WO2000043921A1

WO2000043921A1 - Providing displayed information during computer network connect and download times

Info

Publication number: WO2000043921A1
Application number: PCT/AU2000/000031
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Doulis; Bill Karabelas; Dennis Bastas
Original assignee: Procreations Pty. Ltd.
Priority date: 1999-01-20
Filing date: 2000-01-20
Publication date: 2000-07-27
Also published as: AUPP821799A0; WO2000043921A9

Abstract

A method of browsing in a network including a plurality of servers, using a device having a browser. The method includes, in response to a request to the browser to connect with a server of the network, establishing a live connection with the server, downloading a document from the server to the device, and selecting an information object from a set of locally resident information objects. The device is caused to play the selected information object, at least initially (i) while the browser is establishing said live connection and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading said document from the server.

Description

PROVIDING DISPLAYED INFORMATION DURING COMPUTER NETWORK CONNECT AND DOWNLOAD TIMES

Field of the Invention

This invention is concerned generally with productive utilisation of otherwise idle times which arise in the course of browsing in computer networks while live connections are being made and downloading of documents effected. The invention has particular though by no means exclusive application to the provision of advertising or other information to persons browsing in the World Wide Web on the Internet.

Background of the Invention

It has been estimated that, typically, around 25% of the time in which a user spends browsing the World Wide Web is spent waiting to make live connections to selected servers on the network, and waiting for pages to display on the user's computer. This idle time varies greatly according to a variety of factors but is invariably substantial.

United States patent no 5737619 seeks to address this problem by using the download period for a first hypertext document to download an information object as a background process. When the user activates a clickable graphic to initiate downloading of a second hypertext document, the stored information object is retrieved and displayed to the user as the browser links from the first hypertext document to the second hypertext document. The information object may be an advertisement which appears on the user's monitor as an interstitial document between displays of the respective downloaded hypertext documents.

It is an object of the invention to further develop the broad concept of utilising the idle time while browsing a computer network in a manner which is flexible and which may be utilised to control or manage access to the network.

Summary of the invention

In one or more aspects, the invention relies upon the existing standard practice whereby individual user computers gain access to the Internet by utilising the services of an intermediary entity known as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). In these aspects, the invention envisages a novel basis upon which that access is gained while also meeting the primary object of the invention.

In a first aspect, the invention provides a method of browsing in a network including a plurality of servers, using a device having a browser, which method includes:

in response to a request to the browser to connect with a server of the network, establishing a live connection with the server, downloading a document from the server to the device, and selecting an information object from a set of locally resident information objects; and

causing the device to play the selected information object, at least initially (i) while the browser is establishing said live connection and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading said document from the server.

In this first aspect, the invention also provides a device for browsing in a network including a plurality of servers, the device including:

a browser and an application program installed in the device's memory,

wherein, in response to a request to the browser to connect with a server of a network, the device establishes a live connection with the server and downloads a document from the server to the device, and the application program then selects an information object from a set of locally resident information objects; and

wherein the application program further causes the device's browser to play the selected information object, at least initially (i) while the browser is establishing said live connection and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading said document from the server.

In a second aspect, the invention provides a method of controlling access to a network from a device, the method including: supplying an application program and a set of information objects; and

enabling and/or maintaining access to the network when the application program is installed in the device, and when the information objects are accessible to be played by the device (i) while a browser also installed in the device is establishing a live connection to a server in the computer network and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading a document from a server to the device.

In this second aspect, the invention also provides an information storage medium in which is stored, in machine readable form, an application program and a set of information objects, wherein installation of the application program in a device having a suitable operating system enables and/or maintains access to a network when the information objects are accessible to be played by the device (i) while the browser is establishing a live connection to a server in the network and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading a document from a server to the device.

In a third aspect, the invention concerns a method of providing a user of a device with information, the method including:

selecting an information object from a set of locally resident information objects while the device is accessing a network in response to a request, from a browser installed in the device, to establish a live connection to a server in the network; and

causing the device to play the selected object (i) while the browser is establishing said live connection and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading a document from the server to the device.

The set of information objects and the application program are preferably supplied in a portable information storage medium, eg a CD-ROM, whereby, when the storage medium is first inserted in an appropriate reader means associated with the computer, the application program is installed in the computer. Preferably, thereafter, access to the computer network is enabled and/or maintained when the information medium is again inserted in the reader means whereby the information objects are accessible for display.

The information objects are preferably audiovisual displays, advantageously of high quality, and may typically be advertisements. In one embodiment, the selection of an information object for display may take account of the particular server to which live connection is requested, or a particular link selected in a downloaded document. The display of the information object may be local or at one or more work stations or monitors of a network.

Preferably, the information object is not displayed unless a predetermined minimum time has elapsed since the preceding display of an information object.

The invention has particular application to the Internet computer network and in particular to the utilisation of connect and download time during links established with servers of the World Wide Web (WWW) that utilise the hypertext transfer protocol (http). The method in its second aspect may be utilised by a vendor or supplier of Internet connection time, eg. an Internet service provider (ISP) or a third party seller of ISP connection time, in place of the conventional fee paying access whereby the consideration for access is the display of advertisements or other information at the client's computer or work station.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention will be further described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a simple diagram of the principal relevant components of a personal computer system embodying the various aspects of the invention; and

Figures 2 and 3 are respectively installation/configuration and execution flowcharts for an embodiment of the invention. Embodiments of the Invention

A typical computer system 10 set up for accessing the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, includes a personal computer 12 which has the usual components but includes in particular an associated modem 14, a display monitor 16 and a CD-ROM drive 18. Computer 12 has a variety of installed software that includes for the present purpose an operating system 24 such as Microsoft Windows and a variety of Internet access tools including, for example, a http-compliant Web browser 25 such as Internet Explorer. In conventional practice, the computer would typically be a fee-paying client of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which would be dialled up through the modem for accessing Web servers on the Internet and downloading pages from those servers once a live connection is established.

The present invention, in one of its aspects, envisages a departure from the conventional fee-paying client relationship between the computer and the ISP in that the ISP would provide the client computer with an access CD-ROM 30 in which is stored, firstly, an executable application 40 which serves as a control program, and, secondly, a set of high quality audio-visual advertisements. Typically, a CD-ROM 30 would be delivered to each affected client of the ISP at regular intervals, say once per month. On first loading of the CD-ROM in CD-ROM drive 18, control program 40 would be installed in the computer RAM and would establish an interface 42 to be notified of COM events from browser 25 via the Windows operating system 24. Program 40 may conveniently be written in a standard Windows-compatible language such as Microsoft Visual C++ and the COM event that would be used to notify the application program that a user has selected a new page is:-

BeforeNavigate2

This COM event notifies program 40 when a new page has been requested by the computer user, eg. by activating a clickable graphic.

On receiving notice of the new page request ie a request to browser 25 to establish a live connection to a server on the Web, program 40 selects a particular information object, ie advertisement, from the set in drive 18. The program is arranged to periodically check for the presence of the CD-ROM in drive 18 and maintain continuing Internet access only so long as the CD-ROM is present. Conveniently, the program might initiate an alert warning the user of the computer and then, after a certain lapse of time, disable the Internet connection if the CD- ROM is not installed in the drive.

On receipt of the COM event indicating a URL selection, program 40 selects a particular advertisement from CD-ROM 30, on a basis to be discussed, reads the selected advertisement, and then displays the advertisement in foreground on monitor 16 in a modal maximised window. During the display, browser 25 proceeds in background to establish the requested live connection to a Web server, and then downloads the selected document from the server for display on computer 12.

The advertisement is played out in full even if the connection and downloading is completed before the advertisement has been fully played. On conclusion of the advertisement, the foreground window is closed and the browser with the downloaded hypertext document comes into view. It would be a programmer's option as to whether a dedicated window was created for successive advertisements in a session or whether the window was closed each time and a distinct window opened for each advertisement display.

Preferably, program 40 is arranged to guard against excessive displaying of advertisements by selecting and displaying a new advertisement only when a predetermined minimum time has elapsed since the previous display of an advertisement.

The aforementioned selection of an advertisement could be based on a variety of criteria. Advantageously, when program 40 was first installed on receipt of a CD-ROM 30, program 40 would display an onscreen questionnaire for response by the client which would allow input of relevant demographic or other data from which particular advertisements might be selected. It would also be expected that there would be inbuilt rules and/or randomising features by which particular advertisements might be displayed. In a particular embodiment, program 40 might identify the specific URL and make a selection based upon a predetermined table or listing which was dependent upon the selection of specific home pages or specific clickable links.

Figures 2 and 3 are flowcharts respectively setting out the installation/configuration and execution of an embodiment of the invention, along the lines outlined above.

With the proposed relationship between the client computer and the vendor or supplier of Internet connection time, eg. the ISP or a third party seller of ISP connection time, the consideration for access being provided by the ISP to the

Internet would be the display of advertisements or other information in the traditional idle time which in the past arose while live connections were being made and hypertext documents downloaded. In turn, the connection time vendor would acquire revenue by charging fees for the inclusion of advertisements on client CD-ROMS, and more particularly for the playing of those advertisements. To audit this process, program 40 would typically record the selection and display of each individual advertisement and transmit an online signal to a server operated by the connection time vendor for recording the actual utilisation of advertisements. This data would be used to charge fees to advertising clients, and/or to control the display in accordance with agreements reached with the clients. The audit data may also include the demographic or other data acquired in the aforementioned onscreen questionnaire.

Claims

THE CLAIMS

1 A method of browsing in a network including a plurality of servers, using a device having a browser, which method includes:

2 A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the information object is not played unless a predetermined minimum time interval has elapsed since the most recent playing of an information object.

3 A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the information object is a visual advertisement which is played by displaying the advertisement for a predetermined time interval after activation.

4 A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the selection of an information object from the set of locally resident information objects depends on demographic information relating to a user and/or information content of said document downloaded from said server.

5 A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the set of locally resident information objects is obtained from an information storage medium locally accessible by said device.

6 A method of providing a user of a device with information, the method including: selecting an information object from a set of locally resident information objects while the device is accessing a network in response to a request, from a browser installed in the device, to establish a live connection to a server in the network; and

A method of controlling access to a network from a device, the method including:

supplying an application program and a set of information objects; and

A method as claimed in any one or claims 1 to 7, wherein said device is a personal computer.

A method as claimed in any one or claims 1 to 8, wherein said network is the Internet.

A method as claimed in any one or claims 1 to 9, wherein said browser is a browser for the World Wide Web.

A device for browsing in a network including a plurality of servers, the device including: a browser and an application program installed in the device's memory,

An information storage medium in which is stored, in machine readable form, an application program and a set of information objects, wherein installation of the application program in a device having a suitable operating system enables and/or maintains access to a network when the information objects are accessible to be played by the device (i) while the browser is establishing a live connection to a server in the network and/or (ii) while the browser is downloading a document from a server to the device.

An information storage medium as claimed in claim 12, wherein the medium is read-only and portable.

An information storage medium as claimed in claim 12, wherein the medium is a CD-ROM.