System and method for targeting and distributing advertisements over a distributed network

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An advertisement display apparatus for displaying, to a user of the advertisement display apparatus, selectively distributed advertisements transmitted over a distributed network, the advertisement display apparatus comprising:

a memory that stores at least one of the selectively distributed advertisements;

a processor that visibly displays one of the at least one stored selectively distributed advertisement on a display, the display driven by the processor;

a low level determination circuit that determines if a number of selectively distributed advertisements to be displayed remaining in the memory has reached a predetermined low level; and

a communication device connectable to an advertisement distribution system over the distributed network if the low level determination circuit has determined that the number of selectively distributed advertisements to be displayed remaining in the memory has reached the predetermined low level, wherein the selectively distributed advertisements are identified by the advertisement distribution system based on a profile of the user supplied to the advertisement distribution system.

2. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein if the processor also visibly displays at least one additional window and the advertisement window overlaps any of the at least one additional window, the advertisement window is displayed over each such additional window.

3. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the advertisement window further comprises a status window.

4. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 3, wherein the status window comprises at least one of:

a total credit amount indicator;

a virtual credit amount indicator;

a connection time-out indicator;

a profile update control portion; and

a quit control portion.

5. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 4, wherein the total credit amount indicator indicates a number of credits assigned to the user based on a number of advertisements displayed in the advertisement window.

6. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 4, wherein the virtual credit amount indicator indicates a number of times a currently displayed advertisement has been displayed in the advertisement window.

7. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 4, wherein the connection time-out indicator indicates a remaining time period for connection to the advertisement distribution system, wherein, if the advertisement display apparatus is not connected to the advertisement distribution system within the remaining time period, connection to the advertisement distribution system, after the remaining time period has elapsed, is denied by the advertisement distribution system.

8. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a selection device, wherein selection of the profile update control portion causes the communication device to connect to the advertisement distribution system over the distributed network, the processor communicating with the advertisement distribution system to update the profile of the user supplied to the advertisement distribution system.

9. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a status window control portion and a selection device, wherein selection of the status window control portion by the selection device alternately toggles the display of the status window.

10. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selectively distributed advertisements are displayed in an advertisement display portion and wherein a size of the advertisement display portion is based on a size of the selectively distributed advertisement displayed in the advertisement display portion.

11. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selectively distributed advertisements are displayed in an advertisement display portion and further comprising a selection device, wherein, if a selectively distributed advertisement displayed in the advertisement display portion includes a selectable link to a corresponding location on the distributed network, selection of the selectable link causes the communication device to connect to the corresponding location.

12. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a selection device, wherein, when a selectively distributed advertisement displayed in the advertisement window includes a selectable link to a corresponding location on the distributed network, selection of the selectable link causes the communications device to connect to the corresponding location.

13. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a sound generating system, wherein, when a selectively distributed advertisement displayed in the advertisement window includes a sound generating system, the sound portion outputs the sound portion.

14. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the advertisements are stored in the memory in an advertisement database.

15. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 14, wherein the advertisement database includes, for each advertisement, at least one of:

an advertisement identifier that uniquely identifies the advertisement;

advertiser data identifying the advertiser sponsoring the advertisement;

a time frame defining a time during which the advertisement should be displayed;

a size of a display of the advertisement;

an expiration date of the advertisement;

day data indicating a current day;

a first number defining a maximum total number of times the advertisement should be displayed;

a second number defining a maximum number of times the advertisement should be displayed each day;

a third number indicating a total number of times the advertisement has previously been displayed to the user;

a fourth number indicating a number of times the advertisement has been displayed on the current day.

16. The advertisement distribution system of claim 15, wherein the time frame defining the time during which the advertisement should be displayed includes at least one of:

an hour frame indicating the hours of the day during which the advertisement should be displayed;

a day frame indicating the days of the week, month or year during which the advertisement should be displayed;

a week frame indicating the weeks of the month or year during which the advertisement should be displayed; and

a month frame indicating the months of the year during which the advertisement should be displayed.

17. The advertisement distribution system of claim 15, wherein the size of the advertisement includes at least one of:

a height of the advertisement; and

a width of the advertisement.

18. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the advertisements stored in the memory includes a sound portion.

19. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the advertisements stored in the memory includes a displayable and selectable link to a corresponding location on the distributed network.

20. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the connection device comprises at least a browser.

21. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one input device connected to the processor; and

an activity monitor that monitors activity of at least one input device connected to the processor, wherein display of the advertisement window is based on activity of the at least one input device.

22. An advertisement display apparatus for displaying, to a user of the advertisement display apparatus, selectively distributed advertisements transmitted over a distributed network, the advertisement display apparatus comprising:

a memory that stores at least one of the selectively distributed advertisements;

a processor that visibly displays one of the at least one stored selectively distributed advertisement on a display, the display driven by the processor; and

a communication device connectable to an advertisement distribution system over the distributed network, wherein the selectively distributed advertisements are identified by the advertisement distribution system based on a profile of the user supplied to the advertisement distribution system; wherein the advertisement window comprises a state indicator.

23. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 22, wherein the state indicator indicates if there is a need to connect to the advertisement distribution system over the distributed network.

24. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 23, wherein an appearance of the state indicator indicates an urgency of the need to connect to the advertisement distribution system.

25. An advertisement distribution and display system comprising:

an advertisement distribution system that selectively distributes advertisements to a plurality of recipients over a distributed network that connects the advertisement distribution system to the plurality of recipients, comprising:

a first memory that stores a plurality of advertisements,

a second memory that stores a plurality of recipient profiles, each recipient profile corresponding to one of the plurality of recipients and defining an advertisement profile of that recipient, and

a first processor that, in response to low advertisement level information received from one of the plurality of recipients, selects at least one of the plurality of advertisements based on the recipient profile for that recipient and transmits at least information corresponding to the at least one selected advertisement to the recipient over the distributed network; and

an advertisement display apparatus that displays, to a user of the advertisement display apparatus, the selectively distributed advertisements identified by the advertisement distribution system transmitted over the distributed network, comprising:

a memory that stores at least one of the selectively distributed advertisements,

a second processor that visibly displays one of the at least one stored selectively distributed advertisement on a display, the display driven by the second processor,

a low level determination circuit that determines if a number of selectively distributed advertisements to be displayed remaining in the memory has reached a predetermined low level; and

a communication device connectable to the advertisement distribution system over the distributed network if the low level determination circuit has determined that the number of selectively distributed advertisements to be displayed remaining in the memory has reached the predetermined low level,

wherein the selectively distributed advertisements are identified by the advertisement distribution system based on the profile of the user supplied to the advertisement distribution system.

26. An advertisement display apparatus for displaying, to a user of the advertisement display apparatus, selectively distributed advertisements transmitted over a distributed network, the advertisement display apparatus comprising:

a memory that stores at least one of the selectively distributed advertisements;

a processor that visibly displays one of the at least one stored selectively distributed advertisement on a display, the display driven by the processor; and

a communication device connectable to an advertisement distribution system over the distributed network, wherein the selectively distributed advertisements are identified by the advertisement distribution system based on a profile of the user supplied to the advertisement distribution system, wherein the advertisement window comprises a connection control portion.

27. The advertisement display apparatus of claim 26, further comprising a selection device, wherein selection of the connection control portion causes the communication device to connect to the advertisement distribution system over the distributed network.