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| United States Patent Application |
20150199725
|
| Kind Code
|
A1
|
|
Aaltonen; Janne
; et al.
|
July 16, 2015
|
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DELIVERING ADVERTISEMENTS TO MOBILE TERMINALS
Abstract
Method and system for targeted advertising of goods and services to users
of mobile terminals, based for example on the users' profile. Goods and
services are marketed to particular target groups of users sharing a
common profile which may be selected to increase the likelihood of the
users responding to the advertisements and purchasing the advertised
goods and services. The common profile of users may be based on the
amount of pre-paid credit available to each user. An advantage of such
targeted advertising is that only advertisements for goods and services
which particular users can afford, are delivered to these users.
| Inventors: |
Aaltonen; Janne; (Turku, FI)
; Ahopelto; Timo; (Helsinki, FI)
|
| Applicant: | | Name | City | State | Country | Type |
Apple Inc. |
Cupertino |
CA |
US |
| |
|---|
| Family ID:
|
39271911
|
| Appl. No.:
|
14/667472
|
| Filed:
|
March 24, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
| | | | |
|---|
|
| Application Number | Filing Date | Patent Number |
|---|
| | 12220842 | Jul 29, 2008 | |
| | 14667472 | | |
| | 12157390 | Jun 10, 2008 | |
| | 12220842 | | |
| | 60936644 | Jun 20, 2007 | |
|
|
| Current U.S. Class: |
705/14.53 |
| Current CPC Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 30/0201 20130101; G06Q 30/0204 20130101; G06Q 30/0277 20130101; G06Q 30/0601 20130101; G06Q 30/0255 20130101; G06Q 30/0267 20130101; H04M 15/61 20130101 |
| International Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101 G06Q030/02; H04M 15/00 20060101 H04M015/00 |
Foreign Application Data
| Date | Code | Application Number |
|---|
| Feb 19, 2008 | GB | 0802986.0 |
Claims
1. A system for selecting content items for transmission to a user of a
mobile terminal via a communications network, each said content item
being associated with an object to be purchased by the user, the system
comprising: interface means for receiving data indicative of at least one
said content item; means for deriving a credit status of the user in
relation to one or more objects, each object corresponding to the at
least one said content item and said credit status being derivable from a
billing system arranged to record usage of the communications network by
the user; and means for generating a message containing a content item,
said item being selected on the basis of the derived credit status, and
selectively delivering the generated message to the user via the
communications network.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein said interface means is arranged to
receive the content item from an electronic messaging system, and the
generated message provides means for enabling the user to respond to a
delivered content item to enable provision of the associated object to
the user.
3. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for accessing a
database holding user profile data, wherein the deriving means is
arranged to access the database to determine whether the user satisfies a
target user profile for delivery of the content item and to selectively
identify the credit status for the user in the event that the user
satisfies a predetermined user profile in respect of the content item.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is arranged to access a
credit recording system holding data indicative of the credit status of
the user to derive said credit status of the user.
5. The system of claim 4, further comprising means for enabling the user
of the mobile terminal to respond to a delivered content item and
purchase an object associated therewith.
6. The system of claim 4, further comprising account management means
arranged to identify actual credit associated with the user, wherein the
identifying means is arranged to apply a function to the actual credit so
as to identify said credit status.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein there is a plurality of content items,
each for a different object, said identifying means being arranged to
identify the credit status for each said object in an order dependent on
the purchase price thereof.
8. The system of claim 4, wherein said means for deriving a credit status
of the user are arranged such that the content item delivered to the user
includes only one or more objects having a purchase price less than or
equal to the available credit for that user.
9. The system of claim 4, wherein the content item comprises a plurality
of content items, each corresponding to a different set of a plurality of
objects, and said deriving means are arranged to derive the credit status
associated with the user in respect of each said set of objects so as to
select one of the content items for delivery to the user.
10. A method for delivering content items to a user of a mobile terminal
using a communications network each said content item being associated
with an object to be purchased by the user, comprising: receiving data
indicative of at least one said content item to be delivered to the
mobile terminal, accessing a billing system arranged to record usage of
the communications network by the user so as to identify a credit status
of the user in relation to at least one object associated with said at
least one content item; selecting a content item for delivery to the user
via the communications network on the basis of the credit status
identified; and generating a message containing the selected content
item, and selectively delivering the generated message to the user via
the communications network.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving data indicative
of the content item from an electronic messaging system, and generating a
message for delivery to the electronic messaging system to enable
provision of the associated object to the user.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising accessing a database
holding user profile data so as to determine whether the user satisfies a
target user profile for delivery of the content item, and selectively
identifying the credit status for the user in the event that the user
satisfies a predetermined user profile in respect of the content item.
13. The method of claim 10, further comprising accessing a credit
recording system holding data indicating actual credit associated with
the user and applying a function to the actual credit so as to identify
said credit status.
14. The method of claim 10, wherein there is a plurality of content
items, each for a different object, the method further comprising
identifying the credit status for each said object in an order dependent
on the purchase price thereof and delivering the selected content item to
the user's mobile terminal in order based on purchase price.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored
therein instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the
processor to perform operations comprising: receive data indicative of at
least one content item to be delivered to a mobile terminal, said content
item being associated with an object to be purchased by a user; access a
billing system arranged to record usage of a communications network by
the user so as to identify a credit status of the user in relation to at
least one object associated with at least one content item; select a
content item for delivery to the user via the communications network on
the basis of the credit status identified; and generate a message
containing the selected content item, and selectively delivering the
generated message to the user via the communications network.
16. The storage medium of claim 15, further comprising: receive data
indicative of the content item from an electronic messaging system; and
generate a message for delivery to the electronic messaging system to
enable provision of the associated object to the user.
17. The storage medium of claim 15, further comprising: access a database
holding user profile data so as to determine whether the user satisfies a
target user profile for delivery of the content item; and selectively
identify the credit status for the user in the event that the user
satisfies a predetermined user profile in respect of the content item.
18. The storage medium of claim 15, further comprising: access a credit
recording system holding data indicating actual credit associated with
the user; and apply a function to the actual credit so as to identify
said credit status.
19. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein there is a plurality of
content items, each for a different object, further comprising: identify
the credit status for each said object in an order dependent on the
purchase price thereof; and deliver the selected content item to the
user's mobile terminal in order based on purchase price.
20. A system for selecting content items for transmission to a user of a
mobile terminal via a communications network, each said content item
being associated with an object to be purchased by the user, the system
comprising: an interface configured to receive data indicative of at
least one said content item; a delivery element configured to derive a
credit status of the user in relation to one or more objects, each object
corresponding to the at least one said content item and said credit
status being derivable from a billing system arranged to record usage of
the communications network by the user; and wherein the delivery element
is further configured to generate a message containing a content item,
said item being selected on the basis of the derived credit status, and
selectively delivering the generated message to the user via the
communications network.
21. The system of claim 20, wherein said interface is arranged to receive
the content item from an electronic messaging system, and the generated
message provides a selectable element for enabling the user to respond to
a delivered content item to enable provision of the associated object to
the user.
22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a database holding user
profile data, wherein the delivery element is arranged to access the
database to determine whether the user satisfies a target user profile
for delivery of the content item and to selectively identify the credit
status for the user in the event that the user satisfies a predetermined
user profile in respect of the content item.
23. The system of claim 20, wherein the system is arranged to access a
credit recording system holding data indicative of the credit status of
the user to derive said credit status of the user.
24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a purchasing element for
enabling the user of the mobile terminal to respond to a delivered
content item and purchase an object associated therewith.
25. The system of claim 23, wherein the delivery element is further
configured to access a credit extending facility to identify actual
credit associated with the user and to apply a function to the actual
credit so as to identify said credit status.
26. The system of claim 25, wherein there is a plurality of content
items, each for a different object, and wherein the delivery element is
arranged to identify the credit status for each said object in an order
dependent on the purchase price thereof.
27. The system of claim 23, wherein the delivery element is arranged such
that the content item delivered to the user includes only one or more
objects having a purchase price less than or equal to the available
credit for that user.
28. The system of claim 23, wherein the content item comprises a
plurality of content items, each corresponding to a different set of a
plurality of objects, and said delivery element is arranged to derive the
credit status associated with the user in respect of each said set of
objects so as to select one of the content items for delivery to the
user.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 12/157,390 filed Jun. 10, 2008, which claims the benefit under 35 USC
119 of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/936,644 filed Jun.
20, 2007 and GB Application No. GB802986 filed Feb. 19, 2008, the entire
disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for
delivering advertisements to mobile terminals, and more particularly to
methods and systems for delivering advertisements to mobile terminals in
order to generate sales directly from such advertisements.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
[0003] Usage of cellular or mobile telephones is very popular and common.
In a typical arrangement for use of a mobile telephone, a user subscribes
to a mobile telephone service offered by a mobile telephone operator or
carrier and enters into a pre-paid or post-paid plan with the mobile
telephone operator. A pre-paid subscription plan is usually an
arrangement where the user pays in advance for the telephone services to
be used over a future period of time. A post-paid subscription plan is
usually an arrangement where the user pays for the telephone services
after using the services.
[0004] The services available using the mobile telephone may be voice
services (i.e., making and receiving telephone calls), messaging services
such as Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS),
data services such as Internet browsing or Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP) browsing, video calls, downloading content, streaming content,
purchasing applications such as games or other software, using location,
guidance or navigation services, finding information, and communicating
with a group of people and others.
[0005] The popularity of mobile telephones has also enabled their use,
along with related infrastructure, as a media for providing mobile
marketing, i.e., advertisements to the users of the telephones.
[0006] In addition, the ubiquitous presence of mobile telephones has
caused the development of business models and companies dedicated to
selling tangible goods and services in response to orders placed via the
Internet or through use of other ordering systems, such as telephone
services. Examples of such companies include Amazon.com, eBay, Dominos
Pizza, DVD delivery companies such as Netflix, food delivery companies,
etc.
[0007] Some companies have expanded on the sale of goods and services
delivered in response to orders placed via the Internet and sell digital
or intangible goods and services such as ring tones, videos, television
programs, games, software, applications, music, etc. in response to
orders placed via the Internet and/or through the use of mobile
telephones. Other companies sell tickets for public transportation, to
movie theaters and the like in response to orders placed via the Internet
and/or through the use of mobile telephones.
[0008] In general, at the present time, various different kinds of goods,
whether tangible and physical or intangible and digital, can be sold via
mobile and Internet channels for immediate delivery, as in the case of
digital goods, or can be delivered later, as in the case of physical
goods. In addition mobile and Internet channels can be used as a payment
method for immediate delivery of goods if Internet or mobile payment
methods are implemented at the point of sale (POS).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention is directed at least in part to a method and
system for targeted advertising of goods and services to particular users
of mobile terminals, based for example on the users' profile. In this
manner, goods and services are marketed to particular target groups of
users sharing a common profile which may be selected to increase the
likelihood of the users responding to the advertisements and purchasing
the advertised goods and services. The common profile of users may be
based on the amount of pre-paid credit available to the users. An
advantage of such targeted advertising is that advertisements for goods
and services which particular users cannot afford, are not delivered to
these users.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The invention, together with further objects and advantages
thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like
reference numerals identify like elements, and wherein:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic of an exemplifying architecture of an
advertisement delivery system in accordance with the invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a more detailed schematic of the advertisement delivery
system in accordance with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein the same reference
numerals refer to the same or similar elements, FIG. 1 shows an
architecture of an embodiment of an advertising delivery system in
accordance with the invention which is designated generally as 10. System
10 may be implemented to provide subsidized or even free mobile telephone
services, the subsidy being provided by advertisers whose advertisements
are being directed to subscribers or users of the mobile telephone
service. System 10 may be also implemented so that the advertisement
revenues are not used to subsidise telephone services.
[0014] The system 10 includes one or more advertisers 12, defined to
include any and all entities or individuals that want to advertise
products or services to customers participating in the mobile marketing
arrangement, and an advertisement management system 14 that is operated
by, for example, an advertising delivery company.
[0015] Advertisers 12 can thus refer to a brand owner, a service provider,
an advertisement agent, a merchant or any other party that wants to
provide advertisements to consumers. Advertisements can be commercial,
such as a product or service promotion, or non-commercial, such as a
general information service notification. An advertiser 12 can also be a
store having a physical presence, an on-line store and the like, which
sell or deliver goods and provide services directly to users ordering via
the Internet or their mobile terminals 16A, 16B (collectively referred to
as 16).
[0016] Typically, the operator of the advertisement management system 14
is a company in the business of delivering advertisements from several
advertisers, i.e., it is the intermediary between advertisers 12 and the
operators of the advertisement distribution channels. Operation of the
advertisement management system 14 is typically managed over an Internet
interface.
[0017] The advertisement management system 14 preferably includes tools
for each advertiser to define rules of their advertisement campaign,
i.e., to enable them to tailor the advertisement campaign to their
specific desires. This may include reserving, programming and/or booking
an advertising campaign via an Internet interface. Parameters which are
determined include, but are not limited to, the time period or periods
when to send advertisements, the duration of the advertising campaign,
the target group or groups, demographics of the target group(s), the
format or type of advertisement, the target price level or cost per
advertisement or for the advertising campaign in its entirety, the
sociological background of the target audience, demographics of the
target group(s) including, for example, age, sex and income level(s),
target telephone type, etc. In addition to determining the rules, each
advertiser 12 typically provides one or more actual advertisements to the
advertising management system 14 in the form of data, text, pictures,
video, audio, html-documents, links, television content, videos, HTML,
xml, xHTML, WAP pages, web pages, etc., or any digital content compatible
for reception and display by the users' mobile terminals 16A, 16B. All of
the functions relating to the interface to the advertising management
system 14 may be implemented as a computer program resident in the
advertisement management system 14.
[0018] Mobile terminals 16A, 16B are arranged to use a communications
network 18 to communicate with other elements of the system 10 described
below. Communications network 18 can utilize any cellular network
technologies which include, but are not limited to, GSM (Global System
for Mobile communication), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple
Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), GPRS (General Packet Radio
Service), UTRAN (UMTS Radio Access Network), UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System). In addition to traditional cellular networks,
local area networks such as Wireless Local area networks (WLAN),
BlueTooth (BT) and other technologies such as WiMax (Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access), Broadcasting over DVB-H (Digital
Video Broadcasting-Handhelds), ISDB-T (Terrestrial Integrated Services
Digital Broadcasting), DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) or
broadcasting over cellular can be used, e.g., to deliver advertisements
as discussed below. The communications network 18 can also be a generic
Internet access network using any data transport methods. Moreover, the
communications network 18 may be any cellular, broadcast, wide area,
local area or Internet network. Communications network 18 can also be a
combination of different communications networks such as a Wireless Local
Area Network (WLAN) and a Wideband Code Division Multiplex (WCDMA)
network. Using the foregoing networks, the advertisements from
advertisers 12 can be SMS, MMS, WAP Push, Web pages, video, audio, or any
digital object.
[0019] Subscribers to the mobile telephone operator using the mobile
terminals 16A, 16B can use the same communications network or another
communications network as the communications network 18 being used to
deliver advertisements from advertisers 12 via the advertisement
management system 14, i.e., a hybrid network is possible.
[0020] The mobile terminals 16A, 16B may be any form of mobile terminal
such as a mobile telephone, a multimedia computer, a personal digital
assistant (PDA), a laptop computer or a personal computer. In a preferred
embodiment, the communications network 18 is a cellular network and the
users' mobile terminals 16A, 16B are mobile devices such as a mobile
telephone, a multimedia computer, a PDA or a laptop computer.
[0021] An advertisement can be delivered to the users' mobile terminals
16A, 16B via the communications network 18. The communications network 18
may be any cellular, broadcast, wide area, local area or Internet
network. For example, FIG. 1 shows a typical layout of a cellular
communications network 18 including one or more base stations (BS) 20, a
Short Message Service Center (SMSC) 22 and a Multimedia Message Service
Center (MMSC) 24. Communications network 18 can also be a combination of
different communications networks as stated above.
[0022] System 10 can also include a billing system 26 coupled to the
advertisement management system 14 and/or the communications network 18
or specific parts thereof, i.e., the SMSC 22 as shown in FIG. 1, and may
be arranged to maintain a credit or money account for each mobile
terminal 16A, 16B. The billing system 26 can be arranged to provide the
actual credit in this account upon request, or alternatively available
credit which may be a function of the actual credit. To this end, the
billing system 26 may include a computer program which creates an account
for the user of each mobile terminal 16A, 16B, receives inquiries about
the balance in the accounts, replies to such inquiries by providing the
actual or available credit in the accounts, receives commands to debit
specific amounts from the accounts and debits the accounts accordingly,
and arranges for replenishment of the amount of credit in the accounts.
[0023] Further, billing system 26 may be arranged to monitor and/or meter
usage of the communications network 18 by each mobile terminal 16A, 16B
and monitor and/or meter usage and payments of or for the advertisements
from advertisers 12 being delivered to each mobile terminal 16a, 16B by
the advertisement management system 14. The billing system 26 may be a
real-time billing system or a close-to-real-time billing system. The
billing system 26 or other suitable means associated with the system 10
can thus arrange for payment from users of the mobile terminals 16A, 16B
based on their usage of the communications network 18. Usage of the
communications network 18 may entail voice services, messaging services
(Short Message Service, Multimedia Message Service, Instant Message
Service, Electronic mail services), video telephony services,
push-to-talk services, data services such as Internet or Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) browsing services, content usage (television,
radio, video) services, download services, premium SMS services, among
others.
[0024] In one embodiment of the invention, billing system 26 meters usage
of the services by each user and compares the metered usage with a free
or subsidized balance allocated to each user. In this manner, although
invoices are not sent to the users, the metered usage is compared with
business rules associated with the users and the cost for providing the
free or subsidized services to the users is invoiced directly or
indirectly from advertisers. Other techniques to provide subsidized or
free telephone services to the users are also envisioned. For subsidized
telephone services, the users may be responsible for a portion of their
usage and thus they would be interested in eliminating unnecessary use of
such telephone services.
[0025] Arrangement 10 includes a Value Added Service Gateway (VAS GW) 28
that connects communications network 18, or some of the elements thereof
such as the SMSC 22 as shown, to the advertisement management system 14.
The VAS GW 28 can also be connected to the billing system 26.
[0026] Referring now to FIG. 2, the manner in which an advertiser 12 can
conduct a marketing campaign using advertisement management system 14 in
accordance with the invention will now be described.
[0027] The advertiser 12 defines its marketing campaign using a web
interface to connect to advertisement management system 14. As an
example, the advertiser 12 may be an on-line store such as Amazon.com
selling and offering for sale items for users of mobile terminals 16.
Each advertisement provided by an advertiser 12 may include one or more
items available for purchase and each advertiser 12 may provided a
plurality of advertisements for multiple ones of its products. Examples
of advertisements that can be delivered include: "Purchase item X", and
an SMS or WAP push message with nested links to different items such as
"Purchase item X", "Order now Y", "Order now Z". The presence of one or
more nested links in advertisements enables the user of the mobile
terminal 16 receiving the advertisements to be able to activate the link
and purchase the advertised item, either receiving it immediately if it
is an item that can be delivered to the mobile terminal 16, receiving it
later if it is a tangible item, or receiving the good/service at the
point of sale if information regarding a validated purchase is available
at the point of sale. An example of such a point of sale delivery is at a
cash register which has a connection to, for example, billing system 26,
or a vending machine to which purchase information is sent. The
advertisements, also considered as or part of messages herein, preferably
also include the price of the advertised goods or services. In addition
to nested links, it is also foreseen that the advertisements can provide
instructions on how to order goods by, for example, stating "text the
message YES to number 16400 to order" or call to "800-555-1234 to order
now".
[0028] Advertising management system 14 includes one or more databases 30,
only one of which is shown, which store information about each user of
the mobile terminals 16, such as demographics, address, sex, age,
preferences etc. The same or a different database can also store
advertisements received from the advertisers 12.
[0029] Advertising management system 14 also includes an element 32 which
manages the delivery of advertisements received from advertisers 12 and
which are sent to users of the mobile terminals 16 via the communication
network 18. This delivery element 32 may be implemented as software
and/or hardware and may be in the same unit or housing as the database 30
or in a different unit or housing.
[0030] Generally, the advertisement management system 14 is arranged to
determine and select which advertisement or advertisements are delivered
via the communications network 18 to the user of each mobile terminal 16,
i.e., by appropriate control and management of the delivery element 32.
This determination or selection may be based on the likelihood of the
user being able to purchase the advertised goods and/or services. There
are several ways to assess the likelihood of the user of a mobile
terminal 16 being able to purchase advertised goods and/or services.
[0031] In one embodiment of the invention, the delivery element 32 of the
advertisement management system 14 is arranged to analyze the user's
available credit in order to assess the likelihood of a user being able
to purchase advertised goods and/or services. The available credit may be
provided by the billing system 26, i.e., from the user's account
maintained by the billing system, 26, or from a credit extending system
or facility 34, from the user's account provided by the credit extending
facility 34. the credit extending facility 34 may be a bank or credit
card company. Alternatively, the available credit can be provided to the
delivery element 32 in a batch type of database action, i.e., delivered
periodically and stored in a database of the advertisement management
system 14.
[0032] In one embodiment, analysis of the available credit of the user may
involve a comparison of the available credit to the purchase price of
each of the goods and/or services being advertised. To this end, delivery
element 32 includes an algorithm which compares the amount of available
credit provided by the billing system 26, credit extending facility 34,
to the purchase price of each item the advertiser 12 wants to advertise
to each user of a mobile terminal 16. This comparison determines which
goods and services can be purchased by the user of the mobile terminal
16, i.e., a user can purchase only items for which they have sufficient
available credit. The delivery element 32 will then select for delivery
to the user of the mobile terminal 16 only those advertisements for items
that the user can purchase, and coordinate delivery thereof (message S1).
If the user is unable to purchase an item sold by advertiser 12 because
they do not have sufficient available credit, then the delivery element
32 will not deliver an advertisement for that item to the user.
Alternatively, in this scenario it is foreseen that a message stating
"You have reached your credit limit" could be sent.
[0033] As an example, advertiser 12 wants to advertise five different
items, namely items A, B, C, D and E, to a set of target users of mobile
terminals 16. The price of each item is: A=$5.00, B=$2.00, C=$20.00,
D=$90.00 and E=$80.00. There are two mobile terminal users who fit the
target profile of the advertiser, user A and user B, the determination of
whether a user fits the target profile may be a preparatory step
performed by the advertisement management system 14 involving a
comparison of the user's profile to the advertisers target profile
entered into the advertisement management system, 14 via an interface
discussed above. User A is determined to have $85.00 in available credit
in a pre-paid account maintained by billing system 26 and user B is
determined to have $18.00 in available credit in a pre-paid account
maintained by billing system 26.
[0034] The algorithm in delivery element 32 compares a list of items
provided by the advertiser 12 (for items sold by advertiser 12 and for
which advertiser 12 wants to deliver advertisements) and sorts them based
on the price of the item, i.e., B=$2.00, A=$5.00, C=$20.00, E=$80.00 and
D=$90.00, and then selects the set of one or more items to be advertised
for each user of a mobile terminal 16 based on the comparison of the
price of the item to the available credit for the user. As such, delivery
element 32 will determine that user A can receive an advertisement for
each of items A, B, C and E, or one advertisement including each of these
items, and that user B can receive an advertisement for each of items
products A and B, or one advertisement including each of these items.
[0035] If a user is determined to be able to receive multiple
advertisements one for each different item, the advertisers 12 may
provide a desired order to deliver the advertisements, e.g., an
advertisement for the most expensive item first and then the next highest
priced item and so on.
[0036] In this embodiment of the invention, users receive only
advertisements for goods and/or services that they are able to purchase
with available credit, i.e., afford, and moreover, when the
advertisements include one or more nested links, can immediately use
premium SMS or another mobile payment method, some of which are discussed
below, to order or pay for the advertised good and/or services.
[0037] An advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that a user of
the mobile terminal 16 receiving an advertisement will not be
disappointed that they cannot afford advertised goods or services, since
they will only receive advertisements for goods or services that can be
purchased using their mobile terminal, i.e., purchased using the
available credit associated with the mobile terminal. Thus, there will be
little if any customer dissatisfaction.
[0038] In another embodiment, after the delivery element 32 of advertising
management system 14 receives the list of items available for purchase
from an advertiser 12 and compares them to the available credit of a user
of a mobile terminal 16, the delivery element 32 may be arranged to
provide all of the items to the mobile terminal 16 with indications as to
the affordability of the items by the user of the mobile terminal 16.
This would be appropriate when presenting, for example, items offered by
an on-line shop which can be ordered immediately. The items that the user
can currently afford, i.e., they have available credit in an amount
greater than the purchase price of each item, may be marked with a marker
while those the user cannot afford would not be so marked. Alternatively,
the delivery element 32 could provide commands to the mobile terminal 16
to cause the mobile terminal 16 to arrange the items such that affordable
items are shown on one side of the mobile terminal's display screen,
e.g., at a top of the screen, and others are shown on the opposite side,
e.g., at a bottom of the screen. In this arrangement, the presentation of
the items available for purchase on-line using the mobile terminal 16 is
arranged according to information from billing system 26.
[0039] Instead of having delivery element 32 of the advertisement
management system 14 organize and provide a list of items with an
indication of affordability to the mobile terminal 16, it is also
possible to provide the lists of items and purchase prices to the mobile
terminal 16, along with the available credit to the user of the mobile
terminal 16, and then enable the mobile terminal 16 to arrange the items
based on price and display the items as described above, i.e., with an
indication of affordability. Thus, the mobile terminal 16 would include a
computer program which receives information from the billing system 26 or
credit extending facility 34 to sort the information about the items
available for purchase based on their price, as provided by advertiser
12.
[0040] Additionally, it is foreseen that there could be the possibility
for user or another person to set a limit on the maximum price for any
item which can be purchased with the mobile device. This way, for
example, parents or employers could set a maximum limit on the amount of
money spent on any one item, for example $10.00, independent of the fact
that the user has sufficient credit available.
[0041] When a user decides to order an advertised item via their mobile
terminal 16, it can be ordered by, for example, sending a premium SMS to
a purchasing element 36 of the advertisement management system 14.
Purchasing element 36 would debit the amount of the item or items being
purchased from the user's account maintained by the billing system 26, or
at the credit extending facility 34, and preferably confirm the order
with advertiser 12 by sending a message S3 to the advertiser 12. The
advertiser 12 could thus keep track of the success of its advertising
campaign as reflected by sales of the advertised goods and/or services.
[0042] The mobile terminal 16 could also communicate directly with the
credit extending facility 34 to notify the credit extending facility 34
of the purchase and the need to adjust the user's credit account, with
the credit extending facility 34 then verifying the purchase to the
advertiser 12, possibly directing payment to the advertiser 12 for the
advertised item being purchased by the user.
[0043] In embodiments described above, the delivery of advertisements to
the user of the mobile terminal 16 is based generally on the available
credit to the user. There are numerous ways to determine available
credit. One is to consider that all credit in the account maintained by
the billing system 26 or provided by the credit extending facility 34 is
available credit, i.e., the available credit equals the actual credit.
Another way is to consider that available credit varies as a function of
the actual credit in the account. For example, available credit may be
determined such that the account must have twice the amount of the
purchase, i.e., the available credit is half of the actual credit.
Another way would be to consider that the available credit is an amount
which would not reduce the actual credit less than an amount needed to
pay for a number of minutes of telephone calls, or other services. Yet
another way would be to consider that the available credit is a fixed
percentage of the actual credit, e.g., 90% so that there would always
remain after a purchase a 10% margin.
[0044] In one embodiment, the advertisement management system 14 is
arranged to reserve a portion of the available credit (or actual credit)
equal to the amount of an item in an advertisement being delivered to a
user upon delivery of the advertisement. Thus, if the user wants to
purchase the advertised item, they would definitely have available
credit. However, the user would not be able to use this reserved credit,
if needed, for other purchases. The reserved credit may be time-limited
so that it is reserved only for a period of time after delivery of the
advertisement. The reserving may be performed by communicating the
purchase price of each item in an advertisement being delivered by the
delivery element 32 to the purchasing element 36 which then communicates
with the billing system 26 or credit extending facility 34 to advise them
of the reserve or hold on the available credit in an amount equal to the
highest purchase price of an item in the advertisement being delivered to
the user.
[0045] Using the invention described above, a user of a mobile terminal 16
is exposed to an advertisement for goods and/or services and if the
advertisement is successful, will want to purchase those advertised goods
and/or services. To this end, one embodiment of the invention includes a
payment mechanism to enable the user to purchase the goods and/or
services, which preferably can be implemented using the mobile terminals
16.
[0046] One possible arrangement for enabling payments using mobile
terminals 16 is to use a premium short message service (pSMS). With pSMS,
there is a set price per message which is typically higher than the price
to send a conventional SMS. For example, the set price for single pSMS
can vary between tens of cents to several dollars to tens of dollars.
[0047] Alternative methods for enabling payments using mobile terminals 16
include using specific reader devices at the point of sales terminals, at
which the purchased goods and/or services are being delivered, and/or
using smart cards of the mobile terminals 16 for credit identification.
In such arrangements, for example, the monetary standard EMV (Europay,
MasterCard and Visa, which is a standard for inter-operation of IC cards
("Chip cards") and IC capable POS terminals, for authenticating credit
and debit card payments) can be used. There may also be specific
interfaces such as Near Field Communication (NFC) in the mobile terminals
16 to enable completion of secure sales transactions.
[0048] Additional alternative methods for enabling payments using mobile
terminals 16 include using micro credit or wallet functionalities of
mobile terminals 16 to transfer funds from one mobile terminal to another
or to a point of sales terminal. Transfers may be made using, for
example, Short Message Service (SMS) from one mobile terminal to another
via a specific micro credit sharing system or the transfer may be made
using Bluetooth technology between the terminals, the transfer may be
made using a combination thereof.
[0049] Further, there could also be an Internet type of payment procedure
such as using PayPal and other similar Internet-based payment mechanisms,
to pay for the goods or services.
[0050] Further there could also be post-paid users where the invoices are
paid, for example, monthly. For these users, preferably there is a
monthly credit limit. Alternatively, post-paid users could set a single
purchase limit via a web interface or by calling customer service to set
the single purchase limit.
[0051] The invention is not dependent or limited to any specific method of
paying for goods or services in response to advertisements delivered to
the mobile terminals 16 or otherwise. The foregoing examples thus do not
limit the possible payment mechanisms that can be used in accordance with
the invention.
[0052] The invention enables innovative and focused mobile marketing and
advertising. Indeed, the popularity of mobile telephones has enabled
their use, along with related infrastructure, as a media for providing
mobile marketing, i.e., advertisements to the users of the telephones.
[0053] This is important because such a concept is considered by
advertisers as the next new channel to directly reach consumers since it
utilizes core assets and characteristics of the mobile media, namely, it
is personal in that it is directed solely to individual consumers, it is
"always on" and can reach the consumers whenever they access their
communications devices, it is mobile and naturally forms groups of people
who communicate actively with each other. These characteristics combined
with social networks-based approaches of the Internet could form a very
powerful base to execute marketing strategies.
[0054] In general, mobile marketing and advertising can be divided into
the following four categories: mobile marketing, mobile advertising,
mobile direct marketing and mobile customer relation management (CRM).
The present invention in any of its forms discussed above is applicable
to all categories.
[0055] Mobile marketing is commonly considered as the systematic planning,
implementing and control of a mix of business activities intended to
bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange
or transfer of products or services where the primary point of contact
with the consumer is via their mobile device.
[0056] Mobile advertising is commonly considered as the paid, public,
non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified
sponsor as well as the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm
of its products to its existing customers and potential customers where
such communication is delivered to a mobile telephone or other mobile
device. Examples of mobile advertising include: Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP) Banner ads, mobile search advertising, mobile video
bumpers, and interstitial ads in or on device portals.
[0057] Mobile direct marketing is commonly considered a sales and
promotion technique in which promotional materials are delivered
individually to potential customers via the potential customer's mobile
telephone or other mobile device. Examples of mobile direct marketing
include the sending of Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message
Service (MMS) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push messages,
Bluetooth messaging and other marketing to mobile telephones or other
mobile devices.
[0058] Mobile customer relation management is commonly considered as a
combination of all the foregoing in a manner that establishes a
long-term, engaging relationship between the customer and the marketing
or promoting company.
[0059] At present, mobile marketing and advertising is mostly based on
push campaigns to opt-in a consumer mobile number in a database, or pull
campaigns that acquire mobile telephone numbers from consumers. The most
typical example of the pull campaign is the "text-to-win" campaign where,
e.g., a soft drink bottle contains a short code to be sent via text
message to a certain telephone number. In return, the consumer receives a
notification if they have won with the selected marketing message, or a
series of messages is broadcast to their mobile telephone. Other popular
methods of direct advertisement are achieved using text and video
messaging.
[0060] Examples of the use of the mobile marketing and advertising
campaigns which can be implemented using the invention include a campaign
to offer MP3 downloads to users of mobile terminals. For such a campaign,
the price of each download is assumed to be $1.25 and the target audience
is all users of mobile terminals. In accordance with the invention, an
advertiser 12 will deliver an advertisement to the advertisement
management system 14 such as "Click this link to download the new hit
from xxx". This advertisement will be sent to only to those users with
available credit equal to or higher than $1.25, as determined by delivery
element 32 upon receiving information from billing system 26 and/or
credit extending facility 34. The advertisement could also be sent to
those users with a post-paid account. As the user clicks on the
advertisement, the amount of $1.25 is invoiced or debited from their
account, through operation of the purchasing element 36, and the music
file is downloaded to their mobile terminal. The download may be made
through the communications network 18 upon the purchasing element 36
communicating with a download source, which may be the advertiser 12
itself or another, separate source.
[0061] Another example of a mobile marketing and advertising campaign
using the invention is a campaign in which an advertisement with one or
more nested links, such as an SMS, MMS, WAP Push, or link to a WAP or web
site, is delivered to mobile terminals. An advertisement provided by
advertiser 12 may be "We offer Pizza A for $4, Pizza B for $6 and Pizza C
for $8. Click on the Pizza to order now." In accordance with the
invention, the advertisement being delivered to the users would be
different depending on the available credit for each user. Thus, when the
advertisement is delivered to users having at least $6.00 but less than
$8.00 available credit, the advertisement would be "We offer Pizza A for
$4, and Pizza B for $6. Click on the Pizza to order now". Pizza C would
not be included in the advertisement to these users since they do not
have available credit to pay for it. When the advertisement is delivered
to users having at least $8.00 available credit, the advertisement would
be the entire advertisement while when the advertisement is delivered to
users having at least $4.00 but less than $6.00 available credit, the
advertisement would be "We offer Pizza A for $4. Click on the Pizza to
order now". Pizzas B and C would not be included in the advertisement to
these users since they do not have available credit to pay for it. When
the user clicks on the word Pizza in any of the advertisements, a premium
SMS is sent, and a pizza store with a delivery service is informed about
the address of the user and about the order. The pizza store is provided
with the money from the user's account by the operator of the system 10.
[0062] In one embodiment of the invention, the prices included in the
advertisements being delivered to the users' mobile terminals is based on
the account status of each user, e.g., actual or available credit of each
user. Thus, there may be flexible pricing for the items being offered for
sale by an advertiser 12, i.e., the advertised price will vary depending
on the amount of actual or available credit.
[0063] Several computer programs resident on computer-readable media may
be used in the invention. One computer program is resident in the
advertisement management system 14 and manages delivery of advertisements
to users' mobile terminals, and responses to the advertisements and
coordinates payment for advertised items and delivery of the advertised
items to the users.
[0064] One embodiment of a computer program is arranged to obtain an
indication of available credit for a user of the mobile terminal, receive
one or more advertisements each for one or more different items with an
indication of a purchase price of each item, and deliver one of the
advertisements to the user via the communications network based on
analysis of the purchase price of the item(s) therein relative to the
user's available credit. This analysis may be a determination as to which
item or items a user can purchase with their available credit so that
advertisements for items are not delivered to a user who does not have
available credit to purchase the item or items in the advertisements.
[0065] Moreover, the computer program may receive a response from the
mobile terminal to a delivered advertisement for purchase of an
advertised item, coordinate delivery of the advertised item and adjust
the user's available credit based on the purchase price of the advertised
item. As such, a message may be generated by the computer program when a
user indicates a desire to purchase an advertised item, the message being
sent to an advertiser from which the advertisement was received to enable
the advertiser to provide the advertised item to the user.
[0066] To obtain the available credit, the computer program can receive
and store account information about the user, or communicate with a
billing system or credit extending facility to obtain account
information. The account information may be the user's actual balance in
which case, the computer program can apply a function to this actual
credit amount to derive or determine the available credit.
[0067] Further, prior to delivery of the advertisement, the computer
program can determine whether the user satisfies a target user profile
for the advertisement. If not, the advertisement is not delivered to the
user.
[0068] The computer program can formulate the advertisements to include a
nested link therein which enables the user to activate the link and
purchase an advertised item. If multiple advertisements are provided,
e.g., by a advertiser using an interface to the computer program, the
computer program can sort the advertisements based on the purchase price
of items set forth therein and deliver the advertisements based on
purchase price.
[0069] In one embodiment, the computer program provides an advertisement
including only items a user can purchase with available credit. In
another embodiment, the computer program forms and/or delivers an
advertisement for items the user can and cannot afford but provides an
indication of whether the user can or cannot afford each item.
[0070] Upon delivery of an advertisement, the computer program can place a
reserve on the available credit of the user equal to the purchase price
of the at least one item in the delivered advertisement. In this manner,
it will be assured that the user does not reduce their available credit
between the time of delivery of the advertisement and the time they
decide to purchase the advertised item to a level at which they cannot
purchase the advertised item, i.e., cannot afford the advertised item.
[0071] In the context of this document, computer-readable medium could be
any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transmit a
program for use by or in connection with the method, system, apparatus or
device. The computer-readable medium can be, but is not limited to (not
an exhaustive list), electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,
infrared, or semi-conductor propagation medium. The medium can also be
(not an exhaustive list) an electrical connection having one or more
wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a
read-only memory (ROM), an erasable, programmable, read-only memory
(EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disk
read-only memory (CDROM). The medium can also be paper or other suitable
medium upon which a program is printed, as the program can be
electronically captured, via for example, optical scanning of the paper
or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a
suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
Also, a computer program or data may be transferred to another
computer-readable medium by any suitable process such as by scanning the
computer-readable medium.
[0072] Having described exemplary embodiments of the invention with
reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be appreciated that the
present invention is not limited to those embodiments, and that various
changes and modifications can be effected therein by one of ordinary
skill in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the
invention as defined by the appended claims.
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