Data processing system for targeted content

摘要

The present invention changes the traditional advertisement targeting process to a "pull" system of advertising, where users (e.g. consumers) decide what type of advertisements (or other content) they want to view. The user chooses one or more ad category preferences and the present invention serves one or more advertisements grouped within the chosen ad category preference(s) to a client device operated by the user. To serve the ad, the system builds a URL that includes a concatenation of information from a set of cookies. The URL is then used to locate the ad to be served. In one embodiment, the presence of a cookie with valid data is used as an indication that an advertisement according to the present invention should be served.