Enforcing user-specified rules

• US 10,007,712 B1
• Filed: 08/20/2009
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Williams, Matthew T., Gefen, Howard B., Vaidya, Vinay P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Huang, Tsan-Yu J
• Application Number:
  US12/544,891
• Time in Patent Office: 3,232 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26, 707602, 707802
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links

Abstract

Described herein are techniques for employing a phrase as a unique identifier of a user and a corresponding user account. For instance, a transaction processing service may maintain multiple user accounts each associated with respective users. In addition, the transaction processing service may associate one or more unique phrases with each of these respective users and user accounts. Users may then configure rules associated with their respective user accounts to enable use of associated phrases as identifiers for storing a variety of different content in association with the phrases. Users may also configure their accounts with communication rules that instruct the transaction processing service to send pieces of content that are received with the phrase to different specified destinations. Users may also configure their accounts with preferences used by vendors to complete transactions initiated with use of a phrase.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a plurality of transaction phrase tokens, individual ones of the plurality of transaction phrase tokens being associated with one or more user-specified storage rules identifying different storage locations in a memory of the computing device and one or more user-specified communication rules identifying different sets of one or more destination computer devices that are external to the computing device;

storing the plurality of transaction phrase tokens, the one or more user-specified storage rules, and the one or more user-specified communication rules in the memory of the computing device;

receiving, at the computing device from a user device over a network, a message having a syntax that includes a transaction phrase token, a customized content type indicator, and a content element;

interpreting the message to extract the transaction phrase token, the customized content type indicator, and the content element;

identifying, in the memory, the transaction phrase token within the plurality of transaction phrase tokens;

identifying, in the memory, a particular user-specified storage rule within the one or more user-specified storage rules that is associated with a combination of the transaction phrase token and the customized content type indicator;

storing the content element in the storage location identified by the particular user-specified storage rule;

identifying, in the memory, a particular user-specified communication rule within the one or more user-specified communication rules that is associated with the combination of the transaction phrase token and the customized content type indicator; and

causing the content element, or information associated with the content element, to be sent over the network to the one or more destination computer devices identified by the particular user-specified communication rule.

2. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the content element comprises an item offered for consumption and the particular user-specified storage rule identifies, as the storage location, a memory location for a shopping cart associated with the transaction phrase token.

3. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the content element comprises a string of text, a link, a web page, an image, or a video.

4. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the transaction phrase token is associated with a user, and wherein the storing of the content element in the storage location comprises storing the content element in association with the transaction phrase token in an account of the user in the memory.

5. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the particular user-specified communication rule directs the computing device to send the content element, or the information associated with the content element, to a specified email address, a mobile telephone number, a social networking site, a blogging service, or a micro-blogging service.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

after the storing of the content element, receiving a request from a user to access the content element stored in the storage location, the request being accompanied by the transaction phrase token and a password;

determining if the transaction phrase token is associated with the password; and

in response to determining that the transaction phrase token is associated with the password, granting the user access to the content element stored in the storage location.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the storage location is a folder created in association with an account.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the folder is created by a user of the account to store personal content related to tasks.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a plurality of phrases, individual ones of the plurality of phrases being associated with one or more user-specified communication rules identifying different sets of one or more destination computer devices that are external to the computing device;

storing the plurality of phrases and the one or more user-specified communication rules in a memory of the computing device;

receiving, at the computing device from a user device over a network, a message having a syntax that includes a phrase, a user created content category, and a piece of content or an identification of the piece of content;

interpreting the message to extract the phrase, the user created content category, and the piece of content or the identification of the piece of content;

identifying, in the memory, the phrase within the plurality of phrases;

determining that the piece of content or the identification of the piece of content is associated with one of a plurality of storage categories that are associated with a first combination of the phrase and the user created content category;

identifying, from the memory, a particular user-specified communication rule that is associated with a second combination of the phrase and a storage category of the plurality of storage categories associated with the piece of content or the identification of the piece of content; and

causing the piece of content, the identification of the piece of content, or information associated with the piece of content, to be sent over the network to the one or more destinations identified by the particular user-specified communication rule.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the phrase is associated with a specific user account maintained in memory by the computing device, and further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed perform an act comprising determining that the phrase is associated with the specific user account before the determining of the particular user-specified communication rule.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the computing device maintains multiple user accounts, each being associated with at least one unique phrase of the plurality of phrases.

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the piece of content or the identification of the piece of content comprises a string of text, a link, a web page, an image or a video.

11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the particular user-specified communication rule directs the computing device to send the piece of content, the identification of the piece of content, or the information associated with the piece of content, to a specified email address, a mobile telephone number, a social networking site, a blogging service, or a micro-blogging service.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the computing device receives the message over the network via one of multiple communication methods, and wherein the particular user-specified communication rule identifies the one or more destinations based at least in part on an identity of the particular communication method through which the message is received.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the particular communication method comprises an email, a short messaging service (SMS) text message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, or a voicemail.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the message further includes an identification of a destination to send the piece of content, the identification of the piece of content, or the information associated with the piece of content, and wherein the particular user-specified communication rule directs the computing device to send the piece of content, the identification of the piece of content, or the information associated with the piece of content, to the destination identified in the message.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein a same user is associated with the phrase and with at least one of the one or more destinations identified by the user-specified communication rule, and wherein the particular user-specified communication rule alters at least one of the one or more destinations based at least in part on a time of day that the computing device receives the message.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein a same user is associated with the phrase and with at least one of the one or more destinations identified by the particular user-specified communication rule, and wherein the particular user-specified communication rule alters at least one of the one or more specified destinations based at least in part on a communication method through which the computing device receives the message.

19. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a plurality of phrase tokens, individual ones of the plurality of phrase tokens being associated with one or more user-specified rules identifying different storage locations in memory of the computing device or different sets of one or more destination computing devices that are external to the computing device, at least one of the one or more destination computing devices being a particular global positioning system (GPS) device;

storing the plurality of transaction phrase tokens and the one or more user-specified rules in the memory of the computing device;

receiving, at the computing device from a user device over a network, a message having a syntax including a phrase token, a user-specified content type indicator, and a content element;

interpreting, by the computing device, the message to extract the phrase token, the user-specified content type indicator, and the content element, wherein the content element includes physical location data;

identifying, in the memory, the phrase token within the plurality of phrase tokens;

identifying, in the memory, the one or more user-created rules associated with the phrase token;

determining, by the computing device based at least in part on the user-specified content type indicator, a particular user-created rule within the one or more user-created rules, the particular user-created rule identifying the particular GPS device as a destination computer device; and

forwarding, by the computing device, the content element to the GPS device based on the particular user-created rule.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the particular user-created rule specifies a network address of the GPS device.

21. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the physical location data comprises a street address.

22. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the user-specified content type indicator comprises a personal identification number, and the computing device authenticates a user based on the personal identification number.