System and method for adding an advertisement to a personal communication

• US 8,645,211 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2001
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brand Metric Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: Anthony R. Rothschild
• Inventors: Rothschild, Anthony R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bekerman, Michael
• Application Number:
  US09/755,541
• Publication Number:
  US 20010047294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,778 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.55, 705/14.73, 705/14.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.55
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method is provided for adding an advertisement to a personal communication and providing additional communication data to a recipient that interacts with the advertisement regardless of the network device the recipient is utilizing. A sender network device communicates with an advertising application operating on a Web site to generate a personal communication containing at least one advertisement. In one embodiment of the present invention, the advertising application is configured to select an advertisement based on at least a portion of the content of the personal communication. If the advertisement is interactive, and the advertisement is interacted with, the advertising application will provide the recipient with additional communication data in a format that can be understood by the recipient network device.

Claims

1. A Web host connected to a wide area network (WAN), comprising:

a Web server adapted to facilitate the communication of a personal electronic communication between a plurality of network devices via said WAN;

a memory device connected to said Web server and adapted to store a plurality of advertisements; and

an advertising application operating on said Web host, wherein said advertising application provides the functions of;

providing at least a portion of said plurality of advertisements to one of said plurality of network devices, said plurality of advertisements including a first advertisement;

receiving a remove command from said one of said plurality of network devices, said command being used by said advertising application to remove said first advertisement from said plurality of advertisements, thereby creating a palette of advertisements;

receiving communication data and recipient data, said recipient data being used to identify at least one recipient of said communication data;

automatically selecting, based on at least a portion of the content of said communication data, at least one advertisement from said palette of advertisements;

inserting said at least one advertisement and said communication data into said personal electronic communication, wherein said personal electronic communication comprises an e-mail message; and

sending said personal electronic communication to said at least one recipient via said WAN.

2. The Web host of claim 1, wherein said advertising application further provides the function of sending said at least a portion of the content of said communication data to said at least one recipient via said WAN.

3. A computer-implemented method for communicating personal information between a plurality of network devices via a wide area network (WAN), comprising the steps of:

providing at least a portion of a plurality of advertisements to one of said plurality of network devices, said plurality of advertisements including a first advertisement;

receiving a remove command from said one of said plurality of network devices;

using said remove command to remove said first advertisement from said plurality of advertisements, thereby creating a palette of advertisements;

receiving communication data and recipient data, wherein said communication data and said recipient data are used to send a personal electronic communication to at least one recipient, wherein said personal electronic communication comprising an e-mail message; and

selecting by machine-readable instructions stored in memory at least one advertisement from said palette of advertisements based on at least a portion of the content of said communication data;

sending said personal electronic communication to said at least one recipient via said WAN, wherein said personal electronic communication includes said communication data and said at least one advertisement when it is opened by said at least one recipient.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of sending additional communication data if said at least one recipient interacts with said at least one advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving said additional communication data from a third party advertiser prior to sending said additional communication data.

6. A personal communication system comprising a Web host connected to a wide area network (WAN), said Web host comprising:

a Web server adapted to facilitate the communication of a personal electronic communication between a plurality of network devices via said WAN;

a memory device connected to said Web server and adapted to store a plurality of advertisements; and

an advertising application operating on said Web host and in communication with said memory device, wherein said advertising application provides the functions of;

providing at least a portion of said plurality of advertisements to one of said plurality of network devices, said plurality of advertisements including a particular advertisement;

receiving a remove command from said one of said plurality of network devices, said communication being used by said advertising application to remove said particular advertisement from said plurality of advertisements, thereby creating a palette of advertisements;

receiving communication data and recipient data, said communication data and said recipient data being used to send a personal communication to at least one recipient;

selecting at least one of said palette of advertisements based on at least one subject matter of said communication data;

inserting said at least one of said palette of advertisements into said personal electronic communication, wherein said personal electronic communication comprising an e-mail message;

sending said personal electronic communication to at least one recipient via said WAN; and

providing a party with a service in exchange for allowing said Web host to insert said at least one of said palette of advertisements into said personal electronic communication.

7. The personal communication system of claim 6, wherein said step of providing a party with a service in exchange for allowing said Web host to insert said at least one of said plurality of advertisements into said personal electronic communication, further comprises providing said sender with a service in exchange for allowing said Web host to insert said at least one of said plurality of advertisements into said personal electronic communication.

8. The personal communication system of claim 6, wherein said step of providing a party with a service in exchange for allowing said Web host to insert said at least one of said plurality of advertisements into said personal electronic communication, further comprises providing said at least one recipient with a service in exchange for allowing said Web host to insert said at least one of said plurality of advertisements into said personal electronic communication.

9. A personal communication system comprising a Web host connected to a wide area network (WAN), said Web host comprising:

a Web server adapted to facilitate the communication of a personal electronic communication between a plurality of network devices via said WAN;

an advertising application operating on said Web host and in communication with said Web server, wherein said advertising application provides the functions of;

providing at least a portion of said plurality of advertisements to one of said plurality of network devices, said plurality of advertisements including a particular advertisement;

receiving a remove command from said one of said plurality of network devices, said command being used by said advertising application to remove said particular advertisement from said plurality of advertisements, thereby creating a palette of advertisements;

receiving communication data and recipient data, said communication and recipient data being used by said advertising application to facilitate the communication of said personal communication between said plurality of network devices, wherein said personal communication comprises an e-mail message;

selecting at least one advertisement, said at least one advertisement being selected using at least a portion of the content of said communication data; and

sending said personal communication via said WAN, wherein said personal communication, as viewed by a user, includes said communication data and said at least one advertisement.

10. The personal communication system of claim 9, wherein said advertising application further provides the function of using said at least a portion of the content of said communication data to create said at least one advertisement.

11. The personal communication system of claim 9, wherein said advertising application further provides the function of using said at least one subject matter of said communication data to create said at least one advertisement.

12. A personal communication system comprising a Web host connected to a wide area network (WAN), said Web host comprising:

a Web server adapted to facilitate the communication of a personal communication between a plurality of network devices via said WAN;

a memory device connected to said Web server and adapted to store a plurality of advertisements; and

an advertising application operating on said Web host and connected to said memory device, wherein said advertising application provides the functions of;

providing at least a portion of said plurality of advertisements to one of said plurality of network devices, said plurality of advertisements including a first advertisement;

receiving a remove command from said one of said plurality of network devices, said remove command being used by said advertising application to remove said first advertisement from said plurality of advertisements, thereby creating a palette of available advertisements;

receiving communication data and recipient data;

using said communication data and said recipient data to create said personal communication, wherein said personal communication comprises an e-mail message;

selecting at least one advertisement from said palette of available advertisements based on at least a portion of said communication data; and

sending said personal communication via said network, wherein said personal communication includes said communication data and said at least one advertisement and is communicated between said plurality of network devices.

13. The personal communication system of claim 12, wherein said at least one of said plurality of network devices is used by a sender of said personal electronic communication.

14. The personal communication system of claim 12, wherein said advertising application further provides the function using at least one subject matter of said communication data to select said at least one of said plurality of advertisements.

15. The personal communication system of claim 12, wherein said advertising application further provides the function of using at least a portion of the content of said communication data to select at least one of said plurality of advertisements.

16. A computer-implemented method for communicating personal information between a plurality of network devices, comprising the steps of:

providing at least a portion of a plurality of advertisements to one of said plurality of network devices, said plurality of advertisements including a particular advertisement;

receiving a command from said one of said plurality of network devices;

using said command to remove said particular advertisement from said plurality of advertisements, thereby creating a palette of advertisements;

receiving communication data and recipient data, wherein said communication data and said recipient data are used at least to send said personal communication to at least one recipient, wherein said personal communication comprises an e-mail message;

automatically selecting by at least one computer at least one advertisement from said palette of advertisements, said at least one advertisement being selected using at least a portion of said communication data;

sending said personal communication to said at least one recipient, wherein said personal communication, as viewed by said at least one recipient, includes said at least one advertisement; and

providing said at least one recipient with a free service in exchange for using said Web host to send said personal communication to said at least one recipient.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of receiving said command from said sender of said personal information.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of using at least one subject matter of said communication data to automatically select said at least one advertisement.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of using at least a portion of the content of said communication data to automatically select said at least one advertisement.