Advice provided for offering highly targeted advice without compromising individual privacy

• US 8,914,507 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2007
• Issued: 12/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Donoho, David Leigh, Hindawi, David Salim, Lippincott, Lisa Ellen
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US11/777,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20080010352A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,714 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The invention disclosed herein enables a collection of computers and associated communications infrastructure to offer a new communications process which allows information providers to broadcast information to a population of information consumers. The information may be targeted to those consumers who have a precisely formulated need for the information. Information can be brought to the attention of the consumer precisely when it has become applicable, which may occur immediately upon receipt of the message, but may also occur long after the message arrives. The communications process may operate without intruding on consumers who do not exhibit the precisely-specified need for the information, and it may operate without compromising the security or privacy of the consumers who participate. The communications process may be used to facilitate particular client and server queries and responses, such as for example, in a travel agency environment.

Claims

1. A method for remotely and anonymously inspecting a set of communicating devices for information of a personal nature, comprising the steps of:

providing, by an advice server at an advice site, an inspector library containing executable code which is invoked as part of a continual relevance evaluation process;

initializing, by the inspector library utilizing remote inspector methods for inspecting properties of a set of communicating devices, via an advice reader associated with the set of communication devices, by performing any of mathematico-logical calculations, executing computational algorithms, returning the results of system calls, accessing the contents of storage devices, or querying the set of communicating devices, wherein the advice reader accesses the properties of the set of communication devices that are inaccessible by the advice server, and wherein the properties of the set of communication devices comprise private data of users associated with the set of communication devices;

in response to the inspector library utilizing the remote inspector methods for inspecting the properties of the set of communicating devices, returning, by the advice reader, specific properties of the set of communicating devices, configurations thereof, or file systems thereof thereby forming a set of results, wherein the private data of the users associated with the set of communication devices is filtered from the set of results;

searching, by the advice server, a database for a set of relevant entries associated with the set of results; and

responsive to identifying the set of relevant entries associated with the set of results, returning, by the advice server, advice associated with the set of relevant entries to the set of communication devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advice reader is comprised within an advice consumer;

and wherein the advice site comprises an advice provider.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the advice concerns prescription drug interaction, the method further comprising:

gathering, by the advice server, prescription drug interaction information regarding the prescription drug interaction from a set of sources; and

applying, by the advice server, advice consumer queries to determine a relevance of the prescription drug interaction information in the set of results from the advice consumer.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the advice is provided by a consolidator that authors an advisory that asserts an existence of a consumer in a travel agency customer database who has reserved passage between one location and another on or near a particular date, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the advice server, the advisory from the consolidator;

receiving, by the advice server, a set of travel plans associated with a set of customers, wherein the set of travel plans are from a set of advice consumers comprising various travel agencies that subscribe to the advice site and wherein the set of advice consumers maintain a remote inspector method which searches the travel agency customer database for customers with certain travel plans; and

responsive to the set of travel plans corresponding with the advisory from the consolidator, providing, by the advice server, the advisory to the advice consumers, wherein the travel agencies associated with the advice consumers offer a traveler passage, as provided by the consolidator, if the set of travel plans corresponding with the advisory from the consolidator.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the advice is provided by a transport entity in the form of an advisory that asserts the existence of transportation to a certain location, method further comprising:

receiving, by the advice server, the advisory from the transport entity;

receiving, by the advice server, a set of expressions of special interest indicating locations to which transportation is desired for potential transportation users, wherein the set of expressions are from a set of advice consumers associated with the potential transportation users that subscribe to the advice site and wherein the set of advice consumers maintain a remote inspector method that searches for the set of expressions; and

responsive to a set of potential transportation users'"'"' expressions corresponding with the advisory from the travel entity, providing, by the advice server, the advisory to the set of advice consumers, wherein the set of advice consumers offer transportation, as provided by the transportation entity, to the set of potential transportation users if the set of potential transportation users'"'"' expressions corresponding with the advisory from the travel entity.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the advice is an advisory from an offeror offering a transaction concerning an item, the method further comprising;

receiving, by the advice server, the advisory regarding the item from the offeror, wherein the advice site is a market maker'"'"'s advice site;

receiving, by the advice server, a set of items of interest corresponding to a set of users subscribing to the advice site, wherein the set of items of interest are from a set of advice consumers associated with the set of users that subscribed to the advice site and wherein the set of advice consumers maintain a remote inspector method that searches for the set of items of interest; and

responsive to the set of items of interest corresponding with the advisory from the offeror, providing, by the advice server, the advisory to the set of advice consumers, wherein the set of advice consumer offer the item, as provided by the offeror, to the set of users if the set of items of interest corresponding with the advisory from the offeror.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by an advice server, the advice as an advisory from an offeror, wherein the advisory offers a balance transfer to individuals having sufficient credit card balances, existing interest rates, or incomes;

receiving, by the advice server, user information with regard to any of credit card balance, existing interest rate on balance, and income, wherein the user information is from the advice consumer associated with a user and wherein the advice consumer maintains a remote inspector method that searches a user profile for the information with regard to any of credit card balance, existing interest rate on balance, and income; and

responsive to the user information corresponding with the advisory from the offeror, using, by the advice server, the user information to determine whether the user is approved for the balance transfer, wherein the advisory has credit preapproved.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by an advice server, the advice as an advisory from an offeror, wherein the advisory provides variables associated with principal, current interest, and term of an existing loan;

receiving, by the advice server, user information with regard to principal, current interest, and terms of an existing loan, wherein the user information is from the advice consumer associated with a user and wherein the advice consumer maintains a remote inspector method that searches a user profile for the information with regard to any of principal, current interest, and terms of the existing loan; and

responsive to the user information corresponding with the advisory from the offeror, providing, by the advice server, the advisory if the advisory provides a set of better terms than the existing loan.

9. An apparatus for remotely and anonymously inspecting a set of communicating devices for information of a sensitive or private nature, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to;

provide, by an advice server at an advice site, an inspector library containing executable code which is invoked as part of as continual relevance evaluation process;

initialize, by the inspector library utilizing remote inspector methods for inspecting properties of a set of communicating devices, via an advice reader associated with the set of communication devices, by performing any of mathematico-logical calculations, executing computational algorithms, returning the results of system calls, accessing the contents of storage devices, or querying the set of communicating devices, wherein the advice reader accesses the properties of the set of communication devices that are inaccessible by the advice server, and wherein the properties of the set of communication devices comprise private data of users associated with the set of communication devices;

in response to the inspector library utilizing the remote inspector methods for the properties of the set of communicating devices, return, by the advice reader, specific properties of the set of communicating devices, configurations thereof, or file systems thereof thereby forming a set of results, wherein the private data of the users associated with the set of communication devices is filtered from the set of results;

search, by the advice server, a database for a set of relevant entries associated with the set of results; and

responsive to identifying set of relevant entries associated with the set of results, return, by the advice server, advice associated with the set of relevant entries to the set of communication devices.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the advice reader is comprised within an advice consumer;

and wherein the advice site comprises an advice provider.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the advice concerns prescription drug interaction and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

gather, by the advice server, prescription drug interaction information regarding the prescription drug interaction from a set of sources; and

apply, by the advice server, advice consumer queries to determine a relevance of the prescription drug interaction information in the set of results from the advice consumer.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the advice is provided by a consolidator that authors an advisory that asserts an existence of a consumer in a travel agency customer database who has reserved passage between one location and another on or near a particular date and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive, by the advice server, the advisory from the consolidator;

receive, by the advice server, a set of travel plans associated with a set of customers, wherein the set of travel plans are from a set of advice consumers comprising various travel agencies that subscribe to the advice site and wherein the set of advice consumers maintain a remote inspector method which searches the travel agency customer database for customers with certain travel plans; and

responsive to the set of travel plans corresponding with the advisory from the consolidator, provide, by the advice server, the advisory to the one or more advice consumers wherein the travel agencies associated with the one or more advice consumers offer a traveler passage, as provided by the consolidator, if the set of travel plans corresponding with the advisory from the consolidator.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the advice is provided by a transport entity in the form of an advisory that asserts the existence of transportation to a certain location, and wherein the instructions further cause toe processor to:

receive, by the advice server, the advisory from the transport entity;

receive, by the advice server, a set of expressions of special interest indicating locations to which transportation is desired for potential transportation users, wherein the set of expressions are from a set of advice consumers associated with the potential transportation users that subscribe to the advice site and wherein the set of advice consumers maintain a remote inspector method that searches for the set of expressions; and

responsive to a set of potential transportation users'"'"' expressions corresponding with the advisory from the travel entity, provide, by the advice server, the advisory to the set of advice consumers;

wherein the set of advice consumers offer transportation, as provided by the transportation entity, to the set of potential transportation users if the set of potential transportation users'"'"' expressions corresponding with the advisory from the travel entity.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the advice is an advisory from an offeror offering a transaction concerning an item and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive, by the advice server, the advisory regarding the item from the offeror, wherein the advice site is a market maker'"'"'s advice site;

receive, by the advice server, a set of items of interest corresponding to a set of users subscribing to the advice site, wherein the set of items of interest are from a set of advice consumers associated with the set of users that subscribed to the advice site and wherein the set of advice consumers maintain a remote inspector method that searches for the set of items of interest; and

responsive to the set of items of interest corresponding with the advisory from the offeror, provide, by the advice server, the advisory to the set of advice consumers, wherein the set of advice consumers offer the item, as provided by the offeror, to the set of users if the set of items of interest corresponding with the advisory from the offeror.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to;

receive, by an advice server, the advice as an advisory from an offeror, wherein the advisory offers a balance transfer to individuals having sufficient credit card balances, existing interest rates, or incomes;

receive, by the advice server user information with regard to any of credit card balance, existing interest rate on balance, and income, wherein the user information is from an advice consumer associated with a user and wherein the advice consumer maintains a remote inspector method that searches a user profile for the information with regard to any of credit card balance, existing interest rate on balance, and income; and

responsive to the user information corresponding with the advisory from the offeror, use, by the advice server, the user information to determine whether the user is approved for the balance transfer, wherein the advisory has credit preapproved.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive, by an advice server, the advice as an advisory from an offeror, wherein the advisory provides variables associated with principal, current interest, and term of an existing loan;

receive, by the advice server, user information with regard to principal, current interest, and terms of an existing loan, wherein the user information is from an advice consumer associated with a user and wherein the advice consumer maintains a remote inspector method that searches a user profile for the information with regard to any of principal, current interest, and terms of the existing loan; and

responsive to the user information corresponding with the advisory from the offeror, provide, by the advice server, the advisory if the advisory provides a set of better terms than the existing loan.