Method and apparatus for presenting personalized content relating to offered products and services

• US 8,738,435 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2013
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: LPL Licensing, LLC (Phoenix Licensing, LLC)
• Inventors: Libman, Richard Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Alvarez, Raquel
• Application Number:
  US14/101,212
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 169 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.17, 705/14.1, 705/14.25, 705/14.49, 705/14.53, 705/14.66, 705/14.67, 705/14.72
• US Class Current: 705/14.17
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

An apparatus and method use client information to automatically select products appropriate for the client. According to one aspect of the invention, client information, information about the products, ancillary data, and decision criteria pertaining to selection from among the products are stored in a storage device Decision-making logic circuitry use the stored data to select the products. An output device prepares a client communication identifying the selected products and incorporates a portion of the client information and a portion of the product information into the client communication.

Claims

1. A method of generating a set of personalized communications for a plurality of persons, the method comprising the steps of:

with a computer system, automatically;

successively generating a communication for each of a plurality of persons, the communications each comprising identifying content to distinguish each person from other persons of the plurality of persons, and personalized content relating to an offer to each person,

wherein the generating a communication includes accessing a computer-accessible storage medium to determine at least part of the personalized content relating to the offer from at least one set of alternative descriptions, characteristics and/or identifications associated with the offer; and

wherein at least one personalized content generated for a first person'"'"'s communication is different from a second personalized content generated for a second person'"'"'s communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of alternative descriptions, characteristics and/or identifications includes separate respective word sentences.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication is part of an ongoing service provided by a sender of the communication to the person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the personalized content contains compliance and/or regulatory information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is for two or more products or services.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is the same for two or more of the plurality of persons.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each communication is viewed as multiple pages.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a communication includes selecting a format from a plurality of formats to use for the communication.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each communication includes reply instructions informing a person how to reply to the offer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reply instructions includes personalized content specific to the person.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically generating with the computer system one or more subsequent communications to a person based on a set of predetermined criteria applied as a result of a reply received from, or a non-reply by, the person.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a subset of persons from a database of available persons and successively generating the communications for the plurality of persons defined by the selected subset of persons.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a communication further includes determining one or more products or services to offer to the person.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating a communication includes accessing a computer-accessible storage medium to determine at least part of the personalized content relating to the offer from a set of alternative descriptions associated with the offer.

15. A method of generating personalized communications for a plurality of persons, the method comprising the steps of:

with a computer system, automatically;

successively generating a communication for each of a plurality of persons, the communications each comprising a general portion and a personalized portion relating to an offering for each person, wherein the general portion includes general content communicated to the plurality of persons and the personalized portion includes personalized content for a person for which a particular communication is generated,

wherein the generating a communication includes accessing a computer-accessible storage medium to determine at least part of the personalized content relating to the offering from at least one set of alternative descriptions, characteristics and/or identifications associated with the offering; and

wherein at least one personalized content generated for a first person'"'"'s communication is different from a second personalized content generated for a second person'"'"'s communication.

16. An apparatus for generating a set of personalized communications for a plurality of persons, the apparatus comprising:

a computing system;

a computer-accessible storage medium coupled to the computing system;

computer software executing on the computing system and adapted to automatically cause the computing system;

to successively generate a communication for each of a plurality of persons, the communications each comprising identifying content to distinguish each person from other persons of the plurality of persons, and personalized content relating to an offer to each person,

wherein the generating a communication includes accessing the storage medium to determine at least part of the personalized content relating to the offer from at least one set of alternative descriptions, characteristics and/or identifications associated with the offer; and

wherein at least one personalized content prepared for a first person'"'"'s communication is different from a second personalized content prepared for a second person'"'"'s communication.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the set of alternative descriptions, characteristics and/or identifications includes separate respective word sentences.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the communication is part of an ongoing service provided by a sender of the communication to the person.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the personalized content contains compliance and/or regulatory information.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the offer is for two or more products or services.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the offer is the same for two or more of the plurality of persons.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein each communication is viewed as multiple pages.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the generating a communication includes selecting a format from a plurality of formats to use for the communication.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein each communication includes reply instructions informing a person how to reply to the offering.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the reply instructions includes personalized content specific to the person.

26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the computer software is further adapted to automatically cause the computer system to generate one or more subsequent communications to a person based on a set of predetermined criteria applied as a result of a reply received from, or a non-reply by, the person.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the computer software is further adapted to automatically cause the computer system to select a subset of persons from a database of available persons and to successively generate the communications for the plurality of persons defined by the selected subset of persons.

28. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the generating a communication further includes determining one or more products or services to offer to the persons.

29. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the generating a communication includes accessing a computer-accessible storage medium to determine at least part of the personalized content relating to the offer from a set of alternative descriptions associated with the offer.

30. An apparatus for preparing personalized communications for a plurality of persons, the apparatus comprising:

a computing system;

a computer-accessible storage medium coupled to the computing system;

computer software routines executing on the computing system and adapted to automatically cause the computing system;

to successively generate a communication for each of a plurality of persons, the communication comprising a general portion and a personalized portion relating to an offering for each person, wherein the general portion includes general content communicated to the plurality of persons and the personalized portion includes personalized content for a person for which a particular communication is generated,

wherein the generating a communication includes accessing a computer-accessible storage medium to determine at least part of the personalized content relating to the offering from at least one set of alternative descriptions, characteristics and/or identifications associated with the offering; and

wherein at least one personalized content generated for a first person'"'"'s communication is different from a second personalized content generated for a second person'"'"'s communication.