WO2000079446A1

WO2000079446A1 - The advertising system and method using internet web page

Info

Publication number: WO2000079446A1
Application number: PCT/KR2000/000644
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jin-Yong Joo
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-06-19
Filing date: 2000-06-19
Publication date: 2000-12-28
Anticipated expiration: 2001-12-19
Also published as: KR100429760B1; AU5573800A; KR20000030058A

Abstract

There is provided an advertising method using Internet web pages, comprising the steps of: sensing if a web page transmitted from a server to a client includes a banner advertisement or logo; stopping display of the banner advertisement or logo on a web browser screen when the banner advertisement or logo is included in the web page transmitted; storing the size and location of the banner advertisement or logo; selecting a web banner advertisement or web logo whose size is similar to the size of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page, the web banner advertisement or web logo being previously stored in the hard disk of the client's PC; and inserting the selected web banner advertisement or web logo into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page which is currently being output to substitute for the banner advertisement or logo, and displaying the web page on the monitor of the client's PC.

Description

THE ADVERTISING SYSTEM AND METHOD USING INTERNET WEB

PAGE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an advertising system and method using

Internet web pages, specifically, to an advertising method using internet web pages, which replaces banner advertisements, logos, etc., displayed on the monitor screen of a client's computer when the client outputs a web page on the monitor, with advertisements of a specific company to improve advertising effect, and allows the client's computer do not need to receive image files of the banner advertisements or logos to raise communication rate, reducing communication fee.

2. Description of the Related Art

With a remarkable increase in the number of Internet users, an advertisement market using a web browser serving as an Internet surfing tool is being extended. Most of advertising methods using the web browser are constructed in such a manner that users are compulsorily view an advertisement of a specific company provided by a server at the cost of unrestricted access to the server. Another method is, when a user clicks on an advertising banner displayed on a web page, to pay the user an amount of money in proportion to the number of clicking times for seeing the advertisement.

With these advertising methods, there is no problem when a high-speed

communication line is used. However, a considerably long period of time is required to download the entire web pages in case of modem communication (communication using telephone lines) that most users use because the advertising banners or logos are generally image files having large capacities, resulting in charging the users excessive telephone charges. Furthermore, there is a problem that the users should see the advertisements compulsorily even if they do not want.

To overcome the above problems, there may be used a program called "ads off' which restricts outputting of advertising banners or logos. That is, since the ads- off program prevents image files (mostly having jpg, jpeg or gif as their file expander) suspected to be advertising banners or logos among data transmitted during Internet searching from being output, the searching speed becomes fast and users can use the Internet conveniently.

However, most of advertisers do not invest their money in advertisements when they found that advertisements in which they invest heavily become useless according to a program like "ads off. This damages advertising agencies, which gain their incomes from advertising rates provided by the advertisers, and also reduces the number of servers providing services free on the Internet, hindering development in the Internet. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an advertising method using Internet web pages which replaces advertising banners, logos, etc., displayed on the monitor screen of a client's computer when the client outputs a web page on the monitor, with an advertisement of a specific company providing free electronic mailing service or free home page service, to increase advertising effect.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an advertising method using Internet web pages which makes users do not need to receive new advertising banners or logos from a server whenever they access the server, to improve communication rate, resulting in reduction in communication fee. The advertising method for the purpose of accomplishing the objects of the present invention senses if a web page transmitted from a server to a client include an advertising banner or logo and, when the web page includes it, stops outputting of the banner or logo on a web browser screen. Then, the advertising method stores the size and location of the advertising banner or logo, and selects a web banner advertisement or web logo previously stored in the hard disk of the client's PC, that is fit for the size of the advertising banner or logo. Subsequently, the method inserts the selected web banner advertisement or web logo into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page currently being output on the screen to replace it, and displays the web page transmitted from the server on the client's monitor.

An advertising method using Internet web pages according to the present invention comprises the steps of: sensing if a web page transmitted from a server to a client includes a banner advertisement or logo; stopping display of the banner advertisement or logo on a web browser screen when the banner advertisement or logo is included in the web page transmitted; storing the size and location of the banner advertisement or logo; selecting a web banner advertisement or web logo whose size is similar to the size of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page, the web banner advertisement or web logo being previously stored in the hard disk of the client's PC; and inserting the selected web banner advertisement or web logo into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page which is currently being output to substitute for the banner advertisement or logo, and displaying the web page on the monitor of the client's PC.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the size of the banner advertisement or logo is arbitrarily set by the client so that loading of the banner advertisement or logo on the web page is restricted according to an image file size. The contents of the web banner advertisement or web logo are periodically downloaded from an Internet access service server.

An advertising system using Internet web pages according to the present invention includes a client PC, an Internet access service server, at least one server, and an opened network connecting the client PC to the servers, the client PC comprising: a web banner advertisement database or web logo database for storing web banner advertisements or web logos; a sensing module for sensing if a web page transmitted from the server to the client includes a banner advertisement or logo; a module for stopping display of the banner advertisement or logo on a web browser screen when the web page includes the banner advertisement or logo; a storage module for storing the size and location of the banner advertisement or logo; a selection module for selecting a web banner advertisement or web logo, fit for the size of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page, the web banner advertisement or web logo being previously stored in the web banner advertisement database or web logo database; and an output module for inserting the web banner advertisement or web logo selected by the selection module into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page to replace it, and displaying the web page on the monitor of the client PC.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the size of the banner advertisement or logo is arbitrarily set by the client so that loading of the banner advertisement or logo on the web page is restricted according to an image file size. The contents of the web banner advertisement or web logo are periodically downloaded from an Internet access service server.

The advertising method using Internet web pages according to the present invention replaces banner advertisements, logos, etc., displayed on a web page when a client outputs the web page on his/her computer monitor, with advertisements of a specific company providing free electronic mailing service or free home page service, thereby improving advertising effect. Further, the client's PC do not need to receive advertisement banners or logos so that the communication rate becomes fast even when a modem is used for Internet communication, resulting in reduction in communication fee.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 roughly shows the connection of servers and clients to the Internet; FIG. 2 shows an example of a web page displayed by a conventional web browser;

FIG. 3 shows a web page on which advertisements are displayed according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart for explaining the advertising method according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

The advertising method of the present invention can be performed in a web browser serving as an Internet surfing fool. The advertising method senses if a web page transmitted from a server to a client include an advertising banner or logo and, when the web page includes it, stops outputting of the banner or logo on a web browser screen. Then, the advertising method stores the size and location of the advertising banner or logo, and selects a web banner advertisement or web logo previously stored in the hard disk of the client's PC, that is fit for the size of the advertising banner or logo. Subsequently, the method inserts the selected web banner advertisement or web logo into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page currently being output on the screen to replace it, and displays the web page transmitted from the server on the client's monitor.

The Internet is a global network that plural individual computers (servers and clients) are connected to one another through a communication network. As shown in FIG. 1, data desired can be transmitted in a short period of time all over the world using Internet 10 that is a network of networks. PCs 40, 50, 60 and 70 which are clients are connected to a LAN or they are individual PCs separated from one another. PCs 40, 50, 60 and 70 transmit/receive data to/from servers 20 and 30 through telephone lines or communication dedicated lines, performing desired operations. It is a web browser to be used for transmission and reception of data on the Internet.

The web browser which has a hyper-link function based on URL addresses allows the PCs to be able to access server 20 remotely located in real time and to download/upload. The web browser being frequently used includes Netscape Navigator developed by Netscape, Inc. and Microsoft Internet Explorer developed by Microsoft Corporation. The advertising method of the present invention can be carried out in these Internet web browsers. According to the present invention, an advertising function can be included in the conventional web browsers or included as a plug-in program in the web browsers.

Most data is provided to users free on the Internet. For this free service, a web page displays a banner advertisement or logo of a specific advertiser thereon. FIG. 2 show an example of a web page 100 into which advertising banners and logos are inserted. Referring to FIG. 2, web page 100 has an advertising banner 160 representing "Why don't you use Netscape as your web browser", a logo 180 representing "Buy computers at Comworld" and "Hitel" placed under the banner, and text lines 190 "Mail-order sale", "Young plaza" and "Event plaza" at the right side. The web pages have different advertising banners, logos and text lines, and the banners and logos are made using image files (jpeg, jpg, gif).

Web page 100 having the above advertisements requires a long period of time to be transmitted because the advertisements have capacities larger than those of general text characters. This does not become a problem when a high-speed communication line is used. However, in case of netizens using telephone lines for Internet communication, they get annoyed because communication rate becomes slow due to the image files with large capacities constructing the advertisements. This also increases communication fees.

The advertising method of the present invention first searches data of web page 100 transmitted from server 20 to sense if an advertising banner or logo is included therein. This is performed by searching image files of web page 100 because the advertising banner or logo is configured of image files. When an image file judged to be an advertising banner or logo is searched, a program included in the web browser or included in the form of plug-in therein discontinues transmission of the image file to stop loading of the advertising banner or logo.

The program stores the size and location of the banner or logo received while stopping loading of it. In this state, banner advertisements 160 and 180 and logo 170 are not displayed on web page 100. The state that image files are not displayed is represented on web page 100 as a default option of the web browser and blank spaces surrounded by ????. However, the actual state displays web advertisements and web logo to substitute for the banner advertisements and logo so that the blank spaces are not displayed. The rate at which this state is displayed depends on the performance of PC. After the display of banner advertisement or logo is stopped, the program selects a web banner advertisement or web logo whose size is similar to the stored size of the banner advertisement or logo. The web banner advertisement and web logo are previously stored in PCs 40, 50, 60 and 70 of the clients. These are not transmitted from server 20 the clients are currently accessing but received from a web browser producing company or Internet service company to which the clients subscribe. Specifically, banner advertisements 160 and 180 and logo 170 included in the web page transmitted from the server the client's PCs are accessing are removed by the program included in the web browser or included in the form of plug-in therein, and then other web banner advertisements or web logos previously stored in the hard disk of the client's PCs are displayed.

The web banner advertisement or web logo is produced in advance, and previously transmitted to the hard disk of the client' PCs to be stored therein when the client's PCs are accessing an Internet server. It is preferable that the web banner advertisement or web logo produced in advance is prepared in a variety of sizes, suitable for the size of the banner advertisement or logo transmitted from other servers the clients access. The web banner advertisement or web logo is periodically up-dated.

Upon selection of the web banner advertisement or web logo with a size fit for the size of the banner advertisement or logo, the web browser inserts the selected web banner advertisement or web logo into the stored location. Accordingly, the web page of the web browser displays the web banner advertisement or web logo substituting for the banner advertisement or logo. This advertising method has the following advantages.

Firstly, the client's PCs are not need to receive all of files with large capacities from server 20 the PCs are accessing so that a period of communicating time is shortened in case where telephone lines used for communication, decreasing communication fee. Secondly, since advertisers can confirm that netizens are sure to see their advertisements, they do not have misgivings about advertising effect to advertising rates and accomplish the expected advertising effects. With the advertising method of the present invention, the web browser producing company adds advertising functions at the initial program producing step or selectively activate functions to increase the added value of the web browser. In addition, the program for the advertising method of the present invention is produced by a third party company to be distributed, and its advertisement substituting function is activated to effectively perform advertisement in such a manner that, when clients see the substitute advertisements, they are paid for viewing the advertisements or they subscribe to an Internet service company to be provided with free internet access service.

The web banner advertisement or web logo is produced by the web browser producing company to be periodically downloaded. Otherwise, in case where the Internet access service is provided to the clients, the web banner advertisement or web logo is downloaded to the users whenever they access the server so that the advertising banner or logo of a web page can be replaced with the web banner advertisement or web logo. FIG. 3 shows web page 100 on which substitute web banner advertisements 160a and 180a are displayed according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, banner advertisement 160 representing "Why don't you use Netscape as your web browser" is replaced with web banner advertisement 160a representing "Internet advertisement is Idea plaza!" while banner advertisement 180 representing "Hitel" is replaced with web banner advertisement 180a representing "Idea plaza". Logo 170 representing "Buy computers at Comworld" remains but it can be also substituted by other advertising logos.

The advertising method of the present invention can restrict transmission of image files because the banner advertisement or logo is difficult to discriminate from image files containing necessary contents. Specifically, using the fact that the size of image files used for banner advertisement or company logo is generally large, users arbitrarily set an image file size and, only when the size of a received image file exceed the size set, judge it to be a banner advertisement or company logo so as to stop loading of it. In case of a small-sized image file constructing a banner advertisement or logo, it can be received within a short period of time to result in no reduction in communication speed. For easy restriction to the image file capacity, a function is added to set capacity restriction in one side of a web page or web browser setting column. Moreover, in case where users use a web browser to which the advertising method of the present invention is applied, profits made on advertising rates are distributed among the users to make them see advertisements more frequently, thereby improving advertising effect.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the disclosed invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An advertising method using Internet web pages, comprising the steps of: sensing if a web page transmitted from a server to a client includes a banner advertisement or logo; stopping display of the banner advertisement or logo on a web browser screen when the banner advertisement or logo is included in the web page transmitted; storing the size and location of the banner advertisement or logo; selecting a web banner advertisement or web logo whose size is similar to the size of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page, the web banner advertisement or web logo being previously stored in the hard disk of the client's PC; and inserting the selected web banner advertisement or web logo into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page which is currently being output to substitute for the banner advertisement or logo, and displaying the web page on the monitor of the client's PC.

2. The advertising method using Internet web page as claimed in claim 1, wherein the size of the banner advertisement or logo is arbitrarily set by the client so that loading of the banner advertisement or logo on the web page is restricted according to an image file size.

3. The advertising method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the contents of the web banner advertisement or web logo are periodically downloaded from an Internet access service server.

4. An advertising system using Internet web pages, which includes a client PC, an Internet access service server, at least one server, and an opened network connecting the client PC to the servers, the client PC comprising: a web banner advertisement database or web logo database for storing web banner advertisements or web logos; a sensing module for sensing if a web page transmitted from the server to the client includes a banner advertisement or logo; a module for stopping display of the banner advertisement or logo on a web browser screen when the web page includes the banner advertisement or logo; a storage module for storing the size and location of the banner advertisement or logo; a selection module for selecting a web banner advertisement or web logo, fit for the size of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page, the web banner advertisement or web logo being previously stored in the web banner advertisement database or web logo database; and an output module for inserting the web banner advertisement or web logo selected by the selection module into the location of the banner advertisement or logo of the web page to replace it, and displaying the web page on the monitor of the client PC.

5. The advertising system using Internet web pages as claimed in claim 4, wherein the size of the banner advertisement or logo is arbitrarily set by the client so that loading of the banner advertisement or logo on the web page is restricted according to an image file size.

6. The advertising method as claimed in claim 4 or 5, wherein the contents of the web banner advertisement database or web logo database is periodically downloaded from the Internet access service server.