OA11922A - System and method for internet advertisement usingmonitor including main display and sub display. - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are an Internet advertisement system including a plurality of user computers connected to the Internet, a system server for providing diverse information and diverse link means to the user computers via the Internet to display the information on the user computers along with information provided via the link means, and a plurality of information providing servers connected to the system server. Each of the user computer includes a monitor consisting of a main display and a sub display arranged at a portion other than the monitor portion where the main display is arranged, the sub display being adapted to display a plurality of link means so as to allow data, linked in response to a selection of desired link means by the user, to be displayed on the main display, thereby allowing the user to always view advertisements displayed on the sub display, so that an improvement in advertisement effect is achieved.

Description

119 2 2

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERNET ADVERTISEMENT ÜSINGMONITOR INCLUDING MAIN DISPLAY AND SUB DISPLAY

Technical Field

The présent invention relates to a System andmethod for Internet advertisement using a monitorincluding a main display and a sub display, and moreparticularly to a System and method for Internetadvertisement using a monitor including a main displayand a sub display arranged at a portion of the monitorother than the monitor portion where the main display isarranged, the sub display being adapted to display aplurality of link means so as to allow data, linked inresponse to a sélection of desired link means by theuser, to be displayed on the main display, therebyallowing the user to always view advertisementsdisplayed on the sub display, irrespective of whether ornot a web page is displayed with a web browser such asInternet Explorer or Netscape on the main display of themonitor, so that an improvement in advertisement effectis achieved.

Background Art , During recent years there has been a rapidincrease in the number of users accessing the Internet.Such an increase has resulted in an activation ofadvertisement on the Internet. By virtue of the recentincrease in the number of Internet users, who may bepotential consumers, Internet advertising markets hâverapidly grown within a relatively short period of time,as compared to traditional media such as TV, newspapers,and magazines. A variety of Internet advertisement methods hâve 119 2 2 been proposed. For example, an advertising method usingbanners has been proposed. In accordance with thismethod, an advertisement content is displayed in the form of a graphie box, so called a "banner", betweenrégions of text information on a screen of the user's monitor when the user has access to a desired site onthe Internet. Where the user clicks the displayed banner, a detailed advertisement may be displayed.

Otherwise, the user is automatically connected to theweb site of the banner advertiser. In addition, thereare advertising methods such as a cooperated advertisingmethod, in which each of sites having a cooperatingrelation with one another provides links allowing theuser to hâve access to the other sites, a pop-upadvertising method, in which an advertisement content isdisplayed every time the user has access to a new site,and an E-mail advertising method in which an E-mailcontaining an advertisement content is periodically andunsolicitedly sent to the mailing account of theInternet user.

In accordance with the above mentionedconventional Internet advertising methods, however, anadvertisement is allowed to be shown to the user onlyunder the condition in which he has access to anassociated site or clicks an associated banner. Once theuser exits the site, the advertisement disappears. Forthis reason, only a temporary advertising effect isprovided. Thus, the conventional Internet advertisingmethods involve a dégradation in advertising effect.Furthermore, the user may be rather reluctant to viewthe displayed advertisement because the advertisement isunilaterally transmitted to the user. For this reason,an adverse advertising effect may rather be generated. 119 2 2

Also, in most of the conventional Internet advertisingmethods, the advertisement may consist of a text, agraphie of a still image, or a simple animation becauseof a limited advertisement display région and a limited 5 advertisement display time, so that it is irregular andrough. For this reason, there is a limitation inattracting user's attention, thereby resulting in adégradation in advertising effect. Due to the advertisement display région, the working région for the 10 user is correspondingly reduced. This causes inconvenience to the user.

Disclosure of the Invention

Therefore, the présent invention has been made inview of the above mentioned problems involved in the 15 conventional advertising methods, and an object of theinvention is to provide a System and method for Internetadvertisement using a monitor including a main displayand a sub display arranged separately from the maindisplay so as not to interfère with graphical user 20 interface (GUI) environment for handling the display ofinformation while eliminating limitations in terms oftime and space, the sub display also being provided withfunctions for a user's convenience and functions foradvertising schedule management, thereby allowing a 25· systematic and dynamic advertising broadeasting to beimplemented.

In accordance with one aspect, the présentinvention provides an Internet advertising Systemcomprising: a plurality of user computers configured to 30 hâve access to the Internet, each of the user computerincluding a monitor, which serves as display means andconsists of a main display for displaying a main 119 2 2

Processing content of a program used by a user, and asub display for displaying a graphical user interfaceenvironment of the user computer, a plurality of linkmeans adapted to allow the user computer to be linked toweb pages respectively associated with the link means,and an image Processing unit for driving the maindisplay and the sub display; a System server forproviding diverse information and diverse link means toeach of the user computers via the Internet to displaythe information on the sub display along withinformation provided via the link means; and a pluralityof information providing servers connected to the systemserver, each of the information providing servers beingan object, by which each of the user computers is linkedto the link means.

In accordance with another aspect, the présentinvention provides an Internet advertising methodcomprising the steps of: constructing a network usinguser computers each including a monitor consisting of asub display adapted to display advertisement data and amain display adapted to display a main Processingcontent of the associated user computer, a plurality ofinformation providing servers adapted to provideadvertisement data and content information, and a Systemserver adapted to transmit the advertisement data andcontent information, provided from the informationproviding servers, to the user computers, therebyallowing the transmitted data and information to bedisplayed on respective sub displays of the usercomputers; registering diverse information and diverseadvertisement data, to be displayed on the sub displayincluded in each of the user computers, supplied fromthe information providing servers; registering, as 119 2 2 subscribers, users having access to the System server;and transmitting the registered advertisement data tothe user computers, thereby displaying the advertisementdata on respective sub displays of the user computers.

In accordance with the présent invention, themonitor of each user computer consists of a main displayand a sub display respectively displaying differentcontents. Advertisements and link means are displayed onthe sub display. By virtue of such a configuration, theuser can be easily linked to an information providingserver via an associated advertisement or link meansdisplayed on the sub display. In accordance with thelinking, desired information is displayed on the maindisplay, so that the user can acquire that information.Accordingly, it is possible to improve the advertisingefficiency of the advertisements displayed on the subdisplay. The link means can also be used as advertisingmeans. In this case, a maximum advertising effect isobtained.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above objects, and other features andadvantages of the présent invention will become moreapparent after a reading of the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the drawings,in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating theconfiguration of an Internet advertising System using amonitor including a main display and a sub display inaccordance with the présent invention;

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a usercomputer to which the Internet advertising Systemaccording to the présent invention is applied; 119 2 2

Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an Internetadvertising method using the monitor according to theprésent invention;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method forProcessing advertisement data, depending on whether ornot the user computer is in an on-line State, inaccordance with the présent invention;

Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure inwhich the user uses the sub display in accordance withthe présent invention;

Fig. 6 is a method for processing advertisementdata provided by an advertiser in accordance with theprésent invention;

Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a format ofthe advertisement data;

Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method forusing the data field of the advertisement data shown inFig. 7 ;

Fig. 9 is a view illustrating the configuration ofa window displayed on the sub display in accordance withthe présent invention;

Fig. 10 is a view illustrating a web page displayedon the main display in response to a sélection of abanner, displayed on the sub display, to which the webpage is linked; and

Fig. 11 is a view illustrating a video windowdisplayed on the main display in a State enlarged from avideo window displayed on the sub display in response toa sélection of the video window on the sub display.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the InventionHereinafter, the présent invention will be described in more detail with reference to preferred 119 2 2 Ί embodiments illustrated in the annexed drawings.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the Internetadvertising System according to the présent inventionincludes a plurality of user computers 10 which areconfigured to hâve access to the Internet. Each usercomputer 10 includes, as its display means, a monitor 70which consists of a main display 74 for displaying themain processing content of a program used by the user,and a sub display 72 for displaying the graphical userinterface (GUI) environment of the computer 10, and aplurality of link means adapted to allow the usercomputer 10 to be linked to web pages associated withthose link means. The Internet advertising System alsoincludes a System server 30 for providing diverseinformation and diverse link means to each user computer10 via the Internet, thereby not only displaying suchinformation, but also displaying information providedvia those link means, and a plurality of informationproviding servers 40 and 4 4 connected to the Systemserver 30. The information providing servers 4 0 and 4 4are objects, by which the user computer 10 is linked tothe link means, respectively. The information providingservers 40 and 44 hâve information databases (DBs) 42and 46, respectively.

Each user computer 10 basically has aconfiguration similar to that of a general computerrunning a web browser. However, the configuration ofeach user computer 10 is mainly different from that ofthe general computer in that the monitor 70 consists ofthe main display 74 and the sub display 72, as mentionedabove. In accordance with an embodiment of the présentinvention, the main display 74 is made of a cathode raytube (CRT) whereas the sub display 72 is made of a 1 19 2 2 liquid crystal display (LCD). Of course, otherconfigurations may be used for those main and subdisplays.

As shown in Fig. 2, each user computer 10 includesa control unit 50 which may be a central processing unit(CPU) , and an image processing unit 60 adapted to drivethe monitor 70 including the main display 7 4 and subdisplay 72. The image processing unit 60 has a functionfor separating display data outputted from the controlunit 50 into those to be displayed on the main display74 and those to be displayed on the sub display 72, andoutputting those separate display data to the maindisplay 74 and sub display 72, respectively.

The image processing unit 60 is a video graphieadapter (VGA). For the image processing unit 60, asingle VGA card may be used which has a function forcontrolling two monitors. Alternatively, two VGA cardseach adapted to drive only one monitor may be mounted inthe user computer 10. A caméra 76, which is adapted to pick up an imageof an object, is mounted to the monitor 70 at the leftside of the sub display 72 arranged at the upper portionof the monitor 70. The caméra 76 is electricallyconnected to the control unit 50. A microphone 78 isalso arranged at the right side of the sub display 72.The microphone 78 is electrically connected to a soundcard 64 included in the user computer 10.

The user computer 10 also includes a TV/radioreceiver card 58 for receiving TV or radio signais. A TVsignal, which is received by the user computer 10 viathe TV/radio receiver card 58, may be displayed on thesub display 72 or main display 74 in accordance with asélection made by the user. 1 19 2 2

In Fig. 2, the reference numéral 52 dénotés acommunication module .such as a modem, 54 an input meanssuch as a keyboard or a mouse, 56 a memory such as a RAMor a hard disk drive (HDD) , and 66 a speaker for 5 outputting Sound signais outputted from the Sound card64.

The System server 30 includes a news server 31 foraccessing diverse web sites of news providers to searchfor news, a news database (DB) 23 for storing news 10 generated from the news server 31, an advertisementserver 33 for supplying, to the user computer, data ofadvertisements displayed on the sub display 72 of theuser computer 10, an advertisement DB 34 for storingadvertisement data supplied from the advertisement 15 server 33, a media server 35 for providing audiovisualdata to be displayed on or selected via the sub display72, and a media DB 36 connected to the media server 35and adapted to provide media data to the media server35. The System server 30 also includes a web server 20 20 for connecting the System server 30 to the Internet andfor operating a home page for the user, a home page DB37 for storing data required for the operation of thehome page, and a subscriber DB 38 for storinginformation about subscribers who are registered ones of 25' users connected via respective user computers 10 thereofto the System server 30.

The information providing servers, which aredenoted by the reference numerals 40 and 44, include aplurality of advertiser servers 40 operated by 30 respective advertisers supplying advertisements, and aplurality of content providing servers 44 for providingcontent information. An advertiser DB 42 is connected toeach of the advertiser servers 40 in order to store 11922 10 advertisement data for the advertiser server 40. Acontent DB 4 6 is also connected to each of the contentproviding servers 44 to store content information forthe content providing server 44.

The présent invention also provides an Internetadvertising method which is carried out using the abovementioned Internet advertising System including themonitor consisting of the main and sub displays inaccordance with the présent invention. Now, thisInternet advertising method will be described in detail.

In order to carry out the Internet advertisingmethod using the monitor consisting of the main and subdisplays in accordance with the présent invention, it isfirst necessary to construct a network using the usercomputers 10 each including the monitor 70 consisting ofthe sub display 72 adapted to display advertisement dataand the main display 74 adapted to display the mainProcessing content of the associated user computer 10,the information providing servers 40 and 44 forproviding advertisement data and content information,and the System server 30 adapted to transmit theadvertisement data and content information, providedfrom the information providing servers 40 and 44, to theuser computers 10, thereby allowing the transmitted dataand information to be displayed on respective subdisplays 72 of the user computers 10.

As shown in Fig. 3, the Internet advertisingmethod involves step S10 for registering diverseinformation and diverse advertisement data, to bedisplayed on the sub display 72 of each user computer10, supplied from the information providing servers 40and 44, step SU for registering, as subscribers, usershaving access to the System server 30, step Ξ12 for 11922 11 setting display setting data, such as display position,display size, and display time, for each advertisementdata, registered at step S10, in association with thedisplay of the advertisement data on the sub display 72of each user computer 10, step S13 for transmitting andloading the set display setting data, step S14 fortransmitting the registered advertisement data to thesub display 72 of each user computer 10, and controllingthe user computer 10 to display the transmittedadvertisement data on the sub display 72, step S15 forallowing the user to select a desired one of diverseobjects displayed on the sub display 72 of theassociated user computer 10, and step S16 for displayingdata or a web page, associated with the object selectedby the user, on the main display 74 of the associateduser computer 10.

In accordance with the présent invention, adesired amount of advertisement data may be stored inthe auxiliary memory device, such as the HDD, of thememory 56 in the user computer 10 during a réception ofthe advertisement data via the Internet. In this case,it is possible to load the stored advertisement data ina communication cut-off State to display theadvertisement data. Thus, an advertising effect can beobtained not only in an on-line State, but also in anoff-line State.

In accordance with the présent invention, theconstituting members of the network are classified intoadvertisers making requests for advertisements, a systemserver operator loading advertisements for aconsidération, and users (subscribers) connected to theSystem server 30 to view information, includingadvertisements, supplied by the system server 30. 12

In accordance with the présent invention,advertisements are always displayed on the sub screen 72of the user computer 10 linked to the System server 30via the Internet. The advertisement data displayed onthe sub display 72 may be periodically varied inaccordance with an advertisement schedule managementprogram.

Advertisements are displayed on the sub display 72of the user computer 10 in accordance with anadvertisement displaying method illustrated in Fig. 4.

In accordance with this advertisement displayingmethod, it is first determined at step S20, in responseto a turn-on State of the user computer 10, whether ornot the user computer 10 is .in an on-line State thereof.Where the user computer 10 is in an off-line Statethereof, the control procedure proceeds to step S201. Onthe other hand, where the user computer 10 is in its on-line State, an attempt is made, at step 21, to connectthe user computer 10 to the Internet via an ISP serverproviding an Internet communication network. At step 21,a user authentication is executed. That is, the usercomputer 10 is connected to an authentication Systemrunning on the web server 20 of the System server 30 so that the authentication System détermines whether or not the user is System server allowed to use 30. services provided by the Where the user is determined to be an authenticated subscriber , it is then determined, at step S22, whether or not updating of advertisement data is made. Where updating of advertisement data is made, thecontrol procedure proceeds to step S23. At step S23, theadvertisement server 33 transmits advertisement data tothe user computer 10 (Step S22) . The user computer 10 ”9 2 2 13 then receives the transmitted advertisement data (Step S23) . On the other hand,advertisement data is made,proceeds to step S201.

The advertisement data received at step S23 isthen partially or completely stored in the memory 56,such as an HDD, of the user computer 10 (Step S24) .Simultaneously, the received advertisement data isloaded on the user computer 10 (Step S25). In accordancewith the loading, the advertisement data is alwaysdisplayed on the sub display 72 (Step S26) . The aboveprocedure is periodically repeated in accordance withthe advertisement schedule management program so as toexecute updating of advertisement data displayed on thesub display 72.

When the user computer 10 is subsequently switchedto an off-line State, in which réception ofadvertisement data is impossible, due to a communicationobstacle or communication cut-off, step S201 is alsoexecuted. At step 201, the, advertisement data stored inthe memory 56, such as an HDD, of the user computer 10is loaded so that it is displayed on the sub display 72.

As shown in Fig. 7, each received advertisementconsists of a basic part 80 and an extension part 85.The basic part 80 of the advertisement contains fixedinformation, that is, an advertisement code 81,advertisement data 82, which is data, such as a pictureor characters, to be practically displayed on the subdisplay 72, and link data 83 for calling a web page forproviding detailed information associated with theadvertisement in response to an associated input signalfrom the user.

The extension part 85 of the advertisement where no updating ofthe control procedure us 2 2 14 contains variable information, that is, time data 86providing a reference for transmission of theadvertisement schedule management program, displayposition data 87 for determining the display position ofthe advertisement, and évaluation information 88 fordetermining the efficiency of the advertisement, etc.

Now, the procedure for displaying advertisementdata, which has the above mentioned data format, will bedescribed in conjunction with Fig. 5.

After executing a sériés of Processing steps forreceiving advertisements, that is, a communicationconnection step S30, a user authentication step S31, adisplay setting step S32 for the sub display 72, andstep S32 of displaying advertisement data on the subdisplay 72, the advertisements displayed on the subdisplay 72 are in a State waiting for an input signalfrom the user (Step S34).

When the user inputs a clicking signal (Step S36),the key value of the input signal and the objectselected by the input signal are first analyzed inaccordance with a calling program. Where the selectedobject has text calling data containing a web code, thatis, link data, the web browser is loaded on the maindisplay 74 of the user computer 10 (Step S37) . A webpage linked by the link data is then loaded (Step S38).

On the other hand, where the selected objectcontains a sub menu without having the web code,necessary items of the sub menu are sequentiallyselected to execute a query procedure in a sequentialfashion. After the completion of the query procedure,the loading of the web page or a desired program on themain display 74 of the user computer 10 is executed(Steps S361, S362, S3611, S3612, and S3613). 119 2 2 15

Figs. 6 and 8 are flow charts respectivelyillustrating an advertising task executing procedure andan advertisement displaying procedure conducted by theoperator of the System server 30. As shown in Fig. 6,requests for advertisements from advertisers are firstcollected (Step S40) . Thereafter, a plan is establishedwith respect to advertising schedule, display size anddisplay position for each requested advertisement (StepS41) . Subsequently, a desired design is made for eachrequested advertisement, and then stored in theadvertisement DB 34 (Step S42). Where there is updatedinformation, the control procedure returns to step S42in order to execute updating of advertisement data basedon the updated information (Step S43).

Where it is determined at step S43 that there is noupdated information, the control procedure proceeds tostep S43. At step S43, it is determined whether or not adesired advertisement is to be displayed. Thisdétermination is made in accordance with a programpreviously set. Where the advertisement is to bedisplayed, its advertisement data is transmitted to theuser (subscriber) linked to the System server 30 (StepS45). As mentioned above, the transmitted advertisementdata is then stored in the user computer 10 while beingperiodically displayed on the sub display 72 of the usercomputer 10 at intervals of a set time.

The display condition of advertisement data on thesub display 72 is determined in accordance with anadvertising schedule transmitted from an associatedadvertiser along with the advertisement data. That is,the advertisement data is displayed under the displaycondition va’rying periodically in accordance with theadvertising schedule. '119 2 2 16

Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method inwhich users are sorted into different groups in terms ofproperties in order to sort advertisements intodifferent groups respectively meeting those user groupsin such a fashion that advertisement data is transmittedonly to an associated user group, thereby enhancing theadvertising efficiency of advertisements.

In accordance with this method, the System server30 is first connected to the Internet is first executed(Step S50) . Thereafter, the System server 30 then hasaccess to the advertiser servers 40 and contentproviding servers 44 via the web server 20 (Step S51) .The System server 30 then collects requests foradvertisements from the advertisers (Step S52). Theadvertisement server 33 is then connected to the serverhost (Step 53). Under this condition, the controlprocedure proceeds to step S54. At step 54,advertisements are sorted into those respectivelymeeting user groups previously set, based on thecontents of those advertisements. Thereafter, eachadvertisement is transmitted to an associated user groupor user groups under the condition in which the displayperiod, type, and position of each advertisement aredetermined (Step S55) .

The advertisement data transmitted to the user isthen displayed on the sub display 72 (Step S56) . It isthen determined whether or not the display period is tobe varied and whether or not the advertisement contentis varied. Where the display period is varied, thecontrol procedure returns to step S55 in order to varythe display period (Step S57). Where the advertisementcontent is varied, the control procedure returns to theadvertisement sorting step S58. 119 2 2 17

The sorting of users in ternis of properties may bebased on the results of an analysis made for particularadvertisèment data in terms of the number of clickingtimes, the frequency of news search, and the frequencyof utilization of contents.

Fig. 9 illustrâtes the configuration of a windowdisplayed on the sub display 72 of the monitor 70electrically connected to the user computer 10. As shownin Fig. 9, the sub display 72 is provided at an upperleft window portion thereof with a home page banner 90.The sub display 72 is also provided at an upper centralwindow portion thereof with a video window 91 fordisplaying a video advertisement or TV signaistransmitted via the TV/radio card 58. A group of banners 92 are arranged at the leftwindow portion of the sub display 72. Each of thebanners 92 serves to link the user computer 10 to anassociated information providing server when it isclicked one time. The sub display 72 is also provided atthe right window portion thereof with a plurality oflink means 94 respectively having link addresses givenfor different services. Above the link means 94, a clockwindow 93 is arranged which serves to display a clockand a calendar. A URL input window 97 is arrangedbeneath the video window 91. The URL input window 97allows the user to directly input an Internet URLaddress. A media manipulation panel 96 is arranged betweenthe video window 91 and the URL input window 97. Themedia manipulation panel 96 serves to link the usercomputer 10 to a video file control panel or a webbroadcasting center. Arranged beneath the URL inputwindow 97 is an advertisement window 98 which has a 119 2 2 18 display size relatively larger than each banner 92displayed at the left window portion of the sub display92 and displays a video advertisement or a still imageadvertisement. An event window 95 is arranged at theright side of the advertisement window 98 in order toprovide information about network games, real-timegames, or events. A plurality of abbreviation icons 99 respectivelyassociated with programs frequently used by the user arearranged beneath the advertisement window 98. When aselected one of the abbreviation icons 99 is clicked, anassociated program is executed, and its content isdisplayed on the main display 74. Arranged beneath thewindow of the abbreviation icons 99 is a news window 100which displays news provided by the news server 31 insuch a fashion that it is scrolled from side to side orin an upward direction.

The arrangement of diverse Windows displayed on thesub display 72 may be appropriately varied, ifnecessary.

Now, using examples of the Windows displayed onthe sub display 72 will be described in detail, inconjunction with Figs. 10 and 11.

Fig. 10 is a view illustrating display examplesassociated with a selected one of the advertisementbanners 92 arranged beneath the home page banner 90. Forinstance, where the "MBC(Munhwa Broadcasting Corp.)"banner 92, which is arranged at the upper left windowportion of the sub display 72, is clicked, a home page92-1 of "MBC" linked to the user computer 10 via the webbrowser is displayed on the main display 74.

Fig. 11 is a view illustrating a maximum videowindow displayed on the main display 72. When the video 119 2 2 19 window 91 on the sub display 72 is clicked, video of thesame content as that of the video window 91 is displayedon the main display 74 in a state enlarged to hâve amaximum display size.

The video displayed on the video window 91 issupplied from the media server 35. Alternatively,general over-the-air TV signais or cable TV signais,which are received via the TV/radio receiver card 58,may be displayed on the video window 91. In the lattercase, the TV/radio receiver card 58 is operativelyconnected to the image processing unit 60 of the usercomputer 10.

In order to maximize the efficiency of usingadvertisements and other information provided inaccordance with the présent invention, it is necessaryto increase the number of users who use the monitorconfigured in accordance with the présent invention.

This requirement may be satisfied using thefollowing scheme.

First, a cartel may be established which consistsof a System management company operating the Systemserver 30, communication network providers, that is,Internet service providers (ISPs), each operating acommunication network to the Internet, monitormanufacturers producing monitors configured inaccordance with the présent invention, and advertisersrequesting for advertisements to be displayed on the subdisplay 72 of the monitor 70.

After the establishment of the cartel, funds areraised from investors. The monitor manufacturers arerecommended to manufacture monitors 70 of the présentinvention. ' The manufactured monitors 7 0 are thendistributed to users without any charge or while giving 119 2 2 20

In this regard,usera may becontrolled in the users a subsidy or applying a discount or no chargeto the user in association with the charge forcommunication services, in order to collect a maximumnumber of user groups using the monitor 70. 5 The success of the project, to which the présent invention is applied, dépends on the number of usergroups using the monitor 70. Accordingly, it isimportant to distribute a maximum number of monitors 70to users. Although this may be more easily achieved by10· distributing monitors 70 to users without any charge,there is a problem in this case in that excessively highinitial investment costs are required. the services to be provided toqualitatively and quantitatively 15 accordance with the prosecution of the project. ünder the condition in which a maximum number ofusers are collected, it is possible to fix a maximumcharge for advertisement to be paid by advertisers.Accordingly, an increase in gains is obtained which may20 contribute to improving the quality of services forusers.

That is, it is possible to improve the quality ofadvertisements displayed on the sub display 72 andinformation supplied from information providing 25 companies linked to diverse link means. Such animprovement in the quality of information may resuit ina collection of an increased number of user groups.

Therefore, the improvement in the servicesprovided to users results in an increase in gains.

Industrial Applicability

As apparent from the above description, theprésent invention provides a System and method for 30 1192 2 21

Internet advertisement using a monitor including a maindisplay and a sub display arranged separately from themain display and adapted to always displayadvertisements. The Internet advertising Systemcontinuously displays diverse advertisements in so faras it is in an ON State, so that it éliminâteslimitations in terms of time and space, therebyproviding a maximum advertising efficiency. The Internetadvertising System and method provide to users a newworking environment capable of enhancing workefficiency. There is also an advantage in that necessaryinformation can be easily acquired.

The Internet advertising System and method alsoprovide an easy subscriber management function and aneasy broadcasting . management function which make itpossible to achieve a sélective advertising toparticular users at a particular time. Thus, theintentions of advertisers can meet the demands of users.Accordingly, there is an advantage in that anunnecessar-y increase in advertising costs is eliminated.Also, it is possible to provide more bénéficiaiinformation to users.

Although the preferred embodiments of theinvention hâve been disclosed for illustrative purposes,those skilled in the art will appreciate that variousmodifications, additions and substitutions are possible,without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention as disclosed in the accompanying daims.

Claims (22)

119 2 2 22 Claims

1. An Internet advertising System comprising:a plurality of user computers configured to hâve access to the Internet, each of the user computerincluding a monitor, which serves as display means andconsists of a main display for displaying a mainProcessing content of a program used by a user, and asub display for displaying a graphical user interfaceenvironment of the user computer, a plurality of linkmeans adapted to allow the user computer to be linked toweb pages respectively associated with the link means,and an image processing unit for driving the maindisplay and the sub display; a System server for providing diverse informationand diverse link means to each of the user computers viathe Internet to display the information on the subdisplay along with information provided via the linkmeans; and a plurality of information providing serversconnected to the System server, each of the informationproviding servers being an object, by which each of theuser computers is linked to the link means.

2. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, wherein the System server comprises: a news server for accessing web sites of newsproviders to search for news; a news database for storing news generated from thenews server; an advertisement server for supplying, to each ofthe user computers, data of advertisements displayed onthe sub display of the user computer; an advertisement database for storing advertisement H9 2 2 23 data supplied from the advertisement server; a media server for providing audiovisual data to be displayed on or selected via the sub display; a media database connected to the media server and adapted to provide media data to the media server; a web server for connecting the System server to the Internet and for operating a home page for users; a home page database for storing data required for an operation of the home page; and a subscriber database for storing information about subscribers who are registered ones of users connectedvia respective user computers thereof to the Systemserver.

3. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, wherein the image processing unit is adapted tosimultaneously drive both the main display and the subdisplay included in each of the user computers.

4. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, further comprising: a separate image processing unit for driving thesub display included in each of the user computers.

5. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, wherein each of the user computers furtherincludes a TV/radio receiver module for receiving TVbroadcasting signais and radio broadcasting signais.

6. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, wherein the monitor of each of the usercomputers further includes a caméra adapted to pick upan image of an object, and a microphone for inputting a 24 119 2 2 Sound to the user computer.

7. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, wherein the plurality of information providingservers include a plurality of advertiser servers forproviding advertisements, a plurality of contentproviding servers for providing content information, anda plurality of databases respectively associated withthe advertiser servers.

8. The Internet advertising System according toclaim 1, wherein the main and sub displays of themonitor in each of the user computers are constituted bya combination of a cathode ray tube and an liquidcrystal display, a combination of liquid crystaldisplays, or a combination of cathode ray tubes.

9. An Internet advertising method comprising thesteps of: constructing a network using user computers eachincluding a monitor consisting of a sub display adaptedto display advertisement data and a main display adaptedto display a main Processing content of the associateduser computer, a plurality of information providingservers' adapted to provide advertisement data andcontent information, and a System server adapted totransmit the advertisement data and content information,provided from the information providing servers, to theuser computers, thereby allowing the transmitted dataand information to be displayed on respective subdisplays of the user computers; registering diverse information and diverseadvertisement data, to be displayed on the sub display 119 2 2 25 included in each of the user computers, supplied fromthe information providing servers; registering, as subscribers, users having access tothe system server; and transmitting the registered advertisement data tothe user computers, thereby displaying the advertisementdata on respective sub displays of the user computers.

10. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the registeredadvertisement data to the user computers, therebydisplaying the advertisement data on respective subdisplays of the user computers further comprises thesteps of storing the advertisement data in each of theuser computers, and loading and displaying the storedadvertisement data in a communication off-line State ofthe associated user computer, so that an advertising canbe conducted not only in an on-line State, but also inan off-line State.

11. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the advertisement data, which istransmitted to each of the user computers and displayedon the sub display of the user computer, has a formatconsisting of a basic part containing basic dataincluding data for advertisement, and an extension partcontaining information indicative of properties of theadvertisement data.

12. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 11, wherein: the basic part of the advertisement data containsan advertisement code indicative of a registered code of 119 2 2 26 the advertisement data, the data for advertisementincluding a picture or characters to be practicallydisplayed on the sub display, and link data for callinga web page for providing detailed information associatedwith the advertisement data in response to an associatedinput signal from a user; and the extension part of the advertisement datacontains time data providingtransmission of an advertisement program, display position data for determining a displayposition of the advertisement data, and évaluationinformation for determining an efficiency of theadvertisement data. a reference forschedule management

13. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the registeredadvertisement data to the user computers, therebydisplaying the advertisement data on respective subdisplays of the user computers further comprises thestep of, when a user selects one of the objectsdisplayed on the sub display of the associated usercomputer, displaying a selected one of a web page ordata linked to the selected object.

14. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 13, wherein the step of selecting one of theobjects on the sub display comprises the steps of: if the user inputs a clicking signal, thenanalyzing a key value of the input signal and the objectselected by the input signal in accordance with acalling program; if the selected object has text calling datacontaining a web code, that is, link data, then loading 119 2 2 27 a web browser on the main display of the associated usercomputer; loading a web page linked by the link data on themain display of the associated user computer; if the selected object contains a sub menu withouthaving the web code, then sequentially selectingnecessary items of the sub menu to execute a queryprocedure in a sequential fashion; and executing the loading of the web page or loading adesired program on the main display of the associateduser computer.

15. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the step of registering advertisementdata supplied from the information providing serverscomprises the steps of: collecting requests for advertisements fromadvertisers; establishing a plan with respect to an advertisingschedule, a display size and a display position for eachrequested advertisement; making a desired design for each requestedadvertisement, and then storing the designedadvertisement; if there is updated information, then executingupdating of data of the advertisement based on theupdated information, and transmitting the updatedadvertisement data to users; storing the transmitted . advertisement data inrespective user computers of the users while displayingthe advertisement data on respective sub displays of theuser computers at intervals of a predetermined time; and repeating the above Processing steps. 119 2 2 28

16. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the registeredadvertisement data to the user computers, therebydisplaying the advertisement data on respective subdisplays of the user computers further comprises thesteps of sorting the users into user groups in terms ofproperties, and transmitting the advertisement data toselected ones of the user groups meeting theadvertisement data.

17. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 16, wherein the step of sorting the users intouser groups in terms of properties is carried out basedon results of an analysis made for particularadvertisement data in terms of the number of clickingtimes, the frequency of news search, and the frequencyof utilization of contents.

18. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the advertisement data, which istransmitted to each of the user computers and displayedon the sub display of the user computer, contains dataof display Windows each adapted to be displayed on thesub display in a State set in terms of display content,display position, and display size, and display period.

19. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 18, wherein the display Windows, which are adaptedto be displayed on the sub display in a state set interms of display content, display position, and displaysize, and display period, comprise: a video window for displaying a video advertisement 119 2 2 29 or TV signais; a group of banners each adapted to link the usercomputer to an associated information providing serverwhen it is clicked one time; a plurality of link means respectively having linkaddresses given for different services; a clock window adapted to display a clock and acalendar; a URL input window adapted to allow the user todirectly input an Internet URL address; an advertisement window having a display sizerelatively larger than each of the banners, theadvertisement window serving to display a videoadvertisement or a still image advertisement; an event window adapted to provide informationabout network games, real-time games, or events; a plurality of abbreviation icons respectivelyassociated with programs frequently used by the user,each of the abbreviation icons serving to execute anassociated one of the programs in response to asélection thereof made by‘ the user, and to display acontent of the executed program on the main display ofthe user computer; and a news window adapted to display news in such afashion that it is scrolled.

20. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the advertisement data transmitted toeach of the user computers is always displayed on thesub display of the user computer while beingperiodically varied in accordance with an advertisementschedule management program selected by an advertiserassociated with the advertisement data. 119 2 2 30 15

21. The Internet advertising method according toclaim 9, wherein the advertisement data, which isregistered at the step of registering advertisement datasupplied from advertisers, is updated at intervals of a 5 predetermined time set by an associated one of theadvertisers or every time an event is generated, andthen registered.

22. An Internet advertising method whereinadvertisements supplied from a plurality of information 10 providing servers adapted to provide advertisement dataor contents are transmitted, via the Internet, to aplurality of user computers each including a maindisplay for displaying a main processing content of aprogram, and a sub display for displaying advertisementdata, and displayed on respective sub displays of theuser computers.