US 5,794,210 AGranted

Attention brokerage

AssigneeCyberGold, Inc.

InventorsA. Nathaniel Goldhaber, Gary Fitts

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Abstract

A system provides for the immediate payment to computer and other users for paying attention to an advertisement or other "negatively priced" information distributed over a computer network such as the Internet. Called Attention Brokerage, this is the business of brokering the buying and selling of the "attention" of users. A further invention, Orthogonal Sponsorship, allows advertisers to detach their messages from program content and explicitly target their audience. A special icon or other symbol displayed on a computer screen may represent compensation and allow users to choose whether they will view an ad or other negatively priced information and receive associated compensation. Targeting users may be provided by reference to a data base of digitally stored demographic profiles of potential users. Information can be routed to users based on demographics, and software agents can be used to actively seek out users on a digital network. Private profiles may be maintained for different users and user information may be released to advertisers and other marketers only based on user permission. Users may be compensated for allowing their information to be released. Competing advertisers may "bid" for the attention of users using automatic electronic systems, e.g., "an auction" protocol and these concepts can be generalized to provide an electronic trading house where buyers and sellers can actively find each other and negotiate transactions.

Claims86

Dependent claims

In an arrangement comprising plural computers connected to a digital computer network, said network carrying and routing digital information between said plural computers, said plural computers including at least one personal computer associated with at least one user, at least one computer associated with at least one attention broker, at least one computer associated with at least one provider of negatively priced information, and at least one computer associated with at least one provider of positively priced information, said network being decentralized in that any pair of said personal and information provider computers may communicate without said communication passing through any of the other said personal and information provider computers, said personal computer having a display device and at least one user input device, the display device being capable of providing a visual display based at least in part on the digital information delivered to the personal computer via said network, said displayed information including at least one visual link associated with one of said information provider computers, said user being able to operate said user input device to select and activate said link in order to erect a network connection to said information provider computer, a method for permitting the provider of negatively priced information to orthogonally sponsor user purchases of positively priced information, the method comprising:

(1) supplying negatively priced information to the personal computer from at least one negatively priced information provider;
(2) providing said user with the opportunity to receive compensation in connection with said negatively priced information by connecting via the network to said attention broker computer;
(3) compensating, via said attention broker computer, the user in connection with the supplied negatively priced information;
(4) presenting the user, via said personal computer display, with a choice of at least one item of positively priced information, and allowing the user to select said item by operating the user input device;
(5) collecting at least one selection from step (4) and communicating, via the network, said selection to at least one computer associated with a positively priced information provider;
and
(6) allowing the user to pay for the selected positively priced information at least in part using compensation provided in step (3).

4 more elements

In an arrangement comprising plural computers connected to a digital computer network, said network carrying and routing digital information between said plural computers, said plural computers including at least one personal computer associated with at least one user, at least one computer associated with at least one provide of negatively priced information, and at least one computer associated with at least one attention broker, said network being decentralized in that any pair of said personal, information provider, and attention broker computers may communicate without said communication passing through any of the other said personal, information provider, and attention broker computers, said personal computer having a display device and at least one user input device, the display device being capable of providing a visual display based at least in part on the digital information delivered to the personal computer via said network, said displayed information including at least one visual link associated with one of said information provider and attention broker computers, said user being able to operate said user input device to select and activate said link in order to effect a network connection to said associated computer, a method of creating a market in which human attention is the fundamental commodity of value, the method comprising:

(1) generating a list at said attention broker computer of at least one item of negatively priced information from at least one information provider;
(2) establishing a compensation range for each item in said list;
(3) determining which items from said list to make available to the personal computer;
(4) communicating at least one representation of at least one item determined in step (3) to the personal computer via the computer network;
(5) noting said user's interaction with said representation, where said interaction includes selecting and activating a visual link that is contained within said representation and that is associated with said negatively priced information provider computer, thereby connecting the personal computer via the network to said negatively priced information provider computer and receiving said negatively priced information from said computer;
and
(6) compensating, via said attention broker computer, the user in connection with said interaction in accordance with the range determined in step (2).

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.