Rockstar Consortium US LP et al v. Google Inc

Filing 92

MOTION for Leave to File A Supplemental Brief In Response To Googles Motion To Transfer In Light Of Newly-Acquired Evidence by NetStar Technologies LLC, Rockstar Consortium US LP. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order Granting Motion for Leave to File a Supplemental Brief In Response to Google's Motion to Transfer in Light of Newly-Acquired Evidence, # 2 Supplement Plaintiffs' Supplemental Brief In Response to Google's Motion to Transfer, # 3 Affidavit of Amanda Bonn In Support of Plaintiffs' Supplemental Brief In Response to Google's Motion to Transfer, # 4 Exhibit 1, # 5 Exhibit 2, # 6 Exhibit 3, # 7 Exhibit 4, # 8 Exhibit 5, # 9 Exhibit 6, # 10 Exhibit 7, # 11 Exhibit 8, # 12 Exhibit 9, # 13 Exhibit 10, # 14 Exhibit 11, # 15 Exhibit 12, # 16 Exhibit 13, # 17 Exhibit 14, # 18 Exhibit 15, # 19 Exhibit 16, # 20 Exhibit 17, # 21 Exhibit 18, # 22 Exhibit 19, # 23 Exhibit 20, # 24 Exhibit 21, # 25 Exhibit 22, # 26 Exhibit 23, # 27 Exhibit 24, # 28 Exhibit 25, # 29 Exhibit 26, # 30 Exhibit 27, # 31 Exhibit 28, # 32 Exhibit 29, # 33 Exhibit 30)(Bonn, Amanda)

Exhibit 12

US007844488B2

(12) United States Patent

(lO) Patent No.:
US 7,844,488 B2
(45) Date of Patent:
Nov. 30, 2010

Merriman et al.
(54)

METHOD OF DELIVERY, TARGETING, AND
MEASURING ADVERTISING OVER
NETWORKS

(75)

Inventors: D~vight Allen Merriman, New York,
NY (US); Kevin Joseph O’Connor,
New York, NY (US)

(73)

Assignees: DoubleClick Inc., New York, NY (US);
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA (US)

(*)

Notice:

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(b) by 641 days.

(21)

Appl. No.: 10/798,342

(22)

Filed:

9/1989
2/1991
6/1991
3/1992
4/1992
10/1992
11/1992

Hey
Hey
Baji et al.
Foresman etal.
Pirani et al.
Wachob
Kimetal.

(Continued)
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
DE

19528911 A1

2/1997

Mar. 12, 2004

(65)

Prior Publication Data
US 2004/0172332 A1

Sep. 2, 2004

Related U.S. Application Data
(60)

4,870,579 A
4,996,642 A
5,027,400 A
5,099,422 A
5,105,184 A
5,155,591 A
5,166,866 A

Division of application No. 10/254,923, filed on Sep.
26, 2002, wlfich is a continuation of application No.
09/293,463, filed on Apr. 15, 1999, now abandoned,
which is a continuation of application No. 08/738,634,
filed on Oct. 29, 1996, now Pat. No. 5,948,061.

(Continued)
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
17625888; Java and Blackbird: extending the Web . . . ; Seybold
Reoport on Publishing Systems; Oct. 23, 1995.

(Continued)
Primary Examine~Ronald Laneau
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm~ish & Richardson RC.

(51) Int. Cl.
ABSTRACT
(57)
GO6Q 30/00
(2006.01)
705/14
(52) U.S. Cl .........................................................
(58) Field of Classification Search ................... 05/14,
7
705/26, 27, 6, 71; 709/245, 218, 224 Methods and apparatuses for targeting the delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet are disclosed.
See application file for complete search history.
Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and
References Cited
(56)
the use of the advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of
the advertisements of individual users. In response to requests
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
from affiliated sites, an advertising server transmits to people
4,602,279 A
7/1986 Freeman
accessing the page of a site an appropriate one of the adver4,703,423 A
10/1987 Bado et al.
tisement based upon profiling of users and networks.
4,775,935 A
10/1988 Yourick
4,789,235 A
4,850,007 A

12/1988
7/1989

Borah et al.
Marino et al.

17 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets

GOOG-WRD-0019308

US 7,844,488 B2
Page 4
Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary Third Edition, 1997, p. 387
"proxy server".
Bill Harvey, The Expanded ARF Model: Bridge to the Accountable
Advertising Future, Journal of Advertising Research, Mar./Apr.
1997, pp. 11-20.
Cespedes & Smith, Database Marketing: New Rules for Policy and
Practice, Sloan Management Review, Summer, 1993, pp. 7-22.
Preston Gralla, How the Internet Works, Aug. 1999, Millennium
Edition, 202-204 and 243-247.
Miller, B., "GroupLens: An Open Architecture for Collaborative
Filtering," ftp://ftp.cs.umn.edu/users/bmiller/prop.ps, Univ. of
Minn., pp. 1-18, Oct. 1995.
Upendra Shardanand, "Social Information Filtering for Music Recommendation" Sep. 1994, pp. 1-93, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Thesis.
"WWW.barnesandnoble.com" ("WWW.tirefly.com"), web site
pages, 12 pages, printed out on Jan. 21, 1998 (origination date
unknown).
"WWW.amazon.com", web site pages, 15 pages, printed out on Jan.
21, 1998 (origination date unknown).
Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary Third Edition, 1997, pp. 271
("junction"), 285 ("link"), 331 ("node").
51 st IETF~hois enhancement BOF (whoisfix), Aug. 1,2001.
Doubleclick Measures Beyond the Click With New "Spotlight" Software, Sep. 4, 1996, Doubleclick.
Doubleclick Unveils Internet Ad Tracking Product, Sep. 4, 1996,
Renter Financial Report.
Doubleclick Shines Its Spotlight, Sep. 5, 1996, Advertising
Age Interactive Daily.
Spotlight on Doubleclick, Sep. 13, 1996, Information & Interactive
Serv-ices Report.
Tracking Services Tallies Ad Response, Online Orders, Sep. 16,
1996, DMNews.
Luring in Customers ViaWeb Advertising, Oct. 1996, Business Strategies.
LinkMarket Business Plan; David Zinman et al.; SD005545SD005569.
LinkMarket; David Zinman et al.; SD005573-SD005574.
"Online Marketing: ... "; Internet Week, vol. 1, Issue 36; Dec. 18,
1995; SD005584-SD005585.
David Zinman; http://www.focalink.com/dzinman/bio.html;
SD005586.
"Seeing A Gap... "; Ellis Booker; http://www.internetworld.corn/
print/1996/02/01/industry/ad-server.html; Feb. 1996; SD005587.
"readme. lst;... "; David Evans; Marketing Computers, No. 2, vol.
16, p. 12; Feb. 1996; SD005588-SD005589.
"FocalinkWill Monitor... "; JuliaAngwin; San Francisco Chronicle;
Feb. 7, 1996; SD005590.
"Media Daily Special:... "; Sean Butterbaugh; Media Daily, No. 5,
vol. 4; Feb. 7, 1996; SD005591-SD005592.
"Internet Access: Major Companies... "; Edge: Work-Group Computing Report; Feb. 12, 1996; SD005593-SD005594.
"Internet Access: First Advertising... "; Edge: Work-Group Computing Report; Feb. 12, 1996; SD005595-SD005596.
"Internet Access: Major Companies... "; Edge: Work-Group Computing Report; Feb. 12, 1996; SD005597-SD005598.
"Another Media-Buying Firm... "; Media Daily, No. 5, vol. 4; Feb.
14, 1996; SD005599-SD005601.
"Working the Web;... "; Jennifer Reese; Executive Female, No. 2,
vol. 19, p. 24; Mar. 13, 1996; SD005602-SD005604.
"Web ad-management software . . . "; John Evan l~rook;
InternetWeek; Mar. 18, 1996; SD005605-SD005607.
"Unraveling a tangled Web;... "; Ken Siegmann; PC Week, No. 15,
vol. 13, p. A4; Apr. 15, 1996; SD005608-SD005610.
"Web Site Links: ... "; Electronic Marketplace Report, No. 16, vol.
9; Aug. 22, 1995; SD005611-SD005613.
"Interactive Media & Marketing . . . "; Advertising Age; Dec. 11,
1995; SD005614-SD005615.
"Major Companies, AdAgencies... "; Business Wire; Feb. 5, 1996;
SD005616-SD005617.
"First Advertising Server Launched... "; Business Wire; Feb. 5,
1996; SD005618-SD005619.

"Interactive; Focalink and Doubleclick... "; Kim Cleland; Advertising Age, p. 30; Feb. 5, 1996, SD005620-SD005621.
"First Advertising Server Launched . . . "; Business Wire; Feb. 5,
1996; SD005622-SD005623.
"Major Companies, Ad Agencies... "; Business Wire; Feb. 5, 1996;
SD005624-SD005625.
Web Personals Report; Oct. 12, 1995; Z00001-Z00009 / SD027072SD027080.
FocaLink Technology; Aug. 30, 1995; Z00010-Z00011 / SD027081SD027082.
Web Personals stats; Aug. 22, 1995; Z00012-Z00013 / SD027083SD027084.
For Immediate Release; Hyperlink Advertising Explodes on the
World Wide Web; http://link.w3.com; Z00014 / SD027085.
Interactive Age; The Newspaper for Electronic Commerce; Z00015Z00019 / SD027086-SD027090.
Link Ma~keting, LLP; Z00020-Z00021 / SD027091-SD027092.
Link Marketing; Z00022-Z00027 / SD027093-SD027098.
LinkMarket; David Zinman et al.; Z00028-Z00030 / SD027099SD027101.
LinkMarket; David Zinman et al.; Z00031-Z00032 / SD027102SD027103.
LinkMarket; David Zinman et al.; Z00033-Z00056 / SD027104SD027127.
FocalLink Media Services, Inc.; David Zinman et al.; Aug. 2, 1995;
Z00057-Z00070 / SD027128-SD027141.
Saturn Banner Ad Placement; Aug. 25, 1995; Z00071 / SD027142.
Sponsorable Site~ddle du Jour; Aug. 26, 1995; Z00072-Z00074 /
SD027143 -SD027145.
Saturn Banner Ad Placement; Aug. 27, 1995; Z00075 / SD027146.
FocaLink Technology; Aug. 30, 1995; Z00076-Z00077 / SD027147SD027148.
Question for you; Sep. 7, 1995; Z00078-Z00079 / SD027149SD027150.
Information Request; Sep. 12, 1995; Z00080 / SD027151.
Update and Miscellaneous; Sep. 22, 1995; Z00081-Z00083 /
SD027152-SD027154.
FocalLink: request for ISN ad traffic data (fwd); Sep. 26, 1995;
Z00084-Z00085 / SD027155-SD027156.
Saturn Ad Placements; Sep. 28, 1995; David Zinman; Z00086 /
SD027157.
Re> Saturn Ad Placements; Sep. 29, 1995; [e-mail]; Z00087
/ SD027158.
Re: Advertising Update; Oct. 3, 1995; Eric Ver Ploeg; Z00088Z00089 / SD027159-SD027160.
Re>>Saturn Ad Placements; Sep. 29, 1995; [e-mail];
Z00090 / SD027161.
Re: Test Parameters (fwd); Oct. 23, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00091Z00092 / SD027162-SD027163.
Re: Rest Parameters; Oct. 23, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00093-Z00094
/ SD027164-SD027165.
Proposal (fwd); Oct. 23, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00095-Z00096 /
SD027166-SD027167.
Advertising advisory board; Oct. 25, 1995; David Zinman; Z00097Z00099 / SD027168-SD027170.
Contact at Netcom; Oct. 26, 1995; David Zinman; Z00100 /
SD027171.
CMP Technical Contact; Oct. 30, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00104 /
SD027172.
from ad age today . . . ; Oct. 30, 1995; Karen Johnson; Z00105ZOO 106 / SD027173-SD027174.
We need to get on this; Oct. 31, 1995; David Zinman; Z00107 /
SD027175.
Web site pricing draft; Nov. 7, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00108 /
SD027176.
Heads up... (fwd); Nov. 8, 1995; David Ziuman; ZOO 109-Z00110 /
SD027177-SD027178.
Proposal to Intel; Nov. 13, 1995; Jason Strober; Z0011 l-Z00114 /
SD027179-SD027182.
FocaLink white paper; Nov. 13, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00115Z00116 / SD027183-SD027184.
FocaLink Media Services; Nov. 14, 1995; David Zinman; Z00117Z00119 / SD027185-SD027187.

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US 7,844,488 B2
Page 5
I/Traffic & Dave Carlick; Nov. 14, 1995; David Zinman; Z00120 /
SD027188.
FocaLink white paper; Nov. 15, 1995; David Zimnan; Z00121Z00123 / SD027189-SD027191.
Re: FocaLink Meeting (fwd); Nov. 20, 1995; Karen Johnson;
Z00124-Z00125 / SD027192-SD027193.
Microsoft ads through FocaLink; Nov. 21, 1995; Jason Strober;
Z00126 / SD027194.
Re: Who’s in and who’s out (fwd); Nov. 21, 1995; Jason Strober;
Z00127-Z00128 / SD027195-SD027196.
Intel update (fwd); Nov. 23, 1995; Jason Strober; Z00129-Z00130 /
SD027197-SD027198.
Saturn reports; Dec. 5, 1995; Jennifer Ratner; Z00134-Z00140 /
SD027199-SD027205.
November Report; Dec. 5, 1995; Jennifer Ratner; Z00141-Z00146 /
SD027206-SD027211.
FocaLiitk Media Services; Dec. 6, 1995; David Zinman; Z00147 /
SD027212.
FocaLink Media Services; Dec. 6, 1995; David Zinman; Z00148 /
SD027213.
FocaLink Media Services; Dec. 6, 1995; David Zinman; Z00149 /
SD027214.
FocaLink for the Layman; Dec. 6, 1995; David Zinman; Z00150 /
SD027215.
Microtargeting; Dec. 7, 1995; David Zinman; Z00151 / SD027216.
Info on FocaLink Media Services; Dec. 11, 1995; David Zinman;
Z00152-Z00154 / SD027217-SD027219.
FocaLink Media Services; Dec. 11, 1995; David Zinman; Z00155Z00156 / SD027220-SD027221.
Catch-up time; Dec. 11, 1995; David Zinman; Z00157 / SD027222.
Info on FocaLink; Dec. 13, 1995; David Zinman; Z00158-Z00160 /
SD027223-SD027225.
Intel Ad on Dilbert Site; Dec. 13, 1995; David Zinman; Z00161 /
SD027226.
Re: Intel Ad on Dilbert Site; Dec. 13, 1995; David Zinman; Z00162
/ SD027227.
FocaLink Beta Test on SmartBanner; Dec. 14, 1995; David Zinman;
Z00163 / SD027228.
I/Pro Mtg Today; Dec. 19, 1995; David Zinman; Z00164 /
SD027229.
Eric Smith Quote (fwd); Jan. 10, 1996; David Zinman; Z00165 /
SD027230.
FocaLink Communications, Inc.; Jan. 10, 1996; David Zinman;
Z00166 / SD027231.
Re: Advertisers for wyp.net; Jan. 12, 1996; David Zinman; Z00167 /
SD027232.
Quote for Press Release; Jan. 15, 1996; David Zinman; Z00168 /
SD027233.
Re: Quote for Press Release; Jan. 16, 1996; "thomas mark"; Z00169
/ SD027234.
Re: Quote for Press Release (fwd); Jan. 16, 1996; David Zinman;
Z00170-Z00171 / SD027235-SD027236.
Re> **Ad Placement Notific; Jan. 19, 1996; Dan Stoller@anlsf.
com; ZOO 172-Z00173 / SD027237-SD027238.
Invitation; Jan. 25, 1996; [e-mail]; Z00174 / SD027239.
Focalink; Jan. 25, 1996; David Zinman; Z00175 / SD027240.
SmartBanner Reports; Jan. 25, 1996; David Zinman; Z00176 /
SD027241.
Re: Focalink; Jan. 26, 1996; Rick Vorhaus; ZOO 177 / SD027242.
Comments; Jan. 29, 1996; David Zinman; Z00178-Z00182 /
SD027243-SD027247.
Poppe Tyson/Internet Advertising Network Alliance; Feb. 26, 1996;
Ron Kovas; Z00183 / SD27248.
fyi; Feb. 5, 1996; "Roger Follis"; Z00184-Z00185 / SD027249SD027250.
Focalink Communications; Feb. 5, 1996; David Zinman; Z00186Z00188 / SD027251-SD027253.
Microsoft Update; Feb. 5, 1996; Margaret Bond; Z00189 /
SD027254.
Focalink Communications; Feb. 6, 1996; David Zinman; Z00190Z00192 / SD027255-SD027257.
Focalink Communications; Feb. 6, 1996; David Zinman; Z00193Z00195 / SD027258-SD027260.

Focalink Communications; Feb. 6, 1996; David Zinman; Z00196ZOO 198 / SD027261-SD027263.
[Fwd: Re: DoubleClick and IAN]; Feb. 6, 1996; Jason Strober;
ZOO 199 / SD027264.
Focalink Communications; Feb. 6, 1996; David Zinman; Z00200Z00202 / SD027265-SD027267.
Test With Focalink; Feb. 7, 1996; David Zinman; Z00203 /
SD027268.
Urgent~icrosoft Ad Placement; Feb. 7, 1996; David Zinman;
Z00204 / SD027269.
Test for Microsoft Banner; Feb. 8, 1996; Joel Bassuk; Z00205 /
SD027270.
ZDNet Test; Margaret Bond; Feb. 8, 1996; Z00206 / SD027271.
URLs; Feb. 8, 1996; Dan Stoller; Z00207-Z00208 / SD027272SD027273.
HeadsUp Feb. 9, 1996 (20 stories)<CD58M010>; Feb. 9, 1996; An
Information Service of Individual Inc.; Z00209-Z00212 / SD027274SD027277.
Focalink Communications; Feb. 13, 1996; David Zinman; Z00213 /
SD027278.
Targeting; Feb. 13, 1996; Michael Wang; Z00214 / SD027279.
Re: Cookies!; Feb. 15, 1996; David Zinman; Z00215 / SD027280.
Focalink; Feb. 22, 1996; Jason Strober; Z00216 / SD027281.
Focalink/Microsoft I.E.; Feb. 23, 1996; Margee Bond; Z00217Z00218 / SD027282-SD027283.
Cookies; Mar. 6, 1996; David Zinman; Z00219 / SD027284.
Did I send this 2x; Apr. 3, 1996; Z00220-Z00222 / SD027285SD027287.
Answer to your request; Apr. 8, 1996; Z00223 / SD027288.
Site Letter; Apr. 10, 1996; Z00224-Z00225 / SD027289-SD027290.
Oracle and Intel; Apr. 12, 1996; Z00226 / SD027291.
Doubleclick; Apr. 16, 1996; Z00227 / SD027292.
Open Market Licenses With NetGravity; May 6, 1996; Z00228 /
SD027293.
Fact check; May 12, 1996; Z00229 / SD027294.
IDG; May 17, 1996; Z00230-Z00231 / SD027295-SD027296.
Daily Spectrum; May 20, 1996; Z00232-Z00242 / SD027297SD027307.
Fact check; May 20, 1996; Z00243 / SD027308.
Cookie FAQ; May 21, 1996; Z00244 / SD027309.
Focalink Communications; May 21, 1996; Z00245-Z00246 /
SD027310-SD027311.
Network World Fusion; May 22, 1996; Z00247 / SD027312.
Eooming issue; Jul. 13, 1996; Z00248-Z00249 / SD027313SD027314.
Cookies & privacy ? / Gernan Press; Jul. 15, 1996; Z00250 /
SD027315.
Cookies & privacy ? / German Press; Jul. 16, 1996; Z00251 /
SD027316.
DoubleClick; Sep. 5, 1996; Z00252-Z00253 / SD027317SD027318.
Infoseek Business Terms; Sep. 7, 1996; Z00254-Z00256 /
SD027319-SD027321.
SmartBanner ads on HotWired; Sep. 11, 1996; Z00257 / SD027322.
Statement of Work; Sep. 23, 1996; Z00258-Z00259 / SD027323SD027324.
NetGravity Releases Adserver 2.0; Oct. 21, 1996; Z00260-Z00263 /
SD027325-SD027328.
"Focalink"; DC004278A.
"FocaLink Services"; FocaLink Media Services, Inc.; DC004278BDC004278C.
"Welcome to Focalink!"; Focalink Communications; DC004278DDC004278CC.
Focalink Communications;
"Welcome to Focalink!";
DC004278DD-DC004278XX.
"Link Marketing"; handwritten page; MA0001.
"Link Marketing"; LinkMarket; MA0002-MA0007.
"LinkMarket"; David Zinman et al.; MA0008-MA0027.
"Link Marketing, LLP"; MA0028-MA0029.
"Link Marketing LLP"; MA0030-MA0038.
"Escapes"; Web page; MA0039-MA0040.
"Industry Overview"; FocaLink Media Services, Inc.; MA0041MA0053.

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US 7,844,488 B2
Page 6
"Executive Summary"; Focalink Communications Confidential;
printed Jul. 30, 1997; MA0054-MA0109.
"Focalink Communications"; Feb. 1996; MA0110-MA0149.
Business Wire (New York, Nov. 17, 1998), "i33 Communications
Links Personal Finance Sites with Dynamic Investment Research
Banners; Quote.com and Multex Partner Using i33’s AdMaximize
Technology".
Link Marketing Business Plan, dated May 11, 1995, 2 pages.
E-mail re Web site pricing draft, dated Tuesday, Nov. 7, 1995, 10:55
a.m., 1 page.
E-mail re Microsoft ads through FocaLink, dated Tuesday, Nov. 21,
1995, 14:02 p.m., 1 page.
E-mail re November Report, dated Tuesday, Dec. 5, 1995, 12:55 p.m.,
6 pages.
E-mail re Saturn Reports, dated Tuesday, Dec. 5, 1995, 12:40 p.m., 7
pages.

E-mail re Intel Report Nov. 27, 1995 - Dec. 3, 1995, mailed Tuesday
Dec. 12, 1995, 5:35 p.m., 15 pages.
Brochure: Welcome to Focalink!, dated Mar. 14, 1996, 24 pages.
E-mail re FYI, mailed Feb. 5, 1996, 7:08 a.m., 2 pages.
E-mail re Proposal to Intel, mailed Monday, Nov. 13, 1995, 22:56
p.m., 4 pages.
Declaration of Dwight Allen Merriman, signed Feb. 9, 2001, 10
pages.
Google’s Preliminary Invalidity Contentions, dated Jun. 26, 2009, 12
pages.
Exhibits A and B, 60 pages, dated Jun. 26, 2009.
Link Marketing Business Plan, dated May 28, 1995, 6 pages.
Link Marketing Business Plan, dated Jun. 6, 1995, 24 pages.

* cited by examiner

GOOG-WRD-0019309

U.S. Patent

Nov. 30, 2010

Sheet 1 of 2

US 7,844,488 B2

FIG.

PROCESS |

ADVERTISER’S ~B SITE
L

AFFILIATE ~B SITE

I

HTTP PROTOCOL

FIG.
DERIVE PROFILE
PROCESS

5~

REPORT PROCESS
#,,,...- 5

DATABASE ~54

AO SERVER
PROCESSES

MANAGEMENT
~OCESS

GOOG-WRD-0019309

U.S. Patent

Nov. 30, 2010

Sheet 2 of 2

US 7,844,488 B2

z!

GOOG-WRD-0019309

US 7,844,488 B2
1

2

advertisements and to acquire as much information about
those people responding to the advertisements for targeting
those same people at later dates.
Therefore, it is a first object of this invention to provide
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
targeting of advertising over networks such as the Internet. It
APPLICATIONS
is a second object of this invention to provide control over
frequency of exposure to users for advertisements appearing
This is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
on web pages over time. It is a third object of the invention to
10/254,923, filed on Sep. 26, 2002, pending, which is a conprovide the capability to gather information about recipients
tinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/293,463, filed 10 of the advertisement.
onApr. 15, 1999, abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
patent application Ser. No. 08/738,634, filed on Oct. 29, 1996,
issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061, currently in reissue under
Reissue application Ser. No. 09/577,798, filed May 24, 2000.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by the
15 disclosed system and methods. Information about networks
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
and subnetworks is routinely collected. In addition, information about individual users is also gathered when users select
1. Area of the Art
(click on) different advertisements. Also, data is tracked on
This invention relates to methods of delivery of advertisehow often a given advertisement has been displayed, how
ments and measuring responses to those delivered advertise- 2o often a given user has seen a given advertisement, and other
ments and in particular relates to the targeting of advertiseinformation regarding the user and the frequency of the disments delivered over networks such as the Internet.
play of the advertisement
2. Description of the Prior Art
To effect such a capability, an advertising server process is
In advertising, it is considered highly desirable to target
provided as a node on the network. The various advertiseadvertisements to the appropriate potential customer base, 25 ments are stored on the network of the server and preferably
rather than to broadcast advertisements in general. It has long
on the server. When, for example, a user using a web browser
been known that, for example, advertisements for computers
accesses a web page that is affiliated with the advertising
should generally not appear in magazines on gardening and,
server process, the affiliated page’s encoding includes an
conversely, advertisements for gardening tools should not
embedded reference to an object provided by the advertising
appear in magazines on computers. Similarly, advertisers 3o server process. That causes the user’s browser to contact the
have generally targeted their advertisements on television to
advertising server process to provide the advertising image or
programs appropriate for the desired customer base.
information that will appear on the accessed web page as
It has also long been known that an advertisement that is
displayed by the user’s browser. Using the ad&cess information and/or other information passed by the browser for the
repeated too often will eventually become ignored by consumers. Therefore, an advertiser typically wishes to eliminate 35 user, including the page being accessed by the user, the adverduplication and reach as many individuals in the advertiser’s
tising server process determines an appropriate advertisetarget group as possible.
ment to select for the particular user. In addition, the adverThe recent development of on-line networks, such as
tising server process will use information such as the number
America On-Line, Compuserve, and the Internet, has led to
of times the user has seen various advertisements, how often
"on-line" advertising. For example, on the Internet, often 4o the advertisement has been seen by any user and the start and
such on-line advertisements will appear on a web page, such
stop date for the various advertisements to select which adveras a banner on the top or the bottom of the page. When the user
tisement to transmit to the user’s web page for display.
vie~vs a web page using a browser such as Internet Explorer 3
If the user decides to respond to the advertisement selected
or Netscape 3, the banner appears at the appropriate location
by the web server by clicking on the advertisement, the adverand the user may then try to find out more information regard- 45 tising server process logs that fact and to have more informaing the advertisement by selecting the advertisement (clicktion about the given user. A derive profile process is used for
ing through on that banner) through the use of the mouse or
compiling information on TCP/IP networks for use by the
other pointing device. This will cause a HTTP message to be
advertising server process. By compiling the information on
generated by the browser using the information encapsulated
networks and user selections, the advertising server process is
in association with the banner to send a request for an object 5o able to compile information that can be used for targeting
with a given URL address to a different appropriate web site
advertising.
to access, for example, the advertiser’s home page.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Nonetheless, such advertising has had, so far, a poor rate of
response because it is untargeted advertising. Thus, someone
who is totally uninterested in computers other than they hap- 55 FIG. 1 is diagram for explaining a first embodiment of the
pen to be on the Intemet, may continually see advertisements
invention.
for computers. On the other hand, someone who is interested
FIG. 2 is a diagram explaining the processes performed in
in computers may continually see advertisements for gardenthe preferred embodiments.
ing tools when browsing through a particular web site. Thus
FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are diagrams showing the basic
it would be highly desirable to have a method of targeting the 6o structure of some of the databases kept by the advertising
advertising to the appropriate user.
server.
In addition, ifa user of such computer networks is continuously exposed to the same advertisement, the response rate to
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
the advertisement will generally decline. Therefore, it is
highly desirable to have a system that controls the frequency 65 The basic architecture of the network 10 comprises at least
of exposure of advertisements to particular users. In addition,
one affiliate web site 12, an advertisement (ad) server web site
it is also important for the advertisers to track response to the
19 and one or more individual advertiser’s web sites 18.
METHOD OF DELIVERY, TARGETING, AND
MEASURING ADVERTISING OVER
NETWORKS

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Affiliates are one or more entities that generally for a fee
As part of the "click through" process, when the user clicks
contract with the entity providing the advertisement server
on the banner or other advertising object displayed by the
permit third party advertisements to be displayed on their web
user’s browser 16, the user’s browser again transmits a messites. When a user using a browser accesses or "visits" a web
sage to the ad server. The ad server notes the address of the
site of an affiliate, an advertisement provided by the adver- 5 computer of the browser (or any other identifier such as a
tisement server 19 will be superimposed on the display of the
cookie or a digital signature) that generated the message 23
affiliate’s web page displayed by the user’s browser.
and transmits back the URL of the advertiser’s web page so
Examples of appropriate affiliates include locator services,
that the user’s web browser 16 generates a message 26 to
service providers, and entities that have popular web sites
contact the advertiser’s web site. 18. The ad server process 19
such as museums, movie studios, etc.
10 also notes that a "click through" for an advertisement has
The basic operation of the system is as follows in the
occurred and updates the various databases in the manner
preferred embodiment. When a user browsing on the Internet
described below. In the above scenario for the click through
accesses an affiliate’s web site 12, the user’s browser generprocess, the ad server process must remember which adverates an HTTP message 20 to get the information for the
tisement was sent to the user’s browser in order to know
desired web page. The affiliate’s web site in response to the 15 where to redirect the user’s browser.
message 20 transmits one or more messages back 22 containWhile in the above embodiments, the user is a computer on
ing the information to be displayed by the user’s browser. In
an IP network using a browser, the affiliate web sites are web
addition, an advertising server process 19 will provide addipages of affiliates located somewhere on the Internet and the
tional information comprising one or more objects such as
ad server is a particular node on the Internet, other setups are
banner advertisements to be displayed with the information 20 also possible. The affiliates may be ISP’s or may be actual
provided from the affiliate web site. Normally, the computers
dedicated web servers and the users may be an entire network
supporting the browser, the affiliate web site and the adverinstead o fan individual browsing on a single computer with a
tising server process will be at entirely different nodes on the
browser.
Internet. Upon clicking through or otherwise selecting the
FIG. 2 shows the ad server architecture. The ad server,
advertisement object, which may be an image such as an 25
which may comprise one or more servers uses a database ~4
advertisement banner, an icon, or a video or an audio clip, the
that will be described below and performs reporting processes
browser ends up being connected to the advertiser’ s server or
~9, management processes ~8, derivation of profile processes
web site 18 for that advertisement object.
52 and advertisement processes 19. The derive profile process
In FIG. 1, a user operates a web browser, such as Netscape
or Microsoft Internet Explorer, on a computer or PDA or other 30 ~2 is how the advertisement server gathers information about
individual users or TCP/IP networks for individual users.
Internet capable device 16 to generate through the hypertext
Advertisements, which may be advertisement banners are
transfer protocol (HTTP) 14 a request 20 to any one of prefstored within the ad server process 19 as part of the advertiserably a plurality of affiliate web sites 12. The affiliate web
ing server process 19 and are periodically updated and
site sends one or more messages back 22 using the same
protocol. Those messages 22 preferably contain all of the 35 refreshed. The advertisement server process 19 is used for
responding to requests from advertisements provided by the
information available at the particular web site 12 for the
user’s as described above. The management process ~8 is
requested page to be displayed by the user’s browser 16
used for updating the various advertisements and overall conexcept for one or more advertising objects such as banner
trol of the advertising server process 19 and also permits the
advertisements. These objects preferably do not reside on the
affiliate’s web server. Instead, the affiliate’s web server sends 40 advertisers to interface with the database to obtain up to the
back a link including an IP address for a node running an date reports on the placement of the advertisements. The
report process ~9 is used for generating online reports about
advertiser server process 19 as well as information about the
the success rate of the advertisement and statistics on the
page on which the advertisement will be displayed. The link
users that are viewing and clicking through on various adverby way of example may be a hypertext markup language
(HTML) <img> tag, referring to, for example, an inline image45 tisements and also updating the counters in the database that
store how often an advertisement has been displayed.
such as a banner. The user’s browser 16 then transmits a
The basic database structure is shown in FIG. 3. For each
message 23 using the received IP address to access such an
user identified by the system as shown in FIG. 3A, a user
object indicated by the HTML tag from the advertisement
identification, IP address, domain type, time zone, location of
server 19. Included in each message 23 typically to the advertising server 19 are: (i) the user’s IP addxess, (ii) a cookie if the 5o the user, standard industrial code for the user’s network, the
particular advertisements seen and the number of times each
browser 16 is cookie enabled and stores cookie information,
such advertisement is seen, the advertisements that were
(iii) a substring key indicating the page in which the adverselected or "clicked on" and the pages on which the various
tisement to be provided from the server is to be embedded,
users’ advertisements were seen is collected. By using the
and (iv) MIME header information indicating the browser
type and version, the operating system of the computer on 55 information such as which advertisements a user has
expressed interest in and which pages the user was viewing
which the browser is operating and the proxy server type.
when the user clicked through along with other information,
Upon receiving the request in the message 23, the advertising
targeted Internet advertising is possible.
server process 19 determines which advertisement or other
object to provide to user’s browser and transmits the mesFIG. 3B shows a database structure for the advertisements.
sages 24 containing the object such as a banner advertisement 60 Included in the information for an advertisement are an idento the user’s browser 16 using the HTTP protocol. Preferably
tifier for the advertisement, the start date for the advertisecontained within the HTTP message is a unique identifier for
ment being carried, the last date the advertisement is to be
the advertiser’s web page appropriate for the advertisement.
carried, the total number of people who have viewed the
That advertisement object is then displayed on the image
advertisements, the target or the minimum number of times
created by the web user’s browser as a composite of the 65 the advertisement is to be viewed, acceptable viewers by their
received affiliate’ s web page plus the object transmitted back
web site’s SICS (Standard Industry Codes), clicked through
by the advertising web server.
and pages that the advertisements are seen on.

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Also, as noted above, to enhance the process of identifying
which may be a banner image in a GIF or JPEG file format, an
icon for an audio or video clip or some other object is kept as
information about various users, information on domains or
part of the advertising server process. This information may
networks is also tracked. This information includes the
domain name and type (e.g., military, government, cominclude targeted consumers by SIC, country, organization
merce, foreign countries), the IP address, the standard indus- 5 type and type of advertisements previously selected by the
user. For any of the advertisements currently provided for
trial code, the time zone and the address as shown in FIG. 3C.
This information can be used in developing information about
which there is a match (for example there may be several
users. Through the use of these three databases and other
advertisements targeted at people interested in computers),
appropriate databases that may be kept, the various processes
the next step is to determine which of the advertisements for
of the advertising server process 19 are performed.
10 which there is a match should be selected.
The preferred embodiment also includes determining
Advertising Server Processes 19
which advertising object should be selected if two or more
In response to an incoming message to the advertising
advertising object have criteria matching the user. selecting
server process 19, the advertising server processes 19 first
from the matched advertisements by determining how often
attempts to identify the user in FIG. 2. This can be accom- 15 the particular user has been exposed to the given advertiseplished by at least one of two means. First, any incoming
ment. For each user, data is kept about the number of times
request for an image or a multimedia object is examined to that a user has seen a given advertisement based upon the user
determined the IP address of the requesting browser. The
ID. For each advertisement where the user matches the criteadvertising server then notes whether a cookie was received
ria, if the number of times that the user has seen the adverin the MIME heading of the request. From these two pieces of 2o tisement is less than a predetermined threshold, the advertiseinformation, a user identification is determined. If a cookie
ment is retained as one of the possible matches. If the number
was detected, then the cookie contains the user’s identificaof times that the user has seen a given advertisement exceeds
tion nmnber that can be accessed in the database. If the user’ s
the threshold, the advertisement is discarded as a possible
browser is cookie enabled but no cookie is detected, then the
candidate for transmitting back to the user.
request is from a new user so a user identification must be 25
From the advertisements for which the user matches the
assigned to the user and that user’ s new- identification number
criteria and for which the user has seen the advertisement less
will be transmitted back to the users browser along with a
than the threshold, any of number of algorithms may be used
write cookie instruction that causes the browser to write a
to select the particular advertisement to transmit back to the
cookie containing that unique identification number on the
user. In an embodiment, the formula used is based upon a
user’s local drive for future accesses to affiliate sites. The 30 satisfaction index (SI) according to the following formula:
cookie instruction is transmitted back with the advertisement
messages 24. Alternatively, instead of using cookies, digital
signatures or certificates or log ins uniquely identifying the
n end - start
SI = ~ * now - start
user accessing the affiliate page may be used.
If the user’s browser does not support cookies, the adver- 35
tising server process looks up the user’s IP address in a table
that stores identification numbers that correspond to IP
Where:
addresses for the users who have previously contacted the
n: the number of times the particular advertisement has
advertising server process. If the IP address is not found in the
been viewed by anyone
table, then the user is a new user and is assigned an unused 4o
N: the number of times the advertisement is to be see by
identification number. Also, for each new user, that user’s
anyone
identification number will be marked for further processing
end-start: the total nunlber of days that the advertisement is
under the derive profile process 52 described below. Also, if
scheduled to rtm
the domain for the new user has not previously been pronow-start: the number of days that the advertisement has
cessed in the domain profile process, it may not be possible to 45
run to date
target the advertisement for the new user and rather the new
The satisfaction index (SI) is 1.0 when the advertisement is
user should be shown a generic advertisement. Also, for new
on schedule. If the advertisement is running behind schedule
users, a promotional advertisement may be shown to get the
(i.e., the current rate of display means that the advertisement
new- user to provide information about him or herself and his
will not be viewed the targeted number of times by the end
or her employer.
5o date so that the SI is less than 1.0) while if the SI is greater than
If the user is an existing user, the ad server 19 obtains from
1.0, the advertisement is running ahead of schedule. Therea database all of the information known about the user includfore, the advertisement that is to be selected for viewing is the
ing the user’ s geographic location, the domain type (commerone that has a matched profile and has the smallest SI. Upon
cial educational, governmental, the Internet service proselecting the advertisement, the selected advertisement object
vided), the organization type where the user works (for 55 is then transmitted to the user’s browser over the Internet by
example a SIC code), the company size, the number of
transmitting the GIF stored in RAM in one or more messages.
employees in that company, the particular types of advertiseAfter delivery of the advertisement to the user, additional
ments that the user has clicked on by SIC or other appropriate
processing needs to be done both for tracking the exposure of
coding and the number of times that the user has been exposed
the advertisement and for having more information about the
to each advertisement currently in the system as described in 6o user. First, the system stores the fact that the advertisement
FIG. 3A. Also, the relative time of day for the user is calcuwas sent to the user by storing that information in the database
lated based upon either the user’s country code or the user’s
based upon the user ID. This information is used for processIP access provider or the location of their domain.
ing the user’s response to the advertisement when the user
Each advertisement along with a table of the targeting
"clicks" on the advertisement. Also, the advertising processor
profile criteria for the advertisement and other data regarding 65 updates the advertisements satisfaction index and logs the
the advertisement currently available is stored in a database
advertisement delivery for providing reports. Also, if the
such as shown in FIG. 3B. The actual advertising object,
advertisement that has been sent has a limit on the number of

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times that the advertisement can be sent, the count of the
However, it should be noted that some networks cover
number of times that the advertisement has been transmitted
broad geographic areas and that further checking needs to be
is incremented. This limit can be the overall limit for the
done to ensure that the data may be inaccurate. This can be
number of times that the advertisement is viewed and/or the
done by performing a trace route operation to trace the netlimit that any specific user can view the advertisement. If the 5 work topology back to the network being examined. Ifthe last
limit on the number of times the advertisement can be sent is
two or three nodes on the trace show as being from a given
reached, then the particular advertisement is removed from
region, the chances are high that the specific user on a network
the list of those that can be transmitted. In addition, even if an
is located in that geographic area. Thus, reverse traces can be
advertisement has not been transmitted recently, the SI is
used to confirm location with a database for geographic locaupdated to reflect the passage of time.
10 tions. By checking telephone directories and other sources,
the specific location for such users may be found by looking
If the user then decides that he wants to respond to the
up the locations where the owner of the domain name has
advertisement and then clicks on the advertisement, the
facilities and using the one closest to the outcome of the trace
advertisement server 19 receives an HTTP request 23 for a
back step If the information for a given user is different than
click through which it will recognize by receiving the same IP
address (and optionally, the user ID specified by the cookie, 15 the location ofthe domain based upon the trace back, it is this
address and location information that is then used.
digital signature or certificate or log in identification) in the
request from the same affiliate’s web page within a predeterFurther for each domain that is found, a determination must
mined period. Since the advertisement server previously
be made as to whether the domain is an Internet Service
Provider (ISP). A list of domains that are ISP’s is compiled
recorded which advertisement was sent to that IP ad&ess, it
sends the redirect message causing the user’s browser to 2o manually. For any user having a domain name of an ISP, the
receive the URL for the advertiser’ s web site based upon data
user is presumed to be an individual and so only information
stored in the server. In addition, the server logs that the adverrelating to that individual are used for the profiling process.
tisement was clicked through, which user selected the adverReporting Process
tisement based upon the IP address, and the page on which the
The reporting process uses standard database techniques
advertisement was seen based upon the click through. This 25
for generating any desired reports. For example, reports
information can then be logged in later reporting processes
showing the number of viewings and click throughs of vari59.
ous advertisements may be generated along with reports
As an alternative to using a satisfaction index, the selection
showing the click through rates relative to the matching criof the particular advertisement object to be sent back to the
teria. Also, reports on the SI can be readily generated.
vie~ver’s browser by the advertising server process 19 can be 30
In addition to using the domain profiling process and logmade by different criteria. For example, models can be creging advertisement clicked on by individual users and the
ated to maximize the likelihood of a click through. Such
pages being accessed by users of affiliate web sites, in addimodels for maximizing the likelihood of a click through may
tion surveying may be used. Further, for those survey responbe based upon empirically gathered information about either
dents who are responding for non-ISP users discussed above,
types of advertisements or individual advertisements actually 35
the results of the survey can be attributed to others on the same
on the system correlated to the compiled information on a
network. This provides further information for targeting the
user or the user’s network and the specific page through
display of the advertisements.
which the user is accessing the advertising server process 19.
Of course, those of skill in the field will understand that the
Derivative Profile Process 52
4o disclosed techniques need not just be confined to Internet
advertising but will work on other communication networks
In addition, as part of the profiling process for gathering
and private on line services such as CompuServe andAmerica
information about users and IP addresses needs to be done.
On Line. In addition, while specific user and domain profile
First, appropriate "networks" need to be identified based
information and matching criteria are discussed, it will be
upon the TCP/IP network addxess of the user. Periodically, the
derive profiles process searches the user database for the 45 obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field that the specific
type of user and domain name information profiled and used
address of additional users that have addresses for unknown
as matching criteria may include other or different criteria. In
networks, indicating that they are new users. Then the server
does a reverse domain name search to locate the domain name
addition, while the specific examples are for IP networks, the
of the user. The server also queries Internet Whols databases same concepts can be applied to virtual LAN’s such that a
to find information about the network, which will often 5o VLAN is the equivalent of a domain or on IPX based protocols or other network protocols.
include the domain name.
Still further, rather than using cookies or IP ad&esses or
Alternatively, a reverse form of look up can be used indeother network addresses to identify the users, digital signapendent of people accessing the network. When a domain is
tures or certificates may be used. In addition, a log in techdiscovered, the server will check common DNS names for the
name, such as those starting with "www" and "ftp’. These 55 nique may be used whereby when users first access an affiliated web site, the user is assigned through a log in procedure
resolve to IP addresses in most cases. From the IP addresses,
a unique identifier and a log in name. When the user subsethe network number can be extracted and if the network does
quently accesses either the same or a different affiliated web
not yet have a domain name associated with the network
site, the user logs in using the unique identifier, thereby ensurnumber or address, the new domain associated with the network. A reverse domain name look up (A Whois lookup) will 6o ing that users can be identified notwithstanding proxy servers
or different users using the same computer.
then usually provide the name, address and phone number of
the organization, thereby providing the geographic location
Still further, those of ordinary skill in the field will also
and the time zone of the network. Once the domain name is
understand that while the advertising server, the affiliate web
acquired, the server will determine whether the domain is an
site and the advertiser’s web site are described as being in
educational, military, governmental network and for non- 65 different geographic locations, that is not required. Still furU.S. based networks what country the network is located in
ther, while the advertising server process, reporting process,
through the extension.
derive profile process and management process are described

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10
comprises selecting an advertisement based upon the number
as being implemented on one computer platform performing
all of the above described functions, it is readily understood
of times an advertisement has been sent to said user node.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertiseby those of skill that any or all of these functions may be
implemented on one or more different computers and further ment is further based upon at least one of a browser type, a
that these processes may be performed at different nodes on 5 browser version, an operating system type, and a proxy
the network.
server, each associated with said user node.
We claim:
9. The method of claim 1, wherein said advertisement
1. A method for advertising, comprising:
request includes an Intemet Protocol address associated with
receiving, by an advertising server, an advertisement
said user node.
request from a user node, wherein said advertisement 10 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing
request is automatically transmitted based upon a link
a reverse domain name lookup based upon said Internet Prosent from an affiliate node to said user node in response
tocol address, and selecting said advertisement based upon
to a content request sent from said user node to said
the results of said reverse domain name lookup.
affiliate node; and
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said reverse domain
selecting, in response to said advertisement request, an 15 name lookup includes a whois search.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising performadvertisement for delivery to the user node based upon
ing a trace route operation, and selecting said advertisement
stored information about said user node,
wherein selecting an advertisement includes:
based upon the results of said trace route operation.
determining whether selection criteria associated with
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending said
advertisements are satisfied based upon the stored 2o selected advertisement to said user node for display.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving
information; and
calculating, if the selection criteria associated with more from said user node a click through request for information
than one advertisement are satisfied, a satisfaction
about the advertiser associated with said selected advertiseindex for each advertisement; and
ment.
selecting the advertisement with the lowest satisfaction 25 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising sending a
index,
network address for said advertiser to said user node in
wherein the satisfaction index for an advertisement is at
response to said click-though request.
least one of:
16. The method of claim 14, wherein said stored informadirectly proportional to the number of times the advertion includes information about a prior click-through request
tisement has been sent to a user node and the total 30 received from said user node.
amount of time over which the advertisement is
17. A method for advertising, comprising:
permitted to be sent to a user node, and
receiving, by an advertising server, an advertisement
inversely proportional to the amount of time expired
request from a user node, wherein the advertisement
since the advertisement was first permitted to be
request is automatically transmitted based upon a link
sent to a user node and inversely proportional to the
sent from an affiliate node to the user node in response to
maximum number of times the advertisement is
a content request sent from the user node to the affiliate
permitted to be sent to a user node.
node; and
2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertiseselecting, in response to the advertisement request, an
ment based upon stored information about said user node
advertisement for delivery to the user node based upon
comprises selecting an advertisement based upon a prior con- 4o
stored information about the user node,
tent request sent from said user node to an affiliate node.
wherein selecting an advertisement includes:
3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertisedetermining whether selection criteria associated with
ment based upon stored information about said user node
advertisements are satisfied based upon the stored
comprises selecting an advertisement based upon a prior
information; and
selection of an advertisement for said user node.
45
selecting, if the selection criteria associated with more
4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertisethan one advertisement are satisfied, an advertisement
ment based upon stored information about said user node
from among the more than one advertisement an
comprises selecting an advertisement based upon a prior
advertisement based on the selected advertisement
advertisement request from said user node.
having one or more of a lesser amount of time remain5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertise-50
ing in which the advertisement can be selected for
ment based upon stored information about said user node
delivery, a greater number of impressions of the
comprises selecting an advertisement based upon informaadvertisement remaining to be delivered, a smaller
tion in a cookie associated with said user node.
ratio of the number of times the advertisement has
6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertisebeen delivered to any user to the total number of
ment based upon stored information about said user node 55
impressions of the advertisement scheduled to be
comprises selecting an advertisement based upon at least one
delivered, and a greater ratio of the total amount of
of the network address of said user node, the domain type of
time in which the advertisement can be delivered to an
said user node, the time zone of said user node, the geographiamount of time expired since the advertisement has
cal location of said user node, and an industry code.
become available for delivery.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertise-6O
ment based upon stored information about said user node

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