System and method for controlling delivery of content over a communications network

• US 6,268,856 B1
• Filed: 09/08/1998
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTV Networks Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Cohn, Alan, Bruck, Timo
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thai, Cuong T.
• Application Number:
  US09/149,410
• Time in Patent Office: 1,057 Days
• Field of Search: 345/357, 345/329, 707/501, 709/291, 709/217, 709/203
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV

Abstract

A method and system for suppressing or otherwise controlling the display of unrequested content while transitioning between first content and second content available over a communications system, such as the Internet, is disclosed. The system includes a browser device in communication with a host server and adapted to establish communication with a plurality of publishers to receive and display electronically published content, responsive to user inputs. The host server includes software with a controller and an override. Upon display of first content from a publisher and selection of second content, the controller is adapted to selectively display a default transition having intermediate content to the user prior to displaying the second content. The override is in communication with the controller and is adapted to direct the display of a defined transition to the user upon actuation, and thereby suppress the display of the default transition if the default transition is different from the defined transition.

Claims

1. In a server that communicates with a browser device to enable the browser device to display content, a method for controlling the display of intermediate content by the browser device during a transition period between the display of first content and second content by the browser device, the method comprising the acts of:

providing, at the server, a controller for causing default intermediate content to be displayed at the browser device during a transition period between the display of first content selected by a user of the browser device and second content selected by the user unless the display of the default intermediate content is overridden;

determining that, while the browser device is displaying first content, the browser device has requested access to second content;

determining whether the first content has an attribute that indicates that a publisher of the first content is authorized by the server to suppress the display of the default intermediate content during the transition period; and

during the transition period;

if it has been determined that the first content does not have the attribute, the controller causing the default intermediate content to be displayed by the browser device during the transition period; and

if it has been determined that the first content does have the attribute, suppressing the default intermediate content, thereby enabling an authorized publisher of the first content to prevent the default intermediate content from being displayed by the browser device during the transition period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content includes a link adapted to direct selection and display the second content, the attribute being associated with the link, and the override being actuated upon selection of the link associated with the attribute.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the attribute is further associated with all of a plurality of links of the first content.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the act of determining whether the publisher of the first content and the publisher of the second content are the same, wherein the act of suppressing the default intermediate content is further performed if the publisher of the first content and the publisher of the second content are the same.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the act of determining whether the publisher of the first content and the publisher of the second content are the same comprises the act of comparing a characteristic identifier of the first content and a characteristic identifier of the second content to determine whether a determined degree of correlation exists between the characteristic identifiers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first content and the second content each include URLs, and further wherein the characteristic identifiers of the first content and the second content include defined portions of the URLs of the first content and the second content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content and the second content include web pages.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of determining whether the first content has an attribute is performed automatically upon selection of the second content.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if it is determined that the first content has the attribute, the act of validating the attribute, and wherein the act of suppressing the default intermediate content is subject to validation of the attribute.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of validating the attribute comprises the act of comparing the attribute to a database of authorized publishers, the attribute being validated if the attribute has a determined degree of correlation with one of the authorized publishers of the database.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the default transition includes an advertisement.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of suppressing the default intermediate content comprises the act of causing other intermediate content to be displayed by the browser device during the transition period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the attribute includes a transition-selecting component that is used to select the other intermediate content from a plurality of available intermediate contents.

14. A system for controlling the display of intermediate content to a user during a transition period between the display of first content and second content to the user, the system comprising:

a browser device adapted to establish communication with any of a plurality of remote servers having content associated with a plurality of publishers to receive and display the content to a user, wherein responsive to user inputs selecting content, the browser device is adapted to establish communication with a remote server of the plurality of remote servers that has the selected content, receive the selected content, and display the selected content to the user; and

a host server in communication with the browser device, the host server including software having;

a controller for causing default intermediate content to be displayed at the browser device during a transition period between the display on the browser device of first content selected by the user and second content selected by the user unless the default intermediate content is overridden; and

an override for overriding the default intermediate content when it is determined that the first content has an attribute that indicates that the publisher associated with the first content is authorized by the host server to suppress the display of the default intermediate content during the transition period, thereby enabling an authorized publisher of the first content to prevent the default intermediate content from being displayed by the browser device during the transition period.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first content includes a link adapted to direct selection and display the second content, the attribute being associated with the link, and the override being actuated upon selection of the link associated with the attribute.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the attribute is further associated with all of a plurality of links of the first content.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the override is actuated if the publisher of the first content and the publisher of the second content are determined to be the same.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first content and the second content each include characteristic identifiers, the override being further being adapted to compare the characteristic identifiers of the first content and the second content, and to be actuated upon a determined degree of correlation between the characteristic identifiers, such that the override suppresses the default intermediate content when the determined degree of correlation exists.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first content and the second content each include URLs, and further wherein the characteristic identifiers of the first content and the second content include defined portions of the URLs of the first content and the second content.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the first content and the second content include web pages.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the override is adapted to be actuated automatically upon selection of the second content.

22. The system of claim 14 wherein the attribute is a characteristic identifier of the publisher of the second content.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the override is adapted to validate the attribute, and the suppression of the default intermediate content is subject to validation of the attribute.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the override validates the attribute by comparing the attribute to a database of authorized publishers, the override being actuated if the attribute has a determined degree of correlation with one of the authorized publishers of the database.

25. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure that includes transition-directing content for use with a browser device for controlling the display of intermediate content by the browser device during a transition period between the display of first content and second content by the browser device, the computer-readable medium comprising:

a data structure representing a web page including;

first content associated with a first publisher that is displayed by the browser device in response to user input;

a plurality of links that, when selected by the user, direct the browser device to display content other than the first content; and

an attribute associated with at least one of the plurality of links, the attribute indicating that a publisher of the first content is authorized by the server to suppress the display of default intermediate content during a transition period between the display of the first content by the browser device and second content associated with the link with which the attribute is associated, wherein, upon selection of the link with which the attribute is associated, a server in communication with the browser device performs the acts of;

determining that the attribute is associated with the selected link; and

suppressing the default intermediate content, thereby enabling an authorized publisher of the first content to prevent the default intermediate content from being displayed by the browser device during the transition period.

26. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the act of suppressing the default intermediate content comprises the act of causing other intermediate content to be displayed by the browser device during the transition period.