Internet banner advertising process and apparatus having scalability

Claim 2

A process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet comprising the steps of: inquiring from the inquiring browser to a website authorizing display of banner advertising; providing an advertising system central controller having a plurality of groups of Internet ad addresses of each ad and classification information related to a frequency of desired ad play of each ad and reported play of each ad; sorting at the advertising system central controller the groups of Internet ad addresses relative to the classification information related to a frequency of desired ad play of each ad and reported play of each ad to obtain a plurality of sorted groups of Internet ad addresses; diverting the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller to obtain at least a portion of the plurality of groups of Internet ad addresses of each ad; displaying at the inquiring browser a frame set for location of an advertising banner; and, having the inquiring browser fetch and display at the frame set at least the first ad from at least one of the plurality of groups of Internet ad addresses.

Claim 3

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: providing the inquiring browser with code to enable sorting of the group of Internet ad addresses relative to the classification information related to the frequency of desired ad play at the inquiring browser; and, sorting at the inquiring browser the Internet ad addresses to form a sequential play list of ad addresses for the inquiring browser.

Claim 4

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 2 and comprising the further steps of: the sorted Internet ad addresses of each ad at the inquiring browser includes an assigned category ordering ad play.

Claim 5

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: comparing the group of Internet ad addresses of each ad to Internet ad addresses of previously played ads maintained in the inquiring browser; and, preventing repeated display of previously played ads in the inquiring browser.

Claim 6

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 4 and comprising the further steps of: the preventing repeated display of previously played ads in the inquiring browser includes preventing repeated display of previously played ads in the inquiring browser against a predetermined plurality of previously played ads.

Claim 7

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: the reported play of each ad includes information related to a request for ad play.

Claim 8

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: the reported play of each ad includes information related to actual ad play.

Claim 9

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: the sorted Internet ad addresses of each ad at the inquiring browser includes information related to ad play at browser other than the inquiring browser.

Claim 10

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: displaying at the inquiring browser a frame set for location of an advertising banner includes having the webpage define the frame set for location of the advertising banner.

Claim 11

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: displaying at the inquiring browser a frame set for location of an advertising banner includes having the advertising system central controller define on the browser the frame set for location of an advertising banner.

Claim 12

The process of banner display on an inquiring browser viewing a website over an Internet according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of: the reported play of each ad includes information related to a request for ad play.

Claim 13

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting a banner with advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means for providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers, the process comprising the steps of: providing the advertising system central controller having a group of Internet ad addresses to be viewed; sending the Internet ad addresses from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers; having the inquiring browsers fetch and play the banner with advertising from the at least one ad server; sending reports of play to the advertising system central controller; lodging with at least one ad address of the ad played a record of the ad play at the advertising system central controller; sorting the at least one ad address having the record of ad play with other ad addresses to obtain a sorted group of ad addresses related to the frequency of ad play; and, providing at least a portion of the sorted group of ad address to inquiring browsers at the advertising system central controller.

Claim 14

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting a banner with advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means for providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers, the process comprising the steps of: providing the advertising system central controller having a group of Internet ad addresses to be viewed; sending the Internet ad addresses from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers; having the inquiring browsers fetch and play the banner with advertising from the at least one ad server; sending reports of play to the advertising system central controller; lodging with at least one ad address of the ad played a record of the ad play at the advertising system central controller; sorting the at least one ad address having the record of ad play with other ad addresses to obtain a sorted group of ad addresses related to the frequency of ad play; and, providing at least a portion of the sorted group of ad address to inquiring browsers at the advertising system central controller.

Claim 15

The process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers according to claim 12 and including: the record of the ad play at the advertising system central controller includes a request for ad play.

Claim 16

The process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers according to claim 12 and including: the record of the ad play at the advertising system central controller includes a report of actual ad play.

Claim 17

The process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers according to claim 12 and including: the at least one browser places a frame for the display of the banner with advertising on the browser.

Claim 18

The process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers according to claim 12 and including: the at least one browser receives a frame for the display of the banner with advertising from the webpage.

Claim 19

The process of a providing a group of Internet ad addresses with classification information enabling ordering of ad play at one inquiring browser relative to frequency of ad play at other inquiring browsers according to claim 12 and including: the sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller includes a query string having an Internet address, a file designation in the system controller, a command designating recording of a record of data, identification of the ad, and a record of the play of the ad.

Claim 20

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of accumulating reports of ad play comprising the steps of: providing the advertising system central controller with a group of Internet ad addresses to be sequentially viewed; sending the Internet ad addresses of ads to be played from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers; having the inquiring browsers using the Internet ad addresses of ads to be played fetch and play the banner with advertising from the at least one ad server; sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller, the reports of play including an Internet address of the advertising system central controller, a file designation in the advertising system central controller, a command to record the report of play in the advertising system central controller, and a record designating the ad play; logging at least the record designating ad play.

Claim 21

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of accumulating reports of ad play comprising the steps of: providing the advertising system central controller with a group of Internet ad addresses to be sequentially viewed; sending the Internet ad addresses of ads to be played from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers; having the inquiring browsers using the Internet ad addresses of ads to be played fetch and play the banner with advertising from the at least one ad server; sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller, the reports of play including an Internet address of the advertising system central controller, a file designation in the advertising system central controller, a command to record the report of play in the advertising system central controller, and a record designating the ad play; logging at least the record designating ad play.

Claim 22

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of the logging step includes: serially recording the reports of play at the advertising system central controller; and, polling serially the reports of play to build a report including the record of ad play, and a number of times that the ad has been played.

Claim 23

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of: the logging of reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller occurs when the ad begins to play at the inquiring browser.

Claim 24

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of: the logging of reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller occurs when the ad finishes play at the inquiring browser.

Claim 25

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of: the sending the Internet ad addresses from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers occurs with one address being sent.

Claim 26

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of: the sending the Internet ad addresses from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers occurs with a group of ad addresses being sent.

Claim 27

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of: the logging of reports of ad play includes reporting a click.

Claim 28

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 18 comprising the steps of: delivering after the polling serially the reports of play step the record designating the fact of ad play, and a number of times that the ad has been played to a central record in the advertising system central controller for accumulation.

Claim 29

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of accumulating reports of ad play comprising the steps of: providing the advertising system central controller with a group of Internet ad addresses to be sequentially viewed; sending the Internet ad addresses from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers; having the inquiring browsers fetch and play the banner with advertising from the at least one ad server; sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller, the reports including an Internet address of the advertising system central controller, a command to record the report in the advertising system general controller, and the website on which the ad was played; batching the reports of play to build a report including the website on which the ads have been played and a number of times that ads have been played on the website.

Claim 30

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of accumulating reports of ad play comprising the steps of: providing the advertising system central controller with a group of Internet ad addresses to be sequentially viewed; sending the Internet ad addresses from the advertising system central controller upon request to the inquiring browsers; having the inquiring browsers fetch and play the banner with advertising from the at least one ad server; sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller, the reports including an Internet address of the advertising system central controller, a command to record the report in the advertising system general controller, and the website on which the ad was played; batching the reports of play to build a report including the website on which the ads have been played and a number of times that ads have been played on the website.

Claim 31

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 26 wherein the batching includes the steps of: serially recording the reports of play at the advertising system central controller; and, polling serially the reports of play to build a report including the website on which the ads have been played and a number of times that ads have been played on the website.

Claim 32

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 26 comprising the steps of: the sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller includes sending the reports at the beginning of ad play.

Claim 33

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 26 comprising the steps of: the sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller includes sending the reports at the end of ad play.

Claim 34

The process of accumulating reports of ad play according to claim 26 includes the step of: reporting the click on the banner of an ad being played.

Claim 35

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of playing banners with advertising to meet quotas of play comprising the steps of: providing to the advertising system central controller a plurality of ad addresses of ads to be played and a target number of times of ad play for each discrete ad; having a plurality of inquiring browsers call on a website permitting banner advertising; diverting the inquiring browsers to the advertising system central controller to receive the plurality of ad addresses of ads to be played; ordering a list of ad addresses of ads to be played with a least played ad relative to a target number of times of ad play first in the list of ad addresses of ads to be played and ads more frequently played relative to a target number of times of ad play second in the list of ad addresses of ads to be played; playing at the inquiring browsers the ads to be played with the least played ad relative to the target number of times of ad play first in the list for play and ads more frequently played relative to the target number of time of ad play second in the list for ad play; sending reports of ad play to the advertising system central controller of the play; and, reordering the list of ad addresses to be played at a time after another ad in the list for play becomes a least played ad relative to a target number of times of ad play.

Claim 36

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of playing banners with advertising to meet quotas of play comprising the steps of: providing to the advertising system central controller a plurality of ad addresses of ads to be played and a target number of times of ad play for each discrete ad; having a plurality of inquiring browsers call on a website permitting banner advertising; diverting the inquiring browsers to the advertising system central controller to receive the plurality of ad addresses of ads to be played; ordering a list of ad addresses of ads to be played with a least played ad relative to a target number of times of ad play first in the list of ad addresses of ads to be played and ads more frequently played relative to a target number of times of ad play second in the list of ad addresses of ads to be played; playing at the inquiring browsers the ads to be played with the least played ad relative to the target number of times of ad play first in the list for play and ads more frequently played relative to the target number of time of ad play second in the list for ad play; sending reports of ad play to the advertising system central controller of the play; and, reordering the list of ad addresses to be played at a time after another ad in the list for play becomes a least played ad relative to a target number of times of ad play.

Claim 37

The process of playing banners with advertising to meet quotas of play according to claim 31 comprising the steps of: the ordering and reordering steps occur at the advertising system central controller.

Claim 38

The process of playing banners with advertising to meet quotas of play according to claim 31 comprising the steps of: the ordering and reordering steps occur at the inquiring browser.

Claim 39

The process of playing banners with advertising to meet quotas of play according to claim 31 comprising the steps of: the reordering step occurs when another ad in the list for play becomes a least played ad relative to a target number of times of ad play.

Claim 40

The process of playing banners with advertising to meet quotas of play according to claim 31 comprising the steps of: the reordering step occurs at an interval after another ad in the list for play becomes a least played ad relative to a target number of times of ad play.

Claim 41

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of distributing a limited number of ads to be played from a large group of ads to be played comprising the steps of: classifying the websites at the advertising system central controller into discrete classification groups relating to the subject matter of the displayed web pages; parsing the Internet ad addresses at the advertising system central controller into discrete groups of lists relating to the subject matter of the displayed web pages; transmitting the identity of the website to the inquiring browser; transmitting from the inquiring browser the identity of the website to the advertising system central controller; determining the discrete classification group of the website; transmitting to the inquiring browser the discrete classification groups relating to the subject matter of the displayed web pages.

Claim 42

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; a process of distributing a limited number of ads to be played from a large group of ads to be played comprising the steps of: classifying the websites at the advertising system central controller into discrete classification groups relating to the subject matter of the displayed web pages; parsing the Internet ad addresses at the advertising system central controller into discrete groups of lists relating to the subject matter of the displayed web pages; transmitting the identity of the website to the inquiring browser; transmitting from the inquiring browser the identity of the website to the advertising system central controller; determining the discrete classification group of the website; transmitting to the inquiring browser the discrete classification groups relating to the subject matter of the displayed web pages.

Claim 43

The process of distributing a limited number of ads to be played from a large group of ads to be played according to claim 36 comprising the steps of: sorting the groups of ads for sequential play in the inquiring browser at the central controller.

Claim 44

The process of distributing a limited number of ads to be played from a large group of ads to be played according to claim 36 comprising the steps of: sorting the groups of ads for sequential play in the inquiring browser at the inquiring browser.

Claim 45

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; the process of playing ads at an inquiring browser including: having the browser fetch the address of an ad to be played from the advertising system central controller; and, sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller including a query string having an Internet address, a file designation in the system controller, a command designating recording of a record of data, identification of the ad, and a record of the play of the ad.

Claim 46

In an Internet ad system having: a website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising; at least one inquiring browser for viewing webpages from the website; at least one ad server for providing a banner with advertising; an advertising system central controller having Internet ad addresses for the at least one inquiring browser to enable retrieval of the banner with advertising over the Internet; and, means from providing from the advertising system central controller to the inquiring browser the Internet ad address of the at least one ad server to enable the at least one inquiring browser to fetch and display the banner with advertising on a webpage of the website; the process of playing ads at an inquiring browser including: having the browser fetch the address of an ad to be played from the advertising system central controller; and, sending reports of play from the inquiring browser to the advertising system central controller including a query string having an Internet address, a file designation in the system controller, a command designating recording of a record of data, identification of the ad, and a record of the play of the ad.

Claim 47

The process of playing ads at an inquiring browser according to claim 39 including: the sending of reports of play includes sending the identity of the website displaying webpages permitting banner advertising.

Claim 48

A process of Internet advertising comprising the steps of: providing a website permitting banner advertising; providing at least one inquiring browser to call on the website permitting banner advertising; providing and advertising system central controller having at least the Internet address of two ads to be played; diverting the inquiring browser when calling on the website to the advertising system central controller to acquire the Internet address of the two ads to be played; fetching from the inquiring browser the first ad to be played utilizing the Internet address of the first ad to be played; playing the first ad to be played for a designated period; during the designated period, fetching to memory of the browser the second ad to be played using the Internet address of the second ad to be played whereby when the first ad to be played plays for the designated period, at least a part of the second ad has been loaded to memory of the inquiring browser.

Claim 49

A process of Internet advertising comprising the steps of: providing a website permitting banner advertising; providing at least one inquiring browser to call on the website permitting banner advertising; providing and advertising system central controller having at least the Internet address of two ads to be played; diverting the inquiring browser when calling on the website to the advertising system central controller to acquire the Internet address of the two ads to be played; fetching from the inquiring browser the first ad to be played utilizing the Internet address of the first ad to be played; playing the first ad to be played for a designated period; during the designated period, fetching to memory of the browser the second ad to be played using the Internet address of the second ad to be played whereby when the first ad to be played plays for the designated period, at least a part of the second ad has been loaded to memory of the inquiring browser.