E-mail software and method and system for distributing advertisements to client devices that have such E-mail software installed thereon Number:7,103,643 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent Software for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communications network instantiates a communications function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times, an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times, an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device, and an advertisement display function that effects display of at least selected ones of the stored advertisements.<H advertisements, distributing, E, mail, software, 7103643.html, Patent, pto, 7103643

Title: E-mail software and method and system for distributing advertisements to client devices that have such E-mail software installed thereon

Abstract: Software for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communications network instantiates a communications function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times, an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times, an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device, and an advertisement display function that effects display of at least selected ones of the stored advertisements.

Patent Number: 7,103,643 Issued on 09/05/2006 to Jacobs, et al.

Inventors: Jacobs; Paul E. (La Jolla, CA), Antonio; Franklin P. (Del Mar, CA), Dorner; Steven (Urbana, IL), Noerenberg; John W. (San Diego, CA), Belk; Jeffrey K. (Poway, CA), Ogdon; Benjamin P. (Del Mar, CA), Beckley; Jeffrey D. (Poway, CA), Bird; Alan (San Diego, CA), Boyd; John D. (San Diego, CA), Purlia; John S. (San Diego, CA), Ross; David J. (San Diego, CA), Dudziak; Matthew J. (San Diego, CA), Rhodes; William J. (San Diego, CA)
Assignee: Qualcomm INC (San Diego, CA)

Appl. No.: 09/668,511

Filed: September 22, 2000

Current U.S. Class: 709/219 ; 709/203

Current International Class: G06F 15/16 (20060101)

Field of Search: 709/203,224,219,246 717/178

References Cited [Referenced By]

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Primary Examiner: Dharia; Rupal
Assistant Examiner: Bayard; Djenane
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Wadsworth; Philip R. O'Connell; Robert J. Ciccozzi; John L.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/209,392, filed Jun. 1, 2000, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/609,123, filed Jun. 30, 2000, pending, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/169,622, filed Dec. 8, 1999. These patent applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The following co-pending, commonly-assigned identically-titled patent applications contain subject matter related to the subject matter of this patent application: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/609,123, filed Jun. 30, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,331, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,514, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,515, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,553, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,595, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,599, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,600, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,603, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,631, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,632, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/668,633, filed Sep. 22, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/679,038, filed Oct. 4, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/679,039, filed Oct. 4, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/679,040, filed Oct. 4, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/728,053, filed Dec. 1, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/728,065, filed Dec. 1, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/728,099, filed Dec. 1, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/728,110, filed Dec. 1, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/728,651, filed Dec. 1, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/728,693, filed Dec. 1, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/732,039, filed Dec. 7, 2000; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/732,158, filed Dec. 7, 2000; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/732,352, filed Dec. 7, 2000.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising: a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times; an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times; an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements and wherein the communication network comprises the Internet and wherein the advertisement distribution server system includes: a plurality of ad servers, each of which stores one or more of the advertisements to be downloaded, each advertisement being stored in a storage location designated by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); the at least one playlist server; and wherein the playlist(s) contains a list of ad identifiers and corresponding URIs that identify respective ones of the advertisements to be downloaded and the corresponding storage location from which each respective advertisement can be fetched; and wherein the advertisement download function includes: a client device playlist identification function that transmits an identification of a current playlist(s) currently being used by the client device to the at least one playlist server at prescribed playlist check intervals, wherein the at least one playlist server responds either by transmitting to the client device an indication that the current playlist(s) is valid and does not need to be augmented or by transmitting to the client device a new playlist(s); and a playlist comparison function that compares the ad identifiers listed in the current playlist(s) with the ad identifiers listed in the new playlist(s) and that generates a list of URIs of the advertisements corresponding to the ad identifiers in the new playlist(s) that are different from the ad identifiers in the current playlist(s); and an ad fetch function that fetches the advertisements corresponding to the generated list of URIs from the appropriate one(s) of the plurality of ad servers over one or more advertisement download sessions.

2. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising: a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communication network, at selected advertisement download times; an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times; an advertisement storage function for storing the download advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and an advertisement display function that effects display of of the stored advertisements; wherein the advertisements comprise advertisement files each of which includes an advertisement and a plurality of ad display parameters associated with that advertisement; and wherein the advertisement display function displays the stored advertisement according to the ad display parameters; and wherein the ad display parameters include, for each of prescribed ones of the plurality of stored advertisements the following parameters: a maximum face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed; a maximum cumulative face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the maximum number of times per day that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; wherein the face time comprises a time period during which a prescribed minimum level of user activity occurs.

3. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising: a communication function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communication network, at selected advertisement download times; an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times; an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; and an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements; and wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that include, for each of prescribed ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, the following parameters: a maximum face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed; a maximum cumulative face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the maximum number of times per day that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; wherein the face time comprises a time period during which a prescribed minimum level of user activity occurs.

4. A computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communication network, comprising: a playlist fetch function that fetches a playlist(s) from a playlist server, wherein the playlist(s) identifies advertisements to be fetched; an ad download function that downloads the advertisements identified in the playlist(s) from an advertisement distribution system, via the communication network, during advertisement download sessions; an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device; an advertisement display function that effects display of the stored advertisements on a display associated with the client device; and wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that include, for each of the plurality of stored advertisements, the following parameters: a maximum face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed; a maximum cumulative face time that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the maximum number of times per day that the associated advertisement is to be displayed; the start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed; wherein the face time comprises a time period during which a prescribed minimum level of user activity occurs.

5. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) contains a list of ad identifiers that identify respective ones of the advertisements to be fetched.

6. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 5, wherein the playlist(s) further contains a list of source addresses where respective ones of the advertisements to be fetched can be fetched.

7. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the advertisement distribution system includes: at least one ad server, each of which stores at least one of the advertisements to be downloaded; and the at least one playlist server.

8. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 7, wherein the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions is subsidized by revenues attributable to the downloaded advertisements.

9. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 7, wherein the at least one ad server comprises a plurality of ad servers that each store at least one of the advertisements to be downloaded.

10. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 7, wherein: the at least one playlist server is controlled by a vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions; and the at least one ad server comprises a plurality of ad servers that each store one or more advertisements to be distributed to clients of the vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions; and at least one of the plurality of ad servers is controlled by the vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions.

11. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 7, wherein: the at least one playlist server is controlled by a vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions; and the at least one ad server comprises a plurality of ad servers that each store one or more advertisements to be distributed to clients of the vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions; and at least one of the plurality of ad servers is controlled by an entity other than the vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions that has granted the vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions and its clients access to its ad server.

12. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the advertisement distribution system includes: a plurality of ad servers, each of which stores one or more of the advertisements to be downloaded, each advertisement being stored in a storage location designated by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); and the at least one playlist server.

13. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 12, wherein the playlist(s) contains a list of ad identifiers and corresponding URIs that identify respective ones of the advertisements to be downloaded, and the corresponding storage location from which each respective advertisement can be fetched.

14. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 13, wherein the ad download function includes a client device playlist identification function that transmits an identification of a current playlist(s) currently being used by the client device to the at least one playlist server at prescribed playlist check intervals, wherein the at least one playlist server responds either by transmitting to the client device an indication that the current playlist(s) is valid and does not need to be augmented, or by transmitting to the client device a new playlist(s); and a playlist comparison function that compares the ad identifiers listed in the current playlist (s) with the ad identifiers listed in the new playlist(s), and that generates a list of URIs of the advertisements corresponding to the ad identifiers in the new playlist(s) that are different from the ad identifiers in the current playlist(s); and an ad fetch function that fetches the advertisements corresponding to the generated list of URIs from the appropriate one(s) of the plurality of ad servers, over one or more advertisement download sessions.

15. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 14, further comprising an ad deletion function that deletes from storage on the client device all advertisements corresponding to the ad identifiers in the current playlist(s) that are not contained in the new playlist(s).

16. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 14, further comprising a playlist merge function that merges the current playlist and the new playlist(s).

17. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein each advertisement download session is limited to a prescribed maximum time duration.

18. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the ad download function further includes an ad fetch timer function that limits the duration of each advertisement download session to a prescribed maximum time period.

19. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that specify, for each of prescribed ones of the at least selected ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, how many times that advertisement is to be displayed for a given time period, and how long that advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed.

20. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that specify, for each of prescribed ones of the at least selected ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, how many times that advertisement is to be displayed for a given time period.

21. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that specify, for each of prescribed ones of the at least selected ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, how long that advertisement is to be displayed each time that it is displayed.

22. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that specify, for each of prescribed ones of the at least selected ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, a start date/time before which the associated advertisement should not be displayed, and the end date/time after which the associated advertisement should not be displayed.

23. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) includes ad display parameters that specify, for each of prescribed ones of the at least selected ones of the plurality of stored advertisements, the total/cumulative amount of time that advertisement is to be displayed.

24. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a cookie generator function that generates a cookie containing information relating to user/client device behavior and/or user demographics, and that transmits the cookie to the at least one playlist server.

25. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 24, wherein the playlist(s) is generated by the at least one playlist server based at least partially on the cookie.

26. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) is customized to the user.

27. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) is tailored to the user.

28. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) is generated by the at least one playlist server based at least partially on user demographics and/or user/client device behavior.

29. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the at least one playlist server is controlled by a vendor of the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions.

30. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions is e-mail software.

31. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) is generated by the at least one playlist server based at least partially on user demographics.

32. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the playlist(s) is generated by the at least one playlist server based at least partially on user/client device behavior.

33. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the advertisement display function effects display of the plurality of stored advertisements when the client device is offline.

34. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, wherein the client device is configured for communications with a multiplicity of other client devices via the communications network.

35. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 34, wherein the communications network is the Internet.

36. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 34, wherein the advertisement display function effects display of the plurality of stored advertisements when the client device is offline.

37. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, further comprising an installer function for installing the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions on a computer-readable storage medium.

38. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, further comprising an installer function for installing the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions on the client device.

39. The computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions as set forth in claim 4, further comprising an installer function for installing the computer readable medium having stored therein computer readable instructions on a computer-readable storage medium associated with the client device.

Description

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic mail ("e-mail") software and systems. More particularly, the present invention is related to advertiser-supported e-mail software for delivering advertisements to client computers having this advertiser-supported e-mail software installed thereon.

Electronic mail ("e-mail") has become a ubiquitous form of communication in recent years. In general, e-mail works as follows. E-mail software is installed on a client device, e.g., a personal computer (PC), equipped or configured for communications with a multiplicity of other client devices via a communications network. Access to the communications network can be provided by a communications network service provider, e.g., an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and/or a proprietary network e-mail service provider, with whom the user establishes one or more e-mail accounts, each identified by a unique e-mail address, e.g., president@whitehouse.gov. The e-mail software, e.g., the e-mail client, enables a user of the client device to compose e-mail messages, to send e-mail messages to other client devices via the communications network, and to read e-mail messages received from other client devices via the communications network. A user can send e-mail messages to multiple recipients at a time, which capability is sometimes referred to using a mailing list or, in extreme cases, bulk mailing. The typical e-mail client supports Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Internet Mail Access Protocol, Version 4 (IMAP4), and/or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).

Each ISP and each proprietary network e-mail service provider independently operates and controls an e-mail communication system (or, simply, "e-mail system"). These independently-operated e-mail systems are bi-directional store-and-forward communication systems that are interconnected to one another via the Internet. Each e-mail system generally includes a number of e-mail servers that store inbound and outbound e-mail messages and then forward them, route them, or simply make them available to the users/intended recipients. Different e-mail systems are operated and controlled by independent control entities. With the advent of the Internet, the user is not restricted to a single system providing both an incoming e-mail server (or server cluster) and an outgoing e-mail server (cluster), i.e., both the incoming and outgoing e-mail servers under the control of a single entity. Most e-mail clients, other than proprietary e-mail systems such as AOL and JUNO, can be configured to receive e-mail from an incoming e-mail server (cluster) controlled by a first entity and an outgoing email server (cluster) controlled by a second, totally independent entity. It will be appreciated that most casual email users download from and upload to respective servers operated by a single entity.

Generally, when a user desires to send e-mail messages, or to check for received messages (which operations can occur automatically according to a prescribed schedule), the e-mail software is activated. Upon being activated, the e-mail software: effects a connection or communications session with the host ISP or e-mail service provider via a prescribed communication link by invoking a prescribed communications mechanism, e.g., a dial-up modem, an ISDN connection, a DSL or ADSL connection, etc.; electronically transmits or transports any e-mail messages desired to be sent to the e-mail server system operated by the host ISP or e-mail service provider, e.g., via an SMTP server; receives any inbound e-mail messages forwarded to the client device by the host ISP or e-mail service provider, e.g., via a POP3 or IMAP4 server; and stores any received e-mail messages in a prescribed memory location within the client device, e.g., at either the default location established by the e-mail client or a user-selected location.

Exemplary e-mail software is the commercially available e-mail software marketed by the present assignee, QUALCOMM INCORPORATED, under the registered trademarks EUDORA PRO.RTM. and EUDORA LIGHT.RTM. (hereinafter sometimes referred to generically as "Eudora"). In general, the EUDORA PRO e-mail software provides the user with a "full feature set," and the EUDORA LIGHT e-mail software provides the user with a "reduced feature set" that is a subset of the "full feature set" provided by the EUDORA PRO e-mail software. The EUDORA PRO e-mail software (the previous version of which is referred to as "EP4" in this document) must be paid for by the user (or by someone else on behalf of the user), and can thus be regarded as "Payware", whereas the EUDORA LIGHT e-mail software is provided free of charge to registered users, and thus, can be regarded as "Freeware." Each of the client devices that has any version of Eudora installed thereon can be regarded as a "Eudora client." Presently, there is a very large installed base of Eudora clients.

The present assignee, QUALCOMM INCORPORATED, has recently released a new version of its popular EUDORA e-mail software that is popularly known as EUDORA Adware (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as "Adware"). This new Adware version of Eudora is contained within, i.e., is an integral part of, a new Eudora software product that contains the previously-referenced Payware and Freeware versions of Eudora. In general, each version of Eudora contained within this Eudora product release constitutes a separate operating mode of a single software product. Advantageously, the Adware Version of Eudora Pro.RTM. can be activated or switched between modes either automatically, in accordance with prescribed criteria or conditions, or manually, in accordance with prescribed user actions, e.g., registration, payment, selection, etc. This new Adware version of Eudora and the multi-moded Eudora e-mail software product that contains the same were motivated by a desire on the part of the present assignee to provide users with the "full feature set" afforded by the Payware version of Eudora free of charge to the users, by means of distributing advertisements paid for by advertisers to Eudora clients, thereby effectively shifting the source of payment/revenue from the users to the advertisers. Thus, this new Eudora software product can be regarded as "advertiser-supported" or "advertiser-subsidized" or simply "sponsored" software.

Most Internet service providers (ISPs) and e-mail service providers charge users a flat monthly subscription fee, although some providers still charge users based on usage, e.g., additional charges for on-line time beyond a prescribed level. However, there exists a population of users who desire to have basic e-mail service, but who do not require or want to pay for Internet access. A few companies have addressed the needs of this market segment by providing free e-mail service to users/subscribers who agree to receive advertisements along with their received e-mail messages. In this way, the advertisers support or sponsor the free e-mail service.

Based upon the relevant literature, it appears that the first company to propose and offer such a free e-mail service was FreeMark Communications (a.k.a. "ProductView Interactive"). The FreeMark system and method for providing free e-mail service is disclosed in PCT published patent application International Publication Number WO 96/24213, having a priority date of Feb. 1, 1995, based on U.S. application Ser. No. 08/382,118, naming as inventors Marv Goldschmitt and Robert A. Young. The disclosure of this published PCT patent application is expressly incorporated herein by reference. In short, this free e-mail system was subsidized by advertisers that appended advertisements as attachments, e.g., graphical interchange format (GIF) image file attachments, to e-mail messages transmitted to subscribers. The advertisements were stored on the subscriber's computer for viewing while the subscriber was off-line reading the received e-mail messages. In some of their promotional literature, FreeMark referred to the appended advertisements as "postage stamps". In FreeMark's literature, each message received by the subscriber was depicted as an envelope bearing a postage stamp; the postage stamp was the advertisement.

Subsequently, a company by the name of Juno Online Services, L.P. (hereinafter simply "JUNO") introduced a free e-mail service. The JUNO system and method for providing free e-mail service is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,242, which issued to Marsh et al. on Dec. 8, 1998, the disclosure of which is also expressly incorporated herein by reference. With the proprietary JUNO e-mail system, a plurality of advertisements are downloaded to subscribers when they connect to the proprietary JUNO e-mail server system to send and/or receive e-mail messages, with the advertisements being stored locally on the subscriber's computer for display when the subscriber is off-line composing or reading e-mail messages, i.e., when the subscriber activates Juno e-mail software previously installed on the subscriber's computer. The locally stored advertisements are displayed under the control of a display scheduler resident on the subscriber's computer, to thereby enable the advertisements to be rotated or changed in a dynamic manner. This results in a continuously-changing display of advertisements being presented to the subscriber. Various other aspects and features of the proprietary JUNO e-mail system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,790, which issued to McAuliffe et al on Nov. 17, 1998, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,397, which issued to Marsh et al on Dec. 8, 1998; the disclosures of both of these patents are also expressly incorporated herein by reference.

With both the FreeMark and JUNO proprietary free e-mail systems, both the advertisements and the e-mail messages are stored on a single e-mail system (e.g., JUNO stores both on a single, unique server which is assigned (bound) to the user when he/she first signs up for service), and are distributed to subscribers under the direction of a common control entity that is controlling all part of the e-mail system. While this may be a desirable system architecture for providing free e-mail service, it is not a suitable system architecture for a system whose purpose is to distribute advertiser-supported e-mail software that is e-mail system-independent, i.e., which is not tied to a particular proprietary e-mail service provider but, rather, supports public standards, e.g., POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, etc. Moreover, the free e-mail system architecture is not suitable for the many people who maintain multiple e-mail accounts, e.g., business and personal e-mail accounts. As mentioned previously, the present inventors were motivated by a desire to provide a system and method for distributing advertisements to Eudora clients in order to generate advertising revenues that would allow a fully-featured version of the Eudora e-mail software to be widely distributed free of charge to end-users. Moreover, the present inventors were motivated by a desire to provide e-mail software that is both universal and e-mail system-independent, i.e., it is not tied to any particular proprietary e-mail service or service provider.

Accordingly, the present inventors have developed a novel multi-moded Eudora e-mail software product that contains the Payware, Freeware and Adware, and have also devised a novel system and method for distributing advertisements to clients equipped with this new software product. As will become fully apparent hereinafter, the purpose and architecture of this novel system are radically different than that of the proprietary FreeMark and JUNO e-mail systems. In this regard, the multi-moded Eudora e-mail software product, and the novel system and method for distributing advertisements to clients equipped with this new software product, embraces a number of different inventions that will become fully apparent from the following disclosure and the documents referenced therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Based on the above and foregoing, it can be appreciated that there presently exists a need in the art for a subsidized e-mail client which overcomes the above-described deficiencies. The present invention was motivated by a desire to overcome the drawbacks and shortcomings of the presently available technology, and thereby fulfill this need in the art.

In one of its aspects, the present invention encompasses e-mail software which incorporates an automatic advertisement download function for automatically downloading advertisements to be displayed when the e-mail software is activated, for the purpose of subsidizing the full e-mail software product (e.g., to provide a "Freeware" version of the e-mail software product to end-users), wherein the e-mail software is e-mail system-independent. Preferably, the e-mail software is a stand-alone product which is universal, i.e., works in conjunction with virtually any e-mail service provider or e-mail system, including those service which comply with open standards. The present invention also encompasses a system and method for automatically distributing advertisements to a multiplicity of client devices which have this e-mail software installed thereon.

According to one aspect, the present invention provides an e-mail client for receiving and sending e-mail messages to at least one of a plurality of e-mail servers operated by respective e-mail operators, wherein the e-mail client receives at least one ad from an ad server operated by a control entity different than the control entity operating the one or more e-mail systems.

According to another aspect, the present invention provides a recording medium storing e-mail client software for instantiating an e-mail client which receives e-mail messages from and sends e-mail messages to at least one of a plurality of e-mail servers operated by their respective e-mail operators, wherein the e-mail client automatically receives ads from an ad server which operates independent of the e-mail servers.

According to still another aspect, the present invention encompasses a method of operating an e-mail client, provided by an ad server operator, compatible with a plurality of independently operated e-mail servers, including ones based on open e-mail standards. Preferably, the method includes steps for periodically at least one of sending and receiving e-mail from selected ones of the e-mail servers, periodically receiving ads from the ad server operator, and displaying the received ads responsive to instructions provided by the ad server operator.

According to a still further aspect, the present invention provides an e-mail system including an incoming e-mail server storing incoming e-mail messages addressed to a plurality of users, an outgoing e-mail server for forwarding or routing outgoing e-mail messages generated by the users, and an ad server operating independently of the e-mail server, and a plurality of e-mail clients operated by respective users. Preferably, each of the e-mail clients checks for respective e-mail messages stored on the incoming e-mail server, transmits any outgoing e-mail messages stored on the e-mail client to the outgoing e-mail server, and downloads available ads from the ad server while the e-mail client is online.

In one aspect, the present invention provides software for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communications network instantiating a communications function that effects an advertisement download communication link between the client device and an advertisement distribution server system via the communications network, at selected advertisement download times, an advertisement download function that downloads advertisements identified in a playlist(s) generated by at least one playlist server, via the advertisement download communication link, at the selected advertisement download times, an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device, and an advertisement display function that effects display of at least selected ones of the stored advertisements.

In another aspect, the present invention provides software for use on a client device that is configured for communications via a communications network instantiating a playlist fetch function that fetches a playlist(s) from a playlist server, wherein the playlist(s) identifies advertisements to be fetched, an ad download function that downloads the advertisements identified in the playlist(s) from an advertisement distribution system, via the communications network, during one or more advertisement download sessions, an advertisement storage function for storing the downloaded advertisements on a storage medium associated with the client device, and an advertisement display function that effects display of at least selected ones of the stored advertisements on a display associated with the client device.

Many other features, aspects, uses, applications, advantages, modifications, variations, and alternative embodiments of the foregoing inventive concepts will become apparent from the technical documentation that follows. This technical documentation constitutes an integral part of this application for all purposes. Moreover, additional inventive concepts that have not been discussed above are disclosed in this technical documentation, and it is intended that this application cover such additional inventive concepts.

Furthermore, certain terms that have been used in the foregoing and following descriptions of the present invention are defined as follows:

TABLE-US-00001 TERM DESCRIPTION Advertise- This term is intended to broadly encompass any secondary ment(s) content that is delivered or distributed to client devices in addition to the primary content, e.g., e-mail messages, which the software product instantiated by the client device is designed to receive, transmit, process, display, and/or utilize. For example, this term is intended to cover, without limitation, paid advertisements, community service mess- ages, public service announcements, system information messages or announcements, cross-promo spots, artwork, and any other graphical, multimedia, audio, video, text, or other secondary digital content. Nevertheless, it will be recognized that the primary purpose of the presently con- templated commercial embodiment of the present invention is to distribute paid advertisements, and thus, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the advertisements will be exclusively, or at least primarily, paid advertisements. Client This term is intended to broadly encompass any device that Device has digital data processing and output, e.g., display, capabilities, including, but not limited to, desktop com- puters, laptop computers, hand-held computers, notebook computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), palm-top computing devices, intelligent devices, information appliances, video game consoles, information kiosks, wired and wireless Personal Communications Systems (PCS) devices, smart phones, intelligent cellular tele- phones with built-in web browsers, intelligent remote controllers for cable, satellite, and/or terrestrial broadcast television, and any other device that has the requisite cap- abilities. Information This term is intended to broadly encompass any intelligible form of information which can be presented by a client device, i.e., an information client device, including, with- out limitation, text, documents, files, graphical objects, data objects, multimedia content, audio/sound files, video files, MPEG files, JPEG files, GIF files, PNG files, HTML documents, applications, formatted documents (e.g., word processor and/or spreadsheet documents or files), MP3 files, animations, photographs, and any other document, file, digital, or multimedia content that can be transmitted over a communications network such as the Internet. E-mail This term is intended to broadly encompass the e-mail Messages message and any attachments thereto, including, without limitation, text, documents, files, graphical objects, data objects, multimedia content, audio/sound files, video files, MPEG files, JPEG files, GIF files, PNG files, HTML documents, applications, formatted documents (e.g., word processor and/or spreadsheet documents or files), MP3 files, animations, photographs, and any other document, file, digital, or multimedia content that can be transmitted over a communications network such as the Internet. Software This term is intended to broadly encompass the developer Provider (or developers), sellers, distributors, etc., of the multi-mode software products(s) installed on the client device. Memory This term is intended to broadly encompass any device cap- able of storing and/or incorporating computer readable code for instantiating the client device referred to immediately above. Thus, the term encompasses all types of recording medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, a disk drive (hard or soft), mag- netic tape, and recording devices, e.g., memory devices including DRAM, SRAM, EEPROM, FRAM, and Flash memory. It should be noted that the term is intended to include any type of device which could be deemed per- sistent storage. To the extent that an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) can be considered to incorporate instructions for instantiating a client device, an ASIC is also considered to be within the scope of the term "memory."

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and various other features and aspects of the present invention will be readily understood with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like or similar numbers are used throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram of a computer system including a plurality of client devices connected to a plurality of independently-operated server devices via a network, which computer system is suitable for implementing various functions according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a high-level diagram of a representative one of the client devices illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate alternative and non-limiting placement of ads in the main navigation screen of an exemplary e-mail software application according to the present invention;

FIG. 4A depicts state transitions when a version of the software is installed by one of a new user, an old user, and an EP4 user;

FIG. 4B illustrates a dialog box associated with the state flow diagram illustrated in FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary state flow diagram of a process by which the Ad user becomes a registered Ad user while FIGS. 5B through 5G illustrate several dialog boxes associated with FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary state flow diagram of a process by which a Free user can become a registered Free user while FIG. 6B illustrates an additional dialog box associated with FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7A illustrates an exemplary state flow diagram of a process