Patent Publication Number: US-7219139-B2

Title: System and method for using continuous messaging units in a network architecture

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/301,888, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING CONTINUOUS MESSAGING UNITS IN A NETWORK ARCHITECTURE,” filed on Jun. 29, 2001 and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. U.S. application Ser. No. 10/057,413, entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PRESENTING INFORMATION TO A USER UTILIZING HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE USER,” filed Jan. 25, 2002 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/301,888. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to computer technology, and more particularly but not exclusively, relates to presenting information in a computer network environment. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The Internet is a wide area network of interconnected computers which employs a client-server model. The Internet includes server computers which may be accessed by client computers. Typically, a server hosts a site on the Internet which includes a collection of files or pages. The network address of a server is typically specified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A user may access the servers from a client via the Internet through an Internet service provider (ISP). By utilizing a browser application on the client, the user can connect to or “link” to a particular server based upon the URL address of that server. 
     The Internet computer network was originally designed as a communications link to facilitate the exchange of scientific information between governmental laboratories and educational institutions. However, in recent years, the increased use of the World Wide Web (WWW) has fueled explosive growth of the Internet that has extended beyond the scientific community and, indeed, into homes, businesses and classrooms. The WWW refers to a collection of Internet servers that typically utilize Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as an applications protocol to provide users with access to files for communicating text, graphics, sound, video, etc. HTTP, in turn, may use a page description language called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to specify the format of web pages that are displayed to the users. HTML pages can include hypertext links to other servers and files, with the URL&#39;s of the target servers stored or embedded within the links. 
     Links present in a web page may appear to a user in a variety of forms. For example, a link may appear as underlined text, as bolded text, as text having a different color as surrounding text, or as text having some other form designed to draw the attention of the user such that the link is easily identified as such. When a user selects a link (e.g., by “clicking” on the link with an input device such as a computer mouse), the browser makes a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) request to the server identified by the URL specified in the link, and receives a web page from the identified server. A link may also be embedded within a graphical image displayed on the user&#39;s computer monitor or display. When the geographical area of the image is selected by the user, the browser again makes an TCP/IP request to the server identified by the specified URL. Thus, a user may navigate (i.e., “surf”) between various servers to find and retrieve HTML pages or documents of interest. 
     As use of the Internet has become more pervasive, merchants have looked to the Internet as providing a new advertising medium for their products and services. Merchants who sponsor their own web sites typically include advertising material within their site&#39;s pages. However, creating and maintaining a stand-alone web site can require a substantial amount of resources and may be beyond the means of many merchants. Also, the time and expense required to set up such a stand-alone site makes this technique unsuitable for certain seasonal, limited time, or one-shot usage. Further, the audience for this advertising material may be limited by the extent to which the merchant can attract users to visit its own site. 
     A technique that has been used to address these problems is the deployment of advertisements on the web sites of other sponsors or content providers who agree to sponsor the advertisements. A simple advertisement suitable for such deployment takes the form of a graphical banner. Such a banner includes an image related to the product or service being advertised, typically stored as a graphics file (e.g., a “.gif” file), and displayed according to the HTML description of the sponsoring page. A merchant is often required to pay a sponsor of the particular web site an advertising fee for the privilege of deploying its banner on the sponsor&#39;s site. The banner may also be widely distributed or deployed on many sites. However, typical advertising banners involve only one-way communication, and do not take advantage of the Internet&#39;s interactive capabilities which could otherwise be used to solicit data from prospective customers or users for generating purchase orders or leads. 
     To provide demographically-targeted advertising, the advertiser or distributor of the advertising may seek to obtain demographic data on its end users. A common way to acquire demographic data regarding users via the Internet is to request the information using a form written in HTML provided to the user utilizing the Internet. Demographic information obtained this way is often difficult to obtain because users are often unmotivated to fill in forms with information when they do not know who will view the information or for what purpose the information will be used. 
     What is needed are improved techniques for selectively distributing messages to viewers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides techniques for selectively distributing messages to viewers. Specific embodiments provide systems, methods, apparatus and computer program products for distributing messages to viewers based upon information about potential viewers. In specific embodiments, targeted messages are made available to the client machines in response to client message requests by a server that takes the machine and/or user ID provided as part of the client request and queries the database to see if there are any messages pending for that user or that match that user&#39;s profile. Specific embodiments can provide a plurality of messages coupled together to form a campaign. The client can receive the campaign using available bandwidth unused by foreground applications, such as web browsers and the like. 
     In a representative embodiment, the present invention provides a method for displaying information to a user. The method can comprise a variety of steps. For example, a step of detecting occurrence of an event indicating a message is to be displayed by a first application on a client can be part of the method. Further, a step of retrieving content for a first message from a repository at a content server is included in the method. Further, a step of initiating selection of one or more messages to be displayed based upon behavioral information collected and analyzed at the client is also included. Finally, a step of monitoring activity at the client for an opportunity to display a selected message can be performed in accordance with the method. 
     Numerous benefits are achieved by way of the present invention over conventional techniques. Specific embodiments according to the present invention provide capability to identify an audience as narrow or as broad as needed by particular applications. The benefit is that the cost of serving ads (especially larger rich media ads) is dramatically lower than first generation ad networks with their centralized architecture 
     These and other benefits are described throughout the present specification. A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is a schematic diagram of a computer network framework for a network messaging system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 1B  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative network message system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a representative hardware environment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative Continuous Messaging Unit (CMU) server system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of representative display rules in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative hash table in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative campaign list in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram of representative CMU message in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of representative CMU client system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic representation of an illustrative display presented on a visual display in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart of a process for presenting information to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention provides techniques for selectively distributing messages to viewers. Specific embodiments provide systems, methods, apparatus and computer program products for distributing messages to viewers based upon information about potential viewers. In specific embodiments, targeted messages are made available to the client machines in response to client message requests by a server that takes the machine and/or user ID provided as part of the client request and queries the database to see if there are any messages pending for that user or that match that user&#39;s profile. Specific embodiments can provide a plurality of messages coupled together to form a campaign. The client can receive the campaign using available bandwidth unused by foreground applications, such as web browsers and the like. 
     Because first generation ad networks have a centralized architecture, content (e.g., advertisements) is typically distributed from central servers to a user&#39;s browser every time an ad is displayed. Thus, the same ad is distributed from the server several (even millions or billions) of times. The network message system of the present invention allows for more efficiency than such prior art systems. The architecture of the network message system of the present invention may also allow for more flexibility than is possible with server-only ad servers including: 
       FIG. 1A  is a schematic diagram of a computer network framework  100  for a CMU network system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A network  102 , such as for example, a client-server network, a wide area network (e.g., the Internet), or the like, couples together one or more CMU client computers  104 , one or more content server computers  106 , and one or more CMU server computers  108 . 
     CMU client computer  104  may be any type of computer that provides an end-user access to a network. In one embodiment, CMU client computer  104  may be a personal computer running on operating system such as for example, the Microsoft Windows™, Apple Macintosh™, Linux, or UNIX operating systems. CMU client computer  104  may also include a web engine  110 , which can comprise a web browser such as the Microsoft Internet Explorer™ or Netscape Navigator™ in specific embodiments. An end-user utilizing CMU client computer  104  employs web engine  110  for accessing information and web pages stored on various web sites (e.g., content server computers  106 ) coupled to the network  102 . CMU client computer  104  may also include a CMU client system  112  for receiving, processing, and displaying various CMUs received via the network. 
     Content server computer  106  may include web content  114  and a web server  116 . As can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such a content server computer  106  and other server computers in the specific embodiments of the present invention, may be implemented using any appropriately configured computer including, for example server computers available from Sun Microsystems™, the Hewlett-Packard Company™, or International Business Machines™. Web content  114  may include any information accessible via the network, including web pages and the like. In one embodiment, web content  114  may be of the type generally available over the Internet for browsing. For example, a web page of the present invention may include an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) file containing news, maps, coupons, offer for services, directories, for sale merchandize, and other types of information that will attract end-users to the content server computer  106 . The web server  116  may include program code that allows the content server computer  106  to be in communication with the network  102 . 
     The CMU server computer  108  may be any type of computer comprising a web server  120  that is capable of serving information for presentation/display by the CMU client computer  104 . The information may include information of any type, such as, for example, advertising information. CMU server computer  108  may also include a CMU server system  118 , which is in communication with the network  102 . 
       FIG. 1B  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative network message system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The network message system may be utilized for retrieving and displaying messages to users based on a user&#39;s current context and past behavior. It should be understood that in the present description, the various sub-components of each of the components may also be considered components of the framework. For example, particular software modules executed on any component of the system may also be considered components of the system. Installed and running on a CMU client computer  104  coupled to a network  102  (e.g., the Internet) is a CMU client system  112 . The CMU client system  112  may comprise a plurality of components including a retriever  208 , a displayer  210 , a form and login helper  212 . 
     As the user accesses sites coupled to the network  102  (commonly known as “surfing the Internet”) utilizing a web engine  110  (e.g., an Internet browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer) installed and running on the CMU client computer  104 , from one site or domain (e.g., www.yahoo.com) to another (e.g., www.amazon.com), the retriever  208  sends a request  216  to a CMU server computer  108  via the network  102 . The request  216  may contain at least two pieces of information: a unique customer ID of the user (i.e., a user ID)  220  and a current domain being entered by the user (i.e., a machine ID)  222 . 
     The CMU server computer  108  receives the request  216  from the retriever  208  and performs a check to determine if there are any messages pending for the specified domain  222 . If it is determined that there are messages associated with the specified domain, then the CMU server computer  108  queries an historical-based targeting database  224  to determine if there are any specific messages pending for this domain  222  for this specific user  220 . If there are, then the specific message(s)  226  is returned to the retriever  208  on the user&#39;s CMU client computer  104 . 
     It should be noted that in one embodiment, that the message(s)  226  may include two components: a block of in-context rules  228  and the content  230  that makes up the portion of the message presented to the user. The in-context rules  228  may dictate the circumstances in which the message content  230  is displayed to the user. Some illustrative examples of some in-context rules include: (1) domains at which the retrieved messages should be presented to the user; (2) specific web pages at which the retrieved messages should be presented to the user; (3) URL substrings that, should they be found in the current URL, will cause the message to be presented; and (4) time and date information. 
     Also, the rules  228  may include/reference almost any kind of relevant information, such as, for example, specific known attributes about the user like frequent flyer affiliation, club memberships, type of credit card used, hobbies and interests, basic demographic information (gender, age, income, etc.). The content  230  may also include standard HTML, including text, images, figures, colors, etc., sound files that will automatically play upon display of the message, and other types of multi-media files/content. 
     Upon receiving the message  226  from the CMU server computer  108 , the retriever  208  may store the message in a local cache  232  for subsequent presentation. As the user continues to surf from page to page, a context watcher  234  may examine the user&#39;s context (e.g., URL, date/time, etc.) and look for messages stored in the local cache  232  with in-context rules that match. Upon a match being found, the displayer  210  or the form and login helper  212  present for display the matching message. 
     In one embodiment, the message cache  232  may buffer messages received from message system server  108 . This enables the client computer  104  to have several messages at any given time. For example, the message cache  232  may contain a message relating to a current web site or web page the user is visiting and additional messages relating to similar web sites or web pages. As an illustration, the message cache  232  may contain a message relating to books when the end-user is browsing the catalog of an on-line bookstore, and additional messages relating to movies that may also be available from that on-line bookstore. This way, a message relating to movies can be routed to the appropriate presentation format module as soon as the user navigates to a movies-related web page. 
     In one embodiment, the displayer  210  may open an independent window on a visual display coupled to the user (i.e., the user&#39;s screen) that presents/displays the message content  230 . As another option, the message content  230  may be presented in a small window that is appended to the form and login helper  212 . The specific vehicle to use may be identified as an attribute  236  embedded in the message  226  and selected during creation of the message. 
     As an option, the message  226  may include one or more expiration dates  238  that may be used to ensure that a message is not presented after the appropriate time/date. This date  238  may also be monitored by the cache  232  and used to remove expired messages from the client machine. As a further option, the message may also include priority information  240  that may be used when to determine the priority of the message over other messages that are to be presented to the user. 
     In another embodiment, messages  226  may be available on the CMU server computer  108  that are to be presented to any user that satisfies the appropriate context rule  228 . Such messages may then be delivered to the CMU client computer  104  by the retriever  208  without requiring matching historical-based profile in the targeting database  224 . In one embodiment, the client computer  104  and/or the server  108  may include a data store  242  of user preferences, profile and historical information about the user for use in determining whether a rule has been satisfied. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the network message system may be utilized to deliver various messages/content such as, for example, Internet banner advertising technology. The following portions of the specification discuss various components that may be utilized in the network message system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. 
     As previously mentioned, a message for the network message system may include two parts or portions: (1) a rules file  228  and (2) content/media  230  for presentation. The rules file  228  may contain the information utilized by the client to determine when and where to display the associated content/media. Some illustrative rule file attributes may include: the type of message; a list of the media and sizes for the particular message; timing information (beginning and ending dates, frequency information, etc.); triggers that indicate where the campaign should be started; and triggers that indicate where the content should be displayed. 
     The content/media  230  for presentation may comprise Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), image, and/or other types of multi-media files. In one embodiment, the content may also include one or more industry-standard image files representing a display size currently used for banners. However, it should be understood that the content need not be limited to standard image files and may include various types of rich media (Flash, video, audio, etc.). 
     A message campaign, or flight of messages, may be activated on a client based on the tripping of one of the specified triggers. In other words, the messages may not be presented until one of the specified triggers is hit (unless modeling and/or with historical targeting is utilized). In one embodiment, a set of triggers may be defined as a set of Uniform Resource Locators (URL&#39;s). The set of URL&#39;s may also be combined with search strings. In particular, URL masks may be used for working with search engine queries. For example, there is a standard search URL template for use with the Yahoo search engine. A user may insert a key word of interest (like “Laser” or “Sony” or “DVD”) into this template to define a trigger. 
     A trigger is tripped when the user navigates to a page that maps to one of the trigger rules. As an option, no trigger may need to be tripped in an embodiment of the present invention where historical targeting and/or modeling is utilized to present messages and content to a user. In general, a trigger is a condition that, when satisfied, instructs client system  112  to take an action (such as, for example, show a message to the user). One type of trigger may be a URL. When the URL of interest is observed, the specified action is taken. When a trigger is tripped, the content for a first message specified in the rule file is retrieved from a message server and the message campaign is activated. One way to look at this activation trigger list is to view it as a mechanism for doing “real time targeting.” In other words, users may be selected and targeted for message campaigns based on specific behaviors, without necessarily having had the corresponding behavioral information sent to the message server for processing. This allows fast response to observed behaviors of the user. This approach also may be useful for tightening privacy policy so that detailed behavioral information (including navigation information) does not have to be transmitted via a network to the message server. Once the media to be presented has been retrieved, the client may begin to determine when to present the message. 
     In one embodiment, a client may present a message when all of following criteria have been met: (1) when the message campaign has been activated (as described above); (2) when the client detects an HTML image (which may also be referred to as the original image) request for an image with a size matching that of the message client system; (3) the server&#39;s domain name from which the original image is being requested is not included in an exclude list of the message server system; (4) the domain of the current web page is included either in a specified global domain inclusion list or on a private domain inclusion list of the message; and/or (5) the domain of the current web page is not on a private domain exclusion list of the message. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of a representative computer system in a specific embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated by  FIG. 2 , a computing system  200  can embody one or more of the elements illustrated by  FIG. 2  in various specific embodiments of the present invention. While other application-specific alternatives might be utilized, it will be presumed for clarity sake that the elements comprising the computer system  200  are implemented in hardware, software or some combination thereof by one or more processing systems consistent therewith, unless otherwise indicated. 
     Computer system  200  comprises elements coupled via communication channels (e.g. bus  290 ) including one or more general or special purpose processors  270 , such as a Pentium® or Power PC®, digital signal processor (“DSP”), and the like. System  200  elements also include one or more input devices  272  (such as a mouse, keyboard, microphone, pen, and the like), and one or more output devices  274 , such as a suitable display, speakers, actuators, and the like, in accordance with a particular application. System  200  also includes a computer readable storage media reader  276  coupled to a computer readable storage medium  278 , such as a storage/memory device or hard or removable storage/memory media; such devices or media are further indicated separately as storage device  282  and memory  284 , which can include hard disk variants, floppy/compact disk variants, digital versatile disk (“DVD”) variants, smart cards, read only memory, random access memory, cache memory, and the like, in accordance with a particular application. One or more suitable communication interfaces  280  can also be included, such as a modem, DSL, infrared or other suitable transceiver, and the like for providing inter-device communication directly or via one or more suitable private or public networks that can include but are not limited to those already discussed. 
     Working memory  284  further includes operating system (“OS”) elements  292  and other programs  294 , such as application programs, mobile code, data, and the like for implementing system  200  elements that might be stored or loaded therein during use. The particular OS can vary in accordance with a particular device, features or other aspects in accordance with a particular application (e.g. Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix or Palm OS variants, a proprietary OS, and the like). Various programming languages or other tools can also be utilized, such as known by those skilled in the art. As will be discussed, embodiments can also include a network client such as a browser or email client, e.g. as produced by Netscape, Microsoft or others, a mobile code executor such as a Java Virtual Machine (“JVM”), and an application program interface (“API”), such as a Microsoft Windows compatible API. (Embodiments might also be implemented in conjunction with a resident application or combination of mobile code and resident application components.) 
     One or more system  200  elements can also be implemented in hardware, software or a suitable combination. When implemented in software (e.g. as an application program, object, downloadable servlet, and the like in whole or part), a system  200  element can be communicated transitionally or more persistently from local or remote storage to memory (or cache memory, and the like) for execution, or another suitable mechanism can be utilized, and elements can be implemented in compiled or interpretive form. Input, intermediate or resulting data or functional elements can further reside more transitionally or more persistently in a storage media, cache or more persistent volatile or non-volatile memory, (e.g. storage device  282  or memory  284 ) in accordance with a particular application. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of various functional aspects of an illustrative CMU server system  118  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The functional blocks of the CMU server system  118  illustrated by  FIG. 3  can be implemented in hardware, software or a suitable combination, thereof. In specific embodiments, the CMU server system  118  comprises CMU content  302 , CMU initiation triggers  304 , CMU display rules  306 , a hash table  308 , CMU campaign list(s)  310 , a CMU controller  312 , a shared URL history store  314 , and a communication engine  316 . Other functional aspects may also be included in the CMU server system  118  in some embodiments. Further, not all specific embodiments will include each functional aspect depicted by  FIG. 3 . 
     In specific embodiments, CMU content  302  comprises a variety of content that can be used to craft the message(s)  226 . Content  302  can include advertising information, coupons, calls-to-action, images, multimedia objects, and the like. CMU initiation triggers  304  comprise a variety of triggering events that can be detected to initiate detection of a context appropriate for displaying a message  226 . In specific embodiments, the triggers can be URLs of web pages, for example. CMU display rules  306  provide information on a variety of contexts that can be sensed for and, when detected, initiate the display of a message  226 . 
     As described herein above, message(s)  226  include two components: a block of in-context rules  228  and the content  230  that makes up the portion of the message presented to the user. Accordingly, the message(s)  226  may be built by the CMU server system  118  using the CMU content  302  and the CMU display rules  306 . The in-context rules  228 , which dictate the circumstances in which the message content  230  is displayed to the user, can be drawn from the CMU display rules  306 . Some illustrative examples of some rules include: (1) domains at which the retrieved messages should be presented to the user; (2) specific web pages at which the retrieved messages should be presented to the user; (3) URL substrings that, should they be found in the current URL, will cause the message to be presented; and (4) time and date information. Also, the CMU display rules  306  may include/reference almost any kind of relevant information, such as, for example, specific known attributes about the user like frequent flyer affiliation, club memberships, type of credit card used, hobbies and interests, basic demographic information (gender, age, income, etc.). The content  302  may also include standard HTML, including text, images, figures, colors, etc., sound files that will automatically play upon display of the message, and other types of multi-media files/content. 
     The hash table  308  enables minimization of unproductive server requests as will be described in further detail with reference to  FIG. 5  below. 
     The CMU campaign list(s)  310  provides a repository for storing campaigns, or flights of messages. A message campaign may be activated on a client based on the tripping of one of the specified triggers associated with the campaign. A system administrator or other authorized user can define message campaigns to the system for storage in the CMU campaign list  310 . The campaigns can be sent to targeted users&#39; client machines in accordance with specific embodiments of the present invention. 
     The CMU server  118  also includes a shared URL history store  314 . In some embodiments, users may be targeted to receive CMUs based on their historical profile. Historical-based targeting can be used to select users based on behaviors and/or attributes. For example, users may be selected based upon navigation behavior, including domains visited, number of pages viewed, time spent at sites, etc. This behavior can also include the viewing of any previously tagged page using a “blind trigger.” A blind trigger is created by setting triggers for pages to be tracked without the user seeing any activity (hence the word “blind”). For example, say it is desirable to know how many people bought something at FOO.com. Accordingly, a blind trigger is set to observe navigations to the receipt page. The number of times the user visits can be totaled over the period of time for which the blind trigger is set. In specific embodiments, the user would not see any feedback that this is occurring. Other historical targeting factors include a ZIP code, a click-through frequency on previously viewed coupons/messages, an affiliate ID code or type of a co-brand, a number of weeks for which user has been active, and the like. 
     The CMU server  118  further includes a communication engine  316  that provides communications with one or more CMU client computers  104  over the network  102 . The CMU controller  312  coordinates the activities of each of the component processes within the CMU server system  118 . 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of representative display rules in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. CMU display rules  306  can be used to control the presentation, timing and organization of messages, including advertising, at the CMU client computer  104 . CMU display rules  306  includes a global include list  402 . The global include list  402  provides sites for which all campaigns may be displayed. A local include list  404  provides sites for which specific campaigns may be displayed. A global exclude list  406  provides sites for which no campaigns may be displayed. A local exclude list  408  provides sites for which specific campaigns may not be displayed. An advertisement exclude list  410  identifies advertisers over who&#39;s advertisements CMUs will not display. Finally, priority rules  412  may be used in cases where multiple campaigns are triggered to determine the priority of display for the campaigns. 
     The client will display a campaign when all of the following criteria have been met: (1) It has been activated as described above; (2) The client observes an HTML image (referred to as the original image) request for an image that is compatible with that of the campaign (i.e., same size, etc.); (3) The server&#39;s domain name from which the original image is being requested is not on the ad server exclude list  410 ; (4) The domain of the current web page is on either the specified global domain inclusion list  402  or on the CMU&#39;s private domain inclusion list  404 ; (5) The domain of the current web page is not on the CMU&#39;s private domain exclusion list  408 . Other aspects controlling display of messages may also be included in the CMU display rules  306  in some embodiments. Further, not all specific embodiments will include each functional aspect depicted by  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative hash table  308  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A client initiates requests for messages as the user enters Internet domains utilizing an Internet browser running on the client. In one embodiment, minimization of unproductive server requests may be accomplished through the use of the client hash table  308 . In such an embodiment, the hash table may provide the information needed for the client to determine whether or not messages are available  502  for use at a given domain  504 . In other words, the client may first look up a domain in the hash table before transmitting a request to the server via the network. In one embodiment, server requests may be made for those domains that have an entry in the hash table. Also, each client may also periodically check (i.e., transmit a server request) for an updated version of the hash table. 
     Once the client has established that there are messages available for the current domain, the client may then make a request to the server for the available message units. Information included in this request may includes: (1) a machine ID identifying the client machine; (2) a user ID identifying the user; (3) the local time; (4) a domain for which the messages are being requested; and (5) a list of the locally cached messages previously retrieved for this domain—each entry in this list may also include the message ID and version number. 
     In response to the server request, the client receives a list of rule files to retrieve from the rule file store  306  of the CMU server system  118 . The client may then retrieve each of those files in the list. 
     Once a rule file has been retrieved from the server  118 , the client may then make a request to retrieve the content for the first image in the content list. As an option, when retrieving large content files such as, for example, certain types of rich media, the content may be transmitted to the client via a trickling process that consumes relatively little ongoing bandwidth. 
     As the user navigates to each web page utilizing an Internet browser, the client may take the current URL and look for trigger matches in the list of locally cached rule files. When a match is found, the client may then present the previously fetched content. In one embodiment, if more than one match is found, then the message with the highest priority may be chosen. After presenting the message content, the client may check to see if there are other content/images associated with the current message&#39;s rule file. If so, the next image in the list may then be retrieved and cached locally. This content/image may then be presented when the next qualifying trigger situation is observed. 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative campaign list in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of messages can be stored in the CMU campaign list(s)  310  as shown by  FIG. 6 . A message campaign  226  may be activated on a client based on the tripping of one of the specified triggers associated with the campaign. A system administrator or other authorized user can define message campaigns to the system for storage in the CMU campaign list  310 . The campaigns can be sent to targeted user&#39;s client machines in accordance with specific embodiments of the present invention. 
       FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram of representative CMU message in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As previously mentioned, a message for the network message system may include: (1) a rules file and (2) content/media for presentation. In one specific embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 7 , the message  226  comprises content  230 , which makes up the portion of the message presented to the user and CMU display rules  228 , which may dictate the circumstances in which the message content  230  is displayed to the user. In specific embodiments, message  226  can also include optional expiration information  238  and optional priority information  240 . 
     The content  230  may include Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), text, images, figures, colors, sound files that will automatically play upon display of the message, and other types of multi-media files/content. In one embodiment, the content may also include one or more industry-standard image files representing a display size currently used for banners. However, it should be understood that the content  230  need not be limited to standard image files and may include various types of rich media, such as Flash, video, audio, and the like. 
     Some illustrative examples of some rules  228  include: (1) domains at which the retrieved messages should be presented to the user; (2) specific web pages at which the retrieved messages should be presented to the user; (3) URL substrings that, should they be found in the current URL, will cause the message to be presented; and (4) time and date information. Also, the rules  228  may include/reference almost any kind of relevant information, such as, for example, specific known attributes about the user like frequent flyer affiliation, club memberships, type of credit card used, hobbies and interests, basic demographic information, such as gender, age, income, and the like. The message  226  may contain the information utilized by the client to determine when and where to display the associated content/media, called display attributes  236 . Additional illustrative rules  228  include: the type of message; a list of the media and sizes for the particular message; timing information, such as beginning and ending dates, frequency information, and the like. Triggers  244  can indicate where the campaign should be started, called initiation triggers, and triggers that indicate where the content should be displayed. 
       FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of representative CMU client system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The CMU client system  112  may comprise a plurality of components including a CMU campaign list retriever  808 , a CMU message prefetcher  806 , a CMU triggering engine  804 , a hash table controller  802 , a display engine  810 , a cache  812 , a cache cleanup engine  814 , user preferences  816 , private URL history store  818 , and communications engine  820 . 
     The CMU campaign list retriever  808  can perform a check for updates from the CMU server system  118 . The check can be performed daily, for example, in specific embodiments. In a specific embodiment, the CMU retriever  808  performs the update by sending a request  216  to a CMU server computer  108  via the network  102 . The request  216  may contain at least two pieces of information: a unique customer ID of the user (i.e., a user ID)  220  and a current domain being entered by the user (i.e., a machine ID)  222 . 
     The CMU server computer  108  receives the request  216  from the retriever  808  and performs a check to determine if there are any messages pending for the specified domain  222 . If it is determined that there are messages associated with the specified domain, then the CMU server computer  108  queries an historical-based targeting database  224  to determine if there are any specific messages pending for this domain  222  for this specific user  220 . If there are, then the specific message(s)  226  is returned to the retriever  808  on the user&#39;s CMU client computer  104 . 
     The CMU message prefetcher  806  obtains CMU messages when there is available bandwidth. The messages can be stored in the cache  812  for later display. A cache cleanup engine  814  performs cleanup of campaigns that have expired. The CMU triggering engine  804  may examine the user&#39;s context (e.g., URL, date/time, etc.) and look for messages stored in the local cache  812  with in-context rules that match. Upon a match being found, the matching message may be presented for display by the display engine  810 . The hash table controller  802  performs a check for updates to the hash table. This check can be made daily, for example, in a particular embodiment. 
     The user preferences  816  include preferences for positioning CMUs for display to the user, and preferences controlling delay time for display of CMUs. The private URL history store  818 , keeps a file of URLs visited by users of the client. In specific embodiments, URL history store  818  resides on the client machine to protect privacy of the user. The communications engine  820  controls communications between CMU client  112  and other computers on the network  102 . 
       FIG. 9  is a schematic representation of an illustrative display presented on a visual display by the displayer  210  on a user&#39;s client computer  104 . In one embodiment, the client may present the message in an overlapping window (or frame) such as, for example, a pop-up window  900 , that is created by the client for that purpose. In a preferred embodiment, this frame is displayed by an application (i.e., the message client system) running on the client separate from a browser application  902  (e.g., Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer) running on the client  104 . In an embodiment of the present invention, the message window may include one or more of the following attributes: (1) the message window may be re-positionable by the user (e.g., the user may be able to move the message window around within a client area of the browser by drag and drop techniques); (2) the message window may have a close box or button  904  (e.g., such as the type positioned in the upper right hand comer of a Microsoft Windows application window) for selectably closing the message window which may be positioned in the upper right corner; (3) the message window may also include access controls for presenting information about the message, message client system, and/or related user preferences to the user (e.g., such as the “?” button displayed in a Microsoft Windows application window); (4) branding information; (5) tracking the position of the message window relative to the origin of the client area of the browser window so that the message window can maintain its relative position as the user scrolls, resizes or moves the browser window; (6) a save control feature  906  that allows a user to save a presented message for future reference; and/or (7) features for forwarding the message via the network and printing image portion(s) of the message. 
     As an option, one or more preferences may be available to the user for customizing the behavior of messages presented on their particular client. As an illustrative example, the user may be permitted to set preferences related to the position at which the message window is displayed and the delay (if any) between the completion of the loading of the web page and the display of the message. As a further option, the delay time may also be used to rotate the user through multiple messages per page displayed on the browser application if the user spends sufficient time at those pages displayed on the browser application. 
     The following examples are provided merely to illustrate representative positioning preference features such as the type described above: the message window position can be configured by the user to be displayed at an upper left comer of the browser window, directly over the browser window, or at a center region of the visual display of the client computer. For illustrative purposes, the following examples are provided merely to illustrate a presentation delay preference feature such as the type as described above: display of the message in the message window immediately after a web page has been completely loaded by the browser application, 1.5 seconds after the web page has been completely loaded by the browser application, and/or a user specified number of seconds after the web page has been loaded. 
     As new messaging campaigns are entered into the network message system, they are queued up for publishing. The message campaigns in the queue are then processed as follows. First, the domains of the URL triggers in each message are extracted and a domain list is compiled from the extracted domains. Next, the resulting domain list is used to update a client hash table. This trigger information is then sent to the message system server and used by the message system server to respond to client requests for messages. The rule file information is then extracted and sent to the message server system and message content is retrieved from the message system server. This process is repeated until the publishing queue is cleared of pending message/message campaigns. 
     Published campaigns are distributed to client machines via the message system server. The message system server may also distribute the following information throughout the network message system: (1) client hash table; (2) rule file lists; (3) rule files; and message related content. In one embodiment, the hash table may be updated each time the publishing process is performed (e.g., if no new message/domain combinations are added and none are taken away then the hash table can remain unchanged). 
     A list of rule files are transmitted via the network to the client by the server in response to a request by the client. Client requests may be made by the client machine&#39;s user as the user navigates into various domains via the browser application. As part of the request, the server may be provided information such as, for example, the user&#39;s current domain and a list of rule files (for the current domain) already residing on the client machine. 
     Next, the server then finds messages that can be used at the current domain. The file names for each message are added to the file store  306 . Each list entry also contains an action code that indicates an action the client should take for that entry. These actions may include, for example: (1) Add—add the specified message to the client&#39;s local cache; (2) Delete—remove the specified message from the client&#39;s local cache; and (3) Update—update the specified message in the client&#39;s cache. Rule files and message related content typically may be delivered to the client using standard web-serving technology. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a flowchart of the representative processing in a specific embodiment of the present invention. As shown, an example process for displaying information to a user comprises: detecting ( 1002 ) occurrence of an event indicating a message is to be displayed by a first application on a client; retrieving ( 1004 ) content for a first message from a repository at a content server; initiating ( 1006 ) selection of one or more messages to be displayed based upon behavioral information collected and analyzed at the client; and monitoring ( 1008 ) activity at the client for an opportunity to display a selected message. 
     While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.