STEERING OF INTERNET ACCESS TO SPONSORS

摘要

This invention provides an Internet Access Provider (IAP), a simple mechanism to steer users to given Internet services, such as the Web pages, of sponsors. The mechanism allows a sponsor to grant a dial-in user unlimited access to the Internet after the user has first accessed its Internet services. The invention is thus important for any IAP that wants to receive income from sponsors by steering Internet users to their services. In the ultimate case, an IAP could receive all its income from sponsors and thus be able to offer the Internet access for free. The key characteristics of the present invention is that a user is steered to the Internet services of a sponsor based on a sponsor specific called telephone number or a sponsor specific login name. The IAP does not need to uniquely identify the user and therefore no user specific PINs are needed. Sponsors can simply promote their offers by publicly advertising their sponsor specific Internet access telephone numbers or login names. The user registration process (if any) and the determination of when unlimited access should be granted is handled by the sponsor. The functions of the IAP are sponsor independent and the amount of information that needs to be transferred between the sponsor and the IAP is minimized.