Method and apparatus for delivering electronic advocacy messages

• US 6,311,211 B1
• Filed: 01/14/1999
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Juno Online Services Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Juno Online Services Incorporated (B. Riley Financial, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaw, David E., Stone, Roger A., Sasson, David M., Ardai, Charles E., Mani, V. S., Saraiya, Yatin
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell, Robert B
• Application Number:
  US09/229,965
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/10, 705/12, 705/14, 705/26, 709/200, 709/206, 709/207, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding

Abstract

A method of operating an advocacy network is provided. One or more users are selected based on information in a user database containing, for example, demographic or psychographic information about users as well as information identifying a representative associated with each user, such as a home address. An advocacy message is sent to a user through a first communication network, such as by sending an advocacy message associated with an e-mail message. The advocacy message may include a portion that lets the user generate an indication, such as by clicking on a portion of a computer screen. When an indication is received, a response message is sent to the representative associated with the user. The response message includes information about the user, such as the user'"'"'s name and home address, and may be sent at a pre-determined time along with response messages from other users. The response message may be an e-mail message, a facsimile message, a printed letter or a telephone call. The user can also provide answers to survey questions and/or grant permission to have his or her contact information provided to an advocacy party.

Claims

1. A method of operating an advocacy network, comprising the steps of:

accessing a user database, the user database comprising information about users and information identifying a representative associated with each user;

automatically selecting a user based on information in the user database; and

sending an advocacy message to the selected user through a first communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advocacy message includes a portion allowing the selected user to generate an indication, and further comprising the steps of:

receiving the indication from the selected user; and

sending a response message to the representative associated with the selected user, including information about the selected user, based on the received indication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the response message is sent through a second communication network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein one of the first and second communication networks comprise one of the Internet and a Public Switched Telephone Network.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the information about the selected user sent in the response message comprises a home address of the selected user.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the response message comprises one of an e-mail message, a facsimile message, a printed letter and a telephone call.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said response message is sent at a pre-determined time along with response messages associated with other users.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the response message comprises a telephone call and comprising the further steps of:

placing a telephone call to a first telephone number associated with the selected user;

placing a telephone call to a second telephone number associated with the representative associated with the selected user; and

connecting the selected user with the representative associated with the selected user.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the response message comprises one of:

pre-determined response message that cannot be altered by the selected user;

a pre-determined response message that can be altered by the selected user; and

a user generated response message.

10. The method of claim 2, comprising the further step of:

sending a follow-up message to the selected user.

11. The method of claim 2, comprising the further step of:

generating a report, including information about the indication, for an advocacy group.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising the further steps of:

asking the selected user for permission to provide contact information to an advocacy party; and

automatically providing contact information associated with the selected user to the advocacy party.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the advocacy message includes at least one survey question, and comprising the further steps of:

receiving an answer to the survey question from the selected user; and

compiling a plurality of received answers from a plurality of selected users.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about users comprises at least one of geographic, demographic and psychographic information.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein each representative is associated with a geographic area and the information identifying the elected representative comprises information associated with a home address of the selected user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of selecting comprises automatically selecting a user based on both the information about users and the information identifying a representative associated with each user.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the advocacy message comprises a message associated with an e-mail system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the advocacy message is sent to the selected user through a first communication network and is displayed to the selected user when the selected user is off-line with respect to the first communication network.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the advocacy message comprises at least one of a text, an audio, a graphical and a multimedia message.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of selecting automatically selects a plurality of users form the user database.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of selecting is performed by one of (1) comparing information a user with information about a plurality of representatives and;

and (2) comparing information about a representative with information about a plurality of users.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the advocacy messages contains information associated with the representative.

23. An apparatus for using an advocacy network, comprising:

a user database configured to store information about users and information identifying a representative associated with each user;

a processor coupled to said user database, said processor being configured to (a) access the user database, (b) select a user based on information in the user database and (c) generate an advocacy message to the selected user; and

a communications interface coupled to said processor and configured to send the generated advocacy message through a communication network.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the advocacy message includes a portion allowing the selected user to generate an indication, and wherein said processor is further configured to receive the indication from the selected user and send a response message to the representative associated with the selected user, including information about the selected user, based on the received indication.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the information about the selected user sent in the response message comprises a home address of the selected user.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the response message comprises one of an e-mail message, a facsimile message, a printed letter and a telephone call.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the response message is sent at a pre-determined time along with response messages associated with other users.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the response message comprises a telephone call automatically established between the representative and the selected user.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the information about users comprises at least one of geographic, demographic and psychographic information.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein each representative is associated with a geographic area and the information identifying the elected representative comprises information associated with a home address of the selected user.

31. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said processor is further configured to automatically select a user based on both the information about users and the information identifying a representative associated with each user.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the advocacy message comprises a message associated with an e-mail system.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the advocacy message is sent to the selected user through a first communication network and is displayed to the selected user when the selected user is off-line with respect to the first communication network.

34. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the advocacy message comprises at least one of a text, an audio, a graphical and a multimedia message.

35. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the advocacy messages contains information associated with the representative.

36. An apparatus for using an advocacy network, comprising:

means for accessing a user database, the user database comprising information about users and information identifying a representative associated with each user;

means for automatically selecting a user based on information in the user database; and

means for sending an advocacy message to the selected user through a first communication network.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the advocacy message includes a portion allowing the selected user to generate an indication, and wherein said processor is further configured to receive the indication from the selected user and send a response message to the representative associated with the selected user, including information about the selected user, based on the received indication.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the information about the selected user sent in the response message comprises a home address of the selected user.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the response message comprises one of an e-mail message, a facsimile message, a printed letter and a telephone call.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the response message is sent at a pre-determined time along with response messages associated with other users.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the response message comprises a telephone call automatically established between the representative and the selected user.

42. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the advocacy messages contains information associated with the representative.

43. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein each representative is associated with a geographic area and the information identifying the elected representative comprises information associated with a home address of the selected user.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein said means for selecting is further configured to automatically select a user based on both the information about users and the information identifying a representative associated with each user.

45. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the information about users comprises at least one of geographic, demographic and psychographic information.

46. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the advocacy message comprises a message associated with an e-mail system.

47. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the advocacy message is sent to the selected user through a first communication network and is displayed to the selected user when the selected user is off-line with respect to the first communication network.

48. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the advocacy message comprises at least one of a text, an audio, a graphical and a multimedia message.

49. An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor, the instructions which, when executed, define a series of steps for using an advocacy network, said steps comprising:

accessing a user database, the user database comprising information about users and information identifying a representative associated with each user;

automatically selecting a user based on information in the user database; and

sending an advocacy message to the selected user through a first communication network.

50. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein the advocacy message includes a portion allowing the selected user to generate an indication, and wherein said processor is further configured to receive the indication from the selected user and send a response message to the representative associated with the selected user, including information about the selected user, based on the received indication.

51. The article of manufacture of claim 50, wherein the information about the selected user sent in the response message comprises a home address of the selected user.

52. The article of manufacture of claim 50, wherein the response message comprises one of an e-mail message, a facsimile message, a printed letter and a telephone call.

53. The article of manufacture of claim 50, wherein the response message is sent at a pre-determined time along with response messages associated with other users.

54. The article of manufacture of claim 50, wherein the response message comprises a telephone call automatically established between the representative and the selected user.

55. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein each representative is associated with a geographic area and the information identifying the elected representative comprises information associated with a home address of the selected user.

56. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein said means for selecting is further configured to automatically select a user based on both the information about users and the information identifying a representative associated with each user.

57. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein the information about users comprises at least one of geographic, demographic and psychographic information.

58. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein the advocacy message comprises a message associated with an e-mail system.

59. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein the advocacy message is sent to the selected user through a first communication network and is displayed to the selected user when the selected user is off-line with respect to the first communication network.

60. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein the advocacy message comprises at least one of a text, an audio, a graphical and a multimedia message.

61. The article of manufacture of claim 49, wherein the advocacy messages contains information associated with the representative.

62. A method of operating an advocacy network, comprising the steps of:

sending an advocacy message to a user, including a portion allowing the user to generate an indication, through a first communication network;

receiving the indication from the user; and

sending, based on the received indication, a response message to a representative associated with the user, the response message including information about the user.

63. A method of operating an advocacy network, comprising the steps of:

accessing a user database, the user database comprising a home address associated with each user and information identifying a representative associated with each user;

automatically selecting a user based on both the information about the selected user and the information identifying a representative associated with the selected user;

sending an advocacy message to the selected user, advocacy message being associated with an e-mail and including a portion allowing the selected user to generate an indication;

receiving the indication from the selected user; and

automatically sending a response message to the representative associated with the selected user, including the home address of the selected user, based on the received indication.