Independent internet client object with ad display capabilities

• US 6,928,615 B1
• Filed: 07/07/1999
• Issued: 08/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Net Zero, Inc. (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NetZero Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Inventors: Haitsuka, Stacy, Burr, Ronald, MacKenzie, Harold, Zebian, Marwan, Warren, Terry, Blaser, Shane
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US09/348,411
• Time in Patent Office: 2,225 Days
• Field of Search: 345/738, 345/739, 345/745, 345/748, 345/749, 705/26, 705/27, 725/42, 725/41, 725/51
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a client application for enabling access to an online service and displaying advertisements while the user is accessing the online service. The client application receives play lists from the online service provider. The play lists include information about advertisements to be played and the order of play. The client application also receives match lists from the online service provider. The match lists include information about advertisements to be played when the user performs certain actions. The client application provides the user with the ability to cycle back through previously displayed advertisements, and to cycle forward. The client application displays advertisements continuously while the user is connected to and/or using the online service, and also displays advertisements during the delay between when the client application is activated and when the user can actually use the online service. In conjunction with the client application displaying advertisements, the client application also records which advertisements were played. The client application displays a number of icons for functions available to the user, and the client application records when the user selects these functions. The client application also records certain pre-connection events, such as dial-up errors.

Claims

1. A method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the local device accessing the online service and providing interaction with the online service, the method comprising the steps of:

the client application becoming active;

the client application establishing a communication channel from the local device to the online service;

the client application receiving a first play list;

the client application displaying a client window on the output device of the local device, wherein the client window displays continuously so long as the communication channel from the local device to the online service is maintained;

the client application causing advertisements to be displayed in an ad pane of the client window, wherein the display of advertisements operates in accordance with the first play list, the first play list comprising plural ad objects, each ad object comprising a resource locator for a given advertisement and a resource locator for a click-through associated with the given advertisement, the first play list further specifying an order in which the advertisements identified in the first play list are to be displayed.

2. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

the client application recording an identifier of a given advertisement displayed by the client application, and

the client application transmitting the identifier to an interactive data server on the online service.

3. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the ad object includes a length of time to display the given advertisement.

4. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the client application receiving a match list after establishment of the communication channel, the match list comprising at least one match object, each match object comprising an activity identifier and an ad object;

the client application monitoring the user'"'"'s interaction with the online service; and

if the user'"'"'s interaction with the network matches one of the activity identifiers in the match list, then the client application causing the advertisement of the ad object of the match object corresponding to the matched activity identifier to be displayed in the display pane.

5. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 1, the client application receiving the first play list from the online service after establishment of the communication channel.

6. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 1, the ad objects further comprising display attributes, the display attributes including at least one of:

fade, wash, sweep, fly, blinds, box, checkerboard, crawl, dissolve, peak, spiral, split, stretch, strips, swivel, wipe, zoom.

7. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the client application causes the client window to be displayed on top of any other window which might be caused to be displayed on the output device.

8. A method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the local device accessing the online service and providing interaction with the online service, the method comprising the steps of:

the client application becoming active;

the client application causing advertisements to be displayed on the output device of the local device in accordance with a first play list, the first play list comprising plural ad objects, each ad object having associated therewith a given advertisement;

the client application displaying a first advertisement referenced from the first play list;

the client application establishing a communication channel to the online service;

wherein during the establishment of the communication channel, the client application displays advertisements from the first play list.

9. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 8 further comprising the step of installing the client application on the local device, wherein the first play list is created on the local device during the installing step.

10. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 8 further comprising:

the client application establishing a first communication session with the online service;

the client application receiving a second play list from the online service, the second play list comprising at least one ad object, each ad object having associated therewith a given advertisement;

the client application terminating the first communication session with the online service;

the client application establishing a second communication channel to the online service;

wherein during the establishment of the second communication channel, the client application displays advertisements from the second play list.

11. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 8, further comprising

the client application establishing a first communication session with the online service;

the client application receiving a second play list from the online service the second play list comprising at least one ad object;

wherein the step of receiving a second play list is performed as part of the step of establishing a communication channel.

12. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 10, wherein the receiving step is performed as part of the terminating step.

13. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 8, wherein the client application causes the client window to be displayed on top of any other window which might be caused to be displayed on the output device.

14. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

the client application recording an identifier of a given advertisement displayed by the client application, and

the client application transmitting the identifier to an interactive data server on the online service.

15. A method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the local device accessing the online service and providing interaction with the online service, the method comprising the steps of:

the client application becoming active;

the client application establishing a first communication channel to the network;

the client application receiving a match list from an ad server after establishment of the first communication channel, the match list comprising plural match objects comprising an activity identifier and an ad object, the ad object comprising a resource locator for a given advertisement and a resource locator for a click-through associated with the given advertisement;

the client application monitoring the user'"'"'s interaction with the network; and

if the user'"'"'s interaction with the network matches one of the activity identifiers in the match list, then displaying in a display pane of a client window on the output device of the local device the advertisement of the ad object of the match object corresponding to the matched activity identifier.

16. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 15, wherein the activity identifier comprises a resource locator.

17. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 16, wherein the activity identifier comprises a second level domain name.

18. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 15, wherein the client application causes the client window to be displayed on top of any other window which might be caused to be displayed on the output device.

19. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

the client application recording an identifier of a given advertisement displayed by the client application, and

the client application transmitting the identifier to an interactive data server on the online service.

20. A method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the local device accessing the online service and providing interaction with the online service, the local device receiving advertisements from the online service, the method comprising the steps of:

the client application becoming active;

the client application establishing a first communication channel to the online service;

the client application displaying a client window on the output device of the local device, wherein the client window displays on top of any other window which might be caused to be displayed on the output device and continuously so long as the first communication channel is maintained, the client window including a plurality of user-selectable icons, each icon being associated with a given function of the client application;

the client application causing advertisements received from the online service to be displayed in an ad pane of the client window;

the client application detecting the user'"'"'s selection of a given icon;

the client application providing the functionality associated with the given icon;

the client application recording a first event record, the first event record identifying the user'"'"'s selection of the given icon;

the client application transmitting the first event record to the online service.

21. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 20, the method further comprising the steps of:

during the display of a given advertisement in the ad pane, the user using the input device to select the ad pane;

the client application determining a resource locator associated with the given advertisement in the ad pane;

the client application recording a second event record, the second event record identifying the user'"'"'s selection of the given advertisement;

the client application issuing a command to the local device to load the object at the location identified by the resource locator; and

the client application transmitting the second event record to the interactive data server.

22. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 20, wherein

the user-selectable icon includes a cycle-back icon, the cycle-back icon being associated with a cycle-back function,

in the step of the client application detecting the user'"'"'s selection of a given icon, the client application detecting the user'"'"'s selection of the cycle-back icon,

in the step of the client application providing the functionality associated with the given icon, the client application determining a next prior advertisement which the ad display process caused to be displayed, and the ad display process displaying the next prior advertisement.

23. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of claim 20 wherein

the user-selectable icon includes a cycle-forward icon, the cycle-forward icon being associated with a cycle-forward function,

in the step of the client application detecting the user'"'"'s selection of a given icon, the client application detecting the user'"'"'s selection of the cycle-forward icon,

in the step of the client application providing the functionality associated with the given icon, the client application determining a next advertisement which the ad display process caused to be displayed, if any, and the ad display process displaying the next advertisement.