METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING INTERNET ADVERTISING SERVICE

• US 20110082754A1
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hoshiko LLC (Raoul Management LLC)
• Inventors: Shuster, Brian Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,558,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.68
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing advertising service in a computer network is provided. This method and apparatus further comprises receiving a request from a user via this computer network to view a Web page, providing conditions to the user for viewing this Web page, delivering this Web page to the user, determining if the user has met the conditions required for viewing this Web page, and terminating access of the user to this Web page if these conditions are not met.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

by a computing device comprising hardware,

receiving from a user computing device in communication via one or more networks a request for content to be transmitted to the user computing device;

providing the user computing device with advertising content of one or more sponsors;

providing the user computing device with an indication that a condition for receiving the requested content requires the user computing device to display the advertising content of the one or more sponsors for at least a threshold time period;

determining an elapsed time that the user computing device has displayed the advertising content of the sponsor; and

in response to determining that the elapsed time is greater than or equal to the threshold time period, authorizing display of the requested content by the user computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing for display on the user computing device a timer that indicates the elapsed time that the user computing device has displayed the advertising content or a remaining time required to reach the threshold time period.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring a time period that the requested content is displayed by the user computing device; and

in response to determining that the time period exceeds a second threshold time period, terminating display of the requested content by the user computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

after terminating display of the requested content by the user computing device, providing the user computing device with advertising content of one or more sponsors;

monitoring a third time period that advertising content is displayed by the user computing device; and

in response to determining that the third time period exceeds a third threshold time period, re-authorizing display of the requested content by the user computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising content is configured for rendering on the user computing device by a distributable application executing on the user computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested content is configured for rendering on the user computing device by a distributable application executing on the user computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the user computing device with software code for generating a timer on the user computing device in order to indicate the elapsed time that the user computing device has displayed the advertising content of the sponsor or a remaining time required to reach the threshold time period.

8. A computing system comprising:

a processor configured to execute application modules in order to perform operations comprising;

initiating transmission, via one or more networks, of code configured for rendering on a display of a user computing system, the code including;

a link to advertising content, wherein the link is configured for use by the user computing system in order to render the advertising content on the display for a predetermined time period prior to allowing the user computing system to display content requested by the user computing system; and

code configured for execution by the user computing system in order to generate a timer to monitor a time period that the advertising content is displayed on the user computing system, wherein in response to the time period reaching the predetermined time period, the user computing system is allowed to access the requested content.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the requested content is configured for rendering by a distributable application executing on the user computing system.

10. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the advertising content is configured for rendering by a distributable application executing on the user computing system.

11. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the code further comprises:

code configured to provide the user computing device with an indication that a condition for receiving the requested content requires the user computing system to display the advertising content for at least the predetermined time period.

12. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the advertising content is provided by a first entity and the requested content is provided by a second entity.

13. A tangible computer-readable medium with instructions encoded thereon, the instructions configured for transmission to a user computing device for reading by the user computing device in order to cause the user computing device to perform operations comprising:

rendering advertising content for display on the user computing device;

displaying a timer indicating a remaining time that the advertising content must be displayed prior to displaying content requested by a user of the user computing device; and

in response to determining that the timer has reached a threshold, allowing the computing device to render the requested content for display on the user computing device.

14. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the user computing device to perform operations comprising:

activating a second timer that tracks a time that the requested content is displayed on the user computing device;

in response to determining that the second timer has reached a viewing threshold, terminating viewing of the requested content on the user computing device.

15. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the user computing device to perform operations comprising:

in response to terminating viewing of the requested content on the user computing device, initiating display of second advertising content on the user computing device;

displaying the timer indicating a second remaining time that the second advertising content must be displayed prior to again displaying requested content; and

in response to determining that the timer has reached a second threshold, allowing the computing device to render the requested content on the user computing device.

16. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the user computing device to perform operations comprising:

providing a user of the user computing device with an indication that a condition for allowing rendering of the requested content requires the user computing system to display the advertising content.

17. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions initiate execution of one or more applications on the user computing device.

18. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the applications include a distributable agent configured to render the requested content.

19. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the applications include a distributable agent configured to render the advertising content.

20. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the applications include a distributable agent configured to render the advertising content and the requested content.