BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION The rapid changing environment places great demands on the traditional methods for the promotion and marketing of goods and services. These traditional methods include advertising on Television, in printed media as in magazines and newspaper, on radio stations and outdoor advertising. The internet and in particularly e-mail has become a powerful medium for advertising and promoting these goods and services and marketers are becoming more aware of the increasing advantages of utilising e- mail in particular as a marketing tool. However, internet marketing, in it's current form, whether that be E-mail marketing, banner advertising, or other forms of internet media, provides a form of advertising that is independent of the millions of advertising expenditure invested in conventional media such as television, radio etc.

There is no ability for consumers interacting with conventional advertising to access this information via their e-mail in the form of targeted e-mail marketing.

Currently E-mail Marketing involves marketers making use of e-mail lists or databases of emails of potential consumers to transmit bulk e-mail messages or campaigns to these e-mails. The disadvantage in these methods occurs when the sender has no knowledge that the recipient is interested in receiving the information.

In most cases the recipient's often considers these e-mails as unsolicited and even Spam mail. The result is that only a small percentage of targeted emails actually reach interested consumers.

Several methods are also known for the dissemination of information by means of e- mail.

In a first method, an e-mail message may simply contain text, which is to be sent from a sender to a recipient of the e-mail. The e-mail is opened and displayed by means of a mail application program on the recipient's computer workstation. It is known to include one or more Universal Resource Locators (URLs) in an e-mail message, which are addresses of websites on the World Wide Web of the Internet.

Such URLs are included in order to invite or to encourage the recipient of the e-mail to visit the corresponding websites. When the recipient of the e-mail clicks on one of the URLs, a Web browser application program is launched in order to access the selected website, causing the recipient's computer workstation to leave the e-mail environment in order to access the World Wide Web of the Internet.

A second method involves the transmission of Hypertext Make-up Language (HTML) e-mail. In an HTML e-mail, HTML code is included in an e-mail message, similarly to ordinary text. When such an HTML e-mail is opened, any pictures and graphic images that are to appear as part of the e-mail are downloaded from the World Wide Web of the Internet. The recipient of the HTML e-mail is thus presented with what appears to be a fully functional web page in his e-mail. In this method, clicking on any link included in the HTML code will also cause the user's Web browser application program to be launched in order to access the World Wide Web of the Internet.

These two methods will both involve the launching of an Interne Web browser in order to access the World Wide Web of the Internet. This can be disadvantageous, particularly where the staff and employees of a business enterprise are precluded from using a Web browser application program in their work environment.

A third method involves the attachment of an executable (. exe) attachment file to an e-mail message. Such an. exe file attachment may encapsulate a fully functional file that contains all the information necessary to complete a desired task such as, for example, purchasing a product, making an airline reservation, or clicking through to links that have been included in the. exe file. This method suffers from the disadvantage of that to the entire. exe file, which can be large, has to be downloaded as part of the e-mail message. For this reason, this particular methodology is not preferred.

The applicant has developed a system for the dissemination of information by means of e-mail to alleviate the above disadvantages, and more specifically to a system for the dissemination of promotional material and advertising material by e- mail in response to advertised material. The system forms part of subject matter of South African Provisional Patents; Titled"Dissemination of e-mail"provisional patent Application No: 2002/1465 and associated South African provisional patent Application No. 2001/5913 which are incorporated herein in their entirety, by reference.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of this invention is to provide a system for the dissemination of marketing, advertising, product information and promotional material by means of e- mail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention there is provided a system for the dissemination of information, including marketing, promotional and product related information by means of e-mail, comprising: a first access terminal associated with a recipient, the recipient access terminal having an e-mail messaging facility thereon and being capable of receiving an e-mail message transmitted by a sender; a second access terminal associated with a sender of information and having a search facility and a repository containing information, the search facility being operable, in response to a requesting e-mail from the recipient, to select identified information from the information of the repository; a communication channel between the recipient access terminal and the sender access terminal ; and sending means associated with the sender and operable to send an e-mail message containing the identified information to the recipient access terminal via the communication channel, so that upon opening thereof by the recipient, the identified information is displayed on the recipient access terminal.

The invention extends to a method for the dissemination of information, including promotional and marketing information by means of e-mail, comprising the steps of: receiving a requesting e-mail containing an identifier from a recipient; in response to the requesting e-mail, automatically selecting information associated with the identifier from an information repository; and sending an e-mail message containing the identified information to the recipient via a communication channel so that, upon opening thereof by the recipient, the identified information is displayed for the recipient.

The first access terminal may be a computer, which may be a PC. The second access terminal may also be a computer and may be an application server. The information of the repository may include at least one website containing

promotional, marketing and product information capable of being viewed by means of the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal.

The request means associated with an email address sent by the recipient containing an identifier within the e-mail address to retrieve information. And the sender on receiving the email only containing the recipients return email address and the email address describing the requested information sent by the receipt, will on receiving the information, identify within the e-mail address the information requested by the recipient and will automatically extract the identified information from a repository, compile this information in at least one website capable of being views by the recipients email message facility and return this information to the recipients return email address.

Further features of the invention provide for the communication channel to be an open communication channel, preferably the Internet, for at least one website containing promotional, marketing and product information to be a self-contained, integrated website, for the at least one website to be retrievable from the repository by the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal without requiring the use of an Internet Web browser, for the at least one website to be coded in HTML code or a vector-based graphics application code, preferably Macromedia flash.

Still further features of the invention provide for the recipient access terminal and sending means to be Internet-enabled computer workstations, for the repository to contain a plurality of different and specific advertising, promotional and product related websites capable of being viewed by means of the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal, for the application server to contain a registry of

authorized senders, for each authorised sender to be able to add a number of websites to the repository, and for the system to include a billing facility operable to bill an authorised sender as a function of that sender's use of the system.

Yet further features of the invention provide for the at least one website to be a multi-page website, for the multi-page website to be streamed from the application server to the recipient access terminal, for the at least one website to include an Internet search engine operable by the recipient to search the World Wide Web of the Internet, for the at least one website to enable the recipient to input data for transmission back to the application server along the communication channel, for the at least one website to include a security facility arranged to prevent access to the contents of the website by unauthorised recipients of the e-mail message, and for the at least one website to include any one or more of still or animated graphics images displayable by means of the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal.

There is also provided for the recipient access terminal to enable a user of the system to request the sending means to send at least one website by transmitting a requesting e-mail message to the application server. Thus, the search facility may comprise a search engine, which may be operable to locate a selected website by means of an indictor or address provided by the recipient in the requesting e-mail.

Instead, in a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the repository contains any of a plurality of e-mail messages, computer data files, program files, or the like.

Then, the search engine may be operable to locate a selected data file, program file, or the like by means of an indicator or address provided by the recipient in the requesting e-mail.

The requesting e-mail may contain only the user's return e-mail address and a destination address which is associated with the at least one website, promotion, product information or data or other file, the said destination address comprising or including a pre-selected identifier of the address of the said website, promotion, product information, data or other file, and the sending means may respond to the request by sending the requested website, promotion, product information, data or other file to the user's e-mail address in a responding e-mail, as described above.

Instead, the requesting e-mail may contain an identifier incorporated in its subject field, or in the body of the e-mail.

The method may further include, on receipt of the requesting e-mail from the recipient, automatically sending an authenticating e-mail requesting a password or PIN number, or the like ; receiving a return authenticating e-mail from the recipient containing the said password or PIN number; comparing the said password or PIN number with a database containing at least one such password or PIN number; and sending the response e-mail message, if the password or PIN number sent by the recipient matches a password or PIN number contained in the database. The password or PIN number may be encrypted and the authenticating e-mails may be sent by a secure channel.

Still further, the method may include, on receipt of the requesting e-mail from the recipient, interrogating a database to establish whether the recipient has previously sent such a requesting e-mail ; sending a registration e-mail requesting personal details from the recipient if the recipient has not done so; and recording the said personal details in a database.

The registration e-mail may include an application program to permit the opening of e-mail messages or attachments in a pre-selected format, such as Macromedia Flash, or any other such program.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of the invention is described below, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a system for the dissemination of information by means of e-mail, according to the invention.

Similar to the representation in Figure 1, Figure 2 is a schematic representation demonstrating a specific embodiment of the system for the dissemination of advertising and promotional material by way of e-mail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to Figure 1, a system for the dissemination of information by means of e- mail is indicated generally by reference numeral (1).

The system (1) includes an access terminal (2) in the form of an Internet-enabled computer workstation associated with a recipient of e-mail messages, a computer server (3) having a repository (4), such as a mass storage device, containing a number of marketing and product related websites, and sending means (5) in the form of a further Internet-enabled computer workstation associated with a sender of e-mail messages. The recipient access terminal (2), the application server (3) and the sending means (5) are connected by an open communication channel that is, in

this embodiment, the Internet.

The recipient access terminal (2) has an e-mail messaging facility thereon which is capable of receiving e-mail messages transmitted from the sending means (5) by the sender.

It is an essential aspect of this invention that each website stored in the repository (4) of the application server (3) is a self-contained, integrated website which is retrievable from the repository (4) by the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal (2). This means that each website must not contain any links to other URLs which can only be accessed by launching an Internet Web browser on the recipient access terminal (2). For this purpose, it is envisaged that each one of the websites stored in the repository (4) is coded in HTML code, or in a vector- based graphics application code such as one conforming to the well-known Macromedia Flash standard. Each website may consist of a single page, or may be a multi-page website in accordance with the needs of a particular application.

The system (1) includes a registry (6) of authorised users of the system. Each authorised user, who will be referred to as an authorised sender, for purposes of convenience, is able to and any number of websites to the repository (4) for inclusion in e-mails which he may wish to send to any one or more recipients, as will be described in a greater detail in the description that follows. The system (1) also includes a billing facility (7) that is usable to bill an authorised sender in accordance with that sender's use of the system.

In use, a sender wishing to disseminate information by means of e-mail is required to first register as an authorised user of the system (1). Once registration has been completed, the authorised user is then able to create a self-contained, integrated website, as described above, containing information which the authorised user wishes to communicate to recipients by means of e-mail messaging. The

completed website is then made available in the repository (4) for inclusion in e-mail messages, as may be required.

An e-mail sent by the sender to the recipient must contain a reference to a desired Web site in the repository (4) of the application server (3). When the recipient opens an e-mail received from a sender by means of the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal (2), the desired website referred to in the e-mail message is retrieved from the repository (4) by means of the Internet and displayed on the recipient access terminal.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the use of the e-mail messaging facility to retrieve the desired website, together with the fact that the desired website has been established to be integrated and self contained, enables a recipient to have access to applications which are commonly provided through the World Wide web of the Internet, but without requiring the use of an Internet Web browser. It will be further appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention thus provides a sender with an ability to transmit a website to a recipient, which is fully functional and which appears in the recipient's e-mail. The recipient is able to click on links contained in the website, and cause a new page of the website to be displayed, without the necessity of launching an Internet web browser.

It is also possible for a user (2) of the system (1) to issue a request to receive a desired Web site in the repository (4) by transmitting a requesting e-mail message to the application server (3). This requesting e-mail need not contain a message and need only specify a return e-mail address to which the desired Web site is to be sent, and a destination e-mail address that is associated with the desired Web site.

The application server (3) interprets the requesting e-mail as an authorization to send the desired Web site, as identified by the destination address in the requesting e-mail which is associated with a Web site in the repository (4), and sends the

desired Web site to the return e-mail address, in a responding e-mail, as described above. In this manner, a user of the system (1) can initiate a request for a desired Web site by e-mail, without requiring the launch of an Internet Web browser application program.

It is envisaged that the system (1) can be conveniently utilised for the following applications: e-mailing an e-commerce application to a recipient that will allow the recipient to purchase a product straight from a window in his e-mail messaging facility; delivering newsletters and product brochures by e-mail ; disseminating questionnaires; providing a complete online-banking facility in your e-mail without having to access the internet; transmitting animated graphics that allow marketers to conduct e-mail-based market research in respect of new products, pre-test advertising campaigns, and conduct market perception research; e-mailing a personalised chat room to a particular recipient; and conducting online banking by returning banking-related data entered by the user on the website directly to the application server (3) along the Internet, bypassing the World Wide Web of the Internet completely.

Numerous modifications are possible to this embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the website may include an Internet search engine operable by the recipient to search the World Wide Web of the Internet from an window of the recipient's e-mail messaging facility. Further, the website may include a security facility which opens a message window that requires entry of a user name and password, in order to prevent access to the contents of the website by unauthorised recipients of the e-mail message. Still further, the website may include any one or more of still or animated graphics images displayable by means of the e-mail messaging facility on the recipient access terminal (2). Finally, the desired website may be streamed from the application server (3) to the recipient access terminal (2), enabling the recipient to view a first page of the website while other pages are streaming in to the access terminal.

A specific embodiment and application of the invention is now further explained hereunder represented by Figure 2.

Referring to Figure 2, a system for the dissemination of advertising, promotional and product related material by means of e-mail is indicated by reference numeral (1.2) The system (1.2) indicates a method for an advertisers advertising his products (AD), an access terminal (2) in the form of an internet-enabled computer workstation associated with a consumer responding to the advertising message (AD) and a means of using the email message facility associated with access terminal (2) to request advertising material from the application server (3).

Application server (3) associated with the advertised material (AD) having a repository (4) such as a mass storage device containing a number of self contained websites specific to the advertised material (AD), and a sending means (5) from the application server (3) in the form of an e-mail message responding to the e-mail request from access terminal (2) by sending a self contained web site which is automatically returned to access terminal (2) and which is capable of being viewed by the email message facility of access terminal (2).

Application server (3) also having a registry (6) of authorised and registered users who seek to use application server (3) as a means of retrieving advertising and product related material from a recipient access terminal (2) The recipient access terminal (2), the application server (3) and the sending means (5) are connected by an open communication channel that is, in this embodiment, the Internet. The advertiser of products (AD) is associated with advertising material in either TV, Radio, printed media and not restricted to any form of printed or broadcasted media.

An advertiser (AD) may advertise a product or service in an advertising campaign in conventional media, such as a TV commercial, magazine, newspaper, radio etc.

Instead of providing an Internet address for a consumer associated with access terminal (2) to access the advertiser's Internet site for more information, the advertiser provides an e-mail address such as"product@XYZ. com". The e-mail address may contain an identifier, in this case the word"Product", for an advertiser or for a specific product. The domain name"xyz. com" may refer to the domain of the advertiser or the server containing the advertised material. The consumer may then send a blank e-mail to the said e-mail address and the application server (3) is programmed so that, on receiving the e-mail, it recognises that it is not a normal e- mail, but an automatic request to send information described in the e-mail to the sender. The application server (3) searches for the identifier in the e-mail address and associates this e-mail address with information stored in the repository (4), extracts the information stored as a self contained internet site and uses sending means (5) to return the information to the recipients access terminal (2). Instead of receiving a normal e-mail, the sender (recipient) associated with access terminal (2) receives an entire product site related to his request, in his e-mail window.

An individual sending such a blank e-mail does so because he wants to receive specific information about the advertised product from (AD) in his e-mail messenger program, instead of having to go to the web. On receipt of the requesting e-mail, a BOT (robot) program running on the application server (3) scans all incoming e-mail.

The mail BOT will run continuously on the application server (3) monitoring all incoming e-mail requesting advertising information. The mail BOT on the application server (3) identifies the following : The e-mail address of the senders associated with access terminal (2), eg. john@yahoo. com, and the address to which the e-mail was sent associated with the advertiser of specific products (AD), e. g dvd@thestore. com. Further, the BOT will identify from a registry (6) database

whether or not the sender from access terminal (2) has sent an e-mail to the server address before. If not, then the mail BOT will automatically first send a once off registration mail and upgrade program to ensure that the recipient has a Flash player installed in his browser to view the response e-mail. If the recipient is a first time user, he will automatically receive a registration e-mail, asking for his name, demographics, age etc. This information will be stored in a database and registry (6). The required information will be submitted by e-mail. Once the recipient associated with access terminal (2) has registered, the mail BOT will scan the request e-mail sent to the server, scanning the domain name and full e-mail address for an identifier to connect the e-mail to a specific advertiser or product. The server will then identify the web page or other information relating to the product or advertiser stored in the repository (4) and send a fully functional internet site specific to that product or advertiser to sender of the original e-mail. The relevant information will be automatically extracted and sent in an e-mail to the recipient. Because the recipient has registered, his name will automatically appear in his subject field as will as suitable welcoming message.

The system and method of the invention permits advertisers to use an e-mail address in their advertising campaigns, rather than a web address. The advertiser could provide a different e-mail address describing each category of product relating to his campaign thereby segmenting his product offering into individual e-mail campaigns specific to individual consumers. Consumers receive their advertising promotional offers, in the form of Internet pages, directly in their e-mail windows.

The e-mail address provided permits a request by the recipient to be sent information, an internet site or product brochure that will automatically be embedded in their e-mail window without any attachments. The system is request, or permission based, and does not rely on sending of random e-mails but rather on requests.

It is of the opinion of the inventor that such a system of receiving request-based marketing and product related information would greatly increase the effectiveness of reaching consumers. In the above embodiment consumer are given the choice of information they want to receive. It is a well know fact that e-mail marketing often arrives in consumers e-mail message facility without their request or interest resulting in a negative attitude towards email marketing and the participating advertiser in general. With the above embodiment e-mail marketing can be implemented from an advertising campaign, advertising a specific email address describing the campaign and providing the consumers the ability to control the marketing related e-mails they would like to receive.

It will be appreciated that the system (1) may be applied, in a further preferred embodiment, to provide a search engine tool for e-mail clients to enable them to request and receive specific and personalised information via e-mail, thereby providing a remote access system capable of using an e-mail to access computers remotely. This application is described hereunder: An application program is installed in a computer of a user, in place of the application server (3). The user may then send a request e-mail to his own computer (3) from any convenient Internet enabled workstation. The request e-mail will contain an identifier identifying the relevant e-mail, data or program file in which the recipient is interested. The address used in the request e-mail is recognised by the installed application program as not being a normal e-mail message. Preferably, the system requires the use of a Password and user name. Alternatively, the program may be configured to send a URL page on which to enter a password for online verification before sending the information requested.

In one embodiment, users would have to register online first, and obtain a password to use the system. The user types a request in the text box of the request e-mail, for example"Find : clientlist. doc" or"C :/windows/desktop/clientfolder/clientlist. doc." On receipt of the e-mail, the program interprets it as a request to conduct a search and identify a specific file in a specific folder. The program may then automatically find the file, automatically create a return e-mail, attach the file to the e-mail and return the e-mail to the recipient's e-mail address. Further features provide for the program to provide information relating to the disc space available on the hard drive of the host computer (3), or to send information about people in the access database, or even e-mail unopened e-mail and attachments.

Thus, an simple and convenient alternative to remote access is provided, without the security risks associated with permitting access to a computer via a normal communications channel.