Pay-per-click system and method that determine whether a requested link to a merchant website is legitimate or fraudulent
DC CAFC
First Claim
1. In a pay-per-click system including a search engine to list merchant websites in an order according to incremental compensation for click-through to the websites, a method for determining whether a click on a link is legitimate or fraudulent, the method comprising:
- generating on a side of the search engine a code to associate with a user of the search engine who clicks on one of the merchant websites, the code uniquely identifying a device being used by the user;
returning the code to the device;
generating another code when the one of the merchant websites is clicked again by the user from the device;
concatenating the another code to the code previously generated; and
determining whether the requested link to the merchant website is legitimate or fraudulent by examining a duration between two visits to the one of the merchant websites in the code.
10 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention improves upon existing pay-per-click arrangements periodically generating a code associated with the search-engine users. This code, preferably in the form of a serial number, is compared to the user of the website, such that by observing a metric like the number of clicks for a given period of time, be it a short time or a longer period, such as a day or a week, the system can automatically determine if certain clicks are illegitimate. This allows the pay-per-click company to more fairly invoice the merchants, thereby preventing fraudulent over use.
21 Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a pay-per-click system including a search engine to list merchant websites in an order according to incremental compensation for click-through to the websites, a method for determining whether a click on a link is legitimate or fraudulent, the method comprising:
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generating on a side of the search engine a code to associate with a user of the search engine who clicks on one of the merchant websites, the code uniquely identifying a device being used by the user; returning the code to the device; generating another code when the one of the merchant websites is clicked again by the user from the device; concatenating the another code to the code previously generated; and determining whether the requested link to the merchant website is legitimate or fraudulent by examining a duration between two visits to the one of the merchant websites in the code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a pay-per-click system including a search engine to list merchant websites in an order according to incremental compensation for click-through to the websites, the system comprising:
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a device being used by a user to use the search engine; a server hosting the search engine that generates a code to associate with the user who clicks on one of the merchant websites, the code uniquely identifying the device, and returns the code to the device, wherein the server is configured to generate another code when the one of the merchant websites is clicked again by the user from the device, and wherein the another code is concatenated to the code previously generated, and the one of the merchant websites determines whether a requested link to the merchant website is legitimate or fraudulent by examining a duration of two visits to the one of the merchant websites in the code. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification
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- Resources
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Current AssigneeBrite Smart Corporation
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Original AssigneeBrite Smart Corporation
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InventorsZuili, Patrick
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Primary Examiner(s)CHEUNG, MARY DA ZHI WANG
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Application NumberUS10/360,688Publication NumberTime in Patent Office1,628 DaysField of Search705 26- 27, 705 52- 54, 705 64- 67, 705 75- 78, 713168-169, 707 9- 10, 707102-104, 726 1- 5, 726 26- 30US Class Current705/52CPC Class CodesG06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. sto...Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
