Profitable free computing resources leveraging the advertising model

Abstract

Computer executable modules and an associated method for delivering computer resources using an advertising based model may use a local database of advertisements and locally collected user profile data for selecting targeted advertisements for delivery to a user. A user may be allowed to select what or how much user profile information to share with an advertising provider. The local database of advertisements may then be downloaded corresponding to the amount of user profile data shared. For example, when less user profile data is shared a larger database of advertisements may be downloaded. The advertising database may also be attached to a software update. Presentation of targeted ads may be verified and reported to an advertising provider allowing revenue-sharing to compensate the computer resource provider.

1 . A computer-readable medium having computer-executable modules for execution on a client computer in association with advertising delivery comprising: 
 an opt-in module, comprising support for selecting an advertising delivery mode;    a user profiling module for collecting user profile data; and    an advertising delivery module for presenting a targeted advertisement corresponding to information in the user profile data according to the selected advertising delivery mode.    
   
   
       2 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the opt-in module requires presentation of the targeted advertisement unless an associated license is installed.  
   
   
       3 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising a communication module for receiving targeted advertisements into a local advertising database for display by the advertising delivery module.  
   
   
       4 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the advertising delivery module selects from the local advertising database corresponding to information in the user profile data.  
   
   
       5 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 4 , wherein a number of advertisements sent to the local advertising database decreases corresponding to user profile data being transmitted to an interested party.  
   
   
       6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 4 , wherein the local advertising database is delivered separately from an activity associated with presentation of the targeted advertisement.  
   
   
       7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the database of advertisements is delivered with an update of the operating system.  
   
   
       8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the advertising delivery mode comprises one of always on, intermittently on, and off.  
   
   
       9 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising a display controller module wherein the display controller module receives a signal from the advertising delivery module indicating the display mode.  
   
   
       10 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein credit is accrued to a user account corresponding to the presentation of the targeted advertisement.  
   
   
       11 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein an amount of credit accrued corresponding to the presentation of the targeted advertisement is displayed to a user.  
   
   
       12 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the opt-in module comprises levels of targeted advertising presentation wherein the amount of credit accrued corresponds to a level of targeted advertising presentation selected.  
   
   
       13 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the user profiling module collects data from at least one of an operating system setting, email content, music files, system hardware configuration data, usage patterns, or application software settings.  
   
   
       14 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the user profiling module analyzes data from a camera attached to the computer while collecting user profile data.  
   
   
       15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the advertising delivery module presents the targeted advertisement during a login operation.  
   
   
       16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising a local value account module, wherein a value packet is embedded in the targeted advertisement and the local value account module accrues usage credit when the targeted advertisement is presented.  
   
   
       17 . A method of delivering targeted advertising to a computer comprising: 
 collecting user profile data from information stored on the computer;    storing a plurality of advertisements on the computer, each of the plurality of advertisements having corresponding metadata comprising classification data;    selecting a targeted advertisement from the database of advertisements by associating the user profile data with the classification data;    presenting the targeted advertisement; and    reporting the presenting the targeted advertisement.    
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17  further comprising: 
 sending the user data to an advertising provider.    
   
   
       19 . A method of compensating a service provider using targeted advertising comprising: 
 providing at least one of a computer system or a component thereof;    collecting user profile information available at the computer system;    providing a plurality of advertisements stored on the computer system;    selecting a targeted advertisement from the plurality of advertisements corresponding to data from the user information;    monitoring a presentation of the targeted advertisement;    reporting the presentation of the targeted advertisement;    receiving compensation from an advertiser associated with the targeted advertisement; and    crediting at least a portion of the compensation toward the underwriting of the least one of the computer system or the component thereof.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising: 
 sending a subset of the user profile information available at the computer system to an advertising provider, wherein the plurality of advertisements corresponds to data in the subset.