Securely Providing Advertising Subsidized Computer Usage

• US 20070244820A1
• Filed: 06/20/2007
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Carpenter, Todd, Duffus, James, Westerinen, William, Yadav, Hanumant
• Granted Patent: US 8,099,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0249 based upon budgets or funds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics

Abstract

A method and apparatus for assuring delivery of paid advertising to a user may involve asking a question about an advertisement or requiring data about the advertisement to be entered. In one embodiment, a human presence indicator, such as stylized letters, may be displayed during or after the presentation of an advertisement to be copied by a user to indicate presence during the advertisement. When the challenge relating to ad viewing is correctly answered, a value associated with viewing the ad may be credited to a user account, either locally or at a clearinghouse or other repository.

Claims

1. A method of verifying and compensating for consumption of advertising at an electronic device comprising:

downloading a displayable data;

downloading a packet comprising a first measurement corresponding to the displayable data and a value packet;

loading the displayable data into a display memory;

processing the displayable data in the display memory to create a second measurement;

comparing the first measurement to the second measurement;

processing the value packet when the first and second measurement match.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first measurement is a hash of at least a portion of the displayable data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first measurement comprises a digital watermark of the displayable data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the value packet comprises adding a value amount indicated in the value packet to a locally maintained stored value account.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein downloading the packet comprises downloading the packet comprising the first measurement corresponding to the displayable data, the value packet, and metadata indicating a portion of the displayable data to which the first measurement pertains.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein loading the displayable data into the display memory comprises loading the displayable data into the display memory and providing the metadata to a security module for processing the display memory.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein processing the displayable data comprises reading the portion of the displayable data identified by the metadata.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the displayable data comprises directly reading the displayable data at a security module without using a main processor of the electronic device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayable data is an advertisement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayable data is a menu bar.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the downloading the packet comprises downloading the packet and cryptographically authenticating and decrypting the packet using a key or keys stored in a security module of the electronic device.

12. An electronic device adapted to pay usage credit for displaying selected graphical entities, the electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a display for presenting graphical content;

a display memory coupled to the processor and the display, wherein data in the display memory is presented on the display;

a security module comprising a cryptographic function and a secure memory for storing usage credit information; and

a data bus allowing direct inquiry of the display memory by the security module whereby the security module applies a measurement to the data in the display memory and adds value to the secure memory when the measurement meets a criteria.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the security module further comprises a bus master for controlling the data bus to allow the security module to directly inquire the display memory.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the security module further comprises a module processor for executing instructions for measuring the display memory and determining when the measurement meets the criteria.

15. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the display memory is a unified memory architecture and the electronic device further comprises a memory/graphics interface that is accessed to provide the data in the display memory.

16. The electronic device of claim 12, further comprising a port for communication with a source of the data in the display memory.

17. A system for compensating advertising viewing on an electronic device adapted for pay-per-use operation comprising:

an advertising server for serving an advertisement comprising a graphical information to the electronic device;

an advertisement processor that derives measurement data from a portion of the graphical information of the advertisement;

a packet service that sends the measurement data and a value packet to the electronic device receiving the advertisement; and

a security module in the electronic device that uses the measurement data to verify presentation of the advertisement and apply the value packet to a stored value account in the security module.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the security module comprises a bus master that allows direct inquiry of a display memory by the security module.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the packet service encrypts the measurement data and the value packet before being sent to the electronic device.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the advertising server comprises a routing function that sends the advertisement processor a copy of the advertisement served to the electronic device.