Hyperlinks resolution at and by a special network server in order to

Abstract

Streaming digital hypervideo including copious embedded hyperlinks is distributed upon a digital communications network from a hypervideo server, normally an Internet Service Provider, to multitudinous client subscribers/users/viewers (client SUVs). Some or all of the client SUVs receive the same hyperlinks at the same place in the streaming hypervideo. Some small fraction of the client SUVs selectively volitionally exercise a fraction of the total hyperlinks, causing an access in the background of the unfolding hypervideo across the digital communications network to yet another server commonly called a 'Video On Web server', or 'VOW server'. The VOW sever interprets each hyperlink request in consideration of (i) the identity of the exercising client SUV and, most commonly, (ii) additional data of a demographic, socioeconomic, credit, viewing preference, security and/or past hyperlinking history nature. The VOW Server supplies each hyperlink-exercising client SUV with a potentially custom hyperlink --normally in the form of a network universal resource locator (URL) or an index to a file of URLs--while keeping track of commercially useful data regarding the client SUV response(s). Each client SUV uses its own associated received URL to retrieve a potentially unique resource. The resource can be internal, such as an executable software program, but is normally located somewhere on the network and is typically in the nature of tailored and/or targeted advertisements, messages of personal or local or temporal pertinence and/or urgency, and/or the results of contests or lotteries. Hypervideo hyperlinks are thus dynamically resolved during streaming network communications to support full custom hyperlinking by each of multitudinous networked client SUVs.