Patent ID: 7657560

Claim:
A computer system, comprising: memory; and software adapted to cause the computer system to store a plurality of links to respective digital information blocks; to store for each link, a bid amount that the computer system associates with that link, and to store for each link, at least one identifier that the computer system associates with that link, wherein the at least one identifier identifies a characteristic pertaining to the respective digital information block for that link; wherein each digital information block is under the control of an individual one of a plurality of second users of one or more second computers; wherein each of the links is a reference to a single one of the digital information blocks; wherein the computer system has received the at least one identifier to be associated with each particular link from the respective second user controlling the digital information block associated with that particular link; wherein the computer system has received the bid amount to be associated with each particular link from the respective second user controlling the digital information block associated with that particular link; wherein the computer system supplies a third computer of a third user a list of links and wherein the list of links is ordered by the computer system, responsive to the software and to at least the bid amounts associated with the links; and wherein the computer system configures the list of links to give the third user the ability to select any one of the links and, by using the selected link, to download the digital information block associated with the selected link, for viewing data contained therein.