System and method for managing multiple sub accounts within a subcriber main account in a data distribution system

• US 8,677,463 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2008
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Piepenbrink, David, Sofos, James Y., Chow, Lee M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Teshome
• Application Number:
  US12/329,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20100146607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,929 Days
• Field of Search: 726/6, 726/7, 725/9, 725/28, 725/30, 709/228
• US Class Current: 726/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A computer readable storage medium is disclosed having a computer program stored therein, which in a particular embodiment, the computer program includes but is not limited to machine readable instructions that when executed by a computer manage a plurality of sub accounts under a main account in a data distribution system, the computer program including but not limited to instructions to assign the plurality of sub accounts under the main account in a main account data structure at a server in the data distribution system; instructions to assign a plurality of end user devices to each one of the plurality of sub accounts; and instructions to receive end user device attribute data from at least one of the end user devices to the main account data structure after the attribute data is created at the at least one end user device.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, having a computer program stored therein, the computer program comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by a computer manage a plurality of sub accounts under a main account in a data distribution system, the computer program comprising:

instructions to assign the plurality of sub accounts under the main account in a main account data structure at a server in the data distribution system, wherein each one of the plurality of subaccounts is assigned to a particular one of a plurality of end users;

instructions to assign a plurality of end user devices used by the particular one of the plurality of end users to the one of the plurality of sub accounts assigned to the particular one of the plurality of end users, wherein the plurality of end user devices assigned to the sub account share features assigned to the particular one of the plurality of end users at a sub account level;

instructions to receive end user device attribute data from at least one of the end user devices to the main account data structure after the attribute data is created at the at least one end user device;

instructions to determine a preferred end user device type, preferred data format and preferred time of day for the particular one of the plurality of end users; and

instructions to send advertising data to the particular one of the plurality of end users on the preferred end user device type, in the preferred data format at the preferred time of day.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the end user device attributes data are stored in the main account data structure and the end user device attributes data further comprise data selected from the group consisting of favorite data and end user PIN data, the computer program further comprising:

tracking end user device activity for each type of end user device assigned to the sub-account by time of day, type of end user activity and data format to determine a preferred end user device type, preferred data format and preferred time of day.

3. The medium of claim 2, the computer program further comprising instructions to receive main PIN data from one of the end user devices;

instructions to access an end user PIN in main account data associated with the one end user device;

instructions to send the end user device PIN to the one end user device for entry in place of the main PIN on the end user device; and

instructions to send targeted advertising to the end user device type, in the preferred data format at the preferred time of day.

4. The medium of claim 1, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to assign features data to one sub account in the plurality of sub accounts;

instructions to assign the feature data from the features data assigned to the one sub account down to the plurality of end user devices assigned to the one sub account; and

instructions to send feature data to the plurality of end user devices, wherein the features data assigned to the plurality of end user devices is selected from the set consisting of spending limit data, parental control data and main personal identification code (PIN) data, the computer program further comprising instructions to send the feature data to the plurality of end user devices upon activation of one of the end user devices.

5. The medium of claim 1, the computer program further comprising instructions to

receive end user activity data from the end user devices assigned to the one sub account;

and instructions to store the end user activity data in the one sub account in the main account data structure.

6. The medium of claim 5, wherein the end user device activity is received at the server in near real time, the computer program further comprising instructions to

create a sub account profile for an end user profile in the main account data structure associated with the one sub account.

7. The medium of claim 6, the computer program further comprising instructions to

send targeted advertising data to the end user devices for the one sub account based on the end user profile for the one sub account.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the end user activity data further comprises data selected from the set consisting of data indicating a preferred end user device type, a preferred time of day and a preferred advertising data format.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the preferred advertising data format further comprises format data selected from the set consisting of audio data, short messaging service data, instant messaging data, JPEG data and video data.

10. A system for managing a plurality of sub accounts under a main account in a data distribution system, the system comprising:

a first processor interface for assigning each one of the plurality of sub accounts under the main account to a particular one of a plurality of end users;

a second processor interface for assigning a plurality of end user devices to each one of the plurality of sub accounts, wherein end user devices assigned to the sub account share features at a sub account level;

a third processor interface for receiving end user device attribute data from at least one of the end user devices to store in the main account data structure after the attribute data has been created at the at least one end user device;

a fourth processor interface to receive main PIN data from one of the plurality of end user devices;

a fifth processor interface to access end user PIN data in the main account data associated with the end user device;

a sixth processor interface to send the end user device PIN data to the end user device for entry at the end user device in place of the main PIN; and

a seventh processor interface to track end user device activity for each type of end user device assigned to the sub-account by time of day, type of end user activity and data format to determine a preferred end user device type, preferred data format and preferred time of day and send targeted advertising to the end user device type, in the preferred data format at the preferred time of day.

11. The system of claim 10, the system further comprising:

an eighth processor interface to send feature data to the plurality of end user devices, wherein the features data assigned to the plurality of end user devices is selected from the set consisting of spending limit data, parental control data and main personal identification code (PIN) data; and

a ninth processor interface to send the feature data to the plurality of end user devices upon activation of one of the end user devices and send targeted advertising to the end user device type, in the preferred data format at the preferred time of day.

12. The system of claim 11, the system further comprising:

a tenth processor interface to receive end user activity data from the end user devices assigned to the one sub account; and

an eleventh processor interface to store the end user activity data in the one sub account in the main account data structure.