COMPUTER NETWORK BASED PERMISSIVE COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM FOR CREATING, STORING. EVALUATING. SELECTING.
AND TRANSMITTING COMMUNICATIONS
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application makes reference to. and claims pπoπty to, United States provisional application Seπal No. 60/164.092 filed November 7, 1999
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to communication via a computer network, and in particular to a permissive communication system for creating, stoπng, evaluation, selecting, and transmitting communications via a computer network. The
communications include information within one or more topics that are recognized by the system as characteπzing the communication. Characteπzing information withm topics are referred to as the Dimensions of the communication. An oπginator creates communications and specifies the communication's Dimensions The system can evaluate the communication's Dimensions to determine whether the Dimensions
satisfy specified cπteπa. A recipient receives communications b\ requesting communications by reference to the communication's Dimensions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Computer networks have become an important source of many kinds of information. Public networks, such as the Internet, provide access to many computers that make a vast amount of information available to users of the network. The large
number of sources of information makes identifying a source or sources of specific desired information difficult. Additionalh . all information that a network user may want is often not available from one. or even a reasonably small number of different sources. In that case, locating and assembling a desired collection of information becomes time consuming and in some cases, impractical. These problems often arise when a user attempts to identify manufacturers and vendors of products or providers of serv ices and to gather information about competing products and services from the providers, manufacturers and vendors. An unfortunate problem that users of a public computer network may encounter as a result of requesting information about products or services is that their network identification may be stored by those providing information over the network. Some operators of Internet websites distribute lists of user's network identifications to others who deluge network users with e-mail communications that the user did not request and does not want.
Those wishing to use the Internet or other computer networks to provide
information to an interested audience also confront a significant problem that results from the many information sources and the diversity of those sources that are connected to computer networks. Network users who are interested or are likely to be interested in receiving information concerning a product or service communicate with many information sources such as Internet websites. Identifying those sources from which interested or potentially interested users access information is a difficult problem faced b\ providers of products or services who would use the computer network to distribute information concerning products and services.
Sellers of products and serv ices expend significant efforts attempting to identify interested computer network users who w ant to receive information concerning the nature, quality, price, and other characteπstics of the seller s product or serv ice General and special interest Internet websites can attract large numbers of users having diverse interests Sellers can purchase advertising on these websites and links to the sellers' website w here the seller provides information about the sellers' products and services Sellers also purchase traditional forms of advertising, such as pπnt. television, and radio, to attract users of the Internet to the seller's website. The
seller's website provides information about products or services that the seller expects the user will believe to be important to a purchasing decision.
The difficulties that a seller encounters in attracting users of a computer network who want to receive information about the seller's products or services has discouraged some sellers from making that information available via computer
networks. Many retail businesses and local serv ice providers do not provide information about their products and services to their local customers and potential customers through a computer network as a result of such problems An additional problem facing those sellers is the uncertainty that geographically local customers would be aware of a computer network source of information about their products or
services and the cost of informing potential purchasers of the existence of a computer network source of information about their products or se ices
Vaπous services have provided information about sellers' products and services to interested purchasers and potential purchasers Those services have suffered from one or more shortcomings In general, limited information has been
available from such sources and potential purchasers' access to the information that is available has been limited These fundamental limitations deprive sellers of opportunities to interest potential purchasers and deprive potential purchasers of opportunities to ev aluate offerings that may be of interest Products or services have been difficult to identify as a result or insufficiently specific classification of advertisements tor products or services or poor search capabilities. Limitations on the type and amount of description that the service w ill provide has prevented sellers from providing enough information to users over pπor systems for users to determine whether a seller's product or service is of interest Services have not displayed to potential purchasers images, video, audio and or animated descπptions and depictions of products and services that are created by sellers nor provided resources to sellers to create advertisements including such descπptions and depictions. Further,
information has not been made available in forms that are compatible with many people s shopping practices For example, information concerning products and serv ices av ailable withm a shopping mall or by reference to a defined route through a community has not been made readily available
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present inv ention overcomes problems and disadvantages of pπor permissive communication systems for identifying information that recipients wish to recei e and prov iding requested information to recipients The system of the present invention allows a communication oπginator to create the communication including information withm one or more topics that characteπze the communication, the
recipients that have requested communications by specifying Dimensions that encompasses the Dimensions of the communication
The system according to the present invention provides resources required for creating a communication and its Dimensions. The system accepts, and the system's resources allow an oπginator to create, communications that are presented to a recipient as created by the ongmatoi Communications may include images, video, audio and or animated presentation The system allows communication oπginators to post communications on computers connected to a network, such as the Internet, through which the communication can be transmitted to a recipient's computer. The system can evaluate the communication's Dimensions to determine whether that information satisfies cπteπa for that Dimension. The system provides resources with
which a recipient can search for posted communications by specifying Dimensions of interest to the recipient or by specifying content of the communication which would identify the communication as being of interest to the recipient The system will transmit to the recipient the communications having Dimensions that satisfy the recipient's request
Accordingly , it is an object of the present invention to provide a computer
network based permissive communication system that allows an oπginator to place communications w ithm the system and that delivers those communications to recipients who hav e requested those communications
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer network based permissive communication system that allows an oπginator to create a
communication that includes Dimensions by which recipients can select
communications
Another obiect of the present invention is to provide a computer network based permissive communication ^vstem that can be used by sellers of proαucts and services to create advertisements tor their products and services and to identify those advertisements by information withm Dimensions that are relevant to products or services and by reference to which an interested recipient can request that the advertisement be transmitted to the recipient
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer network based permissive communication system that allows an oπgmator to create a communication including characteπzing Dimensions, and can evaluate one or more Dimensions to assure that the Dimensions conform to desired cπteπa.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer network based permissive communication system that that allows an oπginator to create a communication and presents the communication to a recipient in the form specified by the oπginator
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the follow ing descπption and drawings of an embodiment of a computer network based system according to the present invention
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DR A WINGS
Fig 1 is a schematic diagram depicting the functional communications of Buyers and Sellers with the preferred system of the present invention
Fig. 2 is a diagram of the preferred system's sequence of steps by which a
Seller creates an account w ithm the preferred system and identifies those who are authoπzed to access to the system on behalf ot the seller, specifies the Seller' s stores. creates advemsements. and specifies arrangements for charging the Seller for the preferred system's services.
Fig. 3 is a diagram of the preferred sy stem's sequence of steps by which a Buyer registers with the preferred system and searches the preferred sy stem for advemsements by reference to Dimensions or advertisement content. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The presently preferred embodiment of the invention is a computer network based permissive communication system that is adapted for use by communication originators that are product and/or service providers (Sellers) and by communication recipients who are purchasers or potential purchasers of the Sellers' products or
ser ices (Buyers). Sellers' and Buyers' functional communications with the presently preferred embodiment of the invention are schematically depicted by Fig. 1. Sellers create communications that are advertisements tor their products or services. The preferred embodiment of the system includes resources, commonly referred to as w izards and templates, that a Seller can use to create adv ertisements and to post those
adv ertisements on a host computer or computers programmed to execute and communicate v ia the network according to the present invention. The wizards and templates are used by a Seller to specify one or more Dimension of the advertisement. The system allows Buyers to receive advertisements by specifying advertisement
Dimensions that are of interest to the Buyer. The system provides advertisements to the Buver having the requested Dimensions.
The preferred system associates an advertisement with Dimension information
tor purposes of identifying the advertisement by specific cπteπa that Buyers frequently rely on to select advertisements. The system does not limit advertisements to information that corresponds to the Dimensions recognized by the system. Rather. the system allow s Sellers to create advertisements ha ing information and presented
by mediums and in formats that the Seller belie es most appropπate for its product or service. A Seller can advertise quality or scope of its product or service offeπngs (i.e. non-pπce, non-value oriented advertisements) in addition to specifying Dimension information. The preferred system will store a Seller's advertisements and elements of advertisements for use in later advertisements.
The Dimensions that characterize advertisements that are presently preferred
relate to location at which a Seller provides a product or service, pπce. characteπstics o products and services offered by Sellers, pπce of products and services, and pπce discounts or sales presented by advertisements. The preferred system wizards and templates aid the Seller in creating advertisements having the following Dimensions: r specific Seller location (such as a store ): r group of Seller locations ( such as a group of stores with the same store name): r- specific shopping mall or shopping center: r a specific length of time to w hich the advertisement applies: r a specific product category : r- assigning each advertisement to a specific type or category of advertisement; such as, without limitation
- percent off normal pπce
- dollars off normal pπce
- rebate
- low interest
- every day low pπce
- tree merchandise or serv ice - tree deli ery
- permanent or temporary pπce reduction r a specific pπce or discount amount.
The preferred sy stem includes wizards that allow a Seller to create advertisements that present information v ia a medium, including text, images, video, audio and animation, that can be presented by a Buyer's computer Content wizards and templates of the preteπed system allow a Seller to.
• associate images, video, audio, and animation images and descπptions of the product or service with the Seller's Advertisement; • associate images, video, audio, and animation images and descπptions of the Seller (such as a store) with the Seller's Advertisement;
The preferred system presently creates advertisements from text, audio, video, and animation provided by a Seller using both HTML and JavaScπpt, which is a service mark of Sun Microsystems. Inc The invention is not limited to systems using these conventions, but may accept and transmit any data format that is recognized and displayed by a Buyer's computer
The preferred system includes a Dimension for product categoπes The
system includes an extensiv e multi-level hierarchy of products and services having a top lev el of v ery general descπptions and descending through progressively more specific identifications to a nearly product specific level A Seller can associate a product or service with as many different identifications ithm the hierarchy as is appropπate for the advertised product or service The advertisement is then available to Buyer's searches that specify a desired product or service at different levels of
specificity. The system also associates its product and service identification hierarchy with Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to allow association of a Seller or an advertisement w ith a SIC code, and to allow a Buyer to search for advertisements by specifying the SIC code or a product Figure 2 illustrates, in diagram form, a Seller's use of the preferred system. A
Seller creates a new account withm the preferred system by providing information to the svstem concerning the Seller and the Seller's facilities A Seller identifies users of the system who are authoπzed to access the system on behalf of the Seller. A Seller also identifies its stores to the system. The system maintains information about the Seller's stores including names of the stores, addresses of the stores, malls withm which stores are located, dπving directions to stores, credit cards accepted by the stores, and other information that a Buyer could find helpful in contacting, locating, communicating with, or purchasing from a store. To maintain an account on the preferred system, a Seller must provide billing information that allo s the operator of the preferred system to bill the Seller for use of the system
As depicted by Fig. 2. after a Seller has created an account with the preferred system, the Seller's users may access the system by identifying themselves to the system. Upon recognition of the Seller's user, the system presents the Seller's home page from which the Seller's user can access the Seller's information, advertisements. and other data stored by the preferred system. From the home page, the Seller's user can change or add to information concerning the Seller's stores, users, and billing information. A Seller s user can also create advertisements for the Seller after accessing the Seller's home page. A Seller's user can examine advertisements that
are presently available to Buyers as well as pending advertisements that have been created to become available to Buyers in the future. A Seller's user can also create and edit advertisements after accessing the Seller's home page. A Seller's user can retπe e advertisements, images, and other data that the preferred system will store for
the user and use any of those to create a new advertisement or edit an existing advertisement. The Seller's users can also create a new advertisement or edit an existing advertisement using wizards and templates provided by the system.
The preferred system can also examine Dimensions of advertisements to assure that Dimension is consistent with guidelines or other cπteπa that can be
specified for a Dimension.
The preferred system includes a search engine that is compatible with the advertisements created by the system to allow Buyers to search for advertisements by specifying information within one or a combination of Dimensions, such as, without limitation:
• geographic proximity of the Buyer to Sellers ( as defined by a search radius m miles); geographic proximity of Sellers to a route defined by the Buyer; proximity by estimated travel time from the Buyer's location to the Seller: location withm a specific shopping mall or shopping center: • type of advertisement: category of advertised product or service:
Seller's name: text stπng withm the advertisement: advertised discount amount: advertised discount type: time: and pπce.
The data structure and search functions of the preferred system are based on
though the data structure and the search functions are created to meet the requirements of the system using conventional available database products.
In addition to allowing Buyers to search posted advertisements, the preferred
system accepts and stores Buyer's requests to receiv e e-mail notification of Seller's advertisements based on Dimensions selected by the Buyer. When a Seller posts an advertisement hav ing Dimension information that meets the cπteπa of the Buyer's request, the adv ertisement is transmitted to the Buyer w ithout requiπng any additional request tor the adv ertisement. As presently preferred, the system allows a Buyer to post a request that specifies Dimensions containing, without limitation:
• geographic proximity of the Buyer to the Seller (as defined by a radius in miles); geographic proximity of the Seller to a route defined by the Buyer; proximity by estimated travel time from the Buyer's location to the Seller; location specified by the advertisement within a specific shopping mall or shopping center; type of advertisement; category of advertised product or service:
Seller's name: text stπng withm the advertisement: advertised discount amount: advertised discount type; time, and advertised pπce. The preteπ*ed system provides w izards and templates with which Buyers can create a custom display , or home page, that is displayed to the Buyer upon accessing the sy stem The home page can include one or more notifications of advertisements posted on the system and advertisements based on Buyer defined Dimensions such as, without limitation*
• geographic proximity of the Buyer to Sellers based on a specific distance
• geographic proximity of Sellers along a predefined route defined by the Buyer; time; shopping mall or shopping center; type of advertisement; category of advertised product or service:
Seller name; text stπng: price.
The pπmary communication between Sellers and Buyers v ia the preferred system is passive communication. Sellers post advertisements that are stored by the system. The system provides posted advertisements to Buyers based on Buyers' requests as described above. The system stores information concerning Buyers' access to the advertisements such as number of Buyers that access the advertisement and Buyers' viewing activity of advertisements to report to the Seller the activity related to the advertisement. The Buyers who access the advertisement are not identified to Sellers. The preferred system tracks Buyer's selection of and access to advertisements through Dimensions, and includes a report generating resource with which Sellers can create reports of Buyer viewing activity of the Seller's advertisements.
In addition to the passive communication, the preferred system also provides active communication between Sellers and Buyers by allowing Buyers to inform the system that they wish to receive communications from identified Sellers. In this active system, the Buyers" identity is not provided to the Sellers. In addition to this passive and active communication descπbed above, the preferred system includes a "feedback" communication capability that allows Buyers to communicate directly
option. Using the system, a Buyer can direct an electronic message to a Seller to inquire about products or services or to purchase a product and allows Sellers to
respond to messages.
Figure 3 illustrates, in diagram form, a Buyer's use of the preferred system. A Buyer may use the system by registeπng with the system As illustrated by Fig. 3, a
Buyer who registers with the system creates a system identification referred to by Fig. 3 as "MY SLH." The Buyer can. after registeπng, create a Buyer's home page withm
which the Buyer can identify advertisements which the Buyer would like to receive upon accessing the Buyer's home page. A Buyer can identify advertisements by Dimensions that identify products by category, stores, malls, or product brands. After identifying advertisements of interest, the system will transmit to the Buyer all advertisements satisfying the Buyer's request when the Buyer logs onto the system. A registered Buyer can also request that e-mail concerning product brands, product or service categoπes. malls, or stores by creating an e-mail alert. Buyers who register with the system and Buyers who do not register with the system can access the system's search engine to identify and receive advertisements that are of interest to the Buyer. Registered Buyers access the system's search engine from the Buyer's home page. Non-registered Buyers access the system's search engine after providing a postal Zip code to geographically identify default region of interest to the Buyer. As illustrated by Figure 3. the system's search engine allows a
Buyer to search for advertisements by specifying advertisement Dimensions representing categoπes of products or services, stores, malls, brands, and by specific content of advertisements using the "Advanced Search" function.
The preferred system searches for advertisements stored on the system using
"Finders" that search based on Dimensions and advertisement content. Finders are invoked by a request from three sources: a Buyer's home page, and E-mail alert created by a Buyer, or a search request created by a Buyer. The preferred system allows a Buyer to order a product or service and pay for the purchase using a credit card. The system provides this function using
commercially available software that assures secuπty of the transaction and is recognized as acceptable by Sellers and Buyers. The specific method of processing such transactions is outside the scope of this invention and will therefor not be described.
The present invention has been described by reference to preferred embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.