Patent ID: 7051073

Claim:
A method in a network of data processing systems for optimizing the efficiency with which a serial electronic publication is distributed to subscribers, said method comprising: electronically transmitting a first issue of a serial electronic publication to a receiving device of a subscriber, wherein said step of transmitting said first issue comprises transmitting a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) cookie to said subscriber with said first issue; determining whether said first issue has been received and opened by a user of the subscriber's receiving device, wherein said step of determining whether said first issue has been opened comprises receiving a status update from said client data processing system indicating that said first issue has been opened by a user of the data processing system, and wherein said status update is a cookie response from said subscriber indicating that client software has been utilized to open said first issue; and electronically transmitting a second issue of said serial electronic publication to said subscriber only after determining that said first issue has opened.