Apparatus and method for providing a provider-selected message in response to a user request for user-selected information
View Patent ↗A method of delivering information across a computer network includes receiving a request from a client program for user-selected information, and transmitting provider-selected information in response to the request if no qualifying provider-selected message has been previously transmitted to the client program.
1. A method of delivering information across a computer network, comprising the steps of:
receiving a request from a client program for user-selected information; and
transmitting one of (a) only a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message to the client program for display, in response to the request, if no provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting a provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program, or (b) only the user-selected information to the client program for display, if a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program;
wherein any provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria comprises HTML and javascript which causes the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria to be displayed for a limited time period when it is transmitted, after which the client program automatically requests the user-selected information.
2. An apparatus for delivering information across a computer network, comprising:
a computer network; and
an information server for receiving a request for user-selected information from a client program;
the server configured to transmit one of (a) only a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message to the client program for display, in response to the request, if no provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting a provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program, or (b) only the user-selected information to the client program for display, if a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program;
wherein any provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria comprises HTML and javascript which causes the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria to be displayed for a limited time period when it is transmitted by the server, after which the client program automatically requests the user-selected information from the server.
3. A method of delivering information across a computer network, comprising the steps of:
receiving a request from a client program for user-selected information; and
transmitting one of (a) only a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message to the client program for display, in response to the request, if no provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting a provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program within at least one provider-selected interval, or (b) only the user-selected information to the client program for display, if a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program within at least one provider-selected interval;
wherein any provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria comprises HTML and javascript which causes the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria to be displayed for a limited time period when it is transmitted, after which the client program automatically requests the user-selected information.
4. An apparatus for delivering information across a computer network, comprising:
a computer network; and
an information server for receiving a request for user-selected information from a client program;
the server configured to transmit one of(a) only a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message to the client program for display, in response to the request, if no provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting a provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program within at least one provider-selected interval, or (b) only the user-selected information to the client program for display, if a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program within at least one provider-selected interval;
wherein any provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria comprises HTML and javascript which causes the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the providers-selected criteria to be displayed for a limited time period when it is transmitted by the server, after which the client program automatically requests the user-selected information from the server.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said request from said client program is by means of the Hypertext Transport Protocol.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the commercially-sponsored message transmitted to the client program for display is formatted for display in a browser window.
7. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the commercially-sponsored message tat the server is configured to transmit to the client program is formatted for display in a browser window.
8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the commercially-sponsored message transmitted to the client program for display is formatted for display in a browser window.
9. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message tat the server is configured to transmit to the client program for display is fonnatted for display in a browser window.
10. A method of delivering information across a computer network, comprising the steps of:
receiving a request from a client program for user-selected information; and
transmitting one of (a) only a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message to the client program for display in a browser window associated with the client program, in response to the request, if no provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting a provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program, or (b) only the user-selected information to the client program for display in a browser window associated with the client program, if a provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program;
wherein any provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria comprises HTML and javascript which causes the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria to be displayed for a limited time period when it is transmitted, after which the client program automatically requests the user-selected information.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of transmitting the user-selected information to the client program if the provider-selected commercially-sponsored message meeting the provider-selected criteria has been previously transmitted to the client program within at least one provider-selected interval.