METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSACTING WITH NETWORK TRAFFIC

• US 20100235234A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Shuster, Gary Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 9,202,223 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.450
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for using targeted network traffic as payment-in-kind in exchange for rights to anything that may be connected to a network, such as network-connected computer hardware and copyrighted software or content on such hardware, is disclosed. The method may be adapted for use with almost any product or service which may be tracked over a network. The system and method are for use with transactions between a user of a subject product or service and a provider of the subject product or service desiring to receive traffic to a target in exchange for it.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining at a first computer use information indicating a measure of a user'"'"'s use of a network resource associated with a resource provider;

determining at the first computer a traffic generation measure indicating actual network traffic to a designated target that was generated by the user; and

exchanging at least a portion of a first value associated with the traffic generation measure for at least a portion of a second value associated with the user'"'"'s use of the network resource as indicated in the use information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the target is designated by a sponsor of the network resource.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving traffic information from the sponsor.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying the user that additional traffic to the designated target should be generated in response to determining that the value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic is less than a predetermined value.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a state of the network resource depending on the first value associated with the traffic generation measure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer receives the use information from a plurality of network-connected client devices each associated with a copy of the network resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network resource includes application software installed on a web server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first value associated with the traffic generation measure is based on a type of action associated with the traffic generated by the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the type of action comprises a sale to the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the type of action comprises a click by the user.

11. A computing system for transacting business between a user and a resource provider providing a product or service to the user and desiring traffic to a designated target over a wide area network, the computing system comprising:

a processor; and

one or more modules configured for execution on the processor in order to cause the computing system to;

receive use information describing a measure of use by the user of a product or service associated with the resource provider;

determine a measure of network traffic indicating actual network traffic generated by the user to a designated target; and

exchange a value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic for a value associated with at least a portion of the use of the product or service.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the target is designated by a sponsor of the product or service.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein said determining further comprises receiving traffic information from the sponsor.

14. The computing system of claim 11, wherein one or more modules further cause the computing system to notify the user that additional network traffic to the designated target should be generated in response to determining that the value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic is less than a predetermined value.

15. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic is based on a type of action associated with the traffic generated by the user.

16. An article of manufacture including a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving use information describing a measure of use by a user of a computer resource associated with a resource provider;

determining a measure of network traffic generated by the user to a designated target; and

exchanging a value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic for a value associated with at least a portion of the use of the computer resource.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise changing a state of the resource depending on the value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the value associated with at least a portion of the network traffic is based on a type of action associated with the traffic generated by the user.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the type of action comprises a sale to the user.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the type of action comprises a click by the user.