COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVING ELECTRONIC CONTENT

• US 20090216569A1
• Filed: 12/17/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bonev
• Original Assignee: Smooth Productions Inc.
• Inventors: Bonev, Robert, Palahnuk, Samuel Louis
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,137 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/447 Temporal browsing, e.g. timeline
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/489 using time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising

Abstract

A network system for serving digital content to a graphical user interface of a user device is provided. The system includes a database storing user data including user preferences and events in a calendar of a system user; a processor configured to automatically scan the database to determine an event scheduled for a predetermined window of time; to automatically determine the event is associated with travel by the user and access one or more travel services, and to prepare content conveying a travel package customized to the event of the user; and a server to serve the content for presentation by the graphical user interface.

Claims

1. A network system for serving digital content to a graphical user interface of a user device, the system comprising:

a database storing user data including user preferences and events in a calendar of a system user;

a processor configured to automatically scan the database to determine an event scheduled for a predetermined window of time;

to automatically determine the event is associated with travel by the user and access one or more travel services, and to prepare content conveying a travel package customized to the event of the user; and

a server to serve the content for presentation by the graphical user interface.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to receive a response from the user device presenting the graphical user interface and automatically book the travel package in response.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the travel package includes at least one of a transportation ticket, a hotel reservation, and a car rental.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the travel services are one or more of a transportation company, and online travel website, a ticket agency, a travel agency.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the served content is configured to solicit a user response.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the solicited response is one of book the travel, edit the travel package, postpone booking, and cancel.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a database including graphical advertisements (GLADs) contributed by system partners wherein the processor is configured to apply filters to the user data stored by the database to determine GLADS relevant to the event and to serve the GLADS as content for presentation by the graphical user interface.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a database including graphical advertisements (GLADs) contributed by system partners wherein the processor is configured to apply filters to the user data stored by the database to determine GLADS relevant to the event and include the GLADs as part of the travel package.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein the processor is configured to save the package information in the database as part of the event on the calendar.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to parse a record stored in the database associated with the event to determine keywords associated with the event and to apply natural language interpretation to the keywords to determine the event is associated with travel.

11. A method for serving digital content from a network system server to a graphical user interface of a user device, the method comprising:

storing user data including user preferences and events in a calendar in a database of the system;

automatically scanning the database by a processor to determine an event stored in the database is scheduled for a predetermined window of time;

automatically determining by the processor that the event is associated with travel by the user and accessing by the processor one or more travel services;

preparing by the processor content conveying a travel package customized to the event of the user; and

serving the content by the server for presentation by the graphical user interface of the user device.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising receiving a response by the server from the user device presenting the graphical user interface, wherein the processor is configured to automatically book the travel package in response.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the travel package includes at least one of a transportation ticket, a hotel reservation, and a car rental.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the travel services are one or more of a transportation company, and online travel website, a ticket agency, a travel agency.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the served content is configured to solicit a user response.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the solicited response is one of book the travel, edit the travel package, postpone booking, and cancel.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising accessing by the processor a database including graphical advertisements (GLADs) contributed by system partners, applying the filters by the processor to the user data stored by the database to determine relevant GLADS, serving the GLADS as content for presentation by the graphical user interface.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising accessing by the processor a database including graphical advertisements (GLADs) contributed by system partners, applying filters by the processor to the user data stored by the database to determine relevant GLADS, and providing the GLADs as part of the travel package.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising saving the package information in the database as part of the event on the calendar.

20. The method of claim 11 further comprising parsing a record stored in the database associated with the event to determine keywords associated with the event wherein the processor is configure to apply natural language interpretation to the keywords to determine the event is associated with travel.