U.S. patent application number 12/250051 was filed with the patent office on 2009-02-12 for system and method for stepped loading of web page content.
This patent application is currently assigned to American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.. Invention is credited to Jerome Anthony Cohen, Jr., Mark Thomas Griffith, Jeffrey J. Harouche, Viswanathan L. Iyer, Keshav Aswathnarayana Narsipur, Shashikant Anand Rao, Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Suriya.
Application Number | 20090043727 12/250051 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40000831 |
Filed Date | 2009-02-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090043727 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Cohen, Jr.; Jerome Anthony ;
et al. |
February 12, 2009 |
System and Method for Stepped Loading of Web Page Content
Abstract
A system and method for integrating customized content with the
main content of a Web page where the customized content is
generated after the main content has been loaded within a browser
application of a client computer is disclosed. The system and
method of the present invention maintains information relating to
the main content of a Web page in a memory cache which is then used
to locate offer content that is relevant to the main Web page
content. The offer content may then be transmitted to the client
computer where it is integrated with pre-loaded main content within
a Web page.
Inventors: |
Cohen, Jr.; Jerome Anthony;
(Phoenix, AZ) ; Griffith; Mark Thomas; (New York,
NY) ; Harouche; Jeffrey J.; (Great Neck, NY) ;
Rao; Shashikant Anand; (Glendale, AZ) ; Iyer;
Viswanathan L.; (Nerul (East) Mumbai, IN) ; Narsipur;
Keshav Aswathnarayana; (Phoenix, AZ) ; Suriya; Abdul
Rahim Abdul Razak; (Puni, Maharashtra, IN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. (AMEX)
ONE ARIZONA CENTER, 400 E. VAN BUREN STREET
PHOENIX
AZ
85004-2202
US
|
Assignee: |
American Express Travel Related
Services Company, Inc.
New York
NY
|
Family ID: |
40000831 |
Appl. No.: |
12/250051 |
Filed: |
October 13, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10907635 |
Apr 8, 2005 |
7454434 |
|
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12250051 |
|
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60522464 |
Oct 4, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.001; 707/999.104; 707/E17.001; 707/E17.044 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/9574 20190101;
Y10S 707/99943 20130101; Y10S 707/99945 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/1 ;
707/104.1; 707/E17.001; 707/E17.044 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating integration of
primary content and subsequent integration of secondary content
within a single web page, said method including: transmitting, from
a first computer to a second computer, a request for said primary
content from said second computer, wherein said second computer
retrieves said primary content from a first data source, performs
an analysis of transaction data including financial transactions
and travel transactions relating to an originator of said request,
and formulates a parameter based on said primary content and said
analysis; receiving, at said first computer, said primary content;
displaying, at said first computer, said primary content;
receiving, at said first computer, said secondary content from said
second computer, wherein said secondary content is retrieved by
said second computer based on said parameter; arranging said
secondary content within said primary content; and, displaying said
secondary content within said primary content.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said primary content is stored
within a memory cache of said second computer.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said primary content and said
secondary content includes dynamic content.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said second computer formulates
said parameter based upon business rules.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving said secondary
content occurs simultaneous to said receiving said primary
content.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said secondary content includes
offer related content.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said secondary content includes
offer related content in at least one of: text and GIF format.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said parameter includes at least
one of: customer identifier, number of offers, content type, and
location identifier.
9. A computer-readable storage medium containing a set of
instructions for a general purpose computer, said instructions
comprising: transmitting, from a first computer to a second
computer, a request for said primary content from said second
computer, wherein said second computer retrieves said primary
content from a first data source, performs an analysis of
transaction data including financial transactions and travel
transactions relating to an originator of said request, and
formulates a parameter based on said primary content and said
analysis; receiving, at said first computer, said primary content;
displaying, at said first computer, said primary content;
receiving, at said first computer, said secondary content from said
second computer, wherein said secondary content is retrieved by
said second computer based on said parameter; arranging said
secondary content within said primary content; and, displaying said
secondary content within said primary content.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said primary content includes a
locater tag to determine when said primary content has loaded to a
predefined level.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein said second computer analyzes
said primary content to determine behavioral patterns relating to a
user.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein said primary data includes
travel data.
13. A computer-implemented method for facilitating integration of
primary content and subsequent integration of secondary content
within a single web page, said method including: receiving, at a
second computer and from a first computer, a request for said
primary content from said second computer; retrieving said primary
content from a first data source; performing an analysis of
transaction data including financial transactions and travel
transactions relating to an originator of said request, formulating
a parameter based on said primary content and said analysis;
transmitting said primary content to said first computer;
retrieving said secondary content based on said parameter; and,
transmitting said secondary content to said first computer such
that said secondary content supplements said primary content and
said secondary content is displayed within said primary
content.
14. The method of claim 1, further including storing at least a
portion of said primary content within a memory cache.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein said formulating said parameter
includes formulating said parameter based upon a business rule.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting said secondary
content occurs simultaneous to said transmitting said primary
content.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving said secondary
content includes retrieving offer related content.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein said parameter includes at least
one of: customer identifier, number of offers, content type, and
location identifier.
19. The method of claim 1, further including inserting a tag within
said primary content to determine when said primary content has
loaded to a predefined level.
20. The method of claim 1, further including analyzing said primary
content to determine behavioral patterns relating to a user.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to, and the benefit of,
U.S. Ser. No. 10/907,635 filed on Apr. 8, 2005 and entitled "System
and Method for Stepped Loading of Web Page Content", which itself
claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 60/522,464, filed Oct. 4, 2004 and entitled
"Personalization Wrapper System and Method", both of which are
hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention generally relates to the presentation of
personalized offers within a Web page, and more particularly, to a
system and method for dynamically adding offer related content to
pre-defined locations within a Web page, wherein the offer related
content is added after the Web page's main content has loaded
thereby reducing Web page load time.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] As the World Wide Web (Web) has grown to be an integral
source for information and communication, advertising has become a
major source of revenue for Web site providers and has created an
additional medium for advertisers to present their messages to a
wide audience. Increased bandwidth has led to more sophisticated
and eye catching advertising. However, even with the increased
download time provided by increased bandwidth, pages with extensive
and/or sophisticated advertising can be slow to load. This may
result in a Web site user becoming disinterested and navigating
elsewhere.
[0004] In its early years, the Web provided only static content,
that is, every person accessing the same Web page would view the
exact same information. Later, Web publishers began to provide
custom content wherein, for example, a user could specify what
types of information they wanted to see on a Web page. In order to
provide custom content, the user would most often be required to
register with the Web site in order to receive logon credentials.
When a returning user would logon to a Web site, the users
preferences could be retrieved from a database and the content
matching those preferences could be displayed within the user's Web
browser. In the latest evolutionary cycle of the Internet,
publishers devised methods to provide dynamic content to users
based on the user's "surfing" habits. One way to provide dynamic
content is for a Web server to examine the cookies stored on the
user computer's memory.
[0005] A cookie is a small piece of information that a server sends
to a client. When a user visits a Web site with cookie
capabilities, the Web site server sends certain information about
the user to the browser which is stored on the user's hard drive as
a text file. At some later time (such as returning to the site the
next day), the Web server retrieves the cookie. In this way, the
server may "remember" items about the user. Other websites may use
cookies to learn more about the user in order to provide dynamic
content which will most likely appeal to the user. For example, if
a user's computer has stored multiple cookies from gambling
websites, a Web server may serve dynamic content which advertises a
Web casino.
[0006] There are several other methods used by websites to serve
dynamic content. The more that is known about a user, the better
the targeting of the dynamic content. As a result, websites
requiring user membership and offer services, such as, for example
banking services, will generally be able to provide more accurately
targeted dynamic content to its users by analyzing transactional
data. Transactional data may be information relating to a user's
purchasing history, for example. Therefore, purchasing patterns can
be a valuable source of information in providing dynamic
content.
[0007] Currently, no sufficient solutions exist that display text
offers dynamically without impacting the page download time. The
conventional wisdom to solve this download problem was to offer the
user the option to display text only. However, this is not
desirable under most circumstances because related photographs and
graphics will not be displayed on the Web page. With a sharp
increase in advertising on the Web, loading Web pages has become
time consuming in many instances. However, loading standard content
along with dynamic content requires greater bandwidth and can be an
annoyance to users. Therefore, there is a need for a system and
method for providing dynamic content without substantially
effecting the load time for the main content.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The invention enables the display of secondary Web page
content, including both images (e.g., GIF or JPEG) and text,
without effecting (or with minimal effect on) the load time of
primary Web page content. The invention may be used to deliver
personalized offers. In one embodiment, a request may be triggered
by the browser after the main content on the page has loaded. The
offers received are then dynamically added to different locations
within the page. As such, the invention may retrieve an offer of
any creative type and display it on a page after the page has
loaded. The invention also provides the flexibility to display gift
or text offers. The invention is also a more cost effective
delivery mechanism than prior art systems.
[0009] The invention includes a computer-implemented method for
facilitating the provision of primary and secondary content to Web
users by: receiving, from a first computer, a request for the
primary content from a second computer; retrieving at the second
computer, at least a portion of the primary content from at least
one first data source; transmitting the at least a portion of
primary content to the first computer; formulating at least one
parameter based on the at least a portion of primary content;
retrieving the secondary content from at least one second data
source based on the at least one parameter; and, transmitting the
secondary content to the first computer to facilitate at least
partially integrating the secondary content with the primary
content.
[0010] More particularly, an exemplary process flow may include the
following. A customer opens a browser and enters a URL. For example
the customer could enter a URL to check a credit card statement. A
server on the host side receives the request, retrieves the
information from the appropriate back end repository, builds the
HTML page and then sends the page back to the customer. The page is
then rendered by the customer's browser. After the main content of
the page is loaded, a call is completed to the wrapper server to
retrieve marketing offers. This structure has the affect of not (or
minimally) impacting the page load time. The wrapper server side
(at the host) handles the request and then makes a call to
personalization utility. The personalization utility retrieves the
most eligible offers for a customer. These offers are then sent
back to the calling page. The offers are then dynamically displayed
on the page, wherein the offers could be of any creative type such
as, for example, a simple text offer or an offer containing
Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif) or other images.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] A more complete understanding of the present invention may
be derived by referring to the detailed description and claims when
considered in connection with the Figures, wherein like reference
numbers refer to similar elements throughout the Figures, and:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the major system
components for an exemplary personalization wrapper; and
[0013] FIGS. 2A-2B are flow charts illustrating an exemplary
process for creating dynamic offer content to be served to a Web
client independent of main Web page content.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0014] The detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the
invention herein makes reference to the accompanying drawings,
which show the exemplary embodiment by way of illustration and its
best mode. While these exemplary embodiments are described in
sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice
the invention, it should be understood that other embodiments may
be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus,
the detailed description herein is presented for purposes of
illustration only and not of limitation.
[0015] In general, the invention includes a system and method for
dynamically creating secondary Web page content based partially or
fully on primary Web page content. The secondary content is
generated and transmitted to a Web client where it may be
integrated with the primary content.
[0016] With reference to FIG. 1, the system 90 enables a user 100
to connect to a Web server 120 through a network (e.g., Internet)
based application, such as a Web client 105. User 100 may interact
with Web server 120 to request Web pages containing personal and/or
public information. Based on the content type of a Web page,
wrapper server 140 may invoke personalization utility 145 to
retrieve relevant offers from offer database 150. Wrapper server
140 may format and map offers to pre-defined locations within a Web
page before transmitting offer content to Web server 120. Web
server 120 may transmit offer content to Web client 105 to be
integrated with previously loaded Web page content. In one
embodiment, the system also includes one or more of authentication
server 155, member database 130, middleware 135, firewall 115 and
any number of backend 160 computing components. For the sake of
explanation, backend 160 comprises Card Authorization Sever (CAS)
160, however practitioners will appreciate that backend 160 may
comprise any type of computing environment where customer specific
information is maintained. The issuance or redemption of loyalty
points or awards may be incorporated into any portion of this
method or system.
[0017] As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art,
system 90 may be embodied as a customization of an existing system,
an add-on product, upgraded software, a stand alone system (e.g.,
kiosk), a distributed system, a method, a data processing system, a
device for data processing, and/or a computer program product.
Accordingly, system 90 may take the form of an entirely software
embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment
combining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore,
system 90 may take the form of a computer program product on a
computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program
code means embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable
computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, including hard
disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices,
and/or the like.
[0018] User 100 may include any individual, business, entity,
government organization, software and/or hardware which interact
with system 90 to obtain and/or interact with information available
through the World Wide Web. User 100 may be, for example, a banking
customer who accesses online banking capabilities to view account
balances and conduct online bill payment. User 100 may interface
with personalization wrapper 110 via any communication protocol,
device or method discussed herein or known in the art. In one
embodiment, user 100 may interact with system 90 via an Internet
browser.
[0019] Web client 105 may comprise any hardware and/or software
suitably configured to facilitate input, receipt and/or review of
any information related to personalization wrapper 110 or any
information discussed herein. Web client 105 may include any device
(e.g., personal computer) which communicates (in any manner
discussed herein) with system 90 via any network discussed herein.
Such browser applications comprise Internet browsing software
installed within a computing unit or system to conduct online
transactions and communications. These computing units or systems
may take the form of a computer or set of computers, although other
types of computing units or systems may be used, including laptops,
notebooks, hand held computers, set-top boxes, workstations,
computer-servers, main frame computers, mini-computers, PC servers,
pervasive computers, network sets of computers, and/or the like.
Practitioners will appreciate that Web client 105 may or may not be
in direct contact with system 90. For example, Web client 105 may
access the services of system 90 through another server which may
have a direct or indirect connection to Web server 120.
[0020] Web server 120 may include any hardware and/or software
suitably configured to facilitate communications between Web client
105 and one or more personalization wrapper 110 components.
Further, Web server 120 may be configured to transmit data to Web
client 105 within markup language documents. Web server 120 may
operate as a single entity in a single geographic location or as
separate computing components located together or in separate
geographic locations. Requests originating from client browser 105
may pass through a firewall 115 before being received and processed
at Web server 120. As used herein, "transmit" may include sending
electronic data from one system component to another over a network
connection. Additionally, as used herein, "data" may include
encompassing information such as commands, queries, files, data for
storage, and the like in digital or any other form.
[0021] Firewall 115, as used herein, may comprise any hardware
and/or software suitably configured to protect personalization
wrapper 110 components from users of other networks. Firewall 115
may reside in varying configurations including Stateful Inspection,
Proxy based and Packet Filtering among others. Firewall 115 may be
integrated as software within Web server 120, any other system
components or may reside within another computing device or may
take the form of a standalone hardware component.
[0022] Wrapper server 140 may include any hardware and/or software
suitably configured to receive and process requests from Web server
120. Wrapper server 140 may take the form of an independent
hardware device or may reside as a software component within Web
server 120 or any other component of system 90. Wrapper server 140
may employ computing logic and business rules in order to formulate
parameters which may be transmitted to personalization utility 145
which may select appropriate offer related content. Parameters may
include, for example, customer identifier, number of offers,
content type (i.e. image vs. text) and any additional qualifiers
which describe the current location identifier for content.
Further, wrapper server 140 may include computer memory in order to
store content related information in a temporary memory cache.
[0023] Personalization utility 145 may include any hardware and/or
software suitably configured to receive parameters from wrapper
server 140 and request offer related content from offer database
150. Personalization utility 145 may reside as a software component
within Web server 120 or any other component of system 90.
[0024] Middleware 135 may include any hardware and/or software
suitably configured to facilitate communications and/or process
transactions between disparate computing systems. Middleware
components are commercially available and known in the art.
Middleware 135 may be implemented through commercially available
hardware and/or software, through custom hardware and/or software
components, or through a combination thereof. Middleware 135 may
reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalone
system or may be a software component residing within Web server
120. Middleware 135 may be configured to process transactions
between Web server 120 and one or more backend 160 components.
[0025] Moreover, middleware 135 may contain logic for navigating,
extracting data and entering data into various user interface
screens and/or Web pages. This type of logic most often uses
patterns within a user interface and/or Web page to recognize and
determine what command or action to execute next. A developer may
create and define sequences of such patterns and create
corresponding scripts providing instructions on what commands or
actions to execute when each defined pattern is recognized.
Practitioners will appreciate that there a number of commercially
available software tools which facilitate this type of
communications between disparate computing systems. Such tools are
often referred to as pattern recognition systems or,
screen-scrapers as used herein.
[0026] In order to control access to Web server 120 or any other
component of system 90, Web server 120 may invoke an authentication
server 125 in response to submission of user 100 authentication
credentials received at Web server 120. Authentication server 125
may include any hardware and/or software suitably configured to
receive authentication credentials, encrypt and decrypt
credentials, authenticate credentials, and grant access rights
according to user 100 pre-defined privileges attached to the
credentials. Authentication server 125 may grant varying degrees of
application and data level access to user 100 based on user
information stored within member database 130. For example, a
primary account holder may use an online banking Web site to view
balances, conduct transfers and pay bills where a secondary account
holder may be limited to view account balances only.
[0027] Member database 130 may include any hardware and/or software
suitably configured to facilitate storing authentication and/or
privilege information relating to users 100. Offer database 150 may
store text and images in the form of offers which may be retrieved
by personalization utility 145 in response to a request.
[0028] Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the process flows depicted
are merely embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of
the invention as described above. For example, the steps recited in
any of the method or process descriptions may be executed in any
order and are not limited to the order presented. It will be
appreciated that the following description makes appropriate
references not only to the steps depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, but
also to the various system components as described above with
reference to FIG. 1. Further, illustrations of the process flows
and the descriptions thereof make reference to Web pages, websites,
Web forms, prompts, etc. Practitioners will appreciate that the
illustrated steps described below may exist in any number of
configurations including the use of Web pages, Web forms, popup
windows, prompts and the like. It should be further appreciated
that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may be
combined onto single Web pages but have been expanded for the sake
of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and described as
single process steps may be broken down into multiple Web pages but
have been combined for simplicity.
[0029] Practitioners will also appreciate that there are a number
of methods for displaying data within a browser based document.
Data may be represented as standard text or within a fixed list,
scrollable list, drop-down list, editable text field, fixed text
field, pop-up window, and the like. Likewise, there are a number of
methods available for modifying data in a Web page such as, for
example, free text entry using a keyboard, selection of menu items,
check boxes, option boxes, and the like.
[0030] FIG. 2A is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process
for creating dynamic offer content to be served to a Web client
independent of main Web page content. In serving customized
content, it is beneficial to understand the user. In one
embodiment, a user may register for access to a Web site and the
user may be issued or allowed to choose authentication credentials
such as a user ID and password. Thereafter, authentication
credentials may be used to both ensure that only authorized user's
access information and/or services of a Web site and to serve
content that is personalized to the user based on any additional
information the user provided during registration. In other
situations where content may comprise personal information relating
to the user, such as, for example online access to a credit card
account, additional information relating to the user's account may
be used to create personalized content. For example, a credit card
member with a good payment history may be nearing her credit limit.
Information relating to the user's bill payment history, salary,
length of time at a job, etc. may be used to present personalized
content to the user in the form of a credit line increase or a
rewards program, for example.
[0031] After a user has registered or has been enrolled to
participate with a Web site, the user may subsequently be required
to enter his or her authentication credentials (step 200).
Authentication credentials may be transmitted to Web server 120
which may invoke authentication server 125 in order to compare the
provided credentials with credentials stored in member database
130. When the credentials are not validated (step 205), then the
user may alerted and allowed to re-enter authentication credentials
(step 200). When the user's authentication credentials are
validated (step 205), then Web server 120 may retrieve Web page
content from a database of system 90, or from a backend system. For
example, if a user logs into a Web site to view his frequent flyer
statement, the Web server may request data relating to the user
from a backend booking database. The Web server may compile a
statement reflecting flight activity and number of miles earned
from the booking data.
[0032] When content has been retrieved, Web server 120 may place
all or a portion of the personal data into a memory cache within
wrapper server (step 215). Cached personal data may be used later
to determine appropriate offer content to serve to the user. Web
server 120 may then construct an HTML Web page containing personal
data and transmit the Web page within an HTML stream to Web client
105 (step 220). When the Web page content has loaded (either
partially or fully loaded), Web client 105 may transmit a call to a
function on Web server 120 indicating that the content has finished
loading or has loaded to a certain level (e.g., predetermined
level, random level, changing level, etc) (step 225). In one
embodiment, positioning of a JavaScript tag within the HTML
document will dictate when the page has loaded to that certain
level. Therefore, on encountering the JavaScript tag while loading
the Web page, a call is transmitted to a function on Web server
120.
[0033] Upon receiving the call, a Web server 120 function may
invoke wrapper server 140 to request offer content based on the
content that was previously stored in the memory cache (step 230).
In one embodiment, wrapper server 140 may contain logic to perform
analysis of content data in order to specify parameters which may
be used by personalization utility to retrieve offer content.
Continuing with the example used above, wrapper server 140 may
analyze booking data to construct patterns in a customer's flying
behavior. If a customer makes frequent flights between Denver and
Philadelphia, wrapper server 140 may request offer content relating
to any specials and/or discounts on flights to Philadelphia.
Practitioners will appreciate that computerized analysis of data is
well known in the art and system 90 may employ any number of
methods and algorithms to extract behavioral patterns.
[0034] Referring now to FIG. 2B, wrapper server 140 may invoke
personalization utility 145 to query offer database 150 in order to
retrieve offers relating to personal content (step 240). As
previously described, personalization utility 145 may create a
database query based on parameters supplied by wrapper server 140.
When the query does not return any offers (step 245) then the
personalization process may be terminated (step 250). In another
embodiment, wrapper server 140 may iteratively transmit additional,
different, less or broader parameters to personalization utility
145 until at least one offer is found.
[0035] When personalization utility 145 retrieves at least one
offer from offer database 150 (step 245), then offer data may be
transmitted to wrapper server 140 (step 255). Wrapper server may
compile offer data and/or format the data into markup language
content. Such content may comprise images such as GIF and JPEG
images, as well as textual information. Moreover, offer content may
contain one of more hyperlinks that will direct a user to an
appropriate Web page or Web site. Once properly formatted, wrapper
server 140 may transmit the offer content to Web server (step 260).
In turn, Web server 120 may transmit formatted offer content to Web
client 105 where it may be integrated using HTML Document Object
Model (DOM) with the pre-loaded content (step 265). In another
embodiment, the process as described above may be periodically
repeated using different types of personal data to retrieve, format
and display multiple offers that are reloaded from time to
time.
[0036] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the system 90
and process steps described above results in a decreased load time
for a Web page's primary content. Because offer content is
transmitted to Web client 105 only after primary Web content has
been loaded or partially loaded, the user is not forced to wait for
both primary and offer content to load before being presented with
a viewable Web page. Integration of the offer content within the
primary Web page content may occur simultaneously with the user's
interaction with the primary Web page content.
[0037] While the steps outlined above represent an embodiment of
the invention, practitioners will appreciate that there are any
number of computing methods that may be applied to create similar
results. The steps are presented for the sake of explanation only
and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any
way.
[0038] One skilled in the art will appreciate that system 90 may
employ any number of databases in any number of configurations.
Further, any databases discussed herein may be any type of
database, such as relational, hierarchical, graphical,
object-oriented, and/or other database configurations. Common
database products that may be used to implement the databases
include DB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), various database products
available from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.),
Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server by Microsoft Corporation
(Redmond, Wash.), or any other suitable database product. Moreover,
the databases may be organized in any suitable manner, for example,
as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may be a single file,
a series of files, a linked series of data fields or any other data
structure. Association of certain data may be accomplished through
any desired data association technique such as those known or
practiced in the art. For example, the association may be
accomplished either manually or automatically. Automatic
association techniques may include, for example, a database search,
a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using a key field in the tables
to speed searches, sequential searches through all the tables and
files, sorting records in the file according to a known order to
simplify lookup, and/or the like. The association step may be
accomplished by a database merge function, for example, using a
"key field" in pre-selected databases or data sectors.
[0039] More particularly, a "key field" partitions the database
according to the high-level class of objects defined by the key
field. For example, certain types of data may be designated as a
key field in a plurality of related data tables and the data tables
may then be linked on the basis of the type of data in the key
field. The data corresponding to the key field in each of the
linked data tables is preferably the same or of the same type.
However, data tables having similar, though not identical, data in
the key fields may also be linked by using AGREP, for example. In
accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, any
suitable data storage technique may be utilized to store data
without a standard format. Data sets may be stored using any
suitable technique, including, for example, storing individual
files using an ISO/IEC 7816-4 file structure; implementing a domain
whereby a dedicated file is selected that exposes one or more
elementary files containing one or more data sets; using data sets
stored in individual files using a hierarchical filing system; data
sets stored as records in a single file (including compression, SQL
accessible, hashed via one or more keys, numeric, alphabetical by
first tuple, etc.); Binary Large Object (BLOB); stored as ungrouped
data elements encoded using ISO/IEC 7816-6 data elements; stored as
ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IEC Abstract Syntax
Notation (ASN.1) as in ISO/IEC 8824 and 8825; and/or other
proprietary techniques that may include fractal compression
methods, image compression methods, etc.
[0040] In one exemplary embodiment, the ability to store a wide
variety of information in different formats is facilitated by
storing the information as a BLOB. Thus, any binary information can
be stored in a storage space associated with a data set. As
discussed above, the binary information may be stored on the
financial transaction instrument or external to but affiliated with
the financial transaction instrument. The BLOB method may store
data sets as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary
via a fixed memory offset using either fixed storage allocation,
circular queue techniques, or best practices with respect to memory
management (e.g., paged memory, least recently used, etc.). By
using BLOB methods, the ability to store various data sets that
have different formats facilitates the storage of data associated
with system 90 by multiple and unrelated owners of the data sets.
For example, a first data set which may be stored may be provided
by a first party, a second data set which may be stored may be
provided by an unrelated second party, and yet a third data set
which may be stored, may be provided by an third party unrelated to
the first and second party. Each of these three exemplary data sets
may contain different information that is stored using different
data storage formats and/or techniques. Further, each data set may
contain subsets of data that also may be distinct from other
subsets.
[0041] As stated above, in various embodiments of the invention,
the data can be stored without regard to a common format. However,
in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the data set
(e.g., BLOB) may be annotated in a standard manner when provided
for manipulating the data onto the financial transaction
instrument. The annotation may comprise a short header, trailer, or
other appropriate indicator related to each data set that is
configured to convey information useful in managing the various
data sets. For example, the annotation may be called a "condition
header", "header", "trailer", or "status", herein, and may comprise
an indication of the status of the data set or may include an
identifier correlated to a specific issuer or owner of the data. In
one example, the first three bytes of each data set BLOB may be
configured or configurable to indicate the status of that
particular data set; e.g., LOADED, INITIALIZED, READY, BLOCKED,
REMOVABLE, or DELETED. Subsequent bytes of data may be used to
indicate for example, the identity of the issuer, user,
transaction/membership account identifier or the like. Each of
these condition annotations are further discussed herein.
[0042] The data set annotation may also be used for other types of
status information as well as various other purposes. For example,
the data set annotation may include security information
establishing access levels. The access levels may, for example, be
configured to permit only certain individuals, levels of employees,
companies, or other entities to access data sets, or to permit
access to specific data sets based on the transaction, merchant,
issuer, user or the like. Furthermore, the security information may
restrict/permit only certain actions such as accessing, modifying,
and/or deleting data sets. In one example, the data set annotation
indicates that only the data set owner or the user are permitted to
delete a data set, various identified users may be permitted to
access the data set for reading, and others are altogether excluded
from accessing the data set. However, other access restriction
parameters may also be used allowing various entities to access a
data set with various permission levels as appropriate.
[0043] The data, including the header or trailer may be received by
a stand alone interaction device configured to add, delete, modify,
or augment the data in accordance with the header or trailer. As
such, in one embodiment, the header or trailer is not stored on the
transaction device along with the associated issuer-owned data but
instead the appropriate action may be taken by providing to the
transaction instrument user at the stand alone device, the
appropriate option for the action to be taken. The invention may
contemplate a data storage arrangement wherein the header or
trailer, or header or trailer history, of the data is stored on the
transaction instrument in relation to the appropriate data.
[0044] One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for
security reasons, any databases, systems, devices, servers or other
components of system 90 may consist of any combination thereof at a
single location or at multiple locations, wherein each database or
system includes any of various suitable security features, such as
firewalls, access codes, encryption, decryption, compression,
decompression, and/or the like.
[0045] For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking,
application development and other functional aspects of the systems
(and components of the individual operating components of the
systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the
connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are
intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or
physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted
that many alternative or additional functional relationships or
physical connections may be present in a practical system.
[0046] The various system components discussed herein may include
one or more of the following: a host server or other computing
systems including a processor for processing digital data; a memory
coupled to the processor for storing digital data; an input
digitizer coupled to the processor for inputting digital data; an
application program stored in the memory and accessible by the
processor for directing processing of digital data by the
processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memory for
displaying information derived from digital data processed by the
processor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used
herein may include: client data; merchant data; financial
institution data; and/or like data useful in the operation of the
present invention. As those skilled in the art will appreciate,
user computer may include an operating system (e.g., Windows NT,
95/98/2000, OS2, UNIX, Linux, Solaris, MacOS, etc.) as well as
various conventional support software and drivers typically
associated with computers. The computer may include any suitable
personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,
mainframe or the like. User computer can be in a home or business
environment with access to a network. In an exemplary embodiment,
access is through a network or the Internet through a
commercially-available Web-browser software package.
[0047] As used herein, the term "network" shall include any
electronic communications means which incorporates both hardware
and software components of such. Communication among the parties in
accordance with system 90 may be accomplished through any suitable
communication channels, such as, for example, a telephone network,
an extranet, an intranet, Internet, point of interaction device
(point of sale device, personal digital assistant, cellular phone,
kiosk, etc.), online communications, satellite communications,
off-line communications, wireless communications, transponder
communications, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN),
networked or linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or any suitable
communication or data input modality. Moreover, although system 90
is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IP
communications protocols, system 90 may also be implemented using
IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number of existing or
future protocols. If the network is in the nature of a public
network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageous to presume
the network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. Specific
information related to the protocols, standards, and application
software utilized in connection with the Internet is generally
known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not be
detailed herein. See, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS
AND PROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex
1999); DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and
LOSHIN, TCP/IP CLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997) and DAVID GOURLEY AND BRIAN
TOTTY, HTTP, THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002), the contents of which are
hereby incorporated by reference.
[0048] The various system components may be independently,
separately or collectively suitably coupled to the network via data
links which includes, for example, a connection to an Internet
Service Provider (ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in
connection with standard modem communication, cable modem, Dish
networks, ISDN, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless
communication methods, see, e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA
COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which is hereby incorporated by reference.
It is noted that the network may be implemented as other types of
networks, such as an interactive television (ITV) network.
Moreover, the system contemplates the use, sale or distribution of
any goods, services or information over any network having similar
functionality described herein.
[0049] The invention contemplates uses in association with Web
services, utility computing, pervasive and individualized
computing, security and identity solutions, autonomic computing,
commodity computing, mobility and wireless solutions, open source,
biometrics, grid computing and/or mesh computing.
[0050] The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable Web
site or other Internet-based graphical user interface which is
accessible by users. In one embodiment, the Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS), Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and
Microsoft SQL Server, are used in conjunction with the Microsoft
operating system, Microsoft NT Web server software, a Microsoft SQL
Server database system, and a Microsoft Commerce Server.
Additionally, components such as Access or Microsoft SQL Server,
Oracle, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc., may be used to
provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant database management
system.
[0051] Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or
displays discussed herein may be facilitated through a Web site
having Web pages. The term "Web page" as it is used herein is not
meant to limit the type of documents and applications that might be
used to interact with the user. For example, a typical Web site
might include, in addition to standard HTML documents, various
forms, Java applets, JavaScript, active server pages (ASP), common
gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensible markup language (XML),
dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), helper applications,
plug-ins, and the like. A server may include a Web service that
receives a request from a Web server, the request including a URL
(http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789).
The Web server retrieves the appropriate Web pages and sends the
data or applications for the Web pages to the IP address. Web
services are applications that are capable of interacting with
other applications over a communications means, such as the
internet. Web services are typically based on standards or
protocols such as XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI. Web services methods
are well known in the art, and are covered in many standard texts.
See, e.g., ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES: A ROADMAP FOR THE
ENTERPRISE (2003), hereby incorporated by reference.
[0052] System 90 may be described herein in terms of functional
block components, screen shots, optional selections and various
processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional
blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software
components configured to perform the specified functions. For
example, system 90 may employ various integrated circuit
components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic
elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a
variety of functions under the control of one or more
microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software
elements of the system 90 may be implemented with any programming
or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL,
Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, extensible markup language
(XML), with the various algorithms being implemented with any
combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or
other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that system
90 may employ any number of conventional techniques for data
transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the
like. Still further, system 90 could be used to detect or prevent
security issues with a client-side scripting language, such as
JavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction of
cryptography and network security, see any of the following
references: (1) "Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And
Source Code In C," by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley &
Sons (second edition, 1995); (2) "Java Cryptography" by Jonathan
Knudson, published by O'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3)
"Cryptography & Network Security: Principles & Practice" by
William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall; all of which are
hereby incorporated by reference.
[0053] The present invention is described herein with reference to
screen shots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of
methods, apparatus (e.g., systems), and computer program products
according to various embodiments of system 90. It will be
understood that each functional block of the block diagrams and the
flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in
the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can
be implemented by computer program instructions.
[0054] These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a
general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other
programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such
that the instructions that execute on the computer or other
programmable data processing apparatus create means for
implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or
blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a
computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other
programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular
manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable
memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction
means which implement the function specified in the flowchart block
or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded
onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to
cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer
or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented
process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or
other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the
functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
[0055] Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and
flowchart illustrations support combinations of means for
performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for
performing the specified functions, and program instruction means
for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood
that each functional block of the block diagrams and flowchart
illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in the block
diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by either
special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the
specified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of special
purpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations
of the process flows and the descriptions thereof may make
reference to user windows, Web pages, websites, Web forms, prompts,
etc. Practitioners will appreciate that the illustrated steps
described herein may comprise in any number of configurations
including the use of windows, Web pages, Web forms, popup windows,
prompts and the like. It should be further appreciated that the
multiple steps as illustrated and described may be combined into
single Web pages and/or windows but have been expanded for the sake
of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and described as
single process steps may be separated into multiple Web pages
and/or windows but have been combined for simplicity.
[0056] Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have
been described herein with regard to specific embodiments. However,
the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s)
that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or
become more pronounced are not to be construed as critical,
required, or essential features or elements of any or all the
claims or the invention. It should be understood that the detailed
description and specific examples, indicating exemplary embodiments
of the present invention, are given for purposes of illustration
only and not as limitations. Many changes and modifications within
the scope of the instant invention may be made without departing
from the spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such
modifications. Corresponding structures, materials, acts, and
equivalents of all elements in the claims below are intended to
include any structure, material, or acts for performing the
functions in combination with other claim elements as specifically
claimed. The scope of the invention should be determined by the
appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the
examples given above.
* * * * *
References