Advertisement servicing system using e-mail arrival notifying program and method therefor

• US 6,907,418 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2001
• Issued: 06/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hoseo University, Metabiz Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Hoseo University, Metabiz Company Limited
• Inventors: Shin, Dong Seok, Kang, Young Goo
• Primary Examiner(s): Knight, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holmes, Michael B.
• Application Number:
  US09/832,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20020083140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,524 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-207, 709217-219, 705/14
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

An advertisement servicing system using an e-mail arrival notifying program is provided. The system includes a communication network, a plurality of e-mail servers for rendering services of transmitting/receiving e-mail messages, a plurality of user computers for performing communication accessing with an external computer through the communication network, downloading and installing an e-mail arrival notifying program having an animation character with predetermined advertising data, automatically executing the e-mail arrival notifying program to then display the animation character with the advertising data on a screen for user'"'"'s e-mail viewing when the e-mail of the corresponding user arrives, creating e-mail read data and outputting the same to the server computer, and a server computer for creating the e-mail arrival notifying program with animation characters to then construct a database thereof, downloading the e-mail arrival notifying program to the corresponding user computer, receiving the e-mail read data, analyzing the advertising data viewed by the users, and accumulating predetermined points on each user'"'"'s account. Therefore, the user can conveniently use e-mail service through the Internet without necessity of periodically connecting to a particular e-mail server. Also, since points for the users'"'"' advertisement viewing are accumulated, the advertising effects can be further increased.

Claims

1. An advertisement servicing system using an electronic mail (e-mail) arrival notifying program comprising:

a communication network for connecting a plurality of communication circuits to allow data communication;

a plurality of e-mail servers for providing a plurality of users who have registered as members with accounts and predetermined repository spaces, and rendering services of transmitting/receiving e-mail messages to/from the plurality of users;

a server computer for creating a plurality of animation characters with advertising data presented by a plurality of advertisers to then construct a database thereof and simultaneously creating an e-mail arrival notifying program having the animation characters to then construct a database thereof, receiving e-mail read data, analyzing the advertising data viewed by the users, and accumulating predetermined points on each user'"'"'s account; and

a plurality of user computers for downloading and installing the e-mail arrival notifying program from the server computer through the communication network, automatically executing the e-mail arrival notifying program to then display the animation character on a screen for user'"'"'s e-mail viewing when the e-mail of the corresponding user is received by an e-mail server designated by the user among the plurality of e-mail servers, creating the e-mail read data and outputting the same to the server computer when the corresponding user views the e-mail addressed to himself/herself by the animation character, and when the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing is completed, automatically executing a communication program to proceed to communication accessing to a web page of an advertiser who has presented the corresponding advertising data.

2. The advertisement servicing system according to claim 1, wherein the server computer comprises:

an advertising server for creating animation characters with text, logo and commercial music presented by the plurality of advertisers and storing the same on a database, producing the e-mail arrival notifying program having the animation characters and storing the same on a database, outputting the e-mail arrival notifying program stored on the database to the corresponding user computer upon receipt of an e-mail arrival notifying program download request signal from the plurality of user computers;

a customer relationship management (CRM) server for storing on a database member registration data input by a user who intends to use the e-mail arrival notifying program, whenever the e-mail read data is input through the communication network, accumulating predetermined points on the corresponding user'"'"'s account in reward for the user'"'"'s advertisement viewing, analyzing the users'"'"' viewed advertisement and storing the analysis result data in a database, offering cash or merchandise to the user as a prize when the corresponding user'"'"'s accumulated points exceed a predetermined reference level, and offering analysis result data for users'"'"' viewed advertisement to the advertisers according to the advertisers'"'"' request; and

a communication controller for receiving the e-mail arrival notifying program download request signal from the plurality of user computers to then output the same to the advertising server, outputting the e-mail arrival notifying program input from the advertising server to the corresponding user computer, receiving the e-mail read data from the plurality of user computers, to then output the same to the advertising server, and outputting the point data accumulated for each user to the user computer in accordance with the user'"'"'s request.

3. The advertisement servicing system according to claim 1, wherein the server computer provides the corresponding user computer with animation characters with periodically different pieces of advertising data, independent of user'"'"'s selection of desired particular advertising data and animation character.

4. The advertisement servicing system according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail arrival notifying program is a program stationed on a random access memory (RAM).

5. The advertisement servicing system according to claim 1, wherein when the user views the e-mail addressed to himself/herself, the e-mail arrival notifying program automatically generates data relating to the corresponding user'"'"'s e-mail read status and read time and sends an e-mail to a corresponding e-mail sender.

6. An advertisement servicing system using an electronic mail (e-mail) arrival notifying program comprising:

a communication network for connecting a plurality of communication circuits to allow data communication;

a plurality of affiliated server computers for creating a plurality of animation characters with advertising data presented by a plurality of advertisers to then construct a database thereof, endowing a plurality of users registered as members with their own accounts and predetermined repository spaces, rendering services of allowing a plurality of users to transmit/receive e-mail messages to/from one another, analyzing advertisement based on e-mail read data generated when the corresponding user views the e-mail addressed to himself/herself using an e-mail arrival notifying program and outputting the analysis result data;

a server computer for creating a plurality of animation characters with advertising data presented by a plurality of advertisers to then construct a database thereof and simultaneously creating the e-mail arrival notifying program having the animation characters to then construct a database thereof, providing the e-mail arrival notifying program to the plurality of affiliated server computers so as to be constructed as a database thereof and then to be downloaded to a corresponding user computer, analyzing the advertisement viewed by users depending on e-mail read data from the corresponding user computer, accumulating predetermined points on each user'"'"'s account, generating combined analysis result data for the users'"'"' viewed advertisement based on the result of advertisement analysis performed by the server computer itself and the analysis result data from the respective affiliated server computers, and providing the combined analysis result data to the plurality of advertisers and the affiliated server computers; and

a plurality of user computers for downloading and installing the e-mail arrival notifying program from the server computer or the plurality of affiliated server computers through the communication network, to perform member registration, automatically executing the e-mail arrival notifying program to then display the animation character with the advertising data on a screen for user'"'"'s e-mail viewing when the e-mail of the corresponding user is received from the server computer or the plurality of affiliated server computers, creating the e-mail read data and outputting the same to the server computer or the plurality of affiliated server computers when the corresponding user views the e-mail addressed to himself/herself by the animation character, and automatically executing a communication program to proceed to communication accessing to a web page of an advertiser who has presented the corresponding advertising data, when the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing is completed.

7. The advertisement servicing system according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of affiliated server computers receive from the server computer the combined advertisement analysis result data by users who use the respective affiliated server computers and independently executes advertisement planning and implementation suited for the corresponding site.

8. An advertisement servicing method using an e-mail arrival notifying program comprising the steps of:

a) creating animation characters with advertising data presented by a plurality of advertisers by a server computer and constructing an e-mail arrival notifying program having animation characters as a database;

b) storing member registration data input by a plurality of users connected for communication through a communication network, downloading the e-mail arrival notifying program having the animation characters to a corresponding user computer according to the user'"'"'s request and installing the program on the computer;

c) executing the e-mail arrival notifying program upon receipt of the corresponding user'"'"'s e-mail to a particular e-mail server designated by the user and displaying the animation character with predetermined advertising data;

d) generating e-mail read data according to the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing to output the same to the server computer and executing a communication program upon completion of the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing to proceed to communication accessing to a web page of an advertiser who has presented the corresponding advertising data; and

e) analyzing the advertisement viewed by the users based on the e-mail read data generated by the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing, and accumulating predetermined points on each user'"'"'s account.

9. The advertisement servicing method according to claim 8, wherein the step b) comprises the sub-steps of:

b1) performing communication accessing to the server computer through the communication network to perform a log-in procedure of a plurality of users;

b2) determining whether the e-mail arrival notifying program having animation characters is requested by the corresponding user;

b3) outputting the plurality of animation characters constructed in the form of a database to the corresponding user computer;

b4) determining whether the corresponding user'"'"'s desired animation character is selected by the user;

b5) downloading the e-mail arrival notifying program having the corresponding animation character to the user computer;

b6) installing on the computer the e-mail arrival notifying program having the corresponding animation character downloaded from the server computer;

b7) setting program configurations for notifying e-mail arrival, including selection of a particular e-mail server, selection of a desired animation character and user profile input; and

b8) executing the e-mail arrival notifying program according to the program configurations set by the corresponding user.

10. The advertisement servicing method according to claim 8, wherein the step c) comprises the sub-steps of:

c1) continuously checking whether an e-mail message of the corresponding user has arrived at the particular e-mail server designated by the user in the e-mail arrival notifying program installed on the computer;

c2) determining whether the confirmation data that notifies that the corresponding user'"'"'s e-mail has arrived, is input from the particular e-mail server; and

c3) if the confirmation data is input, executing the e-mail arrival notifying program to display the animation character with predetermined advertising data on the screen to notify the user of the e-mail arrival.

11. The advertisement servicing method according to claim 8, wherein the step d) comprises the sub-steps of:

d1) determining whether the user who has viewed the animation character with advertising data displayed on the screen selects e-mail viewing;

d2) if the user selects e-mail viewing, displaying the e-mail addressed to the corresponding user on the screen;

d3) determining whether the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing is completed;

d4) if the user'"'"'s e-mail viewing is completed, generating e-mail read data for providing the advertising data viewing result;

d5) outputting the generated e-mail read data to the server computer; and

d6) executing the communication program installed on the computer to perform communication accessing to the web page of the advertiser who has presented the corresponding advertising data.

12. The advertisement servicing method according to claim 8, wherein the step e) comprises the sub-steps of:

e1) determining whether the e-mail read data is input from the plurality of user computers;

e2) analyzing the number of advertisements exposed to users and the types of advertisements, by a plurality of pieces of advertising data, based on the e-mail read data input from the plurality of user computers, and storing the analysis result in a database;

e3) accumulating predetermined points on each user'"'"'s account in reward for the user'"'"'s viewing of advertising data;

e4) determining whether the points accumulated by user exceed a predetermined reference level; and

e5) if the points accumulated by user exceed the predetermined reference level, offering cash or merchandise to the corresponding user.

13. The advertisement servicing method according to claim 12, wherein after analyzing the number of advertisements exposed to users through the step e2), if the analysis result data for advertisement is requested by a plurality of advertisers that have presented the advertising data, extracting analysis result data for the users'"'"' advertisement viewing, stored in the database, and offering the analysis result data to the corresponding advertiser.