Method for advertising information

• US 8,296,335 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2002
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Civix-Ddi LLC
• Original Assignee: Civix-Ddi LLC
• Inventors: Bouve, W. Lincoln, Semple, William T., Oxman, Steven W.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US10/186,537
• Publication Number:
  US 20020169541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,767 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/3, 707/200, 707/201, 707/102, 707/804, 707/806, 707/825, 705/14, 705/14.4, 701/200, 701/201
• US Class Current: 707/806
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/201 Accessories of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/918 Location
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/919 Geographic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/922 Communications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Methods for advertising information include: displaying user-selectable category and geographic vicinity information at a port; and, at a database that is not at the same location as the port; responding to user input at the port to display, at the port, advertising information that is associated with a user-selected category and geographic vicinity. Methods for updating advertising information in a database include: storing advertising information about a plurality of places in the database; updating the advertising information from a first port connected to the database through the Internet; and responding, at the database, to user inputs at a second port connected to the database through the Internet, to display updated advertising information at the second port. Advertisements can be tagged to items of interest and displayed.

Claims

1. A method for advertising over the Internet, comprising:

at a database, receiving at least in part through the Internet, a request from one of a plurality of ports remotely located from the database, the request containing (a) at least one user-selected category and (b) a user-selected geographic vicinity;

determining, at the database, a response to the request, the response defining locations of a plurality of items of interest within the user-selected geographic vicinity and based upon the at least one user-selected category;

determining, at the database, a plurality of advertisements in response to the request the plurality of advertisements being included within the response; and

from the database, transmitting, at least in part through the Internet, the response to the port for graphical display at the port wherein at least part of the graphical display is selectable by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the response includes one or more digital pictures about at least one of the plurality of items of interest.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the response includes one or more videos about at least one of the plurality of items of interest.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the videos is a video clip.

5. The method of claim 1, the graphical display comprising a map illustrating positions of one or more of the plurality of items of interest.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising responding, at the port, to at least one mouse click selecting the at least one category and the geographic vicinity to formulate the request.

7. The method of claim 1, the step of determining the response further comprising determining multimedia information about at least one of the plurality of items of interest.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing one or both of a keyboard and mouse tracker at the port to form the request.

9. The method of claim 1, at least one of the plurality of advertisements being tagged to one or more of the plurality of items of interest.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of advertisements is included within, or attached to, the displayed geographic vicinity at the port.

11. The method of claim 1, at least one of the plurality of advertisements being provided by an advertiser connected with the user-selected category.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising attaching the plurality of advertisements to the response in association with the plurality of items of interest.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the database, receiving, over the Internet from the port and in response to user selection of at least one of the plurality of items of interest, an additional request for additional information related to the selected item of interest;

determining the additional information from the database in response to the additional request; and

sending the additional information, via the Internet, to the port for graphical display at the port.

14. The method of claim 13, the additional information comprising multimedia information about the selected item of interest.

15. The method of claim 13, the additional information comprising a video clip about the selected item of interest.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the video clip is embedded in data associated with the identified one of the plurality of items of interest, and is transmitted and displayed when selected.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising utilizing one or both of a keyboard and mouse tracker at the port to form the additional request.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a remote communication protocol is used to communicate over the Internet.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the database is a client-server.

20. The method of claim 19, the port comprising one of a personal computer, a notebook, a subnotebook and a hand-held device configured to communicate with the database.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of advertisements provides advertising information about at least one of the plurality of items of interest.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, at the database, a display at each of the plurality of ports to allow a user to select, through use of a mouse tracker and/or keyboard at the port, one or more categories and a geographic vicinity.

23. The method of claim 1, the steps of receiving, determining a response, determining the plurality of advertisements, and transmitting being performed concurrently for each request received concurrently from two or more of the plurality of ports.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical display displays the plurality of items of interest together with the advertisements.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of managing the data to interface the database with a remote data request or an external data source, and to control the display of data at the port.