Systems and methods for subscription management in a multi-channel context aware communication environment

• US 8,566,414 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Freedomone Mobile, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Freedomone Mobile, Inc.
• Inventors: Prevost, Michel, Samson, Pierre Paul, Beaulieu, Francis, Perron, Yves
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US13/792,920
• Publication Number:
  US 20130191481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 225 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/203, 709/223, 709/227, 709/238, 709/249, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]

Abstract

A method may include receiving, via a first network, a message identifying an event, where the event is associated with an entity, and the event is destined for at least one user. The method may include determining, by a processor of a computing device, a type of the event, and accessing, by the processor, a user profile associated with a first user of the at least one user, where the user profile associates the first user with the entity. The method may include determining, by the processor, a communication channel for delivering information associated with the event to the first user, where the user profile includes an association between the communication channel and the type of the event. The method may include forwarding, via a second network, to the first user, the information associated with the event, where the information associated with the event is forwarded via the communication channel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, via a first network, a message identifying an event, wherein the event is associated with an entity, and the event is destined for at least one user;

determining, by a processor of a computing device, a type of the event;

accessing, by the processor, a user profile associated with a first user of the at least one user, wherein the user profile associates the first user with the entity;

determining, by the processor, a communication channel for delivering information associated with the event to the first user, wherein the user profile comprises an association between the communication channel and the type of the event, and wherein prior to determining the communication channel;

determining, by the processor, a second communication channel, wherein the second communication channel is determined based in part upon the type of the event and based further in part upon the user profile, wherein the user profile identifies the second communication channel as a primary communication channel;

forwarding, via a third network, the information associated with the event, wherein the information associated with the event is forwarded via the second communication channel, and

receiving, via the third network, an indication of failure of delivery of the information associated with the event via the second communication channel; and

forwarding, via a second network, to the first user, the information associated with the event, wherein the information associated with the event is forwarded via the communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel is one of a telephone number, an email address, a social networking account, a software application, and a machine-to-machine alias.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the information associated with the event comprises forwarding the event as one of an SMS message, an email message, and a social networking message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the type comprises a priority level.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to forwarding the information associated with the event, formatting the information associated with the event based at least in part upon the communication channel.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a message content associated with the event comprises a rich media format, the second communication channel comprises an SMS message, and formatting the information associated with the event comprises reducing the message content to plain text.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the first network, a second event, wherein the second event is associated with a second entity, and the second event is destined for the first user;

determining, by the processor, a type associated with the second event, wherein the type associated with the second event is different than the type associated with the event;

accessing, by the processor, the user profile associated with the first user;

determining, by the processor, based at least in part upon the type of the second event, the first user has not designated a communication channel corresponding to the second event; and

discarding, by the processor, the second event.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive, via a network, identification of a plurality of communication channels associated with a user, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprise at least one of an email address, a telephone number, a social media account, a software application, and a machine-to-machine alias;

create a user profile comprising the plurality of communication channels;

receive an indication of a plurality of associations, wherein each association of the plurality of associations correlates a respective communication channel with a respective event type, wherein each event type of a plurality of event types comprises at least one of an entity, a service type, and a priority;

store information regarding the plurality of associations in the user profile;

receive an event destined for the user;

determine a type of the event, wherein the plurality of event types comprises the type;

based upon the user profile, match the type of the event to a first communication channel of the plurality of communication channels, wherein prior to matching the type of the event to a first communication channel,

determine a second communication channel, wherein the second communication channel is determined based in part upon the type of the event and based further in part upon the user profile, wherein the user profile identifies the second communication channel as a primary communication channel,

forward, via a third network, the information associated with the event, wherein the information associated with the event is forwarded via the second communication channel; and

receive, via the third network, an indication of failure of delivery of the information associated with the event via the second communication channel; and

forward, via a second network, to the user, information associated with the event via the first communication channel.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first communication channel comprises a software application, and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:

receive, from a separate computing device executing the software application, peripheral data, wherein the peripheral data is obtained from a peripheral feature of the separate computing device;

identify, based at least in part upon the peripheral data, one or more contextual events;

provide, for presentation to the user via at least one communication channel of the plurality of communication channels, information associated with the one or more contextual events.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the peripheral feature comprises one of a geolocation feature, an electronic wallet feature, a near field communication feature, an optical imaging feature, a graphic image capture feature, an audio capture feature, and a biometric feature.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:

access user data from a storage device, wherein

identifying the one or more contextual events comprises identifying a first contextual event of the one or more contextual events based further in part on the user data.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein:

each service type comprises a privacy level; and

forwarding the information associated with the event via the first communication channel comprises securing the information associated with the event relative to the privacy level of a respective service type of the event.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive, via a network, identification of a plurality of communication channels and a plurality of information items associated with a user, wherein a first information item of the plurality of information items comprises at least one of a user name, a birth date, a home address, an account number, an image file, an audio file, a video file, and a biometric value;

create a user profile comprising the plurality of communication channels and the plurality of information items, wherein creating the user profile comprises associating, with each information item of the plurality of information items, at least one of a creation date, an expiration date, a privacy level, and a security level;

receive an indication of a plurality of associations, wherein each association of the plurality of associations correlates a respective communication channel with at least one of an entity, a service type, a security level, and a priority level;

store information regarding the plurality of associations in the user profile;

receive an event destined for the user;

match the event to a first communication channel of the plurality of communication channels, wherein the event is matched to the first communication channel based at least in part on one or more of a respective entity, a respective service type, a respective security level, and a respective priority level of the event, wherein prior to matching the event to a first communication channel;

determine a second communication channel, wherein the second communication channel is determined based in part upon at least one of the entity, the expiration date, the privacy level, and the security level and based further in part upon the user profile, wherein the user profile identifies the second communication channel as a primary communication channel,

forward, via a third network, the information associated with the event, wherein the information associated with the event is forwarded via the second communication channel, and

receive, via the third network, an indication of failure of delivery of the information associated with the event via the second communication channel; and

forward, via a second network, to the user, information associated with the event via the first communication channel.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to, after creating the user profile:

receive an update to a first information item of the plurality of information items, wherein the update comprises a modification to one or more of the respective privacy level and the respective security level; and

associate update information with the first information item, wherein the update information comprises one or more of an update date, an update timestamp, and an updator.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

identify availability of a new information item, wherein the new information item is provided on behalf of an entity;

determine that the user profile is associated with the entity;

alert, via a communication channel associated with the user profile, the user to the availability of the new information item;

responsive to alerting the user of the availability of the new information item,

receive new user profile information related to the new information item, and

populate the new information item with the new user profile information, wherein a respective privacy level of the new information item allows for sharing of the new user profile information with one or more additional entities different than the entity; and

provide, based at least in part upon the respective privacy level of the new information item, the new user profile information to at least one of the one or more additional entities.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to, prior to providing the new user profile information to at least one of the one or more additional entities, receive, from the at least one of the one or more additional entities, a request for access to the new information item.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein providing the new user profile information to the at least one of the one or more additional entities comprises allocating compensation for sharing the new user profile information.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the compensation comprises one or more of a points value, a coupon, and a gift certificate.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein allocating compensation comprises adding funds to a financial account associated with the user profile.