Offer Delivery System

• US 20070150334A1
• Filed: 10/16/2006
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unica Corporation (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Unica Corporation (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Erman, Gregory, Furbish, Kevin, Mandel, John, Michon, Sidra, Miloushev, Zack, Evett, Charles, Bauer, Michael, Bergh, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,740 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

An offer delivery system provides a mechanism for coordinating presentation of offers to customers that may originate from multiple different sources and that may be delivered to the customers over different channels. The systems makes use of rules to prioritize, select, and time the delivery of offers to any particular customer, allocate limited resources in the channels to deliver offers to a set of customers, and provide mechanisms for users or their agents to limit the delivery of offers, for example, by their frequency or type.

Claims

1. A computer-controlled method for managing and distributing sets of offer data comprising:

preparing sets of offer data characterizing a plurality of offers, each set of offer data being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting sets of offer data;

selecting from the sets of offer data a number of sets of offer data for presenting to the individuals associated with those sets of offer data, including for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple sets of offer data associated with each of those individuals, the selection being based on a rule-based engine executing offer data processing rules to determine which sets of offer data can be sent to each of those individuals, the data processing rules including an internal set of pre-defined rules governing operation of the rule-based engine, the offer data processing rules being selected from the group consisting of prioritization rules, selection rules, and time based rules; and

presenting the selected sets of offer data to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting from the sets of offer data includes prioritizing offers for particular individuals, and selecting sets of offer data according to their priorities.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting from the sets of offer data includes allocating capacity of the plurality of channels to the selected sets of offer data, thereby not exceeding a capacity associated with each of the channels.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the selected sets of offer data includes accepting information from individuals and limiting presentation of the sets of offer data to said individuals according to said accepted information.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the accepted information characterizes acceptable timing of presentation of sets of offer data to the individuals, and limiting presentation of offers includes scheduling presentation of sets of offer data to the individuals according to the acceptable timing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the sets of offer data characterizing the offers includes preparing data characterizing conditions under which said offers are to be presented.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the sets of offer data characterizing the offers includes preparing data characterizing the target groups associated with said offers.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the sets of offer data characterizing the offers includes preparing data characterizing information to be presented with the offers.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking activities of the individuals to whom the sets of offer data were presented; and

reporting statistics related an effectiveness of the sets of offer data.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking activities of the individuals to whom the sets of offer data were presented; and

presenting a sequence of related sets of offer data to those individuals based on their tracked activities.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the sets of offer data characterizing the offers includes, for at least some of the offers, a first user preparing data characterizing a class of offers, passing the data characterizing the class of offers to a second user, and the second user preparing additional data characterizing the offer.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the prepared sets of offer data in a shared storage, and wherein selecting from the sets of offer data is performed in a distributed manner in which separate computers access the shared storage.

13. A computer-controlled method for managing and distributing sets of offer data comprising:

preparing sets of offer data characterizing a plurality of offers, each set of offer data being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting sets of offer data;

selecting from the sets of offer data a number of sets of offer data for presenting to the individuals associated with those sets of offer data, including

prioritizing sets of offer data for particular individuals, and selecting sets of offer data according to their priorities,

allocating capacity of the plurality of channels to the selected sets of offer data, thereby not exceeding a capacity associated with each of the channels,

accepting information from individuals and limiting presentation of the sets of offer data to said individuals according to said accepted information, and

for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple sets of offer data associated with each of those individuals, the selection being based on a rule-based engine executing offer data processing rules to determine which sets of offer data can be sent to each of those individuals, the data processing rules including an internal set of pre-defined rules governing operation of the rule-based engine, the offer data processing rules being selected from the group consisting of prioritization rules, selection rules, and time-based rules; and

presenting the selected sets of offer data to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.

14. A computerized offer management system, the computerized system comprising:

an offer design component for preparing sets of offer data characterizing a plurality of offers, each set of offer data being associated with a corresponding target group of individuals; and

a delivery component for selecting and presenting the sets of offer data to the individuals in the corresponding target groups, including a broker for prioritizing sets of offer data to particular individuals, for allocating capacity on a plurality of channels for presenting the sets of offer data, and for limiting presentation of the sets of offer data to individuals in the corresponding targets groups.

15. An offer management system comprising:

means for preparing sets of offer data characterizing a plurality of offers, each set of offer data being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting sets of offer data;

means for selecting from the sets of offer data a number of sets of offer data for presenting to the individuals associated with those sets of offer data, including for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple sets of offer data associated with each of those individuals, the selection being based on a rule-based engine executing offer data processing rules to determine which sets of offer data can be sent to each of those individuals, the data processing rules including an internal set of pre-defined rules governing operation of the rule-based engine, the offer data processing rules being selected from the group consisting of prioritization rules, selection rules, and time-based rules; and

means presenting the selected sets of offer data to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.

16. Software stored on computer-readable media for causing a computer system to perform functions including:

preparing sets of offer data characterizing a plurality of offers, each set of offer data being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting sets of offer data;

selecting from the sets of offer data a number of sets of offer data for presenting to the individuals associated with those sets of offer data, including for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple sets of offer data associated with each of those individuals, the selection being based on a rule-based engine executing offer data processing rules to determine which sets of offer data can be sent to each of those individuals, the data processing rules including an internal set of pre-defined rules governing operation of the rule-based engine, the offer data processing rules being selected from the group consisting of prioritization rules, selection rules, and time-based rules; and

presenting the selected sets of offer data to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.