Patent ID: 7546625

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing information used to control serving of a set of one or more advertisements, the information including a time period over which the set of one or more ads may be served, wherein said time period is specified by an accepted start time input and an accepted stop time input, the method comprising: a) accepting a selection input for identifying at least a portion of the information; b) accepting a pause input, from an advertiser, which is different from the accepted start time and stop time inputs, which sets a pause indicator for the one or more advertisements associated with the portion of the information identified by the selection input, and which sets a pause time period; c) updating the information based on the accepted selection input and the accepted pause input; d) storing the updated information; e) pausing, within said time period, the serving of the one or more ads associated with a set pause indicator in response to the accepted pause input, such that the one or more ads paused will not be served within the time period specified by the accepted start time and stop time inputs, f) accepting a signal indicting the expiration of the set pause time period which is different from the accepted start time and stop time inputs, and which resets the pause indicator for the one or more advertisements associated with the portion of the information identified by the selection input; g) further updating the information based on the accepted signal indicating the expiration of the set pause time period; h) storing the further updated information based on the accepted signal indicating the expiration of the set pause time periods; and i) restarting, within said time period, the serving of one or more ads associated with a reset pause indicator in response to the accepted signal indicating the expiration of the set pause time period, such that the one or more ads restarted will be eligible to be served within the time period specified by the accepted start time and stop time inputs, wherein the pausing of the serving of one or more ads associated with the set pause indicator is independent of whether or not the one or more ads may otherwise be served by an ad system within the time period specified by the accepted start time and stop time inputs.