Sending advertisements to customers

• US 8,996,508 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2003
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Merenda, Ann C., Potter, Hilon
• Primary Examiner(s): HARPER, ELIYAH STONE
• Application Number:
  US10/390,956
• Publication Number:
  US 20030233357A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,396 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1, 707/8, 707/100, 707/10, 707/513, 707/104, 707/1, 707/200, 707/101, 707/999.101, 707/999.102, 707/722, 705/14
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Advertising is directed to a select list of customers. A request comprising arguments defining a customer interest group is used to perform a blind search of a database. The database comprises public and private information about a customer wherein only the public information is viewable by the search requester. An advertisement is sent on behalf of the requester to the customer address(es) of customer(s) found in the blind search such that private information is not provided to the requester.

Claims

1. A method for directing advertising to a select list of customers, the method comprising:

providing a public data set and a private data set;

giving a search requestor on a first computer access to the public data set;

said search requestor searching through said public data set and, on the basis of said searching, said search requestor identifying a record from a specific customer, said record including an identifier for said specific customer;

said search requestor sending to a viewer application, a request comprising said identifier for the specific customer, and one or more given conditions;

said viewer application on a second computer receiving said request and an advertisement to promote or make known, the advertisement to be sent to selected customers;

said viewer application using said identifier to perform a blind search through the private data set, on behalf of said search requestor, to identify one or more records in the private data set from said specific customer, and using said one or more records in the private data set, to determine whether the specific customer meets said one or more given conditions, wherein only the public information is viewable by said search requestor; and

said viewer application transmitting the advertisement on behalf of said search requestor to said specific customer at addresses found in the blind search; and

wherein;

the public data set includes code identifiers for a number of customers;

the identifying a record from a specific customer includes the step of obtaining from the public data set a respective one of the code identifiers for each of a plurality of the customers, said plurality of customers including said specific customer;

the sending to a viewer application includes the search requestor sending to the viewer application said code identifiers for said plurality of customers;

the providing a public data set and a private data set includes including in the private data set records having the code identifiers for one or more of said plurality of customers; and

the performing a blind search includes searching through the private data set for records having code identifiers matching the code identifiers received from the search requestor.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising further:

before transmitting the advertisement to the customers, the viewer application personalizing the advertisement for each of the customers that meet said one or more given conditions based on the information about the customer found in the blind search.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting step is transmitting electronic mail.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the private information comprises any one of a customer post office address, customer phone number or customer electronic address.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising further:

transmitting the advertisement to the viewer application.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the public information is provided for the blind search by a public database and the private information is provided for the blind search by a private database not directly accessible by the search requester.

17. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the public information is provided for the blind search by a public database and the private information is provided for the blind search by a private database not directly accessible by the search requester.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the viewer application is a web service.

19. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the advertisement includes a document having a multitude of fields;

the search requestor adds data, from the public data set, to a first group of said fields;

the search requester includes variables in a second group of said fields, said variables representing data to be inserted into said second group of fields;

the viewer application adds data, from the private data set, to the second group of said fields, and

said given conditions are based on data in the private data set.

6. A system for directing advertising to a select list of customers using a public data set and a private data set, the system comprising;

a network;

a computer system in communication with a search requestor and a viewer application computer systems by way of the network wherein the computer system includes instructions to execute a method comprising the steps of;

giving the search requestor on a first computer access to the public data set;

enabling said search requestor to search through said public data set and, on the basis of said searching, said search requestor identifying a record from a specific customer, said record including an identifier for said specific customer;

enabling said viewer application on a second computer to receive from the search requestor, a request comprising said identifier for the specific customer, and one or more given conditions;

said viewer application using said identifier to perform a blind search through the private data set, on behalf of said search requestor, to identify one or more records in the private data set from said specific customer, and using said one or more records in the private data set to determine whether the specific customer meets said one or more conditions, wherein only the public information is viewable by said search requestor; and

said viewer application transmitting an advertisement on behalf of said search requestor to said specific customer at an address found in the blind search; and

wherein;

the public data set includes code identifiers for a number of customers;

the identifying a record from a specific customer includes obtaining from the public data set a respective one of the code identifiers for each of a plurality of the customers, said plurality of customers including said specific customer;

the sending includes the search requestor sending to the viewer application said code identifiers for said plurality of customers;

the private data set includes records having the code identifiers for one or more of said plurality of customers; and

the step of performing a blind search includes the step of searching through the private data set for records having code identifiers matching the code identifiers received from the search requestor.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the method comprises further the viewer application personalizing the advertisement for each of the customers that meet said one or more given conditions based on the information about the customer found in the blind search.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the transmitting transmits electronic mail.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein the private information comprises any one of a customer post office address, customer phone number or customer electronic address.

10. The system according to claim 6, wherein the method comprises further:

transmitting the advertisement to the viewer application.

16. The system according to claim 7, wherein the public information is provided for the blind search by a public database and the private information is provided for the blind search by a private database not directly accessible by the search requester.

11. A computer program product for directing advertising to a select list of customers using a public data set and a private data set, the computer program product comprising a hardware storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising:

giving a search requestor on a first computer access to the public data set;

enabling said search requestor to search through said public data set and, on the basis of said searching, said search requestor identifying a record from a specific customer, said record including an identifier for said specific customer;

receiving a request from said search requestor, the request comprising said identifier for the specific customer, and one or more given conditions;

receiving from the search requestor an advertisement to promote or make known, the advertisement to be sent to selected customers in the interest group;

using said identifier to perform a blind search of a database through the private data set, on behalf of said search requestor, to determine whether the specific customer meets said one or more given conditions, wherein only the public information is viewable by said search requestor; and

transmitting the advertisement on behalf of said search requestor to said specific customer at an address found in the blind search; and

wherein;

the public data set includes code identifiers for a number of customers;

the identifying a record from a specific customer includes obtaining from the public data set a respective one of the code identifiers for each of a plurality of the customers, said plurality of customers including said specific customer;

the receiving a request from the search requestor includes the search requestor sending to the viewer application said code identifiers for said plurality of customers;

the private data set includes records having the code identifiers for one or more of said plurality of customers; and

the step of performing a blind search includes searching through the private data set for records having code identifiers matching the code identifiers received from the search requestor.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

before transmitting to a customer, personalizing the advertisement for each of the customers that meet said one or more given conditions based on the information about the customer found in the blind search.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the private information comprises any one of a customer post office address, customer phone number or customer electronic address.

14. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting the request to a blind search application, the blind search application being adapted to perform the receiving the request, the receiving the advertisement and the performing the blind search of the database, the request comprising the search arguments wherein the search arguments define the customer interest group; and

transmitting the advertisement to the blind search application, the advertisement to be sent to customers in the interest group.

20. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the storage medium is a non-transitory storage medium.