example, the mobile portal composes a page with the advertisement reference.

- The media channel entity serves all content to the user device (step 105). In this particular example, the mobile portal delivers the page with the advertisement reference to the user device.

- The content is shown to the user. In the particular example, the user device browser renders the page. Accordingly, it requests the referenced advertisement from the advertisement server (step 106).

- The advertisement server registers that the advertisement is rendered at the user terminal. This is better known as registering an "impression" event. It furthermore provides the advertisement to the user device (step 107).

- In case that the user clicks on the advertisement, the advertisement server registers a "Click" event, and redirects the request to an advertising page or commercial site (step 108).

So, in the case shown in figure 2, the advertisement server is notified of the advertisement rendering (impression event) and/or of the user clicking on an advertisement (click event) due to the normal communication flow between the user device, the media channel entity and the advertising server. This is referred to in this description as a synchronous notification. Figure 3 shows a high level overview of interaction between a user device 5, a media channel entity (portal) of the second type 1 1 and an advertisement server 20 for advertising in real time contexts, such as advertisement insertion in video or audio streams. Contrary, to advertising in WAP or Web contexts, the advertisement content is not stored at the advertisement server itself but at an advertisement repository 30.

The 5 first steps are equivalent to the ones in the previous flow:

- The user device 5 requests a content (for instance, an audio/video clip) comprising advertisement space for at least an advertisement (step 1 1 1 ).

- The media channel entity 1 1 , on behalf of the user device, requests an advertisement by means of the generic advertising protocol (step 1 12).

- The advertising server replies with a message, that includes a reference to the ad content to e served. This reference is used to point the content in the internal operator content repository using the generic advertising protocol (step 1 13).

- The media channel entity accesses a cached advertisement clip at the advertisement repository using the reference given by the advertising server (step 1 14).

- The media channel entity serves a unique stream to the user device with the advertisement embedded (step 1 15).

- Once the advertisement clip has been played, the media channel entity generates an asynchronous notification to the advertising server (step 106) to register an advertisement "impression" event (step 1 16) or other type of event, as describer in more detail in table 2 herein after.

The advertisement clips are not cached at the advertising server directly due to their size and the real-time performance context.

The difference between the interaction flows shown in figures 2 and 3 is the need in the latter case to report the rendering or "consumption" of the advertisement from the media channel entity to the advertising server. In the former case (figure 2), as the advertisement server stores and delivers the digital contents of the advertisement, there is no need for separate notifications about advertisement impressions (showing/rendering of the advertisement) or interactions (e.g. user clicking) of the user with the advertisement. In the latter case, the advertisement server only stores the references to the advertisement content in the advertisement repository, which is not controlled by the server. Thus the generic advertisement protocol defines an asynchronous notification message.

The generic advertisement protocol defines the communication between the media channel entity and the advertising server. The advertisement protocol is considered to be generic because any channel, or digital ad content, may be considered, the advertisement request message sent in steps 102 and 1 12 always has the same format (i.e. it comprises the same parameters, although the parameter values of course vary) regardless of the type of media channel entity 10,1 1 ,12 that transmits the message and the advertising server 20a,20b.20c to which the message is directed. Furthermore, the format of the message sent in steps 103/1 13 is the same, apart from a nuance regarding an internal reference about the ad in the ad server that is sent to the channel, in order that the channel can report the notification with this internal ad reference in the advertisement server. The advertisement server manages the internal reference of the advertisement that is sent in the advertisement notification. This internal reference is needed in step 103 (asynchronous) but not in step 1 13 (synchronous).

Table 1 shows a list of the most relevant parameters in the advertisement request. There are other parameters in the request but they are not relevant for the understanding of the invention and therefore not listed here for conciseness.

Parameter Value/Description

Partner id A unique identifier, that identifies the operator of the

media channel entity. This parameter allows to define a specific semantic for others parameters (such as

"behaviour segment" , "context segment" among others in this table) in order to set a particularized set of values for each operator, according to its needs. A new code is generated for each new operator integration.

User id An alphanumeric unique anonymous user identifier, which is different than the MSISDN. A DES5 algorithm may be applied to the MSISDN to obtain the User_id. The User_id must be local for each operator. It is not necessary to Parameter Value/Description

include country-code, although this may be decided by each operator. If it is not possible to identify the MSISDN,

User id = 0; in this case the user is considered to be a generic user and it is not needed to apply frequency capping

Frequency capping refers to the maximum number of times that the same advertisement is served to the same user in the same timeframe (for instance, a daily frequency cap of 3, means that an ad cannot be shown more than 3 times to the same user)

Channeljd (a It identifies the inventory (advertisement space) related to media channel type the operator's channel that includes the advertisement's parameter Global parameters. Global parameters are those identifying the type parameters that are agreed upon by all operators of the media supporting the protocol

channel provided An exemplary list, to which new values may be added by the media when needed, is:

channel entity) 010 - WAP portal (on portal)

01 X - WAP walled gardens portals

020 - WAP Browsing off portal

030 - Text Messaging

040 - Specific MMS Messaging

050 - Video Streaming

060 - Audio channels

070 - RingBack Tones

080 - Games

090 - Video Downloads

100 - On-device Portal

1 10 - Widgets

120 - Idle Screen

This parameter should be the same for all the operators in general identifications (010 - WAP portal, 020 - WAP browsing of portal, ...) but it is possible to add more codes Parameter Value/Description

when a local operator requires it (i.e. 01 1 specific WAP portal 1 , 012 specific WAP portal 2,...). These values should be agreed upon by all operators. The parameter Channeljd is needed for reporting purposes

ad_Space Unique ID that identifies the advertisement space, i.e. the place where the advertisement is going to be placed within the channel. This parameter should be unique per partner id.

The operator and the advertisement server agree to a new code for each new advertisement space. The use of this coding is aimed to limit the URL length This parameter should be unique for partner id. It has a variable length

ad_presentation Format of the target advertising space (banner, video, (an advertisement etc.). An exemplary list, which may be incremented when format parameter needed, is:

identifying the 0100 - Browsing general (unspecific format)

format of the 0101 - browsing banner

advertising space 0102 - Sponsored link

of the media 0103 - Interstitial

channel) 0104 - Text link

0105 - Image + link

0106 - top banner + link below

0107 - small banner + link in the same line

0200 - Text messaging (unspecific format)

0201 - Text impression

0202 - Interactive URL

0300 - MMS (unspecific format)

0301 - Banner

0401 - Video clip

0501 - Audio Clip

Ad_presentation_si In WAP scenarios this parameter

ze distinguishes standard and non- Parameter Value/Description

standard sizes: e.g. standard MMA4:1

e.g. non-standard values such as

operatorX:75.42, operatorY:75.75

In Web scenarios this parameter is [width]x[height] optional for special sizes required e.g. 96x25 for banners, which might be

different to general standards.

For instance, a real example of

specific values defined by an

operator are the following specific

sizes:

96x25, 1 18x35, 130x35, 166x40,

170x40, 192x45, 220x45, 228x45,

344x50, 346x50

SMS: optional, it indicates the Number maximum bytes sized for the

required advertisement. Encoding:

default value should be UTF-8; this default value should be

configurable by partner id. The

value will be noted in bytes

VIDEO/AUDIO: optional, it indicates Number the required length in seconds for

the required advertisement.

Keywords Keywords the ads are related to, if provided (separated with commas)

^* In order to avoid very long URLs, a suggestion is to limit the length of this value to 30 characters. A too long string Parameter Value/Description

here can be difficult to manage for old mobile handsets.

Contextual_segme Category, affinity group of the part of the channel (for nt instance the portal) where the advertisement is placed.

(context parameter E.g. 1 : "music", 2: "leisure"...

identifying a

category of the

content provided

by the media

channel or part of

the media channel

where the

advertisement is to

be inserted)

Service_provider Identifier of Service Provider which provides access to the user. It may be used to identify Mobile Virtual Network

Operators (MVNO) or (Internet Service Providers) ISPs in web advertising.

Gender User gender:

M for males

F for females

Date_of_birth User date of birth (if it does not exist the year of birth will be used)

Date in ISO format.

Example: 19770527

Age Number of user's age years

Language User language

ISO-639-3 standard definitions for languages: "SPA",

"CAT"....

Nationality User Nationality

ISO 3166 standard definitions for countries: "es", "de", Parameter Value/Description

"gb".-.

Homejocation User area according to the user's profile (address) of the user Each operator must agree on the format (and, more

importantly, the level of granularity) needed. For instance, zip code or the first 2 digits of the zip code, ...

Current location of Zip code from Location Based Service (LBS)

the user. each operator must agree on the format (and, more

importantly, the level of granularity) needed.

Example: zip code or the first 2 digits of the zip code

ProtectionjDolicy The adult control policy. The following numeric values

correspond with the following restriction in the content:

1 - low: "medium" adult content could be shown to the user.

2 - safe: adult content must not be shown to the user.

3 - high: any content (including extremely explicit content) can be shown to the user.

The ad server should support to assign a default value for each partner. It should be possible to change this default value if a partner requires it

isAsync isAsync: represents if this request will have an

asynchronous notification.

0: Synchronous

1 : Asynchronous.

If the parameter is not included in the request, then the request is considered as synchronous.

Table 1

The advertisement server selects an advertisement to be inserted in the advertisement space of the media channel provided to the user device based on at least the advertisement format parameter, the media channel type parameter, the user property parameters and the context parameter in the request. Further parameters in the request may additionally be taken into account for selecting the advertisement.

The following parameters referred to in table 1 together are the user property parameters:

- Service_provider

- Behaviour segment

- Gender

- Date_of_birth

- Age

- Language

- Nationality

- Homejocation of the user

- Currentjocation of the user

- Adult control policy

The user property parameters and the context parameter (Contextual_segment) together are the "targeting" parameters enabling the advertisement server to take advantage of specific data regarding the user, or the advertisement contexts, in order to select and consequently provide the best advertisement to the user at any time. The targeting parameters are generally available to the operator and not to the advertisement vendors operating the advertisement servers. For this reason, it is advantageous that the advertisement servers are provided with the targeting parameters. In order to comply with legal obligations, the user identity is protected (i.e. the MSISDN is not derivable from the User id parameter provided to the advertisement server) as described in the

"User id" value description in Table 1 .

Table 2 shows a list of the most relevant parameters in the asynchronous advertisement notification, which is transmitted from a media channel entity to an advertisement server (see step 1 16 depicted in figure 3). There are other parameters in the notification but they are not relevant for the understanding of the invention and therefore not listed here for conciseness.

Parameter Value/Description Ad_id Identifier of the advertisement associated to the notified event. The advertisement server returns this ad-id in the advertisement response (see step 1 13), .The format is also alphanumeric. This value reports the specific advertisement that is referred in the notification to the advertisement server

Time_Stamp Time stamp in ISO 8601 dateTime, i.e. : 2007-1 1 - 10T13:45:12.44

Event_Type Type of event: Impression, Click, Browse, Call, SMS...

The type of impression is already defined by the delivered advertisement, because an advertisement is always for a specific type of channel and presentation format.

Some examples:

002: Impression

005: Click-2-SMS

006: Click-2-Call

007: Click-2-Browse

008: Click-2-Morelnfo

029: Ad-Click

030: Manual Skip

031 : Automatic Skip

032: Stop

033: Forward

100: Click-2-Download

Event_Attribute Depending on the type of event, this parameter broadens the information of the event.

If the information of the event type is self explaining it is not required, but if it requires more than one parameter, it will be separated by a comma

Each attribute is described by a pair "name:value". Some possible examples: • Video Impression: &ea=duration:5000,position:preroll

• Click2call: &ea=number:+34666666666

Error Code Only successful events should be notified, reporting the information using Event_Type and Event_Attributes parameters.

In case of an error on delivery of the advertisement, the advertisement server is notified in order to warn about this problem. Then the Error Code and Error Description substitute the Event_Type and Event_Attribute

parameters

An example of codes of errors:

"400" (Generic error)

"401 " (Error in the provided advertisement)

"402" (Error in the advertisement interaction)

Error description Describes the error. Only used in case of notifying an

error

"Generic error" (400)

"Error in the provided ad" (401 )

"Error in the ad interaction" (402)

The Error code is just a simple coding of the error. If needed, a further description of the error can be obtained by using the Error description. Both them are related, logically

Table 2

The functionality shown in figures 1 -3 is preferably implemented by means of a suitable computer program loaded to user devices 5, media channel entities 10,1 1 ,12 advertisement servers 20a,20b,20c and advertisement repository 30. The main achievement of the generic advertisement protocol is to define a common, homogeneous way of interaction between entities supplying heterogeneous digital communication channels and advertisement servers.

The wide scope of digital advertising encompasses different digital media tor providing advertisements (SMS/MMS messaging, Internet Web/WAP browsing, audio & video channels...). The generic advertisement protocol meets the advertising needs for these current digital media, and it is intended to be flexible enough to cover future digital media channels.

On the other hand, advertisement servers provide in-house, nonstandard interfacing to supply different digital advertisements (text, banners, audio clips, video clips). The generic advertisement protocol is designed to report to the media channel entity, which requests an advertisement, the proper reference to the most accurate advertisement selected by the advertisement server.

This homogeneous way of communication among advertisement units facilitates:

- Easier, seamless integration with new advertisement units (both

advertisement servers and media channel entities).

- A faster and homogeneous way of reporting and invoicing for the same units.

- With the generic advertisement protocol advertisement publishers

(operators) can provide targeting information to the advertisement servers. As a consequence, the advertisement servers receive accurate

advertisements for the user's profile in real time.

- The protocol is designed for easy incorporation of future advertisement

products, with backward compatibility.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.

Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfil the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measured cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

1 . Method of providing digital advertisements to a user device (5) via any one of a plurality of media channels of different type provided by a plurality of media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12), the media channels comprising advertisement space having a predetermined format for providing the advertisements, the method comprising the steps of:

- a media channel entity, which provides one of the plurality of media channels, sending (102,1 12)) a request for an advertisement to any one of a plurality of advertising servers (20a,20b,20c);

- the advertisement server (20) selecting an advertisement; and

- the advertisement server (20) sending a reply (103,1 13) to the media channel entity with a reference to the selected advertisement characterized in that a common generic protocol is used by the plurality of media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) for sending the request to any one of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20n,20c).

2. Method according to claim 1 wherein:

the request comprises an advertisement format parameter identifying the format of the advertising space of the media channel; and

the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the advertisement format parameter in the request.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein:

the request comprises a media channel type parameter identifying the type of the media channel provided by the media channel entity; and

the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the media channel type parameter in the request.

4. Method according to any one of the claims 1 -3 wherein:

the request comprises one or more user property parameters identifying properties of the user of the user terminal other than an unequivocal user identifier; and the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the one or more user property parameters in the request.

5. Method according to claim 4 wherein the user property parameters comprise one or more of the following: identifier of a service provider providing access to the user, a qualification of the behaviour of the user, user gender, date of birth, user age, user language, user nationality, home location of the user and current location of the user.

6. Method according to any one of the previous claims wherein

the request comprises a context parameter identifying a category of the content provided by the media channel or part of the media channel where the advertisement is to be inserted; and

the advertisement server selects the advertisement at least partly based on the context parameter in the request.

7. Method according to any one of the previous claims wherein the reply of the advertisement server comprises a reference to the selected advertisement at an advertisement repository (30) other than the advertisement server (20); and the method comprises the further steps of:

the media channel entity accessing (1 14) the advertisement referred to by the reference;

the media channel entity providing (1 15) the advertisement to the user terminal; and

- once the advertisement has been rendered at the user terminal, the media channel entity notifying (1 16) the advertisement server of the rendering of the advertisement.

8. Method according to claim 7 wherein the reply of the advertisement server comprises furthermore a link for notifying the rendering of the selected advertisement at the user terminal and wherein the media channel entity notifies the platform of the rendering of the advertisement at the user terminal using the link.

9. Method according to any one of the claims 1 -6, wherein the reply of the advertisement server comprises a reference to the selected advertisement, which is stored at the advertisement server; and the method comprises the further steps of: the media channel entity providing the reference to the advertisement to the user terminal (105) enabling the user terminal to request (106) the advertisement from the advertisement server; and

the advertisement server serving (107) the advertisement to the user terminal and registering the rendering of the advertisement.

10. A computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform the steps according to any one of claims 1 -9 when said program is run on a computer.

1 1 . A system for providing a digital advertisement to a user device (5) via any one of a plurality of media channels of different type comprising:

a plurality of media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) for providing the plurality of media channels, the media channels comprising advertisement space having a predetermined format for providing the advertisements, and

a plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c); wherein

each of the media channel entities is configured for, sending (102,1 12) a request for an advertisement to any one of the plurality of advertising servers; and

each of the plurality of advertisements server is configured for selecting an advertisement and sending (103,1 13) a reply to the media channel entity with a reference to the selected advertisement,

characterized in that the plurality of media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) are configured for using a common generic protocol for sending the request to any one of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c).

12. System according to claim 1 1 wherein:

the plurality of media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) are configured for including in the request an advertisement format parameter identifying the format of the advertising space of the media channel; and each of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c) is configured for selecting the advertisement at least partly based on the advertisement format parameter in the request.

13. System according to claim 1 1 or 12 wherein:

the plurality of media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) are configured for including in the request a media channel type parameter identifying the type of the media channel provided by the media channel entity; and

each of the advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c) is configured for selecting the advertisement at least partly based on the media channel type parameter in the request.

14. System according to any one of the claims 1 1 -13 wherein each of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c) is configured for including in the reply a reference to the selected advertisement at an advertisement repository (30) other than the advertisement server; and the media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) are configured for:

accessing the advertisement referred to by the reference;

providing the advertisement to the user terminal; and

- once the advertisement has been rendered at the user terminal, notifying the advertisement server of the rendering of the advertisement.

15. System according to any one of the claims 1 1 -13 wherein:

each of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c) is configured for including in the reply a reference to the selected advertisement, which is stored at the advertisement server;

the media channel entities (10,1 1 ,12) are configured for providing the reference to the advertisement to the user terminal enabling the user terminal to request the advertisement from the advertisement server; and

- each of the plurality of advertisement servers (20a,20b,20c) is furthermore configured for serving the advertisement to the user terminal and registering the rendering of the advertisement.