Abstract
An advertisement system for use in cyber cafe to advertise a product comprising number of personal computers connected to server, in LAN, having access to Internet, the said personal computers are installed with a software written in visual basic with Microsoft web browser control on a form and using the time control which governs in second form for display of advertisement in such a manner that in normal circumstances the advertisement window is hidden and refreshable or at set period whichever later the advertisement window made is visible; the said sever consists of a data base., developed using Microsoft access, with information regarding advertisement details, display statistics, and locations; a mechanism to display appropriate advertisement is programmed in active server pages(ASP)and location code passed as a parameter to the said active server page is structured query language (SQL)and active data objects.
Specification
FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT ,1970 (39 OF 1970)
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (SEE SECTION 10)
Title of invention : An advertising system to use in cyber cafe
Name and address of applicant: ADDCUSTOMERSONLINE PVT.LTD.
24, Alishaan complex, Stadium Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, Indian.
following specification (particularly) describes the nature of the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
This invention relates an advertisement system to use in cyber cafe. More particularly a system to show the clients of cyber cafe an advertisement for particular period of time without control over the same by such clients while surfing internet.
The advertisement is an important tool in marketing management. The product is made popular only by means of its display in various media, such as news paper, magazines, display in other forms like hoarding banners in the prominent locations of the city and villages by means of display boards, slide and films display in cinema halls, advertisement in television, and internet sites. Now a days due to internet technology revolution cyber cafes have come up in many cities. It is also a place where more number of educated persons visit for internet access. The advertisement on the personal computer of such cyber cafe will also make novel products more popular and more effective for boosting sales.
It is the object of present invention to provide an advertisement system to be used in cyber cafes to advertise on inter net sites periodically without control of user to remove such advertisement.
It is also the object the present invention to provide an advertisement system for use in cyber cafes to show advertisements from the Internet without the user having the ability to delete such advertisements and access the said advertiser's web site by clicking on the advertisement.
Accordingly, the present invention provides and advertisement system to advertise a product in cyber cafes comprising a number of personal computers connected to a LAN and having access to the Internet. The said personal computers are installed with a software written in Visual Basic and using the web browser control on a form and a timer control on a second form which govern the display of the advertisement in a manner that in normal circumstances the advertisement window is hidden and refreshable at a set period. Later die said window is made visible. The said server consists of a database developed using Microsoft Access containing information regarding the asdvertisement details, display statistics and locations. A mechanism to display the appropriate advertisement is programmed using active server pages (ASP), structured query languages (SQL) and Active Data Objects (ADO) and a location code passed as a parameter to the said active server pages.
THE DETAILS OF INVENTION
A software program is developed that will enable the owner of cyber cafe to show advertisements to users of cyber cafes. In the cyber cafe a number of personal computers are installed and connected to the server with LAN system. The software consists of client side and server side components.
Client Component (The Cyber Traffic Client)
The client side component is installed on a PC and will periodically retrieve an advertisement from the server and display it on the PC's screen. The advertisement should be displayed for a period of time specified on the server. During the time (typically 8 seconds) that the advertisement is on the screen on the PC, the user of that PC will not be able to dismiss/close/hide the advertisement window. Each client location will have a unique serial number assigned to it so that the company can control which ad is shown at which location. The serial number should be stored in the registry of the PC. When the PC connects to the Internet, the client software submits its serial number so that the server component can determine the appropriate ad (or list of ads to be shown). The server component then serves a page containing the ad for that specified location. The client software men takes control of the display and shows the ad and keeps it on the screen for a period of 8 seconds. The window automatically closes at the end of this period. The software then relinquishes control on the screen and then waits for a period of 15 minutes. The process is then repeated . The program also provides a facility to direct the user to an advertiser's web page by opening a new web browser window when the user of the PC clicks on the advertisement.
The advertisement could be static or dynamic, either using animated GIF files or using animations created by Macromedia's Flash software.
Technical Details: The client side software is written as a Visual Basic program that is installed on the client computer. The advertisement is shown using the Microsoft Web Browser control that is placed on a form. A second form, using the Timer control governs when an advertisement is shown. Under normal circumstances the advertisement window is hidden and then refreshed. As soon as the refresh process is complete, or at the end of fifteen minutes, whichever is later the advertisement window is made visible. The advertisement window programming is done using Windows API (application program interface) calls such that the advertisement window cannot be hidden behind area of other windows, i.e. it always stays on top. When the program is started for the first time it prompts for a location code (assigned by the company) which is then stored in the registry of the computer. When the program requests an advertisement page the location code must be provided as a parameter.
Server Component (The Cyber Traffic Manager)
The server side component consists of a database that will contain the following information so that appropriate details about the number of advertisements shown can be provided to business partners.
1. Advertisement details.
a) Client name
b) Path to ad picture
c) Zone for which the ad is to be shown
d) Starting date
e) Ending date
f) Redirect URL(uniform resource locator)
g) Click through
2. Display statistics
a) Display location
b) Advertisement
c) Date and time of display
3. Locations
a) Location name
b) Address
The client request will contain its location and zone. Based on this location die server will choose from a list of ads to be shown at this location. The server then updates the display statistics for that ad and then builds an HTML page that is sent to the client for display. If the user clicks an advertisement, that is also recorded in the database.
Technical Details. The database that holds all the information mentioned above is developed using Microsoft Access. The mechanism to show the appropriate advertisements is programmed using Active Server Pages (ASP). The location code passed as a parameter to the ASP page is used to query the database, using Structured Query Language (SQL) and Active Data Objects (ADO), to obtain a list of possible advertisements that can be shown at that location. The ASP code then uses a random number generator to determine which advertisement should be shown at random or all die possible advertisements that can be shown at that location. The ASP code will then build appropriate HTML including the URL to which the user should be redirected if he/she clicks on the advertisement.
In case the user clicks the advertisement, the database is updated to reflect the total number of users who clicked the advertisement, again using ASP. The user is then redirected to the specified URL by opening a new Internet Explorer window.
The pages will be hosted on a web server that support ASP code. A Data Source Name (DSN) will be created on the server and the database will be accessed using Active Data Objects. Data can be periodically downloaded from the server and reports generated using Access. These reports can be provided to appropriate people. When the data requirements and traffic on the site increases, the pages will be moved to a dedicated/co-located server and the database upsized from Access to Microsoft's SQL Server.
We claim :-
1. An Advertisement system to advertise a product in cyber cafts comprising a number of personal computers connected to a LAN and having access to the Internet, the said personal computers are installed with a software written in visual basic and using the web browser control on a form and a timer control on a second form which govern the display of the advertisement in a manner that in normal circumstances the advertisement window is hidden and refreshable at a set period, later the said window is made visible, the said server consists of a database developed using Microsoft Access containing information regarding the advertisement details, display statistics and locations, mechanism to display the appropriate advertisement is programmed using active server pages (ASP), structured query language (SOL) and Active Data Objects (ADO) and a location code passed as a parameter to the said active server pages.
2. a system as claimed in claim 1 where in the advertising window programming utilizes windows API calls.
3. A system as claimed in claims 1 & 2 where in the said ASP code will build appropriate HTML including URL to which user is to be directed if he/she clicks on the advertisement.
Dated this 15th day of January, 2001.
KAYSER & COMPANY APPLICANTS' ATTORNEYS.
