Method and system for providing filtered and/or masked advertisements over the internet

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving a request for an advertisement and an identifier of a filter, wherein the filter defines publisher preferences of a publisher and includes:
• a filter characteristic specifying one or more words or phrases to be filtered,
• a filter type identifying a section of an advertisement to apply the filter characteristic, and
• an indication associated with the filter characteristic that indicates whether the filter characteristic must be included or excluded from any advertisements for the advertisements to be eligible for delivery;
• identifying a set of advertisements that are responsive to the request;
• generating, by one or more servers, a modified set of advertisements based at least in part on the filter type, the filter characteristic, and the indication;
• and
• delivering at least one of the modified set of advertisements responsive to the received request.

A system comprising:

• one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• receiving at a server a request for one or more advertisements and a filter identifier of a filter, wherein the filter includes one or more publisher criteria, specified by a publisher for matching advertisements to be provided on a publisher page, a filter type specifying a portion of an advertisement, and an affirmative indication or a negative indication;
• identifying a set of advertisements responsive to the request;
• modifying the identified set of advertisements including:
• removing from the set of advertisements any advertisements that satisfy one or more criteria of the filter in a respective portion when the filter includes a negative indication, and
• removing from the set of advertisements any advertisements that do not satisfy the one or more criteria of the filter in a respective portion when the filter includes an affirmative indication;
• and
• providing the modified set of advertisements for publication on the publisher page in response to the request.

A system comprising:

• one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a request for an advertisement and an identifier of a filter, wherein the filter defines publisher preferences of a publisher and includes:
• a filter characteristic specifying one or more words or phrases to be filtered,
• a filter type identifying a section of an advertisement to apply the filter characteristic, and
• an indication associated with the filter characteristic that indicates whether the filter characteristic must be included or excluded from any advertisements for the advertisements to be eligible for delivery;
• identifying a set of advertisements that are responsive to the request;
• generating a modified set of advertisements based at least in part on the filter type, the filter characteristic, and the indication;
• and
• delivering at least one of the modified set of advertisements responsive to the received request.

A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• receiving at a server a request for one or more advertisements and a filter identifier of a filter, wherein the filter includes one or more publisher criteria, specified by a publisher for matching advertisements to be provided on a publisher page, including a filter type that identifies a particular section of an advertisement to apply the filter, and an affirmative indication or a negative indication;
• identifying a set of advertisements responsive to the request;
• modifying the identified set of advertisements including:
• removing from the set of advertisements any advertisements having a section specified by the filter type that satisfies one or more publisher criteria of the filter when the filter includes a negative indication, and
• removing from the set of advertisements any advertisements having a section specified by the filter type that does not satisfy the one or more publisher criteria of the filter when the filter includes an affirmative indication;
• and
• providing one or more of the modified set of advertisements for publication on the publisher page in response to the request.

A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a request for an advertisement and an identifier of a filter, wherein the filter defines publisher preferences of a publisher and includes:
• a filter characteristic specifying one or more words or phrases to be filtered,
• a filter type identifying a section of an advertisement to apply the filter characteristic, and
• an indication associated with the filter characteristic that indicates whether the filter characteristic must be included or excluded from any advertisements for the advertisements to be eligible for delivery;
• identifying a set of advertisements that are responsive to the request;
• generating a modified set of advertisements based at least in part on the filter type, the filter characteristic, and the indication;
• and
• delivering at least one of the modified set of advertisements responsive to the received request.