Ad-backed e-mail company Juno Online
Services has been awarded a U.S. patent that covers key components of
its offline Internet business model.
Juno said its patent covers “certain fundamental information processing
technologies used to enable Juno’s subscribers to read and write
e-mail and interact with advertisements while they are not connected to
Juno’s central computers.”
The patent covers the operation of a system that displays interactive
advertisements or other digital information to a remote user after
that user has terminated the Internet access connection. The advertising or
other digital information to be shown is downloaded to the user while he or
she is connected to an Internet access provider’s computers and is then
stored on the user’s computer for later display.
Juno offers a full range of Internet services, ranging from basic
dial-up Internet e-mail, which it provides for free, to full Internet access.
All of Juno’s service levels use the patented technology.
“Our members often cite our offline model as one of the things they
most value,” said Charles Ardai, Juno’s president and one of the team of
inventors responsible for developing the patented technology.
“Additionally, the patented offline model gives Juno a substantial
competitive advantage
over other Internet access providers who have to bear the cost of much
longer user connections.”
An abstract of Juno’s patent (No. 5,809,242) may be found here.
