Website promotional applet process
DCFirst Claim
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1. A method of promoting a plurality of sponsored sites in communication with a computer network, the method comprising:
- creating a set of indicia files and a win criteria, each indicia file having a filename;
distributing the set of indicia files to at least one of the plurality of sponsored sites for embedding within the sponsored site;
providing an applet for generating a graphical user interface depicting a graphical image of at least one of the indicia files to be found by a participant and for generating a cookie containing the filename of each indicia file accessed by the participant;
accessing at least one of said generated cookies;
verifying the indicia accessed by the participant using the filename contained in the cookie; and
determining when the participant has satisfied the win criteria.
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Abstract
The subject invention includes a host site which is accessed by a participant directly or through a hyperlink from a sponsor site. The host site includes an application which is activated to run a promotional applet on the participant'"'"'s computer. The promotional applet creates a graphical user interface (GUI) which is used to play a promotional game which requires the participant to browse through a plurality of sponsor sites in order to find and match a number of indicia embedded therein. Once a participant has matched enough indicia to satisfy a winning criteria, the participant is awarded a prize.
106 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of promoting a plurality of sponsored sites in communication with a computer network, the method comprising:
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creating a set of indicia files and a win criteria, each indicia file having a filename;
distributing the set of indicia files to at least one of the plurality of sponsored sites for embedding within the sponsored site;
providing an applet for generating a graphical user interface depicting a graphical image of at least one of the indicia files to be found by a participant and for generating a cookie containing the filename of each indicia file accessed by the participant;
accessing at least one of said generated cookies;
verifying the indicia accessed by the participant using the filename contained in the cookie; and
determining when the participant has satisfied the win criteria. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for promoting a plurality of sponsor sites in communication with a communication network, the system comprising:
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at least one server in communication with the communication network, the server including an applet for generating a graphical user interface depicting a graphical image of at least one of the indicia files to be found by a participant and for generating a cookie containing the filename of each indicia file accessed by the participant;
a participant database in communication with the server, the participant database storing participant information therein wherein the server includes an application for determining if a participant has satisfied a win criteria; and
an indicant database in communication with the server for storing a set of indicia files and an indication of websites in which the set of indicia files are embedded. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of promoting a plurality of sponsor sites located on the internet, the method comprising:
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creating a set of indicia files and win criteria, each indicia file having a filename;
distributing the indicia to a plurality of sponsor sites for embedding within the site;
displaying on a participant'"'"'s computer a graphical image of a subset of the plurality of indicia files to be found;
providing a directory containing links to a plurality of sponsor sites having indicia files embedded therein;
generating a cookie containing the filename of each indicia file accessed by the participant; and
determining if the participant has satisfied a win criteria. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of promoting a plurality of sponsor sites located on the internet, the method comprising:
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creating a set of indicia files, wherein the indicia files are graphic files;
distributing the set of indicia files to the sponsor sites, such that each of the sponsor sites receives at least one indicant file;
embedding each indicant file within its corresponding sponsor sites;
launching an applet on a participant'"'"'s computer, the applet configured to create a first GUI on the participant'"'"'s computer that displays a graphical representation of the set of indicia files and a second GUI that contains links to the sponsor sites;
tracking indicants found by a participant, wherein tracking is performed by the applet, which creates an indication of a found indicant within a cookie on the participant'"'"'s computer; and
determining if the participant has satisfied a win criteria, based on the found indicants. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification