Patent ID: 11935005
Assignee: SHUTTERFLY, LLC
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 4:
5. A system for fulfilling requests for communication services, comprising:
a communication resource allocation server that receives a request for a communication service, wherein the requested communication service comprises one or more of electronic communications and physical mailing pieces to be sent to one or more recipients;
an intelligent communication design server that automatically creates designs for the electronic communications and the physical mailing pieces based on the received request;
a communication server that transmits the electronic communications to at least some of the recipients; and
one or more product fulfillment centers that print and finish the physical mailing pieces to be mailed to at least some of the recipients,
a user request analysis module that automatically analyzes types of communication services in the request and that automatically determines amounts of design work, printing and finishing work, and transmission work required to fulfill the requested communication service;
wherein the user request analysis module automatically determines an amount of design work required by the request based on a level of customization for the communication service and a number of variations of different electronic channels, including device types, operating systems, types of viewing software, and viewing platforms for the communication service;

one or more modules that monitor workloads and anticipated workloads of the one or more product fulfillment centers, the communication server, and the intelligent communication design server to determine available design, printing, and transmission resources at the one or more product fulfillment centers, the communication server, and the intelligent communication design server;
a communication resource assignment module that dynamically assigns the available design, printing, and transmission resources with the determined amounts of design work, printing and finishing work, and transmission work for fulfillment of the received request;
wherein the assigned design resource designs the electronic communications and the physical mailing pieces based on the received request;
wherein the assigned transmission resource transmits the electronic communication to at least some of the recipients; and
wherein the assigned printing resource prints and finishes the physical mailing pieces to be mailed to at least some of the recipients.