Method and system for transacting with network traffic

• US 7,734,504 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2005
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hoshiko LLC (Raoul Management LLC)
• Inventors: Shuster, Gary Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F. Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Obaid; Fateh M
• Application Number:
  US11/219,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20060015366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,741 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for using targeted network traffic as payment-in-kind in exchange for rights to anything that may be connected to a network, such as network-connected computer hardware and copyrighted software or content on such hardware, is disclosed. The method may be adapted for use with almost any product or service which may be tracked over a network. The system and method are for use with transactions between a user of a subject product or service and a provider of the subject product or service desiring to receive traffic to a target in exchange for it.

Claims

1. A method for transacting business between a user and a resource provider providing a product or service to the user and desiring traffic to a designated target over a wide area network, the method comprising:

receiving, using a computer server, use information describing a measure of use by the user of one or more computer resources comprising one or more of computer hardware or software resources of the resource provider that operate on at least one computer associated with the resource provider;

debiting an account associated with the user by a debit amount determined from the use information;

determining a measure of network traffic indicating actual network traffic generated by the user to the designated target, wherein the measure of network traffic is based at least partly on a quantity of requests originating from the user that are characterized by being redirected to a designated target;

determining a credit amount based on the measure of network traffic; and

crediting the credit amount to the account associated with the user, wherein redirection of the network traffic is exchanged for at least a portion of the use of the one or more computer resources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a balance amount of the account to a sponsor of the resource.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising redirecting over the network selected ones of the requests originating from the user to at least one target designated by the sponsor.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining step further comprises receiving traffic information from the sponsor.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the user to generate additional ones of the requests to be redirected to the designated target when a value of the account is less than a predetermined value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a state of the resource depending on a value of the account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the requests originating from the user comprise requests for a web page for display on a client device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information designating the account comprising a network address of an executable file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer server receives the use information about ones of a plurality of resources, and debits the account an amount related to the use information pertaining to the ones of the plurality of resources.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer server receives the use information from a plurality of network-connected client devices each containing a copy of the resource.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the traffic from the resource, wherein the resource comprises a network-connected server, and wherein the traffic that is redirected originates from links stored on the server.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the traffic from the resource, wherein the resource comprises software operating on a network-connected computer, and wherein the information designating the account traffic that is redirected is automatically generated by the software without being requested by a user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer server receives the use information from the resource comprising application software installed on a web server.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the application software configured to generate the requests originating from the resource.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the application software configured to generate the requests comprising a redirection code designating an executable program module configured to initiate redirecting of the requests.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the application software configured to generate the requests without requiring selection of a link by a user to initiate the requests.

17. A computer server containing machine-executable instructions for transacting business between a user and a resource provider providing a product or service to the user and desiring traffic to a designated target over a wide area network, wherein the machine-executable instructions, if executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving use information describing a measure of use by the user of one or more computer resources of the resource provider;

debiting an account associated with the user by a debit amount determined from the use information;

determining a measure of network traffic indicating network traffic generated by the user to the designated target, wherein the measure of network traffic is based at least partly on a quantity of requests originating from the user that are characterized by being redirected to a designated target;

determining a credit amount based on the measure of network traffic; and

crediting the credit amount to the account associated with the user wherein redirection of the network traffic is exchanged for at least a portion of the use of the one or more computer resources.

18. The computer server of claim 17, wherein the machine-executable instructions, if executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to redirect over the network selected ones of the requests originating from the user to at least one target designated by a sponsor.

19. The computer server of claim 18, wherein said determining further comprises receiving traffic information from the sponsor.

20. The computer server of claim 17, wherein the machine-executable instructions, if executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to cause the user to generate additional ones of the requests to be redirected to the designated target when a value of the account is less than a predetermined value.

21. An article of manufacture including a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, using a computer server, use information describing a measure of use of one or more computer resources comprising one or more of computer hardware, network, or software resources of the resource provider and operating on at least one computer associated with the resource provider;

debiting an account associated with the user by a debit amount determined from the use information;

determining a measure of network traffic indicating actual network traffic generated by the user to the designated target, wherein the measure of network traffic is based at least partly on a quantity of requests originating from the user that are characterized by being redirected to a designated target;

determining a credit amount based on the measure of network traffic; and

crediting the credit amount to the account associated with the users wherein redirection of the network traffic is exchanged for at least a portion of the use of the one or more computer resources.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise changing a state of the resource depending on a value of the account.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the computer server receives the use information about ones of a plurality of resources, and debits the account an amount related to the use information pertaining to the ones of the plurality of resources.