Patent ID: 8146001

Claim:
A method for downloading to a recipient's electronic mail (e-mail) receiving device an e-mail message along with an advertisement, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving at a server servicing the recipient e-mail messages from a network which is connected at least periodically to a Wide Area Network or Internet and storing said received e-mail messages in the recipient's private mailbox; (b) the server, in response to receiving a send list signal from the recipient's e-mail receiving device indicating that the recipient wishes to view a summary list of brief headers of said stored e-mail messages in the recipient's private mailbox, downloading the summary list of brief headers of said stored e-mail messages to the recipient's e-mail receiving device; and (c) the server, in response to receiving a selection signal from the recipient's e-mail receiving device indicating that the recipient wishes to read a specific one of said e-mail messages stored in said private mailbox, selecting from said stored e-mail messages an e-mail message which relates to the selection signal received from the recipient's e-mail receiving device, selecting an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements stored in an associate database, and downloading said selected e-mail message to the recipient's e-mail receiving device and inserting said selected advertisement into said e-mail message as it is downloaded to said e-mail receiving device of the recipient.