Distributing coupon content and transactional advertisements

Abstract

A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium having processor-executable instructions recorded thereon is provided for distributing transactional advertisements from a distribution site over a network to online publishers. Transactional data items are rendered by the online publishers, with control elements provided from the distribution site, to control use of the transactional data items on the user terminal.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for distributing a transactional advertisement to a user terminal, the system comprising:
 one or more storage media storing a plurality of transactional advertisements;   a publisher interface module operable to generate a script to embed in a web page that is to include transactional advertisements, wherein said publisher interface module is operable to generate the script in response to a request specifying an identifier of the web page from a publisher of the web page;   wherein the publisher interface module comprises a validation component that is operable to dispatch a web crawler to retrieve scanned data from the web page, and the validation component is operable to use the scanned data to validate that the web page is appropriate for display of one or more of the plurality of transactional advertisements; and   a distribution module operable to deliver a transactional advertisement data item corresponding to one or more selected transactional advertisements of the plurality of transactional advertisements to the user terminal in a manner that causes respective coupon content of the selected transactional advertisement to be displayed at the user terminal as part of the web page; and   said distribution module operable to select the one or more selected transactional advertisements based on one or more of: keywords from the web page, determination of popular transactional advertisements as measured by one or more metrics, historical information regarding past downloads of the web page by the user or user terminal, and identification of demographics information about the web page.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said distribution module is operable to deliver a print control component to the user terminal for restricting a manner in which the coupon content displayed as part of the web page may be printed. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein said distribution module is operable to deliver the print control component to the user terminal in response to receiving a request from the user terminal to print the coupon content displayed as part of the web page. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a particular number of instances of the coupon content. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a default printer in communication with the user terminal. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a particular class of printers. 
     
     
         7 . A method for distributing a transactional advertisement to a user terminal, the method comprising:
 storing a plurality of transactional advertisements on one or more storage media;   generating a script to embed in a web page that is to include one or more transactional advertisements in response to a request specifying an identifier of the web page from a publisher of the web page;   dispatching a web crawler to retrieve scanned data from the web page, and using the scanned data to validate that the web page is appropriate for display of one or more of the plurality of transactional advertisements;   delivering at least one transactional advertisement data item corresponding to at least one selected transactional advertisement of the plurality of transactional advertisements to a user terminal in a manner that causes coupon content of the selected transactional advertisement to be displayed to a user at the user terminal as part of the web page; and   selecting the at least one selected transactional advertisement based on one or more of: keywords from the web page, determination of popular transactional advertisements as measured by one or more metrics, historical information regarding past downloads of the web page by the user or user terminal, and identification of demographics information about the web page;   wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising delivering a print control component to the user terminal for restricting a manner in which the coupon content displayed as part of the web page may be printed. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising delivering the print control component to the user terminal in response to receiving a request from the user terminal to print the coupon content displayed as part of the web page. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a particular number of instances of the coupon content. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a default printer connected to the user terminal. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a particular class of printers. 
     
     
         13 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing processor-executable instructions for distributing a transactional advertisement to a user terminal, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause:
 storing a plurality of transactional advertisements on one or more storage media;   generating a script to embed in a web page that is to include transactional advertisements in response to a request specifying an identifier of the web page from a publisher of the web page;   dispatching a web crawler to retrieve scanned data from the web page, and using the scanned data to validate that the web page is appropriate for display of one or more of the plurality of transactional advertisements;   delivering a transactional advertisement data item corresponding to at least one selected transactional advertisement of the plurality of transactional advertisements to a user terminal in a manner that causes coupon content of the selected at least one transactional advertisement to be displayed as part of the web page; and   selecting the selected at least one transactional advertisement based on one or more of: keywords from the web page, determination of popular transactional advertisements as measured by one or more metrics, historical information regarding past downloads of the web page by the user or user terminal, and identification of demographics information about the web page.   
     
     
         14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 13 , further comprising instructions which when executed cause delivering a print control component to the user terminal for restricting a manner in which the coupon content displayed as part of the web page may be printed at the user terminal. 
     
     
         15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , further comprising instructions which when executed cause delivering the print control component to the user terminal in response to receiving a request from the user terminal to print the coupon content displayed as part of the web page. 
     
     
         16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a particular number of instances of the coupon content. 
     
     
         17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a default printer connected to the user terminal. 
     
     
         18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , wherein the print control component delivered to the user terminal restricts printing of the coupon content displayed as part of the web page to a particular class of printers.