WO2002058304A2

WO2002058304A2 - Wireless messaging system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2002058304A2
Application number: PCT/SG2002/000005
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kok Fung Lai; Cjin Pheow Lee
Original assignee: Buzzcity Pte Ltd.
Priority date: 2001-01-18
Filing date: 2002-01-17
Publication date: 2002-07-25
Also published as: SG99879A1; WO2002058304A3

Abstract

In a mobile communication network including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, such as SMS, system and method for registering their interest in a particular offer or event and for sending a notification regarding that particular event or offer. The users are required to send a message, preferably via SMS, which include a keyword relating to the offer or event of interest, to a designated address (11). Messages received at the designated address will be analysed to extract the keywords (12). Once extracted, the keywords are associated with the relevant event or offer (13), and an identifier relating to the user in turn is associated therewith (14).

Description

Wireless Messaging System and Method

FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of wireless data messaging and more particularly to the field of wireless data messaging using SMS. BACKGROUND

The advent of mobile telecommunications has resulted in communication being possible from almost any location. With this enhanced accessibility of communication, a global marketplace has developed and sales orders and/or queries of traders may now emanate from any country around the world. With such an expanded marketplace, the requirements on traders to be able to quickly and efficiently respond to consumers demands have also increased, particularly from the point of view that queries/orders may be placed 24 hours a day. Particularly for smaller traders with fewer human resources, it can be difficult for a prompt response to be made, possibly resulting in lost orders and custom. There is therefore a need for an improved communication system and method.

A further problem that exists in using mobile telecommunications for trade related purposes, is that it is often difficult to obtain contact details for customers and potential customers unless the customers are willing to offer the information. Further, while it is possible to purchase mailing lists from various sources, generally these mailing lists are not truly representative of potential customers, so their usefulness may be limited.

There is hence also a need for an improved system and method whereby traders and other entities are able to more readily obtain contact information of customers and/or potential customers.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome and/or alleviate at least one problem of the prior art. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect, the present invention provides, in a mobile communication network, including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, a method of notifying one or more entities of an event or offer including the steps of: receiving at a predetermined address a data message sent from a user, the data message including a keyword; processing the data message to extract the keyword; associating the keyword with a corresponding event or offer; associating an identifier of the user with the corresponding event or offer; and transmitting a wireless data message to the user relating to the corresponding event or offer.

According to a further aspect, the present invention provides, in a mobile communication network including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, an automated system for recording user interest in one or more events or offers, including: receiver for receiving data messages from one or more users; processor for: (i) processing the received data messages in order to extract one or more keywords from the messages; (ii) associating each extracted keyword with a .corresponding event or offer; and

(iii) associating an identifier of the user with the corresponding event or offer; transmitter for transmitting wireless data message responses to the one or more users, the message responses corresponding to the appropriate event or offer.

The essence of the present invention lies in the association of particular keywords with particular offers or events and their use in a wireless data messaging environment, particularly an SMS messaging environment. This combination of features surprisingly may be used to allow interested parties to be associated with particular offers or events and also to elicit an automated and appropriate wireless data response.

Therefore, for users to register their interest in relation to any offer, they need only know a designated contact number/address as well as a keyword associated with the offer, and this is the only information required to complete the automated registration process. This invention has many advantages for businesses and other organizations utilizing the invention, as it is an efficient and effective means for businesses to acquire customers and keep in contact with them. In this regard, the present invention allows businesses to not only provide prompt replies to customers and potential customers, but to develop a maiiing list to send information to on other matters. This is because customers and potential customers are likely to be more willing to provide their SMS contact details to traders as they will be prevailed of a useful service.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it also allows traders to significantly increase their response rate to customer demands and queries, and with it, increasing sales and customer retention.

In areas with a high mobile phone penetration level, the present invention is able to exploit this high penetration and provide an added mobile phone service, which enhances the "always-with-you" usage of the mobile phone. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a flowchart of the operation of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention has particular application to traders wanting to advertise or offer a product/service for sale or make known a particular event/promotion such as by a media publication or even a verbal notification.

For example a bookshop may advertise a particular children's story telling hour, and media advertisements could notify people that Ms. Catherine Koh would be hosting the story telling hour on November 23 at 3pm. In accordance with the present invention, this advertisement would contain a reference or keyword, such as an alphanumeric string. In this regard, the advertisement could state "For a reminder of this event, SMS 9-2-BuzzMe with message "243". Therefore, any person reading this advertisement could use a communication device with SMS capabilities, such as a mobile phone, to register their interest for a reminder. With reference to Figure 1, a person wishing to have a reminder sent to them would initiate an SMS message to the designated address (11), which in the present example is "9-2-BuzzMe". This message could consist of the keyword "243" only, or be a component of a more detailed message, such as "please send me a reminder: 243".

Once this message is received at the designated address it is processed in order to extract a recognized keyword (12), which in the present example would be the alphanumeric string "243". A look up table is then used to associate the extracted keyword with the relevant event or offer (13). In the present example, the look up table would point to information regarding the story telling session on November 23. With the relevant event identified, information relating to the user, such as the user's mobile phone number, would be associated with that event (14). This association could take many forms.

In the present example, however, the processor would store the user's mobile telephone details in a database for later use, so that the reminder could be sent to the user closer to the story telling session. Therefore, in effect, the user's interest in the relevant event would be registered. With the user registered in the database, an SMS acknowledgement of their interest could be sent, which could also confirm that a reminder for the story telling session would be sent closer to the date. Then, for example, 24 hours before the story telling session, the processor could generate an appropriate response and send this to the user's mobile phone number via SMS (15).

When the processor is registering the user in the database, the processor would first determine whether or not that user is already registered and subscribing to the messaging service. The processor would therefore interrogate the database to determine whether further information about the user is known. For example, the processor may initiate a search in the database to ascertain whether the user's mobile telephone number is already recorded and known. If known, the number may also be associated with information relating to the user, such as a name, address, demographics and other contact information. In this way, the present invention allows a trader to develop a mailing list of interested parties and subscribers.

The present invention may be applied to many different types of situations where an interest is to be registered or an SMS notification to be received of a particular event. For example, a toy store may run out of stock of a particular toy. Customers inquiring as the availability of this toy could be told to send an SMS message to 9-2-BuzzMe with keyword "toydog". Any messages received at 9-2- BuzzMe which include the "toydog" keyword would be matched with the appropriate event, which in the present instance was the particular toy being out of stock. The mobile phone number of the inquiring customer would then be saved in a database of subscribers and compiled in a list to be sent an SMS message once the particular toy was again in stock.

An embodiment of a system according to the present invention, being capable of effecting the methods of the present invention, will now be described with reference to Figure 2.

The system would be associated with a designated address, such as a particular contact number, and messages sent to that number would be received at receiver (21). The received messages would then be sent to processor (22) in order to analyze the message to ascertain whether they included a recognised reference. For instance, in the example of a toy being out of stock, as mentioned above, the processor would recognise the string "toydog".

In this regard, associated with the processor is a look up table such that the one or more references or keywords are associated with particular events or offers. It is to be appreciated that the processor may be able to recognise various different keywords for different events or offers.

Once the keyword/event association has been made, the processor also proceeds to associate an identifier of the interested party with an identifier of the relevant event offer and save this information in a database (23). Typically, the interested party identifier will be the mobile phone number that sent in the initial wireless data message. Further, the contact information regarding the interested party would be saved in a subscriber database for future use and reference, such as to send information regarding related offers and/or events. Therefore, in effect, the interested party would be placed on a mailing list of the toy store.

When it has been ascertained which offer or event is of interest to the user, the processor will use the interested party identifier and the relevant event/offer information to transmit an appropriate response and/or acknowledgement. In the example of the toy being out of stock, an acknowledgement of the user's interest may be sent immediately, and then once new stock has become available, appropriate notification would be sent to the user, as instructions would be give to the processor to send a message to all interested parties in the database that have expressed an interest in being told of such. The processor would therefore extract all entries relating to that particular event and send an SMS message to each of the interest parties via the transmitter (24). It is to be appreciated that the overall system may be owner specific, in that the keywords relate to different offers and events relevant to the one trader, or the system may be managed by a third party who manages offers and events and subscriber databases relating to a number of different traders and organisations. Variations and additions are possible within the general inventive concept as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

For example, although the invention is particularly applicable to SMS messaging, other wireless data protocols may be utilised such as WAP (wireless access protocol). Further, it is also to be appreciated that it is within the inventive concept for a single message from a user to include a plurality of keywords relating to a plurality of different events and offers of interest. In other possible variations, more than one keyword may be associated with a particular event or offer and the keyword need not be pre-designated, but may be extractable due to its association with particular offers, such as "food" for an offer from a restaurant.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. In a mobile communication network including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, a method of one or more users registering interest in an offer or event, the method including the steps of: receiving at a predetermined address a wireless data message sent from a user, the data message including a keyword; processing the data message to extract the keyword; associating the keyword with a corresponding event or offer; and associating an identifier of the user the corresponding event or offer.

2. Method of claim 1 further including the step of transmitting an SMS message response to the user which corresponds to the event or offer.

3. In a mobile communication network including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, a method of notifying one or more entities of an event or offer including the steps of: receiving at predetermined address a data message sent from a user, the data message including a keyword; processing the data message to extract the keyword; associating the keyword with a corresponding event or offer; and associating an identifier of the user with the corresponding event or offer; transmitting a wireless data message to the user relating to the corresponding event or offer.

4. Method of claim 1 or 3 wherein the wireless data message is an SMS message.

5. In a mobile communication network including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, a method of notifying one or more entities of an event or offer including the steps of: receiving at predetermined address a data message sent from a user, the data message including a keyword; processing the data message to extract the keyword; associating the keyword with a corresponding event or offer; and associating an identifier of the user with the corresponding event or offer; transmitting a wireless data message to the user relating to the corresponding event or offer.

6. Method of claim 1 wherein the keyword is associated with the corresponding event or offer via a look-up table.

7. Method of claim 2 wherein the message response sent to the user is appropriately time-delayed.

8. Method of claim 5 wherein the message received and/or the response message are SMS messages.

9. In a mobile communication network including a plurality of users having mobile communication devices with wireless data capabilities, an automated system for recording user interest in one or more events or offers, including: receiver for receiving wireless data messages from one or more users; processor for: processing the received data messages in order to extract one or more keywords from the messages; associating each extracted keyword with a corresponding event or offer; and associating an identifier of the user with the corresponding event or offer; transmitter for transmitting wireless data message responses to the one or more users, the message responses corresponding to the appropriate event or offer.

10. System of claim 9 wherein the identifier of the user is a mobile phone number.

11. System of claim 9 wherein the wireless data messages are SMS messages.