KR20010083765A - Icon advertisement method using computer system and computer network open architecture for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for advertising an icon using a computer system and opened type computer network structure therefor are provided to display advertising contents in an icon of a consumer computer system at on-line or off-line state using an opened network as the Internet. CONSTITUTION: A web server receives an advertising applicant of an advertiser and classifies and stores icon files provided from the advertiser in an icon database(S31). If a client connects to the web server and inputs member joining information, the web server stores the information in a member information database, and installs an advertising application program(S32). The client selects an advertising update period and an exposing period of a rolling advertisement according to icons(S33) and a category of the advertisement for setting an environment. The environment setting information is transmitted to the web server and stored in the member information database(S34). If the member does not select one's favorite filed, the web server or the application program analyzes a log file and a cookie file of the member, and may select one's favorite filed(S35). The web server searches an advertiser/advertisement icon database and extracts an advertisement icon file and transmits the file to the client(S36). The application program replaces the current icon with an advertising icon(S37). The web server receives advertisement participating information as the visiting number and stores the information in the member information database or/and the advertiser/advertisement icon database(S38).

Description

Icon advertisement method using computer system and computer network open structure for it {Icon advertisement method using computer system and computer network open architecture for the same}

The present invention relates to an icon advertising method using an open computer network comprising a web server, a client system, and an open connection channel connecting the two, and a network open structure therefor.

The conventional types of Internet advertisements can be broadly classified into web services, e-mail services, and push services. Internet advertisements using web services are a general advertisement type and are commonly seen when accessing a search engine or a homepage of a famous media company. Banner AD is the typical form. The banner advertisement is linked to the advertiser's homepage, so that when an internet user clicks on the internet advertisement, the banner advertisement is connected to the company's homepage and related sites.

This advertising method is the most typical Internet advertising method so far, but it has a disadvantage that it is possible to see the advertisement only when entering a specific site, the advertising effect only when registered on a known site, and it is difficult to design utilizing the idea that attracts special attention of the user. . In addition, as an advertisement method that is popular in recent years, an advertisement rewarding when an advertisement is clicked has a small amount of profit that can be obtained by viewing the advertisement, and thus, most of the advertisement consumers are made up of young students. It is difficult to advertise for an adult, and because it comes out immediately after accessing the website, the actual content of the advertisement is not well communicated.

Secondly, as an advertisement method using electronic mail, which has been recently utilized, a new method of direct mail (DM), which delivers various information to a specific target group using the Internet, can be cited. Existing e-mails have been sent and received mainly for text, but now, effective product information is delivered using multimedia e-mails using graphics and moving images. In addition, recently, a customized mail advertisement service that allows consumers to select a field of interest and includes only corresponding advertisements in the mail has appeared, but since the advertisement is exposed only in a short time of viewing the mail, Can't.

In addition, in recent years, a method of delivering information through a push technology has been developed beyond a conventional pull method of providing information according to a user's request. This push technique means that the server automatically delivers (pushes) information of a category pre-selected by the client to the client without waiting for the client's request, and the user can view the pushed information when desired. The information provided by the push is no different from the current browser as seen on the computer screen. However, if a user installs a program on his or her computer that can retrieve the information, the service provider continues to provide the information. Rather, it is similar to a medium such as TV or radio. In order to receive the information using the push technology, a special program is used in addition to the conventional web browser, and a screen having its own format is provided by the program, and the corresponding information on the network is delivered to a place classified by the format. Stored. The information is updated and delivered every time period determined by the user or the program, and the user can view the latest information stored at a desired time, and the information can be delivered in real time.

A typical example of using this push technology is a pointcast service. According to this service, it is divided into items such as news, stocks, weather, etc., and can be pushed and stored on each channel. It has a display function and a function of displaying necessary information and / or advertisements instead of the screensaver.

Advertisement using this push technology is a service that sends the information desired by the client or the information adapted by the Internet information providing company to the client connected to the Internet in real time. Such service is a method of sending advertisement information to each computer connected to the Internet and continuously delivering the service or product information of the company to be advertised to the window of the client computer to double the advertising effect. The advertisement by the push technology is performed by the push service providing server transmits a predetermined advertisement to the user along with various information requested by the client, and the transmitted advertisement is displayed on the information service screen unique to the push service. In addition, recently, push advertisements are made using web browsers developed by various ISPs (Internet Service Providers). For example, AD windows are formed in some areas of the upper part of the web browser. This advertisement window always starts an animation or banner advertisement regardless of the web page the user is viewing.

Such a push technology is a very active advertising method in that it is always displayed to the user even if the user does not request it, but it may be inconvenient in that the advertisement is always displayed even if the user does not want it. In addition, since the server receives only the advertisements sent by the server, it cannot receive only the advertisements it wants, and since the user does not generate any benefit by viewing the advertisements, the user is not attractive. In addition, even in the form of a scroll bar that is always displayed on the monitor may interfere with the user's computing work, or in the form of inserting the ad text in a certain portion on the desktop to visually clutter. Not only that, but as the desktop file gets bigger, the overall system slows down. In addition, even when the advertisement is inserted into the screen saver or the system start / end screen, the advertisement exposure time is relatively short, and the speed reduction of the system as described above cannot be avoided.

In addition, there is a form in which an advertisement is incorporated into an online game screen on the Internet, but this is limited because it can be applied only to a game site. In addition, there is a method to always follow the advertising text or graphics next to the mouse point, there is a disadvantage that the amount of advertising can be limited.

In order to compensate for the above-mentioned disadvantages of the conventional Internet advertisement of the present invention, by replacing the icon that is always present in the client system with the advertisement content and integrating the push technology, the advertisement exposure time and advertisement attention can be increased. In addition, it is to increase the amount of advertising that can be done at once, and to provide an icon advertising method for advertising in a variety of forms on the offline.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an icon advertising method for displaying advertisement contents on an icon of a consumer computer system in an online or offline state using an open network structure such as the Internet.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a computer network open architecture for performing a method of advertising with icons in a client computer system.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an icon advertisement method using a client-side application program for displaying stored advertisement contents on various icons of a system in an online or offline state.

FIG. 1A illustrates an overall configuration of a system for performing an icon advertising method according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B illustrates a resource flow between system components.

2 shows the configuration of an icon advertising application program installed on the client side by module.

3 shows a flow to which the icon advertising method according to the present invention is applied in the Internet environment.

4 illustrates the flow of icon advertising in a client-side computer system offline.

5 illustrates an environment setting screen of a user interface (UI) of an application program for icon advertising according to the present invention.

6 illustrates a background screen of a computer system when an advertisement icon is replaced by the present invention.

In order to achieve the object as described above, the icon advertising method according to the present invention uses an open computer network consisting of an open connection channel such as a web server, a client computer and the Internet connecting the two, the client computer to the web server Connecting to download and install an icon advertising application, and when a transaction between the client and the web server described above occurs, the web server transmits an icon file for advertising to the client computer, and the application program is a client computer system. Replacing the initial icons in the icon with the transmitted advertisement.

In addition, the method may further include a step of allowing a client to select an update cycle and / or a desired advertisement category to replace an advertisement icon by using the above-described application and / or web server. The transmission or replacement is made each time the update cycle passes for only the icon file for the advertisement in the selected category. The selection of ad categories described above may allow the client to actively select, but may be made automatically by the web server or application by analyzing the log files and / or cookie files of the client computer. It may be.

The computer network open structure for performing the aforementioned icon advertising method is composed of a web server, a client computer, and an open connection channel connecting the two, and the web server uses the open connection channel according to a client's request. And one or more of an icon file for advertisement, and the client replaces the original icon originally transmitted with the icon for advertisement using the icon advertisement application installed therein.

However, the above-mentioned icon advertisement does not necessarily need to be performed through a computer network, and may be performed even if the application program is installed on the client computer by a predetermined method and as long as the icon files for the advertisement are stored.

In other words, the icon advertisement application installed on the client side allows the user to select the category of the advertisement icon to be viewed and / or the cycle of change of the advertisement icon to be changed and selected from the advertisement icon file stored in the storage means of the client side computer. Extracts only the selected advertisement icon file in the category, checks the type and number of initial icons originally provided to the client computer, and replaces the initial icons with the advertisement icons represented by the extracted advertisement icon files. .

In the above description, the advertisement icon is in the form of one or more of a text, an image, a sound, and an animation. The extracted advertisement icon file may be two or more, and in this case, the advertisement icon by the two or more advertisement icon files may sequentially replace the initial icon according to the aforementioned update period.

The term " icon " as used herein refers to a small picture or text used to represent an object in a computer system using a graphical user interface (GUI). The object represented by the icon is a broad concept that includes not only information such as a document but also an executable program, and when the user selects (clicks or double-clicks) a specific icon, the object displayed by the icon is opened. (open) will run.

The user interface method of expressing the functions provided by the computer system and the software as icons of simple pictures or texts and selecting them is called an icon interface.

Although the advertisement icon represented by the icon for the advertisement replaces the initial icon provided from the beginning, since the advertisement icon indicates the object displayed by the initial icon as it is, the initial icon replaced by clicking the corresponding advertisement icon is displayed. The same program or function that was displayed can be executed.

The above-described web server (web server) is generally connected to an unspecified number of clients through an open computer network, such as the Internet, and the computer system for receiving the client's work request and derive and provide the work results for it and installed therefor Computer software (web server program). However, in addition to the above-described web server program, it should be understood as a broad concept including a series of application programs running on the web server.

In addition, a client is a broad concept that includes a user who uses the computer system, as well as a computer system that is linked with the web server and requests the web server to perform a specific task and receives the result.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1a shows the overall configuration of a system for performing the icon advertising method according to the present invention. Advertising icon It consists of an advertising web server 11, a client computer system 12 and an open computer connection channel 13 such as the Internet connecting the two. The advertiser 14 requesting the icon advertisement may be connected to the web server through the computer connection channel, but may communicate with the icon advertisement service operator through other communication means. The web server 11 has a member information database 16 and an advertiser-specific advertisement icon database 15. In addition, a transmission / reception module such as a mail server for exchanging information with individual members and / or advertisers, and an advertisement icon And a search module for extracting an icon file for advertisement to be transmitted to the member from the database. In general, various programs for configuring a web server may be added. In addition to the personal information of the member, the member information database may include information on preferences (interest category, renewal / exposure cycle), provided advertisement icons, and participation in advertisement icons (viewing advertisements and visiting advertiser sheets). have.

The client computer system 12 is provided with an application program 17 capable of performing icon advertising according to the present invention, and the storage means stores an advertising icon database 18 for storing icon files for advertisements to replace the initial icons of the system. Is built. The above-described application files and / or advertisement icon files are typically downloaded in a state in which a client is connected to a web server, but is not limited thereto. For example, a recording medium (CD-ROM; On a floppy disk). The application for icon advertising is described in detail below with reference to FIG.

The above-described web server can be implemented using a web server program provided in various ways according to operating systems such as DOS, windowsTM, Linux, Unix, Macintosh, etc. Typical examples include the website used in the Windows environment, CERN, NCSA, and APPACH used in the TTPS and Unix environments.

The ad icon file database described above may be a relational database management system (RDBMS) such as Oracle, Infomix, Sybase, DB2, or Gemston, Orion, O2, etc. The object-oriented database management system (OODBMS) can be implemented according to the purpose of the present invention, it is preferable to be constructed in a format classified by advertiser and / or by advertising category.

The connection channel connecting the server and the client may be a closed network such as a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), but the Internet is preferable because the advertisement should be directed to an unspecified number of people. . The Internet has many services in the TCP / IP protocol and its upper layers: Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), NFS. (Network File Service), a global open computer network architecture that provides the Network Information Service (NIS).

FIG. 1B illustrates a resource flow between a web server, an application of a client computer system, and a client computer monitor. A user connects to a web server to register as a member and 1) receives and installs an application required for icon advertising. do. 2) When a member (client) executes an application or connects to a web server and selects an update cycle of a field and / or advertisement icon of interest, 3) The web server is a client-side application (every update cycle). Or batch) to transmit the advertisement icon file in the selected field (category). 4) The application program on the client side replaces and displays the initial icon of the system with the advertisement icon at each update cycle by using the transmitted and stored advertisement icon file.

Fig. 2 shows the configuration of an icon advertising application program installed on a client side for each module. The module transmits / receives a module for exchanging information with a web server and sending an icon file for advertisement to a monitor 28 of a client-side computer system for display. (22), an environment setting management module 23 for allowing a user to set an update cycle and / or a category of interest, and storing and managing a selected environment, and an advertisement icon file management module 24 for storing and managing advertisement icon files. ), And a central control module 21. In addition, an automatic interest analysis module 26 may be further included to automatically analyze a user's interests. The automatic interest analysis module 26 may include a web browser, a communication program, It is linked with a log file or cookie file 27 related to an operating system program and other programs. These applications can be implemented using any programming language currently in use, such as Java, C, or Visual Basic.

In addition, when the web server needs to produce icons according to the advertiser's application, it may have a commercial icon production program such as easyicon, iconforge, microangelo98, iconpackager, and e-icon.

The above-described modules are a combination of programming languages designed to perform specific functions, and may be implemented as independent application programs or program modules (or procedures) included in one program.

The update icon management module and / or the automatic analysis of interest module collect information on frequently visited websites and frequently executed programs by searching and searching the contents of icon files, log files, and cookie files for advertisements. As a result, advertisement icons can be stored for each category or the client's interests can be extracted. This log file or cookie file is used to analyze the user's disposition and transmit the information to the web server.

In addition, the application program analyzes or collects information such as the client's participation in the advertisement icon transmitted from the web server, that is, the total exposure period and frequency of each advertisement icon, and the number of visits to the advertiser's site through the advertisement icon. It can have a function to transmit to. The advertisement participation information is used as a reference for calculating a reward to be provided to the corresponding client.

The operation of changing the initial icon to the advertisement icon by the application will be described in detail below. The following is an example of using the operating system of the Microsoft Windows series.

As described above, the icon is an image used to point to a specific object in a system using a GUI. The icon on the desktop, the icon in the Start menu, the RAM resident program icon in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, and the folder in the explorer are used. And file icons. In the case of the "shortcut" icon which can be arbitrarily changed by the user selecting "registration information" of the file, the icon can be changed by changing the .lnk file representing the icon.

However, system icons (trash bin on the desktop, My Computer, etc.) or folders or file icons in the search window can be changed by changing the value of the registry of the system. For example, on MS Windows 95 or 98, use Registry Editor to go to the 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → Software → Microsoft → Windows → CurrentVersion → Explorer → ShellIcons' entry and enter the path of the desired icon file in the "Data of the Value" field. You can specify. The icon change can be implemented by various technologies, and various operating systems or applications have icon change functions, and thus detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

3 illustrates an example of a flow to which the icon advertising method according to the present invention is applied in an internet environment (not necessarily to be online on a web server). First, the web server receives an advertisement application of an advertiser through the Internet or other means, and if necessary, produces an icon file for an advertisement or stores icon files provided by the advertiser in an advertisement icon database (S31). When the client accesses the web server and inputs membership information, the web server stores the information in the member information database and transmits and installs an icon advertising application to the client (S32). Next, the client selects an advertisement update period and a rolling period for each icon of a rolling advertisement on the website or application execution screen (S33), and optionally selects a category of the advertisement to be viewed. Then, the environment setting information is transmitted to the web server and stored in the member information database (S34). In this case, when the member does not select the interest, the web server or the application may automatically select the interest category by analyzing the log file or the cookie file of the member on the client side or the web server side (S35). ).

The web server searches the advertiser / advertisement icon database, extracts the advertisement icon file in the category selected by the member, and transmits it to the client side (S36). The transmitted advertisement icon files are stored in the advertisement icon file database on the client side. The application program replaces the original icon in the client-side computer system with the advertisement icon at every update cycle (S37).

In this case, there may be two or more advertisement icon files, and a plurality of advertisement icon files may be transmitted and stored at once, so that a new icon may be replaced at every update cycle even when offline, but using push technology The server may "push" a new icon file to the client each time the update cycle has elapsed. The format of the advertisement icon file may vary, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6.

Finally, the web server receives the advertisement participation information such as the time when a specific client exposes the advertisement icon, the number of visits to the advertiser website using the advertisement icon, and stores it in the member information database and / or the advertiser / advertising icon database (S38). To determine the amount of rewards that will be provided to the member afterwards.

FIG. 4 illustrates the flow of icon advertisement in a client-side computer system in an offline state. When the client-side computer user executes an icon advertisement application (S41), the application is displayed by the user in the interest category and the update cycle and / or rolling. (rolling) It is determined whether the environment setting such as the exposure period of the advertisement (S42, S44). If the environment setting is made, only the files in the interest category are extracted from the advertisement icon files already stored in the storage means of the client computer system (S45), and the initial icons are replaced with the extracted advertisement icons (S46).

It is determined whether the update cycle has elapsed (S47), and a new icon can be extracted and updated (S48) every time the elapsed.

If the user does not select an interest category, the application may automatically analyze various log files and / or cookie files on the client side to determine the interest category of the user (S43), and update cycle and / or exposure. If the period is not selected, one icon file may be continuously exposed, but may be automatically replaced with a new icon whenever a predetermined time elapses (S49).

In particular, when the advertisement icon is in the form of a rolling advertisement in which several images are replaced and exposed in a short cycle, the user may allow the user to determine the exposure cycle or allow the application program to automatically determine the exposure cycle.

In order to enable offline icon advertising, installation of an application program and storage of an advertisement icon file should be performed first. This may be performed at the first web server connection, but may be provided to the client through another recording medium. However, the reward must be compensated as much as the advertisement is viewed. To this end, the icon advertisement web server or the advertiser must grasp the client's participation level. It is desirable to have a function of analyzing and storing the data and transmitting the advertisement participation information up to that time when connected to the web server.

Fig. 5 shows an example of a user interface (UI) of an icon advertising application program according to the present invention, in particular an example of an environment setting screen. The application is a check box in the form of interest categories (health / medicine, business / economy, tourism / travel, entertainment / entertainment / sports, education / culture / art, broadcasting / reporting, real estate, shopping, job search / job / Job, all). In addition, it is possible to select an advertisement icon update cycle and / or a rolling advertisement exposure cycle.

Although not shown, it is possible to additionally select the format of the advertisement icon file to be replaced. Icon file can be in various forms such as text, image, sound, and video, and the user can select the file format because it can slow down the system if it is replaced with a large file such as video or sound. . In addition, the icon may be classified into a desktop icon, a start menu icon, a folder or file icon in the explorer, etc., and may allow a user to select an icon category to be replaced.

The environment thus set is not only stored on the client side, but also stored in the member information database in the web server by the application program.

The application can have the functions of general communication or messenger program such as user registration / modification function, compensation information check function, uninstall function, and the like. Have the ability to change the icon by gathering information about it, for example by changing the dynamic registry file (dll) or the system registry that links the target executable of the icon with the image file for the icon. do.

6 illustrates an example of a screen of a client-side monitor when an advertisement icon is replaced by the present invention. The type of the advertisement icon file may have any format such as text, image, sound, or video, and the format of the icon implemented by the advertisement icon file may be a simple exposure icon 61 in which one advertisement is exposed without change during the update cycle. And a rolling icon 62 in which several icons are replaced every short exposure period, and a pop-up icon 64 provided with a pull-down menu for the corresponding advertiser when the icon is clicked once or the mouse pointer is positioned. It is not limited.

Also, in the exposure form of the advertisement icon, there may be a form in which only one initial icon is replaced individually (FIG. 6A), and a form in which the replaced icon forms one image as a whole (FIG. 6B; 68).

Even if the initial icon is replaced, the target (executable program or file) pointed to by the initial icon is the same, so that each advertisement icon must be informed to whom. To this end, for example, the icon on the desktop is preferably not changed even if the text portion 65 under the icon is changed to an advertisement icon. Even if a file or folder icon such as a explorer is changed to an advertisement icon, information such as a file name provided next to it remains intact. However, if the icon 67 at the bottom of the desktop indicating the RAM resident program or the running program does not have text information indicating a target, and changes it to an advertisement icon, when a mouse pointer is placed on the icon, the target designated by the user is designated. It is also possible to add a mouse pointer activation function, indicated by text 66.

The format of the advertisement represented by the icon is not limited, but mainly consists of the company's logo, company name, domain name, simple advertising phrase, video.

Using the icon advertising method according to the present invention, by replacing the icon (icon) that is always present in the client system with the advertising content and by applying a push technology to be updated in real time, the advertisement exposure compared to the conventional banner advertising on the Internet, etc. In addition to increasing time and advertisement attention, it is possible to increase the amount of advertisements that can be made at one time, and to enable various forms of advertisements even offline.

In addition, through the appropriate compensation given to the consumer according to the participation in the advertisement can ensure the consumer's active participation in the advertisement, thereby providing a new technique of the Internet advertising method that can significantly improve the effect of the advertisement.

Claims (15)

An icon advertising method using an open computer network comprising a web server, a client computer, and an open connection channel connecting the two, A client computer accessing the web server to download and install an icon advertisement application program; When the transaction occurs between the client and the web server, the web server sending an icon file for advertisement to the client computer; And the application program replaces the initial icons of the client computer system with the transmitted advertisement icons. The method of claim 1, At least one of the application and the web server further causes the client to select an update cycle to replace the advertisement icon, The web server transmits the icon file for advertisement to be replaced every time the renewal period passes, and the application program receives the file for advertisement to be updated and replaces the icon for the previous advertisement with the open computer network. The method of claim 1, At least one of the application and the web server further causes the client to select an update cycle to replace the advertisement icon, And the application program replaces the current icon with one of the stored advertisement icon files every time the update period passes. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, One or more of the application and the web server allow the client to select the desired advertising category and the log files and / or cookie files on the client computer to analyze the categories of interest to the client. In addition, the step of selecting a category consisting of one or more of the methods for selecting the, The advertising icon replacement method is an icon advertising method using an open computer network, characterized in that performed only by the icon file for advertising in the selected category. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The application program generates and transmits information on the time, number of icons, type and shape of a specific advertisement icon to the web server, and the web server compensation information to be provided to the corresponding client computer user. And storing and updating, and further comprising a compensation step of rewarding the user according to the compensation information. A computer network open structure for icon advertising comprising a web server having a database, a client computer, and an open connection channel connecting the two. The web server transmits one or more of an icon advertisement application program and an icon file for advertisement stored in a database using the open connection channel according to a client's request. The client computer network open structure for icon advertising, characterized in that for replacing the initial icon previously provided with the icon for the advertisement using the icon advertising application installed inside. The method of claim 6, The client's request includes information on an icon update cycle for an advertisement. And the client replaces the current icon with a new advertisement icon each time the update period elapses. The method according to claim 6 or 7, The client's request further includes information on the advertisement category of interest to the client, Web server open architecture for icon advertising, characterized in that for transmitting only the advertising icons included in the category to the client. The method of claim 8, The database of the web server, An advertiser / ad icon file database that stores ad icon files by advertiser and by ad category, And a member database linked to the advertiser / advertisement icon file database and storing information about a member who is a user of a client computer system. The method of claim 9, The member database includes, for each member, a personal information field indicating information about a personal information, an environment setting field indicating information on an update period, and an advertisement category of interest, and a time, number, shape, and type of contact with an advertising icon. Computer network open structure for icon advertising, characterized in that the proportion consisting of one or more of the compensation information field including the compensation information provided from the advertiser in proportion. An icon advertising method using a central computing means, a computer system comprising one or more advertising icon files stored therein, a storage means, input / output means, and an icon advertising application program installed in the computer system, the application program comprising: Allowing the user to select one or more of a category of advertisement icons to be viewed and an alternative update cycle of the advertisement icons; Extracting only the selected advertisement icon file in the selected category from the advertisement icon file stored in the storage means; Checking the type and number of initial icons provided in the computer system; And replacing the initial icon with an advertisement icon represented by the extracted advertisement icon file. The method of claim 11, The advertising icon is an icon advertising method using a computer system, characterized in that formed in one or more of the form of text, image, sound, video (animation). The method of claim 11, The extracted advertisement icon file is two or more, and the icon advertising method using a computer system, characterized in that the advertising icon by the two or more advertising icon files sequentially replace the initial icon according to the update period. The method of claim 11, The icon is an icon on the desktop, an icon on the start menu, a RAM-resident program icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, a folder and file icons of the explorer icon advertising method using a computer system. The method of claim 11, And the icon is a simple exposure icon, a rolling icon, or a pop-up icon.