MXPA99003244A - System and method for distributing bulletins to external computers accessing wide area computer networks - Google Patents

Abstract

A network access system (105) is provided for distributing bulletins, such as advertisements, to external computers (103) accessing a wide area computer network (100). The network access system (105) connects the external computers (103) to the wide area computer network (100), and sends bulletins with information being transmitted from remote information servers (101) within the wide area computer network (100) to the external computers (103). A bulletin server (201) within the network access system (105) stores a plurality of bulletins to be transmitted to the external computers (103), determines whether to send a bulletin with the information being transmitted, determines what bulletins to transmit to the external computers (103), and sends the bulletins with the information being transmitted from the remote information servers (101) to the external computers (103). Upon receipt of a bulletin, the external computers (103) may display the bulletins as part of the received information, may display the bulletins before allowing the user to view the received information, or may display the bulletins as part of a separate window.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING BULLETINS TO EXTERNAL COMPUTERS THAT HAVE ACCESS A COMPREHENSIVE NETWORKS OF AMPLIA AREA FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to network access systems. Network access systems are widely used to connect external computers with wide area computer networks, such as the Internet, through dedicated or exclusive interfaces and dial-up connections. More particularly, this invention relates to network access systems, which, in addition to connecting external computers with wide area computer networks, distribute bulletins, such as advertisements, to external computers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, wide area computer networks, such as the Internet, have experienced a sudden increase in popularity. Not surprisingly, with this popularity, there has been a concentrated effort on the part of companies to use these networks to promote their businesses and improve their profits. An example where this effort can be clearly observed is the adhesion of advertisements by companies in discussion groups and in the pages of the World Wide Web. In known systems, these advertisements are broadcast to the external computers by individual remote information servers, located throughout the wide area computer network. When an external computer connects to a remote information server and has access to a discussion group or to a web page comprising an advertisement, the advertisement is broadcast from the remote information server through the network and from the system of access to the network towards the external computer. In many cases, these remote information servers will broadcast the same information and advertisements to external computers regardless of the geographical location of the network access systems through which external computers obtain access to the network. For example, an external computer that has access to a World Wide Web site in New Jersey through the network access system in New York will receive an advertisement identical to that received by an external computer that accesses the same site through of a network access system in Australia.

In an effort to optimally focus on the users of external computers with the most appropriate bulletins, some remote information servers have been configured to determine the identity of each user that has access to the servers, to monitor the information retrieved by the servers. users and to develop the profile of said users. In some cases, these remote information servers independently maintain the profiles of each user and, in other cases, the remote information servers jointly maintain the profiles of each user to obtain a degree of superior precision in said profiles. In this way, these servers can hierarchize the interests of users and, therefore, send users the most appropriate newsletters. For example, a user who has been identified in the past as one who repeatedly has access to travel information - and, therefore, a user for whom a profile has been developed that indicates that the user likes to travel - and to which you would probably be directed bulletins related to vacation destinations or special air fares. One way in which these servers identify users is through the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the users' computers.

P781 Mainly, IP addresses are used in wide area computer networks to direct messages between different devices connected to the network. For exampleWhen a remote information server sends information to the user's computer, the remote information server links the IP address of the user's computer to the information in order to direct the information through the network from the information server remote to the user's computer-much like placing a label in an envelope and sending it by mail from the remote information server to the user's computer. In cases where the IP address of the computer is always the same and only one person uses the computer, an IP address can be an effective way to identify a user who has access to a remote information server. Another way in which these remote information servers identify users is through the registration information, requested from users when users try to access the information of the servers. For example, the first time that a user has access to a server, of remote information, to the user- a message can be sent requesting: registration name, password, address, number P781 telephone, occupation, age, sex, etc. During subsequent attempts to access information on the remote information server, the user may be asked to re-enter the registration name and password. Once this information has been entered, the user is allowed to access the server information. By using the registration information, the remote information server can then identify the user to create a user profile. In addition, this registration information can also be used to contribute to the user's profile, in addition to identifying it. While the information entered by each user in response to the registration request messages is accurate and consistent, the registration information can also be an effective way to identify and target external computer users. He . sending an advertisement from a remote information server in a wide area computer network may, however, be inefficient or ineffective in at least five aspects. In the first place, the advertisement only reaches its target audience or audience if the members of that audience have access to the remote information server in which the advertisement is stored.

P781 Second, the advertiser or advertiser must continuously identify and advertise on the servers that contain the most popular discussion groups and web pages of the target audience to keep up with the public's interests. Third, remote information servers have a limited ability to accurately identify users who have access to remote information servers because many of the known network access systems dynamically allocate different IP addresses to the same external computers and, because many users provide inconsistent or even false responses to requests for registration information. Fourth, advertising on remote information servers that serve or serve all users of a wide area computer network forces advertisers to advertise in the global area of the wide area computer network rather than in an area local or regional within said network. Fifth, because advertising interests are not being received by network access providers, advertisers are unable to offset the costs to users associated with accessing the wide area computer network and increasing this way the number of users who observe their ads as this is done in other advertising media, such as television, radio and newspaper. In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a system for accessing networks that can effectively provide bulletins to users of external computers, while connecting them to wide area computer networks. It would also be desirable to provide a network access system that can provide bulletins to all users of the network access system regardless of the particular remote information servers to which they have access. It would also be desirable to provide a system for accessing networks that can, in a precise manner, identify the user of an external computer and, therefore, optimally match the available advertising with the tastes and preferences of the user. Furthermore, it would further be desirable to provide a network access system that allows advertisers to advertise on a local or regional level within a wide area computer network instead of requiring advertisers to advertise in the global network. "It would be even desirable to provide additionally a network access system that allows advertisers to offset the costs associated with accessing wide area computer networks and, thus, increase the number of users who observe their advertisements, as it is performed. in other advertising media, such as television, radio and newspapers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a network access system that can effectively provide bulletins to external computer users while connecting them to wide area computer networks. It is another object of the invention to provide a network access system that can provide bulletins to all users of the network access system regardless of the particular remote information servers to which they have access. It is another object of the invention to provide a network access system that can accurately identify the users of an external computer and, therefore, match the available advertising optimally to the tastes and preferences of the user. It is a further object of the invention to provide a network access system that allows advertisers to advertise at a local or regional level within a wide area computer network instead of requiring advertisers to advertise in the global scope of the net. It is a further object of the invention to provide a network access system that allows advertisers to offset the costs associated with accessing wide area computer networks and, thus, increase the number of users who observe their advertisements, as performs in other advertising media, such as television, radio and newspapers. These and other objects of the invention are achieved in accordance with the principles of the invention by providing a network access system that distributes bulletins to external computers while connecting the external computers to a wide area computer network. The bulletin distribution capacity of the network access system of the present invention is provided by a bulletin server incorporated in the network access system. The bulletin server distributes the bulletins when sending bulletins with information that will be retransmitted with the system of access to the network towards one or more external computers. More particularly, when information is received in the network access system from a remote information server, the bulletin server first determines whether the bulletin will be sent with the information received. If so, the bulletin server then selects an appropriate bulletin to send it with the information received. Once the bulletin has been selected, the network access system then sends the attached bulletin and the information to the user of the external computer. "Bulletins can be sent with the information received by attaching the bulletins to the information and by sending the bulletins and information together or by sending the bulletins and information separately, for example, however, if a bulletin is determined will not be sent with the information received, then the information received is sent to the external computer without being accompanied by the bulletin In this way, the network access system of the present invention overcomes the aforementioned problems, as well as other problems Associated with the known techniques of bulletin dissemination from remote information servers Firstly, by distributing bulletins from network access systems, advertisers can always distribute bulletins to users regardless of which remote information servers the users chose to connect to. In second P781, also due to the reason that advertising will be distributed from the network access system instead of the remote information servers, advertisers do not have to determine which remote information servers contain the discussion groups or most popular world network pages to ensure exposure to the target audience. Third, the system of access to the network can always identify the users of the network access system with absolute certainty, because users are required to provide verifiable record information when they have initial access to the network access system. Fourth, advertisers can restrict the distribution of newsletters only to those external computers within the geographic region surrounding the network access system. Fifth, advertisers, by paying the advertising fees to the network access system provider, allow users of external computers to receive free or discounted access to wide area computer networks in a similar way to what is known. performs in other advertising media, such as television, radio and newspapers.

P781 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The additional features of the invention, its nature and the various advantages will be more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the characters reference refer to like parts throughout the description and, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an architecture for connecting an external computer 103 to a wide area computer network 100 by means of a network access system 105 of the present invention; Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the subsystems within the network access system of one embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating a prior art method for accessing information from a remote information server and for retransmitting said information to an external computer; Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present invention for fusing bulletins with information that will be retrieved from a remote information server; P781 Figures 5a and 5b are a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present invention for sending bulletins to external computers regardless of or in addition to information that "will be retransmitted by the network access system; Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present invention for receiving, separating and handling bulletins and information requested on external computers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method and apparatus for distributing bulletins to external computers from access systems to. networks connected to wide area computer networks. Known network access systems are used to connect external computers to wide area computer networks. These network access systems allow external computers to communicate with remote information servers, connected to wide area computer networks by relaying messages between external computers and remote information servers. The present invention adds a delivery function or supply of bulletins to the known network access systems. The bulletin delivery function P781 operates by sending newsletters along with the information that will be retransmitted by the network access systems from the remote information servers to the external computers. In addition to providing bulletins with information that will be retransmitted by the network access systems, in the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the network access systems also determine whether bulletins will be provided and which of these bulletins will be provided to the external computers. In one embodiment of the present invention, the bulletin delivery function is implemented by a bulletin server incorporated in a network access system. The bulletin server operates by monitoring _the information that will be relayed to external computers, by determining if a bulletin will be sent with each piece of information that will be retransmitted and, when required, by selecting the bulletin that will be sent and appended (if it is necessary) the selected bulletin to the fragment of information that will be retransmitted by the system of access to the network. Once the bulletin server has determined that no bulletin will be sent with the fragment of information that will be retransmitted by the network access system, or that the bulletin server has selected and appended (if necessary) a P781 will be accompanied by a bulletin. When the bulletin server determines that no bulletin will be sent with the piece of information that passes through the network access system, the information passes to the external computer without additions. However, if the bulletin server determines that a bulletin will be sent with a piece of information that passes through the "network access system, the bulletin server then selects the bulletin that will be sent." Again, the bulletin server observe data such as content, format and destination of the piece of information as well as other data stored on the bulletin server (eg address, age, sex, occupation, race, income level, ethnic group, nationality of origin, religion , educational level, personal interest, etc., of the user or user profile data), to determine which bulletin will be selected, for example, when a piece of information is intended for a particular user whose profile reveals that the user likes sports, it may be selected that the user is provided with newsletters related to sports Once the bulletin has been selected that will be supplied or with the fragment of information, the bulletin server may then attach the bulletin to the information in some embodiments of the present invention. Any number of approaches can be used to attach the bulletin to the information that will be supplied to the external computer. For example, the annexed bulletin could involve locating a clear region in an original information display and placing a graphic bulletin in that region. As another example, the attached bulletin may involve attaching a text bulletin to the end of an information file or placing the text bulletin at the beginning of the information file. Placing the text bulletin at the beginning of the information file may be preferable because it is safer for the user to see the bulletin. On the other hand, users can object to the bulletin and any advertising it may contain, if users can not choose the bulletin or if they do not want to see it, in which case, it may be preferable to place the bulletin at the end of the information file . In other embodiments of the present invention, the bulletin may be sent as separate data together with the fragment of information passing through the network access system instead of attaching the bulletin directly to the information. For example, when information such as a bitmap or a text file is sent, the bulletin could be sent as a bitmap, a text file or as another type of file, additional. Finally, once the bulletin server has selected and appended (if necessary) the bulletin to the requested information, the bulletin and information will be provided to the external computer. With the receipt and bulletin and information from the external computer, the external computer, the external computer can display or display each of the bulletin and information as part of the same image or as separate images. For example, the newsletter and the information could be displayed as part of the same image by displaying the information as a global web page and displaying the newsletter within a reserved space within that page, assuming there is a free or clear area within from image. As another example, the bulletin and information may be displayed as part of separate images by first displaying the bulletin and then displaying the requested information after the user has responded to the posted bulletin or after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. Such an approach could be implemented as a set of pages of the world network, where first a bulletin page is displayed showing the selected bulletin and then the information page is displayed after the user has activated a hypertext link within the page of P781 newsletter. As another additional example, the bulletin and information may be displayed as part of separate images by first displaying the requested information and then displaying the bulletin after the user has responded to the information received or after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. . This approach could be implemented as a set of pages of the world network, where the information page is displayed first which displays the requested information and then a newsletter page is displayed after the user has activated a hypertext link within the information page. As another additional example, the bulletin and the information may be displayed as part of separate images by displaying the bulletin and the requested information in separate windows within the same exhibition or screen or on different screens. In these implementations, the activation of a hypertext link in the bulletin display or screen (when the bulletin supports a hypertext link), could cause the information screen to display more information about the bulletin. These displays of newsletters and information could be presented through the execution of search engines s search engines of the global network (such as Netscape Navigator available from Netscape P781 Communications Corporation and Internet Explorer available from Microsoft Corporation), through the execution of other types of communications software, through the execution of other types of software that is not communications or through dedicated or exclusive hardware in the external computers. For example, a word processor could incorporate a display algorithm that allows it to display newsletters and information received while communicating with a network access system. The present invention can be further described with reference to Figures 1-4. Figure 1 illustrates one embodiment of an architecture, of the type in which the present invention can be used, to connect an external computer 103 to a wide area computer network 100, by means of a network access system 105. As shown , the external computer 103 is connected to the network access system 105, through a communication link 104, and the network access system 105 is connected to a remote information server 101 via a network link 102. In this arrangement, the external computer 103 can communicate with the remote information server 101 via the communication link 104, the network access system 105 and the network link 102. In this architecture, several P781 different device types to implement each external computer 103, communication link 104, network link 102 and remote information server 101. The external computer 103 can be implemented by any device capable of communicating with a wide area computer network. For example, the external computer 103 may be a desktop computer, a supercomputer, a Unix workstation, a network router or router, or a network gateway. The communication link 104 may be implemented by any means to provide an interface between the external computer 103 and the network access system 105. For example, the communication link 104 may be a dial-up connection, a dedicated or exclusive network connection. , a single network, a combination of networks, a cable modem or a two-way wireless communication link. Similarly, the network link 102 can be implemented by any means to provide an interface between the network access system 105 and the remote information server 101. For example, the network link 102 can be an exclusive interface, a single interface. network, a combination of networks, a cable modem or a two-way wireless communication link. The remote information server 101 can be implemented by any type of storage capable of providing the P781 information to external computer 103 upon request. For example, the remote information server 101 may be a dedicated or dedicated network server, a desktop computer; a supercomputer or a Unix workstation. In the architecture of Figure 1, the network access system 105 is preferably a network access system implemented in accordance with the present invention. One embodiment of this network access system is shown in Figure 2. As illustrated, the network access system 105 comprises a dial unit 204, an authentication system 205, a bulletin server 201, a delegated cache memory 206, a refractory wall 207 and a router 208. The dial unit 204 communicates with some part of the communication link 104 that comprises a dial-up connection between the network access system 105 and one or more external dial-up computers 203. The dialing unit 204 may include functions of encryption, decryption, callback, error checking and data compression. External dialing computers 203 comprise external computers 103 (Figure 1), which access the network access system by means of a dial-up connection. Additionally or alternatively, the external computers 103 may also be connected to the network access system 105 in the form of one or more external computers 202 in network. The external computers 202 on the network differ from the external dialing computers 203 in the sense that the networked computers connect directly to the authentication system 205, to the bulletin server 201, to the delegated cache 206 and X the refractory wall 207 without having to connect through the dialing unit 204. The access control in the network access system of the present invention is supplied by the authentication system 205. The authentication system 205 verifies that all users who have access to the network access system 105 are authorized to have access. The authentication system 205 may include registration, encryption, decryption and digital signature authentication functions. The distribution of the information is controlled by the delegated cache memory in the preferred embodiments of the present invention. The delegated cache 206 provides the local storage of frequently used information which would otherwise be retrieved when requesting information from a remote information server. By providing the local storage of frequently used information local information, the delegated cache 206 avoids the need for redundant information retrieval from the wide area computational network and, thereby, accelerates the apparent response time of the network computational area before the user. When the user requests information through an external computer 202 or 203, the network access system first determines whether a copy of the information is stored in the delegated cache 206. If the information is present, the access system The network retransmits the stored information to the user from the proxy cache. Otherwise, a request is sent to a remote information server in the wide area computer network and information is retrieved. A copy of the recovered information is then stored in the delegated cache 206 for future use. The bulletin server 201 of the present invention provides control of the distribution of the bulletins, such as advertisements to the external computers 202 or 203 connected to the network access system 105. The bulletin server 201 can provide storage of the bulletins 201. a plurality of bulletins that will be disseminated to external computers. This storage can be implemented by any number of types of storage devices, such as a computer disk drive, a tape drive, memory circuits, etc. The bulletin server 201 can also provide a selection logic to determine whether bulletins are distributed or not and to determine which bulletins will be distributed at any given time. This selection logic can be implemented by means of exclusive hardware or through software that runs on general-purpose hardware. The bulletin server 201 may additionally provide. a user database from which the selection logic can retrieve the information to the users who have access to the network access system. This database can be implemented in some form that has the ability to reliably store information concerning at least one "characteristic of at least one user." Additionally, the information in the database can be stored in the same storage device in the database. which bulletins are stored or, alternatively, can be stored in a separate storage device The bulletin server 201 can also provide the logic of adhesion or annexation to adhere or attach bulletins to the information that will be retransmitted by the access system to networks, like the selection logic, the annexation logic can be implemented by means of exclusive hardware or by means of software that is P781 runs on general-purpose hardware. The security and routing functions are provided by the refractory wall 207 and the router 208 in the preferred embodiments of the present invention. The refractory wall 207 prevents unauthorized access to the network access system 105 - and to the external computers 202 and 203 connected to the network access system - by network users attempting to access it from the wide area computer network . The refractory wall 207 can also be configured to prevent users of external computers from accessing unauthorized sites in the wide area computer network. The router 208 provides routing control of the network traffic between the network access system 105 and the wide area computer network 100. For example, the router 208, routes, in the most efficient address, the information requests from within the system of access to networks towards the remote information servers that contain the information requested. Figure 3 illustrates an example of how information is retrieved by an external computer connected to a wide area computer network through known network access systems. As shown in block 301, information retrieval P781 starts on the external computer that requests information from a remote information server connected to a wide area computer network. The network access system then determines whether the requested document is stored in the proxy cache, as illustrated in the test or determination 302. If in test 302, the requested information is not stored in the proxy cache, the system network access retransmits the request for information to the remote information server (block 304) and the remote information server responds to this request by responding with the requested information directed to the external computer (block 305). If in test 302 it is determined that the requested information is stored in the proxy cache, the network access system retrieves the requested information from the proxy cache, as shown in block 303. Once the information is found in the network access system, the network access system retransmits the requested information to the external computer, as illustrated in block 306. As illustrated in one embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 4, the present invention add the distribution of bulletins to this process to retrieve the information requested. Similar to block 301 and test 302 (Figure 3), block 401 and P781 test 402, show that the process starts at an external computer that requests information from a remote information server and the network access system determines if the information requested is in its proxi cache. If in the test 402 it is determined that the information is in the proxy cache, the network access system retrieves the information from the delegated cache and stores it in the bulletin server memory (block 403). However, if in test 402 it is determined that the information is not in the proxy cache, the network access system retransmits the information request to the remote information server and the server responds with the requested information addressed to the external computer (blocks 404 and 405) upon receiving the response from the remote information server, the network access system intercepts and caches the response in the bulletin server memory (block 406). Once the information requested is in the bulletin server's memory, the bulletin server then determines whether it will add a bulletin to the requested information in the 407 test. The determination of whether a bulletin will be attached to the information requested in the 407 test can be based on factors such as content, format or destination of the information requested, the known data about the user who receives the requested information, such as address, age, sex, occupation, race, income level, ethnic group, national origin, religion, educational level personal interests, etc., of the user or predetermined factors, such as the time since the last bulletin was attached or the number of times that information has been retransmitted since the last bulletin was attached. For example, a bulletin could be attached to Web pages that will be retransmitted to the user's external computer every five minutes or every tenth page. If in test 407 the bulletin server determines that it will not add a bulletin to the requested information, then the information will be relayed to the external computer without modification (block 410). Otherwise, it is selected that a bulletin will be added to the requested information, the selected bulletin will be appended to the requested information and the attached bulletin and information will be relayed to the external computer (blocks 408, 409 and 410). In the same way that it is determined if a bulletin will be attached to the requested information, the selection of the bulletin in block 408 can be based on factors such as content, format or destination of the information requested, in known data about the user P781 receives the requested information, such as the user's address, age, sex, occupation, race, income level, ethnic group, national origin, religion, educational level, personal interests, etc. or, may be based on a selection Sequential bulletins comprising one or more lists of bulletins. For example, a selected newsletter could be selected with tools for software development based on a user's occupation such as a computer programmer. As another example, bulletins from a list of local bulletins could be sent sequentially to each user living in a particular set of postal codes. The annexing of bulletins to the information requested can be implemented in one of several approaches, depending on the form of the requested information. For example, with requested information that will be retransmitted in the format of markup language for hypertext (HTML), a bulletin could be attached to the requested information when creating a hypertext link of the bulletin to the requested information and when packaging the bulletin "and the information requested, so that the bulletin is displayed first and then the requested information is displayed after the user that the external computer activates the hypertext link.Alternatively, bulletins could be attached to the requested information when combining the bulletin's bitmaps and the information or by placing a text bulletin at the beginning or at the end of the text information, as described above, although Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention in which the bulletins are appended to the information that will be retransmitted. to external computers, the present invention could also be implemented when sending newsletters separately to the information that will be retransmitted. For example, in Figure 4: the 407 test, instead of determining whether a bulletin is added, it would determine whether a bulletin should be sent in addition to the information requested; block 408 would select to send a bulletin along with the requested information instead of attaching a bulletin to the requested information; block 409 to send it the selected bulletin; and block 410 would send the requested information. Figures 5a and 5b illustrate an embodiment of a method of the present invention in which bulletins can be sent to an external computer based on the passing of a time interval in addition to being sent with the requested information. As shown, blocks 501, 503-506, and 508-510, as well as tests 502 and 507 perform functions identical to those provided by blocks 401, 403-406, and 408-410 as well as tests 402 and 407. , as described in connection with Figure 4. With the retransmission of the information and, possibly, of a bulletin in block 510, according to this method a timer is started in block 511. This timer determines the amount of time that elapses between consecutive retransmissions of information from the network access system to an external computer. In test 512, the bulletin server determines whether the external computer has requested information from a remote information server. If a request has been issued, the method returns to block 502 to handle the request. If in test 512 the external computer has not requested any information, the bulletin server determines if the timer has exceeded a given time interval, in test 513. If in test 513 it is determined that the timer has not exceeded the interval of time given, the bulletin server returns to test 512 to check once more and see again if the external computer has requested information from a remote information server. If in test 513 it is determined that the timer has exceeded the given time interval, the bulletin server creates a null information packet that will be transmitted to the external computer in block 514. This packet is created to maintain e-1 protocol of communications with the external computer and can be omitted P781 when the communication protocol between the network access system and the external computer does not require it. In block 515, the bulletin server selects the bulletin that will be sent to the external computer. Once the bulletin has been selected, the bulletin server then appends the selected bulletin to the null information (when present) and retransmits the null information and the bulletin to the external computer in blocks 516 and 517. Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of a method of the present invention for receiving, separating and managing, in an external computer, the retransmitted information and bulletins that were sent by a network access system of the present invention. This method begins with the external computer that awaits the information and / or the bulletins that will be received in the external computer in block 601. The external computer can receive retransmitted information alone, retransmitted information and attached bulletins, null information and attached bulletins or only bulletins (in the embodiments of the invention where bulletins can be sent without attached information). Once the information and / or the bulletins are received in the external computer, the external computer determines in test 602 if a bulletin was received from the network access system. If it is determined that a P781 bulletin from the network access system, the bulletin and the information, if any, are separated in block 603. Once the bulletin has been isolated from any information received, the bulletin is sent to an application for exhibition of bulletin for display in block 604. After the bulletin has been sent to the bulletin display application in block 604 or in test 602 it is determined that a bulletin was not received from the network access system, the computer external determines in test 605 if the information received in the external computer is null information. If the information is null information, the external computer returns to block 601 to wait for more information and / or newsletters that will be received from the network access system. Otherwise, if the information is not determined to be null information, in test 605, the information is sent in block 606 to the application that requested the information. Once the information has been sent to the requesting application in block 606, the external computer returns to block 601 to wait for more information and / or bulletins that will be received from the network access system. It will be understood that the foregoing is only illustrative of the principles of the invention and that those skilled in the art can perform P781 various modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, which are limited only by the following claims.

P781

Claims (23)

1. CLAIMS: 1. A network access system to relay information between a wide area computer network and an external computer and to distribute at least one bulletin to the external computer, the network access system comprises: a first interface that couples to the system of access to networks with the wide area computer network and that receives the information from the wide area computer network; a second interface that couples the network access system with the external computer and transmits the information and the at least one bulletin to the external computer; a local storage device that stores the at least one bulletin; and a bulletin server that, in response to the first interface that receives information from the wide area computer network, retrieves the at least one bulletin from the local storage device and transmits the at least one bulletin with the information that will be received by the first interface and transmitted by the second interface "".
2. 2. The network access system according to claim 1, wherein the network access system P781 also comprises a proxy cache, the first interface receives information from the cache memory instead of receiving it from the wide area computer network.
3. The network access system according to claim 1, wherein the bulletin server comprises a local storage device for storing the at least one bulletin.
4. The network access system according to claim 1, wherein the bulletin server comprises a selection logic that determines if any of the at least one bulletin should be transmitted with the information.
5. The network access system according to claim 4, wherein the selection logic determines whether any of the at least one bulletin should be transmitted with information based on at least one of an address, age, sex, occupation, race, indicator Income level, ethnic group, nationality of origin, religion, educational level and personal interest of a user of the external computer.
6. The network access system according to claim 4, wherein the selection logic determines whether any of the at least one bulletin should be transmitted with the information based on the length of time that has elapsed since a previous bulletin was transmitted with a fragment of previous information.
7. The network access system according to claim 4, wherein the selection logic determines whether any of the at least one bulletin should be transmitted with the information based on a number of previous bulletins that have been transmitted with the previous pieces of information.
8. The network access system according to claim 4, wherein the selection logic determines whether any of the at least one bulletin should be transmitted with the information based on at least the content, format and a destination of the information.
9. The network access system according to claim 1, wherein the bulletin server comprises the selection logic that determines which of the at least one bulletin will be transmitted with the information.
10. The network access system according to claim 9, wherein the selection logic determines which of the at least one bulletin will be transmitted with the information based on at least one of an address, age, sex, occupation, race, indicator of level of income, ethnic group, nationality of origin, religion, educational level and personal interests of the external computer user.
11. 11. The network access system according to P781 claim 9, wherein the selection logic determines which of the at least one bulletin will be transmitted with the information based on a sequence of the at least one bulletin in a list of the at least one bulletin.
12. The network access system according to claim 9, wherein the selection logic determines which of the at least one bulletin will be transmitted with the information based on at least one of information content, information format and destination of the information.
13. 13. A bulletin server to attach at least one bulletin to the information that will be retransmitted from a wide area computer network to an external computer, the bulletin server includes: a storage that stores at least one bulletin; and an annexation logic which, in response to the bulletin server that receives the information from the wide area computer network, retrieves the at least one storage bulletin and attaches the at least one bulletin to the information.
14. The bulletin server according to claim 13, further comprising the selection logic to determine if any of at least one bulletin is appended to the information.
15. 15. The bulletin server according to claim 14, further comprising a database used by the selection logic to determine if any of the at least one bulletin is appended to the information.
16. 16. The bulletin server according to claim 13, further comprising the selection logic to determine which of the at least one bulletin is appended to the information.
17. The bulletin server according to claim 16, further comprising a database used by the selection logic to determine which of the at least one bulletin is appended to the information.
18. 18. A method for distributing at least one bulletin to an external computer from a network access system, the method comprises: receiving the information addressed to the external computer from a wide area computer network in the network access system; recover, in the network access system, the at least one bulletin from a local storage device within the network access system, in response to the information that will be received from the wide area computer network; attach the at least one bulletin retrieved from the local storage device to the information P781 received to form an annexed bulletin and information in the network access system; and retransmit the attached bulletin and the information to the external computer from the network access system.
19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: determining, in the network access system, whether any of the at least one bulletin will be appended to the information; and retransmit, from the network access system, the information to the external computer and skip the annexation and retransmission of the attached bulletin and information, when the test determines that none of the at least one bulletin will be appended to the information.
20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: selecting, in the network access system, one of the at least one bulletin of a plurality of available bulletins that will be appended to the information; wherein: the annexation of the at least one bulletin includes annexing only the bulletins selected from the at least one bulletin to the information received.
21. The method according to claim 18, wherein the reception of the information comprises receiving the information from a delegated cache when a P781 copy of the information is stored in the delegated cache instead of receiving the information from the wide area computer network.
22. 22. A network access system for retransmitting information between a wide area computer network and an external computer and for distributing the at least one bulletin to the external computer, the network access system comprises: a first interface that couples the system of access to networks with the wide area computer network and that receives the information from the wide area computer network; a second interface that couples the network access system with the external computer and transmits the information and the at least one bulletin to the external computer; and a bulletin server that transmits the at least one bulletin to the external computer when a given period of time has elapsed without the network access system having retransmitted the information from the wide area computer network to the external computer.
23. 23. A method to distribute a bulletin to an external computer from a network access system, the method includes: P781 receive the information addressed to the external computer from a wide area computer network in the network access system; relay the information to the external computer from the network access system; and transmit the bulletin to the external computer when a given period of time has elapsed without any information having been received in the network access system that is directed to the external computer from a wide area computer network. P781