USOO8533038E32
`
`(12) United States Patent
`Bergh et al.
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`(54) OFFER DELIVERY SYSTEM
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`
`(75) Inventors: Christopher P. Bergh, Lexington, MA
`(US); Michael S. Bauer, Shrewsbury,
`MA (US); Sidra Michon, Littleton, MA
`(US); Zack Miloushev, Boxford, MA
`S. st Fish, stay
`(US); Charles Evett, Concord,
`(US); Gregory Erman, Sudbury, MA
`(US); John Mandel, Acton, MA (US)
`(73) Assignee: International Business Machines
`Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
`p
`s
`s
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 807 days.
`
`(*) Notice:
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 09/777,614
`
`(22) Filed:
`(65)
`
`Feb. 5, 2001
`Prior Publication Data
`US 20O2/OO26356A1
`Feb. 28, 2002
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`(63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 09/575,283,
`filed on May 22, 2OOO.
`(60) Provisional application No. 60 135,521, filed on May
`21, 1999, provisional application No. 60/180,254,
`filed on Feb. 4, 2000.
`
`(2012.01)
`
`(51) Int. Cl.
`G06O 30/00
`(52) U.S. Cl.
`USPC ..................... 705/14.35; 705/14.1: 705/14.25
`(58) Field of Classification Search
`USPC ....................... 705/10, 14, 14.1, 14.25, 14.35
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`5,368,129 A 1 1/1994 Von Kororn
`5,710,886 A
`1/1998 Christensen et al.
`5,765,154 A
`6/1998 Horikiri et al.
`5,848,396 A 12/1998 Gerace
`5,883,940 A
`3/1999 Thornton
`5,930,764 A
`7/1999 Melchione et al.
`5,966,695 A 10/1999 Melchione et al.
`5.974.407 A 10/1999 Sacks
`6,067,525 A
`5, 2000 Johnson et al.
`6,076,068 A *
`6/2000 DeLapa et al. .................. TO5/14
`6,078,892 A
`6/2000 Anderson et al.
`6,097,792 A
`8, 2000 Thornton
`6,134,530 A 10/2000 Bunting et al.
`6,236,977 B1
`5, 2001 Verba et al.
`6,694,316 B1* 2/2004 Langseth et al. ................ 707/10
`6,868,389 B1
`3/2005 Wilkins et al.
`(Continued)
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`WIPO Application PCT/US2000/014092 International Search
`Report, Aug. 14, 2000, 6 pgs.
`(Continued)
`Primary Examiner — Raquel Alvarez
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Cuenot, Forsythe & Kim,
`LLC
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57)
`An offer delivery system provides a mechanism for coordi
`nating presentation of offers to customers that may originate
`from multiple different sources and that may be delivered to
`the customers over different channels. The systems makes use
`of rules to prioritize, select, and time the delivery of offers to
`p
`ry
`any particular customer, allocate limited resources in the
`channels to deliver offers to a set of customers, and provide
`mechanisms for users or their agents to limit the delivery of
`offers, for example, by their frequency or type.
`
`27 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets
`
`ROM
`- PROFitnGSST:
`PROFiLES
`155
`i--------. Fred
`
`FRONDESIGN
`120
`S.C.
`CAMPAIGN
`E.
`
`629
`
`REC
`
`6as
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`TRIGGER
`
`
`
`EMSINE
`
`FROM
`TACKING
`g
`
`130
`to
`TRACKING
`
`so
`
`To
`JLILMENT
`
`135
`
`ENNELs
`Y-140
`
`TO CHANNELS
`N140
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.1
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`US 8,533,038 B2
`Page 2
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`
`
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`TO5/10
`7,424,439 B1* 9/2008 Fayyad et al.
`TO5/14
`2001/0032128 A1* 10/2001 Kepecs .......
`2002/0035568 A1
`3f2002 Benthin et al. ................ 707/102
`3/2005 Kargman
`2005/0045728 A1
`6/2006 MaCartney-Filgate et al.
`2006.0143086 A1
`6/2007 Bergh et al.
`2007/O150334 A1
`1/2008 Lerner et al.
`2008, OO2781.0 A1
`5, 2008 Weir
`2008. O103888 A1
`4/2010 Grimes
`2010/0106598 A1
`8/2011 Bergh et al.
`2011/0208,578 A1
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`Griggs, R. et al., “Give Us Leads! Give Us Leads!” Sales and Mar
`keting Management, New York, Jul. 1997, vol. 149, No. 7, 4pgs.
`(from Proquest).
`
`McGinnis, F. et al., “Strategic Account Management in the New
`Procurement Environment.” Supply Chain Management, Bradford,
`1998, vol. 3, No. 1, p. 12 (from Proquest) 5. pgs.
`"General Interactive Teams Up With IBM to Deliver Industries Best
`E-Business and Relationship Marketing Solutions'. Business/Tech
`nology Editors, Business Wire, New York, May 3, 1999 (from
`Proquest) 3 pgs.
`“Workflow and Internet: Catalysts for Radical Change” Workflow
`Management Coalition, Doc. XP-002313133, Jun. 1998, 32 pgs.
`“Microsoft Announces Internet Lead Management Platform.”
`Microsoft Corporation, PressPass—Information for Journalists, Jan.
`24, 2000, retrieved Sep. 26, 2003 retrieved from the Internet:
`<http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2000/jan00/
`platformpr.aspx>, 3 pgs.
`“Netscape and Aurum Extend Enterprise-level Sales and Marketing
`Applications to the Internet.” Netscape Communications Corpora
`tion, Feb. 20, 1996, retrieved Nov. 10, 2008 retrieved from the
`Internet:
`<http://form.netscape.com/newsrefprinewsrelease92.
`html>, 2 pgs.
`* cited by examiner
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.2
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 1 of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`FIG. 1
`
`i
`
`;
`
`USERS
`
`DESIGN
`- -
`
`125
`
`115
`
`1OO
`
`120
`
`CAMPAIGNS
`
`DELIVERY
`
`OFFERS
`
`-- e
`
`-
`
`-
`
`- -
`
`-
`
`-
`
`a
`
`a
`
`as -
`
`-
`
`-
`
`a
`
`a
`
`78
`
`n
`
`NDIRECT
`CHANNEL
`
`
`
`
`
`DIRECT
`CHANNEL
`
`AGENTS Q 144
`
`US$3.
`
`N - - - - - - -
`
`
`
`W
`W
`
`
`
`
`
`CUSTOMERS
`
`$ $ 3 &
`
`110
`
`PROFLNG
`
`13
`12
`1so frEPORTS
`MRKT.
`- |DBASE
`CUST.
`PROFILES
`
`TRACKING
`
`130
`
`35
`
`FULFLLMENT
`
`40
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.3
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 2 of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`
`
`CLIENT
`APP
`
`AFF")
`
`COMPUTER
`SYTEM
`
`ySER
`115
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`OFFER
`SERVER
`
`DATABASE
`SERVER
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`EMAIL
`SERVERS
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`WEB
`SERVERS
`
`INDIRECT
`CHANNEL
`SERVER
`
`
`
`EMAIL
`CLENT
`APP
`
`
`
`
`
`CUSTOMER
`N110
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.4
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 3 of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`FIG. 3
`
`USER
`
`115
`
`DESIGN
`
`120
`
`
`
`CAMPAIGN
`
`310
`
`TYPE
`
`312
`
`EVENT
`
`RECIPIENTS
`
`CONTENT
`
`LIFECYCLE
`
`4.
`31
`
`6
`3
`1
`
`31
`8
`
`320
`
`125
`
`TO DELVERY
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.5
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 4 of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`FIG. 4
`
`120
`
`
`
`
`
`CAMPAIGNS
`
`125
`-1
`TO DELIVERY
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.6
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 5 of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`F.G. 5
`
`USER
`
`N/
`115
`
`115/N,
`
`
`
`120A
`
`DESIGN
`
`
`
`DISTRIB.
`BOX
`
`DSTRIB.
`
`
`
`DISTRIB.
`
`BOX
`
`f 115
`
`1N
`
`DISTRIB.
`BOX
`
`
`
`CAMPAIGNS
`
`125
`
`TO DELIVERY
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.7
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 6 of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`F.G. 6
`
`---------------SS
`FROM
`PROFLNG
`155
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`62O
`
`CAMPAIGN
`STORE
`
`FROM
`TRACKING
`
`130
`
`130
`TO
`TRACKNG
`
`TO
`FULFILLMENT
`
`135
`
`DELVERY
`ENGINE
`
`
`
`ENN ELS
`N140
`
`TO CHANNELS
`N140
`
`DELIVERY
`
`125
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.8
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 10, 2013
`
`Sheet 7 Of 7
`
`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`FIG. 7
`
`
`
`710
`
`OFFER DISPLAY
`
`OFFER CONTENT
`
`720
`
`730
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.9
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`1.
`OFFER DELVERY SYSTEM
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. applica
`tion Ser. No. 09/575,283, “Customer Lead Management Sys
`tem.” filed May 22, 2000, which claimed the benefit of U.S.
`Provisional Application No. 60/135,521, filed May 21, 1999,
`both of which are incorporated herein by reference. This
`application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Appli
`cation No. 60/180,254, filed Feb. 4, 2000, which is also incor
`porated herein by reference.
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`This invention relates to a system for managing and dis
`tributing offers.
`Many organizations currently use traditional marketing
`channels, such as direct mailings, and increasingly electronic
`delivery, such as electronic mail (email) or the World Wide
`Web, for delivery of advertising and sales offers to its cus
`tomers or potential customers. In large organizations, offers
`to a particular customer may originate from different parts of
`the organization. There is the potential that offers to that
`customer from these different parts of the organization or
`through different channels may conflict in some way, thereby
`reducing the effectiveness of the communication with that
`CuStOmer.
`Many customers may prefer to receive fewer offers from a
`particular organization or over a particular channel, or to
`receive no offers at all. For electronic channels. Such as email,
`an organization may provide a mechanism to “unsubscribe'
`from all future offers. The customer may also configure his or
`her client software to discard future offers, for example, by
`discarding email from a particular address. Web-based adver
`tising on web sites is often targeted to particular classes of
`users, for example by keeping a record of individual user's
`previous activities on those web sites.
`
`10
`
`15
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`SUMMARY
`
`As the number of electronic, as well as traditional, methods
`of interacting with customers increase, it becomes increas
`ingly difficult to coordinate interactions using these various
`methods. In a general aspect, the invention provides a mecha
`nism for coordinating presentation of offers to customers that
`may originate from multiple different sources and that may be
`delivered to the customers over different channels. This coor
`dination makes use of rules to prioritize, select, and time the
`delivery of offers to any particular customer, allocate limited
`resources in the channels to deliver offers to a set of custom
`ers, and provide mechanisms for users or their agents to limit
`the delivery of offers, for example, by their frequency or type.
`In one aspect, in general, the invention is a computer
`controlled method for managing and distributing offers. The
`method includes preparing data characterizing a set of offers,
`each offer being associated with a targeted individual and one
`multiple channels for presenting offers. These individuals can
`be, for example, actual or potential customers of products or
`services associated with the offers. A number of offers are
`selected for presenting to the individuals associated with
`those offers, including for at least Some individuals, selecting
`from multiple offers associated with each of those individu
`als. The selected offers are presented to the associated indi
`viduals over the associated channels.
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`2
`The invention can include one or more of the following
`features:
`Selecting from the offers includes prioritizing offers for
`particular individuals, and selecting offers according to their
`priorities.
`Selecting from the offers includes allocating capacity of
`the channels to the selected offers, thereby not exceeding a
`capacity associated with each of the channels.
`Presenting the selected offers includes accepting informa
`tion from individuals and limiting presentation of the offers to
`said individuals according to said accepted information. The
`accepted information can characterize acceptable timing of
`presentation of offers to the individuals, and limiting presen
`tation of offers then includes scheduling presentation of
`offers to the individuals according to the acceptable timing.
`For example, acceptable timing can relate to a frequency
`control by which an acceptable frequency of offers is speci
`fied by the individual. Other types of timing can relate, for
`example, to acceptable periods of the day during which pre
`senting offers is acceptable to the individual.
`The data characterizing the offers includes one or more of:
`data characterizing conditions under which said offers are to
`be presented, data characterizing the target groups associated
`with said offers, and data characterizing information to be
`presented with the offers.
`The method further includes tracking activities of the indi
`viduals to whom the offers were presented. Statistics related
`to an effectiveness of the offers can be reported. A sequence of
`related offers can be presented to those individuals based on
`their tracked activities.
`Preparing the data characterizing the offers includes, for at
`least some of the offers, a first user preparing data character
`izing a class of offers, passing the data characterizing the class
`of offers to a second user, and the second user preparing
`additional data characterizing the offer.
`The method further includes storing the prepared offers in
`a shared storage. The step of selecting from the offers is
`performed in a distributed manner in which separate comput
`ers access the shared storage.
`In another aspect, in general, the invention is an offer
`management system. The system includes an offer design
`component for preparing data characterizing a set of offers.
`Each offer is associated with a corresponding target group of
`individuals. The system also includes a delivery component
`for selecting and presenting the offers to the individuals in the
`corresponding target groups, including a broker for prioritiz
`ing offers to particular individuals, for allocating capacity on
`a plurality of channels for presenting the offers, and for lim
`iting presentation of the offers to individuals in the corre
`sponding targets groups.
`Other features and advantages of the invention are apparent
`from the following description, and from the claims.
`
`DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 is a logical block diagram illustrating components
`of an offer management system;
`FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer system used to host
`the offer management system;
`FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates components of an offer
`prepared using the offer management system;
`FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a design component of the
`system;
`FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an alternative design compo
`nent in which a hierarchy of users prepare offers;
`FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a delivery component of the
`system; and
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.10
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
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`

`

`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`3
`FIG. 7 is a diagram that illustrates a presentation of an offer
`to a customer, including controls for a customer providing
`feedback to the system.
`
`DESCRIPTION
`
`10
`
`15
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`1 Architecture (FIGS. 1-2)
`Referring to FIG. 1, an offer management system 100 is
`used to select, deliver, and track offers. The offers have vari
`ous forms and include commercial offers, which are related to
`particular commercial enterprises. The offers are initiated by
`one or more users 115 of the offer management system. Users
`115 include individuals who are involved in sales and mar
`keting efforts of the commercial enterprises, such as product
`marketing managers, sales managers, and marketing cam
`paign directors. The offers are delivered by offer management
`system 100 to customers 110. The term “customers' includes
`individuals or entities that are desired targets for the offers.
`For commercial offers, these customers include current or
`potential customers or consumers of products or services
`provided by commercial activities, as well as intermediate
`business customers (e.g., “business-to-business’ customers,
`distributors, resellers, etc.) and individuals representing Such
`business customers. The term “offer includes various types
`of Solicitations, advertisements, or any information-contain
`25
`ing communication with the customer. In the case of com
`mercial offers, they include solicitations that further commer
`cial interests of the enterprise. For example, an offer can be a
`specific offer to sell a product or a service, a Solicitation of
`interest in a product or service, advertising, or any of a wide
`variety of commonly used forms of communication directed
`at customers. In the discussion below, a "campaign” refers to
`a collection of offers, often specified as a template or rule
`from which one or more offers to specific customers deter
`mined. In this terminology, users 115 specify campaigns, and
`the system creates sets of specific customer offers from the
`campaigns.
`Offer management system 100 supports delivery of offers
`to customers 110 through a wide variety of channels 140. In
`the discussion below, a number of these channels are specifi
`cally identified, but it should be understood that the invention
`is applicable to many more types of channels. Some of which
`may not yet be commonly used. The channels include both
`traditional channels, such as direct postal mailings and Solici
`tations by sales agents, as well as electronic channels, such as
`email and Web delivery, and could include channels such as
`personalized location-based delivery of advertising to hand
`held devices. In general, offers can be delivered to any par
`ticular customer 110 through multiple of these channels. The
`offer management system provide a basis of controlling the
`potential flood of offers any one customer might receive.
`Offer management system 100 includes a number of logi
`cal components that are hosted on a computer system, which
`generally includes a number of distributed server and client
`computers. These components control flow of offers from
`users 115, or a collaborating set of users #0115, to customers
`110. The flow of an offer generally begins with a user 115
`using a design component 120 to specify a campaign. The
`campaign may specify a single offer to a particular customer
`110. More typically, the campaign specifies a number of
`offers that are targeted to a group of customers 110 that share
`some common characteristic. Multiple users 115 are typically
`involved in the task of specifying different campaigns. In this
`embodiment, these users can work independently of one
`another, potentially generating offers that can be targeted to
`the same individuals. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the system can
`include multiple design components 120, each of which
`
`55
`
`45
`
`50
`
`60
`
`65
`
`4
`passes campaigns through a common delivery component
`125 associated with the population of customers 110. The
`campaigns are passed as data, which characterizes the result
`ing offers, from design component 120 to a delivery compo
`nent 125.
`Channels 140 include a number of direct channels 146,
`which are channels that do not involve an intermediary in
`presenting an offer passing through the channel to the cus
`tomer. Examples of direct channels 146 include email, Web,
`and direct mailings. Channels 140 also include indirect chan
`nels 142 through which offers are first delivered to agents
`144, who then present the offers to customers 110. Examples
`of agents 144 are sales representatives of an organization who
`interact with customers 110. Some indirect channels 142
`include automation tools, such as sales-force automation
`(SFA) systems and lead management systems that provide
`Support to sales agents. In other indirect channels 142 offers
`are delivered to agents using simpler mechanisms such as
`electronic mail and facsimile. Channels 140 also include out
`bound call centers through which customers 110 are solicited
`by telephone. Operators at these call centers can make use of
`a lead management system in interacting with the customers.
`Delivery component 125 is responsible for selecting (e.g.,
`filtering) and timing delivery of (e.g., prioritizing and limiting
`the frequency) offers to appropriate customers 110 based on
`the campaigns it receives from design components 120.
`Delivery component 125 presents offers through channels
`140 using a variety of different types of interactions with
`customers 110. For example, delivery component 125 can
`send an electronic mail message to one or more customers
`110 that includes an offer. In this case, it is not essential that
`the customers communicate directly with the delivery com
`ponent in response to the offer. For example, if the offer
`includes a specific sales offer, the customer may directly act
`on the offer by performing an online transaction. For Some of
`such transactions, a fulfillment component 135 handles the
`transaction. Delivery component 125 can also present an offer
`using a Web interaction. In this case, delivery component 125
`reacts to a particular customer 110 (or a member of a defined
`class of customers) accessing a Web server application and
`presents an offer, for example using a "banner ad with an
`offer targeted to that customer.
`In some instances, a customer 110 provides explicit or
`implicit feedback to delivery component 125 in response to
`an offer. For instance, in the case of a Web presentation of an
`offer, a customer may provide explicit feedback by "clicking
`on a displayed button on the presentation of the offer. Implicit
`feedback can include delivery component 125 recording a
`customer's access to a Web server after an offer has been
`presented. In some forms of email, deliver component 125
`may receive a notification that the customer has read the
`email. Also, some email may solicit an email response, for
`example, to receive further information about an offer.
`Delivery component 125 can also pass information directly
`to fulfillment component 135. For example, a customer 110
`may provide feedback to delivery component 125 that he
`wants to accept an offer. Instead of completing the transaction
`directly, delivery component 125 may inform fulfillment
`component 135, and the fulfillment component then interacts
`with the customer to complete the transaction.
`Delivery component 125 also passes offers to customers
`110 through indirect channels 142. One example of an indi
`rect channel 142 includes a lead management system. Such a
`lead management system is described in U.S. patent applica
`tion Ser. No. 09/575,283, “Customer Lead Management Sys
`tem. In this case, rather than presenting an offer directly to a
`customer 110, delivery component 125 passes data to the lead
`
`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.11
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
`
`

`

`US 8,533,038 B2
`
`10
`
`15
`
`5
`management system that identifies the offer and the targeted
`customer. Then an agent 144 makes use of the lead manage
`ment system, for instance, in contacting the targeted customer
`in person to act upon the lead.
`Indirect channels 142 also at times provide information to
`delivery component 125. For example, if an agent 144 has
`interacted with a particular customer 110, the agent or an
`automated component of the indirect channel can inform the
`delivery component so that the delivery component limits
`presentation of further offers to that customer for a period of
`time. Similarly, fulfillment component 135 at times provides
`information to delivery component 125. For example, if a
`customer 110 performs a transaction using fulfillment com
`ponent 135, fulfillment component 135 may notify delivery
`component 125, which may provide additional offers to that
`customer that are tailored for “cross-selling of products or
`services related to that transaction.
`A tracking component 130 receives information from
`delivery component 125, fulfillment component 135, and
`channels 140. This information is used to characterize various
`aspects of the offers made by delivery component 125. For
`instance, the Success of particular marketing campaigns,
`which are associated with groups of offers, is tracked by
`tracking component 130. One product of this tracking is
`reports 134, which can include characterizations of the effec
`tiveness of various types of offers. Another related product is
`data that is input to a marketing database 132, from which
`various reports can be generated.
`Tracking component 130 also provides data to a customer
`profile database 150. This data includes information specific
`to particular customers 110, or to classes of customers. For
`example, the effectiveness of certain types of offers may be
`recorded in customer profile database 150 for different cus
`tomers. Delivery component 125 can then make use of this
`information in determining which offers to present to a par
`ticular customer.
`A profiling component 155 is used to assemble information
`about particular customers 110. This information can come
`from various sources, such as external marketing databases,
`systems for passive monitoring of customer access to Web
`40
`servers (click monitoring), and from customer-provided
`information, such as Survey forms filled out by customers
`when registering a product. Profiling component 155 pro
`vides data to customer profile database 150 in a batch mode,
`for later use by delivery component 125. Profiling component
`45
`155 can also provide information directly to delivery compo
`nent 125, for example, triggered by obtaining particular infor
`mation about a customer.
`Referring to FIG. 2, the logical modules of offer manage
`ment system 100 are hosted on a computer system 200, which
`generally includes a number of distributed server and client
`computers. The logical components include modules that are
`implemented by Software-controlled processes executing on
`these computers, and include storage modules, provided, for
`example, by storage devices coupled to the computers or by a
`dedicated database server computers. The software for con
`trolling these computers is stored on media (not shown). Such
`as magnetic disks coupled to server and client computers, and
`in some embodiments is downloaded from server computers
`to client computers at run-time, for instance in the form of
`“applets” that are downloaded to client computers as needed.
`In this embodiment, an offer server 220 hosts portions of
`design component 120 and delivery component 125. A user
`115 interacts with the system using a user computer 210, on
`which a client application 212, such as a Web browser appli
`cation, executes. Client application 212 communicates with
`offer server 220, for instance over a local or wide area data
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`network. Offer server 220 communicates with a number of
`different server computers that are associated with channels
`140. These include one or more email servers 240 and one or
`more Web servers 250, which are used to pass offers to cus
`tomers 110. Indirect channel servers 245, such as sales force
`automation servers and lead management servers, provide a
`path for passing offers to agents 144, who then in turn com
`municate with customers 110. Other server computers asso
`ciated with channels 140 are not shown, including a fax server
`for transmission of offers to customers. A customer 110 uses
`a customer computer 260 to access the offers passed from an
`email server or a Web server using an email client application
`262 or a Web browser application 264 hosted on the customer
`computer.
`Email client application 262 and Web browser application
`264 are often used together, or their functions are alterna
`tively integrated into a single application. For instance, offers
`may be sent to the customeras email that includes references
`to data that is accessed from a Web server. This can be the case
`when email is formatted according to the HTML (hyper text
`markup language), which allows embedding of “links to
`data available elsewhere on the data networks to which the
`customer computer may be coupled, such as from Web server.
`Various types of email client applications 262 are used by
`different customers, and each type may have be configured to
`accept different formats of messages. For example, some
`email client applications may be able to display HTML for
`matted messages to a customer, while others cannot. Some
`email systems, such as the America Online (AOL) system,
`can include special information that is particularly tailored to
`the AOL system. Similarly, different Web browser applica
`tions 264 may have different capabilities regarding the type of
`information that is presentable. One function of delivery
`component 125 (FIG. 1) is to attempt to present the offers in
`the formats best suited for each customer's client applica
`tions.
`Computer system 200 also includes a database server 230,
`Such as a SQL server, that provides storage for information
`that includes currently pending offers, and customer profiles.
`In an alternative embodiment, the logical components
`shown in FIG. 1 are distributed and replicated on multiple
`servers. That is, copies of individual components are hosted
`on multiple servers, for instance, to distribute load and to
`provide fault tolerance. Offers are accessible to multiple
`instances of delivery component 125, either using a shared
`database Such as one using the Linda system to provide a
`shared message storage, or by replicating the offers at the
`separate instances. The instances of the offer brokers are
`coordinated so that the same offers are not acted upon by
`multiple offer brokers, thereby preventing a customer from
`receiving duplicate or conflicting offers. Some offers are
`designed to be handled as a group and these are identified so
`that they can all be handled by one of the offer brokers.
`2 Design Component (FIGS. 3-5)
`Referring to FIG. 3, as introduced above, a user 115 make
`use of design component 120 (see FIG. 1) to specify cam
`paigns 310 which are passed to delivery component 125 as
`data structures holding data that specify characteristics of the
`offers to be sent according to those campaigns. Various types
`of campaigns include Some, but not necessarily all, of the
`following fields:
`a type 312, which characterizes the general nature of the
`campaign,
`an event 314, which characterizes the condition under
`which offer under this campaign are sent to a customer
`110,
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`American Airlines, Ex. 1002, p.12
`American Airlines v. Advanced Transactions
`IPR2023-01366
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`

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`US 8,533,038 B2
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`a recipient 316, which characterizes a particular customer
`or a class (e.g., a market segment) of customers 110 to
`whom the campaign is targeted,
`content 318, which characterizes the material that is to be
`included with each offer, and
`lifecycle 320, which encodes time-based rules and charac
`terizes a set of related offers are to be sent to customers
`in this campaign.
`Type 312 can identify one of a number of offer types to be
`sent, including the following:
`Notifications of new products, news, events, newsletter and
`bulletins—An example of this type of offer is a weekly
`newsletter that is sent a customer list.
`Offers of products that match a customer profile—An
`example of this type of offer is one that is presented to
`customers, for example, on a Web site based on charac
`teristics that a customer provided in a registration Sur
`vey. When a customer with these characteristics visits a
`particular Web site, delivery component 125 reacts by
`presenting the offer to that user.
`Inferred product recommendation—In situations in which
`a customer has not explicitly provided information,
`characteristics of that user can often be inferred by their
`other activities such as related transactions and naviga
`tion history at various Web sites and used to select prod
`uctS.
`Order solicitations. This type of offer may be a Web form
`that directs a Web server that implements part of fulfill
`ment component 135.
`A notification of customerstatus—This "offer notifies the
`customer about a recent event related to an action that
`they took, such as acceptance of profiling information by
`the system, completion of a request for the customer, and
`execution of an order by the customer
`Event 314 characterizes the condition under which user
`115 wants offers to be sent to a customer 110. The event is
`specified as a triggering condition or rule. For instance, pro
`filing component 155 collects information about the Web
`visitor. This information is passed to delivery component 125
`where it can be used to determine whether a triggering con
`40
`dition for a particular offer has been satisfied. Another trig
`gering condition includes a customer explicitly expressing
`interest in an offer, for example by asking for product infor
`mation using email or a Web form. User 115 can also specify
`IF-THEN statements. An example of use of such statements
`includes web visitors who meet a set of qualification criteria
`(based on title, budget or income, company size, etc.) that
`automatically qualify for a special disco