Conveying self-expiring offers

• US 20050228723A1
• Filed: 10/29/2004
• Published: 10/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Malik, Dale W.
• Application Number:
  US10/977,804
• Publication Number:
  US 20050228723A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for managing a network community. Briefly described in architecture, some embodiments comprise an offer, which is configured to expire at a predetermined time, that can be conveyed to a recipient that is identified by a member of a communication service.

Claims

1. A method for issuing offers, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an offer, the offer being configured to expire at a predetermined time;

prompting a member of a communication service to identify a recipient of the generated offer;

receiving a reply in response to prompting the member; and

conveying the offer to the identified recipient in response to receiving the reply.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of prompting the member comprises the step of prompting the member for information related to a guest user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of conveying the offer comprises the steps of:

generating a message using the information related to the guest user, the message comprising the offer; and

transmitting the message to the guest user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of prompting the member comprises the step of prompting the member for information related to a potential customer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the offer comprises the steps of:

generating a message comprising;

the offer; and

a time that the offer expires; and

transmitting the message to the identified recipient.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

correlating the offer to a member account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer includes an electronic key, the electronic key being configured to restrict the conveying of the offer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the electronic key is configured to restrict the conveying of the offer to a fixed number of recipients.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the electronic key is configured to restrict the conveying of the offer to a fixed number of recipients.

10. A computer-readable medium, comprising:

computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to receive an offer, the offer being configured to expire at a predetermined time;

computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to prompt a member of a communication service to identify a recipient of the generated offer;

computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to receive a reply in response to prompting the member; and

computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to convey the offer to the identified recipient in response to receiving the reply.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to generate a message using the information related to a guest user, the message comprising the offer, the message further comprising a time that the offer expires; and

computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to transmit the message to the guest user.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

means for generating a message;

means for indicating a time that the offer expires; and

means for transmitting the message to the identified recipient.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to instruct a programmable device to correlate the invitation to a resident user account.

14. A user interface, comprising:

information related to an offer, the offer comprising at least one of;

an offer for a product; and

an offer for a service;

an expiration time; and

an input area for information related to a recipient.

15. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the offer for the product comprises at least one of:

an offer for a file transfer program;

an offer for an email program;

an offer for a media player; and

an offer for a communication client.

16. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the offer for a product comprises at least one of:

an offer for instant messaging software; and

an offer for a product related to instant messaging.

17. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the offer for the service comprises at least one of:

an offer for a message board service;

an offer for an email service;

an offer for a digital versatile disk (DVD) rental service;

an offer for an instant messaging service; and

an offer for a service related to instant messaging.