REAL-TIME PROCESS FOR DEFINING, PROCESSING AND DELIVERING A HIGHLY CUSTOMIZED CONTACT LIST OVER A NETWORK

• US 20070127702A1
• Filed: 02/09/2007
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NeuStar Information Services, Inc. (Neustar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Targus Information Corporation (Neustar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shaffer, James, Moore, George
• Granted Patent: US 8,064,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/355.40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

A real-time, interactive system and method of building a list of contact records, such as a mailing list, on a computer network based on selected criteria. A list specification is generated, which may include interactively specifying a geographically defined area for which a contact list is desired including receiving user input, and interactively selecting a product from a plurality of products and a threshold score for the product including receiving user input. The list specification may be transmitted over the computer network to a server where the contact list is built in real-time based on the list specification. If a set of characteristics of the contact list, such as number of records generated or cost, are approved by the user, the contact list is transmitted to a user-specified node on the computer network. The list specification may be stored in memory for reuse by a business, such as a chain of stores. This feature provides a way to easily regenerate new and updated contact lists at future dates for all or a subset of the stores by accessing updated source databases without having to re-specify the list every time a fresh list is required.

Claims

1. A real-time, interactive method of building a contact list on a computer network based on selected criteria, the method comprising:

interactively generating a list specification in real-time, comprising interactively specifying on a server a geographically defined area for which a contact list is desired including receiving input via a user device in communication with the server via a network, and interactively specifying on the server a threshold score for selecting records for inclusion in the contact list including receiving input via the user device in communication with the server via the network;

building the contact list on the server in real-time based on the list specification;

transmitting the contact list to a specified node on the network if one or more characteristics of the contact list are approved by a user; and

wherein the characteristics of the contact list include a number of records on the contact list, the list specification for the contact list, and a cost of the contact list.