SMS inquiry and invitation distribution method and system
First Claim
1. A method for managing a plurality of inquiries to one or more recipients and receiving a plurality of inquiry replies in a network, the method comprising:
- defining, at a server, a plurality of reply addresses available for assignment to each of the plurality of inquiries, the reply addresses being the addresses to which replies to the inquiries are routed;
assigning, at the server, one of the defined reply addresses to an inquiry of the plurality of inquiries;
transmitting the inquiry with the assigned reply address to at least one recipient, wherein the inquiry includes a choice question containing one or more reply alternatives indicated by corresponding choice symbols and wherein the assigned reply address is indicated as a sender of the inquiry with the assigned reply address; and
verifying authenticity of at least one inquiry reply based on the replier'"'"'s mobile number and choice symbol in the inquiry reply or based on the reply address to which the inquiry reply was routed and the choice symbol in the inquiry reply.
13 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is an SMS distribution method for inquiries, invitations and proposals in which inquiries are sent to mobile telephone numbers included in a distribution list and their replies are collected as text messages via the SMS service (7) provided by the telecommunications network by means of a software program (1) installed on a server (2). The problem in distributing inquiries with existing SMS services has been the limited possibility of replying to the sending telecommunications operator and separating replies to several inquiries from one another. In the method embodied by this invention, universally reachable mobile network numbers (11) are used as reply addresses for the inquiries, invitations and proposals, and replies are separated from one another by means of reply addresses consisting of public mobile communication network numbers and SMS service numbers and automatically generated reply symbols.
33 Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method for managing a plurality of inquiries to one or more recipients and receiving a plurality of inquiry replies in a network, the method comprising:
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defining, at a server, a plurality of reply addresses available for assignment to each of the plurality of inquiries, the reply addresses being the addresses to which replies to the inquiries are routed; assigning, at the server, one of the defined reply addresses to an inquiry of the plurality of inquiries; transmitting the inquiry with the assigned reply address to at least one recipient, wherein the inquiry includes a choice question containing one or more reply alternatives indicated by corresponding choice symbols and wherein the assigned reply address is indicated as a sender of the inquiry with the assigned reply address; and verifying authenticity of at least one inquiry reply based on the replier'"'"'s mobile number and choice symbol in the inquiry reply or based on the reply address to which the inquiry reply was routed and the choice symbol in the inquiry reply. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for managing a plurality of inquiries to one or more recipients and receiving a plurality of inquiry replies in a network, the system comprising:
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at least one server that defines a plurality of reply addresses available for assignment to each of the plurality of inquiries, the reply addresses being the addresses to which replies to the inquiries are routed, the at least one server assigning one of the defined reply addresses to an inquiry of the plurality of inquiries, wherein the at least one server is coupled to at least one communication network and transmits the inquiry with the assigned reply address to at least one recipient via the at least one communication network, wherein the inquiry includes a choice question containing one or more reply alternatives indicated by corresponding choice symbols and wherein the assigned reply address is indicated as a sender of the inquiry with the assigned reply address, wherein the at least one server also verifies authenticity of at least one inquiry reply received via the at least one communication network based on the replier'"'"'s mobile number and choice symbol in the inquiry reply or based on the reply address to which the inquiry reply was routed and the choice symbol in the inquiry reply. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method for managing a plurality of inquiries to one or more recipients and receiving a plurality of inquiry replies in a network, the method comprising:
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defining, at a server, a plurality of reply addresses available for assignment to each of the plurality of inquiries, the reply addresses being the addresses to which replies to the inquiries are routed; assigning, at the server, one of the defined reply addresses to an inquiry of the plurality of inquiries; transmitting the inquiry with the assigned reply address to at least one recipient, wherein the inquiry includes a choice question containing one or more reply alternatives indicated by corresponding choice symbols and wherein the assigned reply address is indicated as a sender of the inquiry with the assigned reply address; and verifying authenticity of at least one inquiry reply based on the replier'"'"'s mobile number and the reply address to which the inquiry reply was routed. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A system for managing a plurality of inquiries to one or more recipients and receiving a plurality of inquiry replies in a network, the system comprising:
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at least one server that defines a plurality of reply addresses available for assignment to each of the plurality of inquiries, the reply addresses being the addresses to which replies to the inquiries are routed, the at least one server assigning one of the defined reply addresses to an inquiry of the plurality of inquiries, wherein the at least one server is coupled to at least one communication network and transmits the inquiry with the assigned reply address to at least one recipient via the at least one communication network, wherein the inquiry includes a choice question containing one or more reply alternatives indicated by corresponding choice symbols and wherein the assigned reply address is indicated as a sender of the inquiry with the assigned reply address, and wherein the at least one server also verifies authenticity of at least one inquiry reply received via the at least one communication network based on the replier'"'"'s mobile number and the reply address to which the inquiry reply was routed. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification