Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-27
2002-02-26
Homere, Jean R. (Department: 2177)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C709S217000, C705S052000, C705S400000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06351745
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a communication system that searches for messages suitable to individual users from, for example, Internet, and provides the messages to the users. The present invention is related to the following five Japanese patent applications, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Patent application No. 8-9521 filed on Jan. 23, 1996
Patent application No. 8-67278 filed on Feb. 28, 1996
Patent application No. 8-139689 filed on May 10, 1996
Patent application No. 8-139690 filed on May 10, 1996
Patent application No. 8-163679 filed on Jun. 5, 1996
RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION
This application is related to:
application Ser. No. 09/125,833 filed Feb. 26, 1997, entitled “Communication System Capable of Providing User with Picture Meeting Characteristics of User and Terminal Equipment and Information Providing Device Used for the Same,” now U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,946, issued Dec. 5, 2000.
application Ser. No. 09/633,407 filed Aug. 7, 2000, entitled “Advertising Supported Internet Access Service.”
application Ser. No. 09/188,571 filed Nov. 10, 1998, entitled “Message Searching System and Terminal.”
application Ser. No. 09/206,385 filed Dec. 7, 1998, entitled “Information Provider, Terminal And System And Recording Medium For The Terminal.”
application Ser. No. 09/117,331 filed Nov. 6, 1998, entitled “System For Displaying Two Independent Images From Network.”
application Ser. No. 09/276,708 filed Mar. 26, 1999, entitled “Terminal Which Stores Information on Communication Network in Local Memory Automatically.”
Internet users can communicate with various host computers within Internet through a host computer (which is called an information provider) offered by an Internet provider. The terminal connected to Internet reads out images, such as home pages, as designated by the user, and displays the images.
Recently, many virtual shops have been established on Internet, and users can purchase goods by mail-order through Internet. Programs and data are also sold through Internet. Payment for these goods or services is made by transmitting a credit card number and expiration date over Internet.
Advertisement of such goods and services from virtual shops, as well as advertisement of goods or services offered by ordinary retailers are often seen on communications networks. For example, the home page of Yahoo (trademark), which is a search engine for home pages on Internet, displays advertisements as sidebars.
To sell goods or services efficiently using advertisements and the payment system mentioned above, a counter system is also used to count the number of times users access the home pages of virtual shops which sell goods or services. Based on the counter results, advertisers can estimate, to some extent, whether an advertisement has been effective.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
However, a conventional counter system can not accurately measure the number of times that users actually look at a particular advertisement, because it is not known whether the users are actually watching that advertisement when the advertisement is displayed on users' terminals. In particular, when an advertisement using moving pictures is displayed for a certain period of time, users may stop watching the advertisement halfway through.
Furthermore, as the amount of information offered on communications networks, such as Internet, increases, it becomes difficult for a user to find appropriate information or advertisements for goods or services, which the user is actually interested in. It is also difficult for an information provider to supply information to users for whom that information is suitable, because the users who utilize Internet have become a highly diverse group of consumers.
In addition, concerning payment for goods or services, there is the possibility that a credit card number or expiration date may be improperly used by a third party because the credit card number or expiration date is transmitted on the communications network, and many people can access the communications network. Since information transmitted on Internet is recorded in several servers (host computers), it is dangerous for users to transmit their credit card information. This situation curbs the growth of sales of goods and services via communications networks. While systems for encoding credit card information and transmitting the encoded information have been developed this information remains insecure when transmitted over Internet because the codes can be decoded.
If an advertisement is embedded in a home page on Internet, the advertisement can not be offered to a user until the user actually accesses the home page. Further, when the user scrolls down the home page in the window, the advertisement disappears from the window. Also, when another window is opened over the browser window, or the browser window is moved off the screen, the advertisement does not reach the user.
With the conventional counter system, the user easily manipulates the number of times a home page is accessed, for example, by repeatedly accessing the home page for the purpose of increasing the number of times accessed. In such a case, the counter result for that home page or its advertisement is deceptive and not correct. Moreover, the conventional counter system can not offer information about what types of users access what kinds of home pages or advertisements. It is difficult to determine from the counter results of the conventional system who the target customers of a particular good or service are and how the good or service should be marketed.
For example, it is highly probable that those users who are interested in the product “skis” will also take an interest in the product “ski suit” or the service “ski tour”. Several goods or services are often related in this way, all appealing to the same customers. However, the conventional counter system can not identify such related goods or services that users would be interested in, and therefore fails to efficiently market the appropriate goods or services to users.
To use a communications network, such as Internet, users have to pay a connection fee to Internet provider who owns the host computer to which the user's terminal is connected. This fact discourages users from accessing the communications network for a long time, which presents an obstacle to expanding advertising, sales or payment transactions via communications networks.
It is an object of this invention to provide a communication system, which can overcome all of the problems, described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above object, the communication system according to the first aspect of the invention has a message database which stores an image, text, sound, or combination thereof to transmit to a terminal. The message read out from the message database is transmitted to a terminal, and displayed on the terminal. The message database also stores a parameter for each user, the parameter representing the amount of access by the associated user. When a message is displayed on a terminal, the value of the parameter for the user of that terminal is increased. However, if the user is not actively recognizing the message, the value of the parameter is not increased. In this configuration, the value of the parameter is increased only when the user actively views the message. Accordingly, the extent to which a user accesses a message (the amount of access) can be measured more accurately because apparent access by inactive users can be measured and discounted.
The communication system according to the second aspect of the invention has a user database, which stores characteristics of the respective terminal users, and a transmittal condition database, which stores a message ID in association with user characteristics suitable for that message and which is used for identifying messages based on those user characteristics. When a user requests a message, the user's characteristics are read out from the user database based on a user ID for identifyi
Fujita Nobuyuki
Itakura Yuichiro
Tsutsui Yuichiro
Homere Jean R.
NetZero Inc.
Robinson Greta L.
Sereboff Steven C.
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