Optimization of Online Advertising Assets

Abstract

A system for collecting and presenting information about advertising analytics comprises an ad preparation server, an ad server and an analytics server. The ad preparation server receives advertising assets (e.g., ads) and modifies them to include a data collection script. The preparation server then sends the modified ads to the ad server for delivery along with underlying content to users. The underlying content and modified ads are delivered to client devices that present the content and execute the data collection script. The data collection script collects and sends advertising analytic data back to the analytics server in a non-intrusive manner. The present invention also includes a method for preparing ads, a method for deriving a heat map, a method for generating and sending advertising data, and a method for generating a representation of a focus of attention for a user.

1 . A method implemented by, an advertising asset server, an ad preparation server, an ad server, and an analytics server, for processing advertisement analytics data relating to an advertisement, the method comprising:
 modifying, by the ad preparation server, the advertisement for display on a user device, by adding a data collection script to the advertisement, the data collection script configured to load responsive to at least one of a plurality of conditions and configured to obtain a plurality of elements of analytics data from activity by a user via the user device with respect to the advertisement:
 1) taking a data snapshot of a context in which the advertisement is displayed and
 2) tracking and storing at least one of cursor and gesture movements by the user with respect to the advertisement, and at least one of click inputs or scroll inputs by the user with respect to the advertisement, and monitoring trigger events with respect to the advertisement and sending the elements of analytics data in multiple small messages after each trigger event and using, by the analytics server, the elements of analytics data from activity by the user, to determine at least one pixel position relative to an upper corner of the advertisement for which the activity is obtained and a time for start of at least one event relative to the advertisement, wherein adding the data collection script to the advertisement further comprises: 
 
 provisioning an advertisement identifier; 
 retrieving an original advertisement asset from the advertising asset server; 
 dissembling the original advertisement asset that conveys the advertisement to render a modifiable advertisement asset; 
 injecting an analytic script into the modifiable advertisement asset; 
 compiling a combination of the modifiable advertisement asset and the analytic script into a new asset configured to automatically both display an advertising message and execute the analytic script including tracking functions for the ad engagement tracker, at every instance that the new asset operates on the internet; and 
 serving a new advertisement with the new asset; 
   capturing, by at least the ad engagement tracker in the analytics server, the elements of analytics data indicating a user's attention to the advertisement on a website presented by the ad server when a user accesses the website via the internet in the multiple small messages sent from the data collection script after each trigger event;   producing input data, by at least the analytics server, with the elements of the analytics data captured for an analytics database, containing user attention data with respect to various advertisement displays, including cursor data and gesture data associated with a particular user viewing the advertisement on the website;   generating, by at least the analytics server, a visual representation of the user's attention to the advertisement display on the website, by based on the cursor and gesture data including a heat map, and further convolving the heat map with a fundamental solution to a heterogeneous heat diffusion equation and normalizing the convolved heat map data to a predefined range and applying a color map associating value to color and an alpha transparency wherein a plurality of different colors on the heat map represent different levels of focus by a user; and   providing, by at least the analytics server, the visual representation for display to the user wherein the visual representation is the heat map, wherein the heat map is sent to the user device for presentation in a browser operating on the user device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visual representation is an individual image produced by the input data including the cursor data and gesture data. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the data collection script is added to an advertisement by at least one of a program, software, and code that:
 1) loads further to the advertisement being served; 
 2) loads further to a network call placed on the page by its publisher; 
 3) executes in the same time window as content of the advertisement and the page load; 
 4) extracts at least one of cursor movement, gesture data, browser, user data, and data pertaining to the environment in which the advertisement has been placed; 
 5) transmits that data, during page rendering, to an analytics server; and 
 6) creates data from which downstream analytics can determine the duration that the page was viewed during any particular rendering of the page. 
   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein adding the data collection script to the advertisement, further comprises:
 retrieving a script template from storage of script templates and an ad asset from the advertising asset server and using the script template to create the data collection script and injecting the data collection script in the ad asset.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein adding the data collection script to the advertisement further comprises:
 retrieving script templates.   
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the captured analytics data includes cursor movement data, gesture data, browser data, and data pertaining to an environment in which the advertisement has been placed. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising using an eye-movement transformer and an eye-tracking visualization module. 
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the heat map is generated by using a heat map data structure for generating heat map data. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein using the input data to generate the visual representation further includes:
 retrieving heat map data generated by the heat map data structure.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising using a visualization metric and a focus index for each advertisement. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the steps of capturing, and providing are performed in real time. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-program product residing on a non-transitory computer-usable medium including a computer-readable program, wherein the computer-readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
 modify by adding a data collection script to an advertisement for display on a user device, wherein the data collection script is configured to load responsive to at least one of a plurality of conditions and configured to obtain elements of analytics data from activity by user via the user device with respect to the advertisement display, by taking a data snapshot of a context in which the advertisement is displayed and tracking and storing at least one of cursor and gesture movements, and at least one of click inputs and scroll inputs, and monitoring trigger events and sending multiple small messages after each trigger event and using the elements of the analytics data from the activity by the user into to determine at least one pixel position relative to an upper corner of the advertisement for which the activity is obtained and, a time for start of at least one event relative to the advertisement;   capturing the elements of analytics data indicating a user's attention to the advertisement on a website when a user accesses the website via the internet in multiple small messages sent from the data collection script after each trigger event;   use the captured analytics data as input data for a database containing user attention data gathered with respect to various advertisement displays, wherein the input data is cursor data and gesture data associated with a user giving attention to the advertisement display on the web site;   generate by the input data to a visual representation of the user's attention to the advertisement display on the web site based on the cursor data and the gesture data including a heat map, and further convolving the heat map with a fundamental solution to a heterogeneous heat diffusion equation and normalizing the convolved heat map data to a predefined range and applying a color map associating value to color and an alpha transparency wherein a plurality of different colors on the heat map represent different levels of focus by a user; and   provide the visual representation for display to the user wherein the visual representation is the heat map of eye movement for display, wherein the heat map is sent to the user device for presentation in a browser operating on the user device; and   wherein adding the data collection script to the advertisement further comprises:
 provisioning an advertisement identifier; 
 retrieving an advertisement asset from an advertisement asset server; 
 disassembling the advertisement asset that conveys the advertisement to render a modifiable advertisement asset; 
 injecting an analytic script into the modifiable advertisement asset; 
 compiling a combination of the modifiable advertisement asset and the the analytic script into a new asset configured to automatically both display an advertising message and execute the analytic script including tracking functions, at every instance that the new asset operates on the internet; and 
 serving a new advertisement with the new asset. 
   
     
     
         15 . The computer-program product of  claim 14 , wherein the visual representation is an individual image produced by the input data including the cursor data and the gesture data. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-program product of  claim 14 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer for capturing analytics data further causes the computer to also:
 add the data collection script to the advertisement by at least one of a program, software, and code that:
 1) loads further to the advertisement being served; 
 2) loads further to a network call placed on the page by its publisher; 
 3) executes in the same time window as the advertising content and the page load; 
 4) extracts at least one of cursor movement, gesture data, browser, user data, and data pertaining to the environment in which the advertisement has been placed; 
 5) transmits that data, during page rendering, to an analytics server; and 
 6) creates data from which downstream analytics can determine the duration that the page was viewed during any particular rendering of the page. 
   
     
     
         17 . The computer-program product of  claim 16 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer for adding the data collection script to the advertisement further causes the computer to:
 provision an advertisement identifier;   retrieve a script template; and   retrieve an advertisement asset.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-program product of  claim 16 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer further causes the computer to:
 retrieve a plurality of script templates.   
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . The computer-program product of  claim 16 , wherein the captured analytics data includes cursor movement data, gesture data, browser data, and data pertaining to an environment in which the advertisement has been placed. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-program product of  claim 14 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer further causes the computer to also provide the input data to an eye-movement tracker and an eye-movement visualization module. 
     
     
         22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . The computer-program product of  claim 14 , wherein the heat map is generated by using a heat map data structure for generating heat map data. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-program product of  claim 23 , wherein providing the input data for the visual representation includes:
 retrieving heat map data.   
     
     
         25 . The computer-program product of  claim 14 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer causes the computer to further use a visualization metric and a focus index for each advertisement for display. 
     
     
         26 . The computer-program product of  claim 16 , wherein the providing operations are performed in real time. 
     
     
         27 . A system for processing ad analytics data relating to an advertisement, comprising:
 a processor; and   an advertisement server storing instructions that when executed cause the processor to:
 modifying by adding a data collection script to an advertisement for display on a user device, wherein the data collection script loads responsive to at least one of a plurality of condition and is configured to obtain elements of the analytics data from activity by user via the user device with respect to the advertisement for display, by taking a data snapshot of a context in which the advertisement is displayed and tracking and storing at least one of cursor and gesture movements, and at least one of click inputs or scroll inputs, and monitoring trigger events and sending in multiple small messages after each trigger event and using the elements of analytics data from activity by the user to determine at least one pixel position relative to an upper corner of the advertisement for which the activity is obtained and a time for start of at least one event relative to the advertisement; 
 capture the elements of the analytics data indicating the user's attention to the advertisement on a website when the user accesses the website via the internet in the multiple small messages sent from the data collection script after each trigger event; 
 use the captured analytics data to produce input data for a database containing user attention data gathered with respect to various advertisement displays, wherein the input data is cursor data and gesture data associated with a user giving attention to the advertisement display on the web site; 
 use the input data to generate a visual representation of the user's attention to the advertisement display on the website, based on the cursor and the gesture data including a heat map, and further convolving the heat map with a fundamental solution to a heterogeneous heat diffusion equation and normalizing the convolved heat map data to a predefined range and applying a color map associating value to color and an alpha transparency, wherein a plurality of different colors on the heat map represent different levels of focus by a user; 
   provide the visual representation for display to a user wherein the visual representation is a heat map of eye movement for display, wherein the heat map is sent to the user device for presentation in a browser operating on the user device; and   wherein adding the data collection script to the advertisement further causes the processor to:
 provision an advertisement identifier; 
 retrieve an advertisement asset from an advertisement asset server; 
 disassemble the advertisement asset that conveys the advertisement to render a modifiable advertisement asset; 
 inject an analytic script into the modifiable advertisement asset; 
 compile a combination of the modifiable advertisement asset and the analytic script into a new asset configured to automatically both display an advertising message and execute the analytic script including tracking functions, at every instance that the new asset operates on the internet; and 
 serve a new advertisement with the new asset. 
   
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the visual representation is an individual image produced by the input data including the cursor data and the gesture data. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the instructions to capture the analytics data further comprise:
 adding the data collection script to the advertisement by at least one of a program, software, and code that:
 1) loads further to the advertisement being served; 
 2) loads further to a network call placed on the page by its publisher; 
 3) executes in the same time window as the advertising content and the page load; 
 4) extracts at least one of cursor movement, gesture data, browser, user data, and data pertaining to the environment in which the advertisement has been placed; 
 5) transmits that data, during page rendering, to an analytics server; and 
 6) creates data from which downstream analytics can determine the duration that the page was viewed during any particular rendering of the page. 
   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein adding the data collection script to the advertisement, further comprises:
 provisioning an advertisement identifier;   retrieving a script template; and   retrieving an advertisement asset.