The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 01, 2008
Filed:
Apr. 07, 2000
Ryan Cunningham, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Robert Buch, Malibu, CA (US);
Brian Hartman, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Michael R. Jones, Jr., Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Laimonas Anusauskas, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Ryan Cunningham, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Robert Buch, Malibu, CA (US);
Brian Hartman, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Michael R. Jones, Jr., Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Laimonas Anusauskas, Westlake Village, CA (US);
NetZero, Inc., Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
A system provides a user with free Internet network access, in which an access control system sends video advertising files to a user who gains access to the Internet through a network connection that includes a viewer program that operates independently of the user's browser and e-mail programs. The viewer receives ads from the access control system and manages an ad pool that collects multiple video advertising files. Video advertising files are downloaded when the user is not actively using the bandwidth of the Internet connection to download Internet content of the user's choosing. The viewer program periodically opens a viewer window, which opens on top of any other open windows, and in which a video ad from the ad pool is displayed. When one or more video ads are finished, the viewer window is hidden or made an inactive window for a quiet interval. At the conclusion of the quiet interval, the viewer window is activated and the next ad in the ad pool is displayed. The viewer program cycles through existing ads in the ad pool until a new ad is received from the access server. The viewer program manages the ad pool such that the oldest ad is discarded when a new ad is received, and such that each ad is displayed or viewed in order of download for the average time it takes to download an ad in the ad pool. This ensures that ad viewing can continuously cycle through the ad pool with the minimum of repetition, and with no interruption to the user's Internet experience.