SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERY OF AUGMENTED MESSAGES

• US 20090177745A1
• Filed: 06/02/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hayashi, Nathanael Joe, Davis, Marc Eliot, Higgins, Christopher William, Boerries, Marco, O'Sullivan, Joseph James, Callan, Paul, Wroblewski, Luke, Saft, Keith David
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

The disclosure describes systems and methods delivering communications associated with delivery conditions in which the occurrence of the delivery condition is determined by monitoring information received from a plurality of sources via multiple communication channels. The message delivery systems allow messages to be delivered to any “Who, What, When, Where” from any “Who, What, When, Where” upon the detection of an occurrence of one or more “Who, What, When, Where” delivery conditions. A message (which may be any data object including text-based messages, audio-based message such as voicemail or other audio such as music or video-based prerecorded messages) is delivered in accordance with delivery conditions based on any available data, including topical, spatial, temporal, and/or social data. Furthermore, because the systems coordinate delivery of messages via multiple communication channels and through multiple devices, the communication channel for delivery of a message may be dynamically determined based on the delivery conditions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a message from a sender for delivery on a network, the message containing message content and an identity of an intended recipient;

analyzing the message content to extract logical data;

collecting recipient data available to the network by searching for social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data pertaining to the intended recipient and the extracted logical data;

correlating the collected recipient data to refine the collected data into correlated data relevant to the logical data and the intended recipient;

collecting content available to the network that is related to the correlated data;

determining which of the collected content is to be inserted into the message; and

inserting the determined collected content into the message to form an enhanced message.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

analyzing a status of the intended recipient and using the status as a factor in the determining of the collected content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the status of the intended recipient is a location of the intended recipient at a time of intended receipt of the enhanced message.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the status of the intended recipient corresponds to a type of device in use by the intended recipient at a time of intended receipt of the enhanced message.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein status of the intended recipient is an activity the intended recipient is engaged upon at a time of intended receipt of the enhanced message.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining if a delivery condition is included in the enhanced message; and

communicating the enhanced message to the intended recipient in accordance with the delivery condition being met.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the delivery condition corresponds to time of delivery for the enhanced message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the delivery condition corresponds to the intended recipient being at a place of delivery for the enhanced message.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the delivery condition corresponds to a type of device being used by the intended recipient.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein upon a determination that the delivery condition is not met, feeding back the message to the sender for further data.

11. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining state information pertaining to the status of the intended recipient; and

feeding back the enhanced message to the sender for updating in light of the determined state information.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

collecting sender data available to the network by searching for social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data pertaining to the sender, wherein the step of correlating the collected recipient data further comprises correlating the collected sender data with the collected recipient data and the logical data.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting content step further comprises collecting third party content for input into the enhanced message in exchange for payment to the third party.

14. A computer-readable medium tangibly encoded with instructions to perform a method, comprising:

receiving a message from a sender for delivery on a network, the message containing message content and an identity of an intended recipient;

analyzing the message content to extract logical data;

collecting recipient data available to the network by searching for social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data pertaining to the intended recipient and the extracted logical data;

correlating the collected recipient data to refine the collected data into correlated data relevant to the logical data and the intended recipient;

collecting content available to the network that is related to the correlated data;

determining which of the collected content is to be inserted into the message; and

inserting the determined collected content into the message to form an enhanced message.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising:

analyzing a status of the intended recipient and using the status as a factor in the determining of the collected content.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising:

determining if a delivery condition is included in the enhanced message; and

communicating the enhanced message to the intended recipient in accordance with the delivery condition being met.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein upon a determination that the delivery condition is not met, feeding back the message to the sender for further data.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising:

determining state information pertaining to the status of the intended recipient; and

feeding back the enhanced message to the sender for updating in light of the determined state information.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising:

collecting sender data available to the network by searching for social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data pertaining to the sender, wherein the step of correlating the collected recipient data further comprises correlating the collected sender data with the collected recipient data and the logical data.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the collecting content step further comprises collecting third party content for input into the enhanced message in exchange for payment to the third party.

21. A computer system comprising:

a plurality of processors;

an attention engine implemented on one of the plurality of processors for receiving a message for an intended recipient via a network, wherein the message contains message content and an identity of the intended recipient;

an attribution engine implemented on one of the plurality of processors for extracting logical data;

a message intake manager implemented on one of the plurality of processors for collecting recipient data available to the network by searching for social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data pertaining to the intended recipient and the extracted logical data;

a correlation engine implemented on one of the plurality of processors for correlating the collected recipient data to refine the collected data into correlated data relevant to the logical data and the intended recipient;

an identification engine implemented on one of the plurality of processors for collecting content available to the network that is related to the correlated data and determining which of the collected content is to be inserted into the message; and

a message enhancement manager implemented on one of the plurality of processors for inserting the determined collected content into the message to form an enhanced message.

22. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

a message delivery manager implemented on one of the plurality of processors for determining if a delivery condition is included in the enhanced message, and communicating the enhanced message to the intended recipient in accordance with the delivery condition being met.

23. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

a content server implemented on a third party processor for producing additional content for input into the message, wherein the additional content is embedded in the message in exchange for payment to the third party.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the content server interacts directly with the message enhancement manager during the inserting of the determined collected content.