ASSOCIATIVE SEARCH ENGINE
First Claim
1. A method for operating an advertising machine implemented on at least one computer to provide advertisements via a communications link to a data processing device of a user, the method comprising:
- creating user profile data for the user;
storing the user profile data;
receiving from the data processing device via the communications link a search request that includes a search argument;
searching at least one database having data network related information using the search argument to generate search results;
selecting at least one advertisement from an advertisement database relating to the search argument using the user profile data; and
transmitting the search results together with the at least one advertisement via the communications link to the data processing device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to an advertisement machine which provides advertisements to a user searching for desired information within a data network. The machine receives, from a user, a search request including a search argument corresponding to the desired information and searches, based upon the received search argument, a first database having data network related information to generate search results. It also correlating the received search argument to a particular advertisement in a second database having advertisement related information. The search results together with the particular advertisement are provided by the machine to the user.
16 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for operating an advertising machine implemented on at least one computer to provide advertisements via a communications link to a data processing device of a user, the method comprising:
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creating user profile data for the user;
storing the user profile data;
receiving from the data processing device via the communications link a search request that includes a search argument;
searching at least one database having data network related information using the search argument to generate search results;
selecting at least one advertisement from an advertisement database relating to the search argument using the user profile data; and
transmitting the search results together with the at least one advertisement via the communications link to the data processing device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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3. The method of clam 1, wherein storing the user profile data comprises storing the user profile data in a user profile database of the advertising machine.
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10. A method for operating a data processing device of a user to receive advertisements via a communications link from an advertising machine implemented on at least one computer, the method comprising:
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interacting with the advertising machine via the communications link to provide information used to create user profile data for the user;
transmitting to the advertising machine via the communications link a search request that includes a search argument;
receiving search results and at least one advertisement via the communications link from the advertising machine;
the search results obtained from at least one database having data network related information based upon the search argument; and
the at least one advertisement obtained from at least one database having advertisement information based upon the search argument and the user profile data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An advertising machine implemented on at least one computer and operable to provide advertisements via a communications link to a data processing device of a user, the advertising machine comprising:
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a communications interface operable to interface with the data processing device of the user via the communications link;
a database search engine operable to;
receive from the data processing device via the communications interface a search request that includes a search argument; and
search at least one database having data network related information using the search argument to generate search results;
an associative search engine operable to;
create user profile data for the user;
store the user profile data; and
select at least one advertisement from an advertisement database relating to the search argument using the user profile data; and
the advertising machine operable to transmit the search results together with the at least one advertisement via the communications link to the data processing device. - View Dependent Claims (19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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20. The advertising machine of clam 16, wherein the associative search engine is operable to store the user profile data in a user profile database of the advertising machine.
Specification