Method for software distribution and compensation with replenishable advertisements

• US 6,216,112 B1
• Filed: 05/27/1998
• Issued: 04/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Douglas E. Neel, Fuller, William H., Joel A. Pugh
• Original Assignee: Douglas E. Neel, Fuller, William H., Joel A. Pugh
• Inventors: Fuller, William H., Pugh, Joel A., Neel, Douglas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US09/085,623
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 395/712, 705/14, 705/10, 705/1, 705/400, 377/13, 377/15
• US Class Current: 705/14.19
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0217 involving input on products or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination

Abstract

A method and system for offering and distributing software wherein advertisements are incorporated into the software product, wherein author compensation is based on advertisement generated revenues. In accordance with the features of this invention, the advertisements are loaded into the Random Access Memory of the computer whenever the software is invoked and are displayed before the software can be used. Moreover, advertisements are periodically refreshed by automatically accessing computer servers on the Internet and downloading and installing the advertisements on the computer'"'"'s hard disk and usage records which can be used for author compensation are uploaded to the server. Computer users are given the option of disabling the advertisements by paying for the software.

Claims

1. A method for distributing computer software data wherein compensation for the authors and owners of said software data is based upon the viewing an advertisement, the method comprising:

coupling said advertisement to said software data, said coupling requiring the user to view the advertisement before using said software data;

installing said software data and said advertisement to a computer'"'"'s memory;

recording usage data into a file list for subsequent transmission to a computer server;

periodically accessing said computer server via a network and downloading a new advertisement from said server;

periodically posting said usage data to said server for storage for purposes of compensation;

displaying the advertisement on said computer'"'"'s monitor before the software data can be accessed by the computer user, said software data being unable to run on said computer unless advertisements are first displayed on said computer'"'"'s monitor.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising installing said software data and said advertisement onto said computer'"'"'s hard disk memory from a portable data storage medium such as a floppy disk or a compact disk ROM (CD ROM).

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising coupling said advertisement to said software data as said software data is being downloaded by said computer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said computer server comprises means for selecting said advertisement to couple to said software data based on data available to said computer server.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said advertisement includes software routines for enabling said advertisement to be displayed and additional software and data for the advertisement'"'"'s content.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising disabling said advertisements if said computer user transmits billing payment data to said computer server in order to purchase said software program.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said software data includes a computer application program.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said software data and said advertisement are stored on said computer'"'"'s hard drive.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said advertisements are interactive advertisements.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising transmitting said user responses to said interactive advertisements to said computer server.

11. The method of claim 10 comprising storing said user responses to said interactive advertisements until such time as the user chooses to access the Internet and then transmitting said user responses to said computer server.

12. An apparatus for distributing computer software data coupled to at least one advertisement, the apparatus comprising:

a first storage means for storing said software data for distribution to consumers;

telecommunications means to download said software data and said at least one advertisement to a computer;

a first module for requiring the computer to play the at least one advertisement before at least a portion of the software data can be accessed; and

a second module for posting information identifying the accessed portion of software data for purposes of compensation.

13. An apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a plug-in unit and an Internet browser program, said plug-in unit residing within said browser program, wherein said plug-in unit for regulating a periodic downloading of new advertisements from said first storage means and transmitting the usage data to said first storage means.

14. A method for distributing computer software data by using advertisements as an alternative to standard retail and wholesale sales, the method comprising:

coupling said advertisements to said software data;

installing said software data and said advertisements to a computer'"'"'s memory;

coupling requiring a user to view the advertising before the user is able to utilize the software data;

recording usage data to a file list for subsequent transmission to an Internet server; and

posting the usage data to the Internet server for the purposes of compensation.

15. A method for distributing computer software data by using advertisements as an alternative to standard retail and wholesales sales, the method comprising:

coupling said advertisements to said software data said coupling requiring the advertising to be played before the software data can be used;

installing said software and said advertisements to a computer'"'"'s storage;

recording usage data to a file list for transmitting to an Internet server; and

posting the usage data to the Internet server for the purposes of compensation.

16. A method for distributing computer software programs and data wherein compensation for the authors and owners of said software and data is based upon the viewing of advertisements as an alternative to standard retail and wholesale sales, the method comprising:

Coupling said one or more advertisements to said software program;

Installing said software program comprising said advertisements to a computer'"'"'s hard disk;

Loading said software program and said advertisements onto said computer'"'"'s Random Access Memory (RAM) when the software program is invoked by a computer user;

Recording usage data into a file list for subsequent transmission to a computer server;

Loading a plug-in module into said RAM, said plug-in module regulating the downloading of said advertisements and transmitting of said usage data;

Periodically accessing said computer server via the Internet and downloading said new advertisements from said server and installing said advertisements onto said hard disk of said computer;

Periodically transmitting said usage data to said server for storage;

Displaying the advertisement on said computer'"'"'s monitor before software is activated for use by the computer user, said software for said program unable to run on said computer unless advertisements first displayed on said computer'"'"'s monitor;

Accessing said software program and said advertisements by said computer via the Internet; and

Posting said software by uploading said software onto said server and registering the said posting of said software so advertisers will know the identity of the author for purposes of compensation.