US 8671139

Technical Analysis of U.S. Patent 8,671,139

Date of Analysis: April 26, 2026

This report provides a concise summary of United States Patent 8,671,139, including its key bibliographic details, abstract, and a plain-language interpretation of its independent claims. The patent has been the subject of recent high-profile litigation.

Bibliographic Information

• Title: Media properties selection method and system based on expected profit from profile-based ad delivery
• Assignee: Almondnet, Inc.
• Inventor: Roy Shkedi
• Filing Date: June 7, 2012
• Issue Date: March 11, 2014
• Abstract: An automatic system facilitates selection of media properties on which to display an advertisement, responsive to a profile collected on a first media property, where a behavioral-targeting company calculates expected profit for an ad correlated with the profile and arranges for the visitor to be tagged with a tag readable by the selected media property. The profit can be calculated by deducting, from the revenues that are expected to be generated from an ad delivered based on the collected profile, at least the price of ad space at a media property where the BT company might like to deliver ads to the profiled visitor. When the calculated profit is positive (i.e., not a loss), the BT company arranges for the visitor to be tagged with a tag readable by the selected media property through which the BT company expects to profit.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims

U.S. Patent 8,671,139 has three independent claims: 1, 19, and 37. Below is a simplified explanation of the core invention protected by each.

• Independent Claim 1: This claim describes a method for a computer system to direct targeted advertisements. Essentially, when a person visits a website (the "first media property"), the system automatically sends a set of conditions to a third-party server that controls ad space on another website (the "second media property"). The system then gives that third-party server permission to show a specific ad to that same person when they later visit the second website, but only if the pre-set conditions are met. This authorization is based on the person's "profile attributes" (e.g., their browsing history or interests) gathered from their visit to the first website, and the ad shown is related to those attributes.

• Independent Claim 19: This claim covers a physical computer server device (with a processor and memory) that is programmed to carry out the method described in Claim 1. Instead of protecting the method itself, this claim protects the tangible hardware that is specifically configured to perform the process of directing electronic ads based on a visitor's profile and pre-set conditions for displaying those ads on third-party sites.

• Independent Claim 37: This claim protects a system, which could be one or more computers, that is programmed to perform the same advertisement-directing method. It is broader than Claim 19 as it covers a system of computers rather than a single device. The system is set up to automatically send conditions for ad display to a third-party server and then authorize that server to show an ad to a user on a different website, based on the user's profile from a previously visited site, once those conditions are satisfied.

In essence, all three independent claims revolve around a central automated process for placing targeted ads. The system acts as an intermediary that, based on a user's profile from one website, authorizes a different website to display a relevant ad to that user later on, subject to certain conditions being met. The key elements are the automated nature of the process, the use of user profile attributes, and the conditional authorization given to a third-party ad server.

Litigation and CAFC Docket Information

As of early 2026, there is no indication from the available search results of a currently active case specifically involving U.S. Patent 8,671,139 in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dockets for 2026. However, the assignee, Almondnet, Inc., has been active in litigation. Notably, this patent was part of a successful jury verdict against Amazon in 2024, where Amazon was found to have infringed on it. Almondnet, Inc. is also listed as a party in a case against Meta Platforms, Inc. before the CAFC in April 2026, though the specific patents in that case have not been detailed in the search results. It is plausible that an appeal in the Amazon case could be docketed in the future. There is no information to suggest that U.S. Patent 8,671,139 is currently undergoing reexamination by the USPTO.