SG185149A1

SG185149A1 - A system, method and server for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal

Info

Publication number: SG185149A1
Application number: SG2011026119A
Authority: SG
Inventors: Wiese Angelika
Original assignee: Wiese Angelika
Priority date: 2011-04-08
Filing date: 2011-04-08
Publication date: 2012-11-29
Also published as: WO2012138301A1

Abstract

A SYSTEM, METHOD AND SERVER FOR PROVIDING AT LEAST ONE DIGITAL COMMERCE-CENTRIC MESSAGE TO AT LEAST ONE USER OF A SOCIAL NETWORK PORTALThere is provided a system and method for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to a user of a social network. The system and method are for transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message to a recipient device in accordance with at least one of the contents of the state of-mind message and the location of the at least one user at the recipientdevice.Figure 1

Description

oo misrser

A SYSTEM, METHOD AND SERVER FOR PROVIDING AT LEAST ONE

DIGITAL COMMERCE-CENTRIC MESSAGE TO AT LEAST ONE USER OF A

SOCIAL NETWORK PORTAL

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of using information in a social network portal, particularly in relation to a system and method for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of the social network 10. portal by using information identifiable in the social network portal.

BACKGROUND

The increasing popularity of social networks is partially due to the ready availability of powerful mobile devices like mobile phones, tablet computers which enable users to be continually connected to the social networks. As such, it is convenient for many users of social networks to access and consequently, post messages in the social networks, whereby the messages are then read by entities from a list of entities familiar to the user, whereby each of the entities are contactable by the user on the social network portal. The messages may consist of, for example, a text message, an icon like a Smiley, or a combination of the aforementioned.

In addition, the aforementioned mobile devices are often capable of providing location data and correspondingly are capable of supporting integrated location services and related applications using for example, an IP address or a GPS receiver.

However, messages posted in the social networks are not linked to a user's location and the posted messages are not specifically identifiable within the social networks. Therefore it is currently not possible to organize messages posted in the social networks, and it is difficult to consolidate information from oo ._ _ *G00002*

the messages posted by all entities within the list of entities. Such a problem is currently not addressed.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect, there is provided a system for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal. The system includes a first server for hosting the social network portal and storing an identifier of the at least one user; a second server for hosting a commerce- centric portal, and for both storing the at least one digital commerce-centric message and transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message, the second server being communicatively connected to the first server: and a recipient device for the at least one user to select contents of the state-of-mind message, the recipient device being capable of providing a location of the at least one user and to be communicatively connected to the first server, and the second server.

It is preferable that the recipient device is configured to transmit at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the user to the first server, and consequently, the second server is configured to process at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user by identifying at least one unique identifier in the contents of the state-of-mind message, the at least one unique identifier being associated with the identifier, and to transmit the at least one digital commerce-centric message in accordance with at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the recipient device.

The identifier of the at least one user may include a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, the entities being contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal.

The recipient device may be selected from, for example, mobile phone, portable media player, notebook computer, desktop computer, tablet computer and so forth. The recipient device may also be capable of providing the location of the at least one user with the use of either a GPS receiver or an IP address used by the recipient device. The recipient device may be configured to run a program which allows the at least one user to input the contents of a state-of-mind message.

The at least one digital commerce-centric message may be an advertisement for either goods or services.

The first server is preferably configured to transmit both the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the second server. It is also preferable that the first server is configured to consolidate the at least one user with others having identical unique identifiers.

The contents of the state-of-mind message may be selected from a pre-defined listing of contents. It is preferable that the location of the user transmitted to the first server is not used solely to determine the transmitted at least one digital commerce-centric message.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal. The method includes obtaining access to the social network portal at a first server using a recipient device, the first server being for hosting the social network portal whereby the at least one user is a member of the social network portal; transmitting at least one of a location of the at least one user, and contents of a state-of-mind message to the first server from the recipient device, the first server being for storing an identifier of the at least one user, at least one of the location of the at least one user and the contents of a state-of-mind message being associated with the identifier: transmitting at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message to the second server from the first server, the second server being for both storing the at least one digital commerce-centric message and transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message; processing at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message by identifying at least one unique identifier in the contents of the state-of-mind message at the second server, the at least one unique identifier being associated with the identifier; and transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message in accordance with at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the recipient device from the second server.

The method may further include advantageously consolidating the at least one user with others having identical unique identifiers at the first server.

The recipient device may be selected from, for example, mobile phone, portable media player, notebook computer, desktop computer, and tablet computer. The recipient device may be capable of providing the location of the at least one user with the use of either a GPS receiver or an IP address used by the recipient device. The recipient device may also be configured to run a program which allows the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message.

The contents of the state-of-mind message may be selected from a pre-defined listing of contents. The at least one digital commerce-centric message may preferably be an advertisement for either goods or services.

It is preferable that the location of the user to the first server is not used solely to determine the transmitted at least one digital commerce-centric message.

In a third aspect, there is provided a server for use in a system for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal, the server being configured to store an identifier of the at least one user, to receive contents of a state-of-mind message and a location of the at least one user, and to transmit the contents of a state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user, and wherein the server is advantageously configured to consolidate the at least one user with others having identical unique identifiers from the state-of-mind message, the at least one unique identifier being associated with the identifier. The identifier of the at least one user may preferably include a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, the entities being contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

In order to ensure that the invention may be fully understood and readily put into practical effect, there is provided, by way of non-limitative example-only exemplary embodiments, the following illustrative figures which are referenced by the foregoing description.

Figure 1 shows an overview of a system of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a process flow of a method of the present invention. ‘DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to Figure 1, there is provided a system 20 for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal. The social network portal may be similar to, for example, Facebook,

Friendster, Myspace, and the like. The at least one digital commerce-centric message may be an advertisement for either goods or services. The at least one digital commerce-centric message may be in accordance with at least one of a location of the at least one user, and contents of a state-of-mind message provided by the at least one user. It is preferable that the at least one digital commerce-centric message is not in accordance with solely the location of the at least one user. It should be appreciated that the contents of a state-of-mind message provides insights into the at least one user's mood and the at least one user's needs/desires at a particular juncture in time. The contents of a state-of-mind message may include, for example, “I'mtired, let's go for a coffee”, or “Almost weekend, let's go for a party tonight”, and so forth. Further details of how the at least one digital commerce-centric message may be provided to the at least one user in accordance with at least one of a location of the user, and contents of a state-of-mind message will be described in the subsequent paragraphs.

The system 20 includes a first server 22, which may host a social network portal and may store an identifier 24 of the at least one user. The at least one user is a member of the social network portal. The identifier 24 may be, for example, an email address, phone number, social network portal ID, any combination of the aforementioned and the like. The identifier 24 of the at least one user may be linked to a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, whereby the entities are contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal. The list of entities familiar to the at least one user may also be known as a “friends” list.

In addition, the system 20 includes a second server 26 which hosts a commerce-centric message portal that both stores the at least one digital commerce-centric message and transmits the at least one digital commerce- centric message to the at least one user. The second server 26 may be considered as a repository for the at least one digital commerce-centric message. The second server 26 is also communicatively connected to the first server 22 such that exchange of information between the first server 22 and the second server 26 is possible.

At least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user is associated with the identifier 24 at the first server 22. As the first server 22 is communicatively connected to the second server 26, the first server 22 is correspondingly able to transmit at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the second server 26. When at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user are transmitted to the second server 26, the commerce-centric message portal would be able to identify at least one commerce-centric message suitable for the at least one user of the social network portal. It should be appreciated that both the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user shown at the social network portal may be updated by the first server 22 whenever there is any change to either the contents of the state-of-mind message or the location of the at least one user. Alternatively, both the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user shown at the social network portal may be updated by the first server 22 at pre-determined times.

The system 20 also includes a recipient device 30 for the at least one user to input the contents of the state-of-mind message. The recipient device 30 is capable of providing the location of the at least one user and is communicatively connected to the first server 22, and the second server 26. While the recipient device 30 is depicted in Figure 1 to be a mobile phone, it should be appreciated that the recipient device 30 may also be, for example, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a portable media player and so forth. The recipient device 30 is capable of providing the location of the at least one user with the use of either a GPS receiver or an IP address used by the recipient device 30. The GPS receiver may be either built into the recipient device 30 or a standalone GPS receiver functionally coupled to the recipient device 30. The recipient device 30 is capable of running a program which allows the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message from a pre-defined listing of contents. The program may include a graphical user interface which allows the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message from a pre-defined listing of contents into the recipient device 30. The program may be obtained (downloaded) from any server which is able to host the program. Installation of the program may be mandatory for the recipient device 30 to be communicatively connected to the first server 22.

The recipient device 30 is configured to transmit at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the first server 22, and consequently, the second server 26 is configured to process at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user and transmits at least one digital commerce-centric message to the recipient device 30. This is the identification process for the at least one commerce-centric message at the second server 26 as mentioned earlier. The second server 26 is configured to process the contents of the state-of-mind message by identifying unique identifiers 28 in the contents. The unique identifiers 28 may be in the form of character strings of any number of : characters. The unique identifiers 28 may be pre-defined. Consequently, the at least one digital commerce-centric message to the recipient device 30 depends on at least one of the identified unique identifiers 28 and the location of the at least one user of the social network portal. For instance, when the at least one user provides content like “I'm tired, let's go for a coffee”, the second server 26 may use any known methodology for identifying the unique identifiers 28 in the contents of the state-of-mind message to ascertain that the unique identifiers 28 relate to “coffee”. For example, “coffee” has an identifier string of CB123.

Subsequently, the second server 26 then transmits an advertisement for either a cafe or a coffee shop at a close proximity to the at least one user to entice the at least one user to act on what was selected as the content. In this regard, the at least one digital commerce-centric message transmitted to the recipient device 30 is consequential and relevant to at least one of the content of the state-of-mind message and the location of user. Consequently, the identified unique identifiers 28 are associated with the identifier 24 of the at least one user.

In addition, the first server 22 is able to consolidate at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of users of the social network portal who have the program installed on their respective recipient devices 30 from all the identifiers 24 stored in the first server 22 with associated unique identifiers 28 from the second server 26. For example, a first group of users who have selected “| am tired, let's go for a coffee” as their state-of-mind message may be grouped together (using unique identifier 28 aggregation as each user is associated with an identical unique identifier 28 of CB123) and sent the same commerce-centric message if the contents of the state-of-mind message of each user is the only parameter used by the first server 22 for consolidating the group of users. Similarly, a second group of users who have selected “I am tired, let's go for a coffee” as their state-of-mind message and who are located within a pre-determined area (for example, a housing estate, a precinct, a town, and so forth) may also be sent the same commerce-centric message if both the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of users are parameters used by the first server 22 for consolidating the group of users. In this regard, the first server 22 is able to store information on specific users or groups of users (eg. those within a “friends” list) and that information may be used to determine the digital commerce-centric messages which are : sent to the at least one user.

It should be appreciated that the first server 22 and the second server 26 need not be separate physical servers. The first server 22 and the second server 26 "may be incorporated within a single server device.

Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a method 40 for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal.

Given that the method 40 may be used in the system 20, the method 40 will be described with labels denoted in Figure 1 to provide both clarity and consistency in the description.

The social network portal may be similar to, for example, Facebook, Friendster,

Myspace, and the like. The at least one digital commerce-centric message may be an advertisement for either goods or services. The at least one digital commerce-centric message may be in accordance with at least one of a location of the user, and contents of a state-of-mind message provided by the at least one user. It is preferable that the at least one digital commerce-centric message is not in accordance with solely the location of the at least one user. It should be appreciated that the contents of a state-of-mind message provides insights into both the at least one user's mood and the at least one user's needs/desires at a particular juncture in time. The contents of a state-of-mind message may include, for example, “I'm tired, let's go for a coffee”, “Almost weekend, let's go for a party tonight”, and so forth. Further details of how the at least one digital commerce-centric message may be provided to the at least one user in accordance with at least one of a location of the at least one user, and contents of a state-of-mind message will be described in the subsequent paragraphs.

The method 40 includes obtaining access to the social network portal at a first server 22 using a recipient device 30 (42). A recipient device 30 can be communicatively connected to the first server 22 using either a data or a phone network. The first server 22 is for hosting the social network portal where the at least one user is a member of the social network portal. The recipient device 30 is configured for the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message from a pre-defined listing of contents. The recipient device 30 is capable ‘of providing the location of the at least one user and is communicatively connected to the first server 22, and the second server 26. While the recipient device 30 is depicted in Figure 1 to be a mobile phone, it should be appreciated that the recipient device 30 may also be, for example, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a portable media player and so forth. The recipient device 30 is capable of providing the location of the at least one user with the use of, for example, a GPS receiver, an IP address used by the recipient device 30 and so forth. The GPS receiver may be either built into the recipient device 30 or a standalone GPS receiver functionally coupled to the recipient device 30. The recipient device 30 is configured to run a program which allows the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message. The program may include a graphical user interface which allows the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message from a pre- defined listing of contents into the recipient device 30. The program may be ‘obtained (downloaded) from any server which is able to host the program.

Installation of the program may be mandatory for the recipient device 30 to be communicatively connected to the first server 22.

The method 40 then includes transmitting at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message to the first server 22 from the recipient device 30 (44), whereby the first server 22 is for storing an identifier 24 of the at least one user. The identifier 24 may be, for example, an email address, phone number, social network portal ID, any combination of the aforementioned and the like. At least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message are associated with the identifier } 24. The identifier 24 of the at least one user includes a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, whereby the entities are contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal. The list of entities familiar to the at least one user may also be known as a “friends” list. The list of entities familiar to the at least one user is obtained from the social network portal. At least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message may be associated with the identifier 24.

The method 40 also includes transmitting at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message to the second server 26 from the first server 22 (46). When at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user are transmitted to the second server 26 which hosts a commerce-centric message portal that both stores the at least one digital commerce-centric message and transmits the at least one digital commerce-centric message to the at least one user, the commerce-centric message portal is consequently able to identify at least one commerce-centric message suitable for the at least one user of the social network portal. The second server 26 may be considered as a repository for the at least one digital commerce-centric message. It should be appreciated that at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user shown at the social network portal may be updated by the first server 22 whenever there is any change to either the contents of the state-of- mind message or the location of the at least one user. Alternatively, at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user shown at the social network portal may be updated by the first server 22 at pre-determined times.

The method 40 then includes processing at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message at the second server 26 (48). The second server 26 is configured to process the contents of the state-of-mind message by identifying unique identifiers 28 in the contents.

The unique identifiers 28 may be in the form of character strings of any number of characters. The unique identifiers 28 may be pre-defined. Consequently, the at least one digital commerce-centric message to the recipient device 30 depends on at least one of the identified unique identifiers 28 and the location of the at least one user of the social network portal. For instance, when the at least one user provides content like “I'm tired, let's go for a coffee”, the second server 26 may use any known methodology for identifying the unique identifiers 28 in the contents of a state-of-mind message to ascertain that the unique identifiers 28 relate to “coffee”. For example, “coffee” has an identifier string of CB123.

The method 40 also includes consolidating at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of users (50) of the social network portal who have the program installed on their respective recipient devices 30 from all the identifiers 24 stored in the first server 22 with associated unique identifiers 28 obtained from the second server 26. For example, a first group of users who have selected “| am tired, let's go for a coffee” into their state-of-mind message may be grouped together (using unique identifier aggregation. as each user is associated with an identical identifier string of CB123) and sent the same commerce-centric message if the contents of the state-of-mind message of each user is the only parameter used by the first server 22 for consolidating the group of users. Similarly, a second group of users who have entered “I am tired, let's go for a coffee” into their state-of-mind message and who are located within a pre-determined area (for example, a housing estate, a precinct, a town, and so forth) may also be sent the same commerce-centric message if both the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of users are parameters used by the first server 22 for consolidating the group of users. In this regard, the first server 22 is able to store information on specific users or groups of users (eg. those within a “friends” list) and that information may be used to determine the digital commerce-centric messages which are sent to the at least one user.

Finally, the method 40 includes transmitting the at least one digital commerce- centric message to the recipient device 30 (of users within the same group as consolidated by the first server 22) from the second server 26 (52). The second server 26 transmits an advertisement for either a cafe or a coffee shop selling coffee at a close proximity to the at least one user to entice the at least one user to act on what was selected as the content of the state-of-mind message. In this regard, the at least one digital commerce-centric message transmitted to the recipient device 30 is consequential and relevant to at least one of the content of the state-of-mind message and the location of user. In the method 40, it should be appreciated that the first server 22 and the second server 26 need not be separate physical servers. The first server 22 and the second server 26 may be incorporated within a single server device.

Whilst the foregoing description has described exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the technology concerned that many variations in details of design, construction and/or operation may be made without departing from the present invention.

Claims

1. A system for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal, the system including: a first server for hosting the social network portal and storing an identifier of the at least one user; a second server for hosting a commerce-centric portal, and for both storing the at least one digital commerce-centric message and transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message, the second server being communicatively connected to the first server; and a recipient device for the at least one user to select contents of the state- of-mind message, the recipient device being capable of providing a location of the at least one user and to be communicatively connected to the first server, and the second server, wherein the recipient device is configured to transmit at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the user to the first server, and .consequently, the second server is configured to process at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user by identifying at least one unique identifier in the contents of the state- of-mind message, the at least one unique identifier being associated with the identifier, and to transmit the at least one digital commerce-centric message in accordance with at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the recipient device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the at least one user includes a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, the entities being contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal.

3. The system of either claim 1 or 2, wherein the recipient device is selected from a group comprising: mobile phone, portable media player, notebook computer, desktop computer, and tablet computer.

4, The system of any one of claims 1 — 3, wherein the recipient device is capable of providing the location of the at least one user with the use of either a GPS receiver or an IP address used by the recipient device.

6b. The system of any one of claims 1 — 4, wherein the recipient device is configured to run a program which allows the at least one user to input the contents of a state-of-mind message.

6. The system of any one of claims 1 — 5, wherein the at least one digital commerce-centric message is an advertisement for either goods or services.

7. The system of any one of claims 1 — 6, wherein the first server is configured to transmit both the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the second server.

8. The system of any one of claims 1 ~ 7, wherein the first server is configured to consolidate the at least one user with others having identical unique identifiers.

9. The system of any one of claims 1 — 8, wherein the contents of the state- of-mind message is selected from a pre-defined listing of contents.

10. The system of any one of claims 1 — 9, wherein the location of the user transmitted to the first server is not used solely to determine the transmitted at least one digital commerce-centric message.

11. A method for providing at least one digital commerce-centric message to at least one user of a social network portal, the method including: obtaining access to the social network portal at a first server using a recipient device, the first server being for hosting the social network portal whereby the at least one user is a member of the social network portal, transmitting at least one of a location of the at least one user, and contents of a state-of-mind message to the first server from the recipient device, the first server being for storing an identifier of the at least one user, at least one of the location of the at least one user and the contents of a state-of-mind message being associated with the identifier: transmitting at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message to the second server from the first server, the second server being for both storing the at least one digital commerce- centric message and transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message; processing at least one of the location of the at least one user, and the contents of a state-of-mind message by identifying at least one unique identifier in the contents of the state-of-mind message at the second server, the at least one unique identifier being associated with the identifier: and transmitting the at least one digital commerce-centric message in accordance with at least one of the contents of the state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user to the recipient device from the second server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifier of the at least one user includes a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, the entities being contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal.

13. The method of either claim 11 or 12, wherein the recipient device is selected from a group comprising: mobile phone, portable media player, notebook computer, desktop computer, and tablet computer.

14. The method of any one of claims 11 — 13, wherein the recipient device is capable of providing the location of the at least one user with the use of either a GPS receiver or an IP address used by the recipient device.

15. The method of any one of claims 11 — 14, wherein the recipient device is configured to run a program which allows the at least one user to select the contents of a state-of-mind message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the contents of the state-of-mind message is selected from a pre-defined listing of contents.

17. The method of any one of claims 11 — 16, wherein the at least one digital commerce-centric message is an advertisement for either goods or services.

18. The method of any one of claims 11 ~ 17, further including consolidating the at least one user with others having identical unique identifiers at the first server.

19. The method of any one of claims 11 — 18, wherein the location of the user to the first server is not used solely to determine the transmitted at least one digital commerce-centric message.

20. A server for use in a system for providing at least one digital commerce- centric message to at least one user of a social network portal, the server being configured to store an identifier of the at least one user, to receive contents of a state-of-mind message and a location of the at least one user, and to transmit the contents of a state-of-mind message and the location of the at least one user, and wherein the server is configured to consolidate the at least one user with others having identical unique identifiers from the state-of-mind message, the at least one unique identifier being associated with the identifier.

21. The server of claim 20, wherein the identifier of the at least one user includes a list of entities familiar to the at least one user, the entities being contactable by the at least one user on the social network portal.