Abstract: A method and architecture for rewarding a merchant that operates a server on a computer network, and in particular on the Internet, when a consumer accesses the server and later access a server of a paying merchant, i.e. a merchant who has agreed to provide a reward to one or more of the merchants the consumer accessed on the way, in tracing a course through the network, to accessing the paying merchant. The invention involves having a service operate servers, on the computer network, that automatically distribute any reward provided by a paying merchant. The method is not intended to reward all merchants visited by a consumer on the way to a paying merchant; it distributes rewards only approximately, trading off accuracy for a lower burden of computation.

Abstract: A method for charging a payer for access, over a network, to a payee's information; in particular, a method for this pay-per-access over the Internet. The method uses an acquirer to intercept requests for information, process accounting information based on the payer having a signed, encrypted persistent dynamic data object available to the acquirer for inspection and modification. After using the persistent dynamic data object, similar in some respects to a so-called cookie, to collect payment for a page of pay-per-link information, the acquirer redirects the payer to the information at the payee's web site. The cookie-like object is issued to the payer by an issuer, which can be distinct from the acquirer. The cookie-like object can be used until its value is spent or until its lifetime elapses. Thus, a payer has a limited amount to spend without having to obtain authorization for each purchase, yet a payee does not risk a payer's double spending.

Abstract: A method for charging a consumer for access, over a network, to a vendor's information; in particular, a method for this pay-per-access over the Internet. The method uses a third-party, called a banker, to mint tokens identified with particular information a consumer might want to purchase. The tokens are immediately available to the consumer because of the consumer's having already established an account with the banker, and purchased what are here called credit units, which can have a value of only a fraction of a cent, allowing vendors to charge very little for access to their information. A token is pre-authorization for a consumer to pay for access for a particular page of information. In one embodiment, when a consumer makes a purchase, i.e. chooses to access a Web page for which a vendor makes a charge, the transaction is routed through the banker, which charges in credit units (those already on account), and credits the vendor account.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for predicting whether a specified threshold is likely to be exceeded for a specified predictor, based on preexisting information about related predictors and associated outcomes. If each predictor vector has n components, and the value of the outcome associated with m such predictor vectors is known, then the present invention shows how to guess the outcome associated with another predictor vector in fewer computational steps and more accurately than any previously known method. The invention is of great use in any situation where it is useful to be able to decide between two alternatives. More generally, the invention can be applied to problems where whether to adopt one alternative or the other depends on the value of a threshold.