KR20010093624A - System and method for providing users with content and advertisement over the internet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system for supplying user with contents and advertisement through the Internet and a method thereof are provided to reduce a charge in supplying a user with contents and advertisement by performing an affiliation between a first service supplier which retains a lot of members and a second service supplier which develops new contents. CONSTITUTION: An e-mail server(10) distributes an e-mail to user computers(30) by using user information recorded in a database(12). The e-mail includes a first unit which explains contents and a second unit which generates contents request data. A contents server(20) transmits contents and advertisement in response to the contents request data from the user computers(30). The contents server(20) includes a counter(22) which calculates a sum of contents request data. A charge demand unit(40) makes a bill in reference to the sum of contents request data. A first service supplier which retains a lot of members controls the e-mail server(10), and a second service supplier which retains a technique of contents controls the contents server(20).

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING USERS WITH CONTENT AND ADVERTISEMENT OVER THE INTERNET}

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing content and advertisements to a user, and more particularly to a system and method for providing content and advertisements to a user on the Internet.

Where a user is exposed to certain information for a long time, such as a television or a radio, systems that use advertising revenue in exchange for providing such information are generally well known. In such a system, an advertisement can be effectively delivered to the user because of the nature of providing information to the user continuously, so that the advertisement can also have a high synergy effect.

Similar to the foregoing, on the Internet, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or Content Service Providers sometimes seek to profit by exposing advertisements to users. For example, when a user accesses a web page on the World Wide Web, an advertisement, such as a banner, is exposed to the user on a portion of the web page. Often in such systems, advertisements use hyperlinks to direct users to clicks on the screen or site associated with the advertisement to provide more diverse and detailed commercial information. However, in such a system, advertisements tend to be formed on a portion of a web page and considered as an additional element to the user, so that the user rarely sees or clicks on the advertisement on the web page, and thus the advertisement does not receive much attention in terms of advertisement effect. Therefore, advertisers are not sure of the effectiveness of advertising in these systems.

Recently, e-mail is used to simultaneously store content and advertisements on a user's computer on a hard disk of the user's computer and automatically expose them. Similar to advertisements on webpages in these general emails, advertisements are simply written to a portion of the email and linked to by using hyperlinks to relevant websites, so that the advertisements are highlighted and the details are exposed to the user. do.

However, some users interested in receiving content via e-mail are reluctant to provide their information to service providers on the Internet because they are not sure that their information will not be provided to third parties. . These users request their information from service providers while requesting confidentiality of their information.

Accordingly, Internet service providers or content service providers must independently recruit a large number of users, called members, who have agreed to service their e-mail so that content and advertisements can be provided without compromising the privacy of ordinary users. In addition, in order to increase the number of these members and maintain relationships with them, service providers must develop new and diverse content required by the members. However, the recruitment of members or the development of various contents on their own brings great burden on service providers.

In addition, even a user who agrees to receive contents from service providers wants to selectively receive only necessary contents rather than congestion of unnecessary contents, and thus has a feeling of rejection of receiving unnecessary contents.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the burden on each other through the cooperation between the first service provider that already has a large number of members and the second service provider that has developed new content to solve the problems of the prior art as described above. And provide information and advertisements to the user on the Internet, in which the information of the users is not exposed to the second service provider and can give the user selectivity in providing contents and advertisements. It is to provide a system and method.

A system for providing content and advertisements to a user on the Internet according to the present invention comprises: an e-mail server for distributing e-mail to a user's computer using information about the user stored in a database, wherein the e-mail The mail includes a first portion introducing content and a second portion for generating content request data when the user clicks on it; A content server for receiving content request data from a user computer and transmitting content and advertisements in response thereto, wherein the content server includes a counter for calculating the total number of content request data; And a billing device for preparing an invoice to an advertiser based on the total number of content request data, wherein the e-mail server is controlled by a first service provider having a plurality of members, and the content server It is controlled by the second service provider having a technical power for the content.

A method for providing content and advertisements to a user on the Internet according to the present invention comprises: distributing an email to a user using an e-mail server based on the user's information stored in a database, wherein the e- The mail includes a first portion introducing content and a second portion for generating content request data when the user clicks on it; Receiving content request data using a content server; Transmitting content and advertisements to a user using a content server in response to the content request data; Calculating a total number of content request data using a counter; Forming a bill for an advertiser based on the content request data using a billing device, wherein the e-mail server is controlled by a first service provider having a plurality of members, and the content The server is characterized in that it is controlled by a second service provider having a description of the content.

1 is a system block diagram illustrating a system for providing content and advertisements to a user on the Internet in accordance with the present invention.

2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the system shown in FIG. 1;

3A and 3B are exemplary diagrams showing windows in which e-mail, content, and advertisements appear simultaneously on a user's computer in the system shown in Fig. 1, respectively.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

10: mail server 12: database

20: content server 22: counter

30: user computer 40: billing device

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

The system 100 of the present invention includes an e-mail server 10 controlled by a first service provider, a content server 20 controlled by a second service provider, and a user computer 30 as shown in FIG. And a billing device 40. Here, the e-mail server 10, the content server 20 and the user computer 30 is connected to communicate with each other by a network such as the Internet, the billing device 40 is connected to the content server 20 have. In addition, the system 100 of the present invention further includes a database 12 connected to the e-mail server 10 and a counter 22 connected to the content server 20.

The first service provider controlling the e-mail server 10 has a large number of members who have agreed to the mail service, so that the Internet service provider (ISP) or the web can distribute the e-mails to members on the Internet. It will be one of the site operators. The second service provider controlling the content server 20 has a technical power or exclusive right to the content and prepares the content and the advertisement independently. In addition, the first service provider is in a complementary partnership with the second service provider to provide members with content prepared by the second service provider.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, information about the content is first transferred from the content server 20 to the e-mail server 10 (step 101). Next, the e-mail server 10 prepares an e-mail based on the information about the content provided from the content server 20 (step 102).

Then, the e-mail server 10 distributes the prepared e-mail to the user computer 30 on the Internet by using the information of the members stored in the database 12 (step 103).

Subsequently, when the user checks the e-mail using an e-mail program on the user's computer 30 such as Outlook Express, the e-mail is stored on the user's computer 10 and then e-mailed. The mail is displayed on the user's computer screen (step 104).

3A is an example of an e-mail 14 displayed on a user computer 30 according to the present invention. The e-mail 14 comprises a first part 15 which describes and introduces the content and a second part 16 which contains optional elements, for example a start button. When the user clicks the start button of the second part 16 of the e-mail 14, the content request data is generated in the user computer 30, and the content request data is automatically transmitted to the content server 20. Here, the content request data includes location information such as a source port and a destination port. Here the source port is preferably the current Internet Protocol address (IP address) of the user computer 30 and the destination port is the Internet protocol address of the content server 20. Since only the Internet protocol address of the user computer 30 is transmitted to the content server 20, no other personal information of the user is exposed to the content server 20.

1 and 2 again, it is determined whether the content server 20 has received the content request data transmitted from the user computer 10 (step 105), and if the content request data has been received, the content as a response accordingly. The server 20 sends content and advertisements to the user computer 30 (step 106).

However, if the content server 20 fails to receive the content request data from the user computer 30, it is considered that the user does not want the content and the system of the present invention is terminated.

Meanwhile, the user computer 30 that has transmitted the content request data stores the content and the advertisement transmitted from the content server 20, and then the content and the advertisement are exposed on the user computer 30 (step 107). If the amount of data of the advertisement is too large here, only the content is stored in the user computer 30, and the advertisement is not stored in the user computer 30 but is controlled by the content server 20 and is only stored on the user computer 30. Exposed.

3B is an example of a window 24 exposed on a user computer 30 according to the present invention. Here, the window 24 includes the content and the advertisement in a manner that simultaneously exposes the first portion 25 where the content is executed and the second portion 26 that exposes the advertisement. The content may take the form of a document, for example text or Hyper Text Make-up Language (HTML), or may take the form of a computer software program, for example an antivirus program or a personal information management program. In addition, the advertisement may take the form of text, photos, music, video, for example.

1 and 2, when the content server 20 receives the content request data transmitted from the user computer 30 in step 105, the counter 22 included in the content server 20 is included. Calculates the total number of content request data received (step 108).

Next, the total number of content request data calculated by the counter 22 of the content server 20 is transmitted to the billing device 40, the billing device 40 based on this the advertiser is charged for the advertisement A billing statement is prepared (step 109).

As described above, the present invention consists of an e-mail server 10 controlled by a first service provider and a content server 20 controlled by a second service provider, so that the first service provider is provided from the second service provider. The developed content can be provided to members, and the second service provider can distribute content and advertisements to members of the first service provider by using the content request data generated by the user computer 30. Service providers can free themselves from the burden of recruiting or developing content.

In addition, the second portion 16 of the e-mail 14 includes a selection means such as a start button, and the content 15 is displayed in response to the user's request only when the user clicks on the selection means. As provided at 30, the user can have a selectivity for content reception.

In addition, since advertisements in window 24 are simultaneously exposed on user computer 30 while content is running, the advertisements are inevitably shown to the user, thus giving advertisers higher confidence in the effectiveness of the advertisement.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, various modifications are possible by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the present invention described in the claims to be described later.

Claims (15)

A system for providing content and advertisements to a user on the Internet, An e-mail server for distributing e-mail to the user's computer using information about the user stored in the database, the e-mail being the first part to describe and present the content and the content request data when the user clicks on it; A second portion for generating; A content server for receiving content request data from a user computer and transmitting content and advertisements in response thereto, the content server including a counter for calculating a total number of content request data; Billing device for preparing a bill to the advertiser based on the total number of content request data, Wherein the email server is controlled by a first service provider having a plurality of members, and wherein the content server is controlled by a second service provider who has a description of the content. The method of claim 1, The content request data includes location information comprising a source port and a destination port. The method of claim 2, And the source port of the location information consists of the Internet protocol address of the current user's computer. The method of claim 2, And the destination port of the location information comprises an internet protocol address of a content server. The method of claim 1, And the content is in the form of a document or computer software program or the like. The method of claim 5, The computer software program of the content type is a vaccine program. The method of claim 5, And the computer software program in the content format comprises a personal information management program. The method of claim 1, The advertisement is in the form of text, photo, sound, video, and the like. The method of claim 1, The content is stored on a user computer and then executed on the user computer. A method of providing content and advertisements to a user on the Internet, Distributing e-mail to a user's computer using an e-mail server based on the user's information stored in the database, wherein the e-mail is a first part describing and introducing the content and the content when the user clicks on the e-mail. A second portion for generating request data; Receiving content request data using a content server; Transmitting content and advertisements to a user computer using a content server in response to the content request data; Calculating a total number of content request data using a counter; Forming a bill for an advertiser based on the content request data using a billing device, wherein the e-mail server is controlled by a first service provider having a plurality of members, and the content The server is controlled by a second service provider having a description of the content. The method of claim 10, And in the e-mail server, receiving a letter of introduction describing the content from the content server before preparing the e-mail. The method of claim 10, The content request data received by the content server includes a location information comprising a source port and a destination port. The method of claim 10, And the content transmitted from the content server is in the form of a document or a computer software program. The method of claim 10, The advertisement transmitted from the content server is characterized in that the form of text, photo, sound, video, and the like. The method of claim 10, And the content transmitted from the content server is executed on the user computer after being stored in the user computer.