Computer interface method and apparatus with targeted advertising
DCFirst Claim
1. An apparatus for use by a computer to provide a user of the computer with access to information resources via a browser, the apparatus comprising:
- a non-volatile data storage device;
a first program module stored on said non-volatile data storage device in a computer-readable format;
said first program module being operable upon execution to display a graphical user interface comprising a window separated into a number of regions;
a first one of said regions including a number of user-selectable items, at least some of which are each associated with a different data set, said data sets each representative of a different category of information and each of said data sets comprising a number of user-selectable links to different information resources;
a second one of said regions comprising an information display region,a second program module operable upon execution to select informational data to be displayed in said information display region;
wherein said first program module is operable in response to selection of a first one of said links to activate a separate browser application and retrieve the associated information resource using the browser application, said first program module further being operable in response to selection of the first link to notify said second program module of the selection of said first link, whereby said informational data is displayed in said second region of the graphical user interface of said first program module independently of the display of the information resource by said browser application; and
wherein said second program module is operable in response to notifications from said first program module to select the informational data to be displayed from among a larger amount of said informational data, said second program module further being operable to store statistical data regarding the display of said selected informational data.
1 Assignment
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing an automatically upgradeable software application that includes targeted advertising based upon demographics and user interaction with the computer. The software application is a graphical user interface that includes a display region used for banner advertising that is downloaded from time to time over a network such as the Internet. The software application is accessible from a server via the Internet and demographic information on the user is acquired by the server and used for determining what banner advertising will be sent to the user. The software application further targets the advertisements in response to normal user interaction, or use, of the computer. Associated with each banner advertisement is a set of data that is used by the software application in determining when a particular banner is to be displayed. This includes the specification of certain programs that the user may have so that, when the user runs the program (such as a spreadsheet program), an advertisement will be displayed that is relevant to that program (such as an advertisement for a stock brokerage). This provides two-tiered, real-time targeting of advertising--both demographically and reactively. The software application includes programming that accesses the server on occasion to determine if one or more components of the application need upgrading to a newer version. If so, the components are downloaded and installed without requiring any input or action by the user.
-
Citations
22 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for use by a computer to provide a user of the computer with access to information resources via a browser, the apparatus comprising:
-
a non-volatile data storage device; a first program module stored on said non-volatile data storage device in a computer-readable format; said first program module being operable upon execution to display a graphical user interface comprising a window separated into a number of regions; a first one of said regions including a number of user-selectable items, at least some of which are each associated with a different data set, said data sets each representative of a different category of information and each of said data sets comprising a number of user-selectable links to different information resources; a second one of said regions comprising an information display region, a second program module operable upon execution to select informational data to be displayed in said information display region; wherein said first program module is operable in response to selection of a first one of said links to activate a separate browser application and retrieve the associated information resource using the browser application, said first program module further being operable in response to selection of the first link to notify said second program module of the selection of said first link, whereby said informational data is displayed in said second region of the graphical user interface of said first program module independently of the display of the information resource by said browser application; and wherein said second program module is operable in response to notifications from said first program module to select the informational data to be displayed from among a larger amount of said informational data, said second program module further being operable to store statistical data regarding the display of said selected informational data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computer-readable memory for use by a computer to provide a user of the computer with an integrated graphical interface to a plurality of computer resources, the computer-readable memory comprising:
-
a non-volatile data storage device; a program stored on said non-volatile data storage device in a computer-readable format; said program being operable upon execution to display a graphical user interface comprising an application window separated into a number of regions, a first one of said regions including a number of graphical objects, at least some of which are each representative of a different computer application and are selectable by the user via an input device, wherein said program is operable upon selection of one of said graphical objects to initiate execution of the computer application associated therewith; a second one of said regions including a number of menu items selectable by the user, each of said menu items having a function associated therewith; a third one of said regions including a plurality of user-selectable link category buttons each associated with a different data set, said data sets each comprising a number of links to different information resources, wherein said program is operable in response to selection of one of said link category buttons to display the links from the data set associated with said one of said link category buttons, with said program further being operable in response to selection of one of the displayed links to provide the user with access to its associated information resource via a browser application; a fourth one of said regions including a user-input text field, wherein said program is operable to access one or more computer files specified by the user via text inputted into said text field; a fifth one of said regions comprising a banner region, wherein said program is operable to access banner data and display said banner data in said banner region; and said window including a display object that is selectable by the user via the input device, wherein said program is operable in response to selection of the display object to access information stored on a data storage device located in a disk drive within the computer. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A computer-readable memory for use by a computer to provide a user of the computer with targeted information, comprising:
-
a non-volatile data storage device; a program stored on said non-volatile data storage device in computer-readable format, said program being operable upon execution to display a window containing an information display region; wherein said program is operable to select and display informational data in said information display region, said informational data comprising a plurality of locally-stored display objects with at least some of said display objects each having a locally-stored data set associated therewith, said data sets each including one or more of the following data items; a category identifier that indicates a category of information to which the associated display object relates, wherein said program is operable in response to a user action relating to one of said categories of information to display in said information display region a display object having an associated category identifier that relates to that one category of information; a software application identifier that identifies a software application that may be accessible to the user via the computer, wherein said program is operable in response to user selection of the software application to display in said information display region a display object associated with the selected software application; whereby said program can present the user with display objects that are selected based on user action without requiring concurrent access to any other computer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification