Method and apparatus for providing audio advertisements in a computer network

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing audio advertisements in a computer network enables Web sites to deliver audio advertisements that cannot be bypassed by a visitor. More particularly, an advertising or sponsoring Web site receives a request from at least one user for delivery of a user-selected Web page associated with the Web site. The Web site selects at least one audio advertisement from a plurality of audio advertisements for delivery to the user in conjunction with the user-selected Web page. The Web site then delivers the audio advertisement to the user via the network in a format that precludes the user from controlling the manner of playback of the audio advertisement.

1 . A computing system comprising:
 one or more hardware processors configured to execute instructions;   a computer readable storage medium holding instructions configured for execution by the one or more hardware processors in order to cause the computing system to:
 receive a request for a web page from a client computing device executing a client web browser; and 
 in response to receiving the request, send a web object configured to cause the client web browser to playback at least a portion of an audio file on the client computing device in a manner that is not controllable by a user of the client computing device, wherein the audio file is selected based on one or more tendencies of the user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the web object is configured to not launch an application or a plug-in that allows the user to control playback of the audio file. 
     
     
         3 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the web object is configured to begin playback of the audio file in response to determining that a sufficient amount of the audio file has been received at the client computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computing system to:
 receive data from the client computing device that is usable to determine the one or more tendencies of the user.   
     
     
         5 . The computing system of  claim 4 , wherein the received data comprises data from one or more user-filled forms. 
     
     
         6 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more tendencies are based on at least responsiveness of the user to respective audio files previously provided to the user. 
     
     
         7 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computing system to:
 determine whether the user reacted positively to playback of the audio file; and   in response to determining that the user reacted positively to playback of the audio file, selecting an additional audio file for playback to the user.   
     
     
         8 . The computing system of  claim 7 , wherein the determination of whether the user reacted positively to playback of the audio file is based on one or more of whether the user:
 ignored the audio file;   visited a website associated with the audio file;   interacted with the website associated with the audio file; or   purchased a product on the website associated with the audio file.   
     
     
         9 . The computing system of  claim 7 , wherein the audio file and the additional audio file are associated with a common advertiser. 
     
     
         10 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein a provider of the web page is allotted one or more credits in response to providing the web object to the client computing device. 
     
     
         11 . The computing system of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computing system to:
 track a quantity of credits allotted to the provider of the web page, wherein the credits allotted to the provider of the web page may be used to purchase advertising on one or more other websites.   
     
     
         12 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the web object is configured to associate an input device command with a navigation shortcut. 
     
     
         13 . The computing system of  claim 12 , wherein the navigation shortcut comprises a link to a website associated with the audio file. 
     
     
         14 . The computing system of  claim 12 , wherein the navigation shortcut is active if the client web browser is in a first state and the navigation shortcut is inactive if the client web browser is in a second state. 
     
     
         15 . The computing system of  claim 14 , wherein the client web browser is in the second state in response to less than a predefined number of input fields being active in the client web browser. 
     
     
         16 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the navigation shortcut comprises a tracking code. 
     
     
         17 . A computing system comprising:
 one or more hardware processors configured to execute instructions;   a computer readable storage medium holding instructions configured for execution by the one or more hardware processors in order to cause the computing system to:
 receive a request for a web page from a client computing device executing a client web browser; 
 determine, based at least on a time period since a user of the client computing device has been provided with an audio advertisement from the computing system, whether an audio advertisement should be provided to the user of the client computing device; and 
 in response to determining that an audio advertisement should be provided to the user of the client computing device, send a web object configured to cause the client web browser to playback at least a portion of a selected audio advertisement on the client computing device. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computing system of  claim 17 , wherein the web object is configured to not launch an application or a plug-in that allows the user to control playback of the selected audio advertisement. 
     
     
         19 . The computing system of  claim 17 , wherein the selected audio advertisement is selected based on one or more tendencies of the user. 
     
     
         20 . A tangible computer readable medium having instructions encoded thereon, the instructions configured for execution by a computing system having one or more hardware processors in order to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a request for a web page from a client computing device executing a client web browser; and   
       in response to receiving the request, sending a web object configured to cause the client web browser to playback at least a portion of an audio file on the client computing device in a manner that is not controllable by a user of the client computing device, wherein the audio file is selected based on one or more tendencies of the user.