Systems and methods for providing timely advertising to portable devices

Abstract

Systems and methods for displaying advertisements on a portable device that utilizes an Activity-based operating system are described. The method includes receiving an indication that an Activity is being transitioned away from, and determining whether or not the Activity is finishing. Upon determining that the Activity is finishing, the method includes causing an advertisement display routine to be executed immediately, otherwise submitting the advertisement display routine into a processing queue to be executed subsequently. The advertisement display routine displays the advertisement only upon determining that the state of the Activity and the state of the portable device are characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.

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         10 . A communication device comprising:
 a processor;   a display screen; and   a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containing an operating system and program code which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:   receive an indication of occurrence of an event of the operating system wherein the event is included among one or more operating system events and wherein the event is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor;   determine, in response to the indication, that the state transition results in finishing of the first activity; and   display, upon determining the first activity is finishing, the advertisement upon determining that a state of the communication device is characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.   
     
     
         11 . The communication device of  claim 10  wherein the program code includes code for causing the processor to, upon determining the first activity is not finishing, submit an advertisement display routine into a processing queue for subsequent execution by the processor. 
     
     
         12 . The communication device of  claim 10 , wherein the program code causes the processor to display the advertisement by:
 invoking a second activity, wherein execution of the second activity is delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of a Home button; and   painting a view on the display, wherein painting the view is not delayed by the operating system subsequent to activation of the Home button.   
     
     
         13 . The communication device of  claim 12 , wherein the view comprises content of the advertisement. 
     
     
         14 . The communication device of  claim 12 , wherein the second activity is at least partially hidden by the view. 
     
     
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         16 . The communication device of  claim 10 , wherein, the indication is an initiation of a termination routine when an activity is being transitioned away from. 
     
     
         17 . The communication device of  claim 16 , wherein the termination routine is an overridden termination routine. 
     
     
         18 . The communication device of  claim 10 , wherein the processor displays the advertisement upon determining that at least two of the following conditions exists wherein the following conditions are included within the one or more predetermined conditions:
 second activity of the application program is not being invoked,   the communication device is not involved in the call,   the display screen is not locked, and   the first activity is the root activity or is in the background state.   
     
     
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         31 . A method of displaying an advertisement on a display screen of a communication device, the communication device including a processor, an operating system, and a memory including program code, the processor performing the method by executing the program code, the method comprising:
 receiving an indication of occurrence of an operating system event wherein the operating system event is indicative of a state transition of a first activity of an application program being executed on the processor;   determining that the state transition results in finishing of the first activity; and   displaying, upon determining the first activity is finishing, the advertisement upon determining that a state of the first activity and a state of the communication device are characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  wherein the state transition results in a change of visibility of a user interface window rendered by the display screen, the user interface window being associated with the first activity. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31  wherein the determining includes determining that the occurrence of the operating system event resulted from one of a software transition within the application program and actuation of a predefined button of the communication device. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33  wherein the predefined element is a Back navigation button. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31  further including:
 receiving an indication of occurrence of a prior operating system event preceding the operating system event, wherein the prior operating system event is indicative of a prior state transition of the first activity; 
 determining that the prior state transition results in the first activity being returned to a processing queue; and 
 submitting, upon determining the first activity is being returned to the processing queue, a prior advertising routine into the processing queue. 
 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 31  further including:
 generating an advertisement request message for communication to a remote system; 
 receiving the advertisement from the remote system.