Electronic communication service
First Claim
1. An electronic communication service method comprising:
- subscribing users to the electronic communication service using conventional name and conventional postal address information;
subscribing businesses to the electronic communication service;
receiving direct mail advertising materials from the businesses; and
sending the direct mail advertising materials to the users over the Internet using the conventional name and conventional postal address information.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic communication service is provided to which a user can subscribe and receive direct online mailings from member businesses while aggregating personal mail from across several electronic mail identifiers. A user can log into the service, provide information in the form of a name, address, and other demographic information, and the system then generates a personalized account. The user can solicit online mailings from member businesses by selecting the types and sources of offers the user wishes to receive. Member businesses can generate online mailings and can target same based on user demographic information. Businesses can provide conventional postal mailing address lists, and the electronic communication service of the present invention can convert same into an electronic mail list by matching conventional postal addresses to user electronic mail addresses based upon user provided information. In processing of email between businesses and users, the system automatically translates and substitutes name and address with electronic mail identifiers such that a user'"'"'s electronic mail identification is never provided to the business. Finally, SPAM is filtered from the system by comparing all mail to a SPAM database so that only mail originating from a solicited member business is delivered to subscribed users.
55 Citations
44 Claims
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1. An electronic communication service method comprising:
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subscribing users to the electronic communication service using conventional name and conventional postal address information;
subscribing businesses to the electronic communication service;
receiving direct mail advertising materials from the businesses; and
sending the direct mail advertising materials to the users over the Internet using the conventional name and conventional postal address information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An electronic communication service method for a user comprising:
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subscribing to the electronic communication service through a user interface using conventional name and conventional postal address information;
obtaining an account;
providing user preferences; and
receiving over the Internet mailing information offered by businesses over the electronic communication service and matched to said user preferences based upon said conventional name and said conventional postal address information. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An electronic communication service method for a business comprising:
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subscribing to the electronic communication service;
obtaining a business account;
providing direct mail advertising materials from the business to the electronic communication service;
providing conventional name and conventional postal address information from the business to the electronic communication service; and
allowing the service to send said direct mail advertising materials to a plurality of users over the Internet using said conventional name and said conventional postal address information provided by the business. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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29. A method of screening undesired electronic mail in an electronic communication service which comprises:
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scanning an incoming mail message for an incoming sending source designation, an incoming domain designation, and an incoming text body;
generating a plurality of comparison index values from the incoming source designation, the incoming domain designation, and the incoming text body; and
identifying the incoming mail message as undesirable in response to a positive comparison between said plurality of comparison index values and known SPAM sources. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method of providing an electronic communication service at a remote location comprising:
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providing software at the remote location;
subscribing users at the remote location using conventional name and conventional postal address information;
subscribing businesses to the electronic communication service;
receiving direct mail advertising materials from the businesses at the remote location;
connecting the remote location to the electronic communication service; and
sending the direct mail advertising materials to the users over the Internet using the conventional name and conventional postal address information. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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37. An electronic communication service apparatus comprising:
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means for subscribing users to said electronic communication service apparatus using conventional name and conventional postal address information;
means for subscribing businesses to said electronic communication service apparatus;
means for receiving direct mail advertising materials from said businesses; and
means for targeting said direct mail advertising materials to said users over the Internet using said conventional name and said conventional postal address information;
wherein when said users and said businesses are subscribed to said electronic communication service apparatus, said direct mail advertising materials are retrieved from said businesses and targeted to said users. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification