System and method for integrating a message into a graphical environment

A method for transforming a message icon for assimilation into a graphical image portion of content that is to be displayed on a display screen of a computer system having a memory, said method comprising the steps of:

• retrieving coordinate information programmed into said content, said coordinate information defining a location within said image;
• retrieving scale information associated with said location within said image;
• scaling said message icon in accordance with said scale information;
• automatically assimilating said scaled message icon into said image at said location;
• and
• displaying said scaled message icon at said location within said image.

An interactive system for assimilating a message into user specified content and for displaying said content and at least one message in a graphical environment through a computer network to a user, said message being stored in a message memory connected to said network, said content including coordinate information defining a location within said content and a predetermined scale factor associated with the location programmed therein, said system including:

• means for retrieving said content from a content memory;
• means for obtaining said coordinate information and said predetermined scale factor associated with the location defined by the coordinate information;
• means for obtaining at least one said message from said message memory;
• means for transforming said obtained message into a corresponding scaled message in accordance with said predetermined scale factor;
• means for automatically including said scaled message into said content at the location to define a modified environment;
• and
• means for communicating said modified environment to said user.

An interactive system for attracting attention to an advertisement, said system including:

• a web browser for transmitting content requests from a user to a computer network over a communication path, said web browser including an object placer;
• at least one content server which stores content together with predetermined specifications for assimilating said advertisement into said content, said specifications including a scaling factor representative of the relative size of graphical features in said content and location coordinates for designating the position of said advertisement in said content;
• at least one message server which stores said advertisement, said advertisement including an image defined by predetermined message parameters;
• an object manager communicatively connected to said respective content and message servers and operative to retrieve said content and advertisement from said respective content and message servers and to transform said advertisement into a scaled message according to said scaling factor for automatically integrating said scaled message into said content at said location coordinates for subsequent transmission to said web browser.

An object manager for use in an interactive system which automatically transforms user selected content into modified content which conveys at least one message for attracting the attention of the user, said object manager including:

• means for retrieving a scale factor associated with a coordinate location defining a location within said content, said scale factor being programmed into said content;
• means for scaling at least one said message according to said scaling factor;
• and
• means for automatically integrating said scaled message into said content at the defined location.