Recipient selection of information to be subsequently delivered

The system of delivering information to a requesting user, said system comprising:

• means for recording requests from a user pertaining to information content desired by said user;
• means controlled by at least one information content provider for accessing recorded ones of said requests, said at least one information content provider being independent from said user;
• means controlled by accessing ones of said information content providers for determining, independent from said user, whether or not said information that said information content provider has control of matches a recorded one of said requests;
• and
• means operable under at least partial control of said determining means for delivering the information desired by said user.

A system for providing information to a user, said information available over a network, said system comprising:

• means for allowing said user to input and store an abstract of the desired information;
• means operative from time to time for allowing any party other than said user to have access to said abstract of said desired information;
• and
• means for allowing those of said other parties having information which said other party deems to be fulfilling of said abstracted information to deliver to said user said fulfilling information, said delivery being under control of said delivering party.

A method of delivering information to a requesting user, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing requests from users, said requests pertaining to information content desired by said users;
• accessing said stored requests by information providers;
• determining by an accessing provider whether or not said accessing provider has control of information which matches an accessed stored request;
• and
• providing information in accordance with stored requests under control of said accessing provider.

A method of delivering information to a requesting user said method comprising:

• recording at a location not under control of said user and available for access by parties other than said user a request from a user pertaining to non-subscription information content desired by said user, said information content not necessarily being available to said user at the time of said request;
• accessing said recorded request by a party not under the control of said user;
• determining by any of said accessing parties other than said user when information which becomes available subsequent to said user request that said subsequently available information matches said user request;
• and
• delivering any determined matched information to said user.