The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week published a patent application (No. 20060059044) by Google engineers for targeting advertising based, in part, on the location of a wireless access point (WAP) to which a user connects to access the internet, reports ClickZ. Other factors for serving ads include the behavioral profile of the WAP's users and the WAP owner's vertical market.

Geographically targeting users at that precise level would benefit local advertisers and others whose products are available locally, points out ClickZ, adding that marketers could also use neighborhood profiles, as well, to target ads. Free, ad-supported wi-fi access would all but ensure widespread use.

According to the patent application, filed by Google employees Wesley Chan, Shioupyn Shen and Georges Harik in September 2004, ads would be shown in a toolbar, on a web page or during page transitions - and ads would be continually served, whether or not a page being viewed is updated.