Selecting a cost-effective bandwidth for transmitting information to an end user in a computer network

• US 6,253,241 B1
• Filed: 01/07/2000
• Issued: 06/26/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chaddha, Navin
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US09/478,873
• Time in Patent Office: 536 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/223, 709/226, 709/230, 709/231, 709/238, 709/313, 709/328, 709/329
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A cost effective method for generating and delivering scalable multimedia content targeted at specific end user(s) via client computers coupled to servers by a diverse computer network which includes local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs) such as the internet. In one embodiment in which the server is billed for network bandwidth consumed, upon receiving an end user request for multimedia content, the server computes the likelihood of patronage. Indicators useful for estimating the likelihood of patronage include regularity of patronage, income history, credit worthiness, age, hobbies, occupation and marital status. A cost effective bandwidth is selected for delivering the requested content. Such an arrangement is advantageous because the content is delivered to end user at a bandwidth corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

computing a probability of consummating a sale; and

selecting a cost effective bandwidth from a plurality of bandwidths corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for multimedia content; and

delivering the multimedia content using the selected cost effective bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the probability of consummating a sale uses at least on indicator from a group consisting of past patronage, income, credit, age, occupation and marital status.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the multimedia content includes a video stream.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the multimedia content includes content based on geographic location of a user.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the multimedia content includes a global portion and a local portion and wherein the local portion is customized according to a database of indicators.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the cost effective bandwidth also uses non end user factors such as demand for the bandwidth or the time of day.

8. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request for multimedia content from a user;

computing a probability of consummating a sale for the user;

selecting a cost effective bandwidth from a plurality of bandwidths corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale;

delivering the multimedia content to the user using the selected cost effective bandwidth.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the multimedia content includes an annotation stream.

10. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request;

computing a probability of consummating a sale using indicators stored in a database;

responding to the request by using resources corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the indicators include geography, climate, demography and national boundaries.

12. A method comprising:

receiving global content from a global server;

retrieving local content from a local server;

computing a probability of consummating a sale; and

delivering customized information to a client computer using a bandwidth corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale, wherein the customized information includes the global content and the local content.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the bandwidth further comprises cost effective bandwidth.

13. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving global content for a user;

retrieving a user profile from a local database;

generating personalized content based on the user profile;

computing a probability of consummating a sale; and

delivering the global content and the personalized content to the user using a bandwidth corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the personalized content includes textual annotations.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the bandwidth further comprises cost effective bandwidth.

15. A system for delivering multimedia content, including global content and local content, comprising:

a global server to send global content;

a local server including a local database and coupled to the global server to send local content, wherein the local database has user profiles, and wherein the local server computes a probability of consummating a sale and selects a bandwidth from a plurality of bandwidths corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale; and

a client computer coupled to the local server to receive the multimedia content.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the multimedia content includes language based information corresponding to a geographic location of the client computer.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the global server includes a top level global server and a plurality of regional global servers.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the local server includes a plurality of regional servers.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the bandwidth further comprises cost effective bandwidth.

22. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request;

computing a likelihood of patronage using indicators stored in a database;

responding to the request by using resources corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the indicators include geography, climate, demography and national boundaries.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein file resources include bandwidth.