Patent ID: 7360210

Claim:
A method comprising: operating an intermediation system within an HTTP communication path between a content server and a client station; maintaining at the intermediation system default intermediation logic that defines intermediation triggers and intermediation actions; receiving into the intermediation system an HTTP message that is passing along the HTTP communication path; and carrying out at the intermediation system the functions of: (i) detecting an intermediation-variance instruction within the HTTP message, (ii) in response to the intermediation-variance instruction, varying the default intermediation logic so as to establish variant intermediation logic, wherein varying the default intermediation logic comprises adding at least one intermediation action to the intermediation actions and wherein the at least one intermediation action comprises embellishing web content that is being sent from the content server to the client station, to insert into the web content an indication of a price for hyperlinked content, (iii) applying the variant intermediation logic to at least the HTTP message, and (iv) stripping the intermediation-variance instruction from the HTTP message before sending the HTTP message along the HTTP communication path.