IMPROVED USER-DRIVEN DATA NETWORK COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM AND METHOD
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data networks. More particularly, the
invention relates to a user-driven communication system and method,
which is useful for the direct communication of a services and goods
provider with an Internet surfer, an Internet surfer with other surfers or
interactive television (iTV) users.
The invention enables a surfer and/or an iTV user to influence, fully or in
part, the advertising space content to which he is exposed while surfing
the internet and/or using iTV.
Background of the Invention
Marketing over the Internet is a very large business. Many efforts and
large sums are spent on advertising to surfers and keeping contact with
clients. This is done in many ways, including the posting of banners, the
pushing of advertisement in the form of web pages, such as Hyper Text
Markup Language (HTML) pages, and the redirecting of surfers to specific
sites in affiliates programs, and e-mail marketing of text or HTML pages.
The Internet community has begun to realize that some of the existing
advertising schemes lack efficiency for a variety of reasons, all of which
are rooted in the lack of interest of the surfer toward a large majority of
the advertisements shown to him. The art has tried to solve this problem
in many ways. For instance, pay-for-click schemes have been
implemented, which pay the surfer for viewing an advertisement. An
alternative approach is to attempt to determine the surfer's interests, by
presenting him with information relating to issues found in web-sites
that he has visited. However, all the prior art methods have not succeeded
in overcoming the problem of decreasing attention of the surfer toward
advertisements.
One approach to the personalization of the advertisements directed to a
specific surfer provides for the learning of the surfing habits of a surfer.
Such systems follow the surfer, learn his interests by acquiring data on
the web-sites visited, and deduce therefrom potential user preferences.
Advertisements are then displayed selectively to the surfer, based on such
deducted preferences. These methods are of low efficiency, however, since
not always a site visited is visited because of a voluntary interest of the
surfer, and also because the deduction of the surfer's preferences is often
incorrect. The result is that there is only a slight improvement, if any, in
the interest taken by the surfer in the advertisements being shown to
him.
A similar method is described in US 5,933,811, in which the surfers are
required to fill-in a profile, containing personal information which is then
used to decide which advertisements to display to him. This system, as
other prior art systems, are all based on the assumption that it is possible
in this way to improve the correlation between the advertisements sent to
the user and his actual preferences. This assumption has, so far, not
produced sufficiently improved results. None of the prior art methods has
provided a method by which the user is the one who requests messages
from specific vendors to be shown to him, which is an aim of the present
invention, as opposed to the methods described above in which the system
decides what and when to show to him.
Advertising methods on iTV via a cable television operator, or direct
broadcast satellite TV are similar to the advertising methods that were
described hereinabove in accordance to the Internet, therefore all the
above drawbacks applies to iTV as well.
Many methods have been provided in the art for the communication
between different surfers. In this context, communication is intended to
relate to communication during surfing and/or using iTV, and not to
messaging methods which are not browser related , such as e-mail. The
existing methods are limited to either billboards, in which one surfer can
leave messages on a web site for every surfer to see, or chats of various
types, in which a surfer can communicate on-line with one or more
different surfers. Chat rooms often provide privacy options, that permit
two surfers to carry out a private conversation. However, the art has so
far failed to provide an efficient method by means of which a surfer may
communicate off-line (or on-line) with another surfer, in a private manner,
via their browsers, without the need to access a chat room or similar
web-site.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide individual
communication methods and systems that overcome the problems of the
prior art, and which allow an easy and effective communication to take
place between a service or goods provider and a surfer.
It is another purpose of this invention is to provide individual
communication methods and systems for permitting off-line (as well as
on-line) communication between surfers, using their web browsers,
without the need to employ additional systems, such as e-mail
applications .
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a user-driven
advertisement method and system which increases the effectiveness of
advertisements that reach the user. Furthermore, where an ISP or portal
has the choice of showing a surfer a number of banners, it will choose
those banners desired by the surfer. In this way, undesired banners will
not be shown to him, or the number of those will be reduced.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a system in which the user
has control over the messages shown to him, " to the extent that he may
decide to block access to him through his portfolio, temporarily or
permanently, at any time, simply by changing parameters in his portfolio,
the nature of which will be explained below.
Another object of the invention is to allow advertisers to send personal
marketing messages, the cost of which depends on "the value" of each
segment of consumers receiving the messages, and allowing them to pay
a different amjount of money for the exposure of each group of consumers
to a different advertisement.
A further object of the invention, is to create a mechanism that allows
commercial companies to pay for the content that each of their different
"valued" customers is receiving for free from content providers.
Other purposes and advantages of this invention will appear as the
description proceeds.
Summary of the Invention
The invention is directed to a method for messaging over a data network,
comprising the steps of:
i) providing an Administration Server (AS) in which user
portfolios are stored, said AS being in communication with a terminal
belonging to a user;
ii) allowing every registered user to generate and update one or
more user portfolio(s) containing information relative to Providers
and/or individuals the messages of which the user is willing to view;
and
iii) displaying to one or more users on their terminal messages
according to the information contained in the user portfolio.
If the messages have a commercial value, the method further comprises the steps of:
iv) providing benefit(s) to the user for messages displayed to
him; and
v) debiting the Provider for messages displayed to said one or
more users.
Throughout this specification, everything that is said with reference to
providers applies. Mutatis mutandis, also to portals, and the skilled
person will easily appreciate the changes in procedures required when a
portal is involved in the distribution of the messages, and the related
appartitioning of revenues.
Preferably, but non-limitatively , the data network is the Internet.
However, as will be appreciated by the skilled person, any other wide area
network can exploit the invention, such as a cable television network, and
the invention is therefore not limited to be used in any particular
environment or communication protocol.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the messages are displayed in
a space of a web page belonging to a portal or web site, in which banners
are normally displayed or destined to be displayed. This, as will be
apparent to the skilled person, greatly increases the attention of the
surfer to the advertisement and banner areas.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the
information contained in the user's portfolio comprises an indication of a
viewing priority for each Provider. According to still another preferred
embodiment of the invention the message comprises an advertisement.
The terminal can be any device with Internet connectivity or with any
other digital media connectivity, e.g., a Personal Computer (PC), a
hand-held device, a cellular telephone or a TV set or equipment connected
thereto. The advertisement should preferably be in a form that can be
viewed on a graphical, textual or audio and/or video application which
enables to view messages on the Internet or the like network, and should
more preferably be in a form that can be viewed on a web browser page.
A preferred embodiment of the invention provides for the attachment of
start and end dates before and after which the message cannot be
displayed, to messages to be displayed. Furthermore, differential values
for the displaying to specific customers or groups of customers can also be
attached.
In another aspect, the invention is also directed to a system for messaging
over a data network, particularly the Internet, comprising:
i) an Administration Server (AS) provided with storage means
in which user portfolios are stored,
ii) a terminal belonging to a user, said terminal being in
communication with said AS;
hi) means for allowing every registered user to generate and
update user portfolios containing information relative to the Providers
and the individuals the messages of which the user is willing to receive
while exposed to digital media; and
iv) display means associated with the user's terminal, for
displaying to said one or more users messages according to the
information contained in the user portfolio.
If the messages displayed have a commercial value, the system may
further comprise:
v) means for providing benefits to the user for
advertisements displayed to him; and
vi) means for debiting the Provider for advertisements
displayed to said one or more users.
The system may further comprise an additional server, said
additional server comprising means for generating messages. The
additional server can be, e.g., a Eich Media Campaign Server
(RMCS).
The invention also encompasses a method for communicating between two
or more users of a data network, particularly of the Internet, comprising
the steps of:
i) providing an Administration Server (AS) ' in which user
portfolios are stored, said AS being in communication with a terminal
belonging to a user;
ii) allowing every registered user to generate and update a user
portfolio containing information relative to surfers the messages
originating from whom or which the user is willing to view; and
hi) displaying to one or more users on their terminal
messages according to the information contained in the user portfolio.
All the elements described above with reference to the method apply also
to the system, and are therefore not described again in detail, for the sake
of brevity.
The user can be recognized in any suitable way. According to a particular
embodiment of the invention, the user is recognized by saving a cookie on
his terminal. This may be convenient, e.g., when the user accesses the AS
system from a temporary terminal, such as a public terminal, in which
the user logs-in into his portfolio, and requests that the browser from
which he is temporarily surfing be identified as belonging to him for a
limited period of time, whereby a "temporary cookie" is stored or kept on
said temporary terminal. The user may then void the cookie by actively
logging-out of the system.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the system
comprises means for notifying the AS of the current identity of the person
who is surfing from a computer at a given time. Said means may
comprise, for instance, an external client, embedded sources or
subroutines, ActiveX controls (wherein ActiveX is software modules that
enables a program to add functionality by calling ready-made components
that blend in and appear as normal parts of the program), or suitable
browser plug-ins or components.
The system of the invention may function as a stand alone person-to-
person communication system not connected to an advertising messaging
system, and does not necessarily have to be connected to a server that
provides advertising services, although it may be convenient in many
cases to do so.
Brief Description of the Drawings
- Fig. 1A is a schematic general view of a system according to a
preferred embodiment of the invention;
- Fig. IB is a schematic general view of a system according to another
preferred embodiment of the invention;
- Fig. 2A is an example of a registration procedure according to a
' preferred embodiment of the invention, where the user adds companies
to his personal portfoho, which procedure may include an active
request from companies to send him messages, and authorizing the
companies to send him messages.
- Fig. 2B is an example' of a registration procedure according to another
preferred embodiment of the invention, where registration is carried
out at a the web site of a company;
- Fig 2C is an example of a registration process and the addition of a
company using a browser plug-in;
- Fig. 3 is an example of a user's portfolio, according to a preferred
embodiment of the invention;
- Fig. 4 is a flow-chart illustrating a payment procedure;
- Fig. 5 is a user's table displaying data from the AS database, showing
the details of banners that the user is scheduled to see;
- Fig. 6 shows examples of messages that can be transmitted from one
user to another over the system of the invention;
- Fig. 7 is a list of a user's contacts in the AS system;
- Fig. 8 shows how the portfolio of a user is changed, according to a
preferred embodiment of the invention, on a terminal used by more
than one user; and
- Fig. 9 illustrates how a user can forward a personal message that he
has received via the AS, to another recipient.
Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments
Throughout this specification, the following definitions are employed:
Cookie: in the context of this invention, any technological way to
identify the device the user is using such as browsers cookies, plug-ins
,native applications CPU, TV set-top box, unique codes, a constant
Internet Protocol (IP) address of a mobile phone, etc.
Message sender: another surfer or a company to which the user
is registered;
Surfer: a user of a suitable connection program, such as a browser
program, connected to the web via any suitable peripheral, such as a
computer, a cellular phone, a cable TV, etc., also referred to as "user",
"consumer" or "customer";
Terminal: Any suitable connection apparatus, including but not
limited to computers, cellular phones, cable TV, etc.;
Portal: A content provider; or a cable operator or an AD Network of
electronic devices;
AS (Administration Server): The server that operates the
system of the invention, which contains data relative to all the users'
portfolio, and additional programs and utilities, for example, the
interfaces that enable the user to edit his portfolio, a database of the
content provided by the providers , the billing system ,an interface for the
portals ad servers. The AS may physically be one or a plurality of servers,
which may be physically located at the same or at different locations on
the net. Furthermore, parallel work of a plurality of ASs is also possible;
Company: any entity that can be included in a user's list and
which can send advertising material to him, including but not hmited to,
commercial companies, non-profit organizations, governmental agencies,
private persons, etc.
Provider: a supplier of services and/or of goods, including but not
hmited to commercial companies selling goods or services, governmental
agencies, non-profit organizations, political organizations, and the like.
Banner: any type of information or message, graphical or textual,
that can be retrieved and usually viewed by any suitable viewing program,
such as a web browser, a mobile telephone browser, a television browser ,
etc., including but not hmited to, prior art banners, any form of Interactive
Marketing Units (IMU) recommended by the Internet Advertising Bureau
(lAB), HTML pages, messages generated in situ by downloadables, such
as Java applets or ActiveX elements, cellular phone text messages, cellular
phones video advertisements, interactive TV (iTV) banners or full screen
commercials, SMS messages full or in parts, etc.
Advertisement: any type of information that a Provider wishes to
bring to the attention of a surfer, including but not limited to, advertising
material, product information, news, personal messages, interactive
movies through the web, advertising movies in interactive TV, etc.
AD server: A server that chooses and controls the advertisements
appearing in the content that is being served, or connected to another
analytical server that instruct it what to present. It is important to
mention that AS can be connected to one or more AD servers for providing
them messages relevant to their surfers.
Portfolio: A list of providers or surfers authorized to send messages
to the user via an AS server, upon verification by the AS server that the
sender is an authorized sender.
Rich Media Campaign Server (RMCS): A server used by a
provider/sender to send messages to registered users.
Looking now at Fig. 1A, a system according to a preferred embodiment of
the invention is shown, in simplified form. The system comprises four basic
entities: users, providers ,portals and the AS. All these entities are
connected through the AS.
The plurahty of users, Ui - Un, are registered users and possess an account
on the AS, and, of course, have connectivity to the AS through any type of
communication system.
The Plurahty of providers and any other senders, Pi - Pk, can send content
to the AS by any type of communication system or by the RMCS.
A Plurahty of portals, POi — PO , provide users with their own contents,
as well as with content obtained from the AS, which includes the contents
that were stored by the providers in the AS.
In the example of Fig. 1A, the various entities are connected via the
Internet, but of course they can be connected in any other way and via
any other data network, such as Wide Area Network (WAN) or Local Area
Network (LAN), including the LAN of a cable television operator, or direct
broadcast satellite TV, and exploiting their digital capabilities (i.e., the
use of iTV). The providers can be of any type. The users can use any
suitable communication terminal, including but not limited to, computer
terminals, e.g., a PC, a cellular phone, a palm computer, etc. As will be
appreciated by the skilled person, the interface used by the user to
communicate with the AS and the Internet will vary according to the type
of terminal employed. For instance, if a cellular phone is employed,
connection can be via standards, such as Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP), I-MODE, CHTML, XHTML, etc. The interface suitable for each
type of terminal, however, is well understood by the skilled person, and is
therefore not discussed herein in detail, fo the sake of brevity.
Looking now at Fig. IB, a system according to another preferred
embodiment of the invention is shown, in a block diagram form. The
system comprises eight basic entities: users, providers, portals, Ad server,
AS, Portfoho, RMCS, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and a
clients database. All these entities are connected through a data network.
The plurahty of users, such as an Internet user Ui, an iTV user U2 and a
cellular user U3, are registered users and possess an account on the AS,
and, of course, have connectivity to the AS through any type of
communication system, such as Internet, iTV, cellular etc.
The providers and any other senders, can send content to the AS by any
type of communication system or preferably by the RMCS. Each provider
can have its own RMCS with which he connects to the AS, or a provider
may connect to the AS via a public RMCS. Public RMCS, may be used also
to deliver messages between registered users.
A Plurahty of portals, POi - PO3, provide users with their own contents,
as well as with content obtained from the Ad server, which includes the
contents that were stored by the providers in the AS. The Ad server is
connected to the AS that provides it with message to display.
The RMCS is used for designing the template based message to be sent to
one or more users, such as users Ui- U3. RMCS may use any available
clients database, whether the database is local or remote. In Fig. 1, it
shown, for example, that the RMCS is connected to a remote chent
database that is used by CRM as well. Optionally, the RMCS may be
implemented as integral part of a CRM (not shown).
The process of sending a template based message is based on a clients
database, such as a CRM like database of customers, to a segment of the
chents population from that database. This process is basically comprised
of a marketing entity deciding the criteria by which a segment of
population will be chosen. Next, a template or templates of messages are
attached to that population (or parts of it). The following stage at the
RMCS is building the corresponding file that holds all that relevant
information and sending it to the AS to start the process of showing the
relevant message to the relevant surfer (i.e., to one or more users among
users Ui- U3 ) with the relevant information. According to the preferred
embodiment of the present invention, the way of displaying the messages
to the users is non-intrusive and has the pre-requisite of the user's consent
to showing him the messages.
The process is initiated by a user who registers with the AS and receives a
unique identifier user name and password. The user's registration to
companies process is schematically shown in Fig. 2 (A and B). Each user
generates and keeps a portfoho, which is a list of advertisers and/or other
users that he wishes to receive messages from. The portfolio, such as
portfoho 10, can be generated in different ways.
One way to generate a list is illustrated in Fig. 2A. The user names the
companies from which he wishes to get messages, via the AS while surfing
the web. For example companies from which he is usually buying products
and services, or companies and brands with which he is familiar. Such list
can include companies that are not yet registered with the AS server.
Thus, if sufficient surfers request to register with an entity that is not
registered with the AS, this information may prime the AS and such
entity to meet the demand of the surfers, so that the entity is included in
the database of the AS.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated in
Fig. 2B, the user is offered to add a provider to his portfolio, while he is
surfing the provider's site.
Fig. 2B illustrates a possible interface for this purpose. The user, who is
surfing the BB Airline site, is offered to add this company to his portfolio
on the AS . The interface is used to update the user's portfolio on the AS
and the user details on the providers database.
This can be done in several ways. For example, the company can store
information about an AS of a user (i.e., AS ID) and send it later on to the
AS using the RMCS when it initiate a message sending process .Another
possible way to operate is for the company or the AS to open a form that
updates both the company database and the users portfolio on the AS.
An alternative way to operate is a system in which the company
outsources the surfer registration process to a third party, or even to the
AS itself .
As stated, Fig 2 C is an example of a registration process and the addition
of a company using a browser plug-in. This feature can be embedded into
the browser functionalities, or can be added to any other plug-in that
already exists on the user's browser, such as Yahoo massager (Yahoo!
Inc.). According to the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in
Fig. 2C, an "Add Company" button 200 is provided either as a plug-in or
as a built-in function of a browser. Chcking button 200 causes the URL of
the web site which the user is currently surfing to be added to his
portfoho. Methods suitable to capture the URL and save it in a desired
location are well appreciated by the skilled person, and are therefore not
discussed herein in detail, for the sake of brevity.
The plug-in can be a Microsoft Explorer Rebar Control, or a cellular phone
plug-in, or a set-top box plug-in. The AS can allow the user to give a
unique name chosen by him, to the URL address that he sends to his
portfolio. According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, a
Name Server can be provided, with which the plug-in of the browser may
communicate. The purpose of the Name Server is to provide a
standardized naming system to all URLs. If, for instance, a user decides
to click button 200 while he is in an inner page (low level) of a provider's
web-site, it may be necessary to analyze the URL so as to extract
therefrom the useful part, needed to identify the provider. For example,
assuming that the URL line has, at the time of clicking, the following
information:
httO://patimgl.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=05953504&homeurl=http%3A%2F%
2Fl64.195.100.11%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSectl%3DPTOl%2526S
ect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPALL%2526p%3Dl%2526u%3D%2Fnetaht
ml%2Fsrchnum.htm%252βr%3Dl%2526f%3DG%25261%3D50%2526sl%3
D'5.953.504'.WKU.%2526OS%3DPN%2F5.953.504%2526RS%3DPN%2F5
.953.504&PageNum=&Rtvpe=&SectionNum=&idkev=4Cl097DEFE97
which is the URL for the image of U.S. Patent No. 5,953,504 at the
USPTO web site, but all that the user is interested in is adding the URL
of the USPTO to his portfolio. There is, therefore, a need to identify the
parts of the URL that can be ignored, which is a relatively simple task,
thanks to the slash marks at the beginning of the URL. However, even
when removing all the part of the URL right of the third slash mark, the
remaining URL is: http://patimgl.uspto.gov/, which is not the desired
URL. The desired URL is http://www.uspto. gov/. It is therefore convenient
to provide a Name Server, in communication with the plug-in, which can
receive the URL saved by the plug-in when button 200 of Fig. 2C is
clicked, and can perform on it logical operation and comparisons with hsts
of providers' names, and return to the plug-in a provider name or
streamlined URL. Part of the operations can also be performed at the
plug-hi level, such as the trimming of the saved URL. Which operations
will be performed at the plug-in level, and which, if any, at the Name
Server level, will be determined according to the particular desired
system.
According to an embodiment of the invention, The user can add any URL
that he wished to his portfoho. The AS can open a section in a web site
that allows Providers who own a specific URL to go and see the increasing
number of users that requested to add this specific URL to their portfolio.
When a Provider decides that it wishes to communicate with these,
anonymous yet, AS users, the company will receive from the AS a list of
all the users who have asked to register with their AS ID and the proper
URL page in its web site that they decided to add it to their portfoho.. The
company then send through the AS a message to all these users
requesting for other details that would match the AS ID to the customer
ID in it's internal systems, but the company can also send
non-personalized messages to these users, hke product announcements,
company news, etc. An alternative way can be that the AS would allow
the users to store their personal data on the Plug-in, and as soon as the
company start to activate the database of users who have registered it,
the AS will contact all their plug-ins and instruct them automatically to
send the user data to the RMCS which will then transfer it to the proper
place of the consumers contact details .
This system is an alternative way for companies, other than making
users to fill forms and request information.
According to still another preferred embodiment of the invention (not
shown), it is possible to register with a service provider without being
connected to the AS. This is simply done by a registered AS user, by
giving his personal username at the AS to any provider which he wishes
to include in his portfoho, at a physical location of the provider. An
example may be, for instance, the filling-in of a suitable form in a shop,
exhibition or on a flight, or registering in a special apparatus by typing in
the AS ID details, or even synchronizing a bluetooth mobile device
pre-configured to transfer AS ID while visiting a shop. The form is then
used by the service provider to add itself to the user's portfolio. Knowledge
of the user's username is treated in this case as an assurance that the
user has given his permission to such addition, but the AS can further
request the user to confirm each company registration and only then
permit to add the sender to the user's portfolio of authorized senders Of
course, the user may at any time, remove any service provider or sender
from his portfoho.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the AS creates for
the user a global advertising number (the "AS ID") that the user can use
in a variety of systems, in any way that he chooses, and which he can
transmit to any provider. The user can add this number to his business
card and turn it into a new means of communicating with him. In this
way, any organization wishing to send announcements of new products or
services to the user, can do so by sending them either to his e-mail
account, or to his Instant messaging number, or using the AS number. A
form of an AS ID can be for example "eyals&yahoo.com", using the "&"
instead of "@" in e-mail addresses. In such circumstances, a user that has
already an e-mail account or any kind of user account which is password
protected with a portal, can be automatically generated with a default AS
ID name which will make him easier to remember. The AS then can start
receiving immediately messages for that specific user, and establish a hst
of companies that have that specific user e-mail address, and wants to
send him messages to his AS account. As soon as the user activates his
account for the first time, he will see a hst of companies that want to send
him messages via the AS. The user can change his AS ID to be very
different from his e-mail address, so that companies that know his AD ID
will not be able to send him unsolicited e-mail messages, but still the AS
can put for user confirmation any request to send messages from
companies knowing his e-mail address, and that try to use the AS ID with
change of the separator ( & replacing @, in this example).
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention an ISP ( Internet
Service Provider) can transfer to the AS the messages that are sent to his
e-mail account users in a format to be presented by the AS. The ISP will
then share with the AS revenues that are generated from messages
presentation.
The personal hst is called, in the examples of this specification,
"iWant2C" (I want to see) hst (hereinafter also referred to as "the list", or
"the user's hst").
Returning now to Fig. 2A, the surfer is provided with a hst of possible
services. In the example shown, the user stands on "Air Line", and can
select from a list of available airhnes (not shown). Of course, if the user
stands on another type of provider, e.g., "Bank", or "Coffee Shop", the list
of relevant companies will be shown to him. In this case the user has
selected BB Airlines, and since, in this example, the details of this airline
are available in the AS since the company was already register to the AS,
they are automatically added to Company Name window and to the URL
window, and an image related to it is displayed. The user can then add it
to its list by pressing the "Add to iWant2C List" button. Alternatively, the
user may deselect this Provider by hitting the "Clear" button. The user
may also check his list by hitting the "Go to My iWant2C List" button,
and may obtain help on various problems through the "Help" button.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the user can put
into his hst of authorized senders any company identification (i.e.,
COMPANY ID) or other AS ID from which he wishes to receive messages.
In this way, if the AS is requesting user confirmation of each new sender
who wants to transfer messages to that specific user, the AS will then
automatically transfer the name authorized by the user into the senders
hst without need for another confirmation. In this way, users can receive
requests by e-mail from their friends or companies to authorize them, do
so, following which the friends can immediately send him messages.
The user's portfoho is shown in Fig. 3 for a specific user, according to a
particular preferred embodiment of the invention. The portfolio (displayed
on a page 300 of the user's web browser) shows the Provider's identity
(indicated in Fig. 3 as "Sender"), the number of banners or any other type
of message, e.g., advertisement movies, existing for each specific Provider
and, hi this particular embodiment of the invention, a priority. The
priority can be set by the user. It is a measure of the preference of the
user toward a specific Provider or any sender, and it determines that the
user is interested to see this provider regardless of the amount of money
that the provider offered for this message. The AS can determine how
many priority options he wants to give to the user, if any. Without any
priority being given by the AS, or any priority being marked by the user,
the banners will be scheduled according to the prices offered by the
providers or other mechanism the AS chooses . By pressing button 301
("Add More") the user is transferred to the page of Fig. 2A, where he can
add more Providers. Of course, the form of the user's portfolio is not
limited to that exemplified herein, or to any other particular form, and
many different forms of portfolio can be designed by the AS, to be more
friendly or otherwise more desirable to the user.
The AS can also give the user the option to see the history of his
messages, and it can give the user the option of naming different devices
to which the user wishes to forward his messages. For example, if the user
is surfing from a computer at home, a computer at work, a cable television
at home, a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone), the user can assign a
different name to each device. The user can remotely control from his
account the messages sent to different devices, and when changing a
device (e.g., leaving work) he may prevent the device from receiving
messages for a predetermined period of time, although it might still have
the AS identity (cookie, plug-in ,etc).
As stated, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention the
consumer can delete any provider from the providers hst at will. This
procedure can be effected in any suitable way, and different ASs may
choose to use different unsubscribe or removal schemes. For instance,
removal from the user's portfolio may block the forwarding of messages to
the user, or may delete the association of the user with a give service
provider altogether. The AS can alert the provider that the user has
deleted his name from his portfolio, and the provider can use this
information as a sign that the user is dissatisfied with the service.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the user can state
to each provider whether he allows the provider to deliver third parties
messages to him. The providers may want to send to the user messages
and offers of third parties that are their suppliers or partners, and the AS
can let the user decide whether he allows the provider to do so. The
provider will, of course, offer the user benefits to cause him to agree to the
receipt of such third parties messages. Of course, the user may also block
such options.
According to the invention, the user participates in the advertising
process by himself and, in fact, is in command of the process, since he will
not see via the AS system messages originating from any advertisers that
he has not chosen to see. This participation of the user is rewarded with
benefits by the advertisers who provide different benefits to the user and
even may pay for sending the messages, but it also helps the portal to sell
the advertising space at higher prices, because a user that has not
requested that personal messages be delivered to him using this
communication channel via the AS, will be presented by the portal with
other, non-specific advertisements, sold at lower prices. The AS system
may be operated by a portal hke Yahoo, AOL, Lycos, or by an advertising
network on behalf of the portals. According to the particular embodiment
shown in Fig. 3, the benefits the user obtain adds-up in the "Your
Balance" window 302, whence they can be credited in to account in any of
the providers, or can be transferred to any other location selected by the
user, by pushing the "Transfer" button 303. Benefits may be credits of any
kind, such as "points" in any commercial scheme, or any other kind of
award such as free access to content provided by a portal, or movies (fully
or partly free) by a Video-on-Demand provider.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the provider can
pay a fixed amount for all the messages that he sends through the AS, but
he can add "content points" for each user according with his value to the
company. This content points can be bought from the AS and shown to
the user, and this is a convenient way to enhance his relationship with,
and loyalty to the company.
One of the possible processes involving payment of money, according to
one preferred embodiment of the invention, is schematically illustrated in
the flow-sheet of Fig. 4. A Provider that wishes to advertise submits to the
AS the banner(s) as well as a payment for them (Step 401). An illustrative
hst of banners is shown in Fig. 5, which lists for each Provider (Company)
a Banner No., which is an identification number for a given banner, the
price to be paid by the Provider for each display of the banner to a surfer,
and start and end dates , i.e., the date after which the banner will start
being sent to the users, and the date after which the banner will be
discarded from the AS database, and the number of desired distributions
for each banner. The AS delivers the banner to a plurality of its users,
either actively or passively (e.g., in the case of a portal, it pulls the banner
from the AS server), according to the priorities determined for a specific
user, as explained above (Step 402), and based on any other relevant
criterion for a given system. Thus, a user who is not interested in viewing
a banner of a given supplier will not see it through the AS system ,
though he might be exposed to banners of this specific provider that will
be delivered in other, conventional advertising approaches used by the
portal . When the surfer sees a given banner the surfer, the portal and
the AS are credited the relevant amount according to a predefined
criteria, as shown in Fig. 5, and the credited sums add up as shown at 302
in Fig. 3. The AS further subtracts from the payment made by the
Provider (or from the budget defined by it) any sum payable to it (Step
404). Thus the AS acts also as a bookkeeper for the Provider. After each
payment the AS checks whether all the budget of the provider for the
given banner has been spent (Step 405). In the negative case, the AS
.continues to show the banner to appropriate users. If the entire budget
has been spent, the AS terminates the use of the specific banner. The
service provider may also limit his message sending process on a "budget
per person" basis, e.g., may limit the benefits he provides to a single user.
Of course, the AS is capable depending on the portal reporting tools, of
providing the provider with a precise report on the number and the
identity of the users who have seen its banner, and the number of times it
has been shown to them. Thus, for example, the Provider knows exactly to
which use the benefits he provided has been put.
The mechanism according to which the various banners are shown to the
user will now be explained, using the following example. A registered user
of a certain AS reached a certain media broadcaster that is connected to
that AS network (i.e. portal or a content provider). If the portal chooses to
check the availabihty of personal messages to this user, it creates a
connection to the AS server. The AS server, according to a preferred
embodiment of the invention, is familiar with the message senders from
which the user requested to see messages.
The AS comprises a hst of predefined parameters, according to a set of
rules agreed between it and the portal. This hst of parameters can contain
the total number of personal messages for that specific user, the total
value of such messages, the number of user-to-user messages, the
messages that bear no price (messages could bear no price if the AS
allowed it, for example, if they are promotional messages, or user-to-user
messages etc.) and the priority defined by the user for a specific provider.
The portal or an AD Network serving banners to this portal can decide to
accept the hst of banners, to reject it totally and to show banners from
other sources, or to renegotiate on the fly some of the parameters offered
by the AS, for example refusing to show the free messages, and taking
only paid messages.
The AS assumes the negotiation with the portal succeeded, and needs now
to serve the portal with messages. At this time, the AS can check queuing
messages, for instance as shown in Fig. 5, and start delivering it one by
one, or all the queuing messages together. As will be apparent from the
above description, the exact procedure depends from the outcome of the
negotiation of the AS with the portal, and the protocol upon which they
agreed. Assuming that the AS transferred all the banners to the portal
AD server, the AS will wait for a notice containing information relative to
which of the banners have been served to the consumer. The portal sends
the information concerning the served banners to the AS, and the AS can
then execute a full billing procedure.
The system of the invention can also be used to provide communication
between two or more users over the Internet. This can be done through
the AS server used for advertisement purposes described above, or
independently. The personal messages between users can be partly
sponsored and divided between the message sponsor and the message
sender, and it doesn't have to include a link hke banners usually have, or
it can have a link to the sponsor web site. Personal messages can have a
small print on it "sent by AS 123456 member", and with each forwarding
of a message between subscribers, the AS can change the sender's name,
so that the new sender identity will be embedded in the message. As will
be apparent to the skilled person, a system that enables users to put
personal banners in a space that was used for advertising purposes only,
creates a more close relation of users to a web site, and enhances
attention of the users to the advertising space. Additionally, as explained,
this creates a new means of communication between two surfers that is
application or site independent. The skilled person will thus easily
appreciate these unique advantages of the invention.
In order to permit communication between surfers, a user's and a sender's
interface must be prepared, similar to that explained with reference to
Figs. 2C, 3 and 7. Each sender interface is built to deliver messages to
any registered surfer via the AS. The surfer that receives a message can
refuse to accept messages from this specific sender, temporary or
permanently.
The user can send messages using a web browser, or other desktop
apphcation or browser extensions... The user application that sends the
messages can be connected to an interface on the AS, that enables an
inexperienced surfer to edit and create high quahty messages. Examples
for these applications are, e.g., a banner editor, a video editing software, a
3D animation editor, a set of ready made banners.
In the right frame of Fig. 7 there is shown an example of a message
sender hst. The sender can edit this list by typing in his user ID in the AS
system, or by registering users in his home page on the Internet. The user
receiving the message list can refuse to be included in the list of any
sender.
Fig. 6 shows three examples of messages. In Fig. 6A a "Happy Birthday
Card" is shown, which also includes a link, 601, to a present (which is
reached through a given URL). Fig. 6B is a simple communication
notifying the recipient that tickets have been bought, and Fig. 6C contains
a query, 602, that can be answered by clicking on the link.
A more flexible e-mail messaging option is shown in Fig. -6D. The message
(banner) sent to the user is a link to an e-mail message that can be
accessed by keying-in the appropriate username and password. The
e-mail message may have been generated on the AS system, or may be a
message originating from any other source, such as an e-mail message
from a regular e-mail Internet address, or a voice or text message from a
cellular phone. These can be stored under the user's details in the AS
system, and accessed through the banner of Fig. 6D.
Messages of the type shown above can be sent only by and to registered
users in the AS system. A user will decide who are the persons (or
entities) from which he is willing to receive messages, and will include
them in his portfoho. This is illustrated in Fig. 7. In the left-hand side of
Fig. 7 it is shown a page from Nir Aharon's Home page, in which friends
can register him to their portfolio. The resulting list is shown in the right
window of Fig. 7. Nir Aharon may now send messages over the AS system
to every friend who has registered in his portfolio, and any friend or
member the AS user ID details of whom are known to him.
In many instances, more than one person surf from the same computer at
home or at work. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention
the user is able to notify the AS the current identity of the person who is
surfing from a computer at a given time. The notification can be effected
in any suitable way, e.g., by an external client, and embedded source or
subroutines, by ActiveX controls, or by any other suitable browser plug-in
or components, or by instructions send from a set-top box to an AS sever
of a cable operator. The AS will then change the messages appearance
according to the portfolio of the person surfing the computer or watching
television. This situation is illustrated in Fig. 8 and in part of Fig. 2C. In
Fig. 8 an example is shown of a surfer who switches the active user from
the message itself by HTML, script, or any other technology. In Fig. 2C an
example is shown of a surfer who switches the active user by a desktop
application 201, which, for example, could be a plug-in. According to a
preferred embodiment of the invention the user is able to save the
message he received for future retrieval, and is also able to forward the
message to other users on his portfolio. This is done by the same
technology described above. The "Send To" and "Save AD" boxes,
indicated at 90 in Fig. 9, can easily be made to appear, e.g., by chcking on
the corner of the banner, or using a plug-in such as that illustrated in Fig.
2C. The banner can further be transmitted together with a note directed
to one or more additional users, as shown at 91 in the figure. As will be
appreciated by the skilled person, this permits to propagate the banner
and to keep it viable on the net for a much longer period of time.
The invention is by no means hmited to the use through any particular
Internet connection system or terminal. According to a preferred
embodiment of the invention the user is recognized by the AS system
using a cookie saved on his terminal. However, a user may also access the
system from another terminal, such as a public terminal. In this case, the
user logs-in into his portfoho, and requests that the browser from which
he is temporarily surfing be marked for a hmited period of time (e.g., 2
hours). Thus, a "temporary cookie" (i.e., a cookie with a expiration date) is
stored on the terminal, which is no longer vahd after the given time, In
this way, any non-authorized user accessing the terminal at a later time
will not see the user's messages. Of course, the user may also void the
cookie by actively logging-out of the system. According to this preferred
embodiment of the invention, personal messages can follow a subscriber
wherever he is located in the world. The skilled person will easily
recognize the importance of this option to traveling surfers.
The person to person communication system must not necessarily be
connected to an advertising messaging system, and it may exist as a
stand alone system. For instance, a publisher (Portal) may provide such a
system free of charge, in order to make users to pay attention to the
advertising space. In this case the message senders will not necessarily be
charged with money, or will be charged only after sending a certain
amount of banners. A number of publishers can join and use this AS
system, as described above, in order to provide a benefit to the users of
this group of portals.
As will be appreciated by the skilled person this system provides
capabilities never before obtainable in the Internet, and greatly enhances
the usefulness of the World Wide Web as a convenient means of
communication between individuals.
The invention permits to obtain other important advantages, and to
provide useful systems. One example of such a system is the RMCS. This
server functionality allows a corporation to carry out a rich media
message sending using various advertising spaces in digital devices, via
the AS. The RMCS functionalities described below can be:
1) divided into different components spread all over the company's
systems, and
2) it can be concentrated in stand-alone computer software and hardware
at the company location, connected to its operational databases and
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, or
3) it can be given as an Application Service Provider (ASP) service (which
are third parties entities that manage and distribute services to
registered surfers). These functionalities can be accessed via any
terminal connected to the Internet or other suitable WAN.
When operating in this system, the company collects from the user his AS
ID, and updates his user account in its internal systems, with that
number. This number is equivalent to the customer E-mail address,
cellular phone number etc. This information can be sent to the RMCS that
checks with the AS if such user exists, or it can be sent to other
apphcations that support the company web site. (Such apphcations from
companies hke BroadVision Inc., Vingette, etc.)
Upon its decision to initiate a message sending process, and to send
messages to customers, the company will sort the consumer participating
in that sending process, defining queries by any behavioral action or
purchase activity stored with respect to the consumers in the company
database.
Personahzed messages with individual parameters presented in
advertising space is obtained as follows:
At the company side, the company has to generate one or more data files,
such as an extensible Markup Language (XML) data file, coupled with a
template or set of templates marked with the exact places the data should
be integrated for every specified user.
The RMCS keeps the content of the template files together with the data
file, the content of these files comprises the connection between each
customer and the relevant template. These files are then sent to the AS to
be rendered at the proper time when the need for presenting a message
based on that information to a specific customer.
The relaying of the messages is rendering all the messages after the data
was constructed in the RMCS, hence creating a number of messages
equivalent to the sum of the different templates times the number of
customer per each template. For example, three different templates for
one hundred customer, where fifty of them are destined to view all the
templates, twenty five more will view only two templates, and the
remaining twenty five will view only one template. In total there will be:
3*50 + 25*2 + 25*1 = 225 different personahzed messages. These ready
messages will then be sent to the AS to be displayed at the proper time to
a specific customer.
Whenever a Portal, such as POi informs the AS that it is looking for a
message for a specific AS user, the message is either generated on the fly
according to the information received from the data file and the template
or pulled from the ready made pool, and is provided to the AD Server, or
to the user directly if the AD Server makes a redirection of the user
request for advertisement.
In order to create the company's messages sending process data, and to
transfer it into a database of the AS, as a first step the person defining
the messages sending process, builds the query, based on the company's
database, and user behavior analysis (i.e. creating population segments),
and inserts the result of this query (i.e. the customers population) through
the RMCS API into the set of tables on the company's local server, whence
it is sent to the AS.
An alternative method to send messages definitions is to initialize and
manage the messages sending process through the RMCS, installed
within a web site of the AS (i.e., ASP model).
Since both methods of sending messages require the particular predefined
format for template based message sending (e.g., the XML file format),
the company, that sends its message content data through the AS site
should be able to create all the necessary data in the required format.
This requires receiving all the relevant messages sending process data
from the company's database and/or from an additional database, such as
an advertising agency, and thereafter transferring this information to the
AS, by a secure protocol. In general, security precautions are always
taken when operating according to the invention, but these are
conventional measures that are known in the art and, therefore, are not
discussed herein in detail.
The RMCS may requests several types of data, such as the following:
- Messages sending process Identifier and Description, filled by the
company for process consistency.
- AS IDs - the messages sending process's targeted population. Each
messages sending process determines to which population (AS ID
values) it is assigned. The RCMS apparatus supports the creation of
the segments, based on predetermined groups (fields of interests,
customer's "worth", income, age, sex, etc.).
- Campaign Message Template - is a messages sending process
message, designed by the AD Agency to be assigned to the targeted
population. This can be a list of different Templates.
- A Personalization flag that states whether the messages sending
process message needs to be personalized. (If it equals "FALSE", it is a
general message that does not need to be personalized).
- The Media Type and Technology. There are several media types for the
advertising implementation that the AS system supports: cellular
phone, PC and iTV (i.e., set-top-box). This information is essential for
the message's generator (which will be discussed later).
- The Messages sending process Start Date — is a date when the
messages sending process should begin.
- The Messages sending process Expiration Date — is the last date
through which the messages sending process runs.
- The Maximal Exposure Numbers — are the maximum number of the
exposures that may be billed. If it comes prior to the expiration date
for all the targeted population, the messages sending process stops.
- The Messages sending process Rates, which can differ according to the
viewing method, period of time, various rates, different users (or
defined segments) and different portals.
- The Minimal Time Difference - i.e. the time between the showing of
different ads, transmitted to the user by a portal.
- The Service Area based Advertisement Pattern - i.e. the particular
model for showing the advertisements, according to the targeted user's
geographical location.
- The Time based Advertisements Pattern — i.e. the time period for the
transmission of targeted advertisements.
- Advertisement Type - it consohdates all kinds of exposures ("click
through", "view", "download", "survey banners" etc.) and allows rating
them according to the pattern. If it is a "survey" type banner, it also
contains Survey Code and Survey Value (which will be discussed
later).
According to an embodiment of the invention, the RMCS may decodes the
pre-received layout definition in order to automate the dynamic insertion
of the related information, for example, the username, the user's age, etc.,
into the pre-prepared template, in a supported format, such as Graphic
Interchange Format (GIF), Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), Flash
(of Macromedia Inc.), Short Message Service (SMS) etc. For example, the
template layout for the image format can be defined as the following:
The layout structure of the template contains the essential information of
the attributes describing where the relevant data will "be pasted" into the
final advertisement:
- Positions of the text, relative to the whole layout (x,y,z positions) or
maximum length.
- Content of the text (for example, username, age, etc.) that should be
provided within population file information.
- Font of the text.
The message's generator, in the RMCS, determines what will be inserted,
where it will be inserted etc. It refers to the different media types and the
technological solutions for each of the mentioned types. For instance,
there are several generators for the different types of the cellular phone,
according to the application kind, such as WAP, I-mode and other
technologies. In practice, the message generator consolidates the above
messages sending process characteristics with the Publisher demands to
further real time messages sending process implementation. It might also
contain only an XML file with the data coupled with a template file hke in
the instance of Flash based messages where no engine for creation is
necessary.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the RMCS
may also operate as a customer satisfaction and opinion measurement
tools. In this embodiment, a customer may reply (to what he has been
asked for from the RMCS) from his interface (e.g., a PC, a TV remote
control etc.), and still remains in the same web pages or television
program. The RMCS receives the answers and transform answers into a
report (e.g. graph) for managerial purposes, and updates the user account
with his answers. The company is able to execute another messages
sending process that relies on answers the customer previously answered.
For example: customer 'A' may be asked, " What do you think of This
Cellular Phone?", and his answer will be added to his customer account at
the company database.
If a company has its own CRM system, its messages sending process
manager may tise the data from the CRM system to create a template
based message process and launch it via the AS through the RMCS
installed on its local server. All the relevant resulting logs from the
messages sending process will be relayed back to the CRM system for
further analysis. These logs can contain messages sending process data,
e.g. surveys to which the user responds, by chcking a choice in a multiple
answer selection type of question, number of exposures, time of exposure
etc.
Parameters will be sent from the AS though the RMCS back into the
provider's CRM system, for instance:
- Messages sending process Identifier and Description — the company's
primary description of the messages sending process.
- Template(s) Identifier - the company's template(s) identifier (s).
- AS ID - the targeted user identifier.
- Advertisement Type — an exposure type (in this case, "survey banner" -
a form of a banner with a multiple answer choice from where the
surfer will choose one answer, and that choice will be kept as part of
the messages sending process data).
- Response Code — the choice identifier.
- Response Value — the value; chosen by the surfer (targeted user).
According to another further embodiment of the present invention, the
system may have an additional component that will operate as a customer
defection sensitivity engine. This component can be implemented on the
AS and on the RMCS, and it may fulfill a combined solution to alert a
company that a customer is dissatisfied and is not willing to receive
messages from it any more. The user will mark the company on his
portfoho with "Block Sender" or "Delete Company", and the AS will send
to the RMCS an alert indicating the customer AS ID. The RCMS will
match the AS ID to the company ID and will freeze or delete the customer
AS ID.
Following such action, the RMCS will search for other automatic
procedures defined for that customer segment. For example, "IF The
'Customer ID' 'annual purchases' are higher than 1500USD, then alert
customer service clerk D (e.g., by e-mail)".
According. to another embodiment of the present. invention, a third-party
joint ventures may also use the RMCS for sending messages. This
optional capability of the RMCS is used in order to enable partners and
supphers of the company to execute messages sending processes via the
AS to customers, following any interaction with the company.
The RMCS will allow queries to hmited data on the company database,
following a messages sending process via the AS. For example: A Hotel
chain "Best Resorts" cooperating with an international Airline will
present the following query to the RMCS "All passengers traveling to
Germany" and "from 1/8/2001 to 15/9/2001" and "first Class" And have
"AS ID". The result will be for example "1198 customers". The RMCS will
store a file with the AS ID numbers in a separate file "Best Resorts Hotels
offer for 8-9/2001 Travelers to Germany". The RMCS will send this file
with the proper advertisement given by Best Resorts to the AS. A third
party can cover the messages sending process payment, and the RMCS
file sent to the AS will reflect it in the appropriate place. Surfers will be
offered the chance to pre-block this option when adding a company.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention an
advertiser who does not have access to a customer's database will request
from another entity, which does have access to the data base, to perform a
"manual" selection of data for a given messages sending process. The
advertiser can make its request by e-mail and the messages will be
forwarded on the basis of the request.
While embodiments of the invention have been described by way of
illustration, it will be understood that the invention can be carried out by
persons skilled in the art with many modifications, variations and
adaptations, without departing from its spirit or exceeding the scope of
the claims.