Method and system for delivery of advertising content in short message service (SMS) messages

• US 20080243619A1
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wmode Inc. (AppDirect, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wmode Inc. (AppDirect, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cooper, David, Cheung, Ian, Sharman, Duane R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,930,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• 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: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for combining advertising messages with short message service (SMS) messages in a wireless communications system. A signaling message processing and routing node transmits and receives short message service (SMS) data packets via a communications network. The routing node includes an SMS message processing module that determines whether an SMS message should be modified to include advertisements. SMS messages, whether modified or left unmodified, are forwarded to a destination mobile communications device. The SMS message processing module applies rules to match selected advertisements with the SMS message. The determination of whether to modify the SMS message to include a selected advertisement is based on a variety of considerations including: the content and format of the SMS message; the content and format of the advertisements; the communications and display characteristics of the destination mobile communications device; and the limitations of the channel used to communicate the message to the destination mobile communications device.

Claims

1. A method for processing a message in a wireless communications system, wherein the message has an associated message size and format, and wherein the wireless communications system includes a plurality of originating and destination wireless mobile devices, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving the message, the message being transmitted by an originating device and addressed to a destination device associated with a destination user;

(b) ascertaining, responsive to the received message, device characteristics and capabilities associated with the destination device and user preferences associated with the destination user;

(c) selecting one of a plurality of advertisements for inclusion with the message based on the destination device characteristics and capabilities and the destination user preferences; and

(d) modifying the message to include the advertisement selected in step (c), wherein the size and file format of the message is selectively modified to include the advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) includes ascertaining historical usage information associated with the destination user, and wherein the selection of one of the plurality of advertisements is based at least in part upon the destination user'"'"'s historical usage.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is at least one of a Short Message Service (SMS) message and a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of (e) forwarding the message to the destination user.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the destination user'"'"'s historical usage information is maintained in a database of previous network accesses, and wherein each previous network access has an associated and corresponding activity type and keyword.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the advertisements have associated and corresponding ad values and ad keywords, and wherein each ad value reflects a value received for delivery of its corresponding advertisement, and wherein the step (c) of selecting one of the plurality of advertisements comprises the sub-steps of:

i) assembling a list of keywords associated with the message based upon at least one of contents of the message, the destination user preferences and historical usage, and the destination device characteristics and capabilities;

ii) comparing the keyword list generated in step i) with the ad keywords;

iii) retrieving the advertisements having ad keywords matching keywords in the keyword list;

iv) identifying an advertisement having the highest associated and corresponding ad value; and

v) selecting the advertisement.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sub-step i) of assembling a list of keywords includes supplementing the keyword list by analyzing the message for occurrence of keywords.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the list of keywords is generated using one or more of the following types of information:

information derived from a statistical analysis of the message;

information derived from an analysis of previous purchases made by the destination user; and

physical location of the destination device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of advertisements each has an associated and corresponding advertisement record defining characteristics of its corresponding advertisement, and wherein the advertisement record includes one or more of the following information:

file format, display size, file size, advertisement message content, a plurality of ad keywords, and ad value, and wherein the file format, display and file size provide minimum requirements for delivery and display of the corresponding advertisement, and wherein the ad value comprises a value received for delivery of the corresponding advertisement.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein each advertisement record further includes a keyword value associated with and corresponding to each of the ad keywords, and wherein the keyword value represents a value of its corresponding keyword.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (d) of modifying the message includes at least one of:

expanding the message to multiple Short Message Service (SMS) messages;

reformatting message text to increase the size of the message;

translating the message to a different file format to increase the size of the message; and

compressing the message to provide space for the selected advertisement.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the step (d) further includes transcoding the message from an original single or multiple-fragment SMS messaging format to one of the following messaging formats:

single-fragment SMS, multiple-fragment SMS, EMS, and MMS.

13. A message processing apparatus, adapted for use in a wireless communications system, wherein the wireless communications system includes an originating wireless mobile device and a destination wireless mobile device associated with a destination user, and wherein the destination device has an associated and corresponding device profile and the user has an associated and corresponding user profile, wherein the device profile specifies characteristics of the destination device, and wherein the originating device transmits a message addressed to the destination device, and wherein the message processing apparatus processes the message to determine whether or not to combine the message with a selected one of a plurality of advertisements, comprising:

(a) a first processing module adapted to receive the message from the originating device, wherein the first processing module accesses user and device profiles associated with the destination user and determines if the message is addressed to a valid user, if the destination user permits reception of advertisements, and if the destination device supports the reception and display of advertisements;

(b) a second processing module, operatively coupled to the first processing module, wherein the second processing module selects an appropriate advertisement for inclusion with the message based upon the device and user profiles and at least one of the following;

content and format of the message;

content and format of the advertisements;

historical usage of the destination device;

purchasing and network access history associated with the destination user;

ad values associated with the delivery of the advertisements to the destination user; and

characteristics of communication channels used to deliver the message to the destination user; and

(c) a third processing module, operatively coupled to the second processing module, wherein the third processing module modifies the message to include the selected advertisement with the message, and wherein the modified message is forwarded to the destination device.

14. The message processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the message comprises a Short Message Service (SMS) message.

15. The message processing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the SMS message comprises a single-fragment SMS message.

16. The message processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the message comprises a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message.

17. The message processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first processing module comprises a Message Analysis Module (MAM), and wherein the message processing apparatus further comprises a User Profile Database and Device Profile Database, wherein the User Profile Database contains a plurality of profiles associated with and corresponding to all current users of the wireless system, and wherein the Device Profile Database contains a plurality of profiles of devices used in the wireless system.

18. The message processing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the message is addressed to the destination user using a telephone number associated with the destination device, and wherein the MAM retrieves the destination user profile from the User Profile Database using the telephone number as an index, and wherein the destination user profile includes information regarding the type of destination device used by the destination user, and permitted messaging protocols allowed by the destination device.

19. The message processing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the MAM retrieves destination device profiles from the Device Profile Database using the destination device type as an index, and wherein, based upon the information contained in the retrieved user and device profiles, the MAM determines if all of the following conditions are met:

(a) the destination user is valid;

(b) the destination user profile exists;

(c) the destination user permits reception of advertisements;

(d) the destination device type is known, and (e) the destination device supports the reception of advertisements.

20. The message processing apparatus of claim 19, wherein if any one of the conditions (a)-(e) are not met, the MAM immediately forwards the message unaltered for transmission to the destination user;

and wherein if all of the conditions (a)-(e) are met, the MAM forwards the message and associated destination user and device profiles to the second processing module for further processing.

21. The message processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second processing module comprises an Advertising Message Selection Module (AMSM) adapted to receive the message and associated destination user and device profiles from the first processing module, and wherein the message processing apparatus further comprises a User History Database and Advertising Message Database, wherein the User History Database contains a plurality of user history records associated with and corresponding to all current users of the wireless system, and wherein the Advertising Message Database contains a plurality of advertising message records associated with and corresponding to the plurality of advertisements.

22. The message processing apparatus of claim 21, wherein each user history record contains one more of the following information related to the associated and corresponding user:

a record type indicative of a type of previous network usage by the associated device, and a user history keyword associated with and corresponding to the previous network usage.

23. The message processing apparatus of claim 22, wherein the user history keyword is generated whenever the associated and corresponding user accesses an Internet web page using the associated mobile device, and wherein the user history keyword is associated with and corresponds to the accessed web page.

24. The message processing apparatus of claim 21, wherein the AMSM receives the message and associated destination user and device profiles from the first processing module, and wherein the AMSM retrieves a user history record, associated with and corresponding to the destination user, from the User History Database, and wherein the AMSM generates a keyword list based upon the message, the destination user and device profiles, and the user history record.

25. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein to provide a method for processing a message in a wireless communications system, wherein the message has an associated message size and format, and wherein the wireless communications system includes a plurality of originating and destination wireless mobile devices, the computer readable program code performing:

(a) receiving the message, the message being transmitted by an originating device and addressed to a destination device associated with a destination user;

(b) ascertaining, responsive to the received message, device characteristics and capabilities associated with the destination device and user preferences associated with the destination user;

(c) selecting one of a plurality of advertisements for inclusion with the message based on the destination device characteristics and capabilities and the destination user preferences; and

(d) modifying the message to include the advertisement selected in step (c), wherein the size and file format of the message is selectively modified to include the advertisement.