JP2002544575A - System and method for high volume selective generation and delivery of customizable electronic messages - Google Patents

Abstract

Summary The foregoing objects are achieved according to one aspect of the present invention by providing an electronic communication system for transferring electronic messages, such as e-mail messages and web pages, over the Internet. Publishers who want to generate and deliver such messages have a set of criteria that specify the criteria for selecting the recipient of the message and the reward for receiving and working on the message. Generate rules. Based on the data corresponding to each consumer, the message may be served as multiple web pages or sent to the consumer as an e-mail message. Authorization to receive the message by the consumer may be made by e-mail or using the HTTP protocol.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to electronic communication systems, and in particular to online advertising agency services that compensate consumers who use the services or services for viewing advertisements and similar information provided by advertisers.

[0002]

[Prior art]

FIG. 1 shows a typical online advertising agency service (incentive award). Such a system is typically provided in a distribution communication network such as the Internet 10 and subscribes to the service through a subscription function 50, which is part of a comprehensive communication service 60 operated by an online advertising agency service. An online environment is provided in which the customer 20 is rewarded for performing various actions. Advertising publishers 30 typically provide products or services to interest consumers 20 by returning rewards to consumers 20 for receiving information about the products and services. It is a company that provides. Typically, the action returned is, for example, observing an email service sent to the consumer by a proxy service on behalf of the publisher 30 or viewing a web page describing the publisher's merchandise. For example, additional points may be awarded when the consumer 20 participates in an exhibition, receives a sample of the publisher's merchandise, or purchases the publisher's merchandise. First
An example of this type of advertising agency service is Intelloipost Corporati, California
An example of the second type of advertising agency service is the MyPoint (TM) service operated by the same company, the BonusMail (TM) service operated by on of SanFrancisco. Another example of an advertising agency service is found in U.S. Patent No. 09 / 080,946. Rewards are in the form of points earned by the consumer 20 and later redeemed for goods or other valuables by a redemption agent 40.

[0003] When the consumer 20 subscribes to the advertising agency service using the subscription function 50 and when the points earned by the consumer are exchanged by the exchange agent 40, the consumer (Bo
You must be given the opportunity to receive e-mail advertisements (in the case of nusMail ™) or to get points by observing the designated web page generated by the communication service 60 (in the case of MyPoint ™). Must. For email advertising, it is necessary to generate individual advertisements and send them to each consumer 20, and for web-based offerings, it is necessary to generate appropriate web pages and make them available to each consumer 20. is there. Hereinafter, the term "reward redemption letter" will be used to mean a mechanism that gives the consumer 20 the opportunity to award redemption points, and thus, in the case of the BonusMail (TM) service, the redeemable redemption letter will be In the case of the MyPoint (TM) service, the reward redemption letter is a web page that the consumer 20 observes to learn about the publisher's merchandise.

[0004] The operational advertising proxy service can be performed using a normal redemption invitation, but if the redemption invitation could be customized for each consumer 20, the service would be: More effective. For example, a reward redemption letter may be customized to refer to a consumer by name, or may refer to a region or the like. In addition, the redemption letter can be adapted to each consumer's computer system, for example, the email message can be formatted as a plain text message or HTML based on pre-gathered information about the capabilities of the consumer's computer system. Message may be configured. Similarly, a web page may be based on whether the consumer's browser is graphic-capable, frame-capable, Java-capable, or the like. Additionally, emails and web pages can be customized based on their intended recipient demographic profile.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Perhaps more importantly, the efficiency of the advertising agency service is greatly enhanced if the redemption invitation is targeted to a particular consumer 20. This may be performed, for example, based on demographic information about the consumer 20 gathered when the consumer subscribes to the advertising agency service. For example, when subscribing to the BonusMail (TM) service, the consumer 20 answers a number of questions about hobbies, likes and dislikes, and the like.
Thereafter, if the publisher 30 wants to advertise computer peripherals, for example, a reward redemption letter may be sent only to consumers 20 who are interested in a personal computer. This demographic targeting method is effective in several ways. For example, the average response rate to each redemption invitation is increased, thereby allowing the advertising proxy system to use less resources to achieve the same result. In addition, consumers 20 receive reward redemptions that are likely to be useful to them, resulting in increased perceived effectiveness for their advertising agency services.

Performing this level of customization, the selectivity and diversity in the redemption invitations require sophisticated methods for generating and delivering redemption invitations. One possibility is to provide a reward reward for the prototype and an identifier for each subscribing consumer 20 across the master list of subscribing consumers 20 that matches the criteria in the file (and the protocol in the invitation). In order to store any other information needed for the degree of customization), a set of criteria indicating the consumers 20 to send is provided. The file can then be merged with the redemption invitation protocol to create a customized invitation batch that can be transferred to the targeted consumer 20.

While this process is feasible, it inherently requires that the generation and transfer of invitations be performed in a centralized, sequential, batch-based manner. If some components of the advertising agency service fail, the operation of other system components will fail. In addition, to extend such a system, it is necessary to update the entire system, rather than merely adding additional computing devices, to provide a gradual increase in capacity. Current technologies also include "client push" (e.g., e-mail where information is sent to a recipient without prior action) and "client pool" (e.g., information is sent to a recipient until requested). Allows the use of changing protocols and message transfer technologies (such as serving web pages if not done), but this limits the flexibility and power of the system.

The present invention seeks to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art and to provide a system that can selectively generate high-volume electronic messages over a communication network and forward them to a predetermined group of recipients.

[0009] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a system that can generate and deliver messages over changing protocols.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a system that can generate and transfer messages over at least the SMTP and HTTP protocols.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a system that can selectively generate and forward electronic messages according to multiple sets of generation and forwarding criteria, each set of criteria. Is processed independently of the other criteria sets.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a message delivery system that can deliver messages to recipients using both "client push" and "client pool" techniques.

[0013]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The foregoing objects are attained according to one aspect of the present invention by providing an electronic communication system for delivering electronic messages, such as e-mail messages, and web pages over the Internet. A set of rules specifying the criteria by which publishers wishing to generate and forward such messages select recipients of the messages and reward recipients who receive and act upon the messages. Generate Based on the data corresponding to each consumer, the message may be served as a web page by a number of web servers or sent to the consumer as an email message. The acknowledgment of the receipt of the message by the consumer may be performed using an email or HTTP protocol.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent after reading and understanding the specification and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. At most normal levels, the preferred embodiment of the present invention implemented in an advertising agency service is similar to that shown in FIG. However, FIG. 1 shows the subscription function 50, the redemption agent 40, and the communication service 60 as logically separated from each other, but this is done merely for ease of understanding. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the corresponding components may be independent processes running on the same physical computer. Also, while the figures show only one subscription function 50 and one communication device 60, etc., multiple systems can be used for one or more corresponding components in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. .
It is also preferred that the system include multiple issuers 30 and multiple exchanges 40 to maximize the effectiveness of the system for the user.

FIG. 2 shows the organization of the communication service 160 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In that, the database 165 contains information about the subscribed consumer 20 (or more broadly a user or client) including the targeted web page service and any demographic information required for targeted email delivery. In. This information is pre-stored in a database, for example, by a subscription system (not shown). The database 165 also preferably stores information about each consumer's account in the advertising agency service, such as accumulated points and transaction history.

[0016] An advantage of the present invention is that the system can selectively, adjustably and easily deliver electronic messages, including both web pages and emails, to users. To serve web pages, the system operates as described in the aforementioned U.S. patent specification, and for simplicity of description, the following description is based on post office 180, mail server 195, e-mail, It focuses primarily on the characteristics of other system components that play a significant role in message generation and delivery.

[0017] Once the consumer 20 subscribes to the advertising agency service, the first step in providing an opportunity for redemption is for the publisher 30 to launch an advertising agency service for conducting a marketing campaign. If the campaign includes a redemption letter in an e-mail sent to the consumer 20, the advertising agency service is stored in the post office database 184 of the post office 180 as shown in FIGS. 216 of the existing control table. The control table entry 216 includes a job key 216a that identifies the job, i.e., the marketing campaign to which the entry corresponds, a date on which a reward letter for the campaign is sent to the consumer 20, and a reward for the consumer 20 connected to the campaign. A start date 216b, an end date 216c, respectively, specifying a date when there are no more points, a client count 216d, specifying the number of consumers 20 to whom e-mail reward redemption notices are sent, for example, for troubleshooting purposes. Suspend flag 2 to specify that the job will be suspended on
16e, a mail server ID 216f identifying the mail server 190 used to deliver the e-mail reward redemption notice in this job, and a non-HTML capable e-mail client to read the e-mail messages A text message I linking to an entry in a message table (described in more detail below) that specifies detailed information about the e-mail redemption invitation sent to the customer 20 using
D 216g and a link to a message table entry identifying detailed information about redemption invitations for e-mails sent to customers 20 using an HTML-capable e-mail client to read e-mail messages HTML message ID 216h and an SQL query 216i used to populate the e-mail with data from database 165 to customer 20.
The SQL query is also used to identify the customer 20 having an account in the database 165 targeted by the marketing campaign and to limit the number of messages sent to the number specified by the client count 216d.

Also, as part of a marketing campaign, the advertising agency service
Create one or more entries 218 in the aforementioned message table of the post office database 184, as shown in FIG. The message table entry 218 is a text message ID field 216g of the control table entry 216 in FIG.
Alternatively, a message ID 218a corresponding to the HTML message ID 216h and e-
It includes a message type field 218b indicating that the e-mail reward letter is a text message or an HTML message, a message subject 218c, and a message body 218d. Message subject 218c and message body 2
18d are templates for the actual subject and body of the e-mail message actually sent to the consumer 20, respectively, but allow for customization before being sent to the consumer 20 as described in detail below. Preferably, it includes a tag that is replaced with the consumer-specific information.

Finally, as part of the marketing campaign, the advertising agency service creates a plurality of entries 220 in the client mail table of the post office database 184 as shown in FIG. Each entry 220 corresponds to the consumer identified by the SQL query 216i of the corresponding control table entry 216,
The job key 220a, the user ID 220b of the customer, the transmission flag 220c indicating that the message corresponding to the job has been transmitted when set, and the reception of the message when set can be performed by the consumer in a manner described in detail below. 20, a received flag 220d indicating approval, a retry count 220e identifying the number of times the message has been retransmitted, and a notification that the message was rejected by the e-mail server when set. (For example, when there is no user having a predetermined address in the server), and a rejection flag 220f. If other information about the consumer 20 is needed for message processing, this can be extracted from the database 165 using the user ID 220b as a key.

Once the table is set up to support a marketing campaign, the publisher can set business rules and redemption rules that specify the amount and type of rewards that can be redeemed for the campaign. To do this, publisher 30 uses toolbox 170 of communication service 160 as shown in FIG. As will be described in detail below, each toolbox 170 includes a toolbox web server 172, which is connected to the Internet 10 and a toolbox database 174, which stores business rules and redemption rules, points accumulation and It stores temporary consumer account information such as transactions. Each toolbox 170 corresponds to one publisher 30 and is used by publisher 30 to control the distribution of redemption points, thereby preventing misuse of advertising agency services due to irregular transactions. In particular, the publisher 30 can set the following prize rules. -An explanation of the redemption (primarily for internal tracking purposes);-the type of redemption, e.g. advertising banners, purchases, questions, etc .;-the frequency of the incentives (rewarding points in response to demand). -Start and end dates;-bounty issuer URL, appropriate URL.

Thus, the generated rules are stored in the toolbox database 174. Issuer 30 uses toolbox 170 to generate incentive rules that identify the incentive received by consumer 20. The toolbox 170 preferably resides on the computer system under the control of the proxy service, so that the publisher 30 does not overload these supports, and the publisher 30 preferably accesses the toolbox via the Internet, The rules are developed using a web browser that displays HTML format and the like.

The post office 180 schedules the publisher 30 e-mail advertising campaign and ensures that remuneration invitations are forwarded to the appropriate consumers 20. As shown in FIG. 8, this is accomplished by using the control tables in the post office database 184 as described above. When a new entry is added to the control table, the post office 180 assigns the new job identified there to one mail server 195 based on the information it maintains about the loading of the mail server 195. For example, the post office maintains a list of jobs currently running on each mail server 195 and an evaluation of when each is expected to end. In that case, the post office 180 can assign the new job to the idle mail server 195 or the mail server 195 that will be the most idle. Instead, post office 180 polls mail server 195 for their status (or mail server 195 reports periodic reports to the post office).
180) and that information may be used in jobs scheduled by the post office 180.

Once the post office 180 has identified the mail server 195 that will be used to perform message delivery on the job, it writes this information to the mail server ID field 216 f of the appropriate control table entry 216. Then, periodically,
The dispatcher process 197 of each mail server 195 is responsible for each control table entry
As indicated by the mail server ID 216f at 216, the post office database 184 is accessed to see if any new jobs have been added to the new server. If a new job exists on mail server 195, it accesses database 165 based on the corresponding entry in client mail table 220 and generates a message using message subject and body fields 218c and 218d of memory table entry 218. Replace tags by extracting consumer information from database 165 when needed. For example, when message type field 218b specifies a text message, message body field 218d contains the following code fragment: POINTENTIAL--January 1999 Edition Dear < & GetUserName >, Happy New Year! It extracts the consumer's first name (eg, Joe) from database 165 and includes the following string in the final message: POINTENTIAL--January 1999 Edition Dear <Joe, Happy New Year! When message type field 218b specifies an HTML formatted message, message body field 218d contains the following code fragment:

[0024] Dear < & GetUserName >, <BR><BR><FONT SIZE = “+ 1” COLOR = “# FF0000”> Happy New Year! </ FONT><BR><BR> This produces similar results.

Once the message has been generated, mail server 195 sends it to consumer 20. Thus, rather than generating a large batch file of messages to be transmitted, as described in the related art section, this embodiment generates each message individually "on the fly".

Consumer 20 acknowledges receipt of the message by responding to it. The subject line contains an encrypted string that, when decrypted by the mail server 195, identifies the consumer 20 and the job to which the consumer is responding.
There is very little action required on the part of the consumer 20 other than clicking the "reply" button on the mail client. The response message is received by the mail server 195 and the recipient process 199 sets the flag 2 received in the corresponding client mail table entry 220 to indicate that the consumer 20 is responding to the message.
Set 20d and notify the appropriate toolbox 170 so points can be awarded.

Alternatively, if the consumer's e-mail client is relatively sophisticated and can manage more sophisticated e-mail formats (such information is gathered and stored in advance in database 165). Preferably, other response mechanisms are possible. For example, an e-mail client may display an active URL in the displayed message, i.e., the protocol indicated when clicked (typically HT
If TP) could be used to create a field in an e-mail message that sends a message to the address indicated there, such a field would be provided and the user would respond directly to the e-mail message. No, you can click it. In this case, the URL is preferably set forth in U.S. Patent No. 09 / 126,219 (Title of Invention "System and Method for Remotely Providing User Information Withou").
embedded in the parameter information that identifies the consumer 20 as described in “User Intervention”, September 17, 1998. The URL may also be known to the consumer 20 or from an email message. It can be used with e-mail clients that do not display the active URL, assuming they have WWW access by cutting the URL and pasting it into a browser (or just typing it).

If the e-mail client can manage the HTML formatted message as shown in FIG. 9, the message can also include a button in active URL or HTML form, which performs the same function. Submi
In the case where the consumer 20 responds using the HTTP protocol, the response is a message since the mail server 195 is well configured to manage such traffic. Does not need to be directed to the mail server 195 that sent the mail, but instead goes to one web server 190 (in fact, in a preferred embodiment, the web pages served by the web server 190 and the web pages sent by the mail server 195). HTML formatted e-mail messages are so similar that the same database entry can be accessed to create both.) In this case, the awarding of points, etc., is the same as in US Pat. It may be realized as described in WO 09 / 080,946.

Thus, in a broad sense, the preferred embodiment uses both “client pool” technology in the form of served web pages and “client push” technology in the form of outgoing e-mail messages. It can be seen as a system that can forward messages. Client pool technology requires few methods such as scheduling and dispatching because information is transferred at the recipient's request. Conversely, the need for such functionality is provided by the post office since client push messages are sent independently of the recipient.

[0030] Variations of the foregoing invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, in the preferred embodiment, all database accesses are performed according to Oracle standards, but several other formats are used. Indeed, the preferred embodiment uses a post office and mail server connected to a web page transfer system, usually described in U.S. Patent No. 09 / 080,946, which selectively provides high capacity measurable data. It may be used independently to communicate with any database attached to a suitable protocol to provide an e-mail generation and forwarding system.

Although the toolbox 170 is shown in FIG. 1 as a separate process, they need not be located on separate physical computers (although this is of course possible). If the traffic levels associated with some publishers 30 and their toolboxes 170 are relatively low, they may be configured on the same computer system. Alternatively, if one publisher 30 has a very high level of traffic, this toolbox may be distributed to several computers in a manner apparent to those skilled in the art. Indeed, in this embodiment, the toolbox 170 is preferably configured on a computer system under the physical control of the incentive awarding service, although they need not be on a system controlled by the publisher 30, It can be present instead. In this case, communication between the toolbox 170 and other system components can take place over the Internet. Web server 19
0 and mail server 195 can be distributed similarly. Further, while the Internet is used as the preferred communication network in the preferred embodiment, other networks, such as proprietary networks, intranets, LANs, WANs, etc., may of course be used.

Such changes are within the scope of the invention and are considered to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an online incentive giving system.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a communication service according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the post office shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing entries in a control table of the post office database shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an entry in a message table of the post office database shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing entries in a client mail table of the post office database shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the tool box shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the mail server shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is an award redemption notice of a sample HTML formatted email in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (81) Designated country EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE ), OA (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, GM, KE, LS, MW, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG, ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, CA, CH, CN, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID , IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LV, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, UA, UG, AZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW Lysine, Virgil, United States 60616, Illinois, West Thirty First Street 10 (72) Inventor Minogue, Matthew S., United States 60622, Illinois, United States 60622 Apartment, Storefloor, Division Street 1418

Claims (14)

[Claims] An electronic communication system comprising: a database storing information about a plurality of clients; user information identifying information in a database about a selected client; A post office storing message information describing a message to be transmitted, and server information designating one of a plurality of mail servers used for transmitting the message; Responsive to the system, accessing a database based on the client information for extracting information and transmitting a message to a selected client based on the extracted information. 2. The post office includes server information, message information for specifying the contents of the message, and control information for specifying restrictions on transmission of a message including client information for specifying characteristics of a message to be transmitted to a specific client. The system of claim 1, wherein 3. The control information further includes format information indicating whether a message transmitted based on the control information is in one of a plurality of formats, and the mail server selectively selects a message based on the format information. The system of claim 2, wherein the message is sent to a client. 4. The control information further includes selection information specifying criteria, whereby a client having information stored in the database is selected for sending a message, and the selection information is used to generate client information. The system according to claim 2. 5. The message information includes a first portion copied into a message sent to the client by the mail server, and a second portion indicating information about the client in a database used in the message sent to the client. 3. The system of claim 2, comprising: 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the mail server accesses the database to extract information about the client for use in a message sent to the client based on the second part. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the mail server replaces the second part with the extracted information. 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the post office is for setting server information based on states of a plurality of mail servers. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mail server comprises a dispatcher for accessing the post office and sending a message to the client when the server information specifies the mail server. 10. The system of claim 1, wherein each mail server includes a receiver responsive to the message sent thereto for receiving the message from the client and generating an indication thereof. 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the post office changes client information in response to a message from the client in response to a message sent to the post office. 12. In response to a request from a client, accessing a database to extract information about the client from the database.
Generating a web page based thereon and providing a plurality of web servers for serving the client, and at least one mail server and a reward reduction for the user for interacting with messages sent to the user by the web server The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of toolboxes for setting criteria, wherein at least one of the toolboxes and the database maintain information indicating a reward return for a user receiving. 13. A mail server comprising: a receiver for receiving a message from a client in response to a message sent thereto and generating an instruction; and a toolbox receiving by the user based on the instruction. 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the information maintaining the displayed reward to be returned is changed. 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the toolbox periodically exchanges information received by the user indicating the reward to be redeemed by the database.