System and method for providing short message targeted advertisements over a wireless communications network

• US 6,993,326 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2001
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Knapp Investment Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meadows, Vernon, Link, Charles M. II, Cardina, Donald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferguson, Keith
• APPLICATION: US 20020164977A1
• Time in patent office: 1765 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 455/457, 455/403, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/414.4, 455/422.1, 455/445, 455/517, 455/558, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/426.1, 455/426.2, 455/550.1, 455/500, 455/458, 705/14, 340/5.39, 340/7.2, 340/7.21, 340/7.22, 340/7.23, 340/7.24, 340/7.25, 340/7.26, 340/7.27, 340/7.28, 709406-408, 709/219, 709/218, 709/203
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing, e.g. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards; Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons, rebates, offers or upsales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/26 Push based network services broadcast or multicast push services H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method and system for providing targeted advertisement information to consumers over a wireless communications network. In one embodiment, local advertisers register to advertise on certain wireless communications devices that are in close proximity to the advertiser. As a consumer enters a cell site that is near the location of the advertiser, the wireless network delivers a message to the wireless device that is specified by the local advertiser. An acknowledgement signal is then received by the network, and the local advertiser'"'"'s account is charged for transmission of the advertisement. In a further embodiment, each of the messages stored in the database is also associated with one or more demographic codes, and users of wireless communications device select from one more demographic codes to describer their advertisement preferences. Messages to be transmitted to particular wireless communications devices are selected based upon both the location information and the demographics codes that are associated with the messages.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting messages over a wireless network to wireless communications devices, comprising:

storing a plurality of messages in a database, wherein each stored message is associated with one or more locations, the plurality of messages stored in the database including advertising information sponsored by a respective advertiser having a place of business within a proximity of the location associated with the message;

detecting location information of a wireless communications device;

selecting a message in the database associated with the detected location;

storing the messages to be transmitted to the wireless communications devices in a pending database;

transmitting the message stored in the pending database over a forward control channel to the wireless communications device;

receiving an acknowledgement from the wireless communications device of receipt of the transmitted message over a reverse control channel;

deleting the transmitted message from the pending database; and

storing a confirmation of the transmitted message in an account associated with the respective advertiser sponsoring the message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each wireless communications device is associated in the database with a field indicating whether to block the transmission of messages to the wireless communications device so that messages that are associated in the database with a field indicating to block the transmission of messages are not transmitted to the wireless communications devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes one or more of text, video, graphics, or audio information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications device is a cellular telephone, interactive pager, networked personal digital assistant, or automotive navigational system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the messages stored in the database is also associated with one or more demographic codes, each wireless communications device operating in the wireless network is associated with one more demographic codes, and wherein the message selected to be transmitted is associated with at least one demographic code associated with the identified wireless communications device in addition to being associated with the detected location.

6. A method for transmitting advertisements over wireless networks to wireless communications devices, comprising:

storing a plurality of advertisements in an advertisements database, wherein each advertisement is requested to be transmitted to wireless communications devices by a respective advertiser, and each advertisement is associated with one or more locations and one or more category codes;

storing information pertaining to a plurality of wireless communications devices in a devices database, wherein each wireless communications device is associated with identification data and one or more category codes;

storing in an advertisers database a list of advertisers requesting transmission of advertisements stored in the advertisements database, wherein each advertiser is associated with advertiser account information;

detecting the presence of the wireless communications device in a location;

detecting an identification of the wireless communications device;

selecting an advertisement in the database associated with the detected location and associated with at least one category code associated with the wireless communications device in the devices database;

storing the selected advertisement to be transmitted wireless communication devices in a pending database;

transmitting the selected advertisement to the wireless communications devices over a forward control channel;

receiving an acknowledgement from the wireless communications device of receipt of the selected advertisement over a reverse control channel;

deleting the transmitted, selected advertisement from the pending database; and

storing a confirmation of the transmitted, selected advertisement in the associated advertiser account information.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

updating the advertiser account information of the advertiser requesting transmission of the selected advertisement.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein advertisers access the advertisers database to add or edit requests to transmit advertisements through an Internet web page.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein users of wireless communications devices access the devices database to select from one or more category codes that correspond to the users'"'"' preferences for receiving advertisements.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the advertisements database is automatically created from requests to transmit advertisements stored in the advertisers database.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the advertisements include coupons to be redeemed with the respective advertiser.

12. A method for transmitting advertisements over a wireless network to wireless communications devices, the wireless network in communication with an advertisements database including a plurality of advertisements and a users database including identification data of a plurality of wireless communications devices, and wherein the advertisements and the identification data are each associated with at least one category code, said method comprising:

detecting identification information of a wireless communications device operating in the wireless network;

selecting an advertisement in the database associated with at least one category code that is associated with the wireless communications device in the users database;

storing the advertisement to be transmitted to the wireless communications device in a pending database;

transmitting the advertisement stored in the pending database over a forward control channel to the wireless communications device;

receiving an acknowledgement from the wireless communications device of receipt of the transmitted advertisement over a reverse control channel;

deleting the transmitted advertisement from the pending database; and

storing a confirmation of the transmitted advertisement in an account associated with an advertiser sponsoring the advertisement.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the category code indicates a category pertaining to a product or service associated with a respective advertisement.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more category codes associated with wireless communications devices indicates users'"'"' preferences in receiving advertisements.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the category code indicates a category pertaining to a time period, wherein different advertisers prefer to have advertisements transmitted during different particular time periods, and wherein different users prefer to have advertisements transmitted during different particular time periods.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless network further in communication with an advertisers database including account information of advertisers sponsoring advertisements in the advertisements database, the method further comprising:

receiving a response from the wireless communications device; and

providing notification of the response to the advertiser sponsoring the transmitted advertisement.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the advertisement is a coupon, and the response is a notification to redeem the coupon.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless communications device is operating on the wireless network in a cell location that is associated with the selected advertisement.

19. A method for transmitting advertisement coupons over a wireless network to wireless communications devices, the wireless network in communication with an advertisements database including a plurality of advertisement coupons and a users database including identification data of a plurality of wireless communications devices, wherein the advertisement coupons are associated with respective advertisers, said method comprising:

detecting identification information of a wireless communications device operating in the wireless network;

storing advertisement coupons to be transmitted to the wireless communications device in a pending database;

transmitting an advertisement coupon stored in the pending database over a forward control channel to the wireless communications device;

receiving an acknowledgement from the wireless communications device of receipt of the transmitted advertisement coupon over a reverse control channel;

deleting the transmitted advertisement coupon from the pending database;

storing a confirmation of the transmitted advertisement coupon in an account associated with the respective advertiser sponsoring the advertisement coupon.