Method and System for Dynamic Textual Ad Distribution Via Email

Abstract

A system and method for providing dynamic pay-for-placement advertisements via graphics-enabled email that generates a display of advertisements when the email newsletter is opened so the advertisements displayed are based on rankings at the time the email is opened instead of when the email was generated and transmitted. In one embodiment, a graphical-content email having one or more embedded advertisement image references is provided to one or more email recipients. The advertisement image reference, in one embodiment, may include query string parameters indicating the context of the image reference and/or portion of the image reference (i.e., identifying the image reference as being part of a particular newsletter email), a position of the image reference in the email display, and the like. A URL reference also may be included with each advertisement image reference (.e.g., one URL for each advertisement portion of the image to be retrieved by the advertising image reference).

1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 generating an electronic document comprising program interpreted code to:
 instruct a recipient program to present content related to a specific distribution topic in a page when the electronic document is opened by the recipient program, 
 instruct the recipient program to retrieve an image from a source network-based location and present that image in the page with the content related to the specific distribution topic when the electronic document is opened by the recipient program, 
 instruct the recipient program to request a first web page from a first target network-based locator when a first portion of the image is selected, and 
 instruct the recipient program to request a second web page from a second target network-based locator when a second portion of the image is selected; and 
   providing the electronic document in response to a request, wherein the first and second target network-based locators direct the recipient program to a location on the network where a first and second advertiser web page location respectively are stored.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the source network-based locator comprises a URL with an identifier related to the specific distribution subject. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the first and second target network-based locators comprises an address portion and a variable portion and wherein the address portion of the first and second target network-based locators is the same. 
     
     
         34 . A method for facilitating serving content-relevant ads in a document, the method comprising:
 associating a unique identifier with the document; and   providing code to be inserted into the document, the code including image map information and the unique identifier.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34  further comprising inserting the code into the document. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the image map information includes image source information, and wherein the image source information includes the unique identifier. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the image map information includes image source information, and wherein the image source information is a path including the unique identifier. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the path further includes a URL of a content-relevant ad server. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the content-relevant ad server includes information about the content of the document. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , wherein the information about the content of the document includes at least one of (a) one or more concepts, and (b) one or more topics. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the image map information includes image source information, and wherein the image source information includes the unique identifier. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the image map information includes image source information, and wherein the image source information is a path including the unique identifier. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the path further includes a URL of a content-relevant ad server. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein the content-relevant ad server includes information about the content of the document. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the information about the content of the document includes at least one of (a) one or more concepts, and (b) one or more topics. 
     
     
         46 . A method for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the method comprising:
 accepting, from the client device, an ad request including a document identifier;   using content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of one or more ads;   generating an image including the one or more ads of the determined set; and   forwarding the generated image and a session identifier to the client device.   
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 46  wherein the document includes image map information including image source information, and wherein the image source information includes the document identifier. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 46  wherein the document includes image map information including image source information, and wherein the image source information is a path including the unique identifier. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48  wherein the path further includes a URL of the content-relevant ad server.