Apparatus and accompanying methods for network distribution and interstitial rendering of information objects to client computers

#1. Field of the Invention

#The invention relates to a technique, specifically apparatus and accompanying methods, for implementing in a networked client-server environment, such as the Internet, network-distributed advertising in which an advertisement is downloaded, from an advertising server to a web browser executing at a client computer, in a manner transparent to a user situated at the browser, and subsequently displayed, by that browser and on an interstitial basis, in response to a click-stream generated by the user to move from one web page to the next.

#2. Description of the Prior Art

#The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1A depicts the correct alignment of the drawing sheets for FIGS. 1B and 1C;

#FIGS. 1B and 1C collectively depict a high-level block diagram of an illustrative client-server distributed processing environment, implemented through the Internet, which embodies the teachings of our present invention, along with, as pertinent to the invention, basic inter-computer actions that occur in that environment and associated client processing operations;

#To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.

#After considering the following description, those skilled in the art will clearly realize that the teachings of our present invention can be utilized in any networked client-server environment in which advertising or other information is to be presented to a user during interstitial intervals, i.e., during a transition between successively displayed web pages. Such an environment can encompass the Internet or an intranet, or any client-server environment in which a client browser (regardless of whether that browser executes on a dedicated client computer or not) is used to access and download web pages or, more generally speaking, files through a network communication channel (link) from a server (again regardless of whether that server executes on a dedicated computer or not). In that regard, the server can be a separate software application which executes on any computer in the networked environment, even if that computer is itself a client to another server in the network.

#For purposes of simplicity and to facilitate reader understanding, we will discuss our present invention in the illustrative context of use in rendering interstitial web-based advertisements to a client personal computer (PC) connected to the Internet, where specifically a client browser executing in the PC is used to download and render web pages from a remote networked Internet accessible web server. Clearly, after considering the ensuing description, anyone skilled in the art will readily appreciate how the teachings of our invention can be easily incorporated into any client-server or other similar distributed processing environment in which a client can encompass not only a specific computer connected to a network but a software process that possesses network connectivity to another such process and requests information from and, in response, obtains information supplied by the latter.