Real-time wireless e-coupon (promotion) definition based on available segment

• US 20020095333A1
• Filed: 01/18/2001
• Published: 07/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Mattila, Jouka, Suomela, Riku, Blants, Lioudmila, Jokinen, Jukka V., Pitkanen, Risto, Pienimaki, Sami
• Granted Patent: US 7,343,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.26
• 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 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0249 based upon budgets or funds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Advertising messages are provided to mobile terminals of those users identified by user information as meeting certain criteria, such as users fitting particular user profiles and/or users located in a particular desired location. The content of the advertising messages is dynamically generated based on the number of mobile terminals to whom the advertising message is to be sent and the advertising message is sent to the identified mobile terminals over a mobile network or a short range communication signal. In the latter case, location information may be sent to the mobile terminal along with an advertising message. Where the content of an advertising message comprises an electronic coupon, the value of the coupon depends on the number of mobile terminals to whom the advertising message is to be sent. A mobile terminal user can redeem an electronic coupon by transmitting it from his mobile terminal to a coupon redemption terminal.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically pricing and/or generating an advertising message to be sent to at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users, the method comprising:

selecting at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals using at least one criteria;

maintaining information about the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria;

creating an advertising message to be sent to the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals, the advertising message including content dynamically generated based on a number of mobile terminals selected using the at least one criteria to receive the advertising message;

defining a price of the advertising message based on the number of the at least one of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria;

distributing the advertising message to the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria; and

debiting a service user the price of the advertising message distributed to the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one criteria comprises at least one criteria of a group of criteria consisting of the number of mobile terminals in a specific location, profiles of the plurality of mobile terminals, a time at which the advertising message is to be sent, a business density of the service user sponsoring the advertising message, and campaign limitations of an advertisement campaign.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining user information about the mobile terminal users, and wherein the step of selecting the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals that is to be sent an advertising message comprises specifying a type of user to whom the advertising message should be provided in accordance with the obtained user information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising message comprises an electronic coupon.

5. A method of dynamically generating an advertising message sent to mobile terminal users, the method comprising:

selecting at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals using at least one specific criteria; and

creating an advertising message to be sent to the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals, the advertising message including content dynamically generated based on a number of mobile terminals selected using the at least one specific criteria to receive the advertising message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one specific criteria comprises at least one criteria of a group of criteria consisting of the number of mobile terminals in a specific location, profiles of the plurality of mobile terminals, a time at which the advertising message is to be sent, a business density of a service user sponsoring the advertising message, and campaign limitations of an advertisement campaign.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising obtaining user information about the mobile terminal users, and wherein the step of selecting the at least one of the plurality of mobile terminals that is to be sent an advertising message comprises specifying a type of user to whom the advertising message should be provided in accordance with the obtained user information.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of obtaining user information comprises obtaining at least one of user profile information and user location information.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of obtaining user location information comprises obtaining user location information from at least one element of a group consisting of a mobile terminal identifier, a cell identifier identifying a cell of a mobile communications network with which the mobile terminal is communicating, a global positioning system identifying the position of the mobile terminal, a wireless local area network with which the mobile terminal communicates, and a terminal with which the mobile terminal communicates over a short range communication link.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the content of the advertising message comprises an electronic coupon, and the method further comprises:

receiving the electronic coupon at a particular terminal of the selected mobile terminals; and

redeeming the electronic coupon by transmitting the electronic coupon from the particular terminal to a coupon redemption terminal to redeem a special offer specified in the electronic coupon.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of creating the advertising message comprises dynamically assigning a monetary value to the special offer specified in the electronic coupon, and the method further comprises specifying a second criteria for determining the monetary value of the special offer.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting the electronic coupon comprises transmitting the electronic coupon to the particular terminal over either of a short range communication link and a wireless local area network.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising validating the electronic coupon.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising tracking the use of the electronic coupon.

15. The method of claim 5, further comprising transmitting the advertising message using a short range communication transmitter located at a particular location to the selected mobile terminals, and wherein the content of the advertising message further comprises location coordinates of the short range communication transmitter.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining at a particular mobile terminal of the selected mobile terminals a current location of the particular mobile terminal using the location coordinates.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one criteria comprises at least one criteria of a group of criteria consisting of the number of mobile terminals in a specific location, profiles of the plurality of mobile terminals, a time at which the advertising message is to be sent, a business density of the service user sponsoring the advertising message, and campaign limitations of an advertisement campaign.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising obtaining user information about the mobile terminal users, and wherein the step of selecting the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals that is to be sent an advertising message comprises specifying a type of user to whom the advertising message should be provided in accordance with the obtained user information.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the advertising message comprises an electronic coupon.

17. A method of dynamically pricing an advertising message sent to at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users, the method comprising:

maintaining information about at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching at least one criteria;

defining a price of the advertising message based on the number of the at least one of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria;

distributing the advertising message to the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria; and

debiting a service user the price of the advertising message distributed to the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria.

21. A system of dynamically pricing and/or generating an advertising message to be sent to at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals, comprising:

at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals;

a network with which the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals communicates;

a server communicating with the network, the server comprising;

means for selecting at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals using at least one criteria;

means for maintaining information of the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria;

means for creating an advertising message to be sent to the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals, the advertising message including content dynamically generated based on a number of mobile terminals selected using the at least one criteria to receive the advertising message;

means for defining a price of the advertising message based on the number of the at least one of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria;

means for distributing the advertising message to the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria; and

means for debiting to a service user the price of the advertising message distributed to the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminal users matching the at least one criteria.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one criteria comprises at least one criteria of a group of criteria consisting of the number of mobile terminals in a specific location, profiles of the plurality of mobile terminals, a time at which the advertising message is to be sent, a business density of the service user sponsoring the advertising message, and campaign limitations of an advertisement campaign.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising means for obtaining user information about the mobile terminal users, and wherein the means for selecting the at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals that is to be sent an advertising message comprises means for specifying a type of user to whom the advertising message should be provided in accordance with the obtained user information.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the advertising message comprises an electronic coupon.

26. The communication system of claim 25, wherein the at least one specific criteria comprises at least one of a group consisting of the number of mobile terminals in a specific location, profiles of the plurality of mobile terminals, a time at which the electronic coupon message is to be sent, a business density of a service user sponsoring the electronic coupon message, and advertisement campaign limitations of an advertisement campaign.

27. The communication system of claim 25, wherein the information in the database comprises user profile information compiled from users of the plurality of mobile terminals.

28. The communication system of claim 25, wherein the information in the database comprises user location information for at least one of an element of a group consisting of a mobile terminal identifier, a cell identifier identifying a cell of a mobile communications network with which the mobile terminal is presently communicating, a global positioning system identifying the position of the mobile terminal, a wireless local area network with which the mobile terminal communicates, and a terminal with which the mobile terminal communicates over a short range communication link.

29. The communication system of claim 25, wherein the content of the electronic coupon message comprises an electronic coupon, and the communication system further comprises a coupon redemption terminal to which the electronic coupon may be transmitted for redemption of the electronic coupon after receipt of the electronic coupon at a particular mobile terminal of the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals.

30. The communication system of claim 29, wherein the electronic coupon specifies a special offer having a dynamically assigned monetary value, and the communication system further comprises a second criteria for determining the monetary value of the special offer.

31. The communication system of claim 29, further comprising one of a short range communication link and a wireless local area network for transmitting the electronic coupon to the particular mobile terminal of the selected mobile terminals.

32. The communication system of claim 29, wherein the communication system further comprises a validation procedure for verifying the authenticity of the electronic coupon.

33. The communication system of claim 29, further comprising a tracking procedure for tracking the use of the electronic coupon.

34. The communication system of claim 25, wherein the transceiver comprises a short range communication transmitter located at a particular location to transmit the electronic coupon message to the selected mobile terminals, and wherein the content of the electronic coupon message further comprises location coordinates of the short range communication transmitter.

25. A communication system for providing an advertising message to a plurality of mobile terminals, the system comprising:

a dedicated server communicating with a communications network for updating a database including information selecting at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals using at least one specific criteria;

an advertising message to be sent to the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals including content to be sent to the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals, the content of the advertising message being dynamically generated based on a number of mobile terminals selected using the at least one specific criteria to receive the advertising message before being sent to the selected mobile terminals; and

a transceiver communicating with the dedicated server for transmitting the advertising message to the selected at least one of a plurality of mobile terminals.