BAR-KGROU= Many systems have been developed in the desire to utilise the computer as a vehicle for the promotion of an organization, its products or services. The almost universal use of computer systems throughout the business community and the increasing use of the Internet as research tool, entertainment and communication vehicle has seen the proliferation of a wide variety of advertising systems to take advantage of the wide exposure of computer systems as an advertising medium.

The effectiveness of a particular advertising method is to some extent related to the frequency and focus of its exposure to potential customers and an organization will strive for repetitive exposure of its logos, trade marks, slogans. products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material to promote brand name, product, company or organization recognition.

In many forms these advertising systems may be considered intrusive and'may be resented by a computer user. It is the aim of the present invention to ameliorate the above disadvantage or provide a useful alternative.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION Accordingly, in one broad form of the invention there is provided a wait symbol promotional system wherein wait symbol graphics for display on a computer screen during an operating system or software application processing delay are adapted by said operating system or software application-developer or others for the purposes of promoting third party products or services for gain.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of a logo.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of a trademark.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of a slogan.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of indicia associated with an organization.

Preferably said organization is a sponsor of said wait symbol graphic for a consideration.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is incorporated in the code of the operating system or software application installed on a computer.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic persists unchanged for the life of said operating system or said software application.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic changes cyclically with predetermined states of said operating system or said software application.

Preferably the display of said wait symbol graphic is static, Preferably th<s : display of said wait symbol graphic is dynamic.

Preferably television or other images are displayed in place of, or in addition to said wait symbol graphic for at least a part of the duration of said operating system or said software application processing delay or as accessed by the computer user.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic or the display of said television or other images is adapted by an operating system developer or software application developer or distributor of said operating system or said software application for the benefit of a sponsor or birer for a consideration.

In yet a further broad form of the invention there is provided a method for the promotion of a sponsor's logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material or advertising material, said method including the steps of:- (a) representing said logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material as computer code defining an array of pixels so as to form an image for display on a computer screen, (b) incorporating said code in the software of a computer operating'system or in a computer software application, (c) utilizing said code for display on a computer screen at such times as an operating system or software application would display a wait symbol.

In yet a further broad form of the invention there is provided a method of deriving revenue from advertising, said method including the steps of : (a) ing available, for a consideration, the existing wait, busy, working or loading symbol graphic space of a computer operating system or

software application to display the logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertj. sing or informational Material of an organization ; (b) structuring said wait, busy, working or loading symbol graphic of said computer operating system or software application to incorporate said logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material specific to the preferences of said organization.

In yet a further broad form of the invention there is provided a method of subsidizing the cost of a computer operating system or software application to an end user, said method including the steps of: (a) incorporating the logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material of a sponsor or hirer into the wait symbol graphic system of said operating system or said software application; (b) defraying the cost, at least in part, of the development of said operating system or said

software application through paid sponsorship by said sponsors or hirers ; (c) making said operating system or software application available freely or at reduced cost to said end users.

In yet a further broad form of the invention there is provided a wait symbol promotional system wherein wait symbol graphics or waiting time for display on a computer screen during an operating system or software application processing delay are adapted by said operating system or software application developer or others for the purposes of promoting third party products or services for gain.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of a logo.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of a trademark.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of a slogan.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is in the form of indicia associated with an organisation.

Preferably said organization is a sponsor of said wait symbol graphic for a consideration.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic is incorporated in the code of the operating system or software application installed on a computer.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic persists unchanged for the life of said operating system or said software application.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic changes cyclically with predetermined states of said operating system or said software application, Preferably the display of said wait symbol graphic is static.

Preferably the display of said wait symbol graphic is <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> dynamic..

Preferably television or other images are displayed in place of said wait symbol graphic for at least a part of the duration of said operating system or said software application processing delay or as accessed by the computer user.

Preferably said wait symbol graphic or the display of said television or other images is adapted by an operating ; system developer or software application developer or distributor of said operating system or said software application for the benefit ot a sponsor or hirer for a consideration.

In yet a further broad form of the invention there is provided a method for the utilization of the waiting time incurred on a computer during operating system or software application processing delays where said processing delays comprise a period of enforced user idleness ; said method including the steps of: (a) providing promotional imagery on at least a portion of a display screen of said computer.

Preferably said promotional. imagery replaces a wait symbol graphic.

Preferably said promotional imagery is displayed in addition to a wait symbol graphic.

Preferably said promotional imagery includes logos of corporate sponsors.

Preferably said promotional imagery includes trade marks of corporate sponsors.

Preferably said promotional imagery includes slogans of corporate sponsors.

Preferably said promotional imagery includes advertorial information of corporate sponsor products.

Preferably said promotional imagery includes advertorial information of corporate, sponsor services.

Preferably said promotional imagery is adapted by an operating system developer for the benefit of a sponsor for a consideration.

Preferably said promotional imagery is adapted by a software application developer for the benefit of a sponsor for a consideration.

BRIEF DESCRITION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein : Figure l is a perspective vie ; of a computer monitor displaying an hourglass"wait symbol graphic'as an example of prior art ; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a computer monitor displaying a"wait symbol graphic"in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 3 is a flow diagram showing a typical logic sequence for the display of the"wait symbol graphics"of Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a computer monitor displaying a"wait symbol graphic"with an additional display.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PRE'ERu . EMBODIMENTS For the purposes of this specification, the term"wait symbol graphic"refers to the"wait","busy","working"or "loading"symbol displayed on a computer screen in place of the normal cursor or pointer when data or command entry is denied or buffered due to processing delays.

Probably still the most common form of the wait symbol graphic or associated cursor/pointer is the hour glass graphic as shown in Figure 1 although operating systems may offer a small range of alternatives.

When no software application is in use, any delay in input acceptance triggers the display of a "wait symbol graphic"as determined by the operating system, however, a software application may elicit its ownn"wait symbol graphic"when that application is currently in use. A possible. logic sequence for determining which symbol should be displayed is shown in Figure 3.

With reference to Figure 2, in a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system for the display of particular"wait symbol graphics" in-particular circumstances. In this embodiment of the invention "wait symbol graphics" are specific to the <BR> <BR> <BR> particular operating system or any software application currently in use on a computer. In this embodiment of the

present invention the"wait symbol graphic"is adapted to display or promote third party logos, trademarks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material by the operating system or software application developers or distributors.

In this embodiment the"wait symbol graph. forms a permanent part of the operating system or software application as originally shipped but may be changed to other forms subsequently by, for example, downloading a software"patcht osrer the internet.

In a second preferred embodiment of the invention a computer operating system or software developer or distributor incorporates the logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material as the "wait symbol graphic" of a third party sponsor for a consideration. This consideration may be structured in a number of ways ; for example as a lump sum, payable once only so as to secure the incorporation of the sponsor's logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material as the"wait symbol graphic"in the operating system or software for the life of the operating system or software. In a further form payment may be based on the number of copies of the operating system or software

issued. In yet a further form, payment may secure the incorporation of the. sponsor's logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material for only a particular release of the. operating system or software. Yet other associated cost structures may include as parameters the number of operating systems or software applications sold, the estimated wait times of the operating system or software when installed and used on a typical computer. Preferably, but not necessarily, such organization's logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material are in some way complementary to the operating system or software application and/or of some potential benefit to the organization or to the computer user.

In a third preferred embodiment of the invention, a sponsoring organization pays for the development costs of the operating system or software application or alternatively purchases the rights to the operating system or software in which the"wait symbol graphic"incorporates the sponsor's logos, trade marks, slogans, products, <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material. The sponsor may then choose to make the operating system or software application available'at either a

subsidized cost to end users or as a promotional give-away,. as by way of a non-limiting example, by including. copies of the operating system or software application as CD-ROM discs with the sponsor's product.

In a fourth preferred embodiment a plurality of sponsors or hirers are each offered the"wait symbol graphic"as a vehicle for their logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material for inclusion in an agreed number of copies of the operating system or software application. In this embodiment the particular number of copies may be linked to some specific criteria, such as for example, offering the operating system or software application for sale in a preferred geographical area.

In a fifth preferred embodiment of the invention, the operating system or software application is offered for download over the internet with the option for purchasers to upgrade from time to time. In this embodiment the"wait symbol graphic"may be offered to sponsors or hirers for an agreed life of a particular release of the operating system or software application. When a current release is <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> superseded and. the sponsorship or hiring not renewed, any upgrade may be issued with the "wait symbol graphic" revised to incorporate the logos, trade marks, alogans,

products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material of new sponsors or hirers.

In a sixth preferred embodiment of the invention, the. symbol graphic'in an operating system or software application again takes the form of logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material associated with sponsors or hirers, but may have a cyclic nature in that the operating system or software application is provided with a number of associated "wait symbol graphics", each of a promotional nature of benefit to the individual sponsor.

In this embodiment a different"wait syribol graphic"may come into use at each time a data or command entry or other user operation is denied or buffered due to processing delays. Alternatively different"wait symbol graphics"may come into use in accordance with some other protocol. By this means the"wait symbol graphic"provides some diversion and measure of surprise and interest during those periods of enforced idleness for the computer user.

In yet a further embodiment of the invention, the "wait symbol graphics"of computer games are made available to sXponsors or hir rs. In this edbodiment the"wait sçbol graphic" may again be arranged to change cyclically between a plurality of sponsors or hirerss either during the

playing of a game or at each re-loading of it. Where the game is played interactively over the internet, the"wait symbol graphic"for a particular sponsor or hirer may for example, be made available on a time or usage basis, that is the sponsor's or hirer's logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material may be displayed every time the game is played over a given period or number of uses.

In all embodiments the"wait symbol graphic"and the time of its display is °for hire", that is the operating system or software application developer or distributor makes the"nvait symbol graphic" space available to eligible sponsors or hirers at a cost. The associated cost structure may include as parameters the number of operating systems or software applications s. old, the estimated wait time when installed on a typical computer system and so forth.

In all embodiments of the present invention the sponsors or hirers of a"wait symbol graphic"may change with each new release of the operating system or software application.

In any one of the above described embodiments, the "wait symbol graphic" may be a static or dynamic representation.-either by rotation of the graphicr its vibration, size oscillation or animation in some other

manner to indicate that the operating system or software application processing causing the delay is active. In addition, a dynamic"wait symbol graphic"display may be configured to give an indication of the likely wait period duration, thus for example, for a relatively short period, the"wait syml ol graphic"may be programmed to flash or pulse rapidly while for a relatively longer period the flash or pulse may be slower. In yet a further variation, to add interest the "wait symbol graphic" may be accompanied by audio content in the form of music or even voiced-over promotional information. A dynamic symbol may revert to static at a predetermined point just prior to reverting to normal curser mode, indicating to the user that further interaction will imminently be possible.

Generally a"wait symbol graphic"is comprised of a limited number of pixels, typically up to 2000, which for the purposes of the present invention, may be increased where required to give an adequate definition of a sponsor's or hirer's logos, trade marks, slogans, products,. services, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material.

In yet a further preferred embodiment of t1ne invention, the "wait symbol graphic" may for the whole or part of the waiting period expand to fill the whole or a

portion of the screen, enabling it to be replaced by the display of other advertising material related to the"wait symbol graphic"sponsors or hirer's.

By these means the waiting time during operating system or software application processing may be used to show images such as television commercials or other promotional imagery, providing some diversion and measure of surprising interest during those periods of enforced idleness for the computer user and thus providing frequent and focussed exposure of logos, trade marks, slogans, products, services,, identifying indicia, advertising or informational material of"wait symbol graphic6 sponsors or hirers.

In yet a further embodiment of the invention as illustrated in figure 4, a "wait symbol graphic" 20 embedded in the operating system or a software application may. continue to be displayed during a waiting time period.

In this embodiment the display of the"wait symbol graphic'''' triggers one or more separate display areas 21 on the computer''s display screen for the display of any of the types of promotional or advertorial material described above. Such displays may remain at least for the duration of the "wait symbol graphic" display, but may be estended as an option by the user if required to more fully

ascertain the content of such displays or explore any links or attached display pages for example. This option may be exercised as a non-limiting example by double clicking on a "wait symbol graphic"where this has been so programmed for this purpose, or within the separate display itself.

The above describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications and variations, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.