How Clickshare works -- a non-technical explanation)

Clickshare step-by-step with a user named "Click"

Step 0: Click opens an account at Publisher A through secure off-line channels (completing a registration process that began online. A becomes Click's Home Publisher.

Step 1: Click logs in to Publisher A, enters a personal ID and password, and gets A's home page customized with links reflecting Click's interests.

Step 2: Every time Click starts a session, Click signs in to Publisher A, and can choose links from this custom page, accessing information at Publisher A, as well as at Publishers B and C, (other publishers participating in Clickshare). Clicks to content on A, B, and C are all logged by Clickshare. Click is free to use any other web site (though access is then not tracked).

Step 3: Periodically, Publisher A bills Click for receipt of content at A, B, and C using a rate schedule common to all three, but a billing schedule developed by A (which may be based purely on the common rate, or blended with subscription).

Clickshare step-by-step for Publisher A

Step 0: A installs Clickshare-enhanced Web primary or adjunct software on its server. Publisher opens account with Click, including demographic information, releasable under terms determined by Click (who may benefit from providing demographics by paying lower rates for information).

Step 1: When Click logs in to A to begin a session, A authenticates Click, registers a "profile" of Click to the Clickshare service, and delivers Click's custom page. This profile includes service preferences for items such as content selection, advertising intrusiveness, and prompts for premium charges.

Step 2: When Click accesses B and C, they each check with Clickshare to be sure a valid authentication exists for Click. In return, they are passed Click's preferences.

Step 3: A charges Click by subscription or by the page, based on enhanced log records returned in real-time by Clickshare and delivered at settlement time to A. A also settles accounts with B and C via the Clickshare clearance service, paying for Click's access to their pages, being paid by B & C for their users' visits to A pages, and collecting commissions for having sent users to B & C. A, B and C pay Clickshare Corp. transaction fees.

Step 4: A may sell aggregated data of clickstreams correlated with demographic data (if Click and other users permit) to advertisers or intermediaries, for marketers to analyze.

Clickshare step-by-step for the Clickshare Service

Step 1: At the start of each session, A passes to Clickshare Click's ID and preference information.

Step 2: The Clickshare Service validates and authenticates Click, and passes on Click's universal anonymous user ID number and preference information to B and C. Clickshare at no time learns the actual name of user Click.

Step 3: At least monthly, Clickshare sends to A records of Click's "page visits" from multiple independent sites, including session IDs, time stamps, and service class information, all of which Clickshare has independently accumulated in real time.

Step 4: Clickshare collects fees from participating publishers based on number of users and transactions.