System and method for obtaining feedback from delivery of informational and transactional data

• US 7,415,438 B1
• Filed: 06/12/2001
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Inventors: Saylor, Michael J., Warikoo, Abhimanyu, Bedell, Jeffrey A., Li, Benjamin Z., Trundle, Stephen S., Yu, Hu, Berman, Terry, Bansal, Sanjeev K., Baskine, Ilia, Lazebnikov, Vladislav Davidovich
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert; Ella
• Application Number:
  US09/878,205
• Time in Patent Office: 2,625 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/1, 707/4, 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/100, 705/7, 705/1, 705/5, 705/6, 705/10, 705/26, 705/27, 705/35, 705/38, 709/202, 709/203, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A system for a personal intelligence network provides informational and transactional data. Data distribution servers provide e-mail and other messages of topical interest to a subset of the subscribers. The content may be generated by an On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) based channel database system, and the output may also be communicated to individuals via spreadsheet programs data, pager, telephone, mobile phone, fax, personal digital assistants, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) e-mail and other formats, including a workbook file attachment. Reports generated may enable a subscriber to act upon the content within the report, thereby providing an interactive component to the report. Subscriber actions or inaction to the report and content may be obtained and analyzed, including analysis in connection with the other informational and transactional data.

Claims

1. A process for combining the operations of a report providing system and transactional processing system to improve user experiences through the use of feedback analysis on user activities with respect to one or more outputs provided over a network by the report providing system, wherein each output on which feedback analysis is performed comprises at least one transactional option that enables the user to activate the transactional option to engage in an electronic transaction with an electronic transactional processing system facilitated by communications between the report providing system and the electronic transactional processing system, the process comprising the steps of:

transmitting one or more outputs to one or more users over the network from a report providing system, the one or more outputs comprising at least one transactional option which can include one or more of the following options;

ordering an item or service, providing payment information, initiating a financial transaction or reserving a service or activity;

facilitating a transaction based on the transactional option if selected by the one or more users;

collecting and storing user response information related to the at least one transactional option in the one or more outputs from the one or more users that received the one or more outputs from the report providing system, the user response information being stored in a database system accessible by a decision support system;

analyzing the user response information in conjunction with output content information and user profile information through the use of the decision support system connected to the database containing the user response information to generate feedback related to the transactional option;

generating an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) report from a decision support system based on the analysis of the user response information, output content information and user profile information that provides the feedback for assessing the effectiveness of the transactional option by the output content information and user profile information; and

modifying the transactional option to adapt to the feedback, the modification relating to either the communication with the transactional system, the information transmitted for the transactional option or the function associated with the transactional option.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein user response information is stored as a graphical interchange format (GIF) file.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the contents of the database comprises use of a decision support system.

4. The process according to claim 1 further comprising the step of automatically transmitting the OLAP report to at least one user that received one of the outputs.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the transmitted output is transmitted to a plurality of users, the transmitted output including a connection to a location within the network, and wherein the user response information indicates whether the user activated the connection to access the location.

6. The process according to claim 5, wherein the received indication further includes at least one of:

a) the areas within the location the user visited;

b) the information the user provided to the location;

c) the one or more products the user purchased via the location; and

d) the one or more services the user purchased via the location.

7. The process according to claim 1 wherein the user response information comprises information that the user did not activate one or more transactional options contained in the output.

8. A system for combining the operations of a report providing system and transactional processing system to improve user experiences through the use of feedback analysis on user activities with respect to one or more outputs provided over a network, wherein each output comprises at least one transactional option that enables the user to activate the transactional option to engage in an electronic transaction with an electronic transactional processing system facilitated by communication between the report providing system and the electronic transactional processing system, the system comprising:

transmission means for transmitting one or more outputs to one or more users over the network, the one or more outputs comprising at least one transactional option which can include one or more of the following options;

ordering an item or service, providing payment information, initiating a financial transaction or reserving a service or activity;

transaction facilitation means for facilitating a transaction based on the transactional option if selected by the one or more users;

storage means for storing user response information related to the at least one transactional option in the one or more outputs from the one or more users that received the one or more outputs from the report providing system, the user response information being stored in a database system accessible by a decision support system;

decision support system analysis means for analyzing the user response information in conjunction with output content information and user profile information to generate feedback related to the transactional option;

report generating means for generating an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) report from a decision support system based on the analysis of the database that includes user response information regarding output generated that provides the feedback for assessing the effectiveness of the transactional option by the output content information and user profile information; and

modification means for modifying the transactional option to adapt to the feedback, the modification relating to either the communication with the transactional system, the information transmitted for the transactional option or the function associated with the transactional option.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein user response information is stored as a graphical interchange format (GIF) file.

10. The system of claim 8 further comprising report transmission means for automatically transmitting the OLAP report to at least one user that received one of the outputs.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein one or more of the outputs is transmitted to a plurality of users, the transmitted output including a connection to a location within the network, and wherein the user response information indicates whether the user activated the connection to access the location.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the received indication further includes at least one of:

a) the areas within the location the user visited;

b) the information the user provided to the location;

c) the one or more products the user purchased via the location; and

d) the one or more services the user purchased via the location.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the user response information comprises information that the user did not activate one or more transactional options contained in the output.

14. A program stored on a readable medium for combining the operations of a report providing system and transactional processing system to improve user experiences through the use of feedback analysis on user activities with respect to one or more outputs provided over a network, wherein each output comprises at least one transactional option that enables the user to activate the transactional option to engage in a transaction facilitated by the report providing system, the program causing a processor to perform the steps of:

transmitting one or more outputs to one or more users over the network from a report providing system, the one or more outputs comprising at least one transactional option which can include one or more of the following options;

ordering an item or service, providing payment information, initiating a financial transaction or reserving a service or activity;

facilitating a transaction based on the transactional option if selected by the one or more users;

collecting and storing user response information related to the at least one transactional option in the one or more outputs from the one or more users that received the one or more outputs from the report providing system, the user response information being stored in a database system accessible by a decision support system;

analyzing the user response information in conjunction with output content information and user profile information through the use of the decision support system connected to the database containing the user response information to generate feedback related to the transactional option;

generating an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) report from a decision support system based on the analysis of the user response information, output content information and user profile information that provides the feedback for assessing the effectiveness of the transactional option by the output content information and user profile information; and

modifying the transactional option to adapt to the feedback, the modification relating to either the communication with the transactional system, the information transmitted for the transactional option or the function associated with the transactional option.

15. The program of claim 14 further comprising code for causing a processor to perform the step of automatically transmitting the OLAP report to at least one user that received one of the outputs.

16. The program of claim 14 wherein the transmitted output is transmitted to a plurality of users, the transmitted output including a connection to a location within the network, and wherein the user response information indicates whether the user activated the connection to access the location.

17. The program of claim 16, wherein the received indication further includes at least one of:

a) the areas within the location the user visited;

b) the information the user provided to the location;

c) the one or more products the user purchased via the location; and

d) the one or more services the user purchased via the location.

18. The program of claim 14, wherein the user response information comprises information that the user did not activate one or more transactional options contained in the output.