SELECTIVE COMMUNICATION OF MESSAGES

• US 20130018707A1
• Filed: 09/15/2012
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amit D. Agarwal, Jeffrey P. Bezos
• Original Assignee: Amit D. Agarwal, Jeffrey P. Bezos
• Inventors: Agarwal, Amit D., Bezos, Jeffrey P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,807,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A message originator may generate messaging data for selective communication by a messaging provider via an interface generated by a browser software application. The user may also interact with various content providers such that event data is generated based on the user interaction with each content provider. The messaging provider can then obtain the messaging data and the event data to determine a target set of messages to be published. Additionally, the messaging provider can select a set of message recipients to receive, or otherwise access, the target set of messages based on filtering criteria submitted by the message originator, content provider, service provider, and/or message recipients. Credit may be allocated based on activity associated with the communicated messages. The messaging provider may also facilitate additional interaction between the message originator and the message recipients including the initiation of additional communication channels.

Claims

1. A system for managing message communications comprising:

an interface for obtaining at least one of messaging data and event data associated with a message originator, wherein the messaging data corresponds to at least text-based data generated by the message originator and wherein the event data corresponds to interaction of the message originator with at least one network resource;

a data processing component for processing the at least one of messaging data and event data to identify messages to be selectively communicated to a set of message recipients, wherein the messages to be selectively communicated include at least one selectable control accessible by the set of message recipients such that selection of the at least one selectable control results in the allocation of an incentive associated with the selection; and

a messaging interface component for filtering the set of message recipients based on filtering criteria provided by the message originator, wherein the filtering criteria provided by the message originator corresponds to an identification of potential message recipients defined according to a social graph associated with the message originator.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the messaging data corresponds to multi-media data.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the data processing component processes the at least one of messaging data and event data to provide additional information for the identified messages to be published to the set of message recipients.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the additional information corresponds to information associated with the message originator.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one selectable control corresponds to one or more hyperlinks, wherein the hyperlinks are associated with content generated from the processed at least one of messaging data and event data.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the filtering criteria further corresponds to filtering criteria provided by at least one of the set of message recipients.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the filtering criteria provided by the at least one of the set of message recipients includes criteria for electing receipt of the messages corresponding to message originators identified in a social graph associated with the at least one of the set of message recipients.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the filtering criteria further comprises filtering criteria provided by a content provider associated with the network resource.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the filtering criteria provided by the content provider associated with the network resource corresponds to an identification of potential message recipients defined according to a social graph associated with the content provider.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least some of the event data is provided by a service provider.

11. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the allocation of an incentive associated with the selection corresponds to the allocation of an incentive to the message originator.

12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the allocation of an incentive associated with the selection corresponds to the allocation of an incentive to at least one of the message originator, a content provider associated with the at least one network resource and a provider associated with the messaging interface component.

13. A method for selectively communicating messages comprising:

obtaining at least one of messaging data and event data, wherein the messaging data is generated by a message originator and wherein the event data is associated with a message originator'"'"'s interaction with a network resource;

processing the at least one of messaging data and event data to determine one or more messages to be selectively communicated to message recipients as a function of the at least one of messaging data and event data;

causing the selective communication of the one or more messages to be communicated to a set of message recipients, wherein the set of message recipients is selected as a function of filtering rules provided by at least one of the message originator and at least one of the set of message recipients; and

causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein processing the at least one of messaging data and event data corresponds to including at least one selectable control in at least one of the one or more messages to be selectively communicated to the set of message recipients.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the at least one selectable control includes at least one embedded hyperlink based on a subject matter associated with the messaging data.

16. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated corresponds to causing the allocation of a credit based on a selection of the at least one selectable control by at least one of the set of message recipients.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients includes causing the allocation of a credit based on a successful communication of one or more messages to the set of message recipients.

18. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients includes causing the allocation of a credit based on completion of a purchase by at least one of the set of message recipients.

19. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients includes causing the allocation of a credit to the message originator.

20. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients includes causing the allocation of a credit to a service provider associated with the selective communication of the one or more messages.

21. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein causing the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients includes causing the allocation of a credit to a content provider associated with the event data.

22. A method for selectively communicating messages comprising:

obtaining at least one of messaging data and event data, wherein the messaging data is generated by a message originator and wherein the event data is associated with a message originator'"'"'s interaction with a network resource;

processing the at least one of messaging data and event data to determine one or more messages to be selectively communicated to message recipients as a function of the at least one of messaging data and event data;

causing the selective communication of the one or more messages to be published to a set of message recipients, wherein the set of message recipients is determined as a function of filtering rules provided by at least one of the message originator and at least one of the set of message recipients; and

obtaining at least one message submitted by a subsequent message originator, wherein the at least one message submitted by a subsequent message originator is based on at least one selectively communicated message and wherein the at least one message submitted by the subsequent message originator includes at least one control for facilitating additional interaction between the message originator and the subsequent message originator.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the at least one control corresponds to a control operative to initiate a direct communication channel between the original message originator and the subsequent message originator.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the direct communication channel corresponds to a voice over IP communication channel.

25. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the subsequent message originator is a service provider.

26. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the at least one of messaging data and event data corresponds to a message originator submitted question.

27. A system for managing the selective communication of messages comprising:

a data store operative to maintain processing rules corresponding to at least one of messaging data and event data and filtering data for selecting a set of message recipients; and

a computing device in communication with the data store and that is operative to;

process at least one of messaging data and event data according to the processing rules in the data store, wherein the messaging data is generated by a message originator and wherein the event data is associated with a message originator'"'"'s interaction with a network resource;

cause the selective communication of one or more messages to message recipients, wherein the one or more messages are generated as a function of at least one of messaging data and event data and wherein the message recipients are selected as a function of the filtering data from the data store; and

cause the allocation of a credit based on activity associated with the one or more messages selectively communicated to the set of message recipients.

28. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the computing device is further operative to generate one or more messages with at least one selectable control.

29. The system as recited in claim 28, wherein the computing device is operative to cause the allocation of a credit based on a selection of the at least one selectable control by at least one of the message recipients.

30. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the computing device is operative to cause the allocation of a credit based on a successful communication of one or more messages to the message recipients.

31. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the computing device is operative to cause the allocation of a credit based on accessing of a network resource by at least one of the set of message recipients.

32. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the allocation of an incentive based on activity associated with the one or more messages corresponds to the allocation of an incentive to the message originator.

33. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the allocation of an incentive based on activity associated with the one or more messages corresponds to the allocation of an incentive to at least one of the message originator, a content provider associated with the network resource and a provider associated with a messaging interface component.

34. A system for managing the selective communication of content comprising:

a data store operative to maintain processing data corresponding to at least one of messaging data and event data and filtering data for selecting a set of message recipients; and

a computing device in communication with the data store and that is operative to;

process at least one of messaging data and event data according to the processing rules in the data store, wherein the messaging data is generated by a message originator and wherein the event data is associated with a message originator'"'"'s interaction with a network resource;

cause the selective communication of one or more messages to message recipients, wherein the one or more messages are generated as a function of at least one of messaging data and event data and wherein the message recipients are selected as a function of the filtering data from the data store; and

obtaining at least one message submitted by a subsequent message originator, wherein the at least one message submitted by a subsequent message originator is based on at least one selectively communicated message and wherein the at least one message submitted by the subsequent message originator includes at least one control for facilitating additional interaction between the message originator and the subsequent message originator.

35. The system as recited in claim 34, wherein the at least one control corresponds to a control operative to initiate a direct communication channel between the original message originator and the subsequent message originator.

36. The system as recited in claim 34, wherein the subsequent message originator corresponds to a message recipient previously qualified to obtain the selectively communicated message.

37. The system as recited in claim 34, the subsequent message originator corresponds to a service provider.

38. The system as recited in claim 37, wherein the service provider is associated with the content provider.

39. A method for generating messaging data comprising:

generating at least one control for obtaining at least one of messaging data and event data, wherein the control is generated on a browser software application independent of a network resource being rendered by the browser software application;

obtaining a user manipulation of the at least one control; and

transmitting the user manipulation of the at least one control, wherein the transmission of the user manipulation is operative to request publication of a message on behalf of a message originator associated with the browser software application.

40. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein the at least one control corresponds to a control for obtaining messaging data from the message originator.

41. The method as recited in claim 40, wherein the messaging data corresponds to text-based messaging data.

42. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein the at least one control corresponds to a control for obtaining event data from the message originator, wherein the event data corresponds to interaction with a network resource via a communication network.

43. The method as recited in claim 42, wherein the at least one control for obtaining event data corresponds to a control for publishing a resource identifier associated with the network resource.

44. The method as recited in claim 42, wherein the at least one control for obtaining event data corresponds to a control for publishing a resource identifier associated with the network resource and at least a subject matter of the network resource.

45. The method as recited in claim 42, wherein the at least one control for obtaining event data corresponds to a control for requesting assistance with the network resource.