WO2001010134A2 - Method and system for sending a data file, such as a full motion video, over an electronic network - Google Patents

Method and system for sending a data file, such as a full motion video, over an electronic network Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2001010134A2
WO2001010134A2 PCT/US2000/020762 US0020762W WO0110134A2 WO 2001010134 A2 WO2001010134 A2 WO 2001010134A2 US 0020762 W US0020762 W US 0020762W WO 0110134 A2 WO0110134 A2 WO 0110134A2
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
video
computing system
advertisement
data
data repository
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/020762
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2001010134A9 (en
WO2001010134A3 (en
Inventor
Zachary Levow
Dan Robinson
Maura Rodgers
Original Assignee
Spinway, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Spinway, Inc. filed Critical Spinway, Inc.
Priority to AU63921/00A priority Critical patent/AU6392100A/en
Publication of WO2001010134A2 publication Critical patent/WO2001010134A2/en
Publication of WO2001010134A9 publication Critical patent/WO2001010134A9/en
Publication of WO2001010134A3 publication Critical patent/WO2001010134A3/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
    • H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
    • H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
    • H04N21/6125—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving transmission via Internet
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
    • G09F27/00—Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/433—Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
    • H04N21/4331—Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
    • H04N21/812—Monomedia components thereof involving advertisement data

Definitions

  • This invention relates generally to a system and method that provides data files (e g , a data file containing a full motion video) to a computing system (e g., a personal computer) over an electronic network (e g., via a conventional dial-up link), and in particular to a system and method configured to provide full motion v ⁇ deo(s) for display du ⁇ ng the login process
  • data files e g , a data file containing a full motion video
  • a computing system e g., a personal computer
  • an electronic network e g., via a conventional dial-up link
  • a user To connect to e-mail, the Internet, or the World Wide Web (the "Web"), a user typically completes a login process.
  • the login process may conventionally comp ⁇ se executing a software application provided by an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") that may in turn cause a modem connected to the user's personal computer to dial up a local telephone number of the ISP.
  • ISP Internet Service Provider
  • the modem then typically negotiates with the modem at the ISP's website (in a process known as "handshaking") until an agreed upon modem speed and other protocols are established for the particular session between the ISP and the personal computer.
  • the handshakmg process may sometimes take up to a minute or longer to complete.
  • the user is logged onto the ISP's service
  • the user goes through a login process that includes the handshaking process
  • the user views a fixed image associated with the ISP's software application running on the user's computer Therefore, this time during the handshakmg process is wasted and unused.
  • some form of handshakmg will occur du ⁇ ng which the user will typically be shown a fixed image of some sort.
  • Embodiments of the invention make better use of the time du ⁇ ng the handshaking process and provide the user with something to view or hear du ⁇ ng that process
  • embodiments of the invention may provide the user with full motion video advertisements or other mate ⁇ al that may be displayed to the user during the login and handshaking process.
  • Advertisement Data Repository - Embodiments of the invention may use various advertisement data reposito ⁇ es to store large data files, such as those containing full motion videos, on both a first computing system (e.g., a transmitting computing system) and a second computing system (e.g., a receiving computing system).
  • a first computing system e.g., a transmitting computing system
  • a second computing system e.g., a receiving computing system.
  • a data repository on the ISP may comprise a large database containing a number of full motion videos.
  • a smaller advertisement data repository included on the second computing system which may be an end user's personal computer, may comprise a cache located within the personal computer's memory and contain a smaller number of full motion videos than the ISP's database.
  • the advertisement data repository may additionally store information (e.g., relevancy criteria) associated with each full motion video that may be used to determine a score for each video that assists in selecting which video is next displayed.
  • information e.g., relevancy criteria
  • the scoring data may relate to which advertisements would be of interest to a user associated with the computing system on which the advertisement has been stored.
  • the advertisement data repository may also be known as a "data repository” and/or a "video data repository.”
  • Advertisement Displayer may use an advertisement displayer to determine which full motion video (e.g., an advertisement) will be displayed during each login and handshaking process according to a predetermined scoring criteria.
  • the advertisement displayer may then display the advertisement in an appropriate window.
  • the advertisement displayer resides on a computing system that has received the full motion video (e.g., a personal computer).
  • the advertisement displayer may also control the downloading of the advertisements from another computing system during a communications session with that computing system.
  • the advertisement displayer may also perform maintenance on the advertisement data repository on the recipient computing system.
  • the advertisement displayer may maintain the advertisement data repository by, for example, clearing and deleting any expired video and/or advertisement from the advertisement data repository.
  • the advertisement displayer may also access a list of cached videos stored in the computing system and may determine the highest scoring advertisement based upon relevancy criteria.
  • the advertisement displayer may also be known as the "displayer" and the "video displayer.”
  • Embodiments of the advertisement downloader and controller may perform the downloading procedure m the background while the first computer is connected to the second computer over the electronic network.
  • Embodiments of the advertisement downloader and controller may be expressed as a software application stored in a persistent storage device associated with a memory of the computing system that sends data files, e g., an ISP that sends data files to a personal computer
  • the advertisement downloader and controller transmits advertisements during a first data session with a remote computing system for display during in a subsequent data session
  • the advertisement downloader and controller downloads a large data file by repeatedly downloading portions of the data file after first checking that the data connection over the electronic network still remains active.
  • the advertisement downloader and controller may also be known as the "controller" and/or the "video downloader and controller.”
  • Electronic Network an electronic communication medium across which videos and advertisements may be transmitted from one computing system to another computing system
  • Representative electronic networks include the Internet, intranets, the public switched telephone network ("PSTN"), wireless voice and data networks, and television networks, such as satellite, broadcast, cable television, and two-way interactive cable
  • Electronic networks further include hyb ⁇ d systems, such as those in which one computing system uses one medium to communicate videos and advertisements to another computing system and the receiving computing system uses another medium to communicate information back to the transmitting computing system
  • Electronic networks additionally include aggregated electronic networks, such as when the video and advertisement transmitting computing system uses multiple media to communicate with va ⁇ ous receiving computing systems
  • the Internet serves as the sole electronic network for transmissions between a sending computing system (e g., an ISP) and a receiving computing system (e g., a personal computer).
  • a sending computing system e g., an ISP
  • a receiving computing system e g., a personal computer
  • Full Motion Video - embodiments of the invention may provide for the downloading and display of large data files containing full motion videos.
  • the full motion videos may comp ⁇ se advertisements.
  • the full motion videos contain advertisement content and provide full motion on the basis ol 60 displayed frames per second.
  • Embodiments of the invention provide method for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system
  • the method composes receiving at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection m an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is comp ⁇ sed of at least one video data block.
  • the method also composes sto ⁇ ng the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system and creating a video entry for the video in a video list stored m the second computing system, wherein video ent ⁇ es in the video list correspond to videos stored in the advertisement data repository and wherein the video ent ⁇ es include relevancy criteria
  • the method includes accessing the video list while establishing a second data connection in the electronic network between the second computing and the first computing system and determining a highest sco ⁇ ng video m the advertisement data repository using the relevancy c ⁇ te ⁇ a associated with each video entry in the video list.
  • the method also comprises displaying the highest sco ⁇ ng video on the second computing system du ⁇ ng establishment of the second data connection.
  • Embodiments of the invention also provide a method for downloading a data file to a first computing system from a second computing system over an electronic network
  • the method comprises receiving at least one data block into the first computing system from the second computing system over a first data connection established between the first computing system and the second computing system on the electronic network, wherein the data file is comprised of at least one data block.
  • the method includes sto ⁇ ng the at least one data block in a data repository on the second computing system and determining if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, downloading at least another data block for the data file and storing the at least another data block m the data repository.
  • Embodiments of the invention further provide a method for displaying advertisements on a first computing system that have been received from a first computing system
  • the method comp ⁇ ses accessing an advertisement list while establishing a data connection between the second computing and the first computing system over an electronic network wherein ent ⁇ es m the advertisement list correspond to advertisements stored in an advertisement data repository and wherein the entries include relevancy criteria
  • the method also includes determining a highest sco ⁇ ng advertisement in the advertisement data repository using the relevancy c ⁇ te ⁇ a and presentmg the highest sco ⁇ ng advertisement on the second computing system du ⁇ ng the establishment of the second data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system.
  • Embodiments of the invention also provide method for displaying visual information on a computing system.
  • the method comp ⁇ ses accessing an information list while establishing a data connection between the computing system and another computing system over an electronic network, wherein ent ⁇ es in the information list correspond to visual information data files stored m a visual data repository and wherein the ent ⁇ es include relevancy c ⁇ te ⁇ a.
  • the method includes determining a highest scoring visual information data file in the visual data repository using relevancy criteria associated with the entries in the video list and displaying the highest scoring visual information data file on the computing system.
  • Embodiments of the invention provide a system for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system, the system including computer software executable on the second computing system.
  • the software is configured to receive at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection in an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is comprised of at least one video data block, to store the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system.
  • the software is also configured to create a video entry for the video in a video list stored in the second computing system, wherein video entries in the video list correspond to videos stored in the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entries include relevancy criteria.
  • the software is further configured to access the video list during establishment of a second data connection in the electronic network between the second computing and the first computing system, determine a highest scoring video in the advertisement data repository using the relevancy criteria associated with each video entry in the video list, and request display of the highest scoring video on the second computing system during establishment of the second data connection.
  • Embodiments of the invention further provide a system for transmitting videos to a remote computing system over an electronic network.
  • the system comprises an advertisement data repository configured to retain at least one video, wherein the video is comprised of video data blocks.
  • An advertisement downloader and controller is configured to control transmission of the video data blocks to the remote computing system by determining that a data connection with the remote computing system is active before sending the video data blocks, one block at a time, to the remote computing system if the data connection is active, wherein the advertisement downloader and controller repeatedly determines if the data connection is active before sending a video data block to the remote computing system until all video data blocks of the at least one video have been transmitted to the remote computing system.
  • Embodiments of the invention provide a computing system for receiving a video from a remote computing system and displaying the video.
  • the system comprises an advertisement data repository configured to store at least one video received from the remote computing system, wherein the advertisement data repository receives the at least one video as a series of individually transmitted video data blocks, wherein the at least one video comprises the series of video data blocks.
  • An advertisement displayer is configured to select the at least one video from the advertisement data repository for display when the computing system attempts to establish a data connection with the remote computing system, wherein the advertisement displayer selects the at least one video from the advertisement data repository on the basis of relevancy criteria associated with the at least one video in the advertisement data repository.
  • Embodiments of the invention also provide a system for downloading videos from a first computing system, transmitting the downloaded videos to a second computing system, and displaying the downloaded videos on the second computing system.
  • the system comprises a video selection means for selecting a video for transmission from the first computing system to the second computing system.
  • a video transmission means transmits the selected video from the first computing system to the second computing system.
  • a video reception means receives the transmitted video into the second computing system.
  • a video retention means retains the transmitted video into the second computing system.
  • a video display selection means selects the retained video from the video retention means and requesting display of the selected video on the second computing system.
  • Embodiments of the invention provide a computer-readable data transmission medium containing a data structure.
  • the data structure comprises a first portion configured to specify a video data block, wherein a video data block is a portion of a video, and a second portion configured to specify relevancy information about the video, wherein the relevancy information may be used to select the video for display on a computing system.
  • Embodiments of the invention further provide a data structure.
  • the data structure comprises a first portion configured to specify a video data block, wherein a video data block is a portion of a video, and a second portion configured to specify relevancy information about the video, wherein the relevancy information may be used to select the video for display
  • Embodiments of the invention also provide a computer-readable medium containing instructions for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system
  • the instructions comprise receiving at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection in an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is comp ⁇ sed of at least one video data block
  • the instructions include sto ⁇ ng the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system and creating a video entry for the video m a video list stored in the second computing system, wherein video entries in the video list correspond to videos stored m the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entries include relevancy criteria
  • the instructions further include accessing the v ideo list du ⁇ ng establishment of a second data connection in the electronic netw ork between the second computing and the first computing system, determining a highest sco ⁇ ng video m the advertisement data repository using the relevancy criteria associated with each video entry m the video list, and displaying
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an ISP site including a portion of the full motion video system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
  • Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for downloading and displaying full motion video in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
  • Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a full motion video cache list m accordance with an embodiment of the invention
  • Figure 6 is a screen shot illustrating a first login screen m accordance with an embodiment of the invention
  • Figure 7 is a screen shot illustrating a second login screen m accordance with an embodiment of the invention including the full motion video DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
  • Embodiments of the invention provide a system that displays a full motion video to a user du ⁇ ng the user's login and handshaking process with an Internet Service Provider ("ISP")
  • ISP Internet Service Provider
  • the full motion video viewed by the user may have the form of an advertisement and the like in some embodiments.
  • the full motion v ⁇ deo(s) may be previously downloaded from the ISP service du ⁇ ng p ⁇ or data sessions with the ISP and stored in the user's computer, according to an embodiment of the invention
  • a system and method for downloading a full motion video to a computing system e g , a personal computer
  • a relatively slow communications link such as a dial-up modem
  • the system permits the full motion videos to be ready for playing when needed.
  • predetermined small portions of the full motion videos may be downloaded to the user's computer du ⁇ ng the data session with the ISP, while there is unused bandwidth
  • the full motion videos are downloaded to the user's computer so that they may be displayed at any later time, such as when the user next logs into the ISP's service
  • the system may maintain a list of one or more videos stored (e g., cached) on the user's computer
  • each video may include additional information that may be used to target the full motion video to a particular user
  • the additional information may include an individual advertisement identification ("Ad ID”), a cache location designation to locate the advertisement in the cache memory on the user's computer, a uniform resource locator ("URL") to permit the user to access the website if the advertisement is clicked on by the user, a start date for the advertisement and an end date for the advertisement
  • Ad ID individual advertisement identification
  • URL uniform resource locator
  • Each of the above pieces of information may be used to score each cached full motion video in a predetermined manner so that, when a full motion video is displayed, the highest scoring full motion video will be the one displayed to the user du ⁇ ng the login and handshaking processes.
  • Embodiments of the invention are particularly applicable to a system and method for downloading and displaying full motion videos, such as advertisements, du ⁇ ng the typical login and handshakmg processes, as discussed above, and it is in this context that an embodiment of the invention will be desc ⁇ bed It will be appreciated, however, that the full motion video system and method in accordance with the invention has additional utility, such as being used to download and display other types of information and at other times when the information may be displayed to the user
  • Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a typical dial-up connection between a personal computer 10 and an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") 12.
  • the personal computer 10 include a graphics display unit 14, a processing unit 16, and one or more user input devices that may include a keyboard 18 and a mouse 20.
  • the personal computer 10 may further include a modem 22 operably connected to the personal computer
  • the modem 22 may in turn be operably coupled with a telephone line 24.
  • the modem 22 dials the approp ⁇ ate telephone number of the ISP 12
  • the modem 22 is connected to a modem 26 at the ISP.
  • the modems 22, 26 begin a handshaking process in which the modems determine characteristics of the particular communications session, such as the approp ⁇ ate speed and compression
  • the personal computer 10 is connected to the ISP 12, and a user associated with the personal computer 10 may interact with the ISP 12.
  • a user associated with the personal computer 10 may interact with the ISP 12.
  • the user's waiting time during the login and handshaking processes may be filled with an advertisement full motion video (e g., an advertisement that may be a full motion video) and/or motion pictures m some approp ⁇ ate format m accordance with the invention, including videos that entertain the user during the login process Accordingly display of a video, such as an advertisement video, may also cause the user to show interest in the products shown by the advertisements.
  • the full motion video downloaded and displayed on the user's computer comp ⁇ ses one or more advertisements. It is appreciated, however, that the full motion video system may be used with data other than advertisements. A portion of the full motion video system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention that is typically included in a part of the personal computer 10 will now be desc ⁇ bed.
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the personal computer 10, including a portion of a full motion video system, according to an embodiment of the invention
  • the personal computer 10 may include a central processing unit ("CPU") 30, a memory 32 and a persistent storage device 34 that may comp ⁇ se a hard disk d ⁇ ve, a tape drive, an optical drive or the like.
  • CPU central processing unit
  • memory 32 may include a persistent storage device 34 that may comp ⁇ se a hard disk d ⁇ ve, a tape drive, an optical drive or the like.
  • the personal computer 10 may include one or more full motion video software applications or files that may be stored in the persistent storage device 34 and in a manner suitable for loading into the memory 32 to be executed by the CPU 30 m order to implement the full motion video system m accordance with an embodiment of the invention
  • These software applications may include an advertisement displayer ("AD DISPLAYER") 36 and an advertisement data repository ("AD DR") 38
  • the advertisement data repository 38 may comp ⁇ se a cache located in the memory 32
  • the advertisement displayer 36 may be configured to determine which full motion video, advertisement, and/or data file will be displayed during each login and handshaking processes based on a predetermined scoring c ⁇ te ⁇ a, such as that described below, and then display or process the full motion video, advertisement, or data file in an approp ⁇ ate manner, such as will be described below with reference to Figure 7
  • the advertisement displayer 36 may also be configured to control the downloading of the advertisements from the ISP 12 du ⁇ ng the communications session as described below and may be further configured to control and perform maintenance on the advertisement data repository 38
  • the advertisement data repository 38 may store the one or more videos, advertisements, and/or data files downloaded to the personal computer 10 and may also store the information associated with each video, advertisement, and/or data file that may be used to score each of them (e g , scoring a video collection to determine which one to show to a user)
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the ISP 12, including a portion of a full motion video system, according to an embodiment of the invention
  • the ISP 12 may include a CPU 40, a memory 42, a persistent storage device 44, such as a hard disk drive, an optical d ⁇ ve, a tape d ⁇ ve or the like, an advertisement data repository ("AD DR") 46, and an advertisement downloader and controller ("AD DOWNLOADER”) 48
  • the advertisement downloader 48 may be a software application stored in the persistent storage device 44, loaded into the memory 42 (as shown) and executed by the CPU 40
  • the advertisement downloader and controller 48 may control the piecemeal downloading of advertisements to the personal computer 10 and initiate the download process in the background while the personal computer 10 is connected to the ISP 12
  • the AD DR 46 cooperates with the Ad Displayer 36 in downloading advertisements, videos, and/or data files
  • the AD DR 46 may contain a collection of videos, advertisements, and/or data files suitable for downloading to va ⁇ ous computing systems, such as the personal computer
  • FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method 60 for downloading and displaying a full motion video, according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • the user may start the login process by entering a connect/dial-up page (as desc ⁇ bed below) and clicking "Connect" to begin the connection to the ISP 12 (step 62)
  • the advertisement displayer 36 in the personal computer 10 may access a list of cached videos stored in the personal computer 10 along with the advertisement data repository 38 (step 64).
  • the advertisement displayer 36 may determine the highest sco ⁇ ng video (and/or advertisement or data file) based upon relevancy c ⁇ te ⁇ a (step 66)
  • each video, advertisement, and/or data file stored in the personal computer 10 may include information useful for identifying the video, advertisement, and/or data file and determining the score for that video, advertisement, and/or data file.
  • the advertisement displayer 36 may select the highest sco ⁇ ng advertisement (or video or data file) and activate the advertisement (e g., play the ad to the user) while the user is connecting to the ISP 12 (step 68). If the user requests further information related to the video, advertisement, or data file du ⁇ ng the login or handshaking processes (step 70), a browser application may be launched on the personal computer 10 with the appropriate URL corresponding to the video, advertisement, and/or data file that was provided so that the user may view a related website (step 72). Next, according to an embodiment of the invention, a second window of the browser application is opened with the typical startmg Web page, such as a home page (step 74).
  • the browser will open to the typical starting Web page (step 74) without opening the page associated with the advertisement's website
  • the list of cached videos e g., an advertisement list
  • the list of cached videos may be refreshed and updated to reflect that an advertisement was displayed to the user du ⁇ ng the most recent login and handshaking processes (step 78).
  • a next block of full motion video (or a next data file block or an advertisement block) may be downloaded to the AD data repository 38 (step 80)
  • the AD downloader 48 determines if the personal computer 10 is still connected to the ISP 12 (step 82) and, if the personal computer 10 is still connected, the AD downloader 48 loops back (step 80) to continue downloading blocks of data. In this manner, the video, advertisement, and/or data file accessed du ⁇ ng the login and handshaking processes are downloaded piecemeal to the personal computer 10 during the normal communications session.
  • FIG. 6 is a screen shot 110 illustrating a first login screen in accordance with an embodiment of the mvention.
  • the screen shot 110 may include a typical login screen for a user to log into the ISP 12 including a graphic 112 of the ISP 12, an area 114 for ente ⁇ ng the user name and password and other buttons for configu ⁇ ng the login process and getting help.
  • the user may actuate (e.g., click) a Connect button 116 to begin the connection to the ISP 12.
  • the user may see the full motion video and possibly elect to view the website associated with the product
  • the ISP operator may de ⁇ ve revenue from an advertiser who wishes to display the full motion video to the "captive" user du ⁇ ng the login and handshaking processes.
  • the full motion video may also be selected and displayed to the user du ⁇ ng times other than when connecting with the ISP 12
  • the full motion video may be displayed to the user as an advertisement during the communications session between the personal computer 10 and the ISP 12
  • the wallpaper, the desktop background, the screen saver or the banner on the user's computer e g., the personal computer 10
  • the personal computer 10 may be sponsored by an advertiser so that the images on the background, banner, screen saver or wallpaper may be an advertisement, a full motion video or a still image.
  • the full motion videos displayed to the user may be selected from a list of possible advertisements so that the system may provide targeted advertising to the user. While the foregoing has been desc ⁇ bed with reference to a particular embodiment of the invention, it will be appreciated by those ordma ⁇ ly skilled in the art that changes in this embodiment may be made without departing from the p ⁇ nciples and spirit of the invention.
  • Embodiments of the mvention may contain additional functionality, such as a method and system for providing computer network access to a user, an exemplary method and system of which is desc ⁇ bed in a related pending, commonly owned application filed on August 26, 1999 m the names of Zachary Levow and Dan Robinson, entitled, "System and Method for Providing Computer Network Access to a User," U.S Application No 60/150,756, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference
  • Embodiments of the invention may also contain additional functionality desc ⁇ bed in a related pending, commonly owned application filed on August 26, 1999 m the names of Zachary Levow, Dan Robinson, and Michael G ⁇ ffith, entitled, "Bandwidth Adaptive File Transfer System and Method," U.S. Application No. 60/150,925, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference.
  • Embodiments of the invention may further include a help system, including a wizard that provides assistance to users who have received videos and advertisements on their computing systems and to personnel associated with computing systems from which videos and advertisements are downloaded to other computing systems.
  • a help system including a wizard that provides assistance to users who have received videos and advertisements on their computing systems and to personnel associated with computing systems from which videos and advertisements are downloaded to other computing systems.
  • Embodiments of the mvention have been discussed in terms of computer programs but embodiments of the invention are equally applicable for systems utilizing hardware that performs similar functions, such as application specific integrated circuits ("ASICs")
  • ASICs application specific integrated circuits
  • An ordina ⁇ ly skilled artisan should require no additional explanation in developing the methods and systems desc ⁇ bed herein but may nevertheless find some possibly helpful guidance m the preparation of these methods and systems by examining standard reference works m the relevant art.

Abstract

A full motion video system and method in accordance with the invention is described in which a full motion video, such as an advertisement, may be displayed to the user while the user is connecting to and logging into an Internet Service Provider ('ISP'), including during the handshaking process. The full motion video displayed to the user during login may be downloaded during a prior communications session piecemeal and then selected from a list based on some predetermined relevancy criteria.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SENDING A DATA FILE. SUCH AS A FULL MOTION VIDEO. OVER AN ELECTRONIC NETWORK
Field of Invention. This invention relates generally to a system and method that provides data files (e g , a data file containing a full motion video) to a computing system (e g., a personal computer) over an electronic network (e g., via a conventional dial-up link), and in particular to a system and method configured to provide full motion vιdeo(s) for display duπng the login process
Background of the Invention.
To connect to e-mail, the Internet, or the World Wide Web (the "Web"), a user typically completes a login process. The login process may conventionally compπse executing a software application provided by an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") that may in turn cause a modem connected to the user's personal computer to dial up a local telephone number of the ISP. The modem then typically negotiates with the modem at the ISP's website (in a process known as "handshaking") until an agreed upon modem speed and other protocols are established for the particular session between the ISP and the personal computer. The handshakmg process may sometimes take up to a minute or longer to complete. Once the handshakmg is completed, the user is logged onto the ISP's service Each time that a user logs onto the ISP's website or service using a dial-up modem, the user goes through a login process that includes the handshaking process Typically, duπng the handshaking process, the user views a fixed image associated with the ISP's software application running on the user's computer Therefore, this time during the handshakmg process is wasted and unused. Likewise, in configurations not using a conventional modem some form of handshakmg will occur duπng which the user will typically be shown a fixed image of some sort.
Embodiments of the invention make better use of the time duπng the handshaking process and provide the user with something to view or hear duπng that process For example, embodiments of the invention may provide the user with full motion video advertisements or other mateπal that may be displayed to the user during the login and handshaking process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
1. Definitions Advertisement Data Repository - Embodiments of the invention may use various advertisement data repositoπes to store large data files, such as those containing full motion videos, on both a first computing system (e.g., a transmitting computing system) and a second computing system (e.g., a receiving computing system). For example, in an embodiment m which the first computing system represents an Internet Service Provider ("ISP"), a data repository on the ISP may comprise a large database containing a number of full motion videos. In this embodiment, a smaller advertisement data repository included on the second computing system, which may be an end user's personal computer, may comprise a cache located within the personal computer's memory and contain a smaller number of full motion videos than the ISP's database. In some embodiments, the advertisement data repository, such as the data repository on the second computing system, may additionally store information (e.g., relevancy criteria) associated with each full motion video that may be used to determine a score for each video that assists in selecting which video is next displayed. For example, in embodiments in which the full motion videos represent advertisements, the scoring data may relate to which advertisements would be of interest to a user associated with the computing system on which the advertisement has been stored. The advertisement data repository may also be known as a "data repository" and/or a "video data repository."
Advertisement Displayer - Embodiments of the invention may use an advertisement displayer to determine which full motion video (e.g., an advertisement) will be displayed during each login and handshaking process according to a predetermined scoring criteria. The advertisement displayer may then display the advertisement in an appropriate window. In a preferred embodiment, the advertisement displayer resides on a computing system that has received the full motion video (e.g., a personal computer). In some embodiments, the advertisement displayer may also control the downloading of the advertisements from another computing system during a communications session with that computing system. The advertisement displayer may also perform maintenance on the advertisement data repository on the recipient computing system. The advertisement displayer may maintain the advertisement data repository by, for example, clearing and deleting any expired video and/or advertisement from the advertisement data repository. In some embodiments of the invention, the advertisement displayer may also access a list of cached videos stored in the computing system and may determine the highest scoring advertisement based upon relevancy criteria. The advertisement displayer may also be known as the "displayer" and the "video displayer."
Advertisement Downloader and Controller - Embodiments of the invention may use an advertisement downloader and controller to control the downloading of large data files
(e.g., full motion videos) from one computing system (e.g., an ISP) to another computing system (e.g., a personal computer) over an electronic network. Embodiments of the advertisement downloader and controller may perform the downloading procedure m the background while the first computer is connected to the second computer over the electronic network. Embodiments of the advertisement downloader and controller may be expressed as a software application stored in a persistent storage device associated with a memory of the computing system that sends data files, e g., an ISP that sends data files to a personal computer For example, in some embodiments of the invention, the advertisement downloader and controller transmits advertisements during a first data session with a remote computing system for display during in a subsequent data session In some embodiments, the advertisement downloader and controller downloads a large data file by repeatedly downloading portions of the data file after first checking that the data connection over the electronic network still remains active. The advertisement downloader and controller may also be known as the "controller" and/or the "video downloader and controller."
Electronic Network - an electronic communication medium across which videos and advertisements may be transmitted from one computing system to another computing system Representative electronic networks include the Internet, intranets, the public switched telephone network ("PSTN"), wireless voice and data networks, and television networks, such as satellite, broadcast, cable television, and two-way interactive cable Electronic networks further include hybπd systems, such as those in which one computing system uses one medium to communicate videos and advertisements to another computing system and the receiving computing system uses another medium to communicate information back to the transmitting computing system Electronic networks additionally include aggregated electronic networks, such as when the video and advertisement transmitting computing system uses multiple media to communicate with vaπous receiving computing systems In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the Internet serves as the sole electronic network for transmissions between a sending computing system (e g., an ISP) and a receiving computing system (e g., a personal computer). Full Motion Video - embodiments of the invention may provide for the downloading and display of large data files containing full motion videos. In some embodiments, the full motion videos may compπse advertisements. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the full motion videos contain advertisement content and provide full motion on the basis ol 60 displayed frames per second. 2. Summary Descπption
Embodiments of the invention provide method for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system The method composes receiving at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection m an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is compπsed of at least one video data block. The method also composes stoπng the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system and creating a video entry for the video in a video list stored m the second computing system, wherein video entπes in the video list correspond to videos stored in the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entπes include relevancy criteria The method includes accessing the video list while establishing a second data connection in the electronic network between the second computing and the first computing system and determining a highest scoπng video m the advertisement data repository using the relevancy cπteπa associated with each video entry in the video list. The method also comprises displaying the highest scoπng video on the second computing system duπng establishment of the second data connection.
Embodiments of the invention also provide a method for downloading a data file to a first computing system from a second computing system over an electronic network The method comprises receiving at least one data block into the first computing system from the second computing system over a first data connection established between the first computing system and the second computing system on the electronic network, wherein the data file is comprised of at least one data block. The method includes stoπng the at least one data block in a data repository on the second computing system and determining if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, downloading at least another data block for the data file and storing the at least another data block m the data repository.
Embodiments of the invention further provide a method for displaying advertisements on a first computing system that have been received from a first computing system The method compπses accessing an advertisement list while establishing a data connection between the second computing and the first computing system over an electronic network wherein entπes m the advertisement list correspond to advertisements stored in an advertisement data repository and wherein the entries include relevancy criteria The method also includes determining a highest scoπng advertisement in the advertisement data repository using the relevancy cπteπa and presentmg the highest scoπng advertisement on the second computing system duπng the establishment of the second data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system.
Embodiments of the invention also provide method for displaying visual information on a computing system. The method compπses accessing an information list while establishing a data connection between the computing system and another computing system over an electronic network, wherein entπes in the information list correspond to visual information data files stored m a visual data repository and wherein the entπes include relevancy cπteπa. The method includes determining a highest scoring visual information data file in the visual data repository using relevancy criteria associated with the entries in the video list and displaying the highest scoring visual information data file on the computing system.
Embodiments of the invention provide a system for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system, the system including computer software executable on the second computing system. The software is configured to receive at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection in an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is comprised of at least one video data block, to store the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system. The software is also configured to create a video entry for the video in a video list stored in the second computing system, wherein video entries in the video list correspond to videos stored in the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entries include relevancy criteria. The software is further configured to access the video list during establishment of a second data connection in the electronic network between the second computing and the first computing system, determine a highest scoring video in the advertisement data repository using the relevancy criteria associated with each video entry in the video list, and request display of the highest scoring video on the second computing system during establishment of the second data connection.
Embodiments of the invention also provide a system for displaying advertisements transmitted over an electronic network. The system comprises a first computing system that itself comprises a first data repository, wherein the first data repository contains at least one video and wherein the at least one video is comprised of video data blocks, and the first computing system includes an advertisement downloader and controller configured to transmit the video data blocks over the electronic network. The system also includes second computing system that comprises a second data repository configured to retain the at least one video received from the first computing system, and an advertisement displayer configured to display the at least one video in the second data repository during establishment of a data connection over the electronic network between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video contains the advertisement.
Embodiments of the invention further provide a system for transmitting videos to a remote computing system over an electronic network. The system comprises an advertisement data repository configured to retain at least one video, wherein the video is comprised of video data blocks. An advertisement downloader and controller is configured to control transmission of the video data blocks to the remote computing system by determining that a data connection with the remote computing system is active before sending the video data blocks, one block at a time, to the remote computing system if the data connection is active, wherein the advertisement downloader and controller repeatedly determines if the data connection is active before sending a video data block to the remote computing system until all video data blocks of the at least one video have been transmitted to the remote computing system.
Embodiments of the invention provide a computing system for receiving a video from a remote computing system and displaying the video. The system comprises an advertisement data repository configured to store at least one video received from the remote computing system, wherein the advertisement data repository receives the at least one video as a series of individually transmitted video data blocks, wherein the at least one video comprises the series of video data blocks. An advertisement displayer is configured to select the at least one video from the advertisement data repository for display when the computing system attempts to establish a data connection with the remote computing system, wherein the advertisement displayer selects the at least one video from the advertisement data repository on the basis of relevancy criteria associated with the at least one video in the advertisement data repository.
Embodiments of the invention also provide a system for downloading videos from a first computing system, transmitting the downloaded videos to a second computing system, and displaying the downloaded videos on the second computing system. The system comprises a video selection means for selecting a video for transmission from the first computing system to the second computing system. A video transmission means transmits the selected video from the first computing system to the second computing system. A video reception means receives the transmitted video into the second computing system. A video retention means retains the transmitted video into the second computing system. A video display selection means selects the retained video from the video retention means and requesting display of the selected video on the second computing system.
Embodiments of the invention provide a computer-readable data transmission medium containing a data structure. The data structure comprises a first portion configured to specify a video data block, wherein a video data block is a portion of a video, and a second portion configured to specify relevancy information about the video, wherein the relevancy information may be used to select the video for display on a computing system.
Embodiments of the invention further provide a data structure. The data structure comprises a first portion configured to specify a video data block, wherein a video data block is a portion of a video, and a second portion configured to specify relevancy information about the video, wherein the relevancy information may be used to select the video for display
Embodiments of the invention also provide a computer-readable medium containing instructions for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system The instructions comprise receiving at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection in an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is compπsed of at least one video data block The instructions include stoπng the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system and creating a video entry for the video m a video list stored in the second computing system, wherein video entries in the video list correspond to videos stored m the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entries include relevancy criteria The instructions further include accessing the v ideo list duπng establishment of a second data connection in the electronic netw ork between the second computing and the first computing system, determining a highest scoπng video m the advertisement data repository using the relevancy criteria associated with each video entry m the video list, and displaying the highest scoπng video on the second computing system while establishing the second data connection
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment of the invention will be descπbed below relative to the following figures Note that similar elements and steps in the figures have the same reference number
Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a typical dial-up connection between a personal computer and an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating details of the personal computer including a portion of a full motion video system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating an ISP site including a portion of the full motion video system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for downloading and displaying full motion video in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a full motion video cache list m accordance with an embodiment of the invention
Figure 6 is a screen shot illustrating a first login screen m accordance with an embodiment of the invention Figure 7 is a screen shot illustrating a second login screen m accordance with an embodiment of the invention including the full motion video DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the invention provide a system that displays a full motion video to a user duπng the user's login and handshaking process with an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") The full motion video viewed by the user may have the form of an advertisement and the like in some embodiments. The full motion vιdeo(s) may be previously downloaded from the ISP service duπng pπor data sessions with the ISP and stored in the user's computer, according to an embodiment of the invention
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system and method for downloading a full motion video to a computing system (e g , a personal computer) over a relatively slow communications link, such as a dial-up modem, is also pro\ ided In spite of the slow download speed of a modem, the system permits the full motion videos to be ready for playing when needed. In some embodiments, predetermined small portions of the full motion videos may be downloaded to the user's computer duπng the data session with the ISP, while there is unused bandwidth Thus, duπng a data session, the full motion videos are downloaded to the user's computer so that they may be displayed at any later time, such as when the user next logs into the ISP's service
In some embodiments of the invention, the system may maintain a list of one or more videos stored (e g., cached) on the user's computer Along with the actual full motion video data, each video may include additional information that may be used to target the full motion video to a particular user The additional information may include an individual advertisement identification ("Ad ID"), a cache location designation to locate the advertisement in the cache memory on the user's computer, a uniform resource locator ("URL") to permit the user to access the website if the advertisement is clicked on by the user, a start date for the advertisement and an end date for the advertisement Each of the above pieces of information may be used to score each cached full motion video in a predetermined manner so that, when a full motion video is displayed, the highest scoring full motion video will be the one displayed to the user duπng the login and handshaking processes. Embodiments of the invention are particularly applicable to a system and method for downloading and displaying full motion videos, such as advertisements, duπng the typical login and handshakmg processes, as discussed above, and it is in this context that an embodiment of the invention will be descπbed It will be appreciated, however, that the full motion video system and method in accordance with the invention has additional utility, such as being used to download and display other types of information and at other times when the information may be displayed to the user Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a typical dial-up connection between a personal computer 10 and an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") 12. The personal computer 10
Figure imgf000010_0001
include a graphics display unit 14, a processing unit 16, and one or more user input devices that may include a keyboard 18 and a mouse 20. To communicate with the ISP, the personal computer 10 may further include a modem 22 operably connected to the personal computer The modem 22 may in turn be operably coupled with a telephone line 24. When the modem 22 dials the appropπate telephone number of the ISP 12, the modem 22 is connected to a modem 26 at the ISP. Once a connection is established, the modems 22, 26 begin a handshaking process in which the modems determine characteristics of the particular communications session, such as the appropπate speed and compression Once the handshakmg process is completed, the personal computer 10 is connected to the ISP 12, and a user associated with the personal computer 10 may interact with the ISP 12. Of course, an ordmaπly skilled artisan will recognize that similar procedures are also followed when establishing data communications over an electronic network between any two computing systems, rrrespective of whether such computing systems are a personal computer or an ISP's computing system.
With every conventional connection procedure (e g , a dial-up connection), there is a peπod of time (e g., duπng the login and the handshaking processes) m which the user is not interacting with either of the two computers being connected (e.g., the personal computer 10 or the ISP 12) since the login process is still completing. In accordance with embodiments of the invention, however, the user's waiting time during the login and handshaking processes may be filled with an advertisement full motion video (e g., an advertisement that may be a full motion video) and/or motion pictures m some appropπate format m accordance with the invention, including videos that entertain the user during the login process Accordingly display of a video, such as an advertisement video, may also cause the user to show interest in the products shown by the advertisements. In accordance with this embodiment of the invention, the full motion video downloaded and displayed on the user's computer compπses one or more advertisements. It is appreciated, however, that the full motion video system may be used with data other than advertisements. A portion of the full motion video system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention that is typically included in a part of the personal computer 10 will now be descπbed.
Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the personal computer 10, including a portion of a full motion video system, according to an embodiment of the invention The personal computer 10 may include a central processing unit ("CPU") 30, a memory 32 and a persistent storage device 34 that may compπse a hard disk dπve, a tape drive, an optical drive or the like. In addition, the personal computer 10 may include one or more full motion video software applications or files that may be stored in the persistent storage device 34 and in a manner suitable for loading into the memory 32 to be executed by the CPU 30 m order to implement the full motion video system m accordance with an embodiment of the invention These software applications (shown in the memory 32 m this example) may include an advertisement displayer ("AD DISPLAYER") 36 and an advertisement data repository ("AD DR") 38 In one embodiment of the invention, the advertisement data repository 38 may compπse a cache located in the memory 32 The advertisement displayer 36 may be configured to determine which full motion video, advertisement, and/or data file will be displayed during each login and handshaking processes based on a predetermined scoring cπteπa, such as that described below, and then display or process the full motion video, advertisement, or data file in an appropπate manner, such as will be described below with reference to Figure 7
The advertisement displayer 36 may also be configured to control the downloading of the advertisements from the ISP 12 duπng the communications session as described below and may be further configured to control and perform maintenance on the advertisement data repository 38 The advertisement data repository 38 may store the one or more videos, advertisements, and/or data files downloaded to the personal computer 10 and may also store the information associated with each video, advertisement, and/or data file that may be used to score each of them (e g , scoring a video collection to determine which one to show to a user) Now, the ISP 12 with the portion of the full motion video system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention will be described
Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating the ISP 12, including a portion of a full motion video system, according to an embodiment of the invention The ISP 12 may include a CPU 40, a memory 42, a persistent storage device 44, such as a hard disk drive, an optical dπve, a tape dπve or the like, an advertisement data repository ("AD DR") 46, and an advertisement downloader and controller ("AD DOWNLOADER") 48 The advertisement downloader 48 may be a software application stored in the persistent storage device 44, loaded into the memory 42 (as shown) and executed by the CPU 40 The advertisement downloader and controller 48 may control the piecemeal downloading of advertisements to the personal computer 10 and initiate the download process in the background while the personal computer 10 is connected to the ISP 12 In some embodiments, the AD DR 46 cooperates with the Ad Displayer 36 in downloading advertisements, videos, and/or data files The AD DR 46 may contain a collection of videos, advertisements, and/or data files suitable for downloading to vaπous computing systems, such as the personal computer 10, as each computing system is connected to the ISP 12 In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, in order to display videos, advertisements, and data files during the login and handshaking process, the one or more videos, advertisements, and/or data files may be downloaded piecemeal to the personal computer 10 during a pπor communications sessιon(s) between the ISP 12 and the personal computer 10.
A flowchart illustrating a method for downloading and displaying full motion videos (e g., videos containing advertisements) in accordance with an embodiment of the invention will be descπbed. Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method 60 for downloading and displaying a full motion video, according to an embodiment of the invention In accordance with the method 60, the user may start the login process by entering a connect/dial-up page (as descπbed below) and clicking "Connect" to begin the connection to the ISP 12 (step 62) The advertisement displayer 36 in the personal computer 10 may access a list of cached videos stored in the personal computer 10 along with the advertisement data repository 38 (step 64). The advertisement displayer 36 may determine the highest scoπng video (and/or advertisement or data file) based upon relevancy cπteπa (step 66) In particular, each video, advertisement, and/or data file stored in the personal computer 10 may include information useful for identifying the video, advertisement, and/or data file and determining the score for that video, advertisement, and/or data file. The information may include, for example, an individual advertisement identification, a cache location designation to locate the ad in the Ad data repository 38, a URL (e.g., website address) to open with a browser if the user requests further information about the video, advertisement or data file during its display, a start date for the advertisement and an end or expiration date for the advertisement Each of these pieces of information may be used to pπoπtize each video, advertisement, and/or data file according to an embodiment of the invention
The advertisement displayer 36 may select the highest scoπng advertisement (or video or data file) and activate the advertisement (e g., play the ad to the user) while the user is connecting to the ISP 12 (step 68). If the user requests further information related to the video, advertisement, or data file duπng the login or handshaking processes (step 70), a browser application may be launched on the personal computer 10 with the appropriate URL corresponding to the video, advertisement, and/or data file that was provided so that the user may view a related website (step 72). Next, according to an embodiment of the invention, a second window of the browser application is opened with the typical startmg Web page, such as a home page (step 74). If the advertisement is not selected by the user (step 76), then the browser will open to the typical starting Web page (step 74) without opening the page associated with the advertisement's website Of course, an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize that either one window or multiple windows could be used After the browser has been opened, either with a single window or with multiple windows, the list of cached videos (e g., an advertisement list) may be refreshed and updated to reflect that an advertisement was displayed to the user duπng the most recent login and handshaking processes (step 78). Duπng the communications session between the personal computer 10 and the ISP 12, a next block of full motion video (or a next data file block or an advertisement block) may be downloaded to the AD data repository 38 (step 80) The AD downloader 48 then determines if the personal computer 10 is still connected to the ISP 12 (step 82) and, if the personal computer 10 is still connected, the AD downloader 48 loops back (step 80) to continue downloading blocks of data. In this manner, the video, advertisement, and/or data file accessed duπng the login and handshaking processes are downloaded piecemeal to the personal computer 10 during the normal communications session.
If the personal computer 10 is no longer connected to the ISP 10, the AD displayer 36 may maintain the AD data repository 38 by (step 84), for example, by clearing and deleting any expired video, advertisement, and/or data file from the AD data repository 38 For example, an expired advertisement may be an advertisement and/or full motion video whose expiration or end date has passed. The AD displayer 36 may also clear the expired video, advertisement, and/or data file from the cache list (step 86). At this point, the full motion video process is complete (step 88) and is ready for the subsequent dial-up by the user during which a video, advertisement, and/or data file will be accessed.
Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating a list of cached videos 90, according to an embodiment of the invention. The cache 90 may include a list of one or more cached videos (e.g., video advertisements) that have been scored and ranked according to the cπteπa descπbed above. An example of the cπteπa and information 92 for a particular advertisement is shown and may include an advertisement identification 94, a cache location 96, a URL 98. a start date 100 and an end date 102 as described above. Of course, an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize that the list of cached videos 90 may also comprise advertisements and/or data files and is not necessaπly limited to videos and video-related data
Now, screen shots of the full motion video system in accordance with the invention will be descπbed. Figure 6 is a screen shot 110 illustrating a first login screen in accordance with an embodiment of the mvention. The screen shot 110 may include a typical login screen for a user to log into the ISP 12 including a graphic 112 of the ISP 12, an area 114 for enteπng the user name and password and other buttons for configuπng the login process and getting help. To log into the ISP 12, the user may actuate (e.g., click) a Connect button 116 to begin the connection to the ISP 12.
Once the login starts and the AD displayer 36 has selected a video, advertisement, and/or data file to display to the user, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the user may view the screen shown m Figure 7. Figure 7 is a screen shot 120 illustrating a second login screen including a full motion video window 122 that replaces the ISP logo, according to an embodiment of the invention. As described above, the full motion video may contain an advertisement for a particular product or manufacturer and the user may select (e g., click on) the full motion video to receive further information about the advertisement When the user selects the full motion video advertisement, the user's computer (e g , the personal computer 10) may launch a browser application using the URL associated with the full motion video, to access the website of the product's manufacturer. In this manner, duπng the login and handshakmg processes, the user may see the full motion video and possibly elect to view the website associated with the product For the ISP 12, the ISP operator may deπve revenue from an advertiser who wishes to display the full motion video to the "captive" user duπng the login and handshaking processes.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the full motion video may also be selected and displayed to the user duπng times other than when connecting with the ISP 12 For example, the full motion video may be displayed to the user as an advertisement during the communications session between the personal computer 10 and the ISP 12 In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the wallpaper, the desktop background, the screen saver or the banner on the user's computer (e g., the personal computer 10) may be sponsored by an advertiser so that the images on the background, banner, screen saver or wallpaper may be an advertisement, a full motion video or a still image. These other aspects of the invention permit the operator of the ISP to deπve further revenues from the user accessing the ISP site
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the full motion videos displayed to the user may be selected from a list of possible advertisements so that the system may provide targeted advertising to the user. While the foregoing has been descπbed with reference to a particular embodiment of the invention, it will be appreciated by those ordmaπly skilled in the art that changes in this embodiment may be made without departing from the pπnciples and spirit of the invention.
Embodiments of the mvention may contain additional functionality, such as a method and system for providing computer network access to a user, an exemplary method and system of which is descπbed in a related pending, commonly owned application filed on August 26, 1999 m the names of Zachary Levow and Dan Robinson, entitled, "System and Method for Providing Computer Network Access to a User," U.S Application No 60/150,756, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference Embodiments of the invention may also contain additional functionality descπbed in a related pending, commonly owned application filed on August 26, 1999 m the names of Zachary Levow, Dan Robinson, and Michael Gπffith, entitled, "Bandwidth Adaptive File Transfer System and Method," U.S. Application No. 60/150,925, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference.
Embodiments of the invention may further include a help system, including a wizard that provides assistance to users who have received videos and advertisements on their computing systems and to personnel associated with computing systems from which videos and advertisements are downloaded to other computing systems.
The advertisement downloader and controller and the advertisement displayer may be written for operation on any computer operating system and for operation m any computing environment. In addition, the advertisement displayer and the advertisement downloader and controller may be designed using CORBA, COM+, ACTIVEX™ controls, and/or Java According to one embodiment of the invention, Java applets may provide a plug-m advertisement displayer for use with another computing application.
The videos and advertisements may be displayed using any application user interface techniques but will preferably utilize the "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" ("WYSIWYG") display paradigm. One of ordinary skill in the art may easily recognize numerous alternate approaches to providing a user interface to display videos and advertisements to users
Embodiments of the mvention have been discussed in terms of computer programs but embodiments of the invention are equally applicable for systems utilizing hardware that performs similar functions, such as application specific integrated circuits ("ASICs") An ordinaπly skilled artisan should require no additional explanation in developing the methods and systems descπbed herein but may nevertheless find some possibly helpful guidance m the preparation of these methods and systems by examining standard reference works m the relevant art.
All U.S. patents and applications are incorporated herein by reference as if set forth m their entirety.
These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed descnption. In general, m the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all video and advertisement downloading and displaying methods and systems that operate under the claims set forth herein below Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosure, but instead its scope is to be determined entirely by the following claims.

Claims

Claims What is claimed is
1 A method for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system, comprising receiving at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection in an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is compπsed of at least one video data block, stoπng the at least one video data block m an advertisement data repository on the second computing system, creating a video entry for the video in a video list stored in the second computing system, wherein video entπes in the video list correspond to videos stored in the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entπes include relevanc criteria accessing the video list while establishing a second data connection in the electronic network between the second computing and the first computing system, determining a highest scoπng video m the advertisement data repository using the relevancy cπteπa associated with each video entry m the video list and displaying the highest scoπng video on the second computing system during establishment of the second data connection
2 The method of claim 1 further comprising determining if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, downloading at least another video data block for the video and stormg the at least another video data block m the advertisement data repository
3 The method of claim 1 , further comprising launching a browser application on the second computing system and accessing a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") corresponding to the displayed highest scoπng video if the second computing system receives a user selection indication
4 The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the video entry for the displayed highest scoπng video to reflect that the highest scoπng video was displayed on the second computing system
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an indication to the first computing system that the displayed highest scoπng video was displayed on the second computing system
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the video is a full motion video
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic network is the Internet
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the video list is cached m a memory of the second computing system.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cleaπng expired videos from the advertisement data repository, wherein an expired video is a video whose relevancy criteria indicates that its expiration has occurred
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first computing system is an Internet Service Provider computing system and the second computing system is a personal computer.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein a user associated with the second computing system initiates establishment of the second data connection by accessing a connect/dial-up page associated with the first computing system.
12 The method of claim 1 wherein the advertisement data repository is stored in a cache memory m the second computing system.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein each video includes information items useful for identifying the video and determining a score for that video comprising at least one of an individual video identification, a cache location designation to locate the ad in the advertisement data repository, a website address to open with a browser if the user clicks on the video, a start date for the video, and an expiration date for the video, wherein each information item may be used to prioritize display of the video
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising launching a browser application on the second computer and opening the browser to a normal start page if a user selection indication corresponding to the displayed highest scoring video is not received by the second computing system.
15. A method for downloading a data file to a first computing system from a second computmg system over an electronic network, compπsmg: receiving at least one data block into the first computing system from the second computmg system over a first data connection established between the first computmg system and the second computing system on the electronic network, wherein the data file is compπsed of at least one data block; stoπng the at least one data block in a data repository on the second computing system; and determining if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, downloading at least another data block for the data file and stoπng the at least another data block in the data repository
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising. creating an entry for the data file in a data file list stored in the second computing system, wherein the entries in the data file list correspond to data files stored in the data repository and wherein the entπes include relevancy cπteπa associated with access of the data file in the second computmg system.
17. The method of claim 15 wherein the data file compπses data pertaining to at least one of an advertisement or a video
18. The method of claim 15 wherein the electronic network is the
Internet.
19. The method of claim 15 wherein the second computmg system is an Internet Service Provider website computing system and the first computing system is a personal computer.
20. The method of claim 15 wherein a user associated with the first computing system initiates establishment of the data connection by accessing a connect/dial- up page associated with the second computing system.
21. A method for displaying advertisements on a first computing system that have been received from a first computing system, compπsmg accessing an advertisement list while establishing a data connection between the second computing and the first computing system over an electronic network, wherein entπes in the advertisement list correspond to advertisements stored in an advertisement data repository and wherein the entπes include relevancy cπteπa, determining a highest scoπng advertisement m the advertisement data repository using the relevancy cπteπa, and presenting the highest scoring advertisement on the second computing system duπng the establishment of the second data connection between the second computing system and the first computmg system.
22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising launching a browser application on the second computing system and accessing a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") corresponding to the highest scoπng advertisement if the second computmg system receives a user selection indication
23. The method of claim 21 , further comprising- updating the entry for the highest scoring advertisement to reflect that the highest scoring advertisement was presented on the second computing system.
24 The method of claim 21 , further comprising sending an indication to the first computing system that the highest scoring advertisement was presented on the second computing system
25. The method of claim 21 , further comprising- cleaπng expired advertisements from the advertisement data repository, wherein an expired advertisement is an advertisement whose relevancy cπteπa indicates that its end date has passed.
26. The method of claim 21 wherein the first computmg system is an Internet Service Provider website computmg system and the second computing system is a personal computer.
27. The method of claim 21 wherein a user associated with the second computing system initiates establishment of the second data connection by accessing a connect/dial-up page associated with the first computing system.
28. The method of claim 21 wherein each advertisement includes information useful for identifying the advertisement and determining a score for that advertisement include at least one of an individual advertisement identification, a cache location designation to locate the ad in the advertisement data repository, a website address to open with a browser if the user clicks on the advertisement, a start date for the advertisement, and an expiration date for the advertisement, wherein each of these pieces of information may be used to pπoπtize each advertisement.
29. The method of claim 21 wherein opening the browser to a normal start page if the advertisement is not clicked by the user
30. A method for displaying visual information on a computmg system, compπsmg: accessing an information list while establishing a data connection between the computing system and another computing system over an electronic network, wherein entπes in the information list correspond to visual information data files stored in a visual data repository and wherein the entries include relevancy cπteπa, determining a highest scoπng visual information data file m the visual data repository using relevancy cπteπa associated with the entries m the video list, and displaying the highest scoπng visual information data file on the computing system.
31. A system for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system, said system including computer software executable on said second computing system wherein said software is configured to: receive at least one video data block into the second computmg system from the first computing system over a first data connection in an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is compπsed of at least one video data block; store the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system; create a video entry for the video in a video list stored in the second computmg system, wherein video entπes in the video list coπespond to videos stored m the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entπes include relevancy cπteπa; access the video list duπng establishment of a second data connection m the electronic network between the second computmg and the first computing system, determine a highest scoπng video in the advertisement data repository using the relevancy criteria associated with each video entry in the video list; and request display of the highest scoring video on the second computing system duπng establishment of the second data connection.
32. The system of claim 31 wherein the computer software executable on the second computing system is further configured to determine if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, to download at least another video data block for the video and store the at least another video data block in the advertisement data repository.
33. The system of claim 31 wherein the computer software executable on the second computing system is further configured to launch a browser application on the second computmg system and access a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") corresponding to the displayed highest scoπng video if the second computmg system receives a user selection indication.
34. The system of claim 31 wherein the computer software executable on the second computing system is further configured to update the video entry for the displayed highest scoπng video to reflect that the highest scoring video was displayed on the second computmg system.
35. The system of claim 31 wherein the computer software executable on the second computmg system is further configured to send an indication to the first computing system that the displayed highest scoπng video was displayed on the second computing system, further compπsing:
36. The system of claim 31 wherein the video is a full motion video
37. The system of claim 31 wherein the electronic network is the
Internet.
38. A system for displaying advertisements transmitted over an electronic network, compπsmg: a first computing system that compπses: a first data repository, wherein the first data repository contains at least one video and wherein the at least one video is comprised of video data blocks; an advertisement downloader and controller configured to transmit the video data blocks over the electronic network; and a second computing system that compπses: a second data repository configured to retain the at least one video received from the first computing system; an advertisement displayer configured to display the at least one video m the second data repository duπng establishment of a data connection over the electronic network between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video contains the advertisement.
39. The system of claim 38 wherein the second computing system further compπses: a browser application configured to access a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") corresponding to the at least one video if the second computing system receives a user selection indication.
40. The system of claim 38 wherein the advertisement downloader and controller is further configured to determine if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, download at least another video data block for the at least one video.
41. The system of claim 38 wherein the advertisement displayer is further configured to send an indication to the first computing system that the at least one video was displayed on the second computing system.
42. The system of claim 38 wherein the at least one video is a full motion video.
43. The system of claim 38 wherein the electronic network is the Internet.
44. A system for transmitting videos to a remote computing system over an electronic network, compπsmg: an advertisement data repository configured to retain at least one video, wherein the video is compπsed of video data blocks; and an advertisement downloader and controller configured to control transmission of the video data blocks to the remote computing system by determining that a data connection with the remote computing system is active before sending the video data blocks, one block at a time, to the remote computing system if the data connection is active, wherein the advertisement downloader and controller repeatedly determines if the data connection is active before sending a video data block to the remote computing system until all video data blocks of the at least one video have been transmitted to the remote computing system.
45. The system of claim 44 wherein the advertisement downloader and controller is further configured to receive an indication from the remote computing system that the downloaded video has been displayed.
46. A computing system for receiving a video from a remote computing system and displaying the video, compπsing: an advertisement data repository configured to store at least one video received from the remote computing system, wherein the advertisement data repository receives the at least one video as a seπes of individually transmitted video data blocks, wherein the at least one video compπses the seπes of video data blocks; and an advertisement displayer configured to select the at least one video from the advertisement data repository for display when the computing system attempts to establish a data connection with the remote computmg system, wherein the advertisement display selects the at least one video from the advertisement data repository on the basis of relevancy criteria associated with the at least one video in the advertisement data repository
47. The system of claim 46 wherein the advertisement displayer is further configured to control the downloading of the video data blocks from the remote computing system duπng a communications session.
48. The system of claim 46 wherein the advertisement displayer is further configured to perform maintenance on the advertisement data repository.
49. The system of claim 46 wherein the advertisement data repository is further configured to store relevancy criteria associated with the at least one video.
50. A system for downloading videos from a first computing system, transmitting the downloaded videos to a second computing system, and displaying the downloaded videos on the second computing system, comprising: a video selection means for selecting a video for transmission from the first computing system to the second computing system; a video transmission means for transmitting the selected video from the first computing system to the second computing system; a video reception means for receiving the transmitted video into the second computing system; a video retention means for retaining the transmitted video into the second computing system; and a video display selection means for selecting the retained video from the video retention means and requesting display of the selected video on the second computing system.
51. A computer-readable data transmission medium containing a data structure comprising:
(a) a first portion configured to specify a video data block, wherein a video data block is a portion of a video; and
(b) a second portion configured to specify relevancy information about the video, wherein the relevancy information may be used to select the video for display on a computing system.
52. A data structure, comprising:
(a) a first portion configured to specify a video data block, wherein a video data block is a portion of a video; and
(b) a second portion configured to specify relevancy information about the video, wherein the relevancy information may be used to select the video for display.
53. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for downloading a video from a first computing system and displaying the downloaded video on a second computing system, the instructions comprising: receiving at least one video data block into the second computing system from the first computing system over a first data connection an electronic network established between the first computing system and the second computing system, wherein the video is compπsed of at least one video data block; stoπng the at least one video data block in an advertisement data repository on the second computing system; creatmg a video entry for the video in a video list stored in the second computing system, wherein video entπes in the video list correspond to videos stored in the advertisement data repository and wherein the video entπes include relevancy criteria, accessing the video list duπng establishment of a second data connection in the electronic network between the second computing and the first computing system; determining a highest scoπng video in the advertisement data repository using the relevancy cπteπa associated with each video entry in the video list; and displaying the highest scoπng video on the second computing system while establishing the second data connection.
54. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further comprising- determining if the first data connection between the second computing system and the first computing system is active and, if active, downloading at least another video data block for the video and stoπng the at least another video data block in the advertisement data repository.
55. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further compπsing launching a browser application on the second computing system and accessing a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") corresponding to the displayed highest scoπng video if the second computing system receives a user selection indication.
56. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further compπsmg. updating the video entry for the displayed highest scoπng video to reflect that the highest scoπng video was displayed on the second computing system.
57 The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further compπsing sending an indication to the first computing system that the displayed highest scoπng video was displayed on the second computing system
58 The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherein the video is a full motion video.
59 The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherein the electronic network is the Internet.
60 The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherein the video list is cached in a memory of the second computing system.
61 The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further compπsmg cleaπng expired videos from the advertisement data repository, wherein an expired video is a video whose relevancy cπteπa indicates that its expiration or end date has passed.
62. The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherein the first computing system is an Internet Service Provider website computing system and the second computing system is a personal computer.
63 The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherem a user associated with the second computmg system initiates establishment of the second data connection by accessing a connect/dial-up page associated with the first computing system
64 The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherem the advertisement data repository is a cache memory m the second computing system
65. The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherem each video includes information items useful for identifying the video and determining the score for that video compπsing at least one of an individual video identification, a cache location designation to locate the ad in the advertisement data repository, a website address to open with a browser if the user clicks on the video, a start date for the video, and an expiration date for the video, wherem each information item may be used to pπoπtize display of the video
66. The computer-readable medium of claim 53 wherein opening the browser to a normal start page if the advertisement is not clicked by the user.
PCT/US2000/020762 1999-07-30 2000-07-27 Method and system for sending a data file, such as a full motion video, over an electronic network WO2001010134A2 (en)

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