Methods and systems for broadcasting offers over electronic networks
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating an electronic transaction between a sending party and a group of users over a plurality of communication media, the sending party and each of the users having message forwarding preferences, a first associated computing device, and a second associated computing device, the method comprising:
- receiving a first electronic message from the sending party, the first electronic message comprising an offer directed to the users;
accessing the message forwarding preferences for at least one of the users;
detecting an online status of the first computing device of the at least one of the users;
comparing the detected online status with the message forwarding preferences of the at least one of the users to obtain a first comparison result;
broadcasting the first electronic message to the at least one of the users through communication media determined by the first comparison result, the first electronic message being received by at least one the computing devices of the at least one of the users regardless of whether the first associated computing device of the at least one of the users is online; and
performing the accessing, detecting, comparing, and broadcasting steps for each of the users.
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Abstract
An electronic message broadcasting system is provided for facilitating an online transaction between a sending party and a group of users. The system provides functionality for receiving an electronic message comprising an offer to buy or sell from the sending party and broadcasting the message to the users. The system can selectively broadcast the message to a first and/or second computing device associated with each user, depending on message forwarding preferences of each user and an online status of the first computing device associated with each user. The system can further provide functionality for selectively converting the message from an email format to a text message format in order to broadcast the message to mobile computing devices capable of receiving messages in text message format.
60 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating an electronic transaction between a sending party and a group of users over a plurality of communication media, the sending party and each of the users having message forwarding preferences, a first associated computing device, and a second associated computing device, the method comprising:
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receiving a first electronic message from the sending party, the first electronic message comprising an offer directed to the users;
accessing the message forwarding preferences for at least one of the users;
detecting an online status of the first computing device of the at least one of the users;
comparing the detected online status with the message forwarding preferences of the at least one of the users to obtain a first comparison result;
broadcasting the first electronic message to the at least one of the users through communication media determined by the first comparison result, the first electronic message being received by at least one the computing devices of the at least one of the users regardless of whether the first associated computing device of the at least one of the users is online; and
performing the accessing, detecting, comparing, and broadcasting steps for each of the users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for initiating an electronic transaction between a sending party and a group of users over a plurality of communication media, the sending party having a first associated computing device and a second associated computing device, the method comprising:
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setting message forwarding preferences of the sending party in a database;
sending a first electronic message over a first electronic network, the first electronic message comprising an offer directed to the users, the first network employing a first communication media; and
receiving a second electronic message from at least one of the users, the second electronic message comprising a reply to the first electronic message, the second electronic message being received by the second computing device over a second electronic network if a detected online status of the first computing device indicates that the first computing device is offline, the second network employing a second communication media. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for facilitating an electronic transaction between a sending party and a group of users over a plurality of communication media, the sending party and each of the users having message forwarding preferences, a first associated computing device, and a second associated computing device, the system comprising:
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a system server;
a database for storing the message forwarding preferences; and
application software running on the system server operable to perform the steps of;
receiving a first electronic message from the sending party, the first electronic message comprising an offer directed to the users, accessing the message forwarding preferences for at least one of the users from the database, detecting an online status of the first computing device of the at least one of the users, comparing the detected online status with the message forwarding preferences of the at least one of the users to obtain a first comparison result, broadcasting the first electronic message to the at least one of the users through communication media determined by the first comparison result, the first electronic message being received by at least one the computing devices of the at least one of the users regardless of whether the first associated computing device of the at least one of the users is online, and performing the accessing, detecting, comparing, and broadcasting steps for each of the users. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification