Patent ID: 6256664
Filing Date: 2001-07-03
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
A communications system, comprising:an advice provider which broadcasts information over a communications medium;an advice consumer for gathering said broadcast information from said communications medium; anda reader associated with said advice consumer for determining relevance of said broadcast information further comprising:a means for providing relevant information to said advice consumer without revealing any aspect of said advice consumer's identity to said advice provider;wherein said advice consumer is advised of said information only if said information meets certain predetermined relevance criteria;wherein relevance of said information to said advice consumer is based upon any of the properties of an advice consumer's computer, said computer's contents or state, or the properties of a local environment associated with said computer;wherein said advice consumer maintains anonymity, privacy, and security by not revealing to said advice provider either that said advice consumer is interested in information from said advice provider, that said advice consumer has received any particular message, or that said information is relevant to said advice consumer;wherein said information being broadcast may consist of any of humanly-interpretable content, data, or software tools; andwherein said advice provider specifies an audience for whom said information is potentially relevant by referring to properties of an advice consumer which are used to determine the relevance of said information to said advice consumer.