GB2452282A

GB2452282A - Remote insertion of content

Info

Publication number: GB2452282A
Application number: GB0716765A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Rufus Simon Tobias Evison
Original assignee: CLICKSTREAM TECHNOLOGIES PLC
Current assignee: CLICKSTREAM TECHNOLOGIES PLC
Priority date: 2007-08-30
Filing date: 2007-08-30
Publication date: 2009-03-04
Also published as: GB0716765D0

Abstract

A method of amending content transmitted by a server to a client is performed by a system remote from the client and the server, the system being arranged to receive requests from the client to the server and to receive responses from the server to the client. The method comprises receiving a request from the client to the server for a page, prior to the receipt of that request by the server, transmitting the request to the server, receiving the page transmitted by the server in response to the request, prior to receipt of the page by the client, inserting content into the page to form an amended page, and transmitting the amended page to the client.

Description

1 2452282 Remote Insertion Of Content

Background

The current invention relates to the amendment of content served to clients across a network.

The internet comprises a network of servers and clients. Content resides on the servers and can be accessed by clients for presentation to users of those clients. Users select content to be accessed by entering the address of the server (the domain) on which the content resides.

The client requests that content from the respective server and it is sent back to the client for display to the user.

Content stored on servers for provision to clients may make use of HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or related markup languages, to allow the content to be formatted as specified by the content provider. For example, markup languages allow the format of text to be specified and images to be included in the text. For example, the markup language may indicate that a certain portion of text should be presented in bold type, or that an image should be included at a certain position.

Markup languages may use labels to define presentation. For example, HTML utilises text between greater and less than signs, e.g. <i> indicates italic text. A particular form of label is one which causes the client to perform certain actions. In the context of this document the term tag' will be used to describe a label that causes the receiving client to perform an action, while label will be used to describe labels which are used to define the appearance of the page.

Tags may be utilised to cause the display of advertisements, or other content, in pages. A tag is included in a page, which tag refers to content provided by a provider. When the page is loaded by a client, the tag causes the client to fetch and display the content specified by the tag. Tags therefore allow content providers to retain control over the particular content that is placed into pages by utilising tags which refer to content located on the provider's systems.

However, the correct presentation of content, or correct execution of other tasks by tags, is still reliant upon the page provider inserting the tags correctly. There is therefore a reliance on the page provider maintaining their pages correctly.

The insertion of tags into pages is a time-consuming task which can add significantly to the cost of maintaining the content of a large provider. Furthermore, the number of pages can be very large and so there is a significant risk of errors being made in the insertion.

Content management systems are commonly utilised to provide content to users. Such systems are particularly utilised when pages for display contain a number of areas, each of which areas has a number of different items of content that may be displayed within it. Rather than create and store every combination of areas, the content management system automatically selects the content for each area in response to a request and compiles the page according a predefined template. A page having a single name may therefore contain a variety of content when it is served to the client. Since the content of each page varies it becomes difficult to insert a tag that is related to the content of each page.

If tags are inserted into each item of content that may be displayed, the tags will be duplicated in each of the areas thus leading to duplication of the tasks instructed by the tags, and duplication of any content that is displayed by the tags. However, if the tags are included in the template used to construct the page, such that there is only tag per served page, the tag cannot be tailored to the specific content being transmitted.

Summary

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding to the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and it does not identify key/critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

There is provided a method of amending content transmitted by a server to a client, the method performed by a system remote from the client and the server and arranged to receive requests from the client to the server and to receive responses from the server to the client, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request from the client to the server for a page, prior to the receipt of that request by the server; transmitting the request to the server; receiving the page transmitted by the server in response to the request, prior to receipt of the page by the client; inserting content into the page to form an amended page; and transmitting the amended page to the client.

The inserted content may be configured to cause the client to perform an action.

The action may be the client requesting content from a content provider, wherein the content and content provider are specified by the inserted content.

The action may be recording information with regard to the user's behaviour in relation to the received page.

The method may further comprise the step of analysing the structure of the page and selecting a point of insertion for the inserted content at least partly on the basis of the structure of the page.

The content may be inserted at a point at least partially dependent upon the type of the inserted content.

The system may be geographically remote from the server.

The server may be a web-server and the client is a web-browser.

The method may further comprise, prior to transmitting the amended page to the client, the steps of searching the page for a predetermined item of content; and if the predetermined item of content is found, amending the content of the page dependent upon the item of content found.

The amendment may comprise replacing the predetermined item of content in the page with a new predetermined item of content.

The predetermined item of content may be related to an advertisement from a first advertisement provider and the new predetermined item of content is related to an advertisement from a second advertisement provider.

The amendment may comprise amending the predetermined item of content to include a link to related content.

The amendment may comprise amending the predetermined item of content such that a related part of the page is emphasised when that page is displayed by the client.

The predetermined content may be a link, and the amendment comprises amending the destination of the link.

The predetermined content may be a word or phrase, and the amendment comprises replacing that word or phrase with a different word or phrase.

The method may further comprise the step of transmitting a reference to a frame-set to the client to cause the client to request that frame-set, wherein, at least one of the frames of the frame-set includes a reference to cause the client to display the amended page.

The method may further comprise the steps of receiving a request for the frame-set; and transmitting the frame-set to the client.

The reference may include an indication that the reference was provided by the first system.

The indication may be information included in the address provided for the page in the reference.

At least one of the frames of the frame-set may include a reference to additional content to be displayed with the requested page.

Many of the attendant features will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Description of the drawings

Embodiments of the present invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, wherein:-Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system according to the current invention; Figure 2 is a flow-chart of a method of inserted tags according to the current invention; Figure 3 is a flow-chart of a method of inserting tags in a page; Figure 4 is a flow-chart of a process of creating space for the provision of content; Figure 5 is an example frame-set; Figure 6 is an example frame-set; Figure 7 is a flow-chart of a method of creating space for the provision of content; Figure 8 is a flow-chart of a method of replacing tags; Figure 9 is a flow-chart of a method of amending content transmitted to a client; and Figure 10 illustrates vanous components of an exemplary computing-based device.

Detailed description

The detailed description provided below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the present examples and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present example may be constructed or utilized. The description sets forth the functions of the example and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the example. However, the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different examples.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system for implementing methods of the current invention. Client 1 is a user's computer which is utilised to request and display content from servers. Server 2 has a particular network address and contains content that is served to clients in response to requests from those clients 1 to that network address. System 3 is a tagging system connected to the network. The network is configured such that requests to server 2, and responses from, server 2 are directed to the tagging system. For example, the DNS records of the domains for which requests and responses will pass through the tagging system may be updated such that those requests and responses are routed via the tagging system.

The system of Figure 1 allows the dynamic modification of content served by server 2 to client 1 without the need to modify the stored content. Figure 2 shows a flow-chart of a process for automatically inserting content into pages transmitted by server 2 to client 1. Client I requests (block 20) a page from server 2 and that request is routed (block 21) to the tagging system and then on to the server having the correct address for that page (block 22). The requested page is then prepared by the server (block 23). Preparation of the page may involve fetching the required content from a storage system and transmitting it, or if a content management system is utilised, content may be fetched and compiled with the required template before being transmitted. The page is then transmitted (block 24) by the server.

As explained above, the network is configured such that the tagging system 3 receives (block 25) pages transmitted by server 2 on their route to the client 1. The tagging system 3 inserts (block 26) the requisite content into the page received, as defined by the configuration of the tagging system, and the modified page is transmitted to the client (block 27). The modified page is received by the client (block 28) and displayed (block 29) according to the information in the page.

The content added to the page by the tagging system is acted upon by the client, thereby allowing displayed content, formatting information or instructions to be sent to the client by the tagging system. For example, the content inserted may be tags that cause the client to fetch an advertisement from an advertisement supplier. Alternatively a tag may have been inserted to track a user's behaviour in relation to the page served.

Such a system provides control over the number of times content is inserted in each requested content. For example, it may be required that a particular piece of content is only inserted once in the requested content, or alternatively a piece of content may be required to be inserted in each piece of requested content. Since tagging system 3 amends the requested content in its completed form during transmission to the client 1, the location and number of times content is inserted can be controlled, which may not be possible in a system where content is inserted before the page is transmitted to the client. The system also allows inserted content to be tailored directly to the actual content of the page sent to the client, and allows content to be inserted in the correct location to ensure the display is not negatively affected by the insertion of the content.

The method described above results in content being inserted into the page received by the client, thereby allowing the display of advertising, or the performance of other functions. In order for this content to appear in the page received by the client, there is no need to modify the page stored on the server, thereby removing any dependence of the behaviour of the inserted content on the actions of the page provider. The overhead of maintaining correct content on the server 2 is thus reduced, whilst retaining the ability to insert advertisements and other functions into pages served by server 2.

As has been explained, the correct insertion of content, and in particular tags, when content management systems are utilised is problematic. Because the current invention inserts content after the creation of the page for transmission to the client, relevant content can be inserted in the correct location, regardless of what is included in the page by the content management system. Furthermore, no modification of the templates utilised by the content management system is necessary to ensure correct insertion of the content. Since the tagging system receives the page in the form in which it has been transmitted by the server to the client, it is possible to insert a particular item in any required manner. For example, a single piece of content may be inserted multiple times, or more than one item of content may be inserted into a particular page.

In the foregoing description, tagging system 3 has been described as a separate system to server 2. However, it is also possible for the tagging system to be incorporated into the server 2. The method operates as described above, but there is no requirement to configure the network to redirect requests and responses through the tagging system. When the tagging system is configured as a separate system, it may either be located in the same physical location at the server, or alternatively may be in a different location. By suitable configuration of the network routing information, requests and responses can be routed to the tagging system as required regardless of its physical location, provided suitable network connections are provided.

When content is inserted into a page, it is important that it is inserted at the correct location.

For example, the correct location for content may be immediately after a particular label in the page. If content is inserted in an incorrect location it may cause the content to function incorrectly, or more seriously may cause the whole page to display incorrectly. Tagging system 3 may be configured to insert content into a wide range of pages, each of which may have a different structure. Tagging system 3 must therefore analyse the page to find the correct location for the particular content being inserted and insert the content at that location.

For example, a page comprising the following text may be received by tagging system.

<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLETEST PAGE> <IHEAD> <BODY> Text <1MG SRC=IMAGE1.JPG> </BODY> </HTML> The optimum place for insertion of content into this example page depends upon the content that is to be inserted. If the content is a tag used to track a user's behaviour in respect of the page it may measure the page load time. In order to assess that time, the tracking code must be aware of the time at which loading started and the time at which it finished. It is therefore important that the content performing the tracking is inserted close to the top of the page such that it can measure the load-start time as accurately as possible. If the content were to be inserted after the <1MG> label, the load-start time could not be accurately measured as the image may take a substantial amount of time to load. In this example, therefore, it would be preferable to place the content immediately after the <BODY> label.

However, if the content to be inserted is an advertisement, it may be desired that the advertisement is placed at the bottom of the page. In that case, the content would be preferably inserted immediately before the c/BODY> label such that it appears in the desired location.

In the above example, the correct location can be identified by searching the served page for a certain text string, for example c/BODY> and inserting the content immediately after that string. However, pages may be significantly more complex than the above example, and therefore require other techniques to find the correct location. For example, a page may contain a script that writes certain parts of the page upon its receipt by the client. In such an example the correct location must be identified based upon the action of the script when the page is written, rather than the actual content of the page upon its receipt by the tagging system.

It may also be desirable to insert more than one piece of content in a single page. For example, tracking code could be inserted at the top of the page to track page load times, while advertisement could be inserted at the location selected for correct display of the advertisement.

Figure 3 shows a flow-chart of a process of inserting content into a page. The tagging system ascertains (block 30) the type of content (for example, tracking code or an advertisement) to be inserted, and determines (block 31) the location at which that content should be inserted.

The content may contain metadata indicating the location, or the tagging system may access stored data to determine the correct insertion location. The system then analyses the structure of the page (block 32) and determines (block 33) the correct point for insertion. The analysis of the page may be performed by parsing the page and searching for certain features, or by any other appropriate method.

The content is then inserted into the page (block 34) and the tagging system transmits the page to the client (block 35).

By this process it is ensured that content always appears in the correct location without requiring human intervention to insert the content in the correct location.

Pages may be designed to have a very particular appearance, for example pages may be designed to appear correctly when displayed at a computer screen's natural aspect ratio. If content, for example an advertisement, is added along any of the edges of such a page, without other modifications being made, the page appearance may be harmed. The inventory of pages available for the display of advertisements in this fashion is therefore reduced. There is therefore provided, as explained below, a method of allowing the display of content while retaining the aspect ration and appearance of the page to which the content is added.

Figure 4 shows a flow-chart of a method of creating space for the display of content utilising the system shown in Figure 1.

A page to which content is to be added is received by the tagging system (block 40). The location for addition of the content is then determined (block 41). For example, content that is a wide, shallow, advertisement may fit best at the bottom of a page. To assist in the determination of location, information may be provided with the advertisement (e.g. in the form of metadata) to specify the location in which it should be displayed. Position may also be determined based on the price paid for placing the content, with more desirable locations, for example the top of a page, attracting a higher price.

At block 42 a frameset is created, with the page in one of the frames and the inserted content in another of the frames. The layout of the frames and the frame into which the content is placed may be selected dependent upon the characteristics of the content. The page to be displayed, and the content, may be placed into their frames by the insertion of tags in the definition of the frames or by including the actual content in the frames. The frameset is transmitted (block 43) by the tagging system to the client, which then displays (block 44) the frameset including the page requested and the content referenced by tags inserted by the tagging system.

Figure 5 shows an example frameset 50. Main frame 51 displays the page, and since the main frame retains the aspect ratio of the full screen, the page is displayed with no affect on its appearance. Border frames 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 59 may be used for the inserted content or may be presented as blank spaces of an appropriate colour. For example, the colour of the border, other than those parts used for the content, may be coloured in the same

way as the background of the page.

The tagging system may define the layout of the frame-set dependent upon the content of the page and the inserted content. Accordingly, the sizes of each of the frames and their position can be defined dependent upon the features of the page and content. For example, if a page contains only text, the frameset 60 shown in Figure 6 may be appropriate. When presenting text a tall window is desirable as it allows the reader to read a long section of text without scrolling. The frameset of Figure 6 thus uses frame 61 which is the full screen height for the display of the text, and utilises frame 62 for the display of the inserted content. Content has thus been added to the page without affecting its appearance in a negative manner.

Figure 7 shows a flow-chart of an alternative method of creating space around a page for the display of content.

A client requests (block 70) a page for which tagging system 3 is configured, and so the request is routed to the tagging system as explained above. The tagging system responds (block 71) to the request with a redirect to a frame-set having a required layout. The layout may be selected, as explained above, by reference to the content to be inserted or the page requested, or alternatively a single layout may always be utilised.

In response, the client requests (block 72) the frame-set according to the redirect sent by the tagging system. The frame-set may be stored on the tagging system, or on a different server associated with the address provided by the tagging system in the redirection instruction. The frame-set is sent to the client (block 73). The frame-set includes links to the pages to be displayed in each of the frames of the frame-set. Upon receipt of the frame-set the client requests (block 74) each of the individual frames according to the links provided. The individual frames are then served (block 75) to the client and displayed by the client.

As explained above, one of the frames of the frame-set includes the page originally requested by the client, and the other frames may be used for the presentation of content, or presented in an appropriate fashion to not detract from the page being displayed. The frames may present content created by a content management system in response to a request, or furthermore, content generated by the tagging system, or an associated content generation system, may be presented in one or more of the frames.

If the request for the individual frames is interpreted by the tagging system as a request for a new page, it would respond with a further frame-set and an infinite loop would be entered.

Therefore, when the individual frames are served to the client, the tagging system detects that the request is for individual frames, rather than a new request for a page. The request for individual frames can be detected as such by detection of the referrer for the request (if the referrer is the tagging system, the request is for an individual frame), or alternatively the link provided by the tagging system for one or more of the frames may contain an indication that it is a link for an individual frame and therefore should not be intercepted by the tagging system, but rather passed to the server for the page to be sent to the client. The indication may, for example, be a parameter added to the address.

The above methods create additional inventory that can be utilised to present content, for example advertisements or news, to users.

As has been explained, in order to disptay advertisements in a page using current methods, tags are inserted into the content stored on the server. When that page is received by a client, the tag causes an advertisement to be displayed that corresponds to the information in the tag. The tag that is inserted in the page therefore defines the source of the advertisement that is displayed. If a content provider wishes to change the source of advertisements applied to their pages they must update the tags, which is a time-consuming process. It is therefore impractical to change advertisement providers on a regular basis, thereby limiting the ability of content providers to continually obtain the best pricing for providing advertisements.

Figure 8 shows a method by which tags provided to clients can be changed on a dynamic basis.

The tagging system receives a page containing a tag for an advertisement (block 80) and ascertains the details of that tag (block 81) and the page. For example, the tagging system may ascertain the size of the advertisement and the subject of the page. The tagging system then analyses (block 82) which advertisement provider is offering the most beneficial terms for including an advertisement in the page. For example, the advertisement may be selected dependent upon which advertisement provider has the most appropriate advertisements, or advertisers may be asked to bid based on the content of the page and the highest bidder selected. A tag which will cause the selected advertisement to be displayed is created by the tagging system (block 83). That tag may utilise details of the existing tag, such as the size of the advertisement, in order to avoid changing the appearance of the page.

The tagging system then removes the existing tag and replaces it with the tag created (block 84). The page is then transmitted (block 85) to the client, where upon its receipt the advertisement corresponding to the new tag will be displayed. This process allows the content provider to access a number of advertisement providers and thus always receive the optimum payment for the display of advertisements. In an alternative to the active selection of an advertiser, the current advertiser may be statically defined. For example, the tagging system may be configured to always replace Microsoft advertisements with GoogleTM advertisements.

This method also reduces the effort required by advertisers to insert advertisements into pages and increases the page inventory available for an advertiser to utilise.

The foregoing description has focussed on the replacement of advertisement tags, but the method is also applicable to any type of tag.

Figure 9 shows a method of modifying the content of pages utilising the system of Figure 1.

A page requested by a client is received (block 90) by the tagging system 3. That page is then analysed by the tagging system (block 91) according to rules defined in tagging system 3. For example, tagging system 3 may be configured to search for occurrences of a particular key-word. Content identified by the analysis is then amended (block 92) as defined by the configuration of the tagging system. For example, the key-words identified may be amended to be presented as links to content related to those words. The amended page is then transmitted t o the client (block 93).

This method allows content providers to benefit from content to which they have not previously had access. For example, an advertiser may elect to include a link to their adverts in every occurrence of a particular word in pages related to their product This is achieved without requiring any action on the part of the page provider and so the advertiser is not reliant on page providers to enable the provision of advertisements, thereby increasing the page inventory available to them. In addition to the provision of links to advertisements, this method can also be used, for example, to provide links to relevant articles or news.

In an alternative embodiment the tagging system may transmit code to the client which causes the client to perform the steps described in the method of Figure 9. For example, a piece of javascript could be inserted using the method of Figure 3.

The methods described in relation to Figures 3, 7 and 9 may be used in combination with each other. For example the method of Figure 3 may be used to insert code to track a users behaviour and the method of Figure 9 may be used to highlight text for which additional information is presented in a space created by the method of Figure 7. Various combinations of the methods are possible to provide improved facilities to content providers.

In an example application the above methods may be utilised in the context of the World Wide Web and the delivery of web-pages to clients from web-servers. In this context, the clients referred to herein would be web-browsers operated by users of the computers on which the web-browsers are running. The mark-up language utilised would be HTML, or extensions thereof such as XML. In this context requests for content will be made by web-browsers to specific web-servers, which servers would be identified by their domain name and related Internet Protocol (IP) address. Routing information would be provided by Domain Name Servers, which would be configured to route requests and responses through the tagging system described herein.

The above examples and description have been given primarily in relation to the HTML mark-up language. However, the invention is also equally applicable to other mark-up languages which may be used.

The term page' is used herein to describe the content sent by a server in response to a request by a client.

Where the term advertisement' has been utilised, it is intended to refer to any content added to a page and not solely to advertisements for services or products. For example, an advertisement' may be inserted displaying the hosting company on which the page is stored, or listing copyright inlbrmation for the content.

The term computer' is used herein to refer to any device with processing capability such that it can execute instructions. Those skilled in the art will realize that such processing capabilities are incorporated into many different devices and therefore the term computer' includes PCs, servers, mobile telephones, personal digital assistants and many other devices.

Figure 10 illustrates various components of an exemplary computing-based device 100 which may be implemented as any form of a computing and/or electronic device, and in which embodiments of the methods described herein may be implemented. The computing-based device 100 comprises one or more processors 101 which may be microprocessors, controllers or any other suitable type of processors for processing computing executable instructions to control the operation of the device. The computer executable instructions may be provided using any computer-readable media, such as memory 102. The memory is of any suitable type such as random access memory (RAM), a disk storage device of any type such as a magnetic or optical storage device, a hard disk drive, or a CD, DVD or other disc drive. Flash memory, EPROM or EEPROM may also be used. Platform software comprising an operating system or any other suitable platform software may be provided at the computing-based device (e.g. stored in memory 102) to enable application software (which may also be stored in memory 102) to be executed on the device. The computing-based device may also comprise one or more inputs 103 and I or one or more outputs 104. The input 103 may be of any suitable type for receiving media content, Internet Protocol (IP) input, user commands etc. The output 104 may comprise an audio and / or video output to a display system integral with or in communication with the computing-based device. The display system (not shown in figure 2) may provide a graphical user interface, or other user interface of any suitable type although this is not essential. The device 100 also comprises communication interface 105 through which the device is connected to one or more other devices over a network and I or over point to point links. The elements 101-105 within the computing-based device are connected by means of a bus (not shown in figure 2).

The methods described herein may be performed by software in machine readable form on a storage medium. The software can be suitable for execution on a parallel processor or a serial processor such that the method steps may be carried out in any suitable order, or simultaneously.

This acknowledges that software can be a valuable, separately tradable commodity. It is intended to encompass software, which runs on or controls "dumb" or standard hardware, to carry out the desired functions. It is also intended to encompass software which "describes" or defines the configuration of hardware, such as HDL (hardware description language) software, as is used for designing silicon chips, or for configuring universal programmable chips, to carry out desired functions.

Those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to store program instructions can be distributed across a network. For example, a remote computer may store an example of the process described as software. A local or terminal computer may access the remote computer and download a part or all of the software to run the program. Alternatively, the local computer may download pieces of the software as needed, or exec.ute some software instructions at the local terminal and some at the remote computer (or computer network).

Those skilled in the art will also realize that by utilizing conventional techniques known to those skilled in the art that all, or a portion of the software instructions may be carried out by a dedicated circuit, such as a DSP, programmable logic array, or the like.

Any range or device value given herein may be extended or altered without losing the effect sought, as will be apparent to the skilled person.

It will be understood that the benefits and advantages described above may relate to one embodiment or may relate to several embodiments. It will further be understood that reference to an' item refers to one or more of those items.

The steps of the methods described herein may be carried out in any suitable order, or simultaneously where appropriate. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from any of the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Aspects of any of the examples described above may be combined with aspects of any of the other examples described to form further examples without losing the effect sought.

It will be understood that the above description of a preferred embodiment is given by way of example only and that various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the structure and use of exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although various embodiments of the invention have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, or with reference to one or more individual embodiments, those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention.

Claims

Claims 1. A method of amending content transmitted by a server to a client, the method performed by a system remote from the client and the server and arranged to receive requests from the client to the server and to receive responses from the server to the client, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request from the client to the server for a page, prior to the receipt of that request by the server; transmitting the request to the server; receiving the page transmitted by the server in response to the request, prior to receipt of the page by the client; inserting content into the page to form an amended page; and transmitting the amended page to the client.
2. A method of amending content according to claim 1, wherein the inserted content is configured to cause the client to perform an action.
3. A method of amending content according to claim 2, wherein the action is the client requesting content from a content provider, wherein the content and content provider are specWied by the inserted content.
4. A method of amending content according to claim 2, wherein the action is recording information with regard to the user's behaviour in relation to the received page.
5. A method of amending content according to any preceding claim, further comprising the step of analysing the structure of the page and selecting a point of insertion for the inserted content at least partly on the basis of the structure of the page.
6. A method of amending content according to any preceding claim, wherein the content is inserted at a point at least partially dependent upon the type of the inserted content.
7. A method of amending content according to any preceding claim wherein the system is geographically remote from the server.
8. A method of amending content according to any preceding claim wherein the server is a web-server and the client is a web-browser.
9. A method of amending content according to any preceding claim, further comprising, prior to transmitting the amended page to the client, the steps of searching the page for a predetermined item of content; and if the predetermined item of content is found, amending the content of the page dependent upon the item of content found.
10. A method of amending content according to claim 9, wherein the amendment comprises replacing the predetermined item of content in the page with a new predetermined item of content.
11. A method of amending content according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined item of content is related to an advertisement from a first advertisement provider and the new predetermined item of content is related to an advertisement from a second advertisement provider.
12. A method of amending content according to claim 9, wherein the amendment comprises amending the predetermined item of content to include a link to related content.
13. A method of amending content according to claim 9, wherein the amendment comprises amending the predetermined item of content such that a related part of the page is emphasised when that page is displayed by the client.
14. A method of amending content according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined content is a link, and the amendment comprises amending the destination of the link.
15. A method of amending content according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined content is a word or phrase, and the amendment comprises replacing that word or phrase with a different word or phrase.
16. A method of amending content according to any preceding claim further comprising the step of transmitting a reference to a frame-set to the client to cause the client to request that frame-set, wherein, at least one of the frames of the frame-set includes a reference to cause the client to display the amended page.
17. A method of amending content according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of receiving a request for the frame-set; and transmitting the frame-set to the client.
18. A method of amending content according to claim 16, wherein the reference includes an indication that the reference was provided by the first system.
19. A method of amending content according to claim 18, wherein the indication is information included in the address provided for the page in the reference.
20. A method of amending content according to claim 16, wherein at least one of the frames of the frame-set includes a reference to additional content to be displayed with the requested page.