Microsoft's adCenter Labs research unit has been quietly working on an in-text advertising project called Gaze, positioning the company as a potential rival to such services as Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT and Kontera's in-text ad technology. Like those existing products, Gaze underlines keywords on the page and lets visitors hover or click for related advertising and information in a small popup box.

Mario Esposito, an adCenter Labs program manager, described Gaze in a blog post last night. The Gaze home page offers a teaser suggesting that it won't be formally introduced for a couple months: "Something is happening ... April 15th - Your ads just won't be the same anymore!"

Another page offers a process for publishers to register for the Gaze beta.

The beta carries the "Microsoft Advertising" name, not the adCenter Labs name, suggesting that this is more than just a research project. I've asked Microsoft about its plans for rolling out the technology, and I'll update this post depending on the response.

Esposito describes Gaze as "a web gadget that offers structured and contextual information to a user within the context of a web page." His post refers to the in-text links alternatively as "GazeLinks" and "GazeInLinks," with trademark symbols suggesting that the company has registered the words. However, the terms didn't show up in a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office search this morning.

Here's how Esposito's post explains the technology ...

"A GazeInLink™ is generated through a technology owned and operated by Microsoft AdCenter. The link is placed within the content of a web page; upon click the GazeLink™ will link the user to relevant information and offers (ads). ... A GazeInLink™ is clearly distinguished by a unique underline or other decoration that a publisher chooses. A mouse-over, click or by a small icon that sits next to the entity/keyword. When the user places the mouse over(*) a GazeLink™, the gadget layer opens with information about the linked entity/keyword. Ads are blended in to the content in a non intrusive way. They’re meaningful to user and related to what the user is reading."

See below for the screenshot that Esposito posted to show how the technology works. We'll have more details as they're available.