Method and apparatus for providing reduced cost online service and adaptive targeting of advertisements

A method for receiving advertisements at a client from a server in a distributed data processing system, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• scanning, on the client, a datastream electronically for a session connecting the client with the server;
• generating a list of keywords from content within the datastream;
• sending the generated list of keywords to the server;
• receiving advertisements within the datastream, wherein the advertisements comprise content semantically related to the generated list of keyword;
• and caching advertisements placed as hidden advertisement content within markup language tags in the datastream, wherein the hidden advertisement content is not displayed by the browser when a markup language document containing the hidden advertisement content is displayed.

A distributed data processing system for sending advertisements from a server to a client, the distributed data processing system comprising:

• scanning means for scanning, on the server, a datastream electronically for a session connecting the server with the client, wherein the datastream comprises HTML tags and ASCII text;
• generating means for generating a list of keywords from content within the datastream;
• selecting means for selecting advertisements based on the generated keyword list;
• and
• inserting means for inserting the selected advertisements into the datastream, wherein the generating means for generating a list of keywords comprises deriving means for deriving a list of keywords from a moving window of content within the datastream.

A distributed data processing system for receiving advertisements at a client from a server, the distributed data processing system comprising:

• scanning means for scanning, on the client, a datastream electronically for a session connecting the client with the server;
• generating means for generating a list of keywords from content within the datastream;
• sending means for sending the generated list of keywords to the server;
• receiving means for receiving advertisements within the datastream, wherein the advertisements comprise content semantically related to the generated list of keywords;
• and
• caching means for caching advertisements placed as hidden advertisement content within markup language tags in the datastream, wherein the hidden advertisement content is not displayed by the browser when a markup language document containing the hidden advertisement content is displayed.

A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for use in a distributed data processing system for sending advertisements from a server to a client, the computer program product comprising:

• first instructions for scanning, on the server, a datastream electronically for a session connecting the server with the client, wherein the datastream comprises HTML tags and ASCII text;
• second instructions for generating a list of keywords from content within the datastream;
• third instructions for selecting advertisements based on the generated keyword list;
• and
• fourth instructions for inserting the selected advertisements into the datastream, wherein the second instructions for generating a list of keywords comprises instructions for deriving a list of keywords from a moving window of content within the datastream.

A computer program product for receiving advertisements at a client from a server in a distributed data processing system, the computer program product comprising:

• first instructions for scanning, on the client, a datastream electronically for a session connecting the client with the server;
• second instructions for generating a list of keywords from content within the datastream;
• third instructions for sending the generated list of keywords to the server;
• fourth instructions for receiving advertisements within the datastream, wherein the advertisements comprise content semantically related to the generated list of keywords;
• and
• fifth instructions for caching advertisements placed as hidden advertisement content within markup language tags in the datastream, wherein the hidden advertisement content is not displayed by the browser when a markup language document containing the hidden advertisement content is displayed.