Synchronization#

Why is synchronization needed?#

In centralized systems, Supply-Side Platforms and Demand-Side Platforms interact with each other in the following way:

In the very moment a User navigates to their Site, Supply-Side Platforms broadcast information regarding their Supply-Side Inventory and Context Data.
Demand-Side Platforms use the information contained in Supply-Side Inventory and Context Data to offer their bids for buying advertising space.

However, in Adshares Protocol a different workflow is applied:

Prior to any User interaction, Supply-Side Platforms collect information about Demand-Side Inventories, as declared by Demand-Side Platforms, and Demand-Side Platforms collect information about Supply-Side Inventories, as declared by Supply-Side Platforms. This process is called Synchronization.
In the very moment a User navigates to a Site, Supply-Side Platforms use the information collected during Synchronization and Context Data to select the most appropriate Creatives to display in a given situation.

Every Supply-Side Platform needs to inform all available Demand-Side Platforms about its availability and the current content of its Supply-Side Inventory.
Every Demand-Side Platform needs to inform all available Supply-Side Platforms about its availability and the current content of its Demand-Side Inventory.

And here is why Supply-Side Platforms and Demand-Side Platforms want to stay in sync by querying each other inventories:

Supply-Side Platforms query Demand-Side Inventory to be able to choose among Demand-Side Platforms willing to buy space on their Sites.
Demand-Side Platforms query Supply-Side Inventory to be able to specify what Sites they want to include or exclude in their Campaign definitions.

Synchronization workflow#

The following diagram presents an overview of the Synchronization process:

skinparam monochrome true

collections "Supply-Side Platform" as SSP
participant "ADS Blockchain" as blockchain
collections "Demand-Side Platforms" as DSP

==Sending Broadcast==

loop at least once every 24 hours
SSP -> blockchain: Send Broadcast
end

loop at least once every 24 hours
DSP -> blockchain: Send Broadcast
end

==Receiving Broadcast==

loop at least once every 24 hours
SSP -> blockchain: Fetch Broadcasts
blockchain --> SSP: List of Broadcasts
SSP -> SSP: Analyze\nBroadcast
SSP -> DSP: Fetch Platform Metadata
DSP --> SSP: Platform Metadata
SSP -> SSP: Update\nPlatform\nMetadata
end

loop at least once every 24 hours
DSP -> blockchain: Fetch Broadcasts
blockchain --> DSP: List of Broadcasts
DSP -> DSP: Analyze\nBroadcast
DSP -> SSP: Fetch Platform Metadata
SSP --> DSP: Platform Metadata
DSP -> DSP: Update\nPlatform\nMetadata
end

==Updating Inventory==

loop periodically
SSP -> DSP: Fetch Demand-Side Inventory
DSP --> SSP: Demand-Side Inventory
SSP -> SSP: Update\nDemand-Side\nInventory
end

loop periodically
DSP -> SSP: Fetch Supply-Side Inventory
SSP --> DSP: Supply-Side Inventory
DSP -> DSP: Update\nSupply-Side\nInventory
end

Synchronization is done by Supply-Side Platforms and Demand-Side Platforms broadcasting via ADS Blockchain a URL pointing to Platform Metadata.

Once the Platform Metadata is retrieved, the next step is to retrieve Supply-Side Inventory or Demand-Side Inventory.

This is done by using the endpoints contained in the Platform Metadata supplyInventoryUrl and demandInventoryUrl fields:

Supply-Side Platform retrieves Demand-Side Inventory from all available Demand-Side Platforms.
Demand-Side Platform retrieves Supply-Side Inventory from all available Supply-Side Platforms.

To be applicable, the inventory data needs to be classified by appropriate tags. In order to apply tagging for its inventory data:

Supply-Side Platform makes a request to its Site Tagging Provider.
Demand-Side Platform makes a request to its Creative Tagging Provider.

As inventory data is likely to change over time, the endpoints defined in supplyInventoryUrl and demandInventoryUrl fields need to be queried on a regular basis.

Synchronization#

Why is synchronization needed?#

Synchronization workflow#

Contents#