United States Patent m
`Reilly et al.
`
`US005740549A
`[ii] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`5,740,549
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`INFORMATIONAND ADVERTISING
`DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD
`
`"Journalist—A New Prodigy Add-On", Newsbytes News
`Network. Apr. 5, 1994.
`
`[54]
`
`[75]
`
`Inventors: James P. Reilly, San Francisco;
`Gregory P. Hassett, Cupertino, both of
`Calif.
`
`[73] Assignee: PointCast, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 489,591
`Jun. 12, 1995
`
`[22] Filed:
`Int. CI.6
`G06F 17/60
`[51]
`705/14
`[52] U.S. CI
`[58] Field of Search
`395/214. 200.09,
`395/200.11, 200.15, 602, 604; 705/1, 14
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`3,848,193 11/1974 Martin et al
`3,987,398 10/1976 Fung
`4,170,782 10/1979 Miller
`4,186,413
`1/1980 Mortimer
`
`325/53
`325/309
`358/84
`358/146
`
`(List continued on next page.)
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`0 113 022 A3 11/1983 European Pat. Off. .
`8/1996 European Pat. Off. .
`96303727
`9/1996 Germany
`0 733 983
`5/1991 Japan .
`3204259
`(List continued on next page.)
`
`G06F 17/30
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`Doug Abrahms, 'Patent Office May Hinder Hopping of
`Bunny Across Computer Screens", Washington Times, p.
`B7. Jun. 2, 1994.
`G.M. O'Connell, "Turning On to Screen Savers", Promo,p.
`97. Jun. 1994.
`'TED Delivers Personalized Newspapers to Users Desk¬
`tops", Electronic Information Report, v 15, nl4. Apr. 15,
`1994.
`
`(List continued on next page.)
`
`Primary Examiner—Gail O. Hayes
`Assistant Examiner—William N. Hughet
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor &
`Zafman LLP
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`In summary, the present invention is an information and
`advertising distribution system. A data server stores and
`updates a database of informationitems and advertisements.
`The information items and advertisements are each catego¬
`rized so that each has an associated information category.
`Workstations remotely located from the data server each
`include a display device, a communication interface for
`receiving at least a subset of the information items and
`advertisements in the data server's database and local
`memory for storing the information items and advertise¬
`ments received from the data server. An information admin¬
`istrator ineach workstation establishes communication with
`the data server from time to time so as to update the
`information items and advertisements stored in local
`memory with at least a subset of the information items and
`advertisements stored by the data server. An information
`display controller ineach workstation displays on the work¬
`station's display device at least a subset of the information
`items and advertisements stored inlocal memory when the
`workstation meets predefined idleness criteria. At least a
`subset of the workstations include a profiler for staring
`subscriber profile data. The subscriber profile data repre¬
`sents subscriber informationviewing preferences,indicating
`information categories for which the subscriber does and
`does not want to view information items. The information
`display controller includes a filter for excluding from the
`information items displayed on the display device those
`information items inconsistent with the subscriber profile
`data.
`
`20 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets
`
`inlsmel Interconneclivity
`(Switches, etc)
`
`Sports Ticker
`
`-O
`
`Display Scripts
`Software for downloading Iodic
`
`News Item display stain
`
`Application Servers
`
` IPR2016-01869 Ex. 1010
`Broadsign International, LLC Petitioner
` 1
`
`

`
`5,740,549
`Page 2
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`,
`
`4224,644
`9/1980 Lewis et al
`9/1981 PauUshetal
`4(287,592
`9/1981 Yabe
`4288,809
`4,305,101 12/1981 Yaibrough et al
`4,307,446 12/1981 Barton et al
`4,338,644
`7/1982 Staar
`8/1982 Leeetal
`4,347,498
`4/1983 Lambert
`4,381,522
`4,405,946
`9/1983 Knight
`1/1984 Cicheffi et al
`4,429,385
`4,476,488 10/1984 Merrell
`4,488.179 12/1984 Krugeretal
`8/1985 Campbell et al
`4,536,791
`3/1986 Simon etal
`4,575,579
`4.641205
`2/1987 Beyers, Jr.
`6/1987 Lert, Jr. et al
`4,677,466
`9/1987 Hayashi et al
`4,691,351
`4,691,354
`9/1987 Palminteri
`4,701,794 10/1987 Frolingetal
`4,706,121 11/1987 Young
`6/1988 Reiter et al
`4,751,578
`4,751,669
`6/1988 Sturgisetal
`8/1988 Dunlap et al
`4,768,110
`4,775,935 10/1988 Yourick
`4,815,030
`3/1989 Cross et al
`4/1989 Ichikawaetal
`4,821,102
`4/1989 Mann et al
`4,823,122
`5/1989 Seth-Smith et al
`4.829,569
`4,866,700
`9/1989 Seth-Smith et al
`4,868,866
`9/1989 Williams, Jr.
`4,873,662 10/1989 Sargent
`4,890,321 12/1989 Seth-Smith et al
`3/1990 Kinghom
`4,908,707
`3/1990 Levine
`4,908,713
`4,974,149 11/1990 Valenti
`4,975,904 12/1990 Mann etal
`4,975,905 12/1990 Mann etal
`4,977,455 12/1990 Young
`4,987,486
`1/1991 Johnson et al
`2/1991 Johnson etal
`4,991,011
`2/1991 Kuban etal
`4,994,908
`3/1991 Johnson etal
`5,001,554
`4/1991 Bly et al
`5,008,853
`5,053,889 10/1991 Johnson
`5,058,108 10/1991 Mann etal
`5,075,771 12/1991 Hashimoto
`5,077,607 12/1991 Johnson etal
`3/1992 Eschetal
`5,099,319
`4/1992 Pirani et al
`5,105,184
`5,133,075
`7/1992 Risch
`5,151.789
`9/1992 Young
`5,182,640
`1/1993 Takano
`2/1993 Skeen et al
`5,187,787
`4/1993 Yoneda et al
`5,200,823
`6/1993 Hoarty et al
`5,220,420
`6/1993 Bly etal
`5220,657
`7/1993 Moy
`5230,048
`7/1993 Apitz
`5231,493
`5261,042 11/1993 Brandt
`5283,639
`2/1994 Eschetal
`2/1994 Lalonde
`5283,731
`'5285272
`2/1994 Bradley et al
`4/1994 Banker etal
`5,301,028
`4/1994 Murphy
`5,305,195
`6/1994 Wasilewski et al
`5,319,707
`5,337,155
`8/1994 Cornelis
`8/1994 Manabeetal
`5,339239
`8/1994 Hennig
`5,343,300
`5,345,594
`9/1994 Tsuda
`9/1994 Fileppetal
`5,347,632
`
`.
`
`360/72.2
`370/88
`358/12
`360/69
`364/200
`360/132
`. 340/825.02
`358/86
`358/192.1
`370/92
`358/86
`358/181
`358/122
`178/4
`360/33.1
`358/84
`380/10
`380/15
`358/147
`358/142
`358/183
`364/900
`360/33.1
`364/101
`364/900
`358/183
`340/825.28
`380/10
`380/20
`380/49
`364/900
`380/20
`358/147
`358/335
`364/200
`370/85.1
`370/85.1
`358/142
`358/86
`358/141
`358/68
`358/86
`364/900
`358/349
`370/85.1
`358/84
`358/86
`358/86
`340/721
`395/800
`385/194.1
`358/86
`395/600
`358/146
`358/86
`395/425
`395/600
`358/146
`395/156
`348/6
`364/401
`348/6
`348/570
`364/401
`380/14
`348/473
`364/401
`348/478
`455/18
`395/200
`
`395/600
`348/7
`395/600
`345/212
`395/800
`273/434
`395/162
`348/8
`364/403
`395/600
`395/148
`455/66
`455/66
`348/13
`348/9
`395/604
`
`5,355,480 10/1994 Smith et al
`5,357276 10/1994 Banker et al
`4/1995 Levinson
`5,404,505
`5,440262
`8/1995 Leeetal
`5,471,629 11/1995 Risch
`3/1996 Gechter
`5,498,003
`5,511,160
`4/1996 Robson
`5/1996 Carles
`5,515,098
`6/1996 Hill
`5,528,490
`7/1996 Amram et al
`5,537,586
`9/1996 File et al
`5,557,721
`5,577,266 11/1996 Takahisaetal
`5,579,537 11/1996 Takahisa
`5,583,563 12/1996 Wanderscheid et al
`5,600,366
`2/1997 Schulman
`4/1997 Augenbraun et al
`5,617,565
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`5/1991 Japan .
`A 3204259
`7/1992 Japan .
`4250591
`9/1992 Japan .
`A4250591
`Japan .
`6314184
`8/1994
`6/1980 United Kingdom
`2 034 995
`1/1985 United Kingdom
`2 141 907
`2 185 670
`7/1987 United Kingdom
`1/1989 United Kingdom
`2 207 314
`2 256 549 12/1992 United Kingdom
`8/1994 United Kingdom
`2 281 434
`3/1995 United Kingdom
`2 281 434
`6/1988 WIPO .
`WO 88/04507
`7/1990 WTPO .
`WO 90/07844
`9212488 12/1990 WIPO .
`5/1993 WIPO .
`WO 93/09631
`9/1993 WIPO .
`WO 93/19427
`9/1993 WIPO .
`W093/19427
`3/1994 WIPO .
`9630864
`WO 95/31069 11/1995 WIPO .
`WO 96/34466 10/1996 WIPO .
`WO 96/36141 11/1996 WIPO .
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`John R. Quain, "Journalist DeliversYour Own Personalized
`Newspaper",PC Magazine,v 12, n 17,p. 49. Oct. 12, 1993.
`Richard Lander, "UK: Home Computer—From Your Own
`Correspondent", Independent, p. 15. Sep. 24, 1993.
`Mary Kathleen Flynn, The Daily Me: Laying Out Tomor¬
`row's (Electronic) News,PCMagazine,v 12 n 5,p.29. Sep.
`14, 1993.
`CorelDRAW User's Manual—-Version 4.0, Corel Corpora¬
`tion 1993.
`Tom Inglesby, "Rightsizing the Enterprise", Manufacturing
`Systems Supplement, pp. 6-10. Oct. 1992.
`"Prodigy", Prodigy Services Company 1989.
`"Innovation That Has a Purpose is Called Key to Technol¬
`ogy Success",MarketingNews, v 22, n6,pp. 37 & 40. Mar.
`14, 1988.
`"Microsoft Picks On-Line News From PointCast", David
`Bank, The Wall Street Journal, 1p. Dec. 12, 1996.
`"MicrosoftAnd PointCast InBroadcast Alliance", The New
`York Times, Laurence Zuckerman, 1p., Dec. 12, 1996.
`"Microsoft Unites With PointCast at Trade Show", The San
`Francisco Chronicle, Jean Sheartz, 1p., Dec. 12, 1996.
`'Microsoft Teams With PointCast", The Globe And Mail,
`Patrick Bretmour, 1p., Dec. 12, 1996.
`"Microsoft Cuts Deals With 2 Firms", San Jose Mercury
`News, 1p., Dec. 12, 1996.
`"Microsoft To Expand its Internet Reach", Los Angeles
`Times, 1p., Dec. 12, 1996.
`
`
` 2
`
`

`
`5,740,549
`Page 3
`
`"PointCast to team With Microsoft, add new Net dimen¬
`sion", Contra Costa Times, George Avalos, 2 pp. Dec. 12,
`1996.
`"Intercast Brings the Web to TV", PC Tech/Internet Tools,
`PC Magazine, Brian Proffit, 2 pp., Jan. 21, 1997.
`'Tele-Briefs A Novel User-Selectable Real Time News
`Headline Service For Cable TV", Ralph H. Baer, IEEE
`Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. CE-25, No. 3,
`Jul. 1979, 3 pages.
`"Synchronization of Multimedia Data For A Multimedia
`News-On-Demand Application", Louise Lamont, et al.,
`TERR Journal On Selected Areas In Communications, vol.
`14, No. 1, Jan. 1996, pp. 264-278.
`"News to the desktop", John Evan Frook,InteractiveAge, 3
`pp., Apr. 29, 1996.
`"PointCast Network", 1p., Netguide, Sep. 1996.
`"A Need-To-Know Basis", 1p., WebMaster, Oct. 1996.
`"Big Business at Businesswire.Com", Christopher Elliott,
`Web Techniques, Dec. 1996,pp. 95-99.
`"Better InternetAccess With WinVN", James M. Dumoulin,
`p. 14,AeroSpace Technology Innovation.
`"A new generation of NNTP servers provides a vehicle for
`enhanced collaboration", Amarendra Singh, PC Magazine,
`Jan. 21, 1997, pp. 183-190.
`"And Now The News—On Your PC Screen", Newsbytes
`News Network, Oct. 16, 1995, Grant Buckler 1page.
`"Globe Information To Market NewsEdge In Canada",
`Grant Buckler,Newsbytes News Network, 1page.,May 26,
`1992.
`"Oracle's Vision of NetworkedFuture",MartynWilliams, 2
`pages, Newsbytes News Network, Oct. 5, 1995.
`"Monitoring Databases Objects", Tore Risch, pp. 445-453,
`Proceedings Of The Fifteenth International Conference On
`Very Large Data Bases, Aug. 1989.
`Isis Documentation: Release 1(Jul., 1987).
`The ISIS System Manual (Mar. 15, 1988).
`Birman, K., and Joseph, T., "Exploiting Virtual Synchrony
`inDistributed Systems", Proceedings of the EleventhACM
`Symposium on Operating System Principles, (Nov. 1987).
`Schroeder, Birrell and Needham, Experiences with Grape¬
`vine: The growth of a distributed system, ACM Trans, on
`Computer Systems, vol. 2, No. 1(Feb. 1984, 3-23).
`CCITT Standard X.208.
`CCIIT Standard X.209.
`Birman and Marzullo, 'Isis and the Meta Project", Sun
`Technology, Summer, 1989,
`"Affidavit in Support of Lead Case Plaintiff's Motion for
`Partial Summary Judgment", By FredB. Schneider, Nov. 4,
`1993.
`'VCR Technology: No. 4 in a series of reports from Mit¬
`subishi R&D", Video Review, Jan. 1989.
`Bensch, U., "VPV—Videotext Programs Videorecorder",
`1988 IEEE, pp. 788-792.
`IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 28, No. 5, Oct.
`1985.
`James, A., "ORACLE—Broadcasting the Written Word",
`Wireless World. Jul., 1973, pp. 314-316.
`McKenzie. G.A., "ORACLE—An Information Broadcast¬
`ing Service Using Data Transmission in the Vertical Inter¬
`val", Journal of the SMPTE. Jan. 1974, vol. 83, No. 1,pp.
`6-10.
`
`Green, N.W.,"ORACLE—The Problems of Implementinga
`Teletext System On IndependentTelevision andTheir Solu¬
`tion", Colloquim on Broadcast and Wired Teletext Sys¬
`tems—Ceefax, ORACLE, VIEWDATA Organized by Pro-
`fessiona Group E14, Jan. 13, 1976, Digest No. 197613.
`Robinson, G., et al., "Touch-Tone' Teletext, A Combined
`Teletext-Viewdata System", IEEE Transactions on Con¬
`sumer Electronics,vol. CE25,No.3,Jul. 1979,pp.299-303.
`Crowther, G.O., 'Teletext and Viewdata Systems andTheir
`Possible Extension to Europe and USA",IEEETransactions
`On Consumer Electronics, vol. CE25, No. 3, Jul. 1979,pp.
`288-294.
`Roizen, J., 'Teletext in the USA", Journal of the SMPTE,
`Jul. 1981, pp. 602-610.
`Gecsei, J., The Architecture of Videotex Systems, 1983, pp.
`174-177; 233-238.
`Chapter 10: Viewdata, pp. 112-123.
`System as described in DIP IIad.
`System as described in Cable Data ad.
`"Monitoring Corporate Information With FirstFloor Prod¬
`ucts", World Wide Web, Nov. 30, 1996.
`Apers, P.M.G. and Widerhold, G. (eds.), Proceedings of the
`Fifteenth International Conference on Very Large Data¬
`bases, Aug. 22-25, 1989, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
`Diaz, O., et al., "Rule Management in Object Oriented
`Databases: A UniformApproach", Proceedings of the Sev¬
`enteen International Conference on Very Large Databases,
`Barcelona, Spain, Sep., 1991.
`PED Software Corporation, Journalist Quick Start, pp. 1-4,
`U.S.A.
`Prodigy Interactive Personal Service, Journalistfor a Win¬
`dow on a New World of News, pp. 1-4, Cupertino, CA,
`U.S.A.
`CompuServe Brochure, pp. 1—4, Cupertino, CA, U.S.A.
`PED Software Corporation, Journalist™ User's Guide,
`Your Personalized Newspaper for CompuServe, 1994, pp.
`1-143, Cupertino, CA, U.S.A.
`PED Software Corporation, Journalist™ User's Guide,
`YourPersonalizedNewspaperfortheProdigyService, 1994,
`pp. 1-141, San Jose, CA, U.S.A.
`Kass,Andrew Jonathan, An Interchange Standard and Sys¬
`temfor BrowsingDigitalDocuments, M.LT.,May 1995,pp.
`1-105, U.S.A.
`InteiTect. Ltd., Hyper Texxt Newzzz, Mar. 1996, pp. 1-20,
`Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
`Hoffert et al., "The Digital News System and EDUCOM: A
`Convergence of Interactive Computing, Newspapers, Tele¬
`vision andHigh-SpeedNetworks",Communincations ofthe
`ACM, vol. 34, No. 4, Apr. 1991, pp. 113-116.
`Miller et al., "News On-Demand for Multimedia Net¬
`works", ACM Multimedia 93.
`Jackson et al., "InterMail: A Prototype Hypermedia Mail
`'91 Proceedings, Dec. 1991, pp.
`System", Hypertext
`405-409.
`Richard L. Phillips, "MediaView: A General Multimedia
`Digital Publication System", Commuications of the ACM,
`vol. 34. No. 7, Jul. 1991, pp. 75-83.
`Forsdick et al., "Initial Experience with Multimedia Docu¬
`ments in Diamond", Computer-Based Message Services,
`H.T. Smith (Editor), Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.
`(North-Holland), 1984, pp. 99-113.
`Bulterman et al., "A Structure for Transportable, Dynamic
`Multimedia Documents", USENIX, Summer 1991. Nash¬
`ville, TN, pp. 137-154.
`
`
` 3
`
`

`
`5,740,549
`Page 4
`
`"PC MeetsTV:The PlotThickens",Business Week, Dec.23,
`1996, pp. 94-95.
`Nathaniel S. Borenstein, "Multimedia Electronic Mail:Will
`the Dream Become a Reality?", Communications of the
`ACM, vol. 34, No. 4, Apr. 1991, pp. 117-119.
`Yan et al., "SIFT—A Tool for Wide-Area Information
`Dissemination", 1995 USENIX Technical Conference, Jan.
`16-20, 1995, New Orleans, LA,pp. 177-186.
`Huang et al., "Multimedia E-mail: the EvolutionApproach
`Based on Adaptors", Software—Practice and Experience,
`vol. 24, No. 9, Sep. 1994, pp. 785-800.
`Richard L. Phillips, "An Interpersonal Multimedia Visual¬
`ization System",IEEEComputer Graphics & Applications,
`May 1991, pp. 20-27.
`Ramanathan et al., "Architectures for Personalized Multi¬
`media", IEEEMultimedia, Spring 1994, pp. 37-46.
`Postel et al., "The ISIExperimental Multimedia Mail Sys¬
`tem", ISIResearch Report, ISI/RR-86-173, Sep. 1986.
`Ramanathan et al., 'Towards PersonalizedMultimedia Dia¬
`l-up Services", Computer Networks and ISDN Systems,
`Elsevier Science B.V., 1994, pp. 1305-1322.
`Andreas Dieberger, "Browsing the WWW by Interacting
`with a Textual Virtual Environment—A Framework for
`Experimenting with Navigational Metaphors", Hypertext
`'96, Washington, D.C., 1996, pp. 170-179.
`Story et al., "The RightPages, Image-Based Electronic
`library for Alerting and Browsing", Computer, Sep. 1992,
`pp. 17-26.
`"First Looks", PC Magazine, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 60.
`Richard Overton, 'PointCast 1.1: More Content for News
`Junkies", PC World, Jan. 1997, p.. 102.
`
`Gabrielle Mitchell, 'Two Free Programs Deliver News to
`Your PC", PC World, Aug. 1996, p. 76.
`Jesse Berst, "'Pugh' Products Redefine Internet",PC Week,
`Nov. 25, 1996,p. 63.
`Barrie et al., 'The World Wide Web as an Instructional
`Tool", Science, vol. 274, Oct. 18, 1996, pp. 371-372.
`Laurence Zuckerman, "Pushingthe Envelope on Delivery of
`Customized Internet",New York Times, Dec. 9, 1996, Sec¬
`tion D5.
`Cooperstock et al., "Why Use a Fishing Line When You
`Have a Net? An Adaptive Multicast Data Distribution Pro¬
`tocol", 1996 USENIX Technical Conference, Jan. 22-26,
`1996, San Diego, CA, pp. 343-352.
`HeikoThimm, "AMultimediaEnhancedCSCWTeleservice
`for Wide Are Cooperative Authoring of Multimedia Docu¬
`ments", SIGOIS Bulletin, vol. 15, No. 2, Dec. 1994, pp.
`49-57.
`David Bank, "Inverted Web: How Net is Becoming More
`LikeTelevision to Draw Advertisers", The Wall Street Jour¬
`nal, Friday, Dec. 13, 1996.
`Alekperov V P et al., "An adaptation method for SDI",
`Nauchno-Tekh Inf. 2 (USSR), Nauchno-Tekhnicheskaya
`Informatsiya, Seriya 2, 1973, USSR (Abstract only).
`Joanna Bean, "Colorado-Based Startup Uses Computer
`Screen Savers for Marketing", The GazetteTelegraph, Feb.
`22, 1994.
`Donald T. Hawkins, "Electronic Advertising on Online
`Information Systems", Online v. 18, n 2, pp. 26-39, Mar.
`1994.
`
`
` 4
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`sheet iof io
`
`5,740,549
`
`100
`
`Client
`
`Client
`
`Client
`
`Internet Interconnectivity
`(Switches, etc)
`
`-119
`
`Client
`
`AP News Feed
`DOW News Feed
`Sports Ticker
`
`z118
`
`Internet Interface
`
`z112
`
`RAM
`
`z120
`
`Newswire Interface
`
`Z104
`z110
`
`CPU
`
`Z116
`o
`
`BDDDDBOOO
`DODOOODDO
`PPDOOOCPD
`
`A/dp
`User Interface
`
`Information Editor
`
`z114
`
`ÿ-130
`
`->—134
`-v-136
`">—132
`->-138
`->—140
`ÿ-142
`
`Information Database
`Tables for accessing data
`News Story Items
`Advertisements
`Images
`Display Scripts
`Software for downloading to clients ->-144
`Client Catalog
`146
`Advertising display statistics
`">—148
`News item display statistics
`ÿ>-149
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`
`Router
`Application Servers
`Data Servers
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`FIGURE 1
`
`">—150
`->-152
`->-154
`
`
` 5
`
`

`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 2 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`Internet Interconnectivity
`(Switches, etc)
`
`r.
`170
`
`CPU
`
`178
`
`Internet Interface
`
`Administration Manager
`Connection Scheduler
`Connection Manager
`Information Database
`Data Access Tables
`News Story Items
`Advertisements
`Images
`Display Scripts
`User Profile
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`
`User Interface
`
`deDDDOOQDDD
`
`BOB BBDBODD
`BBBDBOBBB
`
`~v- 180
`
`— 181
`
`">—182
`">-184
`">—186
`->-183
`">—188
`">—190
`->-192
`->-194
`
`Screen Saver/Viewer Procedures
`ÿ-200
`Main Screen Saver Procedure
`->-201
`Category Managers
`->-202
`Animation Engine
`->-204
`Profiler
`->-206
`Data Viewer
`->-208
`Display Statistics Generator
`ÿ-210
`WWW connection and viewer procs ->-211
`Other Applications
`
`FIGURE 2
`
`
` 6
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 3 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`202-2
`202-3 ÿ
`202-4ÿ
`202-5
`
`L202-1
`
`Category Profiler
`-ÿ-202A
`Category Profile Data Structure -v-202B
`Display Drivers
`ÿ-202C
`Sprite Generator
`Category Update Manager
`
`"ÿ~202D
`-V-202E
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`
`FIGURE3
`
`£.
`
`Subscriber Identifier
`Connection Password
`Subscriber Hardware & Software Configuration
`Connection Schedule
`Category and Subcategory Preferences
`Timestampl - Last News Update
`Timestamp2 - Last Ad Update
`Timestamp3 - Last Administrative Update
`Display Statistics
`
`Last Displayed Category, Ad, News Items, etc.
`Screen Saver Exit Mode
`Item Storage Limits
`
`FIGURE 4
`
`User Profile
`194
`
`212
`213
`ÿ 214
`ÿ 215
`ÿ 216
`217a
`ÿ 217b
`217c
`-218
`
`219
`(cid:127) 220
`(cid:127) 221
`
`
` 7
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 4 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`Category Profiler Dialog Box
`(cid:127)222
`
`Sports News Profile
`
`223-
`
`\
`4-4
`
`//////»>//////////////
`
`Check box for each topic that interests you:
`Ml Sports Images
`ÿ Sports Scoboard
`ÿ Baseball news
`Mi;\\X\\\S\V \ \ S S \ N '
`ÿ Basketball news
`Ml Hockey news
`ÿ Soccer news
`ÿ College news
`ÿ Tennis/Golf news
`
`Include only stories
`mentioning:_
`49ers, Rams
`
`Exclude stories
`mentioning:
`
`Select All
`
`Deselect All
`
`News Category Profile Data Structure
`202B
`L
`Subcategory selections
`Include filters
`Exclude filters
`
`FIGURE 5
`
`
` 8
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 5 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`230b
`
`Headline 2
`(Short Article)
`
`230a
`
`Headline 1
`
`230c
`
`Headline 3
`
`232
`
`Advertisement
`Image
`
`FIGURE 6
`
`
` 9
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 6 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`Display Script Definition
`Dialog Box
`
`ÿ234_
`
`File
`
`#sfc>rv:
`Define New Actor
`Edit Actor
`Delete Actor
`Smooth Path
`Wallpaper
`
`Actor5
`SS
`SS3
`
`Actor4
`
`NN
`
`xtAd
`
`Actor3
`
`NN
`
`xtN
`
`Actor2
`
`NN
`
`xtN
`ArialFont
`
`Actorl
`
`NN
`
`xtN
`
`Wallpaper: NYNY1
`
`ÿ236
`
`|A1 |
`| A2
`A5
`
`A3
`
`A4
`
`x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size
`x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size
`x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size
`x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size
`
`x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size x, y, size
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127) (cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`
`9(cid:127)(cid:127) (cid:127)(cid:127)9
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`
`1 2 3 4
`
`30
`
`Actorl : N-> NextHL, W=300, H=150
`
`Display Script Data Structure
`ÿ237
`Header: Script Name, No. of Actors, Wallpaper,
`Static Image List
`Actor definition arrays
`
`FIGURE 7A
`
`File
`Open
`Save
`Save As
`Simulate
`FIGURE 7B
`
`
` 10
`
`

`
`Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`1st 1st
`
`1st
`
`News
`
`Category Ad Story Scripts—
`
`Weather
`Sports
`Local
`Finance
`Health
`
`\
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`
`Category Qu«
`Headers
`
`-ÿ
`
`Sheet 7 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`File Name Category Link
`News
`A001
`i
`News
`A002
`Weather
`A003
`News
`A004
`Weather
`A005
`Finance
`A006
`Sports
`A007
`News
`A008
`Sports
`A001
`News
`A009
`Finance
`A010
`Sports
`A011
`
`ÿ
`
`r
`
`r
`
`T
`
`f
`
`1r
`
`1r
`
`r ÿ ÿ
`
`Advertisement Queues
`
`1f
`
`1
`
`File Name Category Link
`News
`N001
`I
`News
`N002
`News
`N003
`News
`N004
`Weather
`N005
`N006
`N007
`N008
`N009
`N010
`N011
`N012
`
`I
`
`Weather *
`Sports
`I
`Sports 1
`1
`Sports
`News
`Finance
`Finance
`
`1r
`
`j
`ippi g
`
`1r 1r 1'
`
`News Story Queues
`
`186
`
`
` 11
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`(cid:127)(cid:127)
`(cid:127)
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 8 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`1st
`1st 1st
`Category Ad Story Script
`News
`Weather
`Sports
`Local
`Finance
`Health
`
`\
`
`N\
`\
`
`L/dieyuiy wueuc
`Headers
`
`File Name Category Link
`News
`I
`S001
`News
`S002
`-ÿ S003
`Weather
`Weather ÿ
`S004
`News
`S005
`Finance
`S006
`S007
`Sports
`S008
`Sports
`S009
`News
`News
`S010
`Finance
`S011
`S012
`Sports
`
`r
`
`ÿ ir ir
`
`Script Queues
`
`FIGURE 9
`
`r
`
`r
`
`ÿ i
`r
`
`\ v
`\\
`
`
` 12
`
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`(cid:127)(cid:127)(cid:127)
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 9 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`250
`
`248
`
`256
`
`Article Text
`
`( News
`(Weather
`( Sports
`(Local
`C Finance
`(Health
`(Theater
`(Music
`® ®
`£ Options )
`|ÿ Print )
`Subcategories:ÿ Local ÿ("National
`
`©© Article mof 123 1
`
`Photo or Image
`Associated with
`Article
`
`k@®Photo[T|of[Tj
`
`Advertisement
`Image
`
`World )
`
`260
`
`254
`
`FIGURE 10
`
`252
`
`258
`
`
` 13
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Apr. 14, 1998
`
`Sheet 10 of 10
`
`5,740,549
`
`104
`
`INFORMATION SERVER
`
`Client
`Computer
`
`J
`
`1
`
`L270
`Router
`
`L272
`Application
`Server 1
`
`Application
`Server 2
`
`Application
`Server 3
`
`L274
`Data
`Server 1
`
`Data
`Server 2
`
`Data
`Server 3
`
`Application
`Server N
`
`Data
`Server M
`
`FIGURE 11
`
`CLIENT COMPUTER
`
`INFORMATION SERVER
`
`Connection Scheduler
`I
`Initiate Connection
`
`Send User Profile and
`Advertising Display
`Statistics
`
`Load received data into-
`local database. Delete
`specified items in local
`information database.
`Update data access
`tables.
`
`Router
`J
`ÿAssign Application Server
`
`Application Server
`
`ISelect and Send news items,
`
`Ads, etc. needed to update
`local database.
`
`FIGURE 12
`
`
` 14
`
`

`
`1
`INFORMATIONAND ADVERTISING
`DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMAND METHOD
`
`5.740.
`
`The present invention relates generally to computer
`basedinformation distribution systems, andparticularly to a 5
`system for distributing to a set of subscribers' computers
`information matching each subscriber's interests as well as
`advertising, and for distributing the information and adver¬
`tising to each subscriber's computer during time periods in
`which the subscriber's computer is otherwise inactive.
`
`to
`
`35
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`The use of advertising revenues to pay for information
`dissemination is well established in domains such as tele¬
`vision andradioinwhich endusers are tunedto a continuous 15
`signal over a lengthy periodof time. In such systems, due to
`the continuous nature of the signal being -monitored by the
`end users, the endusers are sufficiently similar to a "captive
`audience" that many or most end users remain tuned to the
`same signal even when the main program to which they are 20
`listening or viewing is interrupted by advertisements.
`Another example of advertising mixed with information
`dissemination is the use of scrolled text at the bottom of a
`television of computer screen, where the main program
`occupies most of the end user's visual held and a smaller 25
`portion is occupied by advertisements and the like on a
`"scroll bar" or similar visual device along the periphery of
`the screen. In some contexts, such as cable television
`channels that display a "stock ticker tape," this relationship
`is reversed: the informationportion of the screen occupies a 30
`smallpart of the screen, such as horizontally scrolling image
`region at the top or bottom of the display and the remainder
`of the screen is occupied by advertisements, "infomerdals"
`and the like.
`Yet another example of mixing advertisements with infor¬
`mation dissemination are newspapers and magazines.
`Most, and perhaps all such examples of mixing adver¬
`tisements with information content are based on systems in
`which the end user has actively elected to view or listen to 40
`a programor to otherwise receive information.Furthermore,
`in virtually all such systems or media, the juxtaposition or
`placement of advertisements and information content is
`explicitly programmed or determined by human beings
`working as "editors" or in a similar content and/or presen- 45
`tation editing capacity.
`Up until the present, distributing information via the
`Internet or other publicly accessible computer communica¬
`tion networks has been largely unsupported by advertising
`revenues due to the lack of good mechanisms for mixing 50
`advertising and information content in such a way as to be
`acceptable to both end users and advertisers. There are, of
`course, some exceptions where advertising/content mixtures
`from other contexts, such as newspapers and television, have
`been simply replicated on the Internet. For instance, some 55
`newspapers have been "published" at least in part on the
`Internet, and include advertisements along with information
`content. Infact, some newspapers sell advertising space on
`an associated World Wide Web (WWW) site, which often
`includes extensive listings of certain types of advertisements 60
`such as real estate advertisements, personal advertisements,
`and so on. Similarly, the scroll bar type advertisement at the
`bottom of a computer screen is based on similar advertising
`techniques used in cable television and other television
`contexts.
`There are also examples of computer programs which
`contain advertisements. In all such examples known to the
`
`65
`
`2
`inventors,the advertisements are either permanently embed¬
`ded in the computer programs or reside permanently with
`computer programs such that they cannot be easily updated.
`The present invention addresses a problem prevalent in
`electronic information distribution systems. In particular,
`"online" newspapers andmagazines are notoriously difficult
`and tedious to read. Graphics and animation andfull motion
`video, all techniques widely used in television news
`programs, require substantial data transmission bandwidth.
`Such data transmission is expensive both in terms of com¬
`munications bandwidth (capacity) and time. In non-
`computer publishing such as printed magazines and
`newspapers, graphics are often used to make reading less
`difficult and tedious. Intelevision the majority of informa¬
`tion is delivered with movement (animation), although
`graphics are also often used.
`The use of large bandwidth data transmissions is not
`economically practical in the context of data dissemination
`via the Internet and other computer networks, although the
`cost of such data transmissions will undoubtedly continue to
`decrease. As a result, graphics and animation have typically
`received relatively little use in computer network based
`information dissemination systems.
`The present invention mixes advertising and information
`content dissemination in a manner unlike the examples
`mentioned above.
`It is a goal of the present invention to disseminate
`information and advertisements to subscribers' computers in
`a system where the information and advertisements are
`automatically displayed when the subscriber's computer is
`on but meets predefined idleness criteria. For example, the
`predefined idleness criteria could be the failure to receive
`any input for a period of at least five minutes.
`Another goal of the present invention is to automatically
`update each subscriber's local database of news stories at
`least once per day, andpreferably multiple times per day so
`as to present subscribers with timely information.
`Another goal of the present invention is present, news
`stories and advertisements in a dynamic and easy to read
`manner.
`Another goal of the present invention is to categorize
`news stories and advertisements, and to display advertise¬
`ments associated with each category at the same time that
`new stories associated with same category are displayed,
`thereby providing a "targeted" audience for advertisers.
`Another goal of the present invention is provide each
`subscriber with the ability to set up and change a user profile
`indicating categories and subcategories of topics which are
`of interest and not of interest to the subscriber, and to select
`the news stories displayed on the subscriber's computer
`accordingly.
`Yet another goal of the present inventionis to divide news
`stories into at least two portions, a preliminary portion and
`a secondary portion,where the preliminary portions of news
`stories are automatically displayed during idle periods, and
`the secondary portions are displayed only upon subscriber
`request.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`In summary, the present invention is an information and
`advertising distribution system. A information server stores
`and updates a database of information items and advertise¬
`ments. The information items and advertisements are each
`categorized so that each has an associated information
`category. Workstations remotely located from the informa-
`
`
` 15
`
`

`
`,
`
`x
`
`.
`
`,
`
`1A/1.
`
`ÿ
`
`t
`
`_
`
`j
`
`ÿ
`
`x-
`
`5,740,549
`
`50
`
`4
`3
`many client computers 102 and at least one information
`tion server each include a display device, a communication
`server computer 104. Client computers are often called
`interface for receiving at least a subset of the information
`"subscribers'computers" in the present document, and the
`items and advertisements in the information server's data-
`terms "subscriber computer" and "client computer" will be
`base andlocalmemory for storing the informationitems and
`advertisements received from the information server. An 5 used synonymously. In many instances, a set of subscribers
`102 will be located within a common local area network
`information administrator in each workstation establishes
`communication with the information server from time to
`(LAN) 106, and are connected to a LAN server 108.
`time so as to update the information items and advertise-
`in the preferred embodiment, each subscriber's computer
`ments stored in local memory with at least a subset of the
`102 is connected to the information server 104 via the
`infonnation items and advertisements stored by the infor-
`1Q internet 119 for a small fraction of each day. Other forms of
`mation server. An information display controller in each
`electronic communication connections, including private
`workstation cksplays on the workstation s display device at
`wMe afea networks similar to CompuServe, America
`least a subset of the mformation items and advertisements
`. i ..
`0nLine or
`can be used t0 connect subscribers,
`stored in local memory when the workstation meets pre-
`_ ,
`computers to the mformation server 104in