Sponsorship/advertising for an internet client

• US 7,844,491 B1
• Filed: 08/04/2000
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetZero Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NetZero Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Inventors: MacKenzie, Harold, Warren, Terry, Goldston, Mark, Haitsuka, Stacy, Zebian, Marwan, Giffen, Colin, Burr, Ronald, Blaser, Shane
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TRI V
• Application Number:
  US09/632,774
• Time in Patent Office: 3,770 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/10, 705/14, 705/14.36, 705/14.4, 705/14.49, 705/14.56, 705/14.73
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

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 also displays a wide variety of sponsorship information in connection with the online service. The sponsorship information is displayed in hypertext format. The client application provides the user with information related to a sponsor when the user clicks on hypertext associated with the sponsor.

Claims

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

a) the client application activating;

b) the client application commencing an initial online session with the online service provider to gain access to the Internet, the client application operating independently of an Internet browser and operating concurrently with the Internet browser;

c) the client application receiving sponsorship data from the online service provider, the sponsorship data comprising a sponsorship object including a resource locator associated with a sponsorship label to be displayed and a resource locator associated with a click-through of the sponsorship label;

d) the client application causing a client window to be displayed on the output device, the client window remaining fully visible so long as the online session with the online service provider persists, wherein the client window is displayed independently of a browser window generated by the Internet browser;

e) the client application displaying a sponsorship label on the client window by referring to the resource locator associated with the sponsorship label to be displayed, the sponsorship label comprising a hypertext link, wherein, when the user clicks on the sponsorship label, the client application causes the local device to access the resource locator associated with a click-through of the sponsorship label;

f) the client application causing a first advertisement to be displayed in the client window, wherein the client application retrieves the first advertisement from a memory cache local to the local device;

g) the client application receiving a second advertisement from the online server;

h) the client application causing the second advertisement to be displayed in the client window.

2. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the client application commences the initial online session by establishing a communication channel via a public switched telephone network from the local device to the online server.

3. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the client application commencing an initial online session comprises:

a) the client application transmitting a request to the online service provider to authorize the local device to interact with a web server;

b) the client application receiving from the online service provider authorization for the local device to interact with the web server.

4. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the resource locator associated with the click-through of the sponsorship label comprises a uniform resource locator associated with an Internet web page.

5. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the sponsorship label is located on a title bar of the client window.

6. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 1, wherein the second advertisement is included within a play list comprising at least one ad object, each ad object comprising a resource locator for a given advertisement, a resource locator for a click-through associated with the given advertisement, and at least one display attribute for the given advertisement, the play list further specifying an order in which the advertisements identified in the play list are to be displayed.

7. A method of displaying sponsorship information to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the client application accessing an online server associated with the online service provider and providing access to the Internet, the method comprising:

a) the client application activating;

b) the client application commencing an online session with the online service provider, the client application operating independently of an Internet browser and operating concurrently with the Internet browser;

c) the client application receiving sponsorship data from the online service provider, the sponsorship data comprising a sponsorship object including a resource locator associated with a sponsorship label to be displayed;

d) the client application causing a client window to be displayed on the output device, the client window remaining fully visible and on top of all other windows so long as the online session with the online service provider persists, wherein the client window is displayed concurrently with a browser window generated by the Internet browser;

e) the client application causing the sponsorship label to be displayed on the client window, the sponsorship label comprising a hypertext link to be accessed if a user clicks on the sponsorship label;

f) the client application retrieving a first advertisement from a memory cache local to the local device;

g) the client application causing the first advertisement to be displayed in the client window.

8. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 7, additionally comprising the online service provider transmitting a second advertisement to the local device and the client application causing the second advertisement to be displayed in the client window.

9. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 7, wherein the client application commences the online session by establishing a communication channel via a public switched telephone network from the local device to the online service provider.

10. The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service provider using a client application on a local device of claim 7, wherein the client application commencing an online session comprises:

a) the client application transmitting a request to the online service provider to authorize the local device to interact with a web server;

b) the client application receiving from the online server authorization for the local device to interact with the web server.