Abstract:
A system for advertising with the assistance of an advertiser&#39;s associate web site includes enrolling advertiser&#39;s web sites for allowing customers to receive information or to electronically purchase items; enrolling advertiser&#39;s associates web sites that refer customers to the advertiser&#39;s web site in exchange for compensation; electronically providing to the customer&#39;s computer, specific hyperlinks via the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web page that, when selected by a customer, cause a list of advertiser&#39;s to be transmitted to the customer&#39;s computer, wherein each of said items in said list comprises a selectable advertiser specific hyperlink to the corresponding advertiser; transmitting to the customer&#39;s computer a web page which corresponds to the advertiser specific hyperlink selected by the customer, to accomplish a referral to the advertiser; and determining and recording within a computer memory compensation for the advertiser&#39;s associate for the referral.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to electronic commerce and particularly to methods for marketing and advertising utilizing the Internet. 
     The term “Internet”, as commonly used, represents a collection of interconnected networks that are linked together to form a global network. On this network, web sites present informational content and are linked together to form what is referred to as the World Wide Web. A user of the web typically uses a modem to access designated phone lines and thereby go “on-lie”. Software commonly referred to as a web browser is then used to find and select web sites, which electronically transmit to the user&#39;s computer requested web documents or web pages for viewing and interaction. Links from certain web sites to other web sites are accomplished by standard coding conventions, such as HTML code, which are inserted into the transmitted web documents and correspond to specific locations on the document. A link from one web site to another is often referred to as a hyperlink (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a “link”) and typically is presented as a highlighted word or phase (search term) as a location on the Internet user&#39;s computer monitor that can be selected by the user. Selection of such a word or phrase is typically accomplished by means of a mouse click on the computer monitor screen location of the chosen word or phrase. 
     Aside from providing information through web sites, the Internet has recently developed into a valuable marketing tool in which products and services are offered for sale on the web sites and sold to the Internet user (customer) on-line. Methods to enhance this marketing have included using links to create associate retail outlets for a vendor. One such system is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,141, where an on-line retail environment is created by a retail associate which is accessible over the Internet by the customer (Internet user). When the customer wants to purchase a particular item offered by a retail associate, a link is used to transfer the customer to the vender&#39;s web site, and if a sale is ultimately made a commission is then paid to the retail associate. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention presents a computer based advertising and referral system for operation over the Internet in which a list of advertisers are represented to an Internet user when than user selects a key word or phase on an associated web site that the user is visiting. The order in which the advertisers are presented to the Internet user is determined by a bidding system in which the highest bidder is awarded the highest position. When the Internet user selects a particular advertiser through the associated web site, a link transfer takes place and the associated web site owner is paid a commission for the referral. 
     More particularly, there is provided herein a system for advertising with the assistance of advertiser&#39;s associates&#39; web sites which include enrolling advertiser&#39;s web sites for allowing customers to receive information or to electronically purchase items or services; enrolling advertiser&#39;s associates&#39; web sites that refer customers to the advertiser&#39;s web site in exchange for compensation; electronically providing to the customer&#39;s computer, specific links via the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web page that, when selected by a customer, cause a list to be transmitted to the customer&#39;s computer, wherein each of said items in said list comprises a selectable advertiser specific link to the corresponding advertiser; transmitting to the customer&#39;s computer a web page which corresponds to the advertiser specific link selected by the customer, to accomplish a referral to the advertiser; and determining and recording within a computer memory compensation for the advertiser&#39;s associate for the referral. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an Internal connection depicting the operation of the Internet-based advertising and referral system of the present invention. 
       While the invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is not the intent to limit the invention to that embodiment. On the contrary, it is the intent to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Turning first to  FIG. 1  there is shown, in block diagram form, a computer implemented system for Internet-based advertising including an advertiser&#39;s web site  10 , a customer&#39;s computer  20 , an advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30 , and the system controller web site  40 . The system controller web site  40  provides a variety of functions, such as: it serves to enroll the advertiser&#39;s web site  10  and the advertisers&#39; associate&#39;s web site  30 ; it inserts the requisite HTML codes into the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30  for the search terms  14 ; it provides the list of advertisers  16  to the customer; and it keeps track of the referrals. 
     When a customer access the Internet and selects an advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30 , a document  12  is transmitted to the customer&#39;s computer  20  from the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30  and displayed on the customer&#39;s computer  20  monitor. This document includes means for electronically providing to the customer&#39;s computer  20  specific search terms  14  via the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30 . Particularly, the document transmitted to the customer&#39;s computer  20  contains specific linking search terms  14  that are predetermined by the advertisers in the form of words or phrases which appear at specific monitor screen locations and which the customer may select in accordance with means well known in the art. When a particular search term  14  is so selected, a link is created that transfers the customer to the system controller web site  40  which then provides to the customer&#39;s computer  20  a list of advertisers  16  relating to the enrolled advertisers. The items  18  of the list of advertisers  16  may include the names of one or more advertisers, descriptions of the advertisers and/or descriptions of their products or services, all of which may be customized by the respective advertiser. However, each item  18  in the list of advertisers  16  comprises a selectable “advertiser link”, that is each item  18  may be selected by the customer and serves as a link to the corresponding advertiser&#39;s web site  10 . Once a particular item  18  is selected by the customer, the system controller web site  40  transfers the customer to the advertiser&#39;s web site  10  to facilitate the transmission of the advertiser&#39;s selected web documents  19  to the customer&#39;s computer  20 , thereby accomplishing a referral to the advertiser&#39;s web site. 
     An advertiser interested in participating in this system typically contacts the system controller web site  40  through an “on-line” connection to enroll. The system controller web site  40  will enroll the advertiser and assign an advertiser identifier, which will then be used to track the referrals made to the advertiser. The tracking of referrals by the system controller web site  40  is accomplished by collecting data on the search terms  14  and the items  18  selected by a customer and includes means for determining the amount of payment due from the advertiser and means for providing a report to the advertiser. More particularly, using the advertiser identifier extracted from the referral to identify the advertiser&#39;s web site and using the advertiser&#39;s associate identifier extracted from the referral to identify the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site allows the data to be recorded in a computer memory and is subsequently used to provide an “on-line” accounting report and calculate a compensation for the advertiser associate&#39;s web site for the referral. 
     Once enrolled, the advertiser selects, in conjunction with the system controller web site  40 , specific search terms  14  that the advertiser believes will draw potential customers. For each selected search term  14  the advertiser bids an amount of payment which the advertiser will pay to the system controller web site  40  for each referral accomplished through the system by means of that search term  14 . For a particular referral, a portion of the bid amount is retained by the system controller web site  40  and the balance is paid to the advertiser&#39;s associate as a referral fee. Consequently, this bid corresponds to the compensation that the advertiser agrees to pay to the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30  for each referral. Moreover, the amount of the bid will also be used by the system controller web site  40  to determine the placement of the advertiser in the list of advertisers  16  provided to the customer when a particular search term  14  is selected. 
     A web site owner interested in participating in this system as an advertiser&#39;s associate web site  30  typically contacts the system controller web site  40  online and enrolls as an advertiser&#39;s associate web site  30 . The system controller web site  40  enrolls the advertiser&#39;s associate web site  30  and assigns an advertiser&#39;s associate identifier to the advertiser&#39;s associate web site  30  which will be used to track the referrals made through that site. 
     Once enrolled, the advertiser&#39;s associate chooses, in conjunction with the system controller web site  40 , certain words or phrases to include in its web pages as search terms  14  for link selection by the customer. The system controller web site  40  then inserts the necessary HTML codes to cause a link to the system controller web site  40  and return a list of advertisers  16  upon the customer&#39;s selection of the target search term  14 . As before, the system controller web site  40  collects data on the search terms  14  and the items  18  selected by the customer and records this data in a computer memory. By using this data, they system controller web site  40  calculates the commission due the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30  based upon the search term  14  used by the customer and the corresponding amount bid by the advertiser, and then compiles an accounting report of the payment due the advertiser&#39;s associate web site  30  and the payment due from the advertiser. 
     A typical customer using the Internet will enter the system via the customer&#39;s computer  20  and, using an Internet browser software program, locate a particular advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30 , and display a document  12  transmitted there from. Since the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30  is an enrolled advertiser&#39;s associate, specific words or phrases of interest to the customer are displayed within the document and contain HTML codes (to create hyperlinked versions of the search terms  14 ). These search terms  14  then transfer the customer to the system controller web site  40 , upon selection of a particular search term  14 , and causes the system controller web site  40  to transmit to the customer&#39;s computer  20  a list of advertisers  16  comprising a list of items  18 . The list of items  18  may include a compilation of descriptive information on specific advertisers or on their respective products or services. It may contain one of more names, selected identifying information, or customized descriptions provided by the advertisers which have bid on that search term. Each of the items  18  in this list of advertisers  16  also includes an HTML hyperlink to the respective advertiser&#39;s web site  10 , such that selection of that item  18  in the list of advertisers  16  by the customer links the customer to the corresponding advertiser&#39;s web site  10 , thereby accomplishing a referral to the advertiser&#39;s web site a web document  19  of the advertiser to be transmitted to the customer&#39;s computer  20 . The customer is now in a position to receive information or to purchase products or services from the advertiser. 
     This system of the present invention may be described generally as a facilitating relationship between an advertiser&#39;s web site  10  who wants to promote traffic to its web site and an advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web  30  site that desires to promote the web sites of others, for compensation. Since the advertiser can control the search terms  14  by appropriate selection and bidding with the system controller web site  40 , advertisers can effectively screen visitors to the advertiser&#39;s web site  10  and control the traffic; and since an advertiser can change its selection of search terms  14  and its bid at any time on-line, it can dynamically affect the traffic to its web site. From the perspective of the advertiser&#39;s associate&#39;s web site  30 , any owner of any web site is now able to easily generate income while providing a valuable service to its customer and to the advertiser. 
     As specific example of the operation of this system, the enrolled advertiser could be a greeting card vendor, the enrolled advertiser&#39;s associate could be a flower vendor, and the search term selected by both could be “greeting cards”. Since the flower vendor&#39;s web site would be visited by customers interested in purchasing flowers, they might also be interested in purchasing greeting cards to accompany the flowers. And when the visitor to the web site of the flower vendor selects the hyperlinked search term “greeting cards” from the flower vendor&#39;s web site, the enrolled greeting card advertiser&#39;s name and description, or other information, is provided to the customer as an item. Upon subsequent selection of this item, the web page of the advertiser is transmitted to the customer, and the flower vendor earns a commission for the referral. 
     Employing the versatility of this system, topical web sites can be easily created to provide compilations of vendors. As an example, an advertiser&#39;s associate web site  30  can be created to list a collection of cities to visit, where the name of each city alone is a hyperlink that returns a list of related businesses, such as travel agencies, tour bus companies, etc., as the items. 
     Cooperative advertising or cooperative promotional programs can also be developed using this system, such that, for example, a manufacturer enrolls in the position of the advertiser associate to promote a particular product, and its dealers enroll as advertisers. The manufacturer then promotes its web site to customers and the dealers select search terms and bid for position on the list returned to customer when that search term is selected. In this instance, the manufacturer could establish specific or minimum bids to effect a cooperative advertising program. 
     Similarly, promotional or sales organizations can be established to promote any product or service, or combination thereof, using this system. Dealers, companies that make or sell products or offer services, can be solicited to be enrolled as advertisers, and one can establish a promotional web site as the promoter and enroll in the position of advertiser&#39;s associate. 
     Search terms appropriate for the promotion of the specific products or services can be chosen, and the dealers can bid on the various search terms which will be used to route traffic to the dealers. By advertising the promotional web site, income can be generated for the promoter and referral traffic generated for the enrolled dealers. 
     From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that modifications can be made to the apparatus and method for using the same without departing from the teachings of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is only to be limited as necessitated by the accompanying claims.