Search, you’ll find Google ads on mobile, TV

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Google may soon reach out to mobile phone users, TV viewers and video game lovers. A search by Evalueserve into the database of the US Patent and Trademark Office revealed that the California-based company is looking at newer fields like broadcasting ads directly to TV, embedding ads in video games and payments at shopping malls via mobile phones.

Currently, the search engine gets most of its revenue from Internet advertising, with Google-owned sites generating $2.49 billion, or 64% of total revenues, in the April-June quarter. But now the search engine is expanding its horizon and may soon come up with a receiver circuit that can enhance the performance of an audio/video receiver such as digital TV.

It may also come up with a method for enhancing video games systems by providing ads, prizes and other benefits to gamers.

A visual mobile search system that utilises images captured by cellphone cameras is also on the cards. This may facilitate image recognition, bar code reading and automatic payment processing at Google servers.

According to Madan Mohan, director (consulting), ICT practice, Frost & Sullivan, “Most of these services are search-based, which is the core competency of Google. It is looking at finding consumption patterns through algorithm, which will help target customised ads to the right individual. This kind of personal information is not available till now. Concerns have been raised that this might be a violation of individual privacy.”

A Google spokesperson, when contacted, said, "We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications.”