Targeted advertising services method

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing an automatically upgradeable software application includes targeted advertising based upon demographics and user interaction with the computer. The software application includes a display region used for banner advertising that is downloaded over a network such as the Internet. The software application is accessible from a server via the network and demographic information on the user is acquired by the server and used for determining what advertising will be sent to the user. The software application further targets the advertisements in response to normal user interaction with the computer. Data associated with each advertisement is used by the software application in determining when a particular advertisement is to be displayed. This includes the specification of certain programs that the user may have so that, when the user runs the program (e.g., a spreadsheet program), a relevant advertisement will be displayed (e.g., an advertisement for a stock brokerage). This provides two-tiered, real-time targeting of advertising—both demographically and reactively. The software application includes programming that accesses the server to determine if one or more components of the application need upgrading. If so, the components can be downloaded and installed without further action by the user. A distribution tool is provided for software distribution and upgrading over the network. Also provided is a user profile that is accessible to any computer on the network. Furthermore, multiple users of the same computer can possess Internet web resources and files that are personalized, maintained and organized.

1 . A method of providing demographically-targeted advertising to a computer user, comprising the steps of:
 providing one or more servers that are accessible via a computer network;   permitting a computer user to access said server(s) via said computer network;   acquiring demographic information about the user;   providing the user with download access to computer software that, when run on a computer, provides computer usage information concerning the user's interaction with one or more computer programs other than said computer software;   transferring a copy of said software to the computer;   determining a unique identifier associated with the computer, wherein said identifier uniquely identifies information sent over said computer network from the computer to at least one of said server(s);   acquiring said unique identifier and said computer usage information supplied by said software via said computer network;   associating said unique identifier with demographic information in a database using said unique identifier;   associating said computer usage information with said demographic information using said unique identifier;   selecting advertising content for transfer to the computer in accordance with the demographic information and computer usage information that is associated with said unique identifier; and   transferring said advertising content from at least one of said server(s) to the computer for display.   
     
     
         2 . The method set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the computer software also records computer usage information concerning the user's utilization of the computer software.