COMPUTER-COST SUBSIDIZING METHOD
First Claim
1. A method for subsidizing the cost of a computer with money paid for the display of commercial advertisements, said method comprising:
- receiving, in a household with a television set interconnected with the computer, streams of visual-presentation signals from broadcast stations,inputting the received visual-presentation signals into the computer at the household,selecting, at the household, certain signal streams at given times corresponding to preferred visual presentations,viewing the preferred visual presentations on the television set,displaying targeted commercial advertisements on the television set;
wherein an interface medium, remote from the household, monitors the selecting steps performed at the household to compile preferred-presentation data;
wherein the interface medium chooses the targeted commercial advertisements from a pool of commercial advertisements, this choice being based on and consistent with the preferred-presentation data of the household;
wherein the pool of commercial advertisements are provided by a plurality of commercial enterprises which pay moneys for the display of such advertisements to the household; and
wherein the moneys paid by the commercial enterprises for the display of the commercial advertisements are used to subsidize the cost of the computer.
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Abstract
A computer-cost subsidizing method wherein an interface medium (30) targets commercial advertisements for each household (10) based on, and consistent with, that household'"'"'s television-viewing profile. The targeted advertisements are chosen from a pool of promotions provided by a plurality of commercial enterprises (40). The money paid by the commercial enterprises (40) for such advertisements subsidizes the cost of a computer (60) supplied to the household (10). The computer (60) participates in the monitoring of control options reflecting household-viewing preferences used by the interface medium (30) for ad-targeting purposes.
30 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for subsidizing the cost of a computer with money paid for the display of commercial advertisements, said method comprising:
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receiving, in a household with a television set interconnected with the computer, streams of visual-presentation signals from broadcast stations, inputting the received visual-presentation signals into the computer at the household, selecting, at the household, certain signal streams at given times corresponding to preferred visual presentations, viewing the preferred visual presentations on the television set, displaying targeted commercial advertisements on the television set; wherein an interface medium, remote from the household, monitors the selecting steps performed at the household to compile preferred-presentation data; wherein the interface medium chooses the targeted commercial advertisements from a pool of commercial advertisements, this choice being based on and consistent with the preferred-presentation data of the household; wherein the pool of commercial advertisements are provided by a plurality of commercial enterprises which pay moneys for the display of such advertisements to the household; and wherein the moneys paid by the commercial enterprises for the display of the commercial advertisements are used to subsidize the cost of the computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of viewing a visual presentation broadcast in a stream of digital signals at a household 10 with a television set that displays visual presentations from a stream of analog signals;
- said method comprising;
receiving a digital-signal stream from a broadcast station; inputting the received digital-signal stream into a computer at the household; converting the digital-signal stream into an analog-signal stream; sending the analog-signal stream to the television set; and viewing the visual presentation generated by the analog-signal stream on the television set. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
- said method comprising;
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19. A targeted advertising system comprising:
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a plurality of households, each having a receiver, a computer, and a television set interconnected with the computer, a plurality of broadcasting stations, each broadcasting a stream of visual-presentation signals which are received by the household'"'"'s receiver; an interface medium, remote from the households, that compiles a preferred-presentation profile for each household, and sends targeted commercial advertisements to each household for viewing on its television set, wherein the targeted commercial advertisements are chosen for each household based on and consistent with its preferred-presentation profile. a plurality of commercial enterprises which collectively provides a pool of commercial advertisements from which the targeted commercial advertisements can be chosen, and which each pay money for the interface medium to send its advertisements to the households. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification