Abstract:
An apparatus and method for creating and using a multitude of information artifacts to rapidly share intelligence data, trigger actions and generate income. The information artifacts are designed in such a way that they can be easily updated, shared, analyzed, consumed and combined, for example, in order to create further enriched information artifacts providing higher levels of insight and alternative or additional income potential.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of the following provisional patent applications all filed by the present inventor: (a) Provisional Application No. 61/380,053, filed Sep. 3, 2010, (b) Provisional Application No. 61/437,625, filed Jan. 29, 2011, (c) Provisional Application No. 61/454,300, filed Mar. 18, 2011. 
    
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
     Not Applicable 
     SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to enabling a multitude of participants to publish and subscribe to information artifacts that can be used to rapidly share intelligence data, trigger actions and generate income. 
     The information artifacts, in the following description called triggers, are designed in such a way that they can be easily created, updated, shared, analyzed and consumed by people as well as by computer-implemented systems. 
     In addition, the information artifacts can be easily combined, for example, in order to create further enriched information artifacts providing higher levels of insight or invoke predetermined actions once a predetermined set of conditions is fulfilled, thus providing additional value to subscribers with respective additional income potential for publishers. 
     The term participants shall include, but not be limited to, individuals, businesses and their respective delegates including information systems. A participant may publish one or more triggers, subscribe to one or more triggers, or both. 
     2. Background of the Invention 
     A steadily increasing, very large amount of mostly unstructured electronic content is being published worldwide. However, for consumers of such content, it is typically not easy to keep track of, combine, refine and apply such content in an effective way according to their respective needs. For providers of such information, it is typically not easy to effectively monetize their published information. 
     In addition, while it can be very important for a multitude of consumers to receive crucial information with as little delay as possible, for example for online stock traders, it is typically a significant challenge for providers to deliver such requested information with minimal delays, particularly to large audiences. 
     SUMMARY 
     The invented system addresses the above-mentioned challenges as described in detail below. Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the following drawings and detailed description. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram depicting a trigger. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram depicting a trigger request. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram depicting a robot. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a trigger system including an example operation. 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart depicting a typical operation using a trigger. 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart depicting a typical operation using a trigger request. 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart depicting a typical operation of a robot. 
         FIG. 8  is a flowchart depicting a typical operation of the trigger system. 
         FIG. 9  is a screen shot of an example implementation of a marketplace in the spirit of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a screen shot of an example implementation of a trigger portfolio in the spirit of the present invention. 
         FIG. 11  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to update a predictive trigger. 
         FIG. 12  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to edit a robot. 
         FIG. 13  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to update a celebrity trigger. 
         FIG. 14  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how a subscribed trigger may be presented to a subscriber. 
         FIG. 15  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a view of a trigger system participant at a trigger that he is not subscribed to. 
         FIG. 16  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a view of a trigger request. 
         FIG. 17  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a view of a profile of a participant in a trigger system. 
         FIG. 18  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a feedback input by a participant in a trigger system. 
         FIG. 19  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to update a reporting trigger. 
         FIG. 20  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to create a trigger in a first step. 
         FIG. 21  is a block diagram depicting a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 22  is a flow chart depicting an operation of the preferred embodiment of  FIG. 21 . 
         FIG. 23  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting images and videos attached to triggers. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram depicting the structure of a trigger. In the spirit of the present invention, a trigger is a structured information artifact with various attributes that can be published on an electronic marketplace and subscribed to by one or more participants in the electronic marketplace. 
     In the following description, the term electronic marketplace shall be referred to as marketplace. 
     Before being subscribed to, only a subset of a trigger&#39;s attributes are made visible to participants in the marketplace as described in more detail below. The invented marketplace and example operation thereof will also be described in detail below. 
     A trigger represents, for example, a latest status of a fact, a prediction, an insight, a piece of information or the like, such as “The growth domestic product of the United States of America will go up 1.7% in 2010”. In the following description, this human readable composite of various pieces of information that are part of a trigger shall be described as “trigger statement”. Of course, each piece of information that is part of a trigger may also be written and read directly or in any combination. 
     The present invention comprises, but is not limited to, the following three types of triggers: 1) predictive triggers, 2) reporting triggers and 3) celebrity triggers. The common features as well as the differences between the disclosed trigger types are described in detail below. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 1 , trigger  100  optionally contains a title  102 , for example, to brand it and make it easily distinguishable for participants in the marketplace. 
     In addition, trigger  100  contains a symbol  104 , for example “GDPUS”. Symbol  104  is a unique identifier that can be used to unambiguously identify trigger  100  at least within a trigger system. 
     Type  106  indicates the trigger type of trigger  100 , typically either predictive, reporting or celebrity, 
     A reporting trigger indicates a fact, measurement, status or piece of information, such as “The current temperature in New York City is 75 degree Fahrenheit”. 
     A predictive triggers indicates a prediction, such as the above example “The growth domestic product of the United States of America will go up 1.7% in 2010”. 
     A celebrity trigger can feature a reporting or predictive trigger statement in order to allow expressing, for example, an opinion, insight, prediction, a fact, a feeling and the like. 
     Source  108  indicates who owns or controls trigger  100  and can relate, for example, to a person, business entity, device, animal, plant or a composition or group thereof. Typically, a trigger source is a participant in a trigger system. 
     Designation  110  indicates the key subject that the trigger relates to, such as “The growth domestic product of the USA”, “The current temperature in New York City” and the like. 
     Action  112  indicates the key action or status that the trigger  100  expresses, such as “will go up”, or “is”. A set of default key actions disclosed as part of the present invention is described in more detail below. 
     Value  114  indicates a quantitative or qualitative part of the trigger statement of trigger  100 , such as “1.7” or “75” or “significantly”. 
     Unit  116  indicates what unit of measurement value  114  is related to, for example “Degree Fahrenheit”, “$” or “%”. 
     Value comment  118  may contain an optional comment, for example “Strong winds expected starting at 4 pm EST”. 
     Action  112 , value  114 , unit  116  and value comment  118  are typically only accessible to subscribers of trigger  100 . 
     Price  120  indicates the fee required to be paid by subscribers in order to be able to access action  112 , value  114 , unit  116  and value comment  118  of trigger  100 . As an example, price  120  may be $0.99 per week. 
     Published indicator  122  indicates whether trigger  100  is published and thus visible on the marketplace for subscribers, or not. 
     Last updated indicator  124  indicates when any relevant content of trigger  100  was last changed, typically expressed in the time zone of the trigger system hosting trigger  100 . This information may be particularly important for subscribers of trigger  100  to determine how timely trigger  100 &#39;s latest trigger statement is. 
     Trigger  100  may also optionally be related to a description  126  that can, for example, be used to educate prospective subscribers of trigger  100  in more detail about its benefits and how and by whom trigger  100  is being updated. 
     Optionally, trigger  100  may be related to one or more ratings  128 . Ratings  128  may be produced and attached by active subscribers and may be used, for example, by prospective subscribers to evaluate prior subscriber satisfaction with trigger  100  and thus help them determine the perceived quality of trigger  100  among prior subscribers. 
     Optionally, trigger  100  may also be related to one or more comments  130 . Comments  130  may typically be produced and attached by active subscribers of trigger  100  and may be used, for example, by prospective subscribers to evaluate prior subscriber satisfaction with trigger  100  and thus help them determine the perceived quality of trigger  100  among prior subscribers. 
     Additionally, trigger  100  may be related to one or more links  132 . The term link shall be used in the spirit of the well-known Uniform Resource Locator (URL) concept used throughout the Internet. Links  132  may typically be attached by the source of the trigger  100 , for example to provide subscribers with additional information about trigger  100  or its latest status. 
     Additionally, trigger  100  may be related to one or more icons  134 . An icon may be any visual that can be attached to trigger  100 , such as an image, video, interactive graphic and the like. 
     Additionally, trigger  100  may be related to one or more locations  136 . The term location shall be used for describing a position in a physical or imaginary space that a) can be measured and whose co-ordinates can be derived in a particular spatial reference system, for example using latitude and longitude; or b) that can be described in a textual form, e.g. ‘San Francisco, Calif.’. Using co-ordinates a) is particularly useful in describing a point location of a trigger, for example, to pin-point the present or past location of trigger  100  on a map or to measure its present or past distance from other triggers or objects. Using a textual location form b) is particularly useful in easily describing areas that may have complex geographical boundaries, for example, to allow textual searching for all triggers that are currently related to locations in San Francisco, Calif. The same approach may be applied to relate triggers to imaginary spaces, such as used in computer games or simulations that use imaginary spaces and respective spatial reference systems. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 2 , a trigger request  200  is depicted. A trigger request is an information artifact that can be created and used by a prospective subscriber to request a new trigger within one or more trigger systems. Once the trigger request is created, it is made visible to other potential subscribers within the one or more trigger systems who can then support the trigger request by attaching a respective pledge. Additionally or alternatively, potential subscribers can attach comments to the trigger request, for example to add thoughts. Trigger requests can drive demand on the trigger marketplace helping potential trigger sources to learn about and determine the demand for a particular type of trigger by prospective subscribers. This can be accomplished for example, by considering the number of supporters a trigger request accumulates, its total pledged amount, how fast the number of its supporters and pledges are increasing, which comments are being attached, or any combination thereof. 
     Title  202  ideally contains a short, descriptive heading for the trigger request  200 , for example, as depicted in the implementation example further below. 
     Description  204  ideally contains a detailed description of the requested trigger. 
     Total pledged  206  indicates the sum of all pledges received for trigger request  200  to date. 
     Number of supporters  208  indicates the total number of supporters of trigger request  200  to date. 
     Date created  210  indicates the date and time when trigger request  200  was created, for example for potential trigger sources to determine how up-to-date trigger request  200  is or how quickly it gained support. 
     Date last pledged  212  indicates when the latest pledge was received for trigger  212 . 
     Comment(s)  214  indicates comments that were attached to the trigger request  200  to date. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 3 , a robot  300  is depicted. In the spirit of the present invention, a robot is an executable information artifact that can at least be used to watch one or more triggers and perform one or more reactions upon detecting a predefined state of its one or more watched triggers. 
     Optional title  302  ideally contains a short, descriptive sentence describing the purpose of the robot  300 . 
     Optional description  304  ideally contains a more detailed description of the robot  300 , for example explaining the broader strategy that robot  300  shall help to accomplish and the like. 
     One or more watch(es)  306  indicate which attributes of one or more triggers the robot  300  shall watch and in which one or more cases it shall perform one or more of its defined reaction(s)  308 . 
     One or more reaction(s)  308  may comprise, but not be limited to, one or more of, sending an alert via e-mail, sending an alert via instant messaging, updating a trigger in a predetermined way, and at least one of: consuming data via at least one particular URL, delivering data to at least one particular URL. 
     Status  310  indicates the current status of the robot  300 , for example to distinguish between a paused state, an actively watching state or an issue state. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown illustrating a trigger system  470  according to, and in the spirit of, the present invention. 
     Trigger system  470  comprises one or more marketplaces  400 , and a multitude of trigger portfolios such as the depicted trigger portfolio  420 . Each marketplace  400  may be publicly or privately accessible. Privately accessible shall mean only accessible to a specific group of one or more participants of the trigger system  470 . Publically accessible shall mean accessible to anybody or anything that can access trigger system  470 , ideally via the Internet (not shown). 
     Trigger system  470  comprises application programming interfaces (APIs)  450  and  452  that can be accessed from outside trigger system  470  ideally via the Internet (not shown). Of course, trigger system  470  may comprise additional APIs (not shown). 
     Marketplace  400  comprises four triggers  402 ,  404 ,  406  and  410 . In addition, marketplace  400  contains one trigger request  408 . Of course, this is only an example and marketplace  400  may contain a multitude of triggers and trigger requests. 
     Trigger portfolio  420  depicts a personal trigger area of a particular participant x (not shown) of the trigger system  470 . In the presented example, participant x has subscribed to trigger  406  thus seeing a copy of trigger  406  in his personal trigger area, here numbered  422 . Trigger copy  422  is updated whenever any attribute of trigger  406  is updated and exposes the same attributes as trigger  406 . Trigger  406  is controlled and updated by its trigger source, that is another participant y (not shown) of trigger system  470 . Trigger copy  422  can also be understood as a representation or projection of trigger  422  that is updated whenever trigger  422  is updated. 
     It is a key aspect of the present invention to enable participants of the trigger system  470  to propagate trigger updates to other participants of the trigger system  470  with as little delay as possible, ideally in real-time or near real-time. 
     In addition, trigger portfolio  420  contains two triggers  424  and  428  that are both owned by the participant x. In this example, trigger  428  is periodically updated via the Internet and via API  452  by a mobile device (not shown) owned by participant x (not shown). 
     In addition, trigger portfolio  420  is assigned a robot  426  that is set by participant x to watch the triggers  422  and  428 . Watch  430  defines which one or more attributes of trigger  422  robot  426  is to watch, whereas watch  432  defines which one or more attributes of trigger  428  robot  426  is to watch. 
     Once robot  426  detects a match according to either watch  430  or watch  432 , it performs a reaction  434  that was defined by participant x to update trigger  424  in a particular way. Trigger  424  is published as trigger copy  410  on the marketplace  400  and thus can be subscribed to by other participants that have access to marketplace  400 . Subscribers of trigger  410  can access its trigger statement and attribute updates performed by robot  426  and can in turn run one or more own robots (not shown) in their one or more own trigger portfolios (not shown) performing their one or more own desired reactions (not shown) as they wish. 
     The depicted ability for participants to have actions performed in a standardized way based on the status of one or more own and/or subscribed triggers is a key advantage and embodiment of the present invention. 
     Participant x may also access the status of triggers in his portfolio  420  via API  450 , for example, to have a software application outside of the trigger system  470  track his subscribed triggers and perform respective reactions that may include updating trigger  428  via API  452 . 
     Resource meter  454  may measure the rate at which individual participants in the trigger system, their robots, or any of their delegates are using, for example, processing power, communication network bandwidth, messaging services such as e-mail or instant messaging, or any combination thereof within the trigger system. The resulting usage data may be used, for example, for billing participants accordingly. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the depicted trigger system  470  shall provide means to propagate status changes within the trigger system with as little a delay as possible. This shall mean, for example, that at least each time a trigger is updated, subscribers of that trigger as well as robots watching the updated trigger may be notified of the update in real-time or near real-time. 
     Furthermore, resulting actions of the subscribers or robots, such as updating respective triggers in respective reactions, may also be performed in real-time or near real-time. This may be accomplished, for example, by applying a real-time publish-and-subscribe event-based technology or any other technology operable to achieve as little delay as possible between the time when a status within the trigger system changes and the time this status change is being communicated to participants in the trigger system. 
     It is an additional aspect of the present invention to allow deploying more than one robot with the same watch definitions in various execution environments, for example in order to minimize delays between an update of a watched trigger and the detection of the update by the one or more robots. 
     As an example of this approach, robot  426  with watches  430  and  432  may be run on a backend processing infrastructure of trigger system  470 . In parallel, at least one of the watches  430  and  432  may be performed by at least one more robot. This one or more robots may, for example, be run within a web client used by a participant of the trigger system, for example, using the well known scripting language JavaScript, or be run within any other processing environment operable for this purpose. 
     Upon detecting a fulfillment of either watch  430  or watch  432 , each such deployed robots may try initiating the reaction  434  with a mechanism in place that only allows the first robot to successfully perform the reaction  434 . 
     It is an additional aspect of the present invention to allow one or more dashboards  480  to comprise one or more triggers or trigger copies, for example, the triggers  402  and  406 . Furthermore, one or more of the dashboards  480  may be part of marketplace  400  and offered for subscription on marketplace  400 . Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the dashboards  480  may be part of the one or more trigger portfolios  420 . Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the dashboards  480  may be hosted outside of the trigger system  470  and comprised trigger copies may be updated via one or more data network connections. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the dashboards  480  may not only comprise triggers or trigger copies, but also other content, such as conventional charts, images, textual information and the like. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 5 , a typical operation of a trigger is depicted. 
     In step  500 , a trigger is created within a trigger system by a trigger source. This may, for example, be accomplished via a user interface accessible via the Internet, via an API, or any other means operable to initiate creating a trigger. Since the newly created trigger is not published yet, the trigger is not visible on a trigger marketplace yet. 
     In step  502 , the trigger source sets a subscription price for the trigger and publishes the trigger in step  504 . At this point, the trigger appears on at least one trigger marketplace within one or more trigger systems. Of course, the subscription price may be set to zero, meaning that subscribers may not need to pay for accessing the trigger. 
     In step  506 , if the trigger source or a delegate determines that the trigger shall be updated, it is updated in step  508 . Updating the trigger typically includes changing and persisting at least one of, its designation, action, value, unit and value comment. However, it may additionally or alternatively include changing one or more of the trigger&#39;s other attributes, for example, its price, title, links or the like. In step  506 , if the trigger shall not be updated, step  508  is skipped and step  510  is performed directly. 
     In step  510 , if the trigger was subscribed by at least one subscriber, in step  512 , all subscribed copies of the trigger are updated, preferably automatically by the trigger system upon detecting the original update of the trigger in step  508 . 
     Prior to performing the update of subscribed trigger copies, the trigger system may, for example, check the validity of each subscription. 
     Additionally or alternatively, for example, each subscriber may be debited with a prorated part of the trigger&#39;s subscription price and the trigger source may be credited with the resulting proceeds minus any applicable commission fees. Alternatively, at least a subset of subscribers may pay the trigger&#39;s subscription price in advance for a particular subscription time period at the start time of the subscription. 
     In case the trigger subscription price was set to zero in step  502 , no payment by subscribers of the trigger may be necessary. 
     Of course, a multitude of alternative or additional subscription or other fee payment models can be applied and the invention is not limited to a specific subscription or fee model or process. 
     In step  510 , if the trigger does not have at least one subscriber, step  512  is skipped and step  514  is performed directly. 
     In step  514 , if the trigger shall be deleted, for example because it is obsolete, it is deleted in step  516 . In this case, the trigger will not be available for subscription on a marketplace anymore and will typically become invisible at least within the trigger system it was created in. 
     In step  514 , if the trigger shall not be deleted, step  506  is performed as described above. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 6 , a typical operation of a trigger request is depicted. 
     In step  600 , a participant in a trigger system creates a trigger request within the trigger system and pledges a prospective subscription price, for example, “$3.00 per week” in step  602 . The pledged subscription price can be used, for example, by prospective trigger sources to determine how valuable the requested trigger would be to the creator of the trigger request. 
     In step  604 , the creator of the trigger request publishes the trigger request, which makes the trigger request visible at least within the trigger system it was created in. 
     In step  606 , if the trigger request is supported by at least one supporter, the trigger request is updated accordingly in step  608 . In this case, at least the number of supporters, the date last pledged, and the total pledged attributes of the trigger request are computed and updated accordingly. For example, if one supporter pledges “$4.00 per week”, the total pledged attribute of the trigger request would be updated with $3.00 per week by the creator plus $4.00 per week by the one supporter=$7.00 per week. This allows other participants in the trigger system to quickly and easily determine the accumulated demand for the requested trigger. 
     In step  606 , if the trigger request is not supported by at least one supporter, step  608  is skipped and step  610  is performed directly. 
     In step  610 , if at least one participant in the trigger system indicates having seen a trigger similar to the requested trigger somewhere in a trigger system, a comment is attached to the trigger request in step  612  reflecting this information. 
     Additionally, a message may be sent by the trigger system ideally to the requestor as well as to all supporters of the trigger request, notifying them of the attached “seen” comment. 
     In step  610 , if a trigger similar to the requested trigger has not been seen somewhere in a trigger system yet, step  612  is skipped and step  614  is performed directly. 
     In step  614 , if the trigger request shall be deleted, for example because another already existing sufficiently similar trigger was found, or a trigger source created the requested trigger based on the trigger request, the trigger request is deleted in step  616 . 
     In step  614 , if the trigger request shall not be deleted, step  606  is performed as described above. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 7 , a typical operation of a robot in the spirit of the present invention is depicted. 
     In step  700 , a robot is created within a trigger system, typically by a subscriber of at least one trigger published within the trigger system. Of course, a robot may also be created for the subscriber, for example, by a third party service provider. 
     In step  702 , the creator of the robot defines at least one watch of the robot. A watch typically targets one trigger that is subscribed to by the robot creator. Furthermore, the watch defines which state or value a particular attribute of the target trigger will need to have in order for the watch to be become successful. For example, a watch may be defined to become successful if the current value of a trigger exceeds a particular number, or if the current or predicted location of a trigger is or will be within a particular local area. 
     In step  704 , the creator of the robot defines at least one reaction of the robot. A reaction typically defines at least one particular action including, but no limited to, sending an e-mail, sending an instant message, updating a trigger, and calling an API or posting data to an API. 
     In step  706 , if the robot shall start performing its at least one defined watches, step  708  is performed computing whether at least one of the robot&#39;s watches are successful. Step  708  is typically repeated whenever at least one watched trigger is updated. 
     In step  706 , if no watch shall be performed, step  706  is repeated. 
     In step  710 , if at least one of the robot&#39;s watches is successful, all of the robot&#39;s respective reactions are performed in step  712 . In step  714 , if the performing of the one or more defined watches of the robot shall be stopped, step  716  is executed, stopping the watches. 
     In step  710 , if no watch was successful, step  712  is skipped and step  714  is performed. 
     In step  714 , if the performing of the robot&#39;s watches shall not be stopped, step  708  will be repeated. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 8 , a typical operation of the trigger system in the spirit of the present invention is depicted. 
     In step  800 , a participant in the trigger system searches for ingredient triggers. The term ingredient trigger shall be used based on the presently disclosed approach that more than one trigger may be watched by a subscriber or one or more of his robots in order to detect a particular status within a trigger system, for example, in order to detect an opportunity to perform a particular action such as buying stock, buying or selling a product, a service and the like. 
     In step  802 , the participant subscribes to one or more desired ingredient triggers in order to gain access to these triggers&#39; status whenever updated. 
     In step  804  the participant creates one or more result triggers that shall be updated by his one or more robots when at least one of the robots&#39; watches is successful. In this example, it shall be assumed that the participant has already created one robot. 
     In step  806  the participant defines the desired watches of this robot as described above. 
     In step  808  the participant defines the desired reaction of this robot as described above. 
     In step  810  the participant sets each of the created result triggers to a desired initial state. 
     In step  812 , the participant publishes the result triggers and has the robot start the defined watches of the ingredient triggers in step  814 . 
     In step  816 , if at least one of the watches is successful, the respective defined reactions are performed in step  818 . 
     In step  820 , if the respective reaction(s) contain updating at least one of the created result triggers, the respective result trigger(s) are updated in step  822 . 
     In step  824 , if the participant wants his robot to end its watches, step  826  is performed, ending performing the robot&#39;s watches. 
     In step  816 , if no watch was successful, step  824  is performed. 
     In step  820 , if no result trigger(s) shall be updated, step  824  is performed. 
     In step  824 , if the watches shall be continued, step  814  is performed. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 9 , a screen shot of an example implementation of a trigger marketplace in the spirit of the present invention is depicted. 
     Marketplace  902  allows a participant in a trigger system to browse for available published triggers and to subscribe to desired triggers. 
     Search function  920  allows for a keyword-based search within the trigger system, for example, to find triggers with particular attributes. Of course, other trigger discovery methods may be available. 
     Top triggers area  910  shows the currently top x published triggers within the trigger system, for example ranked based on best ratings, most number of subscriptions or any combination thereof. This area can be used, for example, by prospective subscribers to determine which triggers currently may provide the best value to them. 
     Top trigger designations area  912  shows the currently top y trigger designations within the trigger system, for example ranked based on highest number of subscriptions of triggers using the respective designation, fastest subscription growth of triggers using the respective designation, or any combination thereof. This area can be used, for example, by prospective trigger sources to determine which triggers they should best offer on the marketplace in order to gain highest possible subscription income. 
     Top trigger requests area  914  shows the currently top z trigger requests within the trigger system, for example ranked based on each trigger request&#39;s highest number of supporters, highest total pledges, fastest growing number of either supporters or pledges, or any combination thereof. This area can be used, for example, by prospective trigger sources to determine which triggers they should best offer on the trigger marketplace in order to gain highest possible subscription income. 
     In this simplified example, marketplace  902  currently contains three triggers  904 ,  906  and  908 . Of course, marketplace  902  may contain a multitude of triggers as well as showing trigger group areas (not shown) for specific types of triggers, such as celebrity triggers, predictive triggers and the like. 
     In this simplified example,  FIG. 9  shows the view of a fictitious participant called ‘Peter’ being signed into the trigger system looking at the marketplace  902 . 
     As depicted in account overview area  900 , Peter currently has an account balance of $23.69, an income account balance of $1,524.98, 3,000 vUnits and a subscription to the VTurbo Platinum′ plan. 
     Peter&#39;s account balance reflects the $ credit that Peter currently has within the trigger system, for example, to buy trigger subscriptions, buy additional vUnits, renew his subscription plan, or buy any other provided services. 
     Peter&#39;s income balance reflects the $ credit that Peter currently has within the trigger system stemming from, for example, subscription fees paid by other participants in the trigger system for access to one or more of Peter&#39;s triggers. 
     Peter&#39;s vUnits balance relates to the credit that Peter currently has regarding the state of a measured indicator called vUnits. Very much like electricity usage, whenever Peter is using services within the trigger system, vUnits are being measured by a resource meter within the trigger system as described above and deducted from Peter&#39;s vUnits account according to a defined rate. This rate may be related, for example, to the amount of processing power used by Peter, his robots or any other of Peter&#39;s delegates within the trigger system, for example, to perform trigger updates, use APIs and the like. 
     As trigger  904  is subscribed by Peter, the trigger&#39;s latest trigger statement  905  is shown. 
     As trigger  906  is not subscribed by Peter, he is presented with an option to subscribe to trigger  906  and trigger  906 &#39;s trigger statement is not shown. 
     Trigger  908  is one of Peter&#39;s own triggers, which allows him to update the status of trigger  908  as described in more detail below. 
     Last visited area  916  lists the last x triggers that were clicked on by Peter with the latest clicked trigger or trigger request on top. This area may help participants to easily go back to an earlier clicked trigger or trigger request without the need to memorize its title or icon. 
       FIG. 10  shows a screen shot of an example implementation of a trigger portfolio in the spirit of the present invention. By way of example, we are looking at a trigger portfolio  1000  of Peter&#39;s, as indicated by account overview area  1014 . On top of the trigger portfolio  1000  is an area  1002  allowing, for example, to create a new trigger and request a new trigger. 
     By default, “My Trigger Group”  1003  contains all of Peter&#39;s currently owned and subscribed triggers  1004 ,  1006 ,  1008  and  1010 . 
     Peter created a trigger group  1012  entitled “Celebrity Voices” and a trigger group  1013  entitled “Technology Trends” for grouping particular triggers in a customized way. “Celebrity Voices” trigger group  1012  contains a copy of trigger  1010 , here referred to as trigger  1015  that is simultaneously updated whenever trigger  1010  is updated. Peter created the copy  1015  by dragging and dropping trigger  1010  from trigger group  1003  onto trigger group  1012 . 
     In the depicted example, each customized trigger group  1012  and  1013  can contain zero or more trigger copies. Each contained trigger copy can only occur once in every customized trigger group and can only stem from any of Peter&#39;s owned or subscribed triggers. So, as soon as Peter creates a new trigger or subscribes to a new trigger, a copy of this trigger will appear in Peter&#39;s trigger portfolio “My Trigger Group”  1003  and can then be copied once into every customized trigger group, here  1012  and  1013 . Each copy of a trigger is updated whenever its original trigger is updated. 
     Also, as soon as Peter ends a trigger subscription or deletes an owned trigger, all copies of this trigger in all trigger groups of Peter&#39;s trigger portfolio will be removed as well. 
     In addition, as depicted, trigger  1008  is currently visually dimmed in order to indicate that it is currently on stand-by, while each of the triggers  1004 ,  1006 ,  1010  and copy  1015  of trigger  1010  are not on stand-by but rather showing an updated trigger statement. 
     Now focusing on trigger  1004  in order to describe the depicted trigger layout in more detail,  1020  depicts an icon, for example, to brand and distinguish trigger  1004 . 
       1022  depicts trigger  1004 &#39;s current trigger statement including  1028  trigger  1004 &#39;s current comment. 
       1024  depicts trigger  1004 &#39;s title, symbol and current rating. 
       1026  depicts a simplified, relative time expression, relating to the last time at which trigger  1004  was updated relative to the current trigger system time.  1026  is periodically updated, for example every five seconds. 
     Of course, while this user interface approach is an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to this user interface approach and there may be additional or alternative ways to display or customize a trigger portfolio. 
       FIG. 11  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to update a predictive trigger. Trigger  1100 , a published and subscribed predictive trigger, is being edited. 
     Title  1102  cannot be edited in this case, as the trigger  1100  is published as indicated in field  1124  and there is at least one active subscriber. 
     Symbol  1104  and Designation  1108  cannot be edited at this time for the same reason explained above. 
     Trigger source  1106  cannot be edited upon creation of the trigger  1100  in order to make sure that subscribers can depend on the same trigger source keeping responsibility for the trigger throughout their subscription. 
     Action update selection area  1110  allows selecting one of the default selections offered for a predictive trigger. While there may be additional or alternative trigger action selections for predictive triggers, it is a key aspect of the present invention to provide the depicted default selections for predictive triggers in order to provide a general standard throughout a trigger system that can be depended upon by participants. This can be particularly beneficial, for example, in order to enable participants across various languages to easily define robots or external software that can analyze and process trigger updates in a clearly defined way. 
     While action selection area  1110  is specific to predictive triggers, selection area  1111  can also be selected and is universal across trigger types. 
     Value entry area  1112  allows inputting a value, for example, such as a number or textual expression. 
     Unit entry area  1114  allows selecting from a set of standard units that apply across trigger types, or, if needed, inputting a unit that is not part of the available universal units, such as “Kilometers” and “kg”, for example. Of course, a trigger system may present additional or alternative default unit selections, for example, based on a statistical assessment of units most used by participants. 
     Comment area  1118  allows inputting a comment. 
     Link area  1120  allows inputting a URL. 
     Button  1122  allows to request a list (not shown) of prior latest updates of trigger  1100 . 
     Published area  1124  allows to publish or unpublish trigger  1100 . 
     Price area  1126  allows setting a subscription fee that has to be paid by subscribers in order to be able to access trigger  1100 &#39;s trigger statements. 
     Rating area  1128  allows assessing the current accumulated rating of trigger  1100  by all its subscribers, as well as requesting a list of each rating that trigger  1100  received including optional comments. In this example, rating area  1128  can only be read as owners of triggers shall not be enabled to rate their own triggers. 
     Sharing area  1130  allows sharing a link to a public view of trigger  1100  (not shown) as well as sharing comments with connected friends or other acquaintances via one or more social networks, for example, in order to promote the trigger. 
     Description area  1132  allows inputting a detailed description for trigger  1100 . 
     Area  1133  allows attaching one ore more locations to trigger  1100 . As described above, a location may be a) measured and whose co-ordinates can be derived in a particular spatial reference system, for example using latitude and longitude such as “38° 53′23″N, 77° 00′27″W”; or b) described in a textual form, e.g. “San Francisco, Calif.”. In the example depicted in  FIG. 11 , trigger  1100  has a textual location “World” attached, which indicates that trigger  1100  is not to be limited to a specific location on earth. 
     Area  1134  allows attaching a robot to trigger  1100  in order to have trigger  1100  watched. An example implementation of a definition of a robot is described in detail below. 
     Area  1136  allows deleting trigger  1100 , saving changes or leaving it untouched. Of course, while this user interface approach is an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to this user interface approach and there may be additional or alternative ways to display or customize a trigger. 
       FIG. 12  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to edit a robot. 
     Robot  1200  currently has two watches: watch  1204  watching trigger  1206  and watch  1220  watching trigger  1221 . Each watch can be set to become active upon detecting a predefined trigger statement status of its watched trigger as follows: 
     Action condition selector  1208  allows selecting one of the trigger  1206 &#39;s default actions according to its type as explained above, or a general filter option “anything” or “anything but on stand-by”. For example, selecting “anything” will fulfill the action condition of watch  1220  no matter what the action status of trigger  1221  is, while “anything but on stand-by” will only fulfill the action condition of watch  1220  if trigger  1221 &#39;s action is set to “trigger is on stand-by”. 
     Value condition selector  1212  allows selecting the following options: “is anything”, “is greater than”, “is greater than or equal”, “is”, “is smaller than or equal”, “is smaller than”. Of course, the present invention is not limited to these options and there may be additional or alternative options. 
     The value condition of watch  1204  is fulfilled in this example, since value condition selector  1212  is currently set to “contains”, value condition area  1214  is set to “2.3”, value unit condition selector  1208  is set to “%” and trigger  1206 &#39;s current value is 2.3%. Setting value condition selector  1212  to “is anything” would always fulfill the value condition of watch  1204 . 
     Comment condition area  1210  allows to input one or more characters, numbers or words that have to be part of the latest comment of trigger  1206  in order to fulfill the comment condition of watch  1204 . Since comment condition area  1210  is empty, the comment condition of watch  1204  is currently fulfilled. 
     If all three conditions of watch  1204  are fulfilled, its action condition, its value condition and its comment condition, the watch  1204  is fulfilled and will output the number of reaction points defined in reaction point area  1216 . In the present example, watch  1204  is fulfilled and outputs  10  reaction points as depicted in simulation sub area  1218 . 
     Watch  1220  is currently not fulfilled, as its action condition is not fulfilled. Watch  1220  will therefore not output any reaction points. 
     Total current reaction point simulation area  1224  indicates the total current reaction point output of all active watches of robot  1220 , which is 10 in this example. All simulation point areas will be updated in the present view whenever a watched trigger status changes, as to allow for easier understanding of the effects of set watch conditions. 
     Using button  1222 , more watches can be added to robot  1200 . 
     Using button  1223 , a watch, in this case  1220 , can be deleted. 
     Robot  1200  has currently one reaction  1225 . Reaction point selection area  1226  contains lower and an upper reaction point input areas. If the current total reaction points depicted in area  1224  are within the set lower and upper points of reaction  1225 , as it currently is, reaction  1225  is activated and its currently set “send e-mail” and “update trigger” actions  1230  and  1232  are initiated, as also indicated using simulation checkboxes  1238  and  1240 . 
     “Send instant message” action area  1228  and “call the following URL” action area  1234  are not checked and thus not initiated. 
     Using button  1236 , more reactions can be added to robot  1200 . 
     Using one of buttons  1242 , robot  1200  can be left untouched, deleted or saved. 
     The invented approach allows for a very versatile, yet easy to use and understand way of setting simple to complex robot watch conditions and reactions. Of course, while this user interface approach is an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to this user interface approach and there may be additional or alternative ways to display or customize a robot. 
       FIG. 13  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to update a celebrity trigger using view  1300 . In contrast to a predictive or a reporting trigger (see example below), in this example, a celebrity trigger&#39;s designation (here  1302 ) can be edited whether the trigger is published or not. 
     In addition, a celebrity trigger&#39;s action selection area (here  1310 ) comprises the default actions for predictive triggers (here  1304 ), as well as the default actions for reporting triggers (here  1306  and see example below). 
     In addition, a celebrity trigger&#39;s action selection area (here  1310 ) comprises stand-by selection option  1308  that is available across trigger types. 
     Other editable areas can be updated as described above. 
     While there may be additional or alternative trigger action selections for celebrity triggers, it is a key aspect of the present invention to provide the depicted default selections for celebrity triggers in order to provide a general standard throughout a trigger system that can be depended upon by participants. This can be particularly beneficial, for example, in order to enable participants across various languages to easily define robots or external software that can analyze and process trigger updates in a clearly defined way. 
       FIG. 14  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how a subscribed trigger  1400  may be presented to a subscriber. As trigger  1400  is not owned but merely subscribed by fictitious trigger system participant Peter, Peter is presented with trigger  1400 &#39;s latest trigger statement  1402 , but cannot update the trigger statement. 
     Area  1404  allows Peter to edit his subscription of the trigger  1400 , for example, to extend, pause or end his subscription of trigger  1400 . 
     Area  1406  allows Peter to rate trigger  1400  since he is a subscriber but not an owner of the trigger. In addition, area  1406  allows Peter to see the ratings of other subscribers, or report fraud, such as alleged infringement of copyrights, an inappropriate icon, inappropriate content, or the like. 
     Sharing area  1408  allows sharing a link to a public view of trigger  1400  (not shown) ratings, and comments with connected friends or other acquaintances via one or more social networks, for example. 
       FIG. 15  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a view of a trigger system participant at a trigger that he neither owns nor is subscribed to. 
     Since the trigger system participant, here again Peter, is not subscribed to trigger  1500 , he is only presented with the designation, but not with the full trigger statement of trigger  1500 . In addition, area  1504  allows subscribing to the trigger  1500  and area  1506  allows reporting fraud as described above. 
     Sharing area  1508  allows sharing a link to a public view of trigger  1500  (not shown) and comments with connected friends or other acquaintances via one or more social networks, for example. 
       FIG. 16  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a view on a trigger request  1600 . 
       1602  shows the title of trigger request  1600 . 
       1604  shows the description of trigger request  1600 . 
       1606  depicts how much time ago the trigger request  1600  was created, for example, according to the current trigger system time. 
       1610  shows how much time ago the latest pledge was received for trigger request  1600 , for example, according to the current trigger system time. 
       1608  shows the current number of supporters of trigger request  1600 . The term supporters shall mean participants in the trigger system that hosts trigger request  1600 , the participants having actively pledged in support of trigger request  1600  using, for example, button  1620  in the current view. 
       1612  shows the current total pledged amount of all current supporters of trigger request  1600 . 
     Area  1614  allows requesting a list of latest comments attached to trigger request  1600  and to attach a new comment to trigger request  1600 . 
     Sharing area  1616  allows sharing a link to a public view of trigger request  1616  (not shown) and comments with connected friends or other acquaintances via one or more social networks, for example, in order to rally additional supporters and pledges for the trigger request  1600 . 
     Button  1618  allows attaching a particular type of comment to trigger request  1600  that may be automatically forwarded to all supporters of trigger request  1600  in case one or more of the requested kind of trigger or at a least very similar trigger was already seen elsewhere within a trigger system. This approach allows turning insights of one or more participants in a trigger system easily into potential value for other participants in the trigger system. 
     Button  1622  allows requesting to see a list of currently accessible trigger requests. 
       FIG. 17  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a view of a profile of a participant in a trigger system. 
     View  1700  shows a public profile  1702  and a private profile  1704  of the participant. 
     Public profile  1702  is accessible to anybody having access to the trigger system that is hosting profile  1702 . 
     Private profile  1704  is accessible only to the participant owning profile  1704  and any delegates including, for example, administrators of the trigger system that is hosting profile  1704 . 
     Area  1706  shows the current account balance of the participant in view and provides means to refill the account balance, for example, via a credit card transaction. 
     Area  1708  shows the current income account balance of the participant in view and provides means to request a payout of the available income balance, for example, to the checking account or credit card of the participant in view. 
     Area  1710  shows the current vUnits account balance of the participant in view as well as means to add additional vUnits, for example, by buying additional vUnits and deducting the respective charge from the present participant&#39;s account or income account balance. 
     Area  1712  allows changing the current service level of the participant in view. 
     Button  1714  allows saving changes made to profile  1702  and  1704 . 
       FIG. 18  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting a feedback input of a participant in a trigger system. 
     Feedback input area  1800  allows selecting from a multitude of feedback types using feedback type selector  1802 , inputting a feedback subject using subject input field  1804  and inputting a feedback description using description input field  1806 . 
     The resulting feedback may be submitted using button  1808 . 
       FIG. 19  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to update a reporting trigger. Reporting trigger  1900  may be updated using the heretofore-described input areas. However, unlike a celebrity trigger, a reporting trigger&#39;s designation (here  1902 ) may typically only be changed as long as there is no active subscriber for the reporting trigger (here  1900 ). Also, action selector  1904  only allows selecting one of the default reporting triggers&#39; actions or, alternatively, stand-by option  1906  that can be selected across all trigger types. 
     While there may be additional or alternative trigger action selections for reporting triggers, it is a key aspect of the present invention to provide the depicted default selections for reporting triggers in order to provide a general standard throughout a trigger system that can be depended upon by participants. This can be particularly beneficial, for example, in order to enable participants across various languages to easily define robots or external software that can analyze and process trigger updates in a clearly defined way. 
     Additionally, trigger  1900  has a textual location  1908  “Palo Alto, 94304” attached, which indicates that trigger  1900  refers to a specific area within the United States of America, namely the ZIP code 94304, which is located within the city of Palo Alto, Calif. A Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code is the numerical code assigned by the United States Postal Service to designate a local area or entity for the delivery of mail within the United States. Of course, there may be many additional or alternative ways to designate a local area inside and outside the United States as described above. 
       FIG. 20  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting how to create a trigger in a first step. In this example, in order to simplify the creation of triggers for participants in a trigger system, the trigger creation process is performed in two steps.  FIG. 20  depicts the input areas that are part of step  1 . 
     Now referring to  FIG. 20 , input field  2000  allows inputting a title for the new trigger. 
     Input field  2002  allows inputting a designation for the new trigger. 
     Trigger type selector  2004  allows selecting one of the available trigger types that are described above. 
     Upon input of mandatory data  2000 ,  2002  and  2004 , create button  2006  allows creating the new trigger in the present trigger system (not shown) and finalizes step  1 . Once step  1  is performed, depending on the trigger type selected with  2004 , step  2  is performed showing the above described trigger edit input views for either a predictive, reporting or celebrity trigger. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 21 , another preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown illustrating a method to accelerate the distribution of advertisements and increase respective conversion. This method is also explicitly claimed as part of the present invention. 
     Dotted area  2100  indicates a typical approach for a seller  2112  to advertise an offer  2110 , for example “20% off product x only today”, to a target audience  2102 . In the illustrated typical approach, seller  2112  would distribute the offer content  2110  via various channels, such as e-mail, online or other, for example print media, radio or television to a target audience  2102 . Typically, offer content  2110  will point the target audience  2102  to an offer landing page  2104  on the Internet that allows potential buyers among the target audience  2102  to learn more about the offer  2110  and initiate respective orders  2106 . 
     Typically, a main goal for success of this typical approach is to maximize the number of orders created by the target audience. Typical key influence factors for reaching this goal are the size of the target audience as well as the quality of the selection of the target audience based on the offer. Both of these influence factors are typically not easy to optimize, as engagement cost for the seller increases with the size of a target audience as well as with identifying and engaging higher quality target audiences. 
     In contrast, the present invention allows the seller  2112  with minimal effort and cost to engage additional, high quality target audiences to the depicted existing advertisement approach  2100  using a trigger system  2150  in the following way: 
     In addition, or alternatively, to the above-described typical channels, Seller  2112  publishes offer  2110  via a Trigger 1   2160  on marketplace  2152 . In this case, as per  FIG. 1 , Trigger 1   2160  may be created and published as a reporting trigger with the designation “Product X”, the seller as the trigger source, the action “is”, the value “20”, the unit “%” and the value comment “off only today”. In addition, a more detailed description of the offer  2110  may be attached to Trigger 1   2160  as well as a link to the offer landing page  2104 . 
     Once published on marketplace  2152 , a multitude of participants of the trigger system  2150  including micro businesses (not shown) may subscribe to Trigger 1   2160 , deploy their respective intelligences, here represented by  2164  within respective trigger portfolios  2170 , by, for example, packaging Trigger 1   2160  with another offer, here represented by Trigger 15   2162 , creating combined or enriched offers, here represented by TriggerX  2166  and publishing their respective resulting triggers, here represented by a multitude of TriggersX  2168  on the marketplace  2152 . 
     As each publishing participant including micro businesses is monetarily or otherwise incentivized to create and distribute the best possible offers in the shortest amount of time to their respective subscribing target audiences  2180 , there will be a high propensity to intelligently optimize the quality of each resulting trigger offer to attract interest among respective target audiences. 
     Also, as the present invention allows distribution of the resulting offer triggers in a highly individualized and accelerated fashion, it provides access to target audiences  2180  that seller  2112  would typically not have reached with typical approach  2100 . 
     Furthermore, buyers among target audiences  2180  will be able use the same offer landing page  2104  as target audience  2102 , thus adding to the number of orders for seller  2112  and increasing commercial success with minimal additional cost for the seller  2112 . 
     Additionally or alternatively, buyers among target audiences  2180  can be pointed directly to the web presence of seller  2112  using a direct link  2192  thus eliminating the need and cost for particular offer landing pages altogether. 
     In the above-described way, publishing participants including micro-businesses can turn their respective intelligence into highly valuable content for their respective subscribers who will in turn provide subscription revenue back to participants including micro businesses. Sellers can seamlessly add new, highly scalable distribution channels to their existing marketing processes with minimal cost and high upside potential in terms of access to new customer segments. 
     In fact, sellers can even gain subscription revenue by publishing high quality offer triggers via the presently disclosed invention. For example, sellers could first publish time-critical offers via offer triggers to paying subscriber participants including micro-business subscribers on the disclosed market place and then, slightly delayed, publish the same offer via their typical advertisement channels as indicated in area  2100 , thus creating an incentive for direct participant subscribers including micro-business resellers to pay subscription fees for receiving valuable offers first. 
     As a specific example for applying intelligence in the above-described way, a micro business may subscribe to a trigger of a seller who provides time-critical hotel rate opportunities in Las Vegas, Nev. In addition, the micro business also subscribes to triggers that offer deals on rental car and show ticket rates in Las Vegas, Nev. The micro business then publishes an own trigger that advertises package opportunities whenever the micro business spots a particularly interesting combination of a hotel, rental car and show ticket deal in Las Vegas, Nev. based on input from the subscribed triggers. Since the micro business&#39;s trigger is attracting a particular target audience based on added value and reputation, the micro business receives growing trigger subscription revenue while the original sellers enjoy respective additional business generated by a subset of the micro business&#39;s target audience that the original sellers would typically not have access to. 
     As yet another example for applying intelligence in the spirit of the present invention, a participant in a trigger system who is a well known celebrity updates one of her triggers with a link to a respective source trigger and a personal comment whenever she spots a great fashion deal published by sellers within the same trigger system. Given her excellent reputation and brand, her trigger&#39;s subscribers provide her with significant subscription income for publishing picks of great deals based on her experience and judgment, while the original sellers enjoy additional revenue generated by a subset of her large subscription target audience. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 22 , a flow chart is depicted that shows an example operation of the preferred embodiment of  FIG. 21 . 
     In step  2200 , a seller creates a trigger referring to an offer as described above. In step  2202 , if a landing page for the offer is available, step  2206  is performed and a link to the landing page is attached to the trigger. In step  2202 , if no landing page for the offer is available, step  2208  is performed attaching a direct link to the seller&#39;s web presence to the trigger. This is particularly useful for sellers that do not have the resources or do not want to create landing pages for offers for whatever reason. 
     In step  2210 , the trigger is published on a marketplace of a trigger system in the spirit of the present invention as described above. 
     In step  2212 , a reseller subscribes to the trigger and applies his intelligence, for example, by combining the seller&#39;s offer with an offer of another seller, adding a translation or explanation suited for a particular target audience, and the like. 
     Of course, the reseller may apply his intelligence in a multitude of additional or alternative ways and one of the key advantages of the present invention is to support the reseller in doing so without the need to disclose his intellectual property. 
     In step  2214 , if the reseller chooses to create and publish a new trigger representing the result of applying his intelligence, step  2216  is performed and a new trigger is created and published accordingly on a marketplace of a trigger system. 
     In step  2214 , if the reseller chooses to update one of his existing published triggers with the result of applying his intelligence on the seller&#39;s trigger, such update is performed in step  2218 . 
     In step  2220 , subscribers of the reseller&#39;s chosen published trigger receive the new resulting content and may initiate orders with the original seller accordingly. 
     Of course, there are many additional or alternative ways to operate the above-described method within the spirit of the present invention. 
     For example, in addition to publishing his offer trigger within a trigger system, the reseller may send out links pointing to his published trigger, for example via well-known social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, to new target audiences that may not yet be participants of the trigger system. In this case, a subset of the new target audiences may choose to subscribe to the reseller&#39;s trigger within the trigger system, thus increasing new trigger subscription revenue potential for the reseller and offer revenue potential for the seller. 
     As another example, the reseller may choose to publish the offer on more than one market place in more than one trigger system using more than one trigger. 
     As another example, the present invention can also be used for fundraising and non-profit purposes in novel ways. In this case, for example, the publisher of one or more triggers may ask subscribers to pay as much or as little as they like for sponsoring and in return receiving immediate updates on the programs, people or purposes they would like to sponsor. Thus, instead of giving money in general to one or more organizations, for example, subscribers can very easily and timely route their donations where they feel it is best spent based on timely information. Also, in this way the receiving organizations can build a much more immediate and emotionally including environment to inform and at the same time motivate their donors to keep giving for the most valuable purposes. Using image or video triggers as described below, the present invention can also be used, for example, to provide instant gratification to donors by illustrating progress or success stories stemming from their donations. 
     As another example, one or more sponsors of a trigger may pay for respective subscription fees for the trigger so that subscribers of the trigger may gain access to the trigger for free. Of course, a publisher may also provide one or more triggers to subscribers for free, for example, to support a brand, drive traffic to an attached URL, feature a particular non-profit cause or service and the like. 
       FIG. 23  is a screen shot of an example implementation depicting images and videos attached to triggers. 
     One or more videos and images may, for example, be attached by a publisher to a trigger in the form of one or more URLs pointing to respective files or data sources on the Internet, including IFrames, in the same or similar way as depicted in  FIG. 11  ( 1120 ). In this case, for example, the publisher may input or copy and paste a particular URL or piece of HTML or other code that contains a particular URL, into one or more respective text fields of a form that allows to relate the input data with the trigger. An IFrame (Inline Frame) is defined as an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website. 
     Of course, the input data may then be parsed or modified in order to extract and format respective URLs in a desired way. In this case, for example, respective URLs may be extracted from an HTML input, cleansed from potentially unsafe URL parameters and then shortened in order to store them in the most efficient and safe way with, or in relation to, the respective trigger. Of course, URLs may be attached to triggers in any other feasible way known by those skilled in the art. 
     Additionally or alternatively, one or more icons including images, videos, audio, IFrames, or any other file may be attached directly to a trigger, meaning their respective data is attached to the trigger and not merely a URL pointing to their respective data. 
     Trigger  2300  has a music video attached that is currently playing with its video controls temporarily hidden to allow an undisturbed view of the video. It is a preferred embodiment of the present invention that both, the attached video as well as other attributes of the trigger  2300  including its title, designation and value may be updated independently from each other. Thus, the video may play while other attributes of the trigger  2300  are updated or vice versa. 
     In addition, video attributes, such as the current size of the video, trigger  2300 &#39;s location on the screen, audio volume level or starts and stops at specific frames, for example, may be controlled by attributes of trigger  2300  that can be updated while the video is playing. 
     Furthermore, URLs attached to trigger  2300 , if any, may be updated as well allowing, for example, an interaction of one or more subscribers of trigger  2300  with the publisher of trigger  2300  even while the attached video is playing. Of course, trigger  2300  may contain particular interaction areas such as buttons, sliders and the like (not shown) facilitating the heretofore mentioned interaction. 
     Trigger  2302  has an image attached that, for example, can be used to advertise a particular product, service or the like. Again, as described above, trigger  2302  may have one or more links attached that may, for example, allow a subscriber of trigger  2302  to see a higher resolution version of the currently presented image when clicking on the image or a specific area on the trigger, visit a web page served from within or from outside the present trigger system, the web page allowing the subscriber to get more detailed information on the advertised product or service, order the advertised product or service and the like. 
     Trigger  2304  depicts an example of a trigger that was just updated. In this case, trigger  2304  may automatically show respective video controls that may allow a subscriber of trigger  2304 , for example, to start watching the attached video, fast forward to a specific frame in the video, select an alternative video resolution, watch the video in a larger view and the like. Of course, starting and pausing the video may also be as easily accomplished as clicking on the video for starting it and clicking on the video again for stopping it and the like. 
     In the depicted example view, trigger  2314  is a copy of trigger  2304  attached to another trigger group and therefore updated whenever trigger  2304  is updated. 
     It is a preferred embodiment of the present invention to allow a subscriber the consumption of, and interaction with, more than one video, image or IFrame triggers at the same time. This aspect of the present invention allows, for example, to watch the videos attached to triggers  2300 ,  2304  and  2314  at the same time, allowing, for example, a much more effective consumption of various visual real-time sources in parallel or enjoying a particular composition of various visual and textual content sources at the same time. 
     As another example, trigger  2308  has an image attached that depicts a data visualization, for example, to allow easy tracking of multi-dimensional data sources. Of course, alternatively, trigger  2308  may have an IFrame attached that depicts the data visualization plus allows interaction with the data visualization, for example. 
     Trigger  2310  is another example of an attached data visualization image used in a business scenario. In this case, trigger  2310  is not shown in full height to save screen real estate. Using control  2312 , for example, trigger  2310  may be expanded and contracted as needed. Of course, other triggers such as trigger  2300  and  2304  may be contracted and expanded in a similar way to allow for a flexible use of the overall available screen real estate. 
     Trigger  2306  depicts an example for a news video trigger that is currently only partially seen. 
     Trigger  2316  depicts a trigger that does not currently have a video or image attached. 
     Using the present invention in the depicted way, one or more subscribers may easily consume, and interact with, a multitude of visual and non-visual data sources represented by respective triggers that may be periodically updated independently from each other. Since at least a subset of the subscribers may also be publishers of one or more of the respective triggers, the present invention allows not only one-way, but rich interaction between various publishers and subscribers. 
     This may particularly be beneficial, for example, in the fields of business or scientific data tracking and sharing, entertainment, games, real-time advertising, publishing and consuming of electronic art, publishing and consuming of news and the like. 
     CONCLUSIONS 
     The inventions set forth above are subject to many modifications and changes without departing from the spirit, scope or essential characteristics thereof. Other embodiments of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art in view of the above disclosure. Thus, the embodiments explained above should be considered in all respect as being illustrative rather than restrictive of the scope of the inventions as defined in the appended claims. 
     SEQUENCE LISTING 
     Not Applicable