WO2014056522A1

WO2014056522A1 - Method and system of providing a presentation area for displayable content

Info

Publication number: WO2014056522A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/069848
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kay MOURHEGE; Khalil MOUFARREJ
Original assignee: Mourhege Kay; Moufarrej Khalil
Priority date: 2012-10-08
Filing date: 2012-10-08
Publication date: 2014-04-17

Abstract

A method of providing a presentation area (210) for displayable content to be presented by means of display means (105) comprised by an electronic communication device (100) is presented, the method comprising the steps of: establishing a communication link (140) between the electronic communication device (100) and an evaluation device (150); exchanging characteristics of the display means (105) via the communication link (140); determining a size of the presentation area (210) depending on the characteristics of the display means (105); occupying the presentation area (210) of the determined size on the display means (105) by means of the evaluation device (150) such that a user of the electronic communication device (100) is not able to change the size of the presentation area (210) without communicating with the evaluation device (150); and adapting the displayable content to the characteristics of the display means (105)by means of the evaluation device (150). The method enables to provide a presentation area (210) for presenting e.g. advertisement to the user.Theadvertisement is adapted to thesize or resolution of the presentation area. (Fig. 2)

Description

Method and system of providing a presentation area for displayable content

Field of the invention:

The invention relates to a method, a system and a related computer program product of providing a presentation area for displayable content to be presented by means of display means of an electronic communication device being in

communication with an evaluation device.

Background of the invention:

US 2010/013838286 A1 discloses a system and method for providing a way for advertisers to rent advertising space from a consumer on an electronic device owned or used by the consumer, such as a computer screen, television screen, or mobile telephone, and pay the consumer based upon the amount of time the consumer actively uses the device.

The disclosed system and method offers only limited possibilities to provide and adapt advertising space.

Summary of the invention:

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method, system and computer program product of providing a presentation area on display means of an electronic communication device.

This object is achieved by a method as claimed in claim 1 , by a system as claimed in claim 14, and by a computer program product as claimed in claim 15.

In a first aspect a method of providing a presentation area for displayable content to be presented by means of display means comprised by an electronic communication device is presented, the method comprising the steps of:

- establishing a communication link between an electronic communication device and an evaluation device;

exchanging characteristics of the display means via the communication link; determining a size of the presentation area depending on the characteristics of the display means; occupying the presentation area of the determined size on the display means by means of the evaluation device such that a user of the electronic communication device is not able to change the size of the presentation area without communicating with the evaluation device; and

- adapting the displayable content to the characteristics of the display means by means of the evaluation device.

The presented method may have the advantage that information

characterizing the display means is exchanged between the electronic

communication device and the evaluation device such that the displayable content may automatically be adapted to, for example, the resolution and/or size of the presentation area which depends on the characteristics of the display means. The automatic adaption may comprise the relative arrangement of elements of the displayable content like boxes, pictures and the like in order to provide an optimized visual impression and information flow to the user of the electronic communication device. The user may choose the size of the presentation area from a selection offered by means of the evaluation device or alternatively freely choose the size if the size of the presentation area exceeds defined boundaries like minimum height and width.

The size of the presentation area offered to the user may be determined by means of the evaluation device taking into account the characteristics of the display means. The size of the occupied presentation area may be automatically optimized regarding the displayable content and/or potential preferences of the user of the electronic communication device. The latter may have the advantage that displayable content such as advertisement which may be exchanged between the evaluation device and the electronic communication device via the communication link may be presented on the presentation area on the display means in the most acceptable way. This may be a possibility to automatically adapt the size of the presentation area to the interests of a provider of the displayable content and the user of the electronic communication device. Such an automatic adaption may be necessary in order to provide an acceptable solution for both the provider and the user without unnecessary effort because neither the user nor the provider may be enabled to change the size of the presentation area without the consent of the other.

The presentation area may be a webpage which is controlled by the evaluation device whereby the user may have only the choice to activate or deactivate the webpage. The webpage may be arranged such that the user cannot cover it with another window of an application running on the electronic communication device. Furthermore, the user may not be able to independently change the size and optionally the placement of the presentation area.

The evaluation device and/or the electronic communication device may determine at least two different sizes of presentation areas depending on the characteristics of the display means. The characteristics may be the length and/or width and/or available resolution of the display means. In the case the electronic communication device may determine the sizes of the presentation area by means of software code comprising information regarding the displayable content the information about the determined sizes may be sent to the evaluation device. In the alternative case the evaluation device automatically determines the different sizes based on the characteristics and up to date information about the structure of the displayable content. In both cases may information regarding two, three, four or more different sizes be exchanged between the evaluation device and the electronic communication device via the communication link, such that the user of the electronic communication device may select one of the sizes and the evaluation device may be automatically informed about the selection of the user.

The selection process may also be extended to two, three, four or more resolutions which can be displayed by means of the display means. The selectable resolutions may be adapted and optimized with respect to the displayable content (or vice versa) by means of the evaluation and/or electronic communication device, whereby the respective information is exchanged via the communication link. The evaluation device may preferably change the resolution of the display means in accordance with the selection of the user and storing the respective information in a memory device. A subsequent change of the resolution of the display means by means of the user may request communication with evaluation device and may be restricted to the determined resolutions.

The method according to the present invention may comprise the further step of:

monitoring an active time of use by determining an interaction between a user of the electronic communication device and the electronic

communication device by means of the electronic communication device. Monitoring of user activities by determining the active time of may start immediately after switch on of the electronic communication device or after starting, for example, a dedicated program. Such a program may be a program to present displayable content as, for example, advertisement on the presentation area. The user may be paid for allowing a third party to present the displayable content. The third party is thus interested to monitor whether a user is actively using the electronic communication device. Optionally a time information being one-to-one (bijective) related to the active time of use may be exchanged between the electronic communication device and the evaluation device by means of a communication link such as a network or any other connection which may be suited for exchanging information. The time information may be exchanged during monitoring or after stopping monitoring. The time information may be the total time of active use of the electronic communication device submitted by the electronic communication device after stopping monitoring or a signal which is sent regularly by the electronic communication device such that the evaluation device can determine the active time of use by means of the number of received signals and the period of time between the signals which is known by the evaluation device. The electronic communication device may stop monitoring the active time of use and the generation of related time information as soon as no further interaction between the user and the electronic communication device is determined. This interaction may be, for example, hitting keys of a keyboard of the electronic communication device, moving a mouse or the like or speech recognition. Furthermore, monitoring the active time of use may also be stopped if no network connection or communication channel between the electronic communication device and the evaluation device is detected by means the electronic communication device. In this case the last time information regarding the active time of use may be submitted after reconnecting the devices. The latter may not necessarily happen if the time information is regularly exchanged (e.g. every 10 seconds) such that the evaluation device may store the submitted time signals in a memory device. The stored time information would enable the automatic calculation of the active time of by means of the evaluation device.

The evaluation device may request submission of the time information in predefined pattern. A defined deviation of the requested submission from the predefined pattern may be automatically detected by means of the evaluation device and may cause a stop signal which is sent to the electronic communication device stopping monitoring of the active time of use. Alternatively or in addition the evaluation device may stop accepting further time information until an authentication by means of the user. The user may be asked to authenticate himself, for example, by means of a login and password submitted to the evaluation device such that the evaluation device enables a restart of monitoring of the active time of use by means of the electronic communication device.

The time information may be encrypted by means of the electronic

communication device such that the evaluation device can determine a manipulation of the time information based on the decrypted time information. The later may be implemented by means of an asymmetric encryption, whereby the electronic communication device encrypts the time information by means of a public key and the evaluation device decrypts the time information by means of a private key.

The interaction between the user and the electronic communication device may be determined by means of a defined system idle time. Monitoring of the user activity and the exchange of time information may be stopped as soon as or after a predefined time period after the electronic communication device goes into idle state. Alternatively or in addition may the interaction between the user and the electronic communication device be determined by means of a predefined activity requested by the electronic communication device. This may be done by means of clicking a button presented on display means of the electronic communication device using an input device like a mouse or track ball. The button may be placed at a fixed place or at a random place to improve the reliability of the detection of an active user. The user may be also requested to input a code such as alienated characters, numbers or other signs (Captcha) which may be presented to the user. The later may be input by means of a keyboard or an acoustic input device like a microphone in case of speech control. In the case of speech control the code to may include the spoken repetition of alienated sentences like "Axl yxu nxxd xx Ixxe" (All you need is love) in which parts of the characters preferably those in the middle of the words are replaced by a dummy character. Such sentences can be recognized by the user but are difficult to be recognized by means of computers and programs. The presented codes may change after a predefined period of time. The evaluation device may stop accepting further time information until an authentication by means of the user if the user fails to provide the correct code a predefined number of times. In this case the user may be asked to authenticate himself, for example, by means of a login and password submitted to the evaluation device such that the evaluation device enables a restart of monitoring of the active time of use by means of the electronic

communication device.

Furthermore, the interaction may be determined by means of the

communication device by detecting the number of inputs during a predefined period of time. Monitoring may be stopped if the number of inputs during said time period exceeds a predefined threshold value. The inputs may be hits of keys of a keyboard of the electronic communication device. Research has shown that 500 key strokes per minute cannot be human typing . The threshold value may be a further measure to make sure that there is no object like a book placed on the keyboard in order to pretend an interaction between the user and the electronic communication device. Monitoring and exchanging the active time of use may be stopped as soon as the number of inputs exceeds the predefined threshold. Furthermore, the evaluation device may stop accepting further time information until an authentication by means of the user is provided as described above.

A further security measure to enable a secure detection of the active time of use may be to lock detection of the active time of use, exchange of time information and/or acceptance of time information by means of the evaluation device if the user provides wrong authentication information (login, password etc.) a predefined number of times or if the user fails to provide the correct code a predefined number of times as described above. In this case the evaluation device may automatically ask the user to follow an authentication process (e.g. answering certain predefined questions) to unlock detection of the active time of use, exchange of time information and/or acceptance of time information by means of the evaluation device.

An additional and even more sophisticated way to determine the reliability of the time information may be to observe activities of the user over a certain time period. Abnormities like very long time periods of permanent user activities and patterns of user activities like starting user activity every day at the same time may be used to detect potential manipulations. Furthermore, patterns of user activities over a defined period of time may be used to generate user activity profiles. A comparison between a user activity over a defined time period with such user activity profiles may enable detection of abnormal user activities which may be an indication that there may be a pretended user activity simulated by means of a robot or, for example, spamming/hacking software. Monitoring of the active time of use may be stopped after determining such abnormities and the user may be requested to follow the authentication process as described above.

The communication link used for the communication between the devices may include, but is not limited to, a telephonic network and an open network, such as the Internet. The network may be any collection of distinct networks operating wholly or partially in conjunction to provide connectivity to the electronic devices and may appear as one or more networks to the serviced systems and devices. In one embodiment, communication over the network may be achieved by a secure communications protocol, such as secure sockets layer (SSL), or transport layer security (TLS). Communication can be achieved via one or more wireless networks, such as, but is not limited to, one or more of a Local Area Network (LAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Personal area network (PAN), a Campus area network (CAN), a Metropolitan area network (MAN), a Wide area network (WAN), a Wireless wide area network (WWAN), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Personal Communications Service (PCS), Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service (D-Amps), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Fixed Wireless Data, 2G, 2.5G, 3G networks, enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), General packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced GPRS, messaging protocols such as, TCP/IP, SMS, MMS, extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP), real time messaging protocol (RTMP), instant messaging and presence protocol (IMPP), instant messaging, USSD, IRC, or any other wireless data networks or messaging protocols.

The electronic communication device may be any kind of device having a display and/or audio output means including but not limited to a computer system, a laptop, a smartphone, a television set and the like being suitable to communicate with the evaluation device and comprising display means such as a LCD-display, an OLED-display, a projector like micro projectors based on LEDs or laser or any other device being adapted to display displayable content like any kind of visual information.

The evaluation device may be any kind of electronic device being suitable to exchange information with the electronic communication device including but not limited to time information, advertisement which may submitted to and presented by the electronic communication device. Such an electronic device may include but is not limited to a computer system, server or the like. According to a further aspect a system is presented, the system comprises an electronic communication device comprising display means and an evaluation device being in communication via a communication link, the evaluation device further comprising display characterization means to determine characteristics of the display means via the communication link, the evaluation device further comprising occupying means to occupy the presentation area of the determined size on the display means, and the electronic communication device and the evaluation device comprising connection means to establish the communication link between the electronic communication device and the evaluation device, and the evaluation device further comprising content adaption means to adapt the displayable content to the characteristics of the display means.

A user of the communication device may not be able to change the size of the presentation area without informing and optionally getting the permission the evaluation device.

The display characterization means, occupying means and content adaption means may be separate units realized by specialized circuit arrangements.

Alternatively two or all of the display characterization means, occupying means and content adaption means may be realized, for example, by means of one or more processor units and one or more associated memory devices. The processor unit(s) and memory device(s) may be operated by means of a dedicated computer program enabling the described functionalities of the display characterization means, occupying means and content adaption means. The connection means may be any kind of receiver, transmitter or transceiver for wired or wireless exchange of information.

In another aspect of the present invention a computer program product stored on a computer-readable medium or downloaded from a network is presented, the computer program product comprises code means for producing the steps of method as claimed in any of claims 1 - 13 when run on the electronic communication device and the evaluation device.

The method, the system and the computer program product presented above do have the advantage that the presentation area is automatically adapted or optimized with respect to the characteristics of the display means of the electronic communication device. Thus an optimized visual impression of the displayable content to the user of the electronic communication device is enabled. It shall be understood that the method of claim 1 , the system of claim 14 and the computer program product of claim 15 have similar and/or identical

embodiments, in particular, as defined in the dependent claims.

It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims with the respective independent claim.

Further advantageous embodiments are defined below.

Brief description of the drawings:

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, based on embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a principal sketch of a system comprising two electronic devices and an evaluation unit with a communication link.

Fig. 2 shows a principal sketch of a display means with a presentation area. Fig. 3 shows a process flow of the method in accordance with present invention.

Fig. 4 shows a process flow of presenting displayable content.

Fig. 5 shows further aspects of a process flow of presenting displayable content.

Fig. 6 shows a process flow to provide personalized displayable content.

Detailed description of embodiments:

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described by means of the

Figures.

Fig. 1 depicts a principal sketch of a system of two electronic devices 100 like two computers and an evaluation unit 150 like a server communicating via a communication link 140 like the internet. Further electronic communication devices can easily be added to the system. The electronic communication devices comprise each display means 105, monitoring means 1 10, interaction detection means 1 15, stopping means 120 and second connection means 125. The evaluation device comprises display characterization means 151 , content adaption means 152, occupying means 153, first connection means 154, memory means 155, correlating means 156, determination means 157, content generating means 158, time determination means 159 and partition means 160. Each electronic communication device 100 and the evaluation device 150 are part of a system to provide

personalized displayable content like advertisement. The personalized displayable content is presented to the user of the respective electronic communication device by means of the display means 105 of the electronic communication device 100 which is shown in detail in Fig. 2.

The displayable content 21 1 , 212 (see Fig. 2) is presented on a presentation area 210 by means of the display means 105. The user can choose the size of the presentation area 210 in accordance with a selection presented by means of the evaluation device 150. The user cannot change the size of the presentation area after selecting a certain size of the presentation area without contacting the evaluation device 150.

The size of the presentation area may optionally be offered by the evaluation device 150 after characterizing the display means 105 by means of the display characterization means 151 and determining the available size or sizes of the presentation area by means of the partition means 160 based on the characterization of the display means 105.

The presentation area 210 is in this case a webpage which is controlled by means of the evaluation device 150. The user can thus only choose to activate or deactivate the presentation area 210 by means of starting or stopping a related program which was downloaded from the evaluation device 150. A restart of the webpage requires a login name and a password in accordance with a user account on the evaluation device 150 which was activated during the installation of the program for running the webpage or within a separate registration procedure on the evaluation device 150.

The webpage may be loaded within a web browser like Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer Version 2010 offers the following restrictions:

- Users can not refresh the webpage

- Users can not right click on the webpage

- Users can not copy or paste anything from or to the webpage

- Users can not drag any items into or outside of the Form

- Users can not zoom in or out a displayed item So basically the only thing that users can do is left mouse click e.g. on a banner or advertisement (displayable content 21 1 , 212) where they will be directed to the URL of the advertisement itself. This redirection may not happen inside the presentation area 210. A separate Internet Explorer window opens on the display means of the electronic communication device and the URL will be loaded there.

The process flow of providing a presentation area 201 is presented in Fig. 3. In step 305 is a communication link between the electronic communication device and the evaluation device 150 established. The user of the electronic communication device 100 creates a user account and installs the program provided by the evaluation device 150. In step 310 information about characteristics of the display means 105 (available resolutions, length, width etc.) is automatically exchanged between the electronic communication device 100 and the evaluation device 150 by means of the internet after establishing the connection or if the user chooses a different size of the presentation area 210. The latter may be done by means of information added to a link to presentation area 210 which is in this case a webpage presented on the electronic communication device 100. The presentation area 210 is occupied in step 315 by opening the webpage of the selected size and/or resolution on the display means 105 of the electronic communication device 100. In step 320 the displayable content 21 1 , 212 is adapted to the selected size and/or resolution of the webpage. The sequence of the steps, especially step 315 and 320, is not mandatory and may be exchanged.

The characteristic information about the display means 105 may be used in an intermediate and optional step to automatically determine the size of the presentation area 210 by means of the evaluation device 150. Optionally, there may be a further intermediate step if there are two or more different sizes which can be chosen for the presentation area 210. The user can in this case select the preferred size of the presentation area 210 before the presentation area 210 is occupied by means of the evaluation device 150. The size of the presentation area 210 can in this case be changed by the user in accordance with a selection of sizes as determined by the evaluation device 150. A flexible adaption of the size of the presentation area 210 is prohibited by means of the evaluation device 150 as well as to cover the presentation area 210 by means of another program window. The presentation area 210 is thus always visible for the user after starting the respective program. The latter may be done by means of the functionality of the web browser (Internet Explorer) as discussed above. An exception may be if the user runs an application (movies, games etc.) on the electronic communication device 100 in full screen mode. The presentation area 210 and the connection to the evaluation device 150 are closed in this case and the user can use the total size of the display means 105.

The presentation area is used as shown in Fig. 2 to present displayable content 21 1 , 212 to the user. The provider of the displayable content 21 1 , 212 like advertisement pays the user for renting the presentation area 210. The provider thus has in interest to attract as much attention of the user by means of the displayable content 21 1 , 212 as possible. The latter is reached by means of personalized displayable content.

A process flow of providing personalized displayable content is shown in Figure 6. In step 605 linked displayable content is provided. Displayable content is analyzed with respect to elements being part of the displayable content. For example, advertisement showing elements like a beach, a palm, a blond girl and vanilla ice cream is linked with respective keywords. The keywords may be

determined and linked in a manual process during the creation of the displayable content. In an alternative approach may the displayable content automatically be analyzed by means of an image recognition program and the elements are

automatically identified and linked to the respective keywords (beach, palm, blond girl and vanilla ice cream in the example discussed above). The linked displayable content or advertisement comprises meta data which is used in the subsequent steps to automatically analyze the preferences of the user. The linked displayable content is stored in the memory means 155 of the evaluation device 150 depicted in Fig. 1 .

In step 610 shown in Fig. 6 the linked displayable content is submitted form the evaluation device 150 to the electronic communication device 100. This is done by means of the first connection means 154 of the evaluation device and the second connection means 125 of the electronic communication device 100 depicted in Fig. 1 .

In step 615 in Fig. 6 first linked displayable content 21 1 (see Fig. 2) is presented to the user and the user is enabled to generate a first indication signal by means of a first indicator 220 whether the user likes or dislikes the first displayable content. The first indicator 220 is a button as depicted in Fig. 2. The user can press the button by means of a mouse. The first indication signal generated after pressing the button indicates that the user likes the displayable content 21 1 . Not pressing the button in a predefined time period is in this embodiment automatically valued by means of the evaluation device 150 as indication signal indicating that the user dislikes displayable content 21 1 . In an alternative approach a further button may be presented together with displayable content 21 1 generating a first indication signal indicating that the user dislikes displayable content 21 1 .

In this case is the first linked displayable content the advertisement showing the beach, palm, blonde girl and vanilla ice cream and the user indicates a like by pressing button (first indicator 220) and generating the corresponding first indication signal.

In step 620 in Fig. 6 second linked displayable content 212 (see Fig. 2) is presented to the user and the user is enabled to generate a second indication signal by means of a second indicator 230 whether the user likes or dislikes the second displayable content in the same way as discussed with respect to the first displayable content. The second displayable content 212 is advertisement showing the same beach, palm, blonde girl as first displayable content 21 1 but chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla ice cream and the user indicates a dislike by not pressing button 230 within 5 minutes presenting the advertisement.

In order to motivate the user to give an indication regarding the presented linked displayable content 21 1 , 212 the user may receive credentials from the provider of the displayable content for each indication. In this case two buttons should be provided as indicator one for like and one for dislike as discussed above.

In step 625 in Fig. 6 the first and second indication signal are correlated with each other. The keywords of the first and second displayable content are grouped with respect to the related displayable content and labeled with the respective indication signal such that in the simple case described above with respect to the first linked displayable content showing beach, palm, blond girl and vanilla ice cream and the second linked displayable content showing beach, palm, blond girl and chocolate ice cream in step 630 it can be determined that there is a high likelihood that the user dislikes chocolate ice cream. In an alternative situation may indication signals be generated that the user likes advertisement showing a blond girl presenting vanilla ice cream but dislikes advertisement showing the same but now red-haired girl presenting vanilla ice cream within the same background scene. In this case it's likely that the user prefers advertisement presented by blond girls.

In more complex situation it is preferred to present not only first and second linked displayable content 21 1 , 212 but a multitude of linked displayable content to the user. Each of the multitudes of indication signals is used to generate such groups of labeled keywords such that the evaluation device 150 can determine by means of the determination means 157 shown in Fig. 1 the likelihood that the user likes or dislikes an element represented by a keyword by means of automatically performing a statistical analysis based on the groups of labeled keywords.

Such a more complex situation is depicted in Table 1 .

Table 1 : displayable content with elements and linked keywords

(advertisement ad1 -ad5 with tagl -tag5 which may be different per

advertisement)

Five different advertisements (ad1 -ad5) are shown to a user (userl ) and the user indicates a like regarding ad1 , ad3 and ad4 and a dislike regarding ad2 and ad5.

The evaluation of the indications is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: evaluation of the indications of user 1 per tag The number of likes or dislikes is correlated with the number of interactions (indicating like or dislike) with the respective tag. The tag blond is, for example, only presented in ad1 such that there is only one interaction with the user. Based on the correlation the total affinity is calculated, which is the difference between the number of likes and dislikes. The affinity factor is determined by means of the ratio between the number of likes and the number of interactions, and the aversion factor is determined by means of the ratio between the number of dislikes and the number of interactions. The tag beach is, for example, shown in ad1 -ad3. There are 3 interaction, 2 likes and 1 dislike. The total affinity is thus 1 (2-1 ), the affinity factor is 66.67% (2/3^*100%) and the aversion factor is 33.33% (1/3^*100%). Furthermore, strong correlations between certain tags or elements may be used to refine the analysis. The color of hair is in this case always used to characterize a girl such that it can be determined in the example discussed with respect to Table 1 and 2 that there is a high likelihood that userl likes advertisement with blond girls.

In step 635 in Fig. 6 personalized displayable content is generated by using elements the users likes and/or avoiding elements the user dislikes. The content generation means 158 shown in Fig. 1 selects linked displayable content with elements in accordance with the preferences of the user as determined by the determination means 157. The content generation means 158, for example, selects by means of the linked key words advertisement in which no chocolate ice cream is shown or only advertisement in which the products are presented by blond girls as discussed in the second example above. In the more complex situation discussed above the personalized displayable content may be only generated if the reliability of the total affinity, affinity factor and aversion factor exceeds a certain threshold. The threshold may be a defined minimum number of interactions (e.g. 20) with the respective element. Further indications with respect to the personalized displayable content presented to the user are used to improve the analysis by means of correlating means 156 and determination means 157 such that the personalized displayable content is adapted step by step to the preferences of the user. This may be done by automatically selecting further linked displayable content by means of the content generating means 158 as described above or by creating new personalized displayable content. The latter may be automatically done by means of the content generating means 158 by selecting elements by means of linked keywords in accordance with the determined preferences of the user and automatically combining and adapting the elements(scale the size of the elements, rendering the elements...) in order to generate new personalized displayable content. The elements may be in this case pictures showing only one object or person which are stored in memory means 155 of the evaluation device 150 or which are stored in a separate database being in communication with the evaluation device 150. The pictures may further comprise detailed meta data such as the resolution of the picture in order to simplify the creation of personalized displayable content.

The personalized displayable content may also be adapted to a predefined affinity factor or aversion factor. Milkshakes with an affinity factor of 0% may be, for example, presented by a blond girl. It's thus possible to tailor the displayable content to a user who is most likely no customer buying a certain product. The product (e.g. milkshake) is presented in combination with elements the user likes in order to gain a new customer.

The history of the affinity and aversion factors can be tracked in order to determine whether there is a change of the affinity and aversion factors due to the presentation of the personalized displayable content (e.g. compare affinity factor of first 20 interactions with affinity factor of interactions 21 -40 etc.). The results may also be used to determine whether it makes sense to present elements with an affinity factor below a certain threshold value. The user may, for example, never change the affinity regarding an element with a reliable affinity factor below 40%. In this case only elements with an affinity factor of at least 40% are used in combination with elements the user likes (affinity factor, for example, at least 80%) in personalized displayable content in order to change the opinion of the user.

The provider of the displayable content may pay the user of the electronic communication device for renting the presentation area 210 on the display means 105 whereby the provider is paid by manufacturers of the products presented by means of the displayable content or the respective advertising agency. The manufacturer and consequently the provider thus have a strong interest that the user really looks at the displayable content 21 1 , 212. The user is thus only paid for the time the user actively uses the electronic communication device, for example, by watching a movie or writing a letter. The active time of use of the electronic communication device is determined by means of the electronic communication device 100 and additional measures are added in order to detect manipulations of the electronic communication device 100. The electronic communication device 100 as shown in Fig. 1 comprises monitoring means 1 10 to monitor the active time of use of the electronic

communication device by means of the user. The monitoring means 1 10 generates time information like a ping which is submitted every 10 seconds by means of the second connection means 125 to the first connection means 154 of the evaluation device 150. The evaluation device 150 stores the time information in the memory means 155. The stored time information is used to calculate the total active time of use and the money to be paid to the user by means of time determination means 159. The time determination means 159 sums the number of submitted pings and multiplies this number with a defined value to be paid per ping (or 10 seconds active time of use). The time information is submitted as long as interaction determination means 1 15 determine that the user is still actively using the electronic communication device and/or there is, for example, an internet connection between the electronic communication device 100 and the evaluation device 150. As soon as there is no interaction between the user and the electronic communication device 100

determined by means of the interaction determination means 1 15 stopping means 120 stops monitoring the active time of use by means of monitoring means 1 10 such that no further ping is generated and submitted to the evaluation device 150.

Fig 4 shows a process flow of presenting displayable content and detecting user activity. In block 405 the user logs in by providing user name and password requested by the evaluation device 150. In block 410 the user chooses the size and shape of the presentation area 210 shown in Fig. 2. In decision block 415 the electronic communication device 100 checks the internet connection between the electronic communication device 100 and the evaluation device 150. The connection is reestablished and the login page is presented to the user if there is no internet connection and the process starts again at block 405.

The user decides to start to view the displayable content 21 1 , 212 in block 420 after clicking a button presented on the display means 105 if an internet connection is detected in decision block 415. In decision block 425 a further check is performed to check the connection between electronic communication device 100 and the evaluation device 150 with the consequence of a new login if there is no connection (No) as discussed above or starting time recording (Yes) by means of the monitoring means 1 10 (e.g. start submitting pings to the evaluation device) in block 430 at the same time the presentation of the displayable content 21 1 , 212 on the presentation area 210 of the display means 105 is started as depicted in block 440. Subsequently several checks are performed in order to check whether the user is still looking at display means 105 or whether there is still an internet connection between the electronic communication device 100 and the evaluation device 150.

In decision block 445 the activity of the user is checked by providing a button

240 (see Fig. 2) with a text field at a random place of the display means 105. Time recording is stopped in block 457 if the user does not provide an code (Captcha functionality) shown in the text field during a predefined time period or if a wrong code is provided. In this case a new session has to be started at block 420. A further optional security check may be performed if, for example, a wrong code is submitted in decision block 445 several times. If the user fails to provide the correct code for 5 times, time recording is stopped and the presentation area is closed in block 465 and the user is requested to login again in step 405. In decision block 450 a further activity check is performed by checking whether the electronic communication device goes in idle state. If the system goes in idle state time recording is again stopped after a predefined time period in block 457 and the user has to start a new session at block 420. The internet connection is checked in decision block 455. Time recording is stopped and the presentation area is closed in block 453 and the user is requested to login again in step 405 if there is no internet connection. Finally, the user closes the presentation area in block 460 and time recoding is stopped in block 465. The user has to login again in block 405 if the user wants to restart the presentation area 210.

Fig. 5 shows further aspects of a process flow of presenting displayable content and detecting user activity. A login page is presented to the user by means of the evaluation device 150 on the display means 105 of the electronic communication device 100 in block 500. A new advertisement session to show advertisement on the presentation area 210 of the display means is created in block 510 if the user provides the requested login information in decision block 505. The session time is updated every 10 seconds and a related ping is send to the evaluation device 150 in block 515. The idle time of the electronic communication device 100 is monitored in decision block 520 and an idle screen is presented on the display means 105 in block 525 if the idle time exceeds 5 minutes. The user can start a new session after clicking a button on the idle screen in decision block 540 (indicated by Yes). If the button is not clicked (indicated by No) the presentation area 210 is closed, the last time ping is submitted to the evaluation device 150 and the login page is presented to the user at block 500.

As long as the system idle time does not exceed 5 minutes in decision block 520 (indicated by No) human checks as counting the number of keystrokes by means of the interaction determination means 1 15 are provided in block 527 in order to check whether the user is present at the display means 105. The ping is submitted to the evaluation device for determining the active time of use as long as the user passes the human checks. If the interaction determination means 1 10 detects, for example, more than 500 keystrokes per minute indicating that an object like a book is placed on the keyboard time recording is stopped in decision block 527 (indicated by No) because it's likely that the user is no longer looking at the display means 105. The last ping is submitted to the evaluation device 150 and user is requested to start a new session at block 510. If the user fails to pass the human checks more than 10 times in decision block 523 during a predefined time period (e.g. 2 hours) again the last ping is submitted to the evaluation device 150, the presentation area 210 is closed and the user is requested to login again at block 500. In this case an authentication procedure may be started in order to provide further security measures to safeguard that a human being is using the electronic communication device 100 and no spamming or hacking software is pretending user activity.

The checks discussed with respect to Figs. 4 and 5 may be changed and, for example, depend on the activity of the user (watching a movie, drafting a

presentation, chatting with friends etc.). Furthermore, one of the checks may be performed several times before the other check will be performed. The sequence of checks shown and discussed with respect to Figs. 4 and 5 is thus only an example to visualize the checks. A further exemplary timing may be

• When screen, keyboard and mouse are Idle for 5 minutes, directly the system will go into the Idle Mode (session will be closed as discussed above)

• When the screen is active, but the mouse and keyboard are idle (for example : movie playing in browser, using speech recognition etc.) the human check

(e.g. providing code) will be displayed the first time after 10 minutes then it starts appearing randomly between 10 minutes and 1 hour

• When the keyboard and/or mouse are active, the first human check appears after 30 minutes and then randomly between 30 minutes and 2 hours • When human check appears, the session is automatically closed. If the user enters the right credentials at this stage, a new session starts.

• Every time the software goes into Idle or human check mode, the current

session stops. Another session will launch as soon as this phase is passed (ex: for idle time, the user will have to click on a button to tell the software that he is back. For human check, the user has to enter a code generated randomly when clicking inside the box)

The method of providing a presentation area 210, providing personalized displayable content and the measures to detect the user activity may be used to offer personalized advertisement to users of electronic communication devices 100. The user may be paid depending on the size of the presentation area 210 in relation to the size of the display means 105 presenting the advertisement shown on the presentation area and depending on the time the user attentively looks at the display means 105. The user may be further paid for feedback with respect to the presented advertisement in order to provide a motivation to indicate whether the user likes or dislikes the advertisement. The feedback of the user is subsequently used to personalize the advertisement in accordance with the preferences of the user.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and the foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive.

From reading the present disclosure, other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Such modifications may involve other features which are already known in the art and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein.

Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality of elements or steps. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof. List of reference numerals:

100 electronic communication device

105 display means

1 10 monitoring means

1 15 interaction determination means

120 stopping means

125 second connection means

140 communication link

150 evaluation device

151 display characterization means

152 content adaption means

153 occupying means

154 first connection means

155 memory means

156 correlating means

157 determination means

158 content generating means

159 time determination means

160 partition means

210 presentation area

21 1 first linked displayable content

212 second linked displayable content

220 first indicator

230 second indicator

240 button with text field

305 step of establishing communication link

310 step of exchanging characteristics of display means

315 step of occupying presentation area

320 step of adapting displayable content

405 providing user login

410 choosing size of presentation area

415 check internet connection

420 decision to start displaying displayable content 425 check internet connection

430 start time recording

440 present displayable content

445 activity check

450 check idle state

453 stop time recording

455 check internet connection

457 stop time recording

460 closing presentation area

465 stop time recording

500 present login page

505 providing login information

510 start session

515 start time detection

520 monitor idle time

523 human check

525 open idle screen

527 security check

540 detect user activity

605 step of providing linked displayable content

610 step of submitting linked displayable content

615 step of presenting first linked displayable content

620 step of presenting second linked displayable content

625 step of correlating indication signals

630 step of determining user preference

635 step of generating personalized displayable content

Claims

Patent-Claims: 1 . A method of providing a presentation area (210) for displayable content to be presented by means of display means (105) comprised by an electronic communication device (100), the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a communication link (140) between the electronic

communication device (100) and an evaluation device (150);

- exchanging characteristics of the display means (105) via the

communication link (140);

determining a size of the presentation area (210) depending on the characteristics of the display means (105);

occupying the presentation area (210) of the determined size on the display means (105) by means of the evaluation device (150) such that a user of the electronic communication device (100) is not able to change the size of the presentation area (210) without communicating with the evaluation device (150); and

adapting the displayable content to the characteristics of the display means (105) by means of the evaluation device (150).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of adapting the displayable content comprises the rearrangement of elements of the displayable content relative to each other.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the size of the presentation area (210) is determined by means of the evaluation device.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the further steps of:

exchanging displayable content between the evaluation device (150) and the electronic communication device (100) via the communication link (140); and displaying the displayable content on the presentation area (210).

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the presentation area (210) is a webpage controlled by the evaluation device.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further steps of:

determining at least two different sizes of presentation areas (210) depending on the characteristics of the display means (105);

exchanging information regarding the at least two different sizes of presentation areas (210) between the evaluation device (150) and the electronic communication device (100); and

enabling a selection between the at least two different sizes of presentation areas (210) for a user of the electronic communication device (100).

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristics of the display means (105) comprise a length and/or width of the display means (105).

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristics of the display means (105) comprise a resolution of the display means (105).

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

determining at least two different resolutions which can be displayed by means of the display means (105) of the electronic communication device

(100);

exchanging information regarding the at least two different resolutions between the evaluation device (150) and the electronic communication device (100); and

- enabling a selection between the at least two different resolutions for a user of the electronic communication device (100).

10. The method according to any one of claims 8 or 9, wherein the method comprises the further step of: changing the resolution of the display means (105) by means of the evaluation device (150).

1 1 . The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method comprises the further step of:

monitoring an active time of use by determining an interaction between a user of the electronic communication device (100) and the electronic communication device (100) by means of the electronic communication device (100).

12. The method according to claim 1 1 , wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

stopping monitoring the active time of use if no interaction between the user and the electronic communication device (100) is determined ; and

- exchanging a time information being related to the active time of use

between the electronic communication device (100) and the evaluation device (150) being in communication with the electronic communication device (100).

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method comprises the further step of:

submitting the time information by means of the electronic communication device (100) after request by means of the evaluation device (150).

14. A system comprising an electronic communication device (100) comprising display means (105) and an evaluation device (150), the electronic communication device (100) and the evaluation device (150) comprising connection means (154, 125) to establish a communication link (140) between the electronic communication device and the evaluation device, the evaluation device (150) further comprising display characterization means (151 ) to determine characteristics of the display means (105) via the communication link (140), the evaluation device (150) further comprising occupying means (153) to occupy the presentation area (210) of the determined size on the display means (105), and the evaluation device (150) further comprising content adaption means (152) to adapt the displayable content to the characteristics of the display means (105).

15. A computer program product comprising code means for producing the steps of method as claimed in any of claims 1 - 13 when run on the electronic

communication device (100) and the evaluation device (150).