Frame-based network advertising and exchange therefor

• US 20050216342A1
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Douglas Ashbaugh
• Original Assignee: Douglas Ashbaugh
• Inventors: Ashbaugh, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,492 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.400
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0213 Consumer transaction fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Advertising is displayed in conjunction with web pages and other HTML-rendered information by splitting a display area into frames, so that requested content appears in one frame and one or more advertisements appear in other frames, respectively. By displaying advertisements in frames that are at the same logical layer as the web pages that induced the advertising, the functionality of the presentation resides in native HTML code, making it much more difficult to block the advertisement. An exchange server provides frame generation data to the HTML-rendering device. The device can directly obtain requested content and associated advertisements from respective domains, or the data can be indirectly provided through the exchange server.

Claims

1. A method for presenting advertising information on a device in conjunction with requested data, comprising the following steps:

in response to a request to display said data, dividing a display area on said device into a plurality of frames;

retrieving the requested data from a network resource and displaying said data in one of said frames; and

retrieving advertising from an advertising server and displaying said advertising in another one of said frames.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said device is an HTML rendering device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said display area comprises a window generated by a browser application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said network resource comprises a server that is distinct from said advertising server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of said servers are respectively associated with different domain names on the network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said servers comprise processes that execute on the same physical machine.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said servers comprise processes that execute on different respective machines.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said display area is divided into at least three frames, in which said requested data is displayed in a first one of said frames, said advertising is displayed in a second one of said frames, and a third one of said frames comprises a navigation frame that enables a user to selectively display the data in said first frame or the advertising in said second frame.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said selectively displayed data or advertising is displayed in a window that is distinct from said display area.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said selectively displayed data or advertising replaces the display of the frames and their contents on said display area.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of frames has the ability to display an entire HTML document.

12. An advertising exchange, comprising an exchange server on a network that is responsive to a request for desired content to transmit information to a requesting device that causes a display area on the device to be divided into a plurality of frames, said information including first data that enables said device to retrieve the desired content from a first resource on said network for display in one of said frames, and second data that enables said device to retrieve advertising from a second resource on said network for display in another one of said frames.

13. The advertising exchange of claim 12, wherein said exchange server is comprised of multiple parallel exchange controllers.

14. The advertising exchange of claim 12, wherein said first and second data each comprise a direct link to said first and second resources, respectively.

15. The advertising exchange of claim 12, wherein said first and second data comprise references back to said exchange server, and wherein, in response to requests containing said references, said exchange server transmits, to said requesting device, redirect information that causes said device to transmit requests to said first and second resources for said desired content and said advertising, respectively.

16. The advertising exchange of claim 12, wherein said first and second data comprise references back to said exchange server, and wherein, in response to requests containing said references, said exchange server transmits requests to said first and second resources to obtain said desired content and said advertising, respectively, and in response to receipt thereof from said resources, forwards said desired content and said advertising to said device for display in said frames.

17. The advertising exchange of claim 12, wherein said device is an HTML rendering device.

18. A method for presenting advertising via Internet-based communications, comprising the following steps:

generating an HTML frame within a display area of an HTML-rendering device;

retrieving an advertisement from a resource that is accessible via the Internet; and

displaying said advertisement within said frame.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said frame is generated in response to data provided over the Internet via an exchange server, and said resource is a server that is different from said exchange server.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said frame has the ability to display an entire HTML document.