Importance

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Abstract

The invention provides a method and system for electronic commerce using streaming media, such as used in conjunction with a broadcast or internetworking environment. (1) E-commerce opportunities are combined with incentives for participation by recipients, enhancing the likelihood of responses from recipients and the value of distribution of the promotional information. Incentives can be random or pseudo-random, skill-based, or responsive to aggregate buying. (2) Techniques are applied to reduce load on an e-commerce server associated with the e-commerce opportunities, so that relatively large numbers of recipients can respond to e-commerce opportunities without unduly burdening that server. An applet conducts the interactive process with the recipient and presents results to the server. The applet can implement the incentives, can conduct all or part of the e-commerce transaction with the recipient, and can operate in conjunction or in parallel with the server to select one or more recipients for an incentive reward. (3) The promotional material is associated with individual elements of the streaming media being presented to the recipient, such as a selected actor or actress, or a selected object. Presentation of the promotional material at the receiving device can be responsive to personalized information about the recipient, gleaned from one or more of: demographic information, stated preferences, fuzzy searching, or collaborative filtering.

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First Claim