Interactive text messaging system for information distribution

• US 20070265006A1
• Filed: 05/08/2007
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chris Michael Littleton, James Edward Washok
• Original Assignee: Chris Michael Littleton, James Edward Washok
• Inventors: Littleton, Chris Michael, Washok, James Edward
• Application Number:
  US11/801,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20070265006A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method of interactive telecommunication text and multimedia messaging whereby an individual user may indicate interest in products or services and receive multimedia content that may facilitate acquiring those products or services. This invention is particularly suited to mobile telecommunication devices.

Claims

1. A system of interactive telecommunications involving text, multimedia, or both messaging whereby a mobile telecommunication device user may indicate interest in one or more products or services and receive multimedia content that may facilitate acquiring those products or services comprising:

one or more implementing servers coupled to a wide area computer network,

one or more databases and means for storing keyword-related, code-related, or free-form request information in one, all, or any combination of the databases, and

one or more mobile telecommunication devices coupled to one or more mobile telecommunication networks capable of capturing, transmitting and receiving data.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more websites to furnish additional information to the individual user, facilitate management of individual user accounts and preferences related to the messages transmitted between the user and the system or both.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data is input by means of keypad, voice, camera, microphone, and scanner, as well as other input devices activated by motion, external environmental conditions, touch, personal area wireless network technology, or any combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more intelligence algorithms to impart search engine capability.

5. The system of claim 1 for further facilitating instant purchase of one or more products or services of interest to the user further comprising:

one or more application programming interfaces for exchanging sales order, billing and shipping information to/from the vendor of a product or service available for purchase, and

at least one means for the consumer to indicate desire to make a purchase via their mobile device, to authenticate their identity and authority to purchase, to optionally identify preferred payment method, to optionally adjust preferred shipping destination, and to receive confirmation of order fulfillment.

6. A method for interactively providing text or multimedia messaging of information to a mobile telecommunication device user of the system of claim 1 comprising the following steps:

Informing the user of information available on a service provider'"'"'s server or servers,

Providing the user with a short code or phone number to access that information from a mobile telecommunication device and a keyword, or other code, to identify the particular information,

receiving at the service provider'"'"'s server or servers a request for the information in the form of the provided short code and keyword or other code from a user interested in obtaining the information,

transmitting from provider'"'"'s server or servers to the mobile device of the user the requested information in its most current version as a text or multimedia message, and

implementing one or more servers coupled to the Internet for receiving the keyword or other code from the input mobile device of the user to return appropriate information content.

7. A method for interactively facilitating commerce via a mobile device by an user of the system of claim 1 comprising the following steps:

Informing the user of information relating to a product or a service available on a service provider'"'"'s server or servers,

providing the user with a short code or phone number to access that information from a mobile telecommunication device and a keyword, or other code, to identify the particular product or service,

transmitting from one or more service provider'"'"'s server to the mobile device of the user via text message, voice response system, or other means a request for a security code to authorize the transaction,

receiving at one or more service provider'"'"'s server the required security code from the mobile user,

transmitting the mobile user'"'"'s pre-registered payment confirmation, shipping address and order information to the entity offering the product or service,

transmitting text message, e-mail, or both confirmation to the initiating mobile user,

receiving commands from the mobile user for balance and transaction history information and providing back to the mobile requested information via text messaging, email, or both, and

implementing server(s) coupled to the Internet for receiving keywords or other code from the input mobile device of the user to initiate and confirm commerce transactions, provide balance and transaction information and execute additional commands, such as toggling aliases, choosing shipping addresses, entering purchase comments, configuring frequently ordered product or service favorites and more.

8. The method of claim 7 comprising the additional step of personalizing or customizing the text or multimedia output based on historical, current behavioral, demographic or commercial data or any combination thereof available to the service provider based on the user initiating communications.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the user is informed through the use of any combination of advertising, about which multimedia content is available, including but not limited to ringtones, wallpaper, screensavers, videos, mobisodes, podisodes, podcasts, games, music, lights, sounds, scents, motions, and tactile stimuli on or commanded from the provider'"'"'s server and a short code to access that information from a mobile telecommunication device and a keyword or other code that identifies the particular product or service and further comprising the step of:

transmitting from at least one service provider'"'"'s server to the mobile device of the user the requested content in its most current version or commands to initiate the delivery of sounds, motions, lights, scents, tactile feedback, or one or more of the above on the mobile telecommunication device.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein after the step of receiving at one or more service provider'"'"'s server the required security code from the mobile user is added the further step of:

transmitting payment information to the user'"'"'s pre-registered financial institution for checking EFT, debit card, credit card or gift card transactions.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the security code is a PIN.

12. A method for broadcasting instant messages in a blog/RSS like manner via a mobile device by a user of the system of claim 1 comprising the following steps:

making one or more mobile user aware of TXTblogs, for which they can register,

providing each user with a short code to submit his or her registration request, and a keyword that identifies the particular TXTblog,

receiving at one or more service provider'"'"'s server the user'"'"'s request for registration to a TXTblog in the form of the short code and keyword from the user interested in obtaining the TXTblog,

optionally, facilitating one-time or regular subscription purchase confirmation from the mobile user for registration,

registering one or more mobile users as the contributors to the TXTblog and providing each user with a security code for authenticating a text posting to the TXTblog,

optionally, providing notification via a mobile, or stationary computing device, or both for one or more TXTblog moderators of the need to review and approve a TXTblog posting for distribution to registered subscribers,

receiving from the TXTblog moderators approval for the TXTblog posting to be distributed to registered subscribers,

transmitting the approved TXTblog posting to registered subscribers,

displaying the TXTblog content on service provider'"'"'s website, and

implementing one or more server coupled to the Internet for receiving, processing and transmitting TXTblog subscription requests, postings, broadcasts approvals, broadcasts and comments.

13. A method for facilitating the creation and maintenance of a TXTwiki via text messaging;

updatable online, using a mobile device, or both;

moderated online, using a mobile device, or both;

by a user of the system of claim 1 comprising the following steps;

making one or more mobile telecommunication users aware of TXTwikis, to which they can contribute, text, or both to receive updates from using the system of claim 1, the short code to submit their content or information request to and a keyword that identifies the particular TXTwiki and the function to be performed,

receiving at one or more service provider'"'"'s server a request for registration to the TXTwiki in the form of the short code and keyword from the user interested in subscribing to any broadcast content,

optionally, facilitating one-time or regular subscription purchase confirmation from the user for registration,

receiving from one or more users one or more online submissions of content to the TXTwiki,

optionally, providing notification via mobile, or stationary computing device, or both for one or more TXTwiki moderators of the need to review and approve TXTwiki submissions to be distributed to registered subscribers,

receiving from the TXTwiki moderator approval for the TXTwiki submissions to be distributed as broadcast to registered subscribers,

transmitting approved TXTwiki broadcasts to registered subscribers,

displaying of the TXTwiki content on service provider'"'"'s website, and

implementing one or more server coupled to the Internet for receiving, processing and transmitting the TXTwiki subscription requests, postings, broadcast approvals, broadcasts and comments.

14. A method for the dynamic, real-time creation of web-based alert or broadcast message subscriptions that individuals can opt-in and opt-out without the need to use their wireless device by users of the system of claim 1, comprising the following steps:

establishing one or more primary keyword in the system within a business'"'"' account,

optionally, creating one or more groups by an administrator of the business account,

creating by one or more forms and associates primary keywords by the administrator,

incorporating a standard web address containing arguments for the created form within any web page,

accessing the business'"'"' web page containing the web address for the form by one or more mobile telecommunication users entry of each user'"'"'s mobile phone number either enters their or the business passes the user'"'"'s pre-configured mobile phone number in the web address for the form,

selecting one or more keywords by the user that wishes to subscribe to broadcast messages for and configuring the desired days of the week and time range for the day during which the user wishes to receive broadcast messages, and

viewing by each user his or her schedule of alerts at anytime and altering or deleting subscriptions at any time.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein alert or broadcast message relates to warning of imminent damage.

16. A method for the dynamic, real-time creation and configuration of broadcasting messages to one or more mobile users by merging data, provided on an individual message basis or as part of a file containing numerous recipients, with a pre-configured text or email message template of the system of claim 1, comprising the following steps:

a business account administrator creates a text message template, email message template, or both, containing placeholders for data elements, within the system of claim 1,

a business account administrator configures the definition of fields to be provided within a file or individually in a transmission to the system of claim 1 indicating to the system of claim 1 the list of column headers in a file or XML tags in a XML file,

a business account administrator sets the text and/or email message template the system of claim 1 should use when processing a specific data file or stream,

optionally, a business account administrator configures the days, times, frequencies, login credentials and file location for files that the system of claim 1 needs to retrieve using FTP, or File Transfer Protocol,

optionally, a business account manager manually selects to upload a data file, browsing for the source data file from their computer or network and clicking to process it according to the message identifier in the file that matches a pre-configured data definition within the system of claim 1,

17. A method for interactive mobile messaging to initiate and receive information, alerts, coupons, notifications, and actions which are driven by the decision-making processes within a third-party system, using an Application Programming Interface within the interactive mobile messaging and media system comprising the following steps,

initiating specific keywords from a mobile telecommunication device to the interactive mobile messaging and media system would prompt application calls to specific external systems which would process the tasks associated with the input from the device,

processing rules within the external system could just accept the input from the device and keep the required actions within the external system, or the external system could initiate another interaction with the interactive mobile messaging and media system using the API and present a call to action or information back to the interactive mobile messaging and media system which would sent the required call to action back to the mobile device as information or asking for a further response,

transmitting output information, calls to action and further response requests will be sent from the external system via the API to the interactive mobile messaging and media system based on processing rules with the external system, which in turn sends the response to the mobile device, which can provide information or requests to initiate further interactivity with the external system.

18. A system of interactive telecommunications involving text messaging, multimedia messaging, or both whereby two more users can engage in two-way, interactive messaging-using a computer-based, internet-connected interface comprising:

one or more implementing servers coupled to a wide area computer network,

one or more databases and means for storing conversations and maintaining conversation state in one, all or any combination of the databases,

one or more websites and/or computer installed applications to facilitate the transmission and history of messages between the users,

one or more mobile telecommunication devices coupled to one or more mobile telecommunication networks capable of capturing, transmitting and receiving data input by means of keypad, camera, microphone, scanner, motion, external environmental conditions, touch, personal area wireless network technology, or any combination thereof.

19. A method for tailoring a unique, logical and specific response based on one or more consumer databases related to demographic, purchase behavior, interests and predictive indicators to an individual who initiates a specific inquiry based on one or more previously established databases for a cell phone number entered by the individual comprising the following steps,

correlating the incoming cell number of the individual with proprietary logic and decision-making process heuristics data which is also tied to a particular cell number as a database key within an interactive messaging system to provide a specific informational response, deal, coupon, incentive that is more likely to motivate the interested party to act and engage with the advertiser, company, event, and campaign,

saving responses of the individual to a particular mobile marketing campaign and documenting the actual redemption activity related to the campaigns to further enhance the decision-making processes of the model that drives the original mobile marketing response back to the individual.

20. A method to promote, notify, and sell available products, tickets, and services to one or more consumers wherein each consumer uses a mobile telecommunication device to send a specific keyword to an interactive mobile messaging system to a promoting entity, which can monitor its inventory of the available product, tickets and services that are available for that specific keyword and then notify the consumer via text, video or audio on the mobile telecommunication device that the product, tickets, and services can be purchased for a given price, comprising the following steps:

allowing a promoting entity to sell product, tickets and services which are about to spoil, become useless or worthless based on a time frame, or needs to be sold immediately, by using the immediate access of text, video and audio messaging using the mobile device, and then notify all or selected members of the group who have texted the specific keyword to receive the deals and specials on their phone,

providing the consumer with a means to sign up to receive deals and specials via a text keyword or mobile device response for deals and specials with the company or event, which can be temporary and of extreme short notice,

allowing the consumer to immediately respond, obtain more information and purchase the deals or specials using their mobile device.