Abstract:
A method for providing an advertising item to a client device. The method comprises receiving a printing notification from the client device; selecting an advertising item from at least a database containing a plurality of advertisement items; generating a display window containing the selected advertising item; and sending the generated display window to the client device for display by the client device.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/496,862 filed on Jun. 14, 2011, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The invention generally relates to advertising over the internet, and more specifically to presentation of an advertisement responsive to a printing request. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    The ubiquity of access availability to information using the Internet and the worldwide web (WWW) has naturally drawn the focus of advertisers. The advertisers therefore pay different websites, such as Google® or AOL®, for the placement of their advertisements among these web pages. 
         [0004]    The well-known advertising banner in web pages is generally undesirable to a viewer of a web page as it takes up display space from the web page in which the viewer would rather view useful content. That is, the banners typically reduce the amount of information displayed on a web page present on a client&#39;s display. In many cases, the viewer disables the banners or otherwise disables the ability of the browser to display advertisements. For example, all browsers can be configured to block pop-up windows or to render a web page on a user&#39;s display without advertisement banners. In addition, a typical web page itself is today cluttered with many advertisements and as a result the user&#39;s attention is not given to them. 
         [0005]    It would be therefore advantageous to provide an advertisement space which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art. It would be further advantageous if such advertisement space would avoid the current typical advertisement clutter. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    Certain embodiments disclosed herein include a method for providing an advertising item to a client device. The method comprises receiving a printing notification from the client device; selecting an advertising item from at least a database containing a plurality of advertisement items; generating a display window containing the selected advertising item; and sending the generated display window to the client device for display by the client device. 
         [0007]    Certain embodiments disclosed herein also include a system for providing an advertising item to a client device. The system comprises a processing unit; a memory coupled to the processing unit and containing at least instructions executed by the processing unit; a network interface coupled to the processing unit; and a source for providing at least an advertising item responsive of a notification of a printing request received from the client device, the client device being communicatively connected to the system via the network interface. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
           [0009]      FIGS. 1 and 2  are schematic diagrams of a networked system used to describe various embodiments disclosed herein. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart describing a method for displaying an advertising item responsive to a printing request according to one embodiment. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a screenshot of the display of a web based advertisement according to one embodiment. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a screenshot of the display of an advertisement embedded in a document according to another embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    It is important to note that the embodiments disclosed herein are only examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed inventions. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwise indicated, singular elements may be in plural and vice versa with no loss of generality. In the drawings, like numerals refer to like parts through several views. 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  depicts an exemplary and non-limiting networked system  100  utilized to describe the embodiments for displaying advertising items responsive to a printing request. A management server  110  stores one or more advertising items in a database  120 . In one embodiment, a plurality of databases each storing one or more advertising items may be used as the database  120 . The database  120  is configured to store and deliver advertising items. The management server  110  further comprises a logic  130  that contains a plurality of instructions embedded in a tangible memory of the management server  110 . Such instruction when executed, for example, by a processor (not shown) of the management server  110  performs the function of displaying an advertising item generated and retrieved from the database  120  as further explained herein below in more detail. In one embodiment, advertising items can also be received from one or more third party providers  140 . For example, the third party providers  140  are publish server of publishers of advertized content. The publisher severs are configured to embed online advertisements in web pages downloaded from web server servers, and further to upload web pages with advertisements to web browsers of client devices. The publisher servers typically receive the advertized content from advertising agencies that set the advertising campaign. 
         [0015]    The management server  110  communicates with a device  180  via a communication network  150  or the Internet  160 . The device  180  is configured to receive an advertising item from the management server  110 . The device  180  may be, but is not limited to, a client agent utility, a client device, a server, a database, a web server hosting a website or a webpage, a data network, and any combination thereof. It should be noted that although one device  180  is depicted in  FIG. 1  merely for the sake of simplicity, the embodiments disclosed herein can be applied to a plurality devices  180 . 
         [0016]    According to an embodiment disclosed herein, upon receiving a printing request from the device  180 , the management server  110  selects an advertising item and sends it to the device  180  for display. It should be further understood that a single an advertising item may be comprised from a plurality of advertising items. The advertising item may be, for example, a keyword, an image, a video clip, a text description, another web page, search results retrieved from a search engine, and any combination thereof. 
         [0017]    The operation of the management server  110  is further described with reference to  FIG. 2  that depicts an exemplary and non-limiting networked system  200 . A plurality of client devices  210 - 1  through  210 -N are connected to a network  220 . The network  220  includes, but not by way of limitation, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metro area network (MAN), the Internet, the worldwide web (WWW), wired or wireless, and other types of communication networks, such as the communication network  150  (shown in  FIG. 1 ), as well as any combination thereof. The client devices  210 - 1  to  210 -N may be a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a mobile device, a smart phone, a tablet computer, and the like. In an embodiment, each client device  210 - i  (i=1, . . . , N) includes a monitoring agent (not shown) that is designed to capture print commands on the client device  210 - i  and to send a notification of the printing request a document to the management server  110 . The monitoring agent can also send together with the print request information including, but not limited to, an IP address of the client device  210 - i,  a URL of a web page that the user requested to print, the type of the application from which the print command was issued, and so on. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent can be realized as an add-on of a software application installed in the client device  210 , a toolbar of a web browser, a browser extension, and so on. 
         [0018]    A plurality of web servers  230 - 1  through  230 -M are also connected to the network  220 . The plurality of web servers  230 - 1  through  230 -M may be implemented as the device  180  shown in  FIG. 1 . As noted above, the management server  110  includes the database  120  that stores the advertising items, indexes thereto, and/or advertisement parameters. In one embodiment of the invention the database  120  is connected to a tracking server (not shown) configured to store information respective of the advertising items sent to each of client devices  210 - 1  through  210 -N. 
         [0019]    A plurality of third party providers  240 - 1  through  240 -P are also connected to the network  220 . Each of the third party providers  240 - 1  to  240 -P can generate advertising items. 
         [0020]    A management server, also referred to herein as the server  110 , is also connected to the network  220  and is further equipped with a logic  130  comprised of a plurality of instructions embedded in the tangible memory of the server, that when executed by the server perform the function of displaying an advertising item as further explained herein below in more detail. 
         [0021]    According to various embodiments disclosed herein, the management server  110  causes the display of an advertising item on the display of a client&#39;s device  210 - i  (i=1, . . . , N) responsive of a print request from a user of the client device  210 - i.  In an embodiment, when the client device  210 - i  attempts to print from any application executed thereon, such an attempt is captured by the monitoring agent and a notification is sent to the management server  110 . In response, management server  110  generates and delivers an advertising item that is displayed on the display of the client device  210 - i.    
         [0022]    The displayed advertising item may be retrieved from the database  120  and/or a third party provider  240 . In one embodiment, the management server  110  generates a window display which may be, for example, a web page or a display banner in a format of a pop-up window. The window display includes the advertising item. In another embodiment, the management server  110  sends a request to one of the third party providers  240  to generate an advertising item for display by the client device  210 - i.  As noted above, a third party provider may be a publisher server that generates a web page containing the advertising items and sends the generated web page to the client device  210 -I or to the management server  110 . In an embodiment, the advertising item in any display form is sent to the client device  210  through the monitoring agent. Thus, the management server  110  allows the display of an advertising item uncluttered by any other content and/or advertisements, thereby capturing the user&#39;s attention. 
         [0023]      FIG. 3  depicts an exemplary and non-limiting flowchart  300  describing a method for displaying a web based advertising item linked with the act of printing according to an embodiment. In a non-limiting embodiment, the method is performed by the management server  110 . 
         [0024]    In S 310 , a server, for example the management server  110 , receives a printing notification from a client device, for example, the client device  210 - 1 . As mentioned above, the printing notification can be sent from a monitoring agent installed in the client device. In S 320 , an advertising item is selected by the management server  110  from, for example, the advertising items that are stored in the database  120 . Alternatively or collectively, the advertising item is retrieved from a server  240  (e.g., a publisher server) upon a request from the management server. A selection of an advertising item may be performed in multiple ways including, but not limited to, random selection of an advertising items from a plurality of advertising items; a tailored advertising item selection that fits, for example, a profile of a user of the client device; selection of advertising items based on the printed content, and so on. In S 335 , a display window including the selected advertising item is generated. The display window may be, for example, a pop-up window, in a form of a web page or a display banner that can be displayed in software applications other than a web browser. In S 330 , the generated display window with the selected advertising item is sent to the client device. In S 340 , it is checked whether to continue with the execution, and if so, execution continues with S 310 ; otherwise execution terminates. 
         [0025]      FIG. 4  depicts an exemplary and non-limiting screenshot  400  of the display of a web based advertising item according to an embodiment. A webpage  410  is displayed within a client&#39;s web browser on a client device. Upon receiving a printing request from the client&#39;s device, a pop-up window  420  appears where the user can select the type of printer to commence the act of printing. In parallel, a display window which is a pop-up window  430  appears containing an advertising item. According to the embodiments disclosed herein, the pop-up window  430  appears responsive to the printing notification that is sent to the management server  110 . The management server  110  selects the advertising item to be displayed and generates the pop-up window, which in this non-limiting example is in a form of a web-page. As noted above, the advertising item in the pop-up window  430  may retrieve from the database  120  and/or a third party provider  240 . It should be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the location of the window  430  is just an example, as the advertising item can be positioned anywhere on the web page  410 . In another embodiment, the advertising item is embedded in the web page  410 . 
         [0026]      FIG. 5  depicts an exemplary and non-limiting screenshot  500  of the display of an advertising item on a client device according to another embodiment. A document  510 , for example and without limitation, a Microsoft® Word document or Adobe® Acrobat®, is displayed over a client device, such as a client device  210 . Upon receiving a notification about a request for printing by the client device  210 , a pop-up window  520  appears in which the client can select the type of printer to commence the act of printing. In parallel, a display window  530  appears containing an advertising item according to an embodiment of the invention. The display window  530  appears responsive to the printing notification sent to the management server  110 , as explained in more detail hereinabove. In the non-limiting example shown in  FIG. 5 , the display window  530  is in a form of a display banner. It should be further understood that the invention is not limited to applications handling documents but may also apply to other applications that may have printing capabilities. 
         [0027]    The various embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in as hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Moreover, the software is preferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on a program storage unit or computer readable medium consisting of parts, or of certain devices and/or a combination of devices. The application program may be uploaded to, and executed by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture. Preferably, the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units (“CPUs”), a memory, and input/output interfaces. The computer platform may also include an operating system and microinstruction code. The various processes and functions described herein may be either part of the microinstruction code or part of the application program, or any combination thereof, which may be executed by a CPU, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown. In addition, various other peripheral units may be connected to the computer platform such as an additional data storage unit and a printing unit. All or some of the servers may be combined into one or more integrated servers. Furthermore, a non-transitory computer readable medium is any computer readable medium except for a transitory propagating signal. 
         [0028]    All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.