Methods and apparatuses for targeting the delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet are disclosed. Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and the use of the advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of the advertisements of individual users. In response to requests from affiliated sites, an advertising server transmits to people accessing the page of a site an appropriate one of the advertisement based upon profiling of users and networks.

Method of delivery, targeting, and measuring advertising over networks

An interactive entertainment system enables presentation of supplemental interactive content along side traditional broadcast video programs, such as television shows and movies. The programs are broadcast in a conventional manner. The supplemental content is supplied as part of the same program signal over the broadcast network, or separately over another distribution network. A viewer computing unit is located at the viewer's home to present the program and supplemental content to a viewer. When the viewer tunes to a particular channel, the viewer computing unit consults an electronic programming guide (EPG) to determine if the present program carried on the channel is interactive. If it is, the viewer computing unit launches a browser. The browser uses a target specification stored in the EPG to activate a target resource containing the supplemental content for enhancing the broadcast program. The target resource contains display layout instructions prescribing how the supplemental content and the video content program are to appear in relation to one another when displayed. When the data from the target resource is downloaded, the viewer computing unit is responsive to the layout instructions obtained from the target resource to display the supplemental content concurrently with the video content program. Embedding the layout instructions in the supplemental content advantageously places control of the presentation to the content developers. The developers are free to arrange the data and video in any manner they choose.

Interactive entertainment system for presenting supplemental interactive content together with continuous video programs

On the World Wide Web, and other interactive media, it is possible to show different ads to different people who are simultaneously viewing the same content. This invention is based on the fact that people who have shown a tendency for similar likes and dislikes in the past will show a tendency for such similarities in the future. Those people who strongly display such similarities with respect to a particular person ("the subject") are referred to as that person's "community." If the members of a subject's community tend to click on a particular Web ad, then it is likely that the subject will also tend to click on that ad. This invention combines techniques for: determining the subject's community, and determining which ads to show based on characteristics of the subject's community. The information used to determine whether a given individual should be in the subject's community is gleaned from the individual's activities in the interactive medium. Means are provided to track a consumer's activities so all the information he generates can be tied together in the database, e.g. by means of "cookies;" or by software running on the consumer's computer, such as an in-line plug-in, a screensaver working in conjunction with the Web browser, or the Web browser itself. A measure of similarity between individuals is generated. The individuals with the greatest calculated similarity become the subject's community; e.g. clusters are formed of groups of very similar consumers. Ads are presented to the subject based on his community, optionally selected based on demographics associated with the community.

Automated collaborative filtering in world wide web advertising

An information aggregation and synthesization system and process. The present invention provides aggregation and packaging of structured or unstructured information from disparate sources such as those available on a network such as the Internet. A network compatible/addressable interface device is operated by a user. The network interface device communicates with local datastores or network accessible datastores via an addressing scheme such as Uniform Resource Locator addresses (URLs) utilized by the Internet. Data passing between the network interface device and the datastores is accessed, polled, and retrieved through an intermediary gateway system. Such aggregated information is then synthesized, customized, personalized and localized to meet the information resource requests specified by the user via the network interface device.

Information aggregation and synthesization system

A communications system having a first server and a first client connected to the first server through a first network, wherein the first server selectively sends a set of InfoBites to the first client based on a filter. A method for distributing information for the above communications system, including the steps of deriving a set of InfoBites, filtering the set of InfoBites based on the filter into a filtered set of InfoBites, and, transmitting the filtered set of InfoBites to the first client.

System for distributing electronic information to a targeted group of users

A computer program product and method of browsing the World Wide Web of the Internet using a client machine (e.g., a personal computer) supporting a graphical user interface and an Internet browser. The method locally stores, retrieves and outputs information objects to reduce the waiting time normally associated with the download of hypertext documents having high resolution graphics. In one embodiment, the method begins as a web page is being displayed on the graphical user interface, the web page having at least one link to a hypertext document preferably located at a remote server. In response to the user clicking on the link, the link is activated by the browser to thereby request downloading of the hypertext document from the remote server to the graphical user interface of the client. While the client waits for a reply and/or as the hypertext document is being downloaded, the browser displays a previously-cached information object.

World wide web browsing with content delivery over an idle connection and interstitial content display

A method of display as a user of the Internet uses a client machine during an Internet transaction (e.g., e-mail, file transfer, bulletin board, chat or browsing). The client machine supports a graphical user interface and mechanisms that provide such Internet services. The method locally stores information content served during idle periods when the user's connection to the network is live. During a given Internet transaction, the information content is retrieved and displayed to provide entertainment or information as the user waits for the Internet transaction to be completed.

David H. Judson

Papers

World wide web browsing with content delivery over an idle connection and interstitial content display

Interstitial advertising display system and method

Content display during idle time as a user waits for information during an internet transaction

Popup advertising display in a web browser