Selection of advertisements based on social networking system login status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10410296-B2
Application number	US-201313770763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2013
Priority date	Feb 19, 2013
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

An ad bidder receives a request from a user device to select an advertisement (“ad”) for presentation along with a web page. The ad bidder includes a user profile database and may be a social networking system. The ad bidder determines if the user of the user device is logged into the ad bidder and selects the advertisement based on information in the user profile database if the user is logged into the ad bidder. If the ad bidder determines the user is not logged into the ad bidder, the ad bidder retrieves a device cookie stored on the user device. The device cookie describes interactions with content from the user device, such as viewed web pages or ads. Data stored by the device cookie is then used to select the ad for presentation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at an ad bidder via a first user device, a first request from a first user for one or more advertisements, the ad bidder comprising a social networking system including a user database;
receiving, by the ad bidder from the first user device, first information indicating that the first user device is storing a first cookie of the social networking system;
determining, by the ad bidder, that the first user is logged into the social networking system based on the first information indicating that the first user device is storing the first cookie of the social networking system;
responsive to determining that the first user is logged into the social networking system:
retrieving first data associated with the first user from the user database,
selecting a first advertisement for the first user based at least in part on the first data associated with the first user,
generating social data based on a number of interactions by a first plurality of users with an object in the social networking system associated with the first advertisement, and
sending the first advertisement and the social data to the first user device, the first advertisement presented to the first user by the first user device with the social data;

receiving, at the ad bidder via a second user device, a second request from a second user for one or more advertisements;
receiving, by the ad bidder from the second user device, second information indicating that the second user device is not storing a second cookie of the social networking system;
determining, by the ad bidder, that the second user is not logged into the social networking system based on the second information indicating that the second user device is not storing the second cookie of the social networking system; and
responsive to determining that the second user is not logged into the social networking system:
retrieving a browsing history from a device cookie stored on the second user device, the browsing history identifying web pages accessed by a second plurality of users via the second user device,
selecting a second advertisement for the second user based at least in part on the web pages accessed by the second plurality of users via the second user device, and
sending the second advertisement to the second user device, the second advertisement presented to the second user by the second user device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the browsing history includes dates and times associated with accesses of the web pages.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the browsing history includes content of the web pages accessed via the second user device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the browsing history includes third information associated with advertisements presented by the second user device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first cookie indicates that the first user is communicating with the online system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first data indicates one or more from the following: additional users connected to the first user, actions performed by the first user through the online system, and attributes of the first user.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at an online system via a first user device, a first request from a first user for one or more advertisements, the online system including a user database;
receiving, by the online system from the first user device, first information indicating that the first user device is storing a first cookie of the online system;
responsive to receiving the first information indicating that the first user device is storing a first cookie of the online system:
retrieving first data associated with the first user from the user database,
selecting a first advertisement for the first user based at least in part on the first data associated with the first user, and
sending the first advertisement to the first user device, the first advertisement presented to the first user by the first user device;

receiving, at the online system via a second user device, a second request from a second user for one or more advertisements;
receiving, by the ad bidder from the second user device, second information indicating that the second user device is not storing a second cookie of the online system; and
responsive to receiving the second information indicating that the second user device is not storing a second cookie of the online system:
retrieving a device cookie stored on the second user device, the device cookie including a browsing history identifying web pages accessed via the second user device,
selecting a second advertisement for the second user based at least in part on the browsing history, and
sending the second advertisement to the second user device, the second advertisement presented to the second user by the second user device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the second request includes an identifier of a third party server providing a first web page to the second user device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving, from the third party server, third information provided by the second user to the third party server, the third information identifying the second user;
retrieving second data associated with the second user from the user database based on the third information; and
selecting the second advertisement based at least in part on the second data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the browsing history includes dates and times associated with accesses of the web pages.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the browsing history includes content of the web pages accessed via the second user device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the browsing history includes third information associated with advertisements presented by the second the user device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the first data indicates one or more from the following: additional users connected to the first user, actions performed by the first user through the online system, and attributes of the first user.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code which when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:
receiving, at an ad bidder via a user device, a request from a user for one or more advertisements, the ad bidder comprising a social networking system;
receiving, by the ad bidder from the user device, information indicating that the user device is not storing a social network cookie of the social networking system;
responsive to receiving the information indicating that the user device is not storing a social network cookie of the social networking system:
retrieving a browsing history from a device cookie stored on the user device, the browsing history identifying web pages accessed via the user device;
selecting a first advertisement based at least in part on the browsing history, and
sending the first advertisement to the user device, the first advertisement presented to the user by the user device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the third information comprises a user name and password associated with an account of the second user with the online system.

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Shapiro Scott
• Boland Brian T
• Maclean Kelly
• Mathur Nipun

Classifications

• G06Q10/40 Primary

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0255

  based on user history · CPC title

• G06Q30/0269

  based on user profile or attribute · CPC title

• G06Q50/01 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic