Noticed this from a post Barry made at Search Engine Roundtable this morning – Yahoo! Buys Two Companies To Improve Search Marketing Product?
Fysix Corporation (dba AdInterax)
Yahoo Press Release: Yahoo! to Acquire AdInterax
An announcement was made today, October 17th, 2006, that Yahoo has entered into an agreement to acquire the Fysix Corporation, which does business under the name AdInterax.
AdInterax specializes in the creation of advertisements rich in sight, sound, and movement, and the management of those ads. The Yahoo! press release notes that the result of this acquisition would be to combine the rich media expertise and knowledge of AdInterax with the use of behavioral and geographic targeting, as well as dayparting and demographic targeting developed by Yahoo!
I located three patent applications for this company in the assignment database at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). They are good examples of the type of capabilities that AdInterax brings to Yahoo! A look at the company’s web site shows a drop and drag system for developing creative rich media advertisements, and a system for managing and tracking those ads.
Published patent applications for Fysix Corporation
There may be more patent applications on file for this company, but these are the only ones presently published and showing in the assignment database at the USPTO. I’ve provided a brief summary of each before details about each of the documents.
In an advertisment area on a web page, there are a number of areas that possibly could be controlled separately. The process described in this patent filing allows for a modularity of ads, so that a single spot on a page could have more than one component.
System and method for creating modular advertisements
Invented by Marcus Frank Doemling and Peter J. Matsuo
US Patent Application 20050038700
Published February 17, 2005
Filed: August 11, 2004
Abstract
A system and method for the development of online advertisements that are built up of a plurality of components and computer file format types, whose interactions, positioning, and other characteristics are flexibly defined and/or modified through a user interface.
This next document provides advertisements with an interactive element to them, in the form of game applets.
Content enhancement system and method
Invented by Marcus Frank Doemling and Peter J. Matsuo
US Patent Application 20020112033
Published August 15, 2002
Filed: August 8, 2001
Abstract
A system and method for enhancing content downloaded to client. Included is an enhancement mechanism that can be transferred to a client along with a web page or other web resource. The enhancement mechanism causes content to be retrieved and output in an enhanced fashion at the client.
This patent application provides a method of limiting the number of times a particular person might see the same advertisement, even if it could possibly be shown to them across a number of different sites.
Content delivery frequency capping method
Invented by Marcus Frank Doemling and Peter J. Matsuo
US Patent Application 20040088363
Published May 6, 2004
Filed: August 25, 2003
Abstract
A method for limiting the delivery of content, particularly advertisements intended to be displayed in a communications network environment, to individual recipients based on frequency considerations, including a method for storing statistical data relevant to making a determination about the limiting of content delivery and a method for providing alternate content in case it is decided that the original content should not be delivered to a recipient.
Right Media, LLC
Yahoo Press Release: Yahoo! Makes Strategic Investment in Right Media
Yahoo has purchased a 20 percent stake in Right Media, making them a minority Investor in the company. They have also entered into the Right Media Ad Exchange, which provides advertisers and publishers a place to work together.
I found the following patent application assigned to the company, and listing their CTO as the inventor. It refers to another, unpublished application, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/964,951 entitled “System And Method For Learning And Prediction For Online Advertisement” filed on Oct. 14, 2004.
Method and system for pricing electronic advertisements
Invented by Brian O’Kelley
US Patent Application 20060122879
Published June 8, 2006
Filed: December 7, 2004
Abstract
A system and method of pricing an electronic advertisement that includes receiving a request for an electronic advertisement to be presented to a visitor, setting a price of the electronic advertisement, and presenting the electronic advertisement to the visitor.
Some Search Related Yahoo News, too
There’s an excellent interview on the Yahoo search blog – A Chat with Yahoo! Research Director Ricardo Baeza-Yates. Yahoo’s Research Director in Spain and Chile shares his thoughts concerning the new research centers that he heads, as well as the state of web search today. He also talks about food, wine, and old maps.