GB2364411A - Content targeting and use response recording in a communications network - Google Patents

Abstract

The system comprises a plurality of data display devices 10,11,12 and an administration computer 18 attached to a telecommunications network 20. The display device may be a computer 10, mobile telephone 12 or interactive television system 11. Identities are provided to the data display devices by the administration computer and held in a database along with a list of categories of content, eg adverts they should receive. A content provider computer 16 transfers files to the administration computer with a categorisation. The administration computer compares the categorisation marking with those for the identities and selects a number of display devices to receive the download. The download may take place in unused bandwidth. Each display device has a local storage to which the download is saved for later display. The display device also contains a recording means for storing user responses to the contents and transmits the data at periodic intervals to the admin computer. The admin computer may use this data to charge a fee to the content provider and to refine the display device categorisations. Where the network is a collection of devices attached to a central computer, the administration computer may calculate a fee based on the number of data files received by the central computer.

Description

2364411 A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

5 The present invention relates to a communication system and, in particular, to a communication system in which customized advertisements are delivered.

BACKGROUND

10 Recently, a wide range of interactive devices have been developed to provide information to consumers. These interactive devices include, for example, computers connected to various computer on-line services, wireless Internet devices, interactive television systems and the like. In particular, the popularity of computer on-line services has grown immensely in popularity over the last decade.

Computer on-line services are provided by a wide variety of different companies. In general, most computer on-line services are accessed via the Internet. The Internet is a global network of computers. The structure of the 20 Internet is a network backbone with networks branching from the backbone. These branches, in turn, have networks branching from them, and so on. Routers move information packets from network to network, until the information packets reach their destination. For a more detailed description of the structure and operation of the Internet, please refer to "The Internet Complete Reference," by 25 Harley Hahn and Rick Stout, published by McGraw-Hill, 1994.

One popular part of the Internet is the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web contains computers which display graphical and textual information. Computers which provide information on the World Wide Web are typically called "websites." A website is defined by an Internet address which has an 5 associated electronic page, often called a "home page." Generally, a home page is an electronic document which organizes the presentation of text, graphical images, audio and video into a desired display.

A user may access the Intemet using a home personal computer (PC) 10 equipped with a conventional modem. Special interface software is installed within the PC so that when the user wishes to access the Internet, an attached modem is automatically instructed to dial the telephone number associated with the users Internet service provider (ISP) . The user can then access information at any address accessible over the Internet. Two well-known software interfaces, for 15 example, are the Netscape Navigator developed by Netscape, Inc. and the Microsoft Internet Explorer developed by Microsoft Corporation.

Information exchanged over the Internet is typically encoded in Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) format. The HTML format is a scripting language 20 which is used to generate the home pages for different content providers. In this setting, a content provider is an individual or company that places information (content) on the Internet so that others can access it. As is well known in the art, the HTML format is a set of conventions for marking different portions of a document so that each portion appears in a distinctive format. For example, the 25 HTML format identifies or "tags" portions of a document to identify different categories of text (e.g., the title, header, body text, etc.). When a web browser accesses a HTML document, the web browser reads the embedded tags in the document so it appears formatted in. the specified manner.

A HTML document can also include hyper-links which allow a user to move 5 from one document to another document on the Internet. A hyper-link is an underlined or otherwise emphasized portion of text which, when selected using an input device such as a mouse, activates a software connection module which allows the user to jump between documents (i.e., within the same website or to other websites). Hyper-links are well known in the art, and are sometimes 10 referred to as anchors. Although the Internet and the World Wide Web, together with other interactive devices, are used widely to share information among different users, the full range of possibilities for use of these interactive computer services have not yet been fully developed.

15 As the popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web has increased over the years, more companies are trying to find ways of promoting their product in a cost-effective manner. Thus, there has been a proliferation of corporate advertising across the Internet. For example, some companies such as Yahoo Corporation offer free services, such as the ability to search for particular sites on 20 the Internet, but post advertising messages to consumers to help offset the cost of their service. It is difficult to be effective in delivering advertisements to those consumers most likely to use the product or service being offered. Evidence has shown that the click through rate on website banner advertisements (i.e. the number of times that a user "clicks" on an advertisement to request further 25 information) has dropped from 10% two years ago to 0.5% today. Therefore, a tremendous amount of advertising is wasted on promoting goods or services to an improper audience. As the number of people accessing the Internet increases, it will become more important to specifically target advertising to those individuals most likely to purchase the goods or services being offered. It will also be important for advertisers to know how effective a particular advertisement has become by tracking the responses of individual consumers. Unfortunately, there 5 is currently no convenient mechanism for predetermining which users might be interested in a particular category of advertised goods or services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

10 The present invention provides a communication system comprising:

an administration computer which stores.and processes data; a plurality of data display devices each having a data storage means and a visual display for displaying data to users of the data display devices; a content provider computer which stores and processes data and which is 15 connected to the administration computer and communicates therewith; and a telecommunications network to which the plurality of data display devices are all connected, the telecommunications network comprising a telecommunications computer through which are channelled data communications sent via the telecommunications network to and from the plurality of data display devices; 20 wherein; the administration computer has identifier means which allocates to each of the plurality of data display devices a unique identifier code and the administration computer has database means in which all of the identifier codes are stored along with categorisation information relevant to the users of the data display devices; 25 the content provider computer transmits to the administration computer content data files for onward transmission to a selected set of the plurality of data display devices and the content provider computer also transmits to the administration computer categorisation data associated with the content data files and the administration computer compares the received categorisation data with the categorisation information stored in the database means of the administration computer to select which data display devices should receive the content data 5 files in a first data transmission stage; the administration computer controls the telecommunications computer to channel data communications based on the content data files via the telecommunications network to and from the selected data display devices; each data display device has recording means which maintains a user record 10 which data files have been displayed to the user thereof and which periodically via the telecommunications network transmits to the administration computer a record of the displayed data files; and wherein the administration computer processes the user record and incorporates information generated from the user record in the categorisation of 15 information stored for each data display device and/or uses information generated from the user record to categorise which type of data files are selected for display by the user of each data display device and to compare the categorisation. information associated with users displaying a particular user record with categorisation information associated with other users to select further data 20 display devices to receive the content data files in a subsequent data transmission stage.

The system of the present invention overcomes the difficulties discussed above by providing an on-line advertising service which can custom tailor 25 specific advertisements to particular consumers and track consumer responses to the advertisements. In particular, the present invention is a system and method for delivering customized advertisements to users of interactive devices. The interactive devices of the present invention can include computers connected to on-line services, interactive kiosks, interactive television systems, wireless Internet devices and the like. In broad terms, the present invention includes a communications system having at least four different entities which communicate 5 with each other. The entities include: a content provider, an administrator, a digital service provider and a consumer.

In the preferred embodiment, the invention is directed to delivering custom advertisements to consumers while they are browsing the Internet, viewing web 10 pages through their preferred browser. Preferably, when a consumer accesses the Internet through his digital service provider, the consumer device accesses the administration computer. The administration computer then sends the consumer device personalised custom content to be viewed by the consumer. The administration software on the client device then schedules the playing of the 15 content, and will play said content at the appropriate time. The consumer device then tracks the consumer's response to the personalised custom content and uploads those interactions to the administration computer.

The administration computer is also connected to the Internet. The 20 administration computer stores demographic information about consumers, and sends personalised custom content to the consumers based on the consumers' demographic profiles and preferences profiles and tracks consumer responses to the customized advertisements, building dynamic profiles on the users. For example, when logging on to an online service, a consumer with a demographic 25 profile indicating an interest in fanning would be sent personalised custom content for farm products. Customer requests for more information about the advertised farm products are also monitored.

A consumer who wishes to receive customized advertisements first registers with the administration computer by entering pertinent demographic information into a demographic database stored by the administration computer. This 5 provides a demographic profile of the consumer. In return, the administration computer assigns the consumer a unique identifier. The consumer is sent unique client software, which enhances the consumer's computer so that personalised custom content can be played with no reduction in bandwidth and enhancing the consumer experience. The client software will also track the users interactions with the content and upload those interactions to the administration computer.

The system of the present invention filters advertisements for display to particular consumers based not only upon an initial user categorisation using basic data about each user but also uses dynamically maintained user record to 15 track the response of users to each advertisment, and to use those responses to i'dentif y groups of similar users which are likely candidates for a similar response. This combination of objective and collaborative or behavioural filtering based on real-time processing of behavioural information is a powerful process which is very effective in identifying and developing groups of users likely to respond 20 favourably.

The categorisation information stored in the database means of the administration computer in relation to a given data display device thus preferably includes user profile information, and the administration computer processes the 25 user record obtained from a plurality of data display devices in the first data transmission stage and compares user profile information for users displaying a particular user record to user profile information for other users to select further data display devices to receive the content data files in a further data transmission stage.

The recording means of each data display device preferably records in the 5 user record whether the user of the device responded to a displayed data file by using the data display device to request further related information for display. For example at least some of the content data files are adapted to provide a data link to a further data file on receipt of an appropriate user response and the recording means of each data display device records in the user record whether 10 the user of the device responded by following such a data link when the data display device displays the content data file.

In a preferred embodiment the content data file is an advertisement adapted to provide a data link to a further data file on receipt of an appropriate user 15 response, and the data display device records at least whether the user responds by linking to the further data file or ignoring the data file comprising the advertisement or actively closing/deleting the data file comprising the advertisement. Additionally or alternatively the content data file is an advertisement adapted to provide a data link to a further data file on receipt of an 20 appropriate user response, and for each of the advertisements of each of the data files the administration computer determines from the record of displayed data files received from the data display devices an advertisement fee based on the number of times a data link to such a data file has been followed by the users of the data display devices.

The content provider (e.g. advertiser) also registers with the administration computer before it can send advertisements through the administration computer to consumers. During registration, the administration computer assigns a custom member code to the content provider, the content provider records this code locally and uses it to access the administration computer's content provider interface - a Content manager program. Once registered a content provider can 5 log onto Content manager using its member code. From the Content manager, the content provider can design new campaigns, upload content and study results of campaigns past and present.

After logging onto Content manager, the content provider (advertiser) inputs 10 demographic information regarding consumers it wishes to target. The administration computer then calculates the number of subscribers that fit the profile supplied by the content provider. The content provider then uploads the content it wishes to be shown to the consumers to the administration computer. Then when a registered consumer (who fits the content provider's specified 15 profile) accesses the Internet through their digital service provider, the administration computer transfers the personalised content to the consumer's computer. The personalised content carries with it instructions as to when it should be played. The instructions are read by the client software and the content is played to the consumer at the appropriate time. The client software then tracks 20 the consumers interactions with the content and transfers those statistics to the administration computer. Each impression sent out is related to a digital service provider, using this information the administration computer can track the volume of content that is served through each digital service provider.

25 In addition to matching content to consumers the administration computer can fully customize the content to the consumers pre-defined preferences, be it colour, music, language or style. In addition the administration computer can customize the content according to the area the consumer lives in, whether they have seen an advertisement for the product before or if they have already bought products from the brand that is advertising before. Any or all of these factors may be used to identify candidate other users to select further data display 5 devices to receive the content data files in the subsequent data transmission stage.

Another feature of the invention is directed to monitoring the particular personalised content which are viewed by particular consumers. With this information, advertisers can pay for advertising directed at specific demographic 10 target groups. Additionally, bills can be calculated based on actual delivery of the content to pertinent consumers.

In particular, the telecommunications network comprises a plurality of telecommunications computers, accessible through one or more service providers 15 (for example a provider of a website portal enabling access to internet services, a digital entertainment service broadcaster, or a like supplier of digital information and/or entertainment services), through which are channelled communications sent via the telecommunications network to and from the plurality of data display devices; the administration computer stores in the database means thereof for 20 each data display device information regarding which telecommunication computer and/or which service provider operates to channel communications to and from the data display device; and the administration computer calculates for each telecommunications computer and/or for each service provider from the record of displayed data files received thereby from the data display devices a 25 revenue fee based on the number of times advertisements have been displayed by data display devices associated with the telecommunications computer and/or the or each service provider as the case may be.

For example that means in one alternative that an internet service provider or a WAP providers or a digital tv provider through whom the user/device connects to the internet will receive fees from the ads those users/devices view.

5 Additionally or alternatively users can subscribe to the system from a digital service provider and connect to the Internet through any telecommunication providerso that there is no need for a user to be tied to one telecommunication provider. In this case the service provider will receive a fee for every ad their users view, but the telecommunication provider may receive nothing. Thus it is 10 the company that gets the user to subscribe that receives the fee for the ads the users see.

The invention also supports custom content which can contain hyper-links to other information. The hyper-links typically direct the user's Internet browser to 15 access different websites on the Internet. For example, if a consumer wishes to obtain additional information about an advertised product or service, the consumer may simply use a mouse to select an embedded hyper- link in the custom advertisement and be immediately transported to an advertiser's website. At the advertiser's website, the user may receive a directed sales pitch, more 20 information or a purchase order request form. Depending on the format of the content further interactivity is possible, including instant purchases direct from the client content player.

An ISP is a service which provides Internet access to consumers. Examples 25 of ISPs include American On-line, the Microsoft Network, Prodigy, CompuServe, and Freeserve. Many users pay monthly access fees to the Internet providers to obtain local telephone connections, a variety of help services and an organized format for accessing the Internet.

When a consumer registers with the administration computer, the 5 administration computer stores in its database information about the consumer's ISP, the computer storing this information in the demographic profile. The system of the present invention can then monitor the number of advertisements viewed by consumers associated with a particular ISP. Accordingly, the system of the present invention can pay an ISP based on the number of advertisements viewed 10 by its consumers. The ISPs can then use this advertising revenue to reduce consumer access fees.

In a preferred mode of operation, the administration computer transmits the relevant unique identifier code to each of the plurality of data display devices via 15 the telecommunications network and each of the data display devices stores the unique identifier code relevant thereto in the data storage means thereof,

each display device, during periods when the device is connected to the telecommunications network to send and receive messages, transmits to the administration computer an alert signal alerting the administration computer that 20 the device is connected to the telecommunications network; upon receipt of an alert signal from a data display device the administration computer transmits to the data display device the content data files which have been selected as relevant to the data display device; each data display device stores the content data files received thereby in the data 25 storage means thereof, each data display device periodically displays to the user thereof data from the data files received from the administration computer, such data being displayed interspersed with other displayed data.

5 In a further aspect, the invention comprises a method of delivering information content and in particular an advertisement to users using a communication system as above described comprising the steps of:

storing an information file and in particular an advertisement as a data file in the content provider computer; 10 categorising the information file and storing the categorisation. as a data file attached to the relevant information data file in the content provider computer; transmitting the information data file and the categorisation data file to the administration computer; comparing the categorisation data file for the information data file with the 15 categorisation information regarding the data display devices which is stored by the administration computer to thereby select which data display devices should receive the information data file in a first data transmission stage; transmitting the information data file to the selected data display devices for subsequent display to the users thereof, 20 receiving from each data display device a user record of which data files have been displayed to the user thereof, processing the user record and incorporates information generated from the user record in the categorisation of information stored for each data display device and/or uses information generated from the user record to categorise which type 25 of advertisement data files are selected for display by the user of each data display device and to compare the categorisation information associated with users displaying a particular user record with categorisation information associated with other users to thereby select which data display devices should receive the information data file in a subsequent data transmission stage; transmitting the information data file to the selected data display devices for subsequent display to the users thereof. 5 The method preferably comprises additionally the steps of. monitoring whether a user of a data display device reacts to a displayed data file by requesting further related inforination. for display; recording for each displayed data file a record of responses recording the number 10 of times further related information has been requested; storing in the database means of the administration computer the records of responses for all of the data display devices; and using the stored records of responses as categorisation information in the selection of data display devices receiving an information data file.

The method used with an advertisement display file provides a convenient way to determine an advertisement fee to be charged to an advertiser and then preferably comprises additionally the steps of: using the data storage means of each data display device to store locally the 20 advertisement data file transmitted thereto; using the recording means of each data display device to record how many times the information is displayed to the user of the data display device; transmitting periodically from each data display device to the administration computer a record of the number of times the advertisement is displayed; and 25 using the administration computer to calculate from the records of advertisement displays received thereby an advertisement fee to be charged to the advertiser.

In particular the method comprises additionally the steps of. using a telecommunications network which comprises a plurality of telecommunications computers, accessible through one or more service providers, through which are channelled communications sent via the telecommunications 5 network to and from the plurality of data display devices; recording in the database means of the administration computer information regarding the data display devices devices associated with each telecommunications computer and/or each service provider and in particular regarding the data display devices obtaining information from each 10 telecommunications computer and/or via each service provider; and calculating for each telecommunications computer from the records of displayed advertisements a revenue fee to be paid to the operator of the telecommunications computer and/or service provider, the revenue fee being calculated as a function of the number of times advertisements have been displayed to users of data 15 display devices associated with the telecommunications computer and/or service provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

20 A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a high level block diagram of a preferred system of the present invention and illustrates the interaction between the consumer device, content provider computer, and the administration computer; 25 FIG. 2 is a further block diagram of a preferred system of Figure I showing the flow of information among the consumer computer, content provider computer and administration computer through a communication medium; FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a consumer/content provider registration process conducted by the system of Figure I and 2; FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a content delivery process conducted by the system of figures I and 2 5 FIG. 5 is a graphic illustration of one aspect of operations of the system of Figures 1 and 2 showing the flow of information through a recommendations module; and FIG. 6 is a graphic illustration of a second aspect of the operation of the system of Figures I and 2 illustrating flow of the content-consumer interaction 10 statistics to the administration computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention relates to a communications system for providing 15 customized advertisements to consumers and a method of operation of such a system. In a preferred embodiment, the communication system generates the customized advertisements whenever a consumer accesses an online service.

Although the present invention is described herein with reference to an Internet based communications system, the invention is not so limited, and can be used in 20 a variety of other contexts in which it is desirable to provide customized advertisements to consumers.

To facilitate a complete understanding of the invention, the remainder of the detailed description is arranged within the following sections and subsections:

1. Glossary of Terms and Acronyms 11. Overview of a preferred embodiment of Communication System III. Implementation of the preferred embodiment of Communication System A. The Communication Medium B. The Administration Computer IV. Consumer/ Content Provider Registration I. Glossary of Terms and Acronyms The following terms and acronyms are used throughout the detailed description:

Client-Server:

A model of interaction in a distributed system in which a program at one site sends a request to a program at another site and waits for aresponse. The requesting program is called the "client," and the program which responds to the 15 request is called the "server." In the context of the World Wide Web, the client is typically a "Web browser" which runs on a user's computer; the program which responds to Web browser requests at a website is commonly referred to as a "Web server.11 20 Internet:

A collection of interconnected (public and/or private) networks that are linked together by a set of standard protocols to form a distributed network. While this term is intended to refer to what is now commonly known as the Internet, it is also intended to encompass variations which may be made in the 25 future, including changes and additions to existing standard protocols.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML):

A standard coding convention and set of codes for attaching presentation and linking attributes to informational content within documents. (HTML 2. 0 is currently the primary standard used for generating Web documents.) During a 5 document authoring stage, the HTML codes (referred to as "tags") are embedded within the informational content of the document. When the Web document (or "HTML document") is subsequently transferred from a Web server to a Web browser, the codes are interpreted by the Web browser and used to parse and display the document. In addition to specifying how the Web browser is to 10 display the document, HTML tags can be used to create links to other websites and other Web documents (commonly referred to as "hyper-links"). For more information on HTML, see Ian S. Graham, The HTML Source Book, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1995 (ISBN 0471-11894-4).

15 Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP):

The standard World Wide Web client-server protocol used for the exchange of information (such as HTML documents, and client requests for such documents) between a Web browser and a Web server. HTTP includes a number of different types of messages which can be sent from the client to the server to 20 request different types of server actions. For example, a "GET" message, which has the format GET, causes the server to return the document or file located at the specified Universal Resource Locator (URL).

Transmission Control Protocol/Intemet Protocol (TCP/IP):

25 A standard Internet protocol (or set of protocols) which specifies how two computers exchange data over the Internet. TCP/IP handles issues such as packetization, packet addressing, handshaking and error correction. For more information on TCPAP, see Volumes I, II and III of Comer and Stevens, Internetworking with TCP/IP, Prentice Hall, Inc., ISBNs 0-13-468505-9 (vol. 1), 0-13-125527-4 (vol. 11), and 0-13-474222-2 (vol. 111).

Uniform Resource Locator (URL):

A unique address which fully specifies the location of a file or other resource on the Internet. The general format of a URL is protocol://machine address: port/path/filename. The port specification is optional, and if none is entered by the user, the Web browser defaults to the standard port for whatever

10 service is specified as the protocol. For example, if HTTP is specified as the protocol, the Web browser will use the HTTP default port.

World Wide Web ("Web"):

Used herein to refer generally to both (1) a distributed collection of 15 interlinked, user-viewable hypertext documents (commonly referred to as "Web documents" or "electronic pages" or "home pages") that are accessible via the Internet, and (2) the client and server software components which provide user access to such documents using standardized Internet protocols. Currently, the primary standard protocol for allowing applications to locate and acquire Web 20 documents is the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and the electronic pages are encoded using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). However, the terms "Web" and "World Wide Web" are intended to encompass future markup languages and transport protocols which may be used in place of or in addition to the HyperText Markup Language and the HyperText Transfer Protocol.

II. Overview Of The Preferred Interactive Communication System This section provides an overview of an interactive communication system in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A block diagram of the 5 preferred interactive communication system is shown in FIG. 1. The interactive communication system 5 includes consumer devices 10, 11 and 12, digital service provider computers 13, 14, 15, a content provider computer 16 and n administration computer 18 which communicate with each other by use of a communication medium 20, such as the Internet.

In operation of the preferred system of the present invention, a consumer directs the consumer computer 10 to connect to a digital service through the consumers Internet service provider 13. Once the consumer computer is connected to the Internet 20 the client computer 10 communicates with the 15 administration computer 18 via the Internet 20. Once the consumer computer 10 establishes a communication link with the administration computer 18, the consumer computer 10 transfers a unique identifier signal 34(see Figure 2) to the administration computer 18. The administration computer 18 uses the unique identifier signal to find in a database stored thereby demographic and dynamic 20 profiles stored for the consumer. Using these profiles the administration computer selects advertisements that match the consumers profile. The administration computer then transfers data files 32 containing the advertisements to the consumer computer 10.

25 When the consumer computer 10 receives the data files 32, it plays the advertisements at appropriate scheduled times or events. Client software 36 (see Figure 2) will have been loaded already onto the consumer computer 10. This will be done either when a consumer registers with an administration corporation which runs the administrator computer 18 (in the example in the figures referred to respectively as ZedGravity and the Zedgravity Computer), or when the consumer registers with the Internet Service Provider 13. The consumer computer 5 then records any interactions the consumer has with the data files and at the next available opportunity sends said interaction statistics to the administration computer 18 along with the consumers unique identifier code 34. The administration computer 18 uses the consumers unique identifier code 34, which is associated with a unique Internet Service Provider 13 to track the number of 10 advertisements viewed by the consumer computers 10 connected to a particular Internet Service Provider computer 13.

A single administration computer 18 also supports an interactive communication system with multiple consumer computers 10 and multiple 15 Internet Service Provider computers 13. In the preferred embodiment, the administration computer 18 is configured to respond to each of the consumer computers in a timely manner. It should be noted that a single administration computer 18 can manage requests from numerous consumer computers 10 and Internet Service Providers 13 and act like a "clearing house" for advertisements.

In other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the administration computer 18 can also send advertisements to wireless Internet devices 12 and interactive televisions I I through the appropriate service providers 15 and 14.

25 Referring to FIG. 4, an overview of the process of a consumer computer requesting personalised advertisement data files is shown. At start step 300 the process initialises and moves to step 302 wherein the consumer computer 10 logs onto its allocated Internet Service Provider computer 13 to access the Internet. The consumer computer 10 sends its unique identifier to the administration computer 18 and requests data files 32 from the administration computer 18.

5 Moving to step 304, the administration computer uses the unique identifier code 34 to find the profile of the consumer in the database stored thereby.

Proceeding to step 306, the administration computer sends the consumer profile to a Recommendations Engine where advertisements appropriate for the consumer are selected. Proceeding to step 308, the administration computer pulls 10 the data files for the appropriate advertisements out of a datastore. The data files containing the advertisements can either be stored by the administration computer itself or the administration computer can store addresses for the data files which are downloaded from other computers (e.g. the computers of the advertisers) when necessary. At step 310 the content is personalised in the 15 Personalisation module of the administration computer (e.g. by adding the name of the consumer in advertisements). Proceeding to step 312 the selected personalised content is delivered to the consumer computer by a delivery module of the administration computer. Proceeding to step 314 the content is played on the consumer computer 10 and interaction statistics are uploaded to the 20 administration computer 18. Proceeding to step 316 the interaction statistics together with the appropriate information concerning the advertisements are sent to a Billing Module. The Billing Module then computes this raw data and produces invoice information for the content provider 16 (i.e. advertiser) and debit note information for the consumers' Internet service provider 13. Moving 25 onto step 318 said invoice and debit note information is transferred to the Financial Module. The Financial Module then takes that information and moving onto step 320 invoices the content provider and at step 322 credits the Internet Service Provider 13.

In Figure 2 it can be seen that the consumers desk top computer 10 has 5 loaded on it unique identifier software 34 and client software 36. It is envisaged that this software will be downloaded to the consumer desktop computer 10 and will always be maintained on the local hard disk of the consumer desktop machine 10. Also, maintained on the hard disk of the consumer desktop computer 10 will be a client content scheduler software package.

It is envisaged that the software on the consumer desktop computer 10 can be delivered to the machine either by the consumer directly accessing a website maintained by the administrator running the administration computer 18 or alternatively the software could be part of software supplied on e.g. a CD-Rom 15 when a consumer first registers with an Internet Service Provider. It is believed that there will be considerable co-operation between the Internet Service Providers and the administrator running the administration computer 18.

Throughout operation of the system the administration computer 18 will for 20 each new advertisement received decide which consumer desktop computers should receive the advertisement. Since the consumer desktop computers 10 will not be connected continuously to the Internet, the administration computer 18 will prepare a store of files relating to suitable advertisements, which stored files are downloaded to the consumer desktop computer 10 the next time that the 25 consumer uses the consumer desktop computer 10 to access the Internet Service Provider computer 13.

The downloaded advertisement data files will be time-limited. They will contain an element which will allow the advertisements to be used only for a specified period of time. Thus, they will in effect be self- deleting. The administration computer 18 will not send instructions to delete advertisements 5 from the hard disks of the consumer desktop computers 10, because the advertisements will expire with time in any event. The advertisements will be continually replenished by the administration computer 18. The advertisements will be downloaded to the consumer desktop computer 10 in a non-obtrusive fashion. This will be done using software called BACKWEB which operates 10 using a protocol called UDP. Whenever a consumer uses his consumer desktop computer 10 to access an Internet Service Provider 13 then the consumer desktop computer 10 will not continuously use the full bandwidth of the connection. When bandwidth becomes available then the client software 36 already present on the hard disk of the consumer desktop 10 will use the available bandwidth to 15 download from the administration computer a new set of advertisements. This will happen without the consumer being aware, because the performance of his machine will not be affected and the downloading of e. g. web pages from the Internet Service Provider 13 will always take preference to the downloading of advertisements from the administration computer 18.

The client content scheduler software on the consumer desktop 10 schedules the downloaded advertisements to appear at specific times. For instance, the client content scheduler could introduce "interstitial" advertisements. These advertisements would appear during a period when the web browser software on 25 the consumer desktop computer 10 has downloaded a new web page. The advertisement would be displayed on the screen directly from the hard disk of the consumer desk top machine 10 and this could happen virtually instantaneously, giving the consumer good content to watch rather than the tedious display of a downloading web page. Additionally, or alternatively, banner advertisements could scroll across the screen at random times.

5 Software downloaded onto the consumer desktop machine 10 is not intrusive in that it does not monitor all of the sites viewed by the consumer using the consumer desktop 10. It only records information regarding what advertisements have been seen by the consumer and which of the advertisements interested the consumer (noted because the consumer clicked on the 10 advertisement to receive more information).

The administrator running the administration computer 18 will receive payment by taking a percentage of the advertising revenues which it collects on behalf of the Internet Service Providers from the advertisers.

III. Implementation Of The Preferred Interactive Communication System A. The Communication Medium 20 Focussing now on the communication medium 20 as shown in FIG. 2, the presently preferred computer medium is the Internet which is a global network of computers. The structure of the Internet, which is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, includes a network backbone with networks branching from the backbone. These branches, in turn, have networks branching from them, and so 25 on. Routers move information packets between network levels, and then from network to network, until the packet reaches the neighbourhood of its destination.

From the destination, the destination network's host directs the information packet to the appropriate terminal, or node. For a more detailed description of the structure and operation of the Internet, please refer to "The Internet Complete Reference," by Harley Hahn and Rick Stout, published by McGraw-Hill, 1994.

5 As additions or alternatives, the communication medium 20 can include interactive television networks, telephone networks, wireless data transmission systems, two-way cable systems, customized computer networks, interactive kiosk networks, automatic teller machine networks, and the like.

10 B. The Administration Computer The Administration computer 18 shown in Figure 2 maintains both consumer information and content provider information, and generates customized content in real time, which can be played to consumers while they are 15 browsing the Internet. The Administration computer 18 is a conventional computer which is equipped with a communications link to the Internet 33. The Administration computer runs an appropriate operating system such as Unix, Windows NT or the like. As is conventional, the preferred operating system includes a TCP/IP stack, which handles all incoming and outgoing message 20 traffic passed over the Internet 33.

The Administration computer 18 utilises a variety of modules to store consumer/customer information and for generating and targeting content 32 to consumers. The modules include the delivery module 181, and the content 25 manager module 186 which act as interfaces to the consumer computer and the content provider computer, respectively. The registration module 182 allows consumers to register with the Administration computer. The recommendation module 183 is used to select the best-suited content for the consumer, using the information supplied during registration. The content stacker 184 is used for saving/ retrieving information items. The content manager module 186 is an interface between the content provider computer 16 and the Administration 5 computer, for the acceptance and delivery of content to the consumer computer 10. The statistics module 189 maintains a record of the interactions from each consumer computer on the content delivered by the delivery module 181. The reports module 189 provides detailed information on the effectiveness of a campaign. The billing module 187 is used for accounting purposes.

In the preferred embodiment, the Administration computer (Figure 2) will, in addition to software implementing the above, be using third party software such as Apache's web server software in order to process requests from the content provider computer 16. Other software used by the Administration 15 computer includes push technology for 'politely' delivering information items to the consumers.

When a consumer computer 12 first accesses the Administration computer 18, the registration module 182 assigns to the consumer a unique identifier and 20 the identifier is stored on the consumer computer. Then, the consumer enters objective profile information, such as, age, sex, income, interests, consumer preferences, etc. Once the consumer enters the data, the registration module 182 stores the data as a profile in the Administration's registration database. A flow diagram of the consumer registration process is illustrated in Figure 3.

When a content provider registers with the Administration computer 18 through the content manager module 186, the content provider enters registration details. Once the content provider enters the registration data, the content manager stores the data in the appropriate database. The Administration computer then assigns an identification number which is stored locally for future use (Figure 3).

The flow of information in the Administration computer is illustrated in Figures 2 and 4, where an information item is prepared for delivery to a consumer computer after connecting to the Administration computer 302 through the deliver module 18 1. Initially, items are requested for a specific consumer, using 10 their unique ID. If the consumer has been registered in the Administration computer, the user profile is retrieved from the database using the consumer's unique ID 304.

The consumer profile is then passed to the recommendation module (state 15 306), where an algorithm accepts a number of consumer parameters and content parameters and returns a number of items (content) to be forwarded to the consumer for viewing.

Proceeding to state 3 10 the selected content from the recommendation 20 module is then returned to the consumer computer (state 314) where the content is played (state 314) and interactions are monitored and stored in the Administration computer.

Interaction statistics are then sent to the report module for viewing and for 25 billing processing (state 316).

Recommendations module The recommendations module consists of functions, which accept consumer and content data, and by matching this information it produces the bestsuited content for a consumer (see Figure 5).

Both consumer and content data is extracted from the registration of consumers and content. In particular the algorithm matches the consumer data with the content data by:

10 Objective filtering i.e. matching statically the consumer's profile (Objective preference) with the profile and interests specified for an information item (Objective profile).

Collaborative filtering The system will use its knowledge. of consumers' previous interactions with 15 items to find groups of people with similar interaction histories. When a consumer who has been identified as typical of a group reacts positively to an item, the system will then recommend the item to the rest of that group.

On returning from the recommendations module, the recommended information 20 items (content) are delivered to the consumer.

Statistics module The statistics module is used to record and manage the interactions of consumers to delivered content (Figure 6). It also interfaces with the report module in order to provide the latest information of an on-going campaign. This 25 is one of the most important processes because the information recorded will be used in future campaigns, by the system which will intelligently target the appropriate audience and provide content that is useful, relevant and entertaining.

Report module This module will give content providers valuable information on their 5 campaigns and enable them to make the necessary modifications as soon as a campaign has started. It will also assist them to better manage their campaigns.

A report can be compiled with all or some of the infonnation listed below:

1. Total impressions submitted; 2. Total click-through per impression; 10 3. Click-through rates by consumer; 4. Click-through rates by region; 5. Banner cost per click; 6. Click-through rates by DSP (Digital Service Provider).

Content Manager module 15 This module provides the necessary facilities for the content providers to launch and manage their campaigns effectively. Each content provider will initially be registered through the 'Service Administrator' front-end and receive a unique ID. After registration, a content provider will be able to:

Create content using the Content Wizard; 20 Upload content using the batch loader; List the uploaded content and their properties.

The Content Wizard is a tool that simplifies the process of creating content (information items) by using templates. Each information item created must 25 conform to certain specifications in order to be played by the media player supplied with the client software. The Content Wizard with its templates standardises the creation of the information items. The content providers need only supply one or more of the following files and item characteristics in order to create an information item:

5 A teaser, in the form of animated graphics or a banner which will first appear on the subscriber's screen; A video (mpeg) or a flash (swf) file which will be played following the subscriber's request for more information after seeing the teaser; Characteristics of the information item; i.e. start and expiry date, number of 10 times to be played, etc.

After creating an information item, the content provider will upload the content on the Administration computer through the content manager. During the upload procedure, the content provider will specify the objective profile of the item in order to target accurately the desired subscribers when is activated.

Uploading the content will enable the content provider to:

Preview the item before activating it; Activate the item so it will start being sent to subscribers; Remove the item; 20 Provide details on the item characteristics; Report on the item campaign.

Client Software The client software will be installed on the consumer's computer and receive information items every time is connected to the Internet. The client software 25 consists of the following components:

a content player; and a content play-controller; The content player (or the media player) can play 'flash' and 'video' files, and can also act as a browser. The consumer can also use it to modify their profile.

5 The play-controller (although configurable) will allow playing content:

During the logon and logoff sessions; and Only when on-line (i.e. connected to the Internet); and Selecting which content to play based on a prioritisation algorithm.

10 Client Content Prioritisation Content Prioritisation' is a method for the prioritising of content items to be played on a consumer computer. This takes place on the consumer computer following the download of content from the Administration computer.

15 The sequence of events that take place during the prioritising process is summarised below:

A consumer of specific characteristics has been chosen to receive content, to be played at an appropriate time on its computer; The content itself, comprising of more than one items, has certain 20 characteristics that has matched those of the consumer and it is considered to be appropriate for play; The content has additional characteristics that determine a priority value; The prioritiser looks at the priority value of the available content and plays the content of the highest priority value.

A prioritising policy will be formed to maximise the long-term business benefits that can be achieved from playing a particular piece of content.

The 'prioritiser' will be responsible for finding the best content to be played from a list of items downloaded on the consumer computer. It evaluates a weighting function using the indices (weighting variables) described below, and 5 finds the content that will maximise the long-term business benefits for the content provider and Administration. The long-term business benefits include purchasing of the product illustrated by the content and/or the positive response to future content that is displayed on the consumer's computer.

10 The following 'weighting variables' have been determined in evaluating the weighting function:

URG - Urgency of displaying a content, based on its remaining lifetime; VAL - Value; 15 PRI - Priority assigned by the service administrator.

The function that computes the priority value (PV) will be of the form:

PV = URG VAL PRI (1) Recommended ranges are given below, in the form of functions, where applicable:

I. Urgency of displaying a content item - URG This function is derived from information supplied by the content provider and includes:

TE Expiry date/time of a campaign; T Cur-rent date/time; no Requested number of occurrences; n - Number of times a content has been played; I Interval between displays of content; S - Number of times a different item must play before the same item can play again.

URG = 1/(TF- (T + ((no - n) (s + Note that as T => TE, URG becomes infinite, i.e. the highest possible urgency is 5 demanded.

2. Value of Content - VAL VAL is an integer representing a unit price of the content, in terms of the amount 10 of money paid by the content provider to Administration for each display of the content.

3. Priority - PRI 15 PRI is a priority assigned by the administrator of the service. This is intended to allow prompt display of information which is believed to be important, for instance information relating to upcoming service outages.

IV. Consumer/Content Provider Registration With reference to event A, the consumer computer 10 registers with the administration computer 18 by first establishing a communications link with the 5 administration computer 18. The flow diagram corresponding to event A is illustrated in FIG. 3. Beginning in a start state in FIG. 3, the preferred embodiment of the present invention proceeds to the second state. In the second state, the consumer directs his consumer computer 10 to communicate with the administration, computer 18. In particular, during this state, the consumer inputs 10 the URL of the administration computer 18 into his consumer browser. The consumer browser then establishes a link with the registration module 182.

Upon establishing a link with the registration module 182, the registration module 182 assigns the consumer a unique identifier 34. Each consumer is 15 assigned a separate identifier code 34. Preferably, the unique ID comprises letters and numbers which uniquely identify the consumer. Proceeding to the next state the consumer computer stores the unique identifier locally on their device. Proceeding to the next stateconsumer computer communicates with the registration module and pulls the clients browser to the registration website 20 consumer enters information which includes, but is not limited to, age, sex, income, career, interests, hobbies, consumer preferences. In the case of the content provider the registration only differs in the data the content provider enters into the registration website. Moving onto to the final stage of the registration, the administration computer 18 stores the registration data in the 25 registration database.

Claims (1)

1. A communication system comprising; an administration computer which stores and processes data; 5 a plurality of data display devices each having a data storage means and a visual display for displaying data to users of the data display devices; a content provider computer which stores and processes data and which is connected to the administration computer and communicates therewith; and a telecommunications network to which the plurality of data display devices 10 are all connected, the telecommunications network comprising a telecommunications computer through which are channelled data communications sent via the telecommunications network to and ftom the plurality of data display devices; wherein; the administration computer has identifier means which allocates to each of 15 the plurality of data display devices a unique identifier code and the administration computer has database means in which all of the identifier codes are stored along with categorisation information relevant to the users of the data display devices; the content provider computer transmits to the administration computer 20 content data files for onward transmission to a selected set of the plurality of data display devices and the content provider computer also transmits to the administration computer categorisation data associated with the content data files and the administration computer compares the received categorisation data with the categorisation information stored in the database means of the 25 administration computer to select which data display devices should receive the content data files in a first data transmission stage; the administration computer controls the telecommunications computer to channel data communications based on the content data files via the telecommunications network to and from the selected data display devices; each data display device has recording means which maintains a user record which data files have been displayed to the user thereof and which periodically via the telecommunications network transmits to the administration computer a record of the displayed data files; 5 and wherein the administration computer processes the user record and incorporates information generated from the user record in the categorisation of information stored for each data display device and/or uses information generated from the user record to categorise which type of data files are selected for display by the user of each data display device and to compare the 10 categorisation information associated with users displaying a particular user record with categorisation information associated with other users to select further data display devices to receive the content data files in a subsequent data transmission stage.

15 2. A communication system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the recording means of each data display device records in the user record whether the user of the device responded to a displayed data file by using the data display device to request further related information for display.

20 3, A communication system as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least some of the content data files are adapted to provide a data link to a further data file on receipt of an appropriate user response and the recording means of each data display device records in the user record whether the user of the device responded by following such a data link when the data display device displays 25 the content data file.

3. A communication system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the content data file is an advertisement adapted to provide a data link to a further data file on receipt of an appropriate user response, and the data display device records at least whether the user responds by linking to the further data file or ignoring the data file comprising the advertisement or actively closing/deleting the data file comprising the advertisement.

5 5. A communication system as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4 wherein the content data file is an advertisement adapted to provide a data link to a further data file on receipt of an appropriate user response, and for each of the advertisements of each of the data files the administration computer determines from the record of displayed data files received from the data 10 display devices an advertisement fee based on the number of times a data link to such a data file has been followed by the users of the data display devices.

6. A communication system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the categorisation information stored in the database means of the 15 administration computer in relation to a given data display device includes user profile information, and the administration computer processes the user record obtained from a plurality of data display devices in the first data transmission stage and compares user profile information for users displaying a particular user record to user profile information for other users to select 20 further data display devices to receive the content data files in a further data transmission stage.

7. A communication system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the administration computer transmits the relevant unique identifier code to 25 each of the plurality of data display devices via the telecommunications network and each of the data display devices stores the unique identifier code relevant thereto in the data storage means thereof, each display device, during periods when the device is connected to the telecommunications network to send and receive messages, transmits to the administration computer an alert signal alerting the administration computer that the device is connected to the telecommunications network; upon receipt of an alert signal from a data display device the administration computer transmits to the data display device the content data files which have 5 been selected as relevant to the data display device; each data display device stores the content data files received thereby in the data storage means thereof; each data display device periodically displays to the user thereof data from the data files received from the administration computer, such data being 10 displayed interspersed with other displayed data.

8. A communication system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the plurality of data display devices comprises a plurality of personal computers.

9. A communication system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the plurality of data display devices comprise a plurality of mobile telephones.

10. A communication system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein 20 the plurality of data display devices comprise a plurality of interactive television sets.

11. A communication system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the data files transmitted from the content provider computer to the 25 administration computer contain advertisements and for each advertisement the administration computer determines from the record of the displayed data files received thereby from the data display devices an advertisement fee based on the number of times an advertisement has been displayed to the users of the data display devices.

12. A communication system as claimed in claim I I comprising a plurality of content provider computers wherein each content provider computer transmits to the administration computer data files containing advertisements 5 and for each of the advertisements of each of the data files the administration computer detennines from the record of displayed data files received from the data display devices an advertisement fee based on the number of times an advertisement has been displayed to the users of the data display devices.

10 13. A communication system as claimed in claim 11 wherein:

the telecommunications network comprises a plurality of telecommunications computers accessible through one or more service providers through which are channelled communications sent via the telecommunications network to and from the plurality of data display devices; 15 the administration computer stores in the database means thereof for each data display device information regarding which telecommunication computer and/or which service provider operates to channel communications to and from the data display device; and the administration computer calculates for each telecommunications 20 computer and/or service provider from the record of displayed data files received thereby from the data display devices a revenue fee based on the number of times advertisements have been displayed by data display devices associated with the telecommunications computer or service provider.

25 14. A communication system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the data display devices are used to communicate with each other and with computers connected to the telecommunications network other than the administration computer and each data display device has monitoring means which during communication of the data display device with another data display device or with a computer other than the administration computer monitors whether all of the possible bandwidth of communication is used and if spare bandwidth capacity is found allocates the spare capacity to the transmission of the data files from the administration computer to the data 5 display device.

15. A method of delivering information to users using a communication system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14 comprising the steps of storing the information as an information data file in the content provider 10 computer; categorising the information and storing the categorisation as a categorisation data file attached to the relevant information data file in the content provider computer; transmitting the information data file and the categorisation data file to the 15 administration computer; comparing the categorisation data file for the information with the categorisation infonnation regarding the data display devices which is stored by the administration computer to thereby select which data display devices should receive the information data file in a first data transmission stage; 20 transmitting the information data file to the selected data display devices for subsequent display to the users thereof, receiving from each data display device a user record of which data files have been displayed to the user thereof; processing the user record and incorporates information generated from the 25 user record in the categorisation of information stored for each data display device and/or uses information generated from the user record to categorise which type of information data files are selected for display by the user of each data display device and to compare the categorisation information associated with users displaying a particular user record with categorisation information associated with other users to thereby select which data display devices should receive the information data file in a subsequent data transmission stage; transmitting the information data file to the selected data display devices for 5 subsequent display to the users thereof 16. A method as claimed in claim 15 comprising additionally the steps of monitoring whether a user of a data display device reacts to a displayed data file by requesting further related information for display; 10 recording for each displayed data file a record of responses recording the number of times further related information has been requested; storing in the database means of the administration computer the records of responses for all of the data display devices; and using the stored records of responses as categorisation information in the 15 selection of data display devices receiving an information data file.

17. A method as of delivering an advertisement to users using a communication system claimed in claim 15 or claim 16 wherein the information data file is an advertisement data file.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17 comprising additionally the steps ofusing the data storage means of each data display device to store locally the advertisement data file transmitted thereto; using the recording means of each data display device to record how many 25 times the advertisement is displayed to the user of the data display device; transmitting periodically from each data display device to the administration computer a record of the number of times the advertisement is displayed; and 43 using the administration computer to calculate from the records of advertisement displays received thereby an advertisement fee to be charged to the advertiser.

5 19. A method as claimed in claim 18 comprising additionally the steps of: using a telecommunications network which comprises a plurality of telecommunications computers through which are channelled communications sent via the telecommunications network to and from the plurality of data display devices; 10 recording in the database means of the administration computer information regarding the data display devices obtaining information from each telecommunications computer and/or via each service provider; and calculating for each telecommunications computer and/or each service provider from the records of displayed advertisements a revenue fee to be paid 15 to the operator of the telecommunications computer or service provider as the case may be, the revenue fee being calculated as a function of the number of times advertisements have been displayed to users of data display devices associated with the telecommunications computer or service provider.

20 20. A communication system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

I.