Independent internet client object with ad display capabilities

Abstract

There is disclosed a client application for enabling access to an online service that displays advertisements while the user is accessing the online service and/or the Internet or other network. The client application may receive play lists from the online service provider. The play lists may include information about advertisements to be played and the order of play. The client application may display advertisements continuously while the user is connected to and/or using the online service and/or the Internet or other network.

1 . A method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the local device having a continuous communications link to a network, the user using the local device for accessing the online service and for interacting with the online service, the method comprising: 
 the client application becoming active and establishing a session with the online service over the continuous communications link;    the client application receiving a first play list;    the client application monitoring the user's network activity thereby detecting whether the user is accessing the network;    the client application displaying a client window on the output device of the local device, wherein the client window displays continuously so long as the user is accessing the network;    the client application causing advertisements to be displayed in an ad pane of the client window in accordance with the first play list, the first play list comprising plural ad objects, each ad object comprising a resource locator for a given advertisement and a resource locator for a click-through associated with the given advertisement, the first play list further specifying an order in which the advertisements identified in the first play list are to be displayed.    
     
     
         2 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the ad objects includes a length of time to display the given advertisement.  
     
     
         3 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application receiving the first play list from an ad server after establishment of the session with the online service.    
     
     
         4 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application receiving the first play list from the online service after establishment of the session with the online service.    
     
     
         5 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application detecting that the user has not interacted with the network for a predefined period of time, and    the client application ceasing the display of the client window.    
     
     
         6 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1 , wherein the client application causes the client window to be displayed on top of any other window displayed on the output device.  
     
     
         7 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 6 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application detecting that the user has not interacted with the network for a predefined period of time, and    the client application ceasing the display of the client window on top of any other window displayed on the output device.    
     
     
         8 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1  wherein the ad object further includes display attributes for the given advertisement.  
     
     
         9 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 8  wherein the display attributes include at least one from the group comprising: fade, wash, sweep, fly, blinds, box, checkerboard, crawl, dissolve, peak, spiral, split, stretch, strips, swivel, wipe, and zoom.  
     
     
         10 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 the client application recording an identifier of a given advertisement displayed by the client application, and    the client application transmitting the identifier to an interactive data server on the online service.    
     
     
         11 . A method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device, the local device including an input device and an output device, the local device having a constant-connection to the Internet, the user using the local device for accessing the online service and for interacting with the online service, the method comprising: 
 the client application becoming active and establishing a session with the online service;    the client application receiving a first play list;    the client application monitoring the user's activity with the online service and thereby detecting whether the user is interacting with the online service;    the client application displaying a client window on the output device of the local device, wherein the client window displays continuously while the user is interacting with the online service;    the client application causing advertisements to be displayed in an ad pane of the client window in accordance with the first play list, the first play list comprising plural ad objects, each ad object comprising a resource locator for a given advertisement, a resource locator for a click-through associated with the given advertisement, and display attributes for the given advertisement, the first play list further specifying an order in which the advertisements identified in the first play list are to be displayed.    
     
     
         12 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the ad objects includes a length of time to display the given advertisement.  
     
     
         13 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application receiving the first play list from an ad server after establishment of the session with the online service.    
     
     
         14 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application receiving the first play list from the online service after establishment of the session with the online service.    
     
     
         15 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application detecting that the user has not interacted with the online service for a predefined period of time, and    the client application ceasing the display of advertisements in the ad pane.    
     
     
         16 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11 , wherein the client application causes the client window to be displayed on top of any other window displayed on the output device.  
     
     
         17 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 16 , the method further comprising: 
 the client application detecting that the user has not interacted with the online service for a predefined period of time, and    the client application ceasing the display of the client window on top of any other window displayed on the output device.    
     
     
         18 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11  wherein the display attributes are at least one from the group including: fade, wash, sweep, fly, blinds, box, checkerboard, crawl, dissolve, peak, spiral, split, stretch, strips, swivel, wipe, and zoom.  
     
     
         19 . The method of displaying advertisements to a user of an online service using a client application on a local device of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 the client application recording an identifier of a given advertisement displayed by the client application, and    the client application transmitting the identifier to an interactive data server on the online service.