The present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing the
presentation and regulation of E-Commerce, content and service providers
access in an interactive television environment comprising interactions
between a server, a client, and a service provider. Components are
provided for managing and completing a purchase or delivery of an item
offered by a service provider. A purchase transaction uses client
information comprising partial client information from the client and a
list of purchased items. Upon receiving partial information from the
client, the server retrieves corresponding additional related information
within its database and transmits this retrieved data from the server,
along with the list of purchased items to complete the transaction.
Business Agents are provided for logging the transaction, creating an
electronic receipt, logging patches, logging error events, and viewer
logging. The invention further comprises a method for measuring audience
behavior and response to particular events or programs and
advertisements; and a method for adaptive delivery of advertisements to a
client. Advertisements are scheduled according to an agreement and
manifested into campaign rules and desired run times. A profile of a
viewer that resides on the client device is used as the criteria for
selection of a particular advertisement from a broadcast and for polling
of audience viewing habits. The present invention further monitors the
integrity and connectivity of the interactive television network and
service providers.