Ad controller for use in implementing user-transparent network-distributed advertising and for interstitially displaying an advertisement so distributed

In apparatus for use in rendering an information object, comprising a web advertisement, through an executing web browser and in response to a first web page provided to the browser, the apparatus having a processor, a memory connected to the processor and storing both computer executable instructions and the first web page, the first web page having a plurality of computer readable instructions representing page content and code, the code containing an advertising tag, and an output device responsive to the processor, a method comprising the steps, performed by the processor in response to the executable instructions and the code, of:

• dynamically writing a plurality of predefined applet tags, that collectively implement a script, into the first web page;
• downloading in response to subsequent execution of the script, the agent from a corresponding network server into the memory;
• and
• thereafter instantiating and executing the agent under the browser, an agent having an applet, wherein the applet performs the steps of:
• issuing a request, via a network connection, to a specified network server to download a manifest file for the information object from the specified network server, wherein the manifest file comprises a manifest of names of a plurality of predefined informational files that collectively comprise part of the information object, a network address at which each of the informational files can be accessed and associated configuration information necessary to properly render the information object;
• accessing and downloading, to the memory, each informational file, specified in the manifest file, from its corresponding network address, to the extent said each informational file does not then reside within the memory;
• and
• in response to an occurrence of a user-initiated event, as detected by the agent through monitoring a user click-stream, which initiates a transition from the first web page to a second web page and which signifies a start of an interstitial interval:
• ceasing any further download of the manifest file or any informational file specified in the manifest file, to the extent any downloading of said manifest file or said any informational file is then occurring;
• and
• initiating processing, through the browser, of informational files for a previously downloaded information object so as to render the previously downloaded object during the interstitial interval to the user.