EP0749081B1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Information and advertising distribution system and method
Assignee: PointCast Inc
•
Filing: 1996-05-24
•
Granted: 1998-11-04
•
Expires: 2016-05-24
Abstract
Abstract In summary, the present invention is an information and advertising distribution system. A data server stores and updates a database of information items and advertisements. The information items and advertisements are each categorized so that each has an associated information category. Workstations remotely located from the data server each include a display device, a communication interlace for receiving at least a subset of the information items and advertisements in the data server's database and local memory for storing the information items and advertisements received from the data server. An information administrator in each workstation establishes communication with the data server from time to time so as to update the information items and advertisements stored in local memory with at least a subset of the information items and advertisements stored by the data server. An information display controller in each workstation displays on the workstation's display device at least a subset of the information items and advertisements stored in local memory when the workstation meets predefined idleness criteria. At least a subset of the workstations include a profiler for storing subscriber profile data. The subscriber profile data represents subscriber information viewing preferences, indicating information categories for which the subscriber does and does not want to view information items. The information display controller includes a filter for excluding from the information items displayed on the display device those information items inconsistent with the subscriber profile data. <IMAGE>
Inventors
- 👤 James P. Reilly
- 👤 Gregory P. Hassett
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 23:36
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/02; G06Q30/0241; G06Q30/0242; G06Q30/0243; G06Q30/0251; G06Q30/0257; G06Q30/0272; G06Q30/0277; G06Q30/06; G06Q30/0601; H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/442; H04N21/44213; H04N21/44222; H04N21/44224; H04N21/80; H04N21/81; H04N21/812; G09; G09G; G09G2330/00; G09G2330/04
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 40
Claim 1
Independent Claim
270 words
An information and advertising distribution and displaying
system including a plurality of computers (102, 104) each
of which having a local storage device (112, 114, 172,
174) and a display device (116, 176), the computers being
coupled to a network (119) wherein at least one of the
computers is operating as a server and at least one of the
computers is operating as a client, and including means
for the transfer of advertising and news information from the
server to the client via the network, the system
comprising: (a) means (174, 184) for storing advertising information
and news information downloaded from an information
server (104) via the network in the local storage
device of a client computer (102) and means (186) in
said client computer for storing and maintaining a
list of predefined information categories, wherein
each of the advertising information and news
information is associated with at least one category
in the list of predefined categories, the list of
predefined categories being based on user selected
preferences; (b) means (201) for detecting a predefined idleness
criteria for the client computer, wherein the predefined
idleness criteria is met when the client computer fails to
receive user input for a predetermined amount of
time; (c) means (202) for selecting a first set of advertising
information and a corresponding first set of news
information from a first category in the list of
predefined categories; and (d) means (180, 200) for displaying the first set of
advertising information and the first set of news
information in screen saver means on the display
device of the client computer during a predetermined
period of time.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
55 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the means for
displaying include means (202D) for displaying, with
continuous movement on the display device, the first set
of advertising information and the first set of news
information in the screen saver on the display device of
the client computer for a predetermined period of time.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
41 words
The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the means for
displaying further include means (204) of displaying, with
continuous movement on the display, an image together with
said first set of advertising information and the first
set of news information.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
14 words
The system as recited in claim 3 wherein the image is an
animated character.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
97 words
The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising: (e) means (202-1 to 202-5) for selecting a second set of
advertising information and a corresponding second
set of news information from a second category in the
list of predefined categories; (f) means for removing the first set of advertisement
information and the first set of news information
from the display; and (g) means (202C) for displaying the second set of
advertisement information and the second set of news
information in the screen saver on the display device
of the client computer for the predetermined period
of time.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
28 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the information
server comprising means (144) for periodically downloading
updated advertising information and updated news
information to the client computer.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system as recited in claim 1 comprising means (202E,
211) for updating the list of predefined categories based
on changed information on the information server.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
58 words
The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising: (h) means (192) for providing a plurality of display
scripts in the computer; and (i) means (234) for controlling with one of the display
scripts the display of the advertising information
and the news information in the categories selected
by the user and the display of a background image.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
43 words
The system as recited in claim 8 additionally comprising
means (202D) for rotating the plurality of display scripts
to control the display of the advertising information and
news information in the categories selected by the user
and the display of the background images.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the news
information comprises a primary and a secondary component.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
67 words
The system as recited in claim 10 wherein the means for
displaying the first set of advertisement information and
the first set of news information include means for
displaying the first set of advertisement information and
the primary component of each of the first set of news
information in the screen saver on the display device of
the computer for a predetermined period of time
(230a-230c, 232).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system as recited in claim 11 comprising means (208)
for displaying the secondary component upon user request.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system as recited in claim 11 comprising means (220)
for interrupting the displaying when the computer detects
any user input on an input device coupled to the computer.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
37 words
The system as recited in claim 11 comprising means for
interrupting the displaying when the computer detects user
selection of one of the displayed advertising information
and the primary portion of news information in the screen
saver.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
34 words
The system as recited in claim 14 comprising means (211)
responsive to selecting the advertising information for
automatically connecting the computer to a Web page on the
network corresponding to the selected advertising
information.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system as recited in claim 14 comprising means (208)
responsive to selecting the primary portion of the news
information for automatically displaying the secondary
portion of the news information.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
13 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the network is
the Internet.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the network is
the World Wide Web.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the client
computer is a personal computer.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the client
computer is any computer that supports a screen saver mode
of operation.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
185 words
A computer-implemented method of displaying information on
a computer having a local storage device and a display
device, the computer being coupled to a network and
receiving information from the network, the method
comprising the steps of: (a) storing advertising information and news information
downloaded from the network in the local storage
device of the computer (174, 184), wherein each of
the advertising information and the news information
is associated with at least one category in a list of
predefined categories, the list of predefined
categories being based on user selected preferences; (b) detecting a predefined idleness criteria for the
computer (201) wherein the predefined idleness
criteria is met when the computer fails to receive
user input for a predetermined amount of time; (c) selecting a first set of advertising information and
a corresponding first set of news information from a
first category in the list of predefined categories
(202); and (d) displaying the first set of advertising information
and the first set of news information in a screen
saver on the display device of the computer for a
predetermined period of time (180, 200).
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
56 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21
wherein the step of displaying includes the steps of
displaying, with continuous movement on the display
device, the first set of advertising information and the
first set of news information in the screen saver on the
display device of the computer for a predetermined period
of time (202D).
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
43 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 22
wherein the step of displaying further includes the step
of displaying, with continuous movement on the display, an
image together with said first set of advertising
information and said first set of news information (204).
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
15 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 23
wherein the image is an animated character.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
91 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21,
further including the steps of: (e) selecting a second set of advertising information and
a corresponding second set of news information from a
second category in the list of predefined categories
(202-1 to 202-5); (f) removing the first set of advertisement information
and the first set of news information; and (g) displaying the second set of advertisement
information and the second set of news information in
the screen saver on the display device of the
computer for the predetermined period of time (202C).
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
43 words
The computer-implemented method of claim 21 wherein the
computer is coupled to an information server on the
network, the computer-implemented method further
comprising the step of periodically downloading updated
advertising information and updated news information from
the information server to the computer (144).
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
25 words
The computer-implemented method of claim 21 wherein the
list of predefined categories is automatically updated
based on changed information on the information server
(202E, 211).
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
56 words
The computer-implemented method of claim 21 further
comprising the steps of: (h) providing a plurality of display scripts in the
computer (192); and (i) controlling (234) with one of the display scripts the
display of the advertising information and the news
information in the categories selected by the user and the
display of a background image.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
43 words
The computer-implemented method of claim 28 additionally
comprising the step of rotating the plurality of display
scripts to control the display of the advertising
information and news information in the categories
selected by the user and the display of the background
images (202D).
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
19 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21
wherein the news information comprises a primary and a
secondary component.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
69 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 30
wherein the step of displaying the first set of
advertisement information and the first set of news
information includes the step of displaying the first set
of advertisement information and the primary component of
each of the first set of news information in the screen
saver on the display device of the computer for a
predetermined period of time (230a-230c, 232).
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
19 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31
wherein the secondary component is displayed only upon
user request (208).
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
31 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31
wherein the step of displaying is interrupted when the
computer detects any user input on an input device coupled
to the computer (220).
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31
wherein the step of displaying is interrupted when the
computer detects user selection of one of the displayed
advertising information and the primary portion of news
information in the screen saver.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
34 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 34
wherein if the advertising information is selected, the
computer further automatically connects to a Web page on
the network corresponding to the selected advertising
information (211).
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
32 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 34
wherein if the primary portion of the news information is
selected, the computer further automatically displays the
secondary portion of the news information (208).
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
14 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21
wherein the network is the Internet.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
16 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21
wherein the network is the World Wide Web.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
15 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21
wherein the computer is a personal computer.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
22 words
The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21
wherein the computer is any computer that supports a
screen saver mode of operation.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.