Ticker for internet client

• US 8,645,856 B1
• Filed: 08/04/2000
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetZero Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NetZero Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Inventors: Burr, Ronald, Zebian, Marwan
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Thanh
• Application Number:
  US09/632,768
• Time in Patent Office: 4,932 Days
• Field of Search: 345/733, 345/738, 345/774, 345/773, 345/760, 715/738, 715/760, 715/774
• US Class Current: 715/774
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an Internet client window with a ticker display area. The ticker display area displays moving hypertext ticker data associated with selected ticker types and ticker fields. Ticker data may be provided by third party suppliers such as sponsors. Activation of the hypertext ticker data results in a display of related information. The ticker data may move in various directions through the ticker display area at various speeds, and be displayed in various formats, all depending on the ticker types and ticker fields with which the ticker data is associated, upon the number of ticker types being simultaneously displayed, and upon other factors including user preferences or selections. The Internet client window includes various other navigational and informational data, links, and application-invoking buttons.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information on a client device connected to a data access network using an Internet client application, the method comprising:

a) the Internet client application activating on the client device, the Internet client application operating concurrently with other applications including an Internet browser;

b) the Internet client application initially establishing a communication channel to the data access network with an online service provider to obtain Internet access for the client device;

c) the Internet client application displaying a client window on a display coupled with or included in the client device, the client window remaining fully visible and on top of all other windows so long as the communication channel remains open;

d) the Internet client application activating a ticker display area of the client window;

e) the Internet client application receiving plural ticker message units including ticker data from the online service provider via the data access network, the ticker data for display in the ticker display area, wherein the ticker data includes advertisements and at least one selected from the group including stock information, sports information, news information, wherein some of the ticker message units include click-through instructions including a uniform resource locator (URL) of a web page associated with the ticker data;

f) the Internet client application scrolling the ticker data through the ticker display area;

g) the Internet client application receiving user selection of one of the ticker data in the ticker display area;

h) in response to the receiving the Internet client application receiving the user selection of one of the ticker data in the ticker display area, the Internet client application causing the web page identified by the URL to be displayed in a browser window of the Internet browser on the client device concurrently while the Internet client application continues displaying the client window including the ticker data in the ticker display area such that both the web page and the client window are visible.

2. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, wherein the client window has an entry point and an exit point associated therewith, and wherein the Internet client application displays the ticker data such that the ticker data appears to enter the ticker display area at the entry point and appears to exit the ticker display area at the exit point.

3. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, wherein the Internet client application periodically receives updated ticker message units from the online service provider.

4. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, wherein the online service provider comprises a server on the Internet.

5. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, wherein the client window includes plural ticker type buttons.

6. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 5, the method further comprising:

the Internet client application receiving user selection of one of the ticker type buttons, and in response thereto the Internet client application displaying ticker data of a type corresponding to the selected ticker type button in the client window.

7. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 6, wherein the ticker types include stocks, news and sports.

8. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 6, wherein the Internet client application displays only a single type of ticker data at a time.

9. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 6, wherein the Internet client application displays plural types of ticker data at a time.

10. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 9, wherein the ticker display area comprises plural sub-areas, and the Internet client application displays the ticker data of each type in one of the sub-areas.

11. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, wherein available ticker data is of plural ticker types, the method further comprising:

the Internet client application receiving user selection of one of the ticker types, and in response thereto the Internet client application displaying ticker data of the selected type in the client window.

12. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, further comprising the step of hyperlinking to a web site in response to activation of the ticker data.

13. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 12, wherein the hyperlinking causes data from the web site to be displayed within the client window.

14. The method of displaying information on a client device of claim 1, wherein the ticker data is scrolled through the ticker display area at a scroll speed, and the client window further includes a scroll speed control;

the method further comprising the Internet client application recognizing user manipulation of the scroll speed control to change the scroll speed.