METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SENDING NOTIFICATION TO SUBSCRIBERS OF REQUESTED EVENTS

• US 20080184270A1
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac Incorporated)
• Inventors: Constance, Shawn M., Shilling, John Julius, Morris, William R., Goodwin, Kyle S., Harrison, Joshua Bruce, Cole, Raymond C.
• Application Number:
  US11/926,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20080184270A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42136 Administration or customisation of services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service

Abstract

Subscribers are notified of selected incoming events, such as fax or a memo. Subscriber profiles, stored in a database, contain data concerning at least one specified event of which a subscriber wishes to be notified and a procedure by which the subscriber prefers to be notified. When an incoming event occurs (200) data is extracted (205) from the incoming event and the database is queried (210) using the extracted data to identify at least one subscriber whose subscriber profile includes at least one item of the extracted data and the procedure by which the identified subscriber prefers to be notified (215) of the incoming event. An event notification is then prepared (220) for the incoming event in accordance with the determined procedure for the identified subscriber and the event notification is sent (225) to the identified subscriber in accordance with the determined procedure.

Claims

1. A method for notifying subscribers of the occurrence of incoming events, comprising:

receiving and storing subscriber profiles, a subscriber profile comprising data concerning at least one specified event of which a subscriber wishes to be notified and a procedure by which the subscriber prefers to be notified;

storing the subscriber profiles in a database;

receiving an incoming event;

extracting data from the incoming event;

querying the database for the extracted data to identify at least one subscriber whose subscriber profile comprises at least one item of the extracted data;

determining, from the database, the procedure by which the identified subscriber prefers to be notified;

preparing an event notification for the incoming event in accordance with the determined procedure for the identified subscriber; and

sending the event notification to the identified subscriber in accordance with the determined procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising storing the incoming event in an event database.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data concerning at least one specified event comprises at least one of a fax or a memo.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the data concerning at least one specified event comprises a condition, wherein a condition is selected from the group comprising a subject, a location, an event type, a policy number, a telephone number, or an office.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the procedure by which the subscriber prefers to be notified is selected from the group comprising a telephone call, text messaging, short messaging service, email, or a company portal.

6. The method of claim 1 and further comprising implementing the method using a database server.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the database server executes a predetermined program and wherein the method is implemented using a plug-in software module executed under the predetermined program.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein querying the database comprises sending all of the extracted data as a single query of the database.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein querying the database comprises sending all of the extracted data as a single query of the database to identify all subscribers whose profile comprises at least one item of the extracted data.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

determining the procedure comprises determining, from the database, the procedure by which each identified subscriber prefers to be notified; and

sending the event notification comprises sending an event notification to each identified subscriber in accordance with the determined procedure for each respective identified subscriber.

11. An apparatus for notifying subscribers of the occurrence of specified events, comprising:

a memory to store a subscriber profile database, a subscriber profile comprising data concerning at least one specified event of which a subscriber wishes to be notified and a procedure by which the subscriber prefers to be notified;

an event input queue and analyzer to receive an incoming event and to extract data from the incoming event;

a database manager to receive the extracted data and to query the subscriber profile database to identify at least one subscriber whose subscriber profile comprises at least one item of the extracted data and to determine the procedure by which the identified subscriber prefers to be notified;

a notification queue to prepare an event notification for the incoming event in accordance with the determined procedure for the identified subscriber, and to send the event notification to the identified subscriber in accordance with the determined procedure.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the memory is also to store the incoming event in an event database.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the event input queue and analyzer is at least operative to determine whether the incoming event is a fax or a memo.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the subscriber profile of a subscriber specifies a condition concerning at least one specified event, wherein the condition is selected from the group comprising a subject, a location, an event type, a policy number, a telephone number, or an office.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the subscriber profile of a subscriber specifies the procedure by which the subscriber prefers to be notified, wherein the procedure is selected from the group comprising a telephone call, text messaging, short messaging service, email, or a company portal.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the memory contains a predetermined program and at least one plug-in software module, wherein the database manager executes the predetermined program, and wherein the database manager executes the plug-in software module to implement the event input queue and event analyzer.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the memory contains a predetermined program and at least one plug-in software module, wherein the database manager executes the predetermined program, and wherein the database manager executes the plug-in software module to implement the notification queue.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the database manager is operative to query the subscriber profile database by sending all of the extracted data as a single query of the subscriber profile database.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the database manager is operative to query the subscriber profile database by sending all of the extracted data as a single query of the subscriber profile database to identify all subscribers whose subscriber profile comprises at least one item of the extracted data.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein:

the database manager is operative to determine, from the subscriber profile database, the procedure by which each identified subscriber prefers to be notified; and

wherein

the event notification queue is operative to send an event notification to each identified subscriber in accordance with the determined procedure for each respective identified subscriber.