WO2014177166A1

WO2014177166A1 - Obtaining advertisements in a wifi-based advertising network

Info

Publication number: WO2014177166A1
Application number: PCT/DK2014/050126
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kasper Bloch GEVALDIG; Esben ELMØE
Original assignee: ALLUNITE ApS
Priority date: 2013-05-03
Filing date: 2014-05-05
Publication date: 2014-11-06

Abstract

A method and system of obtaining advertising content from an advertising network for rendering to a user of a mobile device,the method comprising the steps of: establishing a connection between said mobile device and one of a plurality of wireless access points; the plurality of wireless access points being communicatively coupled to the Internet and each of said wireless access points being associated with a subscriber of said advertising network; the mobile device requesting advertising content from an advertising management system via said one wireless access point and the Internet; the mobile device receiving said advertising content as a combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content in accordance with a subscriber rule set associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content to said subscriber; and a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content in accordance with a compliance rule set defining a subset of advertising network operator-defined advertising content as compliant with said subscriber; and rendering said received advertising content by means of a user interface of said mobile device.

Description

OBTAINING ADVERTISEMENTS IN A WIFI-BASED ADVERTISING NETWORK

Field of the invention The present invention relates to retrieval of advertising content to a WiFi-connected mobile device in an advertising network.

Background of the invention It is known to support services such as wireless internet access by advertising.

It would be useful to be able to improve the technical solution for distribution of advertising and/or the accessibility of the service and/or the relevance of advertising content distributed to mobile devices connected to a WiFi-based advertising network.

Summary of the invention

The inventors have as part of the inventive process reached the above conclusion and have made an inventive technical solution of which an embodiment relates to a method of obtaining advertising content (AC) from an advertising network (AN) for rendering to a user of a mobile device (DEV), the method comprising the steps of: establishing a connection between said mobile device (DEV) and one of a plurality of wireless access points (WAP); the plurality of wireless access points (WAP) being communicatively coupled to the Internet (I) and each of said wireless access points (WAP) being associated with a subscriber (SUB) of said advertising network (AN); the mobile device (DEV) requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I); the mobile device (DEV) receiving said advertising content (AC) as a combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) in accordance with a subscriber rule set (SRS) associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to said subscriber (SUB); and

a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content

(AAC) in accordance with a compliance rule set (CRS) defining a subset of advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) as compliant with said subscriber (SUB); and rendering said received advertising content (AC) by means of a user interface of said mobile device (DEV).

An advantageous method is thereby provided for mobile device users to obtain advertising content from an advertising network through a wireless access point associated with a subscriber, e.g. a shop, a coffee house or other business or public or private entity. Thereby is provided for subscribers to offer internet access to mobile device users, e.g. guests or customers, with the benefit that advertising content is also served to the mobile device users.

By specifically requesting and receiving advertising content which is defined by the subscriber, i.e. the owner or operator of the accessed wireless access point, the executing mobile device will technically be able to associate and receive a specific subset of the overall available advertising content to the mobile device. The technical implication of this is that the available bandwidth is optimized for relevant advertisement and that the mobile device may retrieve and render the so-called advertising content with a minimum of locally applied bandwidth.

A further benefit is also that the mobile device, by being the requesting party makes it technically extremely easy for a central system to provide the relevant advertisement content to the mobile device due to the fact that the requesting device may optionally in effect both identify the end point, i.e. the mobile device and the relaying wireless access point. The mobile device may therefore provide a location, which is easy derivable to the central system, due to the fact that the mobile device by connecting to a specific wireless access point, by means of existing technology, specifies the location of the mobile device very precisely or at least in a very tangible way, easily applicable for the central system. An advantageous way of deducing the position of the mobile device may therefore e.g. be that the central system assumes that the position of the mobile device is given by the already identified location of the relaying wireless access point. By associating the request for advertisement and the requirement for delivery of Internet, the user of the mobile phone, may optimize the obtained Internet, due to the fact that the obtained Internet bandwidth is less compromised by transmittal of irrelevant advertisement. By letting the mobile device requesting the advertisement, it is technically possible to combine advertisement transmitted to the mobile device in a way so that the mobile device may at the same time receive general advertisement, e.g. from a universal central source and furthermore receive dedicated advertisement content depending on the location of where the mobile device is.

It is therefore possible that a part of the universal advertisement is exchanged by a relevant advertisement defined by the owner or operator of the accessed wireless access point. It is furthermore possible to dedicate advertisement to the individual user without requiring personal information about the user of the mobile device.

The present invention may thus provide a advantageous way of providing advertising and/or other information to users of mobile devices, both seen from the subscriber's point of view and the users of mobile devices point of view. The subscriber may by the present invention be assured that their individual advertising content is provided to relevant users within a relevant geographical range. Moreover, users may experience that the information provided to them by the mobile device by the system is relevant in that it may be adapted/determined by the individual subscriber. Hence, the present invention provides a lucrative, efficient and customizable technical solution for providing relevant information such as advertising to relevant users of mobile devices.

According to the disclosed method, a particularly advantageous benefit is that some of the advertising content is subscriber-defined advertising content, i.e. controlled by the subscriber through which the mobile device receives the internet access. This provides for highly relevant and local advertising, because of the limited connection range of wireless access points: the connected user is very close to or even inside the subscriber's property when he receives the advertisement. In a preferred embodiment, at least part of the subscriber-defined advertising content therefore comprises current bargains, coupons, announcements, etc. with relevance to the subscriber's business and with relevance to the user of the requesting mobile device.

Another advantageous aspect of the disclosed method is that the mobile device also receives advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC, i.e. advertising content at least partly defined or controlled by the operator ANO of the advertising network AN. This may e.g. be advertising content that third party advertises pays the advertising network operator to include in the advertising network, and thereby being received by the mobile device in combination with the, preferably local, subscriber-defined advertising content SAC. According to the disclosed method, the subscriber also may also exercise, or is able to exercise, a bit of control of the third party advertising network operator defined-advertising content AAC which is received through the wireless access point at his property, in that the received advertising content is send out in accordance with a compliance rule set CRS to which the subscriber is at least partly participating. In a preferred embodiment, the subscriber for example ensures, that the compliance rule set comprise a rule so that the customer or guest in his property does not receive advertising content from the subscriber's competitors. This may, e.g., be achieved by categorization with industrial classification codes. In a preferred embodiment, the mobile device may connect to the subscriber's wireless access point for free and be served free internet access together with the advertising content of which at least some is preferably of local relevance. This provides for an arrangement with mutual satisfactory and benefit for the mobile device user and the subscriber.

An advantage of an embodiment of the invention is that it is possible to provide advertising content from a central advertising management system to a mobile device while avoiding conflict between the interests of the subscriber and the advertising content transmitted through the wireless access point of the subscriber.

The transmitted combination of the advertising content comprising subscriber- defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC may be combined and transmitted in several different ways. The different advertising content AC, i.e. the subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC may e.g. be transmitted in sequence, thereby alternating or otherwise shifting between subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator- defined advertising content AAC, preferably in accordance with an agreement with the subscriber about the ratio between subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC. Alternatively, the advertising content AC may be provided and displayed at the requesting mobile device at the same time. In a preferred embodiment the disclosed method is performed over time, e.g. so that the combining takes place by alternatingly or by an alternative selection scheme transmitting subscriber-defined and advertising network operator-defined advertising content, respectively, the mobile device requesting advertising content. In this context, some of the steps of the method are performed several times iteratively, and for example the steps of the mobile device requesting and receiving a combination of advertising content is to be understood so that over time, the mobile device will have sent several requests for advertising content, and have received several individual or sets of the different kinds of advertising content, thereby over time combining advertising content at the mobile device. It is further noted, that over time the said one wireless access point may change among further wireless access points, but in accordance with typical WiFi-technology of today's mobile devices, the mobile device is connected to only one at a time.

In an embodiment the mobile device may at one point in time send several requests or a request that expands to several requests for advertising content. In an embodiment the mobile device may receive a bulk of combined advertising content.

It should be noted that the wireless access points WAP are preferably configured to distribute advertising content AC to mobile devices DEV and may establish a connection for transmission of advertising content AC from the advertising management system AMS to the device(s), but do not necessarily need to provide further intelligence to the system insofar sufficient information is being forwarded to the advertising management system in connection with the request, thereby allowing the advertising management system to identify what to transmit in reply to the request. In the present context a subset may comprise an empty subset. In other words, a subscriber may have none subscriber-defined advertising content SAC associated with him, e.g. according to this specific subscriber's agreement with the advertising network operator ANO. In a preferred embodiment a plurality of the subscribers are associated with non-empty subsets of subscriber-defined advertising content SAC.

It should be noted that one, two or more wireless access points may be associated to the same subscriber, and that a subset of the plurality of wireless access points may form a subset of a system, where further wireless access points may be operated through other principles.

Advertising content AC is generally understood as something (such as a short film or a written notice) that is shown or presented to the public to help sell a product or to make an announcement. In various preferred embodiments the advertising content comprises, e.g., text, images, video, audio, flash or other possibly interactive media, etc. The advertising content may in embodiments, together with the information such as text, images, video, audio, flash or the like comprise a link such as a hyperlink and/or other information retrieving triggers such as a command, a script or the like. Hence, a user of the mobile device may e.g. activate the area where the advertising content is displayed at the mobile device, e.g. by a finger, a mouse marker and/or the like. Thereby, the user may initiate/activate the information retrieving trigger and thus be directed by a browser or the like on the mobile device to a home page or other information means such as a pop-up information window may be visualized upon the activation, to visualize further information related to the activated/clicked advertising content. Preferably, this/these information retrieving trigger(s), and thus the available further information, may be shifted together with advertising content provided to the mobile device based on the advertising management system over time.

The advertising content may thus in embodiments of the invention refer to a web page or other information not being part of the subscriber facilitated advertisement network as such. Hence, the subscriber may provide updates to the destination of the link, and the user will thus be presented to these updates over time even though the advertising content may remain the same. In other embodiments, the data provided when the activation of the advertising content is performed by the user at the mobile device may trigger a request for further information related to the activated/clicked advertising content from the advertising management system, and the advertising management system may upon this request provide the further information/data.

Different advertising content may in embodiments of the invention comprise/trigger similar information retrieving triggers upon user activation. Hence, a subscriber or another party as disclosed in this document may provide different advertisings to the mobile device, e.g. relating to different products, services or the like, but when the user triggers the information retrieving trigger relating to one of these different products, services or the like, the user may be presented to the same further information which may be common to one or more of the different advertisings. The advertising network AN in a preferred embodiment denotes a virtual network comprising the advertising management system and all wireless access points participating in the same united network. In an embodiment the advertising network may be considering an abstract network further comprising the advertising network operator ANO and the subscribers SUB. The advertising network AN in an embodiment enables location-based control and exposure of advertisements in the coverage area of an associated united network.

In a preferred embodiment the advertising network operator ANO comprises a legal or natural person who facilitates the advertising network AN and operates the advertising management system AMS. The advertising network operator may in an embodiment be motivated to enter into arrangements with subscribers as described in order to enlarge his inventory of advertising space, i.e. the wireless access points, and happy, returning mobile device users. Further the advertising network operator in a preferred embodiment offers a part of the advertising space to advertisers ADV in accordance with the agreement entered with subscribers.

An advertising management system AMS is generally understood as an integrated or distributed control system for the advertising network operator ANO to control the advertising network and any, some or all of storage, categorization, selection and distribution of advertisements. The advertisement management system AMS may preferably comprise an advertisement content server ACS and is preferably implemented, integrated or distributed, by data processing equipment DPE.

A subscriber SUB is in a preferred embodiment a legal or natural person, e.g. a business, a shop, a mall, a cafe, or an owner or manager of such, typically a business with a physical, local, presence, who may be motivated to offer wireless internet access to customers and guests in return of being able to add advertisements to the web content retrieved via his wireless connection. The subscriber may own the wireless access points or the subscriber may e.g. according to a specific agreement have acquired the rights from the owner of the wireless access point(s). The subscriber may thereby ensure that his advertisement, e.g. defined by the subscriber rule set, may be broadcasted through his interest zone, i.e. the decentral coverage area DCA covered by the subscriber's wireless access points. In a preferred embodiment the subscriber enters into an agreement with the advertising network operator, preferably in order to subscribe for advertisements to be delivered to his customers or guests, in return for being included in the united network offering automatic internet connection to customers and guests and therewith being able to offer his own subscriber-defined advertisements to the customers and guests. In an embodiment the subscriber may be considered a location provider, i.e. providing a physical, geographical location for a wireless access point being part of the united network. The subscriber is in a preferred embodiment also the subscriber for the local internet connection required in order to make the wireless access point communicatively coupled to the internet.

Generally, it is to be understood that the wireless access points may be geographically distributed in different ways.

Preferably, the wireless access points may be located at parties at different geographically distributed locations such as places of business in the form of e.g. shops, stores, service providers and/or the like in malls, along pedestrian streets or at other stores, shops/service providers or the like.

The advertising content may hence at least partly be based on the individual shop, store, and/or service provider so that e.g. at least a part of the advertising content which is to be visualized at a mobile client(s) connected to a wireless access point at a subscriber may be based on an offered product or services of the place of business where the individual wireless access point is located. Advertising content AC which is defined by the subscriber, e.g. for promoting his own business, or advertisements he has sold to a third party, are denoted subscriber- defined advertising content SAC. In a preferred embodiment the subscriber may fully control the substance of his own advertisements, and setup rules for their exposure, cf. the subscriber rule set SRS.

The subscriber rule set SRS is understood as comprising rules for managing, e.g. categorizing, selecting, combining and/or avoiding conflict of interest, of subscriber- defined advertising content SAC. A part of the subscriber rule set SRS preferably reflects an agreement with a subscriber SUB, and is in a preferred embodiment primarily controlled by the subscribers, and to a lesser degree by the advertiser network operator ANO.

Advertising content AC which is defined by the advertisement network operator ANO, preferably advertisements sold to advertisers ADV or e.g. for promoting the advertising network or making announcements, are denoted advertiser network operator-defined advertising content AAC. In a preferred embodiment the subscriber may fully or partly control the substance of advertising network operator-defined advertisements AAC that are being exposed via his wireless access point by configuring a compliance rule set CRS. Also the advertiser ADV and/or the advertising network operator ANO may influence the exposure behavior of advertising network operator-defined advertisements AAC by configuring the compliance rule set CRS. In the present context a compliance rule set CRS comprises rules for managing, e.g. categorizing, selecting, combining and/or avoiding conflict of interest, of advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC. A part of the compliance rule set CRS preferably reflects agreements with subscriber SUB and possibly also advertisers ADV, and is in a preferred embodiment primarily controlled by the subscribers, the advertiser and the advertiser network operator ANO. In a preferred embodiment the wireless access points WAP are configured to provide wireless internet connectivity by means of radio communication, preferably at least by comprising an arrangement for establishing a wireless local area network (WLAN), also known as a WiFi network, preferably according to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 standards, e.g. 802. l lg, 802.11η, 802.1 lac, etc. In a preferred embodiment a wireless access point WAP is configured to be used in accordance with several of the IEEE 802.11 standards, e.g. 802.1 lb/g/n, as is widely known by a person skilled in the art. A wireless access point WAP in a preferred embodiment associates the WLAN with a network identifier, typically, as known by the skilled person, a so-called service set identifier (SSID). Mobile devices are able to recognize a WLAN and differentiate between different WLANs due to the network identifier.

In other aspects, the wireless access points may be one or more other access points providing access to the internet, e.g. by means of Bluetooth (e.g. IEEE 802.15.1 standardized wireless technology) or any other suitable wireless technology. This may thereby in embodiments establish a kind of personal area network PAN, for example based on a Bluetooth group ad hoc network device or Bluetooth network access point device. The radio transceiver of the wireless access point WAP, including the antenna configuration, is a main contributor to defining a space around the wireless access point WAP within which mobile devices DEV may connect to the wireless access point. The space, which is also referred to as a decentral coverage area DCA in the present disclosure, may be limited and defined by, among other things, radio transmission power of the wireless access point and/or the mobile device, antenna configuration, elevation, encoding technology, physical obstructions or reflectors, e.g. walls, concrete constructions, etc., interference or obscuring by other nearby radio transmitters, etc. It is noted that the covered space, the decentral coverage area DCA, forms a three-dimensional radiation pattern around the wireless access point antenna(s). In a preferred embodiment, the wireless access point is communicatively coupled to the internet I via a router, which may be a separate hardware unit or integrated with the wireless access point, and any suitable last-mile internet networking technology as widely known by a person skilled in the art, such as, e.g., an optical fiber connection, ADSL or other DSL connection typically utilizing telephone wires, cable modems utilizing cable TV network infrastructure, or wireless technologies such as, e.g. WiMAX or LTE, or even a further WLAN connection with a same or different network identifier to another wireless access point. When referring to the internet I is generally understood as a minimum the Internet infrastructure, i.e. the worldwide network infrastructure that makes web pages and other web content of the World Wide Web accessible together with various other web services and internet distributed services, e.g. video streaming and email communication. In various embodiments the internet may be referring to the internet infrastructure as well as connected web servers and other connected servers.

The mobile device DEV is broadly understood as a device that is mobile. In preferred embodiments the mobile devices are handheld or portable devices such as, e.g., smartphones, tablets, PDAs, laptops, etc. In an embodiment the mobile device may be a fixed system in mobile setup, e.g. a computer, navigation system or smart-TV for automotive use, e.g. mounted in a car, etc. In a preferred embodiment several mobile devices DEV of same and/or different of the mentioned or other types are used simultaneously and/or sequentially, for various, possibly overlapping, periods. A mobile device DEV is according to an embodiment characterized by being battery- powered. In a preferred embodiment the mobile device comprises a user interface, preferably comprising a display and/or other arrangement, e.g. a loudspeaker, for rendering advertising content and other information to a human user, solely or in combination with other content, information and/or input controls. The user interface in a preferred embodiment comprises a touchscreen, e.g. based on capacitive or resistive touchscreen technology, which may therefore provide functionality of both displaying information to the user and receiving input from the user, e.g. as being typically used in smartphones and tablet computers as understood by a person skilled in the art.

The mobile device may in an embodiment comprise one or more position detecting or determining arrangements, e.g. a GPS-receiver, an arrangement for multilateration, trilateration or triangulation with respect to base stations, WiFi positioning systems, etc., possibly combined such as in hybrid positioning systems, e.g. Assisted GPS technology. The mobile device is in an embodiment preferably configured to be able to communicate the determined position, on request and/or by choice, e.g. directly to a base station or wireless access point, or via the internet to a server or other internet-connected system, e.g. an advertisement management system.

In a preferred embodiment the mobile device comprises wireless internet connectivity, preferably at least by comprising an arrangement for connecting via wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, also known as WiFi technology, preferably according to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 standards, e.g. 802. l lg, 802.11η, 802.1 lac, etc. In a preferred embodiment a mobile device DEV is configured to be used in accordance with several of the IEEE 802.11 standards, e.g. 802.1 lb/g/n, as is widely known by a person skilled in the art. In an embodiment the mobile device is configured with WLAN technology as well as other wireless connection technologies, such as e.g. mobile broadband, e.g. according to one or more of technologies know by the skilled person with reference to terms such as LTE-Advanced, LTE, IEEE 802.16m, HSPA+, WiMAX, UMTS, EDGE, etc., or other wireless data transfer technologies such as, e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, NFC, etc. In an embodiment the mobile device is capable of connecting to the internet according to WLAN technologies e.g. as described above, but does not comprise a slot or receiver for a SFM card and does not feature mobile broadband or other typically cellphone-specific functionality.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the method is performed automatically at least partly by means of a processor and memory of said mobile device (DEV). An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the method is performed automatically at least partly by means of data processing equipment (DPE). The advertising management system AMS may preferably be a central system, and is in an embodiment performing the selection and transmission of advertising content automatically.

Data processing equipment may in a preferred embodiment comprise hardware, either integrated or distributed, suitable for implementing advertisement databases, selecting and combinations algorithms and web server functionality of the advertising management system AMS. The data processing equipment preferably comprises one or more processors, processing memory and non-volatile memory for storing data. The data processing equipment may comprise cloud-based services.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said subscriber rule set (SRS) associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to said subscriber (SUB) thereby facilitates individual transmittal of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) from the advertising management system (AMS) via wireless access points (WAP) associated to the subscriber.

According to this embodiment of the invention, the individual subscribers may be served by the, preferably, central advertising management system and the individual subscriber may relay dedicated advertisement via the access points to mobile devices connecting to his or her wireless access point. This opportunity may serve several different purposes, such as motivation of the subscribers to join the network but it may also be a very specific solution to a complex desire for local geographically targeted advertisement by a subscriber and to the benefit of the users of the mobile devices. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) defined by the subscriber rule set (SRS) is received from the subscriber. The subscriber may thus upload or communicate subscriber-defined advertising content he wishes to be transmitted via his wireless access point to the advertising management system. This may e.g. be done in a primitive upload of an image or it may be uploaded as a more complex structure, whereby the subscriber may define properties related to the uploaded advertising content.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber rule set (SRS) furthermore defines timing definitions defining a desired timing according to which subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) is to be automatically transmitted by the advertising management system (AMS).

Timing definitions in relation to the subscriber-defined advertising content SAC may facilitate that the advertising in question is transmitted according to timing definitions of the subscriber, e.g. certain advertisement is automatically transmitted on certain times of the day, week or year. It may also imply timing during the specific session during which the mobile device is connected to the subscriber wireless access point, and/or comprise sequence rules for causing subscriber-defined advertising content to be received on the mobile device in a certain sequence.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising management system provides the combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) at least partly in dependency with a user profile (UP) associated with the mobile device or a user of the mobile device. User profile UP generally relates to information about the mobile devices or their users. According to an embodiment, the user profile may advantageously be applied for making the advertising more targeted, e.g. by correlation with user habits, user defined preferences, etc. The user profile may in a preferred embodiment be updated by the user, thereby allowing the user actively to affect the types of advertisement transmitted to him by the advertising management system. The user profile may also be updated on the basis of analysis of the web content or the web search results accessed by the mobile device or the user of the mobile device, thereby making it possible automatically to correlate the user's habits or interest without requiring inputs from the user.

The user profile may in an embodiment be anonymous in the sense that it only relates to an identifier, e.g. a MAC-address or other distinctive identifier of the mobile device, an email-address, an alias, etc. In an embodiment the user profile is related to a named or otherwise identified user, e.g. by social security number, a user ID of a social media network, a digital certificate, etc. In an embodiment part of the user profile is derived from social media network and other public or private sources.

The identification of a mobile device sufficient to lookup a corresponding anonymous user profile may be performed as soon as the user's mobile device is moved into a decentral coverage area of one of the wireless access points of the united network UN, at least if the WiFi-functionality is activated on the mobile device, because the mobile device in that case broadcasts its MAC address together with polls for wireless networks, and even connects to the united network automatically if already having been initialized once due to the WLAN account ACC. If user identification is desired to lookup a personal user profile, this may be obtained in various ways. In an embodiment the user is required to login to the united network by being redirected to a login page upon moving the mobile device into a coverage area of the united network. In an embodiment the user is asked to create a profile upon the very first connection attempt to the united network, and as part of the profile the mobile device is identified in order to be able to associate the user with the particular mobile device, e.g. by using the MAC-address as key, for further connections thereafter. In an embodiment a login system of a popular social media network is used to ease the login procedure and profile creation for new users of the united network.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber rule set (SRS) furthermore relates to a user profile (UP) associated with the mobile device or a user of the mobile device, and wherein the set of subscriber-defined advertising content is further selected in accordance with the user profile (UP).

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the user profile may advantageously be applied for making the advertising even more targeted, e.g. by correlation with user habits, user defined preferences, etc.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the user profile is updated by means of input from a user.

The user profile may advantageously be updated by the user, thereby allowing the user actively to affect the types of advertisement transmitted to him by the advertising management system.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the user profile is updated in response to analysis of web content or web search results accessed by the mobile device or the user of the mobile device.

The user profile may also be updated on the basis of analysis of the web content or the web search results accessed by the mobile device or the user of the mobile device, thereby making it possible automatically to correlate the user's habits or interest without requiring inputs from the user.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber rule set (SRS) associates a subscriber (SUB) with a specified subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) stored at a, preferably central, advertising content server (ACS). It is possible within the scope of the invention to specify a subset of the subscriber- defined advertising content to a subscriber, thereby making it possible for a central server to address advertisement to a specific communication channel for decentral distribution by one or more decentral wireless access point associated with the subscriber. The subscriber may own the wireless access points or the subscriber may e.g. according to a specific agreement have acquired the rights from the owner of the wireless access point(s). The subscriber may thereby ensure that his advertisement, defined by the subscriber rule set, may be broadcasted through his interest zone, i.e. the decentral coverage area DCA covered by the subscriber's wireless access points.

In a preferred embodiment the advertising management system AMS comprises an advertising content server ACS for storing advertising content AC, preferably at least divided into a database or table for subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and a database or table for advertiser network operator-defined advertising content AAC, or a single database with categorizations into these kinds. The advertising content server may preferably comprise further categorization of the advertisement content, and/or further types of data, e.g. tables of subscribers together with associated wireless access points, location thereof, etc.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber rule set (SRS) is defining subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) exclusively associated to said associated subscriber (SUB). The subscriber-defined advertising content SAC is preferably individually controlled by the individual subscribers SUB, thereby causing the specific advertising content associated with the different subscribers to be different.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said compliance rule set (CRS) defining a subset of the advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) as compliant with the subscriber (SUB) facilitates individual transmittal of compliant advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) from the advertising management system (AMS) via wireless access points (WAP) associated with the subscriber.

A compliance rule set may specifically be used to facilitate that only a subset of the complete advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC is transmitted to a mobile device, insofar the mobile device is connected to the advertising network through one or more mobile access points WAP associated to a specified subscriber SUB or a specified group of subscribers SUB. In this way, it is possible to allow individual subscribers control or a least partly control also with respect to advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber (SUB) is associated to an industrial classification code and where the compliance rule set (CRS) determines whether advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) may be transmitted via the wireless access point(s) associated to said subscriber (SUB).

By the application of a code, e.g. an industrial classification code associated to the individual subscribers, it will be possible in a relatively simple way to determine whether network operator-defined advertising content AAC may be transmitted via the wireless access point(s) associated to said subscriber SUB automatically by the advertising management system. This may e.g. be done by associating the advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC stored in the advertising management system AMS with individual codes, e.g. an industrial classification code. In this way, the advertising management system may e.g. thereby determine if a network operator-defined advertising content potentially to be transmitted is applicable or not and thereby exclude a subset of the total network operator-defined advertising content with respect to the individual subscriber through which advertising content is distributed. The compliance rule set may of course be more or less sophisticated in dependency of the conventions of the advertising network and the agreements with the individual subscribers. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the step of the mobile device (DEV) requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I) further involves associating a unique ID (UID) with said request.

This may provide an advantageous way of identifying the subscriber so as to be able to identify the proper advertising to provide to the mobile device transmitting the request based on the rule set, preferably the subscriber rule set SRS and/or the compliance rule set CRS.

The unique ID UID refers to an identifier serving to identify a wireless access point or its associated subscriber in order to determine through which subscriber a mobile device is connecting to the internet and should receive advertising content AC. The unique ID may preferably be included in the request for advertising content sent from the mobile device, or the unique ID may be injected in the request during the transmission of the request to the advertising management system. This may e.g. be achieved by having the wireless access point configured to add the unique ID to the request upon forwarding the request to the advertising management system. In a preferred embodiment the unique ID UID identifies the wireless access point WAP through which the request are transmitted from the mobile device DEV by comprising a hardware identifier, preferably a media access control address (MAC- address), of the wireless access point WAP. In various other embodiments, the unique ID may comprise e.g. a serial number of said wireless access point, a subscriber number or other identification of the subscriber, a position of the wireless access point or the user, etc.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said unique ID (UID) identifies the wireless access point (WAP) through which the request is transmitted from the mobile device (DEV). The advertising management system AMS may thus determine the subscriber SUB related to the request from said mobile device DEV on the basis of a unique ID UID of a wireless access point WAP associated with the dedicated subscriber SUB. The unique ID may preferably be included in the request from the mobile device, or the unique ID may be injected in the request during the transmission of the request to the advertising management system. This may e.g. be achieved by having the wireless access point configured to add the unique ID to the request upon forwarding the request to the advertising management system.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said unique ID (UID) identifies the wireless access point (WAP) through which the request is transmitted from the mobile device (DEV) by comprising a hardware identifier, preferably a media access control address (MAC-address), of said wireless access point (WAP).

Alternatively or additionally, the unique ID may comprise a serial number of said wireless access point, if available, or, e.g., a subscriber number or other identification of the subscriber. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said unique ID (UID) is determined based on a positioning system of said mobile device performing the request for advertising content (AC).

Preferably, the positioning system is a Global Positioning System (GPS), but it is understood that any suitable positioning system may be used in further aspects of the invention. The unique ID may when based on position, e.g. comprise latitude and longitude, map coordinates, a street address, etc., possibly together with the elevation. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said unique ID (UID) is determined based on multilateration, trilateration or triangulation to determine the position of said mobile device performing the request(s) for advertising content (AC). In this context it should be noted that multilateration, trilateration or triangulation evidently may be performed on the basis of as few or a many signal levels needed to obtain the desired position. The point is therefore not the specific number of detected signal levels measured at the mobile device, but rather that the signal levels measured at the mobile device will suffice for determination of the position of the mobile device, preferably at least to a degree sufficient to identify the subscriber.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said subscriber is identified by a unique ID combined into the request for advertisement content.

In a preferred embodiment, the unique ID identifies a subscriber directly or indirectly, e.g. by name or subscriber number, or by MAC-address or serial number of the wireless access point WAP, or by other similar, unique identification, and the unique ID is in this preferred embodiment part of the request for advertisement content, e.g. as a part of an URL or URI, an HTTP GET- or PUT-request, meta- or header-information in e.g. one of the protocols of the TCP/IP system, as part of a SOAP-message or other web service request, an asynchronous HTTP requests, XML HTTP requests, etc.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the combining of said unique ID into said request for advertising content is triggered by said mobile device (DEV).

It may thus within the scope of the invention be possible to make the mobile device trigger the combining of the unique ID into the request by means of dedicated software, e.g. an app downloaded and executed at the mobile device from which the request originates.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the combining of said unique ID into said request for advertising content is triggered by said advertising network (AN). It may moreover within the scope of the invention be possible that the advertising network, e.g. a component thereof, triggers the combining of the unique ID into the request. This triggering may e.g. be performed in hardware interfaces along the communication line between the mobile device and a web server from which the mobile device is retrieving web content. A very advantageous embodiment in this context would be a component such as a proxy server related to the wireless access point, e.g. a proxy server forming part of a wireless router also comprising the wireless access point. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the combining of said unique ID into said request for advertising content is triggered by the wireless access point through which the request is transmitted from said mobile device (DEV), said unique ID identifying said wireless access point. In embodiments of the invention, the unique ID may, if possible, be added anywhere between the mobile device and the advertising management system so that it is possible to determine the subscriber.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the unique ID, which is associated to the request transmitted from the mobile device, is originating from either a code associated with hardware of the wireless access point, or additionally or alternatively another suitable identifier enabling identification of the wireless access point through which the mobile device is communicatively coupled to the advertising network.

The request may be triggered by modified web content MWC generated in response to a user-initiated request for web content WC.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the wireless access points (WAP) are further configured to communicatively connect said mobile device (DEV) to the internet (I) for retrieval of web content (WC). Web content WC is understood as the content from web servers WS that the mobile device accesses by means of the internet connectivity. The web content is typically HTML-documents together with any associated sub resources. The web content may include web server advertising, e.g. from banner exchange services, which in this context is also referred to as web content, as opposed to advertising content, which in the present context refers to advertising managed by the advertising network operator and advertising management system.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said step of requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I) is preceded by the steps of: the mobile device (DEV) requesting web content (WC) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I); and the mobile device receiving said requested web content (WC) as modified web content (MWC) from said wireless access point (WAP), the mobile device initiating and transmitting said request for advertising content (AC) in response to receipt of said modified web content.

In a preferred embodiment the mobile device receives advertising content or is triggered to request advertising content each time or some time it request web content, e.g. a web page from a web server. This may be achieved by modifying the requested web content into modified web content before relaying it to the mobile device.

It is noted, that the present method may in a preferred embodiment be carried out iteratively over time, in which case the statement that the steps of requesting web content and receiving modified web content precede the steps of requesting advertising content and transmitting advertising content is to be understood as relating to each or some of the iterations. In other words, the mentioned request for advertising content may take place at different times, each or some time preceded by steps of requesting web content and receiving modified web content.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said request from the mobile device (DEV) for advertising content is triggered by the modified web content (MWC) received by the mobile device.

The web content WC may, e.g., have been modified into modified web content MWC included some or all of the original web content, together with script(s) or instructions which when processed causes the mobile device to make the request for advertising content.

In a preferred embodiment, modified web content MWC refers to web content WC modified by, e.g., a proxy server PS and sent to a mobile device DEV by means of a wireless access point WAP. The modification preferably comprises addition of a reference to an advertising content AC, e.g. in the form of a URL involving an advertising management system AMS or advertising content server ACS, and/or a script configured to establish such a reference. In an embodiment the script may establish an update of the advertising content AC at predefined intervals. In an alternative embodiment the modification may comprise combining the web content WC and the advertising content AC into a modified web content MWC.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said modified web content (MWC) comprises the web content (WC) and further script(s) or instructions.

Said script or instructions may comprise the unique ID. The modification may add script or instructions which, when executed, may reserve space on the screen of the device for the advertising content which is received in response to the request for advertising content. The script or instruction may also comprise a software code which, when executed, manipulates the mobile device to transmit the request for advertising content. An example of an instruction may e.g. be an HTML-tag instructing a browser to retrieve an image from an URL, the URL pointing at a web server of the advertising management system and the URL further comprising a query string, preferably comprising the unique ID, possibly together with further parameters for facilitating the advertising management system in selecting targeted advertising content. An injected HTML-instruction may in an embodiment look like, e.g., <IMG SRC="http://www.allunite.com/get_ad/?ap_mac= 01 :23 :45:67:89:ab" alt="AHUnite advertisement" height="25" width="75" />. An example of a script may be a javascript-implemented interval function which may cause a browser to periodically retrieve an image as widely understood by a person skilled in the art, from an URL comprising a query string containing the unique ID as described above. The retrieval of the advertisement may be performed as a normal download of a sub resource in a browser, or it may be carried out by asynchronous request, e.g. an asynchronous XMLHttpRequest. The script itself may be modified into the web content html document, or the modification may consist in adding an HTML-tag which when processed causes download and execution of a script-file.

The reservation of space on the screen of the mobile device may comprise adding, e.g., an IMG, OBJECT or DIV-tag to an HTML-document, manipulating a CSS- document, adding an inline frame (iframe) to a web page, etc. It is noted that the advertising content may comprise images, text, audio or video, etc. Combinations of the examples or alternatives including other instructions in e.g. HTML or CSS files, or other kinds of scripts, e.g. with further functionality or applicable to different platforms, may be readily available as will be recognized by a person skilled in the art.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) is associated to an industrial classification code.

When associating subscriber-defined advertising content to an industrial classification code, it is thereby possible to establish a well-defined description of the advertising and it is furthermore possible to establish whether the subscriber-defined advertising content, when used in another context would conflict with other advertising content. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) is categorized.

By categorizing the subscriber-defined advertising content, it may be possible to better target the user of the mobile device connected to the subscriber's wireless access point. The categorization of the advertising content may at the step of selecting a set of subscriber-defined advertising content SAC be correlated with the subscriber rule set SRS and/or a user profile, either obtained from the specific user as described above regarding user profiles UP, or obtained by other analysis of the subscriber's customers or guests. The categorization may, e.g., involve age, gender, interests, etc.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising management system (AMS) facilitates a central uploading of individual advertising content determined by the individual subscribers (SUB) via the Internet (I), the individual advertising content being subscriber defined advertising content (SAC).

Subscriber advertising content may be uploaded from the subscriber to a shared central server in a central advertising management system. In this way the subscriber may simply choose from a portal of centrally available templates. In this way, even small stores, libraries, coffee shops, offices, etc., may become a part of an advertising network, without even being required a computer. A simple wireless access point may suffice.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising network operator- defined advertising content (AAC) is associated to a an industrial classification code. The network operator-defined advertising content AAC may advantageously be categorized according to an industrial classification code. This may in particular be advantageous insofar there is a wish for transmission of this advertisement via subscribers' wireless access point(s) and if these subscribers do not want to allow transmission of this content unless the content doesn't conflict with the business or intentions of the subscriber. Such categorization is thereby facilitating an automatic transmission by the advertising management system of both advertising network operator-defined advertising content and subscriber-defined content via the same communication channel, i.e. the wireless access point associated to the subscriber.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising network operator- defined advertising content (AAC) is categorized.

By categorizing the advertising network operator-defined advertising content, it may be possible to better target the user of the mobile device to whom the advertising content is transmitted. The categorization of the advertising content may at the step of selecting a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC be correlated with the compliance rule set CRS and/or a user profile, either obtained from the specific user as described above regarding user profiles UP, or obtained by other analysis of the subscriber's customers or guests. The categorization may, e.g., involve age, gender, interests, etc.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said combination of the subscriber- defined advertising content (SAC) and the advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) received by the mobile device (DEV) in response to said request is established by sequential transmission over time of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC). According to an embodiment of the invention, it is possible to transmit subscriber- defined advertising content and the advertising network operator-defined advertising content to the mobile device, thereby allowing displaying of the two types of advertisement sequentially. Furthermore, it will be possible to allocate different time frames to the individual advertising content and it will be possible to allocate the individual duration of the advertisement content. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the combination of advertising content (AC) is received by the mobile device for a parallel displaying at the mobile device (DEV).

In an embodiment subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC are presented simultaneously at the display of the mobile device. In this context simultaneous or parallel displaying means that both types of advertising content appear to the user at substantially the same time under appropriate circumstances, i.e. when the network etc. allows for all content to be fetched in a reasonably short time, and when the device's display, or on devices with resizable windows: the window, is sufficiently large to show all content. In other words, content are considered displayed in parallel or simultaneously also when different parts appear clearly sequentially e.g. due to slow internet connection, slow servers or slow mobile device, or when different parts cannot actually be seen at the same time because of the screen or window being too small, but can be seen individually by scrolling the content in the window.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said web content (WC) retrieved by said mobile device (DEV) is rendered by means of said user interface. In a preferred embodiment, the mobile devices connect to the subscriber's wireless access point in order to gain access to the internet for retrieving web content. The web content is preferably displayed at the mobile device, and for this purpose, the mobile device preferably comprises a user interface, preferably comprising a display and/or other arrangement, e.g. a loudspeaker, for rendering advertising content and other information to a human user, solely or in combination with other content, information and/or input controls. The user interface in a preferred embodiment comprises a touchscreen, e.g. based on capacitive or resistive touchscreen technology, which may therefore provide functionality of both displaying information to the user and receiving input from the user, e.g. as being typically used in smartphones and tablet computers as understood by a person skilled in the art. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising content (AC) received by the mobile device (DEV) is displayed at the mobile device in addition to web content (WC) requested by the mobile device (DEV).

The advertising content is preferably displayed in addition to web content, e.g. in a pop up window, in a banner at the top, bottom and/or side(s) of the display, in suitable whitespace anyway produced by the web content, or in an embodiment by substituting some of the web content with the advertising content, preferably other advertising content received as web content opposed to the advertising content received as such from the advertising management system.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising content (AC) received by the mobile device (DEV) is displayed at the mobile device simultaneously with web content (WC) requested by the mobile device (DEV). In a preferred embodiment the advertising content is displayed simultaneously with displaying of web content to a user at the mobile device, preferably by a bar at the bottom or top of a web browser window.

In this context simultaneous or parallel displaying means that both web content and advertising content appear to the user at substantially the same time under appropriate circumstances, i.e. when the network etc. allows for all content to be fetched in a reasonably short time, and when the device's display, or on devices with resizable windows: the window, is sufficiently large to show all content. In other words, content are considered displayed in parallel or simultaneously also when different parts appear clearly sequentially e.g. due to slow internet connection, slow servers or slow mobile device, or when different parts cannot actually be seen at the same time because of the screen or window being too small, but can be seen individually by scrolling the content in the window.

By displaying the advertising content parallel with the web content at the mobile device, it may be possible for the user of the mobile device to visually see both the advertisement content and a visual presentation of the user accessed web content at the same time. This will, in the preferred embodiment, enable that the user may access the Internet in a usual manner without being interrupted by pop-ups, relaying web-sites, etc, while browsing the internet. The added advertisement content may simply be graphically added to the displayed website, thereby basically expanding the view with the advertisement content of the subscriber or the centrally determined advertisement. The added advertisement content may advantageously be added in the top window, in the bottom part of the window and/or to the left and/or to the right of the user accessed web content. The added advertisement may e.g. be inserted by a relatively simple modification of the Document Object Model DOM established at the mobile device.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when a plurality of said wireless access points are comprised in wireless routers (WR).

A wireless router WR is generally understood as a hardware unit comprising the functionality of both a wireless access point and a router, typically comprising an uplink Ethernet port, or ports for other cabling technologies, for connecting the wireless router to a wired broadband internet connection, e.g. a fiber connection. The wireless router may in an embodiment comprise further components such as a firewall, a web server, a configuration interface, etc. An example of a suitable wireless router is e.g. TL-WDR3500 N600 Wireless Dual Band Router from TP- Link, etc. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when a plurality of said wireless routers (WR) comprise proxy servers (PS). In the present context a proxy server PS of a wireless router WR or related to a wireless access point WAP is understood as a component, typically implemented in a processor and memory of a wireless access point or wireless router, and acts as an intermediary for request from and to mobile devices seeking resources from web servers. The proxy server is configured to analyze and manipulate the content of network packages sent through the wireless router or wireless access point.

The proxy server is preferably formed by hardware controlled by an operating system, e.g. an embedded linux system, comprising proxy server control software. The hardware may preferably be shared by the router, the proxy server and the wireless access point, and may comprise a CPU, RAM and static / non-volatile memory. Proxy server software may typically be updated, e.g. by firmware upgrade mechanisms, which may preferably be autonomous or controlled from remote connection.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said proxy servers trigger the association of a unique ID determining a subscriber.

In a preferred embodiment the proxy server modifies web content requested by a mobile device connected to the wireless access point so that the modified web content is made to provide the association of the unique ID to the mobile device, which in turn may provide the unique ID with its request for advertising content. In an embodiment, the proxy server modifies the request for advertising content when on their way from the mobile device to the advertising management system in order to associate the request with the unique ID that can be used to determine the subscriber.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising network (AN) comprises a plurality of subscribers (SUB) each being associated with a wireless access point (WAP); the wireless access points being configured to use a common network identifier (CNID) thereby being establishing a united network (UN); and wherein the mobile device (DEV) comprises a WLAN account ACC associated with said common network identifier (CNID); the method further comprising the step of the mobile device (DEV) automatically connecting to a nearby wireless access point (WAP) of said united network (UN); and wherein the step of requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) is exercised via said nearby wireless access point (WAP) and involves transmitting a unique ID (UID) associated with a subscriber associated with said nearby wireless access point (WAP) to said advertising management system in order to receive a combination of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) in accordance with said subscriber associated with said nearby wireless access point (WAP).

As seem from the mobile device user's perspective, the method is advantageous in that it allows him to be automatically connected and stay connected to the united network, and thereby e.g. benefit from free internet access, even when moving around among different subscribers' properties. From the subscribers' perspective, the method is advantageous in that it provides for always delivering advertising content of the subscriber through which the user is currently connected, and in accordance with that subscriber's interest. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the advertising network (AN) further comprises at least one base station (BS) of a wireless telecommunication network, and wherein the method comprises a step of

the mobile device (DEV) receiving advertising content (AC) as a combination of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and advertising network operator- defined advertising content (AAC) when the mobile device is connected to said base station and not connected to said one wireless access point; and wherein said advertising content (AC) is selected in accordance with a location of said mobile device.

In an embodiment the advertising network also covers a number of telecommunication base stations preferably offering mobile broadband connection, and the user of the mobile devices may therefore receive advertising content even when he is outside a decentral coverage area of the wireless access points of the system, e.g. when the mobile device is moved into a park, recreational area or a parking lot where no subscribers have put up wireless access points. According to the method, the user may even in these circumstance receive advertising content based on the location of the mobile device, and in a preferred embodiment even with correlation between the location and nearby subscribers to get targeted and relevant local advertising content from the subscriber-defined advertising content. An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the mobile device (DEV) connecting to the wireless access point (WAP) receives advertising content (AC) from the advertising management system (AMS) and web content (WC) from the internet (I), preferably from a web server (WS) connected to the internet. By arranging the transmission of advertising so that advertising content AC is served from a central or dedicated advertising server or advertising network, whereas the web content WC that the user requested is still served from the internet source, typically a web server, that the user requested web content from, a beneficial and useful embodiment is provided which is very suitable for most of the relevant use cases where a user agrees to or is required to be exposed to advertising together with the web content he or she wanted to be served to him or her.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the mobile device (DEV) connecting to the wireless access point (WAP) receives advertising content (AC) from the advertising management system (AMS) and web content (WC) from the internet (I), preferably from a web server (WS) connected to the internet, wherein the web content (WC) is transmitted from the internet (I) without being relayed via the advertising management system (AMS).

According to an embodiment web content should preferably be requested directly from the web source instead of being relayed though the advertising management system. It is thereby ensured that the advertising management system does not act as a bottleneck to browsing performed by the user of the mobile device. An advantageous feature in an embodiment is that the processing of web content WC to make modified web content MWC is distributed to decentral, e.g., proxy servers, preferably located in relation to each wireless access point WAP. The modified web content MWC triggers the mobile device to request advertising as disclosed and preferably only this advertising request is handled by the advertising management server AMS. A system for obtaining advertising content (AC) for rendering to a user of a mobile device (DEV), the system comprising an advertising network comprising

a plurality of wireless access points (WAP) communicatively coupled to the internet (I); each of the wireless access points being associated with a subscriber (SUB) of the advertising network (AN);

an advertising management system (AMS) communicatively coupled to the internet (I); the advertising management system (AMS) comprising subscriber- defined advertising content (SAC) and a subscriber rule set (SRS) associating an individual subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to each of a plurality of the subscribers (SUB); the advertising management system (AMS) further comprising advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) and a compliance rule set (CRS) defining a subset of advertising network operator- defined advertising content (AAC) as compliant with each of a plurality of said subscribers (SUB); the mobile device (DEV) being configured to establish a connection to one of the wireless access point in order to transmit a request for advertising content (AC) to said advertising management system (AMS); the mobile device (DEV) being configured to receive said advertising content as a combination based on the subscriber associated with the connected wireless access point of a set of the subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and a set of the advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC); the mobile device (DEV) comprising a user interface configured to render said received advertising content (AC) to said user.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when the system further comprises features described in the above description of the method of obtaining advertising content AC from an advertising network AN for rendering to a user of a mobile device DEV.

An advantageous embodiment is obtained when said system further comprises features for carrying out the above described method of obtaining advertising content AC from an advertising network AN for rendering to a user of a mobile device DEV.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions for obtaining advertising content (AC) from an advertising network (AN) for rendering to a user of a mobile device (DEV); said instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the following steps to be carried out: establishing a connection between said mobile device (DEV) and one of a plurality of wireless access points (WAP); the plurality of wireless access points (WAP) being communicatively coupled to the Internet (I) and each of said wireless access points (WAP) being associated with a subscriber (SUB) of said advertising network (AN); the mobile device (DEV) requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I); the mobile device (DEV) receiving said advertising content (AC) as a combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) in accordance with a subscriber rule set (SRS) associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to said subscriber (SUB); and

a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) in accordance with a compliance rule set (CRS) defining a subset of advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) as compliant with said subscriber (SUB); and rendering said received advertising content (AC) by means of a user interface of said mobile device (DEV).

In an embodiment of the invention, a mobile device may be provided with an app, i.e. software, to be executed at the individual mobile device. The app will be executed as a visual display of a compass. The compass will direct a user of the mobile device to a stronger network by physically showing the direction.

The compass function will technically be based on detection of signal levels related to one or preferably the closest wireless access point. The signal detection is performed in the mobile device and a display will illustrate a direction towards a stronger network signal. The app is very attractive to a user, due to the fact that the user does not have to specify a specific local network to search for, but rather just search for a wireless access point providing a stronger wifi connection within the united network established by the wireless access points of the advertising network. In an embodiment of the invention, a website may also be applied for the purpose of being directed to physical shops or physical providers for the purpose of obtaining or buying advertised goods or information. In an embodiment of the invention, it is possible to provide a subscriber associated to more than one wireless access point, e.g. a shop owner having five wireless access points, with a heap map, showing or reflecting where mobile devices have moved within the store at a given time or one or more specified time periods.

In an embodiment of the invention, it will be possible for the subscriber to assign different of the subscriber's wireless access point with different dedicated advertisement. It may therefore be possible for a subscriber, e.g. a shop owner or a library to give specific advertisement to a mobile device in dependency of where the mobile device is in the store. This may e.g. be done advantageously by the subscriber when dedicating advertisement regarding books in one subscriber-defined advertising content to a wireless access point located in the subscriber's book department and dedicating advertisement regarding delicious meat in another subscriber-defined advertising content to a wireless access point located in the subscriber's butcher department.

In an embodiment of the invention, a subscriber may be associated to more than one wireless access point. This may e.g. be defined centrally in the advertisement management system. This application of a multiple numbers or wireless access points associated to one subscriber may be applied throughout the present application. The group may be seen from the advertising management system as one uniform group of wireless access point and the advertising management system may thereby submit the same subscriber-defined advertising content to all wireless access point in the group. The advertising management system may also handle the wireless access points individually and transmit different subscriber-specified advertising content to the different wireless access points of the group. This may e.g. be done by referral to different MAC numbers or other suitable measures. The wireless access point of a subscriber may thus e.g. be grouped with further wireless repeaters. Wireless repeaters are commonly used to improve signal range and strength of a wireless network. A wireless repeater (also called wireless range extender) takes an existing signal from a wireless router or access point and rebroadcasts it to create a second network. When two or more hosts have to be connected with one another over the IEEE 802.11 protocol and the distance is too long for a direct connection to be established, a wireless repeater is used to bridge the gap. It can be a specialized stand-alone computer networking device. Also, some wireless network interface controllers optionally support operating in such a mode. Those outside of the primary network will be able to connect through the new "repeated" network. However, as far as the original router or access point is concerned only the repeater's MAC-address is connected.

In a preferred embodiment the wireless repeater is configured with wireless network settings, SSID and security credentials identically to the wireless access points participating in a united network UN, thereby simply extending the coverage area CA of the united network.

It is noted, that the terms advertising and advertisement are used interchangeably in the present disclosure.

The drawings

The invention will in the following be described with reference to the drawings where fig. 1 A is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention,

fig. IB is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the invention,

fig. 2 - 3 are block diagrams illustrating various embodiments of the invention, fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the invention, and

fig. 5 - 7 are block diagrams illustrating various embodiments of the invention.

Detailed description

Fig. 1 A is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an advertising network AN according to an embodiment of the invention. Mobile devices DEV connect to wireless access points WAP by means of WiFi-based technology. As the wireless access points WAP are connected to the internet I, the mobile devices DEV may also access the internet I by the wireless connections. Each of the wireless access points WAP is associated, hence the dashed line, with a subscriber SUB. The advertising network AN comprises a plurality of subscribers SUB, and in an embodiment some subscribers are associated with more than one wireless access point WAP, as illustrated.

As elaborated in more detail above, the subscribers preferably represent shops, cafes, malls, businesses, waiting rooms, public areas, sports or concert venues, etc., where customers or guests come and go, and where an offer for wireless internet, preferably for free, will typically be well received and relevant for mobile device users.

The embodiment of fig. 1A further comprises an advertising management system AMS which is also connected to the internet I. The advertising management system AMS comprises advertising content AC, which comprises subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC. The advertising management system also comprises a subscriber rule set SRS and a compliance rule set CRS. As elaborated in more detail above, a subset of the subscriber-defined advertising content SAC is assigned to an individual subscriber SUB, and other subsets are assigned to other individual subscribers SUB. The subscriber rules set SRS controls these relationships, possibly among other things. A mobile device DEV being connected to the internet I through the wireless access point WAP of a specific subscriber can thereby receive subscriber-defined advertising content SAC specific to that subscriber. In an exemplary embodiment, the mobile device user may walk into a clothing store and there receive offers for items on sale in that very store. Later the mobile device user may sit in front of a cafe, e.g. waiting for public transport, and there receive an offer for a cheap coffee to go from the cafe. In these examples the clothing store and the cafe represent two different subscribers each offering free internet through their separate wireless access points, and the mobile device user receives relevant and useful subscriber-defined advertising content when accepting their offers for internet access.

As also elaborated in more detail above, a subset of the advertising network operator- defined advertising content AAC, which preferably comprises advertisements sold to third-party advertisers, is defined as compliant with an individual subscriber SUB, and other or the same or combinations of subsets are defined as compliant with other individual subscribers SUB. This is controlled by the compliance rule set CRS. A mobile device DEV being connected to the internet I through the wireless access point WAP of a specific subscriber can thereby receive advertising network operator- defined advertising content AAC which complies with e.g. interests or other constraints set by that subscriber and by the operator and/or third-party advertiser. To expand on the above exemplary embodiment, the mobile device user may thus when inside the clothing store, further receive advertisements for other local stores or nearby restaurants, etc., which the advertising network operator or third-party advertiser finds relevant to customers in the clothing store, but the clothing store manager may restrict the third-party advertisements delivered in his store to not include, e.g., advertisements for competitors' clothing stores. Likewise, when the mobile device user waits for his transport in front of the cafe, he may further receive third-party advertisements which are found relevant for that location or activity, and some of which may possibly be the same as received in the clothing store, but the cafe manager whose internet access is utilized here may by means of the compliance rule set restrict the third-party advertising to not include, e.g., advertisements from a tea house at the opposite side of the road. The mobile device user in this example is again facilitated to receive relevant and useful advertising content when accepting the two subscribers' offers for internet access, while at the same time acknowledging and respecting the interests of his hosts. Examples and alternatives for the different components and structures are disclosed and discussed in more detail above, and any, some or all possibilities, alone or in combination, are within the scope of the present invention and applicable to various embodiments thereof.

Fig. IB is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of receiving advertising content to a mobile device DEV in the above described advertising network AN. In a first step 1B.1 is illustrated, that a mobile device DEV sends a request for advertising content AC to the advertising management system AMS. As indicated in fig. IB, the request goes through the wireless access point WAP and the internet I.

In a second step IB.2 the mobile device DEV receives advertising content AC from the advertising management system AMS via the internet I and the wireless access point WAP. The advertising content AC comprises a combination of subscriber- defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC. The combination has been established by the advertising management system AMS in dependency of the particular subscriber SUB associated with the particular wireless access point WAP through which the request for advertising content was received. This is achieved in accordance with the subscriber rule set and the compliance rule set. The identification of the particular wireless access point and/or the particular subscriber is in a preferred embodiment provided to the advertising management system AMS together with or as part of the request for advertising content, and may either be added to the request by the mobile device DEV or the subscriber's wireless access point WAP. This step of receiving advertising content is also illustrated in Fig. 1A by the indication of advertising content AC being transferred along the illustrated connections from the advertising management system AMS to the internet I, to the wireless access point WAP, and finally to a mobile device DEV. The third step IB.3 illustrates that advertising content AC is displayed on the mobile device DEV, and thereby rendered to the user by means of a user interface of the mobile device. Fig. 2 illustrates various embodiments of the invention based on the illustration of fig. 1A. The various additional features may all be present in a preferred embodiment, but various embodiments comprise different combinations of only some or all of the features of fig. 2.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 2 the advertising management system AMS is illustrated as being comprised by an advertising network operator ANO, who operates the advertising management server AMS and preferably facilitates the advertising network AN.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 2 the advertising content AC is stored in an advertising content server ACS. In an embodiment derivable from fig. 2 the advertising management system AMS comprises user profiles UP, preferably related to the mobile devices or users of the mobile devices. Various embodiments relating to the establishment of and use of the user profiles UP are disclosed above. In an embodiment derivable from fig. 2 the advertising management system AMS comprises data processing equipment DPE comprising hardware and software for performing the tasks of the advertising management system AMS.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 2 the advertising network operator ANO is further in communication with an advertiser ADV, preferably in order to sell exposure of advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC or to receive the advertiser's preferences regarding the compliance rule set CRS.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 2, a unique ID UID is used to determine the subscriber through which a request for advertising content has been sent. Fig. 2 illustrates various embodiments of implementing and using the unique ID, which may be used alone or in combination(s) in various embodiments. In a preferred embodiment an individual unique ID UID is a property of each wireless access point WAP. By adding this kind of unique ID to the request for advertising content the advertising management system AMS may identify the relevant subscriber SUB as the subscriber associated with the wireless access point identified by the unique ID.

In an embodiment an individual unique ID UID is a property of each subscriber SUB. By adding this kind of unique ID to the request for advertising content the advertising management system AMS may explicitly get the identity of the relevant subscriber SUB.

In an embodiment an individual unique ID UID represents a position, relative or absolute, in terms of coordinates, street address or any other suitable representation as further elaborated above, of the wireless access point, the subscriber or the mobile device, etc., and when sending this kind of unique ID to the advertising management system AMS in an embodiment it may identify the relevant subscriber by comparing the represented position with known positions of the subscribers or wireless access points and, preferably, determine the nearest one to be the relevant subscriber.

Fig. 3 illustrates various embodiments of the invention based on the illustration of fig. 1 A and/or fig. 2. The various additional features may all be present in a preferred embodiment, but various embodiments comprise different combinations of only some or all of the features of fig. 1A, 2 and/or 3.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 3 a web server WS as further discussed above is also connected to the internet I, and the mobile device requests web content WC from the web server WS. As illustrated in fig. 3, the retrieval and transmission of web content WC does in a preferred embodiment not involve the advertising management system AMS. The web content may in a preferred embodiment comprise a web page, typically based on an HTML-document, but any web content may be retrieved in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. In an embodiment derivable from fig. 3 proxy servers PS are located in relation to the wireless access points WAP. In a preferred embodiment the proxy servers are located close to the wireless access points in terms of connection length or routing hops, preferably at the same geographical location as the wireless access point WAP and even more preferably integrated together with the wireless access point WAP, e.g. in a wireless router WR as illustrated and further described above, in order to distribute the required proxy processing power as much as possible. In an embodiment one or more proxy servers are located upstream from a number of wireless access points WAP in order to process all traffic collectively for those wireless access points, thereby requiring less proxy servers but with higher processing power demands on each. The proxy servers PS are in a preferred embodiment configured to manipulate the web content WC into modified web content MWC before it is transmitted to the mobile device. The manipulation preferably comprises adding code, e.g. text, graphical items, a script or other instructions, that makes the mobile device request advertising content AC when processing the received modified web content MWC. Any modification of web content suitable for making the mobile device request advertising content is within the scope of the invention, and various embodiments thereof are disclosed above. In a preferred embodiment the proxy server modifies all or some HTML-documents transmitted in accordance with the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of receiving advertising content to a mobile device DEV in reaction to first requesting web content WC and receiving modified web content MWC. In a first step 4.1 is illustrated, that a mobile device DEV sends a request for web content WC to a web server WS via the internet access provided by the wireless access point WAP.

In a second step 4.2 the mobile device DEV receives in response a modified web content MWC from the wireless access point WAP. This occurs because the web content WC is manipulated into modified web content MWC somewhere along the way from the web server WS to the wireless access point WAP. As mentioned above, the manipulation of the web content into modified web content is preferably performed in relation to the wireless access point, e.g. by a proxy server integrated with or substantially immediately upstream from the wireless access point WAP. In a third step 4.3 the mobile device DEV processes the received modified web content MWC. The modified web content preferably comprises an HTML- or XHTML document which can be processed in order to prepare a web page for viewing by a user, but other kinds of web content is within the scope of the invention.

In a fourth step 4.4 the mobile device obtains the unique ID UID which may be used to determine the relevant subscriber SUB. In a preferred embodiment the unique ID UID is included in the modified web content MWC and is thereby readily available. In an embodiment the unique ID UID represents a position of, e.g., the mobile device, as this in turn represents an approximate position of the wireless access point and thereby the subscriber. In that case, the mobile device DEV needs to measure, calculate, inquire, or otherwise determine its position with some predefined or available precision in order to obtain the unique ID UID. In a fifth step 4.5 the mobile device DEV sends a request for advertising content AC to the advertising management system AMS through the wireless access point WAP and the internet I. The request for advertising content AC preferably comprises or is sent together with the unique ID, as illustrated. In a sixth step 4.6 the mobile device DEV receives advertising content AC from the advertising management system AMS via the internet I and the wireless access point WAP. The advertising content AC comprises a combination of subscriber-defined advertising content SAC and advertising network operator-defined advertising content AAC. The combination has been established by the advertising management system AMS in dependency of the particular subscriber SUB associated with the particular wireless access point WAP through which the request for advertising content was received, as determined by the unique ID UID. This is achieved in accordance with the subscriber rule set and the compliance rule set.

In a seventh step 4.7 the received advertising content AC is displayed on the mobile device DEV, and thereby rendered to the user by means of a user interface of the mobile device. The part of the modified web content MWC which originates from the web content WC is preferably also displayed. This may happen before or during the request for advertising content, or it may first be displayed together with the advertising content. Preferably the web page is shown as soon as it is processed, and the advertising content AC is added as a bar above or below the web page view as soon as it is received.

Fig. 5 illustrates various embodiments of the invention based on the illustration of fig. 1A, 2 and/or fig. 3. The various additional features may all be present in a preferred embodiment, but various embodiments comprise different combinations of only some or all of the features of fig. 1 A, 2, 3 and/or 4.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 4 each wireless access point WAP defines a decentral coverage area DCA as described above, basically representing the geographical area or three-dimensional space within which a mobile device may establish a connection with it. Though illustrated by circles in fig. 5 for simplicity the decentral coverage areas DCA are in practice shaped by walls and other obstacles reducing the range differently in different directions. In an embodiment derivable from fig. 4 each mobile device DEV comprises a WLAN account ACC which records WiFi-network to which is has been connected or is allowed to connect.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 4 each wireless access point WAP associates its wireless network with a common network identifier CNID. By using the same common network identifier, in WiFi-networks typically referred to as SSID, the mobile devices DEV are enabled to use the same WLAN account ACC to connect to any of the wireless access points WAP. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the combination of common network identifiers and WLAN accounts ACC in practice makes the mobile devices DEV experience the different wireless access points as belonging to one united network UN, to which the mobile device can connect automatically, typically without requiring individual user accept, at any of the wireless access points, if it has just one time been connect to any of the participating wireless access points before.

In an embodiment derivable from fig. 4, when the wireless access points WAP work together to establish a united network UN as disclosed, the different decentral coverage areas DCA may collectively be considered a coverage area CA of the united network UN. In other words, if a mobile device comprises a WLAN account ACC for the relevant common network identifier CNID, it can automatically connect any time it enters the coverage area CA anywhere, and it may stay connected and seamlessly switch from wireless access point to wireless access point as it is being moved around within the coverage area CA.

Fig. 6 illustrates that in an embodiment the decentral coverage areas DCA in practice adapt to neighbors also participating in the united network UN, as a mobile device DEV located somewhere between two wireless access points WAP with the same common network identifier CNID typically connects to the one with strongest or best quality signal. Due to this preferred automatic selection of wireless access point by the mobile devices, a wireless access point may not be reachable within its entire theoretical range, if the range of a nearby wireless access point overlaps this theoretical range. By this mechanism, the united network automatically adapts to the interests of the nearest wireless access point, which preferably coincides with the interests of the subscriber associated with that wireless access point, in particular when taking into account that the decentral coverage areas DCA will often match the walls or other boundaries between, e.g., buildings, due to their obstacle effect on radio communication. Fig. 7 illustrates an embodiment where a base station BS of a wireless telecommunication network is also connected to the internet I and participating in the distribution of advertising content AC to a mobile device DEV that is outside reach of any of the wireless access points WAP of the advertising network AN. Further base stations BS may be used for the mobile device or the telecommunication network to determine the location of the mobile device in order to select relevant advertising content, e.g. based on the subscriber(s) nearest to the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining advertising content (AC) from an advertising network (AN) for rendering to a user of a mobile device (DEV), the method comprising the steps of: establishing a connection between said mobile device (DEV) and one of a plurality of wireless access points (WAP); the plurality of wireless access points (WAP) being communicatively coupled to the Internet (I) and each of said wireless access points (WAP) being associated with a subscriber (SUB) of said advertising network (AN); the mobile device (DEV) requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I); the mobile device (DEV) receiving said advertising content (AC) as a combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) in accordance with a subscriber rule set (SRS) associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to said subscriber (SUB); and

a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed automatically at least partly by means of a processor and memory of said mobile device (DEV).

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method is performed automatically at least partly by means of data processing equipment (DPE).

4. The method of any of the claims 1 to 3, wherein said subscriber rule set (SRS) associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to said subscriber (SUB) thereby facilitates individual transmittal of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) from the advertising management system (AMS) via wireless access points (WAP) associated to the subscriber.

5. The method of any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) defined by the subscriber rule set (SRS) is received from the subscriber.

6. The method of any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the subscriber rule set (SRS) furthermore defines timing definitions defining a desired timing according to which subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) is to be automatically transmitted by the advertising management system (AMS).

7. The method of any of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the advertising management system provides the combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content

(SAC) and a set of advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) at least partly in dependency with a user profile (UP) associated with the mobile device or a user of the mobile device.

8. The method of any of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the subscriber rule set (SRS) furthermore relates to a user profile (UP) associated with the mobile device or a user of the mobile device, and wherein the set of subscriber-defined advertising content is further selected in accordance with the user profile (UP).

9. The method of any of the claims 1 to 8, wherein the user profile is updated by means of input from a user.

10. The method of any of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the user profile is updated in response to analysis of web content or web search results accessed by the mobile device or the user of the mobile device.

11. The method of any of the claims 1 to 10, wherein the subscriber rule set (SRS) associates a subscriber (SUB) with a specified subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) stored at a, preferably central, advertising content server (ACS).

12. The method of any of the claims 1 to 1 1, wherein the subscriber rule set (SRS) is defining subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) exclusively associated to said associated subscriber (SUB).

13. The method of any of the claims 1 to 12, wherein said compliance rule set (CRS) defining a subset of the advertising network operator-defined advertising content

(AAC) as compliant with the subscriber (SUB) facilitates individual transmittal of compliant advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) from the advertising management system (AMS) via wireless access points (WAP) associated with the subscriber.

14. The method of any of the claims 1 to 13, wherein the subscriber (SUB) is associated to an industrial classification code and where the compliance rule set (CRS) determines whether advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) may be transmitted via the wireless access point(s) associated to said subscriber (SUB).

15. The method of any of the claims 1 to 14, wherein the step of the mobile device (DEV) requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I) further involves associating a unique ID (UID) with said request.

16. The method of any of the claims 1 to 15, wherein said unique ID (UID) identifies the wireless access point (WAP) through which the request is transmitted from the mobile device (DEV).

17. The method of any of the claims 1 to 16, wherein said unique ID (UID) identifies the wireless access point (WAP) through which the request is transmitted from the mobile device (DEV) by comprising a hardware identifier, preferably a media access control address (MAC-address), of said wireless access point (WAP).

18. The method of any of the claims 1 to 17, wherein said unique ID (UID) is determined based on a positioning system of said mobile device performing the request for advertising content (AC).

19. The method of any of the claims 1 to 18, wherein said unique ID (UID) is determined based on multilateration, trilateration or triangulation to determine the position of said mobile device performing the request(s) for advertising content (AC).

20. The method of any of the claims 1 to 19, wherein said subscriber is identified by a unique ID combined into the request for advertisement content.

21. The method of any of the claims 1 to 20, wherein the combining of said unique ID into said request for advertising content is triggered by said mobile device (DEV).

22. The method of any of the claims 1 to 21, wherein the combining of said unique ID into said request for advertising content is triggered by said advertising network (AN).

23. The method of any of the claims 1 to 22, wherein the combining of said unique ID into said request for advertising content is triggered by the wireless access point through which the request is transmitted from said mobile device (DEV), said unique ID identifying said wireless access point.

24. The method of any of the claims 1 to 23, wherein the wireless access points (WAP) are further configured to communicatively connect said mobile device (DEV) to the internet (I) for retrieval of web content (WC).

25. The method of any of the claims 1 to 24, wherein said step of requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I) is preceded by the steps of: the mobile device (DEV) requesting web content (WC) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I); and the mobile device receiving said requested web content (WC) as modified web content (MWC) from said wireless access point (WAP), the mobile device initiating and transmitting said request for advertising content (AC) in response to receipt of said modified web content.

26. The method of any of the claims 1 to 25, wherein said request from the mobile device (DEV) for advertising content is triggered by the modified web content (MWC) received by the mobile device.

27. The method of any of the claims 1 to 26, wherein said modified web content (MWC) comprises the web content (WC) and further script(s) or instructions.

28. The method of any of the claims 1 to 27, wherein the subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) is associated to an industrial classification code.

29. The method of any of the claims 1 to 28, wherein the subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) is categorized.

30. The method of any of the claims 1 to 29, wherein the advertising management system (AMS) facilitates a central uploading of individual advertising content determined by the individual subscribers (SUB) via the Internet (I), the individual advertising content being subscriber defined advertising content (SAC).

31. The method of any of the claims 1 to 30, wherein the advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) is associated to an industrial classification code.

32. The method of any of the claims 1 to 31, wherein the advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) is categorized.

33. The method of any of the claims 1 to 32, wherein said combination of the subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and the advertising network operator- defined advertising content (AAC) received by the mobile device (DEV) in response to said request is established by sequential transmission over time of subscriber- defined advertising content (SAC) and advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC).

34. The method of any of the claims 1 to 33, wherein the combination of advertising content (AC) is received by the mobile device for a parallel displaying at the mobile device (DEV).

35. The method of any of the claims 1 to 34, wherein said web content (WC) retrieved by said mobile device (DEV) is rendered by means of said user interface.

36. The method of any of the claims 1 to 35, wherein the advertising content (AC) received by the mobile device (DEV) is displayed at the mobile device in addition to web content (WC) requested by the mobile device (DEV).

37. The method of any of the claims 1 to 36, wherein the advertising content (AC) received by the mobile device (DEV) is displayed at the mobile device simultaneously with web content (WC) requested by the mobile device (DEV).

38. The method of any of the claims 1 to 37, wherein a plurality of said wireless access points are comprised in wireless routers (WR).

39. The method of any of the claims 1 to 38, wherein a plurality of said wireless routers (WR) comprise proxy servers (PS).

40. The method of any of the claims 1 to 39, wherein said proxy servers trigger the association of a unique ID determining a subscriber.

41. The method of any of the claims 1 to 40, wherein the advertising network (AN) comprises a plurality of subscribers (SUB) each being associated with a wireless access point (WAP); the wireless access points being configured to use a common network identifier (CNID) thereby being establishing a united network (UN); and wherein the mobile device (DEV) comprises a WLAN account ACC associated with said common network identifier (CNID); the method further comprising the step of the mobile device (DEV) automatically connecting to a nearby wireless access point (WAP) of said united network (UN); and wherein the step of requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) is exercised via said nearby wireless access point (WAP) and involves transmitting a unique ID (UID) associated with a subscriber associated with said nearby wireless access point (WAP) to said advertising management system in order to receive a combination of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) and advertising network operator-defined advertising content (AAC) in accordance with said subscriber associated with said nearby wireless access point (WAP).

42. The method of any of the claims 1 to 41, wherein the advertising network (AN) further comprises at least one base station (BS) of a wireless telecommunication network, and wherein the method comprises a step of

43. The method of any of the claims 1 to 42, wherein the mobile device (DEV) connecting to the wireless access point (WAP) receives advertising content (AC) from the advertising management system (AMS) and web content (WC) from the internet (I), preferably from a web server (WS) connected to the internet.

44. The method of any of the claims 1 to 43, wherein the mobile device (DEV) connecting to the wireless access point (WAP) receives advertising content (AC) from the advertising management system (AMS) and web content (WC) from the internet (I), preferably from a web server (WS) connected to the internet, wherein the web content (WC) is transmitted from the internet (I) without being relayed via the advertising management system (AMS).

45. A system for obtaining advertising content (AC) for rendering to a user of a mobile device (DEV), the system comprising an advertising network comprising

46. The system of claim 45 wherein said system further comprises features according to any of the claims 2 - 44.

47. The system of claim 45 or 46 wherein said system further comprises features for carrying out the method according to any of the claims 1 - 44.

48. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions for obtaining advertising content (AC) from an advertising network (AN) for rendering to a user of a mobile device (DEV); said instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the following steps to be carried out: establishing a connection between said mobile device (DEV) and one of a plurality of wireless access points (WAP); the plurality of wireless access points (WAP) being communicatively coupled to the Internet (I) and each of said wireless access points (WAP) being associated with a subscriber (SUB) of said advertising network (AN); the mobile device (DEV) requesting advertising content (AC) from an advertising management system (AMS) via said one wireless access point (WAP) and the Internet (I); the mobile device (DEV) receiving said advertising content (AC) as a combination of a set of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) in accordance with a subscriber rule set (SRS) associating a subset of subscriber-defined advertising content (SAC) to said subscriber (SUB); and