P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADVERTISING" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: TITLE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADVERTISING FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 The present invention relates to advertising. In particular, although not exclusively, the invention relates to digital advertising using a captive portal. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION 10 When connecting to a public hotspot, i.e. a wireless router for public use, a login screen is often first provided in the form of a captive portal. This is done by redirecting the user to an authentication server, which provides the captive portal. For free access, the captive portal will require the user to agree to a 15 set of terms and conditions before allowing the user access to the internet. For paid access, the user is generally required to give proof of payment or a subscription, for example through use of a username and password, or by providing details of a browser. Certain paid systems of the prior art enable a user to access some 20 web pages without payment. Such pages can include a website of a sponsor, for example. The captive portal achieves this by "white listing" the sponsors webpage by, for example, allowing traffic to and from the sponsors webpage to remain untouched, while blocking all other access until payment is authenticated. 25 As these systems provide an internet service, they must be able to process large amounts of data and are therefore complex. Similarly, they must be reliably connected to the Internet to enable access to the captive portal and the internet connection to the user, which adds to their cost and complexity. 30 Advertising is prevalent on the internet, and includes web site sponsored web pages. Targeted advertising has proven to be particularly effective, including location based advertising, where a user is presented 1 with advertisements based upon a location associated with his or her IP (Internet Protocol) address. A problem with such advertising is that the IP address is often an inaccurate measure of the user's location. 5 OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of some embodiments of the present invention to provide consumers with improvements and advantages over the above described prior art, and/or overcome and alleviate one or more of the 10 above described disadvantages of the prior art, and/or provide a useful commercial choice. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect, the invention resides in an advertising 15 device including: a wireless network adapter; a processor, coupled to the wireless network adapter; and a memory, coupled to the processor, including: at least one advertisement; and 20 instructions, executable by the processor, for: receiving, on the wireless network adapter, a network connection from a client device; receiving a request for a first page from the client device; and 25 sending an advertisement of the at least one advertisement to the client device in response to the first request. Preferably, the wireless network adapter is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 adapter. Alternatively, the wireless network adapter is a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave 30 Access (WIMAX) adapter. Preferably, the request for the first page comprises a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET request. 2 Preferably, sending the advertisement comprises responding to the request for the first page with a HTTP REDIRECT message, configured to direct the first request to the advertisement. Preferably, the advertisement comprises a HyperText Markup 5 Language (HTML) page. Alternatively or additionally, the advertisement comprises an image, or any other suitable file or combination of files. According to certain embodiments, the advertisement includes a Quick Response (QR) code. According to certain embodiments, receiving the request for the first 10 page includes receiving a Domain Name Server (DNS) request for a server of the first page, and sending the advertisement includes responding to the DNS request with an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the advertising device 110. According to certain embodiments, the advertising device includes 15 a battery for powering the device. Alternatively or additionally, the advertising device includes a power adapter. According to certain embodiments of the present invention, the advertising device further includes a web interface for configuring the advertising device. Preferably, the advertising device further includes a 20 data communications interface upon which the web interface is provided. The data communications interface is preferably a third or fourth generation (3G or 4G) mobile telecommunications network interface. According to certain embodiments, the memory further includes configuration data, for configuring presentation of a second advertisement 25 and the at least one advertisement. The configuration data can include a time of day based configuration, location based configuration or budget based configuration. The budget based configuration can include a budget allocation per hour, per day, per click, per impression, or as a percentage of an uptime 30 of the advertising device. According to certain embodiments, the memory further includes instructions for logging exposure of advertising. Preferably, logging 3 exposure of advertising comprises saving at least one of a connection time of the client device, an IP address of the client device, a Media Access Control address (MAC) address of the client device, a location of the advertising device, a location of the client device, and an identifier of 5 the advertisement. According to a second aspect, the invention resides in a method of providing advertising, including: receiving, on a wireless network adapter of an advertising device, a network connection from a client device; 10 receiving, by the wireless network adapter and from the client device, a request for a first page from the client device; and sending, by the wireless network adapter and to the client device, an advertisement in response to the first request, wherein the advertisement is retrieved from the advertising device. 15 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect, preferred embodiments of the invention are described below by way of example only 20 with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 illustrates a system for advertising, according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2a illustrates an advertising device of the system of FIG. 1, connected to a shop, according to an embodiment of the present 25 invention; FIG. 2b illustrates the advertising device of the system of FIG. 1, connected to a bus, according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3a illustrates a screenshot of a network connection screen of the system of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present 30 invention; FIG. 3b illustrates a screenshot of an advertising screen of the system of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 FIG. 4 illustrates a system for advertising, according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 illustrates a method of advertising, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 5 FIG. 6 diagrammatically illustrates an advertising device, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that minor deviations from the layout of components as illustrated in the drawings will not detract from the proper functioning of the disclosed embodiments of the present 10 invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention comprise advertising systems and methods. Elements of the invention are illustrated in concise 15 outline form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary to the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to clutter the disclosure with excessive detail that will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the present description. 20 In this patent specification, adjectives such as first and second, left and right, front and back, top and bottom, etc., are used solely to define one element or method step from another element or method step without necessarily requiring a specific relative position or sequence that is described by the adjectives. Words such as "comprises" or "includes" are 25 not used to define an exclusive set of elements or method steps. Rather, such words merely define a minimum set of elements or method steps included in a particular embodiment of the present invention. The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the 30 prior art forms part of the common general knowledge. According to one aspect, the invention resides in an advertising device including: a wireless network adapter; a processor, coupled to the 5 wireless network adapter; and a memory, coupled to the processor, including: at least one advertisement; instructions, executable by the processor, for: receiving, on the wireless network adapter, a network connection from a client device; receiving a request for a first page from 5 the client device; and sending an advertisement of the at least one advertisement to the client device in response to the first request. Advantages of certain embodiments of the present invention include a simple and inexpensive advertising, which can effectively target advertising based upon location and time of day. The advertising can be 10 an effective alternative or addition to signs, and other location based advertising, and the advertising can include additional features such as a QR code, or multimedia content. According to certain embodiments, the advertising device can be placed in busses, trains, taxis, subways and other public places and 15 neither needs an internet connection nor an external power source. Accordingly, the present invention can enable a business to stand out by providing advertisements to a target audience directly. FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for advertising, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 20 The system 100 includes a first computing device 105 and an advertising device 110. The first computing device 105 and the advertising device 110 are coupled via a data communications network 115. The first computing device 105 includes a wireless internet adapter 25 (not shown), a touch sensitive display screen 113, and a button 115. The first computing device 105 is able to connect to a computer network 117, such as the Internet, via the wireless internet adapter. As will be readily understood by the skilled addressee, the first computing device 105 can take any suitable form, including a laptop 30 computer, a tablet computing device, a smart phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or any other suitable device. 6 The advertising device 110 also includes a wireless internet adapter (not shown), enabling it to connect to the wireless internet adapter of the first computing device 105. The wireless internet adapters can be Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 adapters, 5 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) adapters, or any other suitable wireless internet adapters. The advertising device 110 is advantageously a dedicated advertising device, and is preferably able to serve several first computing devices 105 at the same time. 10 The advertising device 110 broadcasts a service set identification (SSID), commonly referred to as a network name, in a similar manner to that of an IEEE 802.11 router, and allows devices such as the first computing device 105 to connect to it without requiring an encryption key. The first computing device 105 then connects to the advertising 15 device 110. When the first computing device 105 requests a web page, e.g. the first computing device 105 sends a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET request, the advertising device 110 intercepts the request and responds with a HTTP REDIRECT message (i.e. an HTTP message with 20 status code 302) redirecting the first computing device 105 to an advertising page of the advertising device 110. The advertising page is then presented to the user in place of the original web page. The advertising page can comprise a HyperText Markup Language 25 (HTML) page, an image, or any other suitable file or combination of files. According to alternative embodiments, a Domain Name Server (DNS) of the advertising device 110 will return an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the advertising device 110 in response to any request. Any requests will then be made to the advertising device 110 directly, rather 30 than needing to be redirected. The SSID is a plain text identifier of the advertising device 110, and can itself include advertising or a part of the advertising. According to 7 certain embodiments, the SSID comprises a message indicating to the user that information relating to a deal or offer can be obtained by connecting to the advertising device 110. Alternatively, the SSID could be used for independent advertising. For example, the SSID of a coffee shop 5 named ABC could use the following SSID: "$2 coffee, 10am-11am at ABC". According to certain embodiments, the first computing device 105 automatically connects to unsecured wireless networks. Immediately upon connection to the unsecured wireless network, a HTTP request for a 10 remote file is made. This allows the first computing device 105 to determine if internet connectivity is automatically provided by the unsecured wireless network. If the request for the remote file is redirected, a browser window is automatically opened on the first computing device 105 and the redirected 15 file is displayed. In the case of the present invention the redirected file is the advertising. Accordingly, on certain devices, the advertising can be presented to a user without any interaction from that user. FIG. 2a illustrates the advertising device 110, connected to a shop 205. The advertising device 110 is advantageously configured to provide 20 information relating to the shop 205, such as a special offer provided by the shop 205. FIG. 2b illustrates the advertising device 110, connected to a bus 210. The advertising device 110 can be configured to target passengers of the bus 210, or users near a route of the bus. 25 Similarly, the advertising device 110 can be placed in a delivery truck, targeting users of the city in which the delivery truck travels, or in a private car, targeting other vehicles in the vicinity of the private car. The advertising device 110 can be battery operated, which enables the advertising device 110 to be placed arbitrarily in a vehicle. 30 Alternatively the advertising device 110 can, for example, be solar powered, or powered by a battery system of the vehicle. 8 FIG. 3a illustrates a screenshot 300 of a network connection screen on the first computing device 105, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to certain embodiments, the first computing device 105 5 automatically displays the SSID of the advertising device 110 and a prompt to connect to the network, when in range of the advertising device 110. Additionally, the first computing device 105 can display the SSID of several advertising devices 110, or other networks in range, for the user to select. 10 The network connection screen includes a plurality of network selection buttons 305, which the user can select to connect to the network. The network selection buttons 305 include an SSID field 310, to enable the user to select between networks, and a signal strength indicator 315, indicating a signal strength of the network. 15 FIG. 3b illustrates a screenshot 350 of an advertising screen on the first computing device 105, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The advertising screen includes a text component 355, and a Quick Response (QR) code 360. The text component 355 provides information 20 about the shop, a service, or any other aspect of the advertising, and the QR code 360 is provided to enable redemption of a deal or a discount through presentation to a shop (or other entity) offering the deal or discount. The advertising device 110 can serve advertising screens including 25 different QR codes according to a location, time or day, or other variable, enabling the advertiser to track advertising exposure. As will be understood by the skilled addressee, the advertising screen can take any form, including an image only, text only, or any suitable combination of media, and need not contain a QR code. 30 FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 for advertising, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 400 includes the first computing device 105 and an 9 advertising device 405. The first computing device 105 and the advertising device 405 are coupled via a first data communications network 410, in a similar manner to the system 100 of FIG. 1. The system 400 further includes a second computing device 415 5 connected to the advertising device 405 via a data communications interface (not shown) connected to a second communications network 420. The second computing device 415 is used to remotely configure the advertising device 405. The advertising device 405 includes a web interface (not shown), 10 with which the second computing device 415 interacts. A user of the second computing device 415 may then configure the advertising device 405 via the web interface. Configuring the advertising device 405 can include replacing an advertisement of the advertising device 405, or editing a configuration file 15 relating to rotation and/or timing of advertisements. For example, several advertisements can be rotated on the advertising device 405 based upon time of day, location, or number of times the advertisement is displayed. The first data communications network 410 is advantageously a wireless IEEE 802.11 network, and the second communications network 20 420 is advantageously a third or fourth generation (3G or 4G) mobile telecommunications network. The advertising device 405 can include a positioning module (not shown) such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) module for determining the location of the advertising device 405. Alternatively or 25 additionally, the advertising device 405 can determine a position based upon triangulation of signals from the first and/or second data communications networks 410, 420. Alternatively again, a location of the advertising device 405 can be pre-known and stored on the advertising device, or provided to the advertising device 405. 30 The advertising device 105, 405 can include logging functionality, to log exposure of advertising provided by the advertising device 105, 405 to first computing devices 105. The logging functionality can include a 10 connection time of the first computing device 105, and IP address of the first computing device 105, a Media Access Control address (MAC) address of the first computing device 105, a location of the advertising device 110, 405 or first computing device 105, an identifier of the 5 advertising screen displayed, or any other variable. The logging functionality can then be used to bill advertisers. For example, a cost per impression (CPI) of each advertisement can be charged. Alternatively or additionally, a link can be provided in the advertising screen, to which a cost per click (CPC) is charged. 10 The advertising device 110, 405 can alternatively or additionally include advertising allocation functionality. Several advertising pages can be stored on the advertising device 110, 405, each of which has an allocated advertising budget. Each advertising page can then be displayed until its budget is reached. A budget can, for example, be 15 allocated per hour, per day, per click, per impression, or as a percentage of an uptime of the advertising device 110, 405. FIG. 5 illustrates a method 500 of advertising, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In step 505 a network connection from a client device is received 20 on a wireless network adapter of an advertising device. The advertising device can, for example, be the advertising device 110 of FIG. 1. In step 510, a request for a first page is received from the client device, by the wireless network adapter. In step 515, an advertisement is sent, to the client device, in 25 response to the first request, by the wireless network adapter. The advertisement is retrieved from the advertising device, and can be one of many advertisements stored on the advertising device. FIG. 6 diagrammatically illustrates an advertising device 600, which, for example, can be identical to the advertising devices 110, 405, 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The advertising device 600 includes a central processor 602, a system memory 604 and a system bus 606 that couples various system 11 components, including coupling the system memory 604 to the central processor 602. The system bus 606 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The structure 5 of system memory 604 is well known to those skilled in the art and may include a basic input/output system (BIOS) stored in a read only memory (ROM) and one or more program modules such as operating systems, application programs and program data stored in random access memory (RAM). 10 The advertising device 600 can also include a variety of interface units and drives for reading and writing data, such as the advertisements discussed above. In particular, the advertising device 600 includes a hard disk interface 608 and a removable memory interface 610, respectively coupling a hard disk drive 612 and a removable memory drive 614 to the 15 system bus 606. Examples of removable memory drives 614 include magnetic disk drives and optical disk drives. The drives and their associated computer-readable media, such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) 616 provide non-volatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 20 600. A single hard disk drive 612 and a single removable memory drive 614 are shown for illustration purposes only and with the understanding that the advertising device 600 can include several similar drives. Furthermore, the advertising device 600 can include drives for interfacing with other types of computer readable media. 25 The advertising device 600 may include additional interfaces for connecting devices to the system bus 606. FIG. 6 shows a universal serial bus (USB) interface 618 which may be used to couple a device to the system bus 606. For example, an IEEE 1394 interface 620 may be used to couple additional devices to the advertising device 600. 30 The advertising device 600 includes a network interface 622 that couples the system bus 606 to a local area network (LAN) 624. The LAN 12 can comprise the IEEE 802.11 network, a 3G data network, or any suitable network, as described above. A wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, can also be accessed by the computing device, for example via a modem unit 5 connected to a serial port interface 626 or via the LAN 624. The WAN can be used to configure the advertising device 600, as discussed above. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown and described are exemplary and other ways of establishing a communications link between computers can be used. The existence of 10 any of various well-known protocols, such as TCP/IP, Frame Relay, Ethemet, FTP, HTTP and the like, is presumed. The advertising device 600 includes a positioning module 628, for determining a position of the advertising device 600. An example of a positioning module 628 is a Global Positioning System (GPS) module. 15 Alternatively or additionally, the positioning module 628 can determine a position based upon triangulation of signals from the network interface 622, or from any other suitable signal. Alternatively again, a location of the advertising device 600 can be pre-known and stored on a memory of the advertising device, or provided to the advertising device 405 via a data 20 interface. The operation of the advertising device 600 can be controlled by a variety of different program modules. Examples of program modules are routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The present 25 invention may also be practiced with other computer system configurations, including portable devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. In summary, advantages of certain embodiments of the present 30 invention include a simple and inexpensive advertising, which can effectively target advertising based upon location and time of day. The advertising can be an effective alternative or addition to signs, and other 13 location based advertising, and the advertising can include additional features such as a QR code, or multimedia content. Similarly, the advertising device can be placed in public transport or other places and neither needs an internet connection nor an external power source. 5 The above description of various embodiments of the present invention is provided for purposes of description to one of ordinary skill in the related art. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to a single disclosed embodiment. As mentioned above, numerous alternatives and variations to the present invention will be apparent to 10 those skilled in the art of the above teaching. Accordingly, while some alternative embodiments have been discussed specifically, other embodiments will be apparent or relatively easily developed by those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this patent specification is intended to embrace all alternatives, modifications and variations of the present 15 invention that have been discussed herein, and other embodiments that fall within the spirit and scope of the above described invention. 14