Electronic information appraisal agent
First Claim
1. An electronic information distribution system comprising:
- an electronic information server which contains a plurality of electronic information units;
a client system including an electronic information appraisal agent, wherein the client system is a consumer consumption device configured to provide an interface to a consumer for allowing the consumer to consume electronic information units, and wherein the appraisal agent is configured to automatically access the electronic information server at periodic intervals and retrieve a set of the plurality of electronic information units from the electronic information server based on a set of search criteria provided to the appraisal agent; and
a metering server coupled to the electronic information server and the client system configured to allow the client system to communicate with the electronic information server.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic information appraisal agent which operates within an electronic information distribution system and includes an electronic information server having multiple electronic information units. Requests for electronic information are transferred from the appraisal agent to an electronic information server, which compares the contents of the server to a set of search criteria. In one embodiment, the server returns a set of electronic information to the appraisal agent which matches the search criteria. In another embodiment, the server returns information indicating whether the search criteria matched any information in the server. In one embodiment, the electronic information distribution system also includes a metering server which is coupled to the electronic information server and the client system. The metering server allows multiple client systems to receive electronic information units from the electronic information server.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An electronic information distribution system comprising:
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an electronic information server which contains a plurality of electronic information units; a client system including an electronic information appraisal agent, wherein the client system is a consumer consumption device configured to provide an interface to a consumer for allowing the consumer to consume electronic information units, and wherein the appraisal agent is configured to automatically access the electronic information server at periodic intervals and retrieve a set of the plurality of electronic information units from the electronic information server based on a set of search criteria provided to the appraisal agent; and a metering server coupled to the electronic information server and the client system configured to allow the client system to communicate with the electronic information server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of automatically accessing electronic advertisements in an electronic information distribution network, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) initiating an electronic advertisement appraisal agent in a client system, wherein the client system is a consumer consumption device which provides an interface to a consumer that allows the consumer to consume electronic information units; (b) the appraisal agent accessing a yellow pages server which contains a plurality of electronic advertisements, wherein the yellow pages server is coupled to the client system; (c) comparing electronic advertisements in the yellow pages server to search criteria provided to the appraisal agent; (d) determining whether an electronic advertisement of the plurality of electronic advertisements matches the search criteria based on the comparing; (e) returning a set of the plurality of electronic advertisements to the client system, provided the comparing results in a match; and (f) periodically repeating the steps (b)-(e). - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of obtaining a product in an electronic information distribution network, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) initiating an electronic information appraisal agent in a client system, wherein the client system is a consumer consumption device which provides an interface to a consumer that allows the consumer to consume electronic information units; (b) the appraisal agent accessing an electronic information server which contains a plurality of electronic information units, wherein the electronic information server is coupled to the client system; (c) comparing electronic information in the electronic information server to a set of search criteria corresponding to the product provided to the appraisal agent; (d) determining whether an electronic information unit of the plurality of electronic information units matches the set of search criteria based on the comparing; (e) purchasing a product associated with the electronic information unit, provided the comparing results in a match; and (f) periodically repeating the steps (b)-(e). - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus comprising:
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a session manager to transfer data to and from an electronic information distribution network; and an electronic information appraisal agent, coupled to the session manager, to automatically and periodically, access an electronic information server of the electronic information distribution network which contains a plurality of electronic information units, compare electronic information in the electronic information server to a set of search criteria provided to the appraisal agent, determine whether an electronic information unit of the plurality of electronic information units matches the set of search criteria based on the comparison, and return the electronic information unit to the session manager, provided the comparison results in a match. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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Specification