On-line interactive system and method for providing content and advertising information to a targeted set of viewers

Abstract

Prioritized queues of advertising and content data are generated by a queue builder and sent to an on-line queue manager. A computer mediated communications network provides content and subscriber data to the queue builder and receives content segment play lists from the on-line queue manager. An exposure accounting module calculates and stores information about the number of exposures of targeted material received by subscribers and generates billing information. An information warehouse manager is employed to receive data from advertisers' data bases and third party sources as well as from the computer mediated communications network.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A system comprising: 
 a queue builder for generating priority queues;    a computer mediated communications network for sending content data and subscriber data to the queue builder;    an on-line queue manager for receiving the priority queues from the queue builder and for sending content segment play lists to the computer mediated communications network; and    an exposure accounting module for receiving exposure data from the on-line queue manager and computing and outputting exposure billing data.    
     
     
         2 . A system according to  claim 1  further comprising an exposure accounting module including an exposure billing module, a contract maintenance module, and an exposure accounting storage; 
 wherein the exposure billing module receives data stored in the exposure storage of the on-line queue manager; and  
 wherein data is transmitted from the exposure billing module and the contracts maintenance module to the targeting data storage of the queue builder.  
 
     
     
         3 . A system according to  claim 2  further comprising an information warehouse manager coupled to the exposure accounting module and including an importer/translator, an information warehouse controller and an information warehouse storage, wherein the importer/translator receives data from an advertiser customer database and a third party database.  
     
     
         4 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the queue builder comprises a targeting data storage coupled to a queue generator for generating the priority queues according to predetermined rules and profile definitions contained in the targeting data storage.  
     
     
         5 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the on-line queue manager network via a queue server and a network interface comprises a priority queue storage for receiving the priority queues output from the queue generator, the priority queue storage being connected to the computer mediated communications.  
     
     
         6 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the computer mediated communications network comprises an on-line application server connected between a plurality of subscribers and the on-line queue manager.  
     
     
         7 . A system for providing advertising and content information in an intelligently prioritized manner to an interactive computer mediated communications network comprising: 
 queue building means for gathering content and advertising information, combining the information gathered with predefined rules, and outputting prioritized queues resulting from the combination; and    on-line queue managing means for receiving the prioritized queues and outputting play lists to the interactive network host server in real-time.    
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the queue building means comprises a targeting data storage coupled to a queue generator for generating the priority queues according to predetermined rules and profile definitions contained in the targeting data storage.  
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the on-line queue managing means comprises a priority queue storage for receiving the priority queues output from the queue generator, the priority queue storage being connected to the computer mediated communications.  
     
     
         10 . A system for providing targeted information to a user in an on-line computer mediated communication comprising: 
 a queue builder for combining a targeting data storage with a plurality of editors and outputting resulting data to a queue generator; and    an on-line queue manager including a priority queue storage which receives data from the queue generator, the on-line queue manager including a queue server coupled to the priority queue storage and connected to a server for an on-line information service via a request broker and a network interface.    
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of editors includes a rule editor, a time period editor and a profile editor.  
     
     
         12 . A system according to  claim 10 , wherein the on-line queue manager comprises an exposure status server for storing exposure data into an exposure storage.  
     
     
         13 . A system according to  claim 12  further comprising an exposure accounting module including an exposure billing module, a contract maintenance module, and an exposure accounting storage; 
 wherein the exposure billing module receives data stored in the exposure storage of the on-line queue manager; and  
 wherein data is transmitted from the exposure billing module and the contracts maintenance module to the targeting data storage of the queue builder.  
 
     
     
         14 . A system according to  claim 13  further comprising an information warehouse manager coupled to the exposure accounting module and including an importer/translator, an information warehouse controller and an information warehouse storage; and 
 wherein the importer/translator receives data from an advertiser customer database and a third party database.  
 
     
     
         15 . A system according to  claim 5  wherein the priority queue storage includes a subscriber queue, a location queue and a time period queue.