Information and advertising distribution system and method
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of displaying information on a computer having a local storage device and a display device, the computer being coupled to a network, the computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:
- storing advertising information and news information downloaded from the network in the local storage device of the computer, wherein each of the advertising information and the news information is associated with at least one category in a list of predefined categories, the list of predefined categories being based on user selected preferences;
detecting a predefined idleness criteria for the computer wherein the predefined idleness criteria is met when the computer fails to receive user input for a predetermined amount of time;
selecting a first set of advertising information and a corresponding first set of news information from a first category in the list of predefined categories; and
displaying the first set of advertising information and the first set of news information in a screen saver on the display device of the computer after a predetermined period of time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In summary, the present invention is an information and advertising distribution system. A data server stores and updates a database of information items and advertisements. The information items and advertisements are each categorized so that each has an associated information category. Workstations remotely located from the data server each include a display device, a communication interface for receiving at least a subset of the information items and advertisements in the data server'"'"'s database and local memory for storing the information items and advertisements received from the data server. An information administrator in each workstation establishes communication with the data server from time to time so as to update the information items and advertisements stored in local memory with at least a subset of the information items and advertisements stored by the data server. An information display controller in each workstation displays on the workstation'"'"'s display device at least a subset of the information items and advertisements stored in local memory when the workstation meets predefined idleness criteria. At least a subset of the workstations include a profiler for storing subscriber profile data. The subscriber profile data represents subscriber information viewing preferences, indicating information categories for which the subscriber does and does not want to view information items. The information display controller includes a filter for excluding from the information items displayed on the display device those information items inconsistent with the subscriber profile data.
3140 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of displaying information on a computer having a local storage device and a display device, the computer being coupled to a network, the computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:
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storing advertising information and news information downloaded from the network in the local storage device of the computer, wherein each of the advertising information and the news information is associated with at least one category in a list of predefined categories, the list of predefined categories being based on user selected preferences; detecting a predefined idleness criteria for the computer wherein the predefined idleness criteria is met when the computer fails to receive user input for a predetermined amount of time; selecting a first set of advertising information and a corresponding first set of news information from a first category in the list of predefined categories; and displaying the first set of advertising information and the first set of news information in a screen saver on the display device of the computer after a predetermined period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification