E-mail software and method and system for distributing advertisements to client devices that have such E-mail software installed thereon
First Claim
1. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising:
- a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times;
an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times;
an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and
an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements and wherein the communication network comprises the Internet and wherein the advertisement distribution server system includes;
a plurality of ad servers, each of which stores one or more of the advertisements to be downloaded, each advertisement being stored in a storage location designated by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);
the at least one playlist server; and
wherein the playlist(s) contains a list of ad identifiers and corresponding URIs that identify respective ones of the advertisements to be downloaded and the corresponding storage location from which each respective advertisement can be fetched; and
wherein the advertisement download function includes;
a client device playlist identification function that transmits an identification of a current playlist(s) currently being used by the client device to the at least one playlist server at prescribed playlist check intervals, wherein the at least one playlist server responds either by transmitting to the client device an indication that the current playlist(s) is valid and does not need to be augmented or by transmitting to the client device a new playlist(s); and
a playlist comparison function that compares the ad identifiers listed in the current playlist(s) with the ad identifiers listed in the new playlist(s) and that generates a list of URIs of the advertisements corresponding to the ad identifiers in the new playlist(s) that are different from the ad identifiers in the current playlist(s); and
an ad fetch function that fetches the advertisements corresponding to the generated list of URIs from the appropriate one(s) of the plurality of ad servers over one or more advertisement download sessions.
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Abstract
Software for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communications network instantiates a communications function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times, an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times, an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device, and an advertisement display function that effects display of at least selected ones of the stored advertisements.
114 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising:
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a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times; an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times; an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements and wherein the communication network comprises the Internet and wherein the advertisement distribution server system includes; a plurality of ad servers, each of which stores one or more of the advertisements to be downloaded, each advertisement being stored in a storage location designated by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); the at least one playlist server; and wherein the playlist(s) contains a list of ad identifiers and corresponding URIs that identify respective ones of the advertisements to be downloaded and the corresponding storage location from which each respective advertisement can be fetched; and
wherein the advertisement download function includes;a client device playlist identification function that transmits an identification of a current playlist(s) currently being used by the client device to the at least one playlist server at prescribed playlist check intervals, wherein the at least one playlist server responds either by transmitting to the client device an indication that the current playlist(s) is valid and does not need to be augmented or by transmitting to the client device a new playlist(s); and
a playlist comparison function that compares the ad identifiers listed in the current playlist(s) with the ad identifiers listed in the new playlist(s) and that generates a list of URIs of the advertisements corresponding to the ad identifiers in the new playlist(s) that are different from the ad identifiers in the current playlist(s); and
an ad fetch function that fetches the advertisements corresponding to the generated list of URIs from the appropriate one(s) of the plurality of ad servers over one or more advertisement download sessions.
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2. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising:
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a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communication network, at selected advertisement download times; an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times; an advertisement storage function for storing the download advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and an advertisement display function that effects display of of the stored advertisements; wherein the advertisements comprise advertisement files each of which includes an advertisement and a plurality of ad display parameters associated with that advertisement; and
wherein the advertisement display function displays the stored advertisement according to the ad display parameters; andwherein the ad display parameters include, for each of prescribed ones of the plurality of stored advertisements the following parameters; a maximum face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed; a maximum cumulative face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the maximum number of times per day that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; wherein the face time comprises a time period during which a prescribed minimum level of user activity occurs.
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3. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising:
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a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communication network, at selected advertisement download times; an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times; an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements; and
wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that include, for each of prescribed ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, the following parameters;a maximum face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed; a maximum cumulative face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the maximum number of times per day that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; wherein the face time comprises a time period during which a prescribed minimum level of user activity occurs.
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4. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising:
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a playlist fetch function that fetches a playlist(s) from a playlist server, wherein the playlist(s) identifies advertisements to be fetched; an ad download function that downloads the advertisements identified in the playlist(s) from an advertisement distribution system, via the communication network, during advertisement download sessions; an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements on a display associated with the client device; and wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that include, for each of the plurality of stored advertisements, the following parameters; a maximum face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed; a maximum cumulative face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the maximum number of times per day that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; wherein the face time comprises a time period during which a prescribed minimum level of user activity occurs. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification