System and method for providing short message targeted advertisements over a wireless communications network

• US 20020164977A1
• Filed: 04/02/2001
• Published: 11/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Knapp Investment Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meadows, Vernon, Link, Charles M. II, Cardina, Donald M.
• Granted Patent: US 6,993,326 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method and system for providing targeted advertisement information to consumers over a wireless communications network. In one embodiment, local advertisers register to advertise on certain wireless communications devices that are in close proximity to the advertiser. As a consumer enters a cell site that is near the location of the advertiser, the wireless network delivers a message to the wireless device that is specified by the local advertiser. An acknowledgement signal is then received by the network, and the local advertiser'"'"'s account is charged for transmission of the advertisement. In a further embodiment, each of the messages stored in the database is also associated with one or more demographic codes, and users of wireless communications device select from one more demographic codes to describer their advertisement preferences. Messages to be transmitted to particular wireless communications devices are selected based upon both the location information and the demographics codes that are associated with the messages.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a message over a wireless network to a wireless communications device, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing a plurality of messages in a database, wherein each stored message is associated with one or more locations;

(b) detecting location information of a wireless communications device;

(c) selecting a message in the database associated with the detected location; and

(d) transmitting the selected message to the wireless communications device.

2. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of messages stored in the database contain advertising information.

3. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of messages stored in the database contains advertising information sponsored by a respective advertiser having a place of business within a proximity of the location associated with the message.

4. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 3, wherein each wireless communications device is associated in the database with a field indicating whether to block the transmission of messages to the wireless communications device, whereby messages that are associated in the database with a field indicating to block the transmission of messages are not transmitted to the wireless communications devices.

5. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

(e) storing messages to be transmitted to wireless communications devices in a pending database;

(f) transmitting a message stored in the pending database over a forward control channel to a wireless communications device;

(g) receiving an acknowledgement from the wireless communications device of receipt of the transmitted message over a reverse control channel;

(h) deleting the transmitted message from the pending database; and

(i) storing a confirmation of the transmitted message in an account associated with the respective advertiser sponsoring the message.

6. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 1, wherein the message is comprised of text, video, graphics, or audio information.

7. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communications device is a cellular telephone, interactive pager, networked personal digital assistant, or automotive navigational system.

8. The method of transmitting a message according to claim 1, wherein each of the messages stored in the database is also associated with one or more demographic codes, each wireless communications device operating in the wireless network is associated with one more demographic codes, and wherein the message selected to be transmitted is associated with at least one demographic code associated with the identified wireless communications device in addition to being associated with the detected location.

9. A method for transmitting an advertisement over a wireless network to a wireless communications device, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing a plurality of advertisements in an advertisements database, wherein each advertisement is requested to be transmitted to wireless communications devices by a respective advertiser, and each advertisement is associated with one or more locations and one or more category codes;

(b) storing information pertaining to a plurality of wireless communications devices in a devices database, wherein each wireless communications device is associated with identification data and one or more category codes;

(c) storing in an advertisers database a list of advertisers requesting transmission of advertisements stored in the advertisements database, wherein each advertiser is associated with advertiser account information;

(d) detecting the presence of the wireless communications device in a location;

(e) detecting an identification of the wireless communications device;

(f) selecting an advertisement in the database associated with the detected location and associated with at least one category code associated with the wireless communications device in the devices database; and

(g) transmitting the selected advertisement to the wireless communications device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of updating the advertiser account information of the advertiser requesting transmission of the selected advertisement.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein advertisers access the advertisers database to add or edit requests to transmit advertisements through an Internet web page.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein users of wireless communications devices access the devices database to select from one or more category codes that correspond to the users'"'"' preferences for receiving advertisements.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisements database is automatically created from requests to transmit advertisements stored in the advertisers database.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisements contain coupons to be redeemed with the respective advertiser.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein advertisers access the advertisers database to add requests to transmit advertisements through an Internet web page.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein location information of a wireless communications device is detected from registration information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the location is detected from data comprising a cell site ID.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the category code indicates a category pertaining to a product or service associated with a respective advertisement.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more category codes associated with wireless communications devices indicates users'"'"' preferences in receiving advertisements.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the category code indicates a category pertaining to a time period, wherein different advertisers prefer to have advertisements transmitted during different particular time periods, and wherein different users prefer to have advertisements transmitted during different particular time periods.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the wireless network further in communication with an advertisers database containing account information of advertisers sponsoring advertisements in the advertisements database, the method further comprising the steps of.

(d) receiving a response from the wireless communications device;

and

(e) providing notification of the response to the advertiser sponsoring the transmitted advertisement.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the advertisement is a coupon, and the response is a notification to redeem the coupon.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the wireless communications device is operating on the wireless network in a cell location that is associated with the selected advertisement.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

(e) an acknowledgements processor for receiving acknowledgements from wireless communications devices,

wherein the transmitter re-transmits the selected advertisements to the respective wireless communications devices until either an acknowledgement is received in the acknowledgements processor or a time period has elapsed since the first transmission of the selected advertisement.

29. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

(e) a consumer response processor for receiving responses to transmitted advertisements from users of wireless communications devices,

wherein responses are provided to respective advertisers requesting transmission of the respective advertisements.

15. A method for transmitting an advertisement over a wireless network to a wireless communications device, the wireless network in communication with an advertisements database containing a plurality of advertisements to be transmitted and an advertisers database containing account information of advertisers sponsoring advertisements in the advertisements database, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a location of a wireless communications device;

(b) selecting an advertisement in the advertisements database associated with the detected location;

(c) transmitting the selected advertisement to the wireless communications device; and

(d) updating the account information of the advertiser requesting transmission of the selected advertisement in the advertisers database.

19. A method for transmitting advertisements over a wireless network to wireless communications devices, the wireless network in communication with an advertisements database containing a plurality of advertisements and a users database containing identification data of a plurality of wireless communications devices, and wherein the advertisements and the identification data are each associated with at least one category code, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting identification information of a wireless communications device operating in the wireless network;

(b) selecting an advertisement in the database associated with at least one category code that is associated with the wireless communications device in the users database; and

(c) transmitting the selected advertisement to the wireless communications device.

26. A method for transmitting advertisement coupons over a wireless network to wireless communications devices, the wireless network in communication with an advertisements database containing a plurality of advertisement coupons and a users database containing identification data of a plurality of wireless communications devices, wherein the advertisement coupons are associated with respective advertisers, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting identification information of a wireless communications device operating in the wireless network;

(b) transmitting an advertisement coupon in the advertisements database to the wireless communications device;

(c) receiving response information from the wireless communications device; and

(d) providing response information to the advertiser associated with the transmitted advertisement.

27. A system for transmitting messages over a wireless network to wireless communications devices, comprising:

(a) an advertisements queue for storing a plurality of advertisements requested to be transmitted to wireless communications devices by respective advertisers, wherein each advertisement is associated with one or more locations;

(b) an advertisers database for storing a list of advertisers requesting transmission of advertisements stored in the advertisements queue, wherein each advertiser is associated with advertiser account information;

(c) a processor for receiving location information of wireless communications devices selecting advertisements in the advertisements queue associated with the location of the respective wireless communications devices; and

(d) a transmitter for transmitting the selected advertisements to the respective wireless communications devices.

30. A system for transmitting messages over a wireless network to a wireless communications devices, comprising:

(a) an advertisements queue for storing a plurality of advertisements requested to be transmitted to wireless communications devices by respective advertisers, wherein each advertisement is associated with one or more category codes;

(b) a users database for storing user identification information of wireless communications devices operating on the wireless network, wherein the user identification information includes one or more category codes associated with preferences of the respective user;

(c) a processor for receiving user identification information of a wireless communications device and selecting an advertisement in the advertisements queue associated with at least one category code in the user identification information; and

(d) a transmitter for transmitting the selected advertisement to the respective wireless communications device.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising:

(e) a consumer response processor for receiving responses to transmitted advertisements from users of wireless communications devices,

wherein responses are provided to respective advertisers requesting transmission of their respective advertisements.

32. An Internet web site for enabling advertisers to generate requests for transmission of advertisement messages to wireless communications devices over a wireless network, comprising:

(a) an advertisements queue for storing a plurality of advertisements requested to be transmitted to wireless communications devices by respective advertisers;

(b) an advertisers database for storing a list of advertisers requesting transmission of advertisements stored in the advertisements queue, wherein each advertiser is associated with advertiser account information;

(c) a transmitter for transmitting advertisements in the advertisements queue to wireless communications devices; and

(d) a server for hosting the web site and enabling advertisers to access information in the advertisers database and to generate advertisements to be stored in the advertisements queue.

33. The website of claim 32, further comprising a consumer response processor for receiving responses to advertisements from users of wireless communications devices, wherein advertisers can access the response information on the server.

35. The Internet web site of claim 34, wherein the wireless communications device is a cellular telephone, interactive pager, networked personal digital assistant, or automotive navigational system.

34. An Internet web site for enabling users of wireless communications devices to register to receive advertisement messages transmitted over wireless communications devices, the web site comprising:

(a) a users database for storing user identification information of wireless communications devices operating on the wireless network, wherein the user identification information includes one or more category codes associated with preferences of the respective user;

(b) an advertisements queue for storing a plurality of advertisements requested to be transmitted to wireless communications devices by respective advertisers, wherein each advertisement is associated with one or more category codes;

(c) a processor for selecting an advertisement to transmit to a wireless communications device, wherein the advertisement to be selected is associated with at least one category code that is also associated with the wireless communications device.

(d) a transmitter for transmitting advertisements in the advertisements queue to the wireless communications device; and

(e) a server for hosting the web site and enabling users of wireless communications devices to access information in the users database and to store one or more category codes associated with the respective user'"'"'s preferences.