Background advertising system
DCFirst Claim
1. An advertising method for inserting a background reference to a stored advertisement into an end user communication message in a communications network, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving an end user communication message at a first site on a communications network;
inserting into said end user communication message a background reference to a stored advertisement, wherein said inserting step includes;
determining whether said end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference, and converting said end user communication message into a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference responsive to determining that said message is not in a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference; and
transmitting said end user communication message with said background reference to a second site on the communications network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An advertisement system and method are provided for inserting into an end user communication message a background reference to an advertisement. In some embodiments, the background reference causes an advertisement image to be tiled, or watermarked, across an end user screen behind the text of an e-mail message or public posting. A message server inserts the background reference after receiving a message originally sent from an end user originator and before sending the message to be delivered to an end user recipient. When necessary, the message server will convert at least a portion of the message into a proper format, such as HTML, before inserting the background reference to an advertisement, which is preferably selected in accordance with end user recipient demographic information and/or ad exposure statistics. The advertisement itself, often a graphical file, is preferably not transmitted with the message, but is typically stored at the message server or other location remote from the end user recipient. Preferably, the message server maintains and refer to records on each end user recipient to allow for selective enablement of background reference insertion and overwriting based upon end user preferences. According to various “non-web” example embodiments, the message server transmits an SMTP, POP3 or NNTP message with an HTML portion for a respective HTML-compatible client. In other “web-based” example embodiments, the message server transmits the entire message in HTML to be used as a stand-alone web page or as a portion of a larger page employing frames or tables.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. An advertising method for inserting a background reference to a stored advertisement into an end user communication message in a communications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an end user communication message at a first site on a communications network;
inserting into said end user communication message a background reference to a stored advertisement, wherein said inserting step includes;
determining whether said end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference, and converting said end user communication message into a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference responsive to determining that said message is not in a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference; and
transmitting said end user communication message with said background reference to a second site on the communications network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An advertising method for inserting a background reference to a stored advertisement into an end user communication message in a communications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an end user communication message at a first site on a communications network;
first determining whether said end user communication message in said receiving step is in a format capable of operatively accepting a background reference;
second determining whether said end user communication message contains a standard generalized markup language (SGML) part responsive to determining that said end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting a background reference in said first determining step;
adding an SGML part to said end user communication message responsive to determining that said end user communication message does not contain an SGML part;
inserting into said end user communication message a background reference to a stored advertisement; and
transmitting said end user communication message with said background reference to a second site on the communications network. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
third determining whether said end user communication message already contains a background reference responsive to determining that said end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting a background reference in said second determining step; and
inserting a background reference responsive to determining that said end user communication message does not contain a background reference in said third determining step.
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21. The method as claimed in claim 20, further comprising the steps of:
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fourth determining whether a configuration enables an existing background reference to be overwritten responsive to determining in said third determining step that said end user communication message already contains a background reference; and
overwriting a background reference responsive to determining in said fourth determining step that the configuration enables the existing background reference to be overwritten.
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22. An advertising system for placing an advertisement pointer in a background of an end user communication message, said advertising system comprising:
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means for receiving an end user communication message;
means for determining whether the end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting an advertisement pointer;
means for converting the end user communication message into a format capable of operatively accepting an advertisement pointer responsive to determining that the end user communication message is not in a format capable of operatively accepting an advertisement pointer;
means for placing an advertisement pointer in a background of the end user communication message; and
means for transmitting the end user communication message with said advertisement pointer. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
means for converting the end user communication message into a multipurpose Internet mail extensions (MIME) format; and
means for adding a standard generalized markup language (SGML) part into the end user communication message.
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35. An advertising system for placing an advertisement pointer in a background of an end user communication message, said advertising system comprising:
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means for receiving an end user communication message;
first means for determining whether the end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting an advertisement pointer;
second means for determining whether the end user communication message already contains an advertisement pointer responsive to determining that the end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting an advertisement pointer;
means for placing an advertisement pointer in a background of the end user communication message, wherein said means for placing the advertisement pointer in the background of the end user communication message includes means for placing the advertisement pointer in the background of the end user communication message responsive to determining both that the end user communication message is in a format for operatively accepting an advertisement pointer and that the end user communication message does not contain an advertisement pointer; and
means for transmitting the end user communication message with said advertisement pointer. - View Dependent Claims (34, 36)
third means for determining whether a configuration enables an existing advertisement pointer to be overwritten responsive to determining both that the end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting an advertisement pointer and that the end user communication message already contains an advertisement pointer; and
means for inserting an advertisement pointer responsive to determining that the configuration enables the existing advertisement pointer to be overwritten.
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37. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for inserting a background reference to a stored advertisement into an end user communication message, said computer program comprising:
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logic configured to receive an end user communication message from a first site;
logic configured to insert a background reference to a stored advertisement into said end user communication message, wherein said logic configured to insert the background reference is further configured to insert said background reference responsive to said end user communication message not already including a background reference; and
logic configured to transmit said end user communication message with the background reference to a second site. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for inserting a background reference to a stored advertisement into an end user communication message, said computer program comprising:
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logic configured to receive an end user communication message from a first site;
logic configured to insert a background reference to a stored advertisement into said end user communication message, wherein said logic configured to insert the background reference is further configured to insert said background reference responsive to an overwrite authorization; and
logic configured to transmit said end user communication message with the background reference to a second site.
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46. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for inserting a background reference to a stored advertisement into an end user communication message, said computer program comprising:
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logic configured to receive an end user communication message from a first site;
logic configured to insert a background reference to a stored advertisement into said end user communication message;
logic configured to determine whether said end user communication message is in a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference;
logic configured to convert said end user communication message into a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference responsive to determining that said end user communication message is not in a format capable of operatively accepting said background reference; and
logic configured to transmit said end user communication message with the background reference to a second site.
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Specification