SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING UNIQUE MESSAGES

Abstract: A method for handling a message includes receiving a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, obtaining a preference of a particular recipient of the message, and combining the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message. The message can be provided to the particular recipient using e-mail or a preferred delivery format. Another method for handling a message includes receiving a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, combining the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message, and sending a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed. The authenticity of the particular recipient can then be verified.

Description: SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING UNIQUE MESSAGES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a message handling system, and more particularly to a system and method for generating and sending unique messages tailored to a particular recipient's preferences, while still conveying all data that a data provider desires to convey As explained in U S Patent Number 5,872,640, issued February 16, 1999, and assigned to the assignee of the present application, and U S Provisional Patent Application No 60/007,645, filed November 28, 1995, the contents of both documents being incorporated by reference, many businesses require sending information to clients on a regular basis and in a very timely manner For example, in the stock brokerage and secuπties area, a brokerage firm is required by law to send confirmation of stock trades to their clients by the next business day Because the cost of overnight mail earners is prohibitive, other options such as facsimile delivery are used However, it is extremely time consuming for a firm to prepare and send via facsimile a large number of messages to a plurality of different telephone numbers In one system, a facsimile vendor stores a customer form Then, the secuπties firm sends in data that is typed at distinct locations to fit the form That is, for example, the name to be placed m the "to" field is positioned in the exact position it will be on the form If there are a plurality of blank lines, then a plurality of blank lines will be sent This requires a great deal of data to be sent to the fax vendor, who then supeπmposes the data over the stored form and transmits a facsimile to a plurality of different recipients Accordingly, this pπor system required that a secuπties firm send a large amount of data to a fax vendor and spend a great deal of time prepaπng and formatting the data U S Patent No 5,872,640 descπbes a system and method for combining data with a file from a data provider into a facsimile format and transmitting the facsimile to a recipient identified by a facsimile number Thus, delivery occurred using a facsimile format and data merged into the message was simply black and white rasteπzed fonts Also, once a facsimile is provided, there is no way to ensure the secuπty of the information contained in the facsimile, as the facsimile is outside of the control of the data provider Another limitation of the facsimile form generation system and method lies in the fact that the system conveying the facsimile is very resource intensiv e Therefore, the size of each facsimile transmission must be carefully controlled to prevent overtaxing the system SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system and a method for delivering information that each substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the prior art To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly descπbed herein, the invention comprises a method for a handling a message, including receiving a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, obtaining a preference of a particular recipient of the message, and combining the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message Also, the present invention includes an advertising method having the step of indicating to a data provider the ability to receive a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, obtain a preference of a particular recipient of the message, and combine the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message Further, the present invention provides an apparatus for a handling a message, including a data receiving system that receives a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, a recipient preference system that obtains a preference of a particular recipient of the message, and a message generation system that combines the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the method for a handling a message is provided that includes receiving a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, combining the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message, and sending a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed Also, this aspect of the present invention includes an advertising method having the step of indicating to a data provider the ability to receive a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, combine the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message, and send a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed Further, this aspect of the present inv ention includes a data receiving s> stem that receives a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, a message generation systems that combines the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message, and an output system that sends a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the descπption which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the inv ention The advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims It is to be understood that both the foregoing general descπption and the following detailed descπption are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram of a system for generating messages according to the present invention FIG 2 is a flow chart of steps of a method for message delivery according to the present invention FIG 3 is a flow chart of steps of a method tor transmission of a message with increased security according to the present invention FIG 4 is a flow chart of steps of a method for checking if a preferred message format is available according to the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Reference will now be made in detail to the construction and operation of a preferred implementation of the present invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings The following description of the preferred implementation of the present invention is only exemplary of the invention The present invention is not limited to this implementation, but may be realized bv other implementations The message generation and deliver system in accordance with the present invention allows data providers to send a data set to a message generation and delivery provider, where each element of the set corresponds to an particular recipient or a predetermined number of recipients For example, if the data provider is a secuπty brokerage firm, the firm could, by way of illustration, provide data elements including a trade analyst s speech formatted transcribed as ASCII text, formatted as an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) document with text and charts, or formatted as a voice recording of the speech One or all of these formats could be provided to a recipient Data in each element is used to generate a unique message that is sent to a recipient using a preferred delivery format While the message generation and delivery provider is preferably a separate entity from the data provider, the message generation and delivery provider could be the same entity as the data provider Further, when a message generation and delivery provider is a separate entity, the message generation and delivery provider could adv ertise message generation and delivery services using available methods and discuss the features of the present invention A message in accordance with the present invention may, for example, include message envelope information, such as information on the subject line of the e-mail message for an e-mail message delivery format, a message body, for example, in the e-mail message delivery format, a human readable component of a message that is presented when the message is opened, and a message attachment A message attachment could be of the same delivery format as the message, or a different delivery format For example, a message body of an e-mail message could indicate that a fax message attachment w ould soon be transmitted Attachments in an electronic format can be of various types, such as Adobe PDF files, Microsoft (MS) Word documents or templates, image files, and sound files, and can also contain information that helps a message reader of the recipient determine the characteristics and content of the attachment A message could contain plural subject lines, message bodies, and message attachments The format and content of the message envelope information, message bodies and attachments are altered based on the content of the received data set For example, for one recipient a message may be generated that includes a message body that is in a "rich" format such as HTML, with an attachment in a format suitable tor importing into an MS Excel spreadsheet The message for a second recipient may be generated such that both a "rich" text body is included as well as a plain ASCII text body and t o attachments, an attachment in a format suitable for MS Excel, and an attachment that duplicates the same substantive data as the MS Excel attachment but is in a more easily read format, such as Adobe * s PDF Further, rather than sending the attachments themselves, an address can be supplied, e g , an Internet URL (Uniform Resource Locator), so that the recipient can retrieve the messages, e g , using a web browser and the URL to locate the attachment on the Internet The address can be supplied in the subject line, message body, or as an attachment Fig 1 illustrates one implementation of the present invention The data generation system 100 provides data to a message generation system 200 Message generation system 200 combines the data with one or more files stored in a file management system 500 and provides a generated message to an output system 300 A recipient preference system 400 provides information regarding the preferred message format and delivery for a particular recipient or set of recipients, so as to tailor a generated message to the requirements of the recipient Fig 2 illustrates the process of generating a message according to one implementation of the present invention First, a data set for a plurality of recipients is received from data generation system 100 (step S 10) As mentioned previously, data generation system 100 may preferably be a data provider who is a separate entity from the entity controlling the message generation system 200 The received data set is parsed to extract data to be included in a generated message for a particular recipient (step S20) As described in U S Patent No 5,872,670, the provided data set can include common data items for inclusion in each message of a set of generated messages and data items and formats of items specific to an particular message The received data set also indicates at least one common file for the plurality of recipients The common file will be combined Parsed data indicating a recipient is extracted and compared to a database in the recipient preference system 400 that stores a list of recipient preferences A unique identifier, for example a randomly generated number or an output destination address, can be used to index preferences of a particular recipient If a recipient is defined in recipient preference system 400 (step S30), delivery parameters, including message format and dehverv format, are set to the unique values preferred by the recipient (step S40) For example, one recipient may want an e-mail transmission including a human readable message body having a trade confirmation, as could be provided ith a message wπtten in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), another recipient may want an e-mail transmission of the trade confirmation as a message attachment that is convenient for their spreadsheet, and another recipient may prefer a facsimile transmission of the message. If a recipient is not defined in recipient preference system 400, the parsed data is checked to see if the data set includes recipient preference information (step S50). If the data set does include recipient preference information, the delivery parameters are set to the unique values indicated by the recipient preference information (step S40) and these values are indexed and stored in the recipient preference system 400 In other words, message generation system 200 intelligently interprets certain portions of the data set to correspond to recipient preferences, and, e.g., the preferences of the data provider. If no recipient preference information is provided, message generation system 200 sets default delivery parameters (step S60) Preferably, message generation system 200 provides a default format that transmits the message to the customer in a plurality of formats. For example, the message body for an e-mail message can be output in progressively richer formats (such as ASCII, Text, HTML, RTF, and PDF), and the recipient's message reader can select the richest format that it is capable of reading Thus, the recipient will view and interact with the highest quality message that its message reader is capable of processing. Alternatively, the e-mail message could provide multiple attachments with progressively richer formats, permitting the recipient to select the desired format for viewing the message. After the message preferences are set, message generation system 200 provides the generated message to output system 300 (step S70) Output system 300 checks to see if delivery using the designated delivery format is possible (step S80) For example, output system 300 can monitor whether a particular delivery system is overloaded and cannot handle delivery of another message, especially when using a resource intensive delivery format such as facsimile Also, output system 300 could determine if the recipient's communication device, for example an off-hook telephone or an offline e-mail mailbox, is inactive. In any event, if delivery using the preferred format is not possible, the message delivery can be attempted using an alternate format along with an error indication (step S90). A recipient could designate a hierarchy of alternate delivery formats along with recipient preferences Otherwise, the message is delivered using the preferred format (step S 100). Once delivered, the recipient views the message Fig. 3 illustrates a process that permits increased security for message transmission. If the data provider or recipient, for example, desire increased secuπty, message generation system 200 sends the recipient a signal that a message is stored at a designated location (step S200) For example, message generation system 200 sends an Internet address Using software at the recipient's location, the recipient can access the location of here the message is stored (step S210) At that time, the data provider or agent thereof can verify whether the recipient is a proper recipient of the message (step S220) For example, the recipient can supply a password or other identifying information If the recipient is verified, the message is transmitted (step 230) Also, the transmission of the message could also include further security features, such as a prohibition on copying or printing the message Further, the same procedure of signaling a recipient can be employed for reasons other than enhanced security For example, bandwidth limitations may require that a small amount of data be sent, rather than a large message Also, the procedure of signaling can notify users who are not able to receive messages larger than a predetermined size of the presence of a message To achieve this result, recipient preference system 200 could include message size limitations of as a recipient preference Prior to, or concurrently with, providing data sets, a data provider can provide file management system 500 with a plurality of files having different formats One or more of these files are ultimately combined with the data from the data provider to generate the message sent to the recipient Because recipients are able to designate a prefeπed format of the message that they receive, file management system 500 must accommodate numerous message formats For example, as shown in Fig 4, file management s stem 500 receives a file from a data information provider (step S300) The format of the received file is determined and stored in file management system 500 (step S310) When delivery parameters are set (step S40 of Fig 2), the message format prefeπed by the recipient is checked against the available format to see if the format matches (steps S320 and S330) If a match exists, file management system 500 provides message generation system 200 with a file of the proper format (step S340) If the formats do not match, file management system 500 determines whether a conversion driver is available (step S350) File management svstem 500 can access available driv ers in real time by accessing conversion drivers on the Internet, for example, or by accessing a collection of conversion dπvers supplied from the data provider If no data conversion driver is available, file management system indicates an error (step S360) and either provides no file or provides a file in an av ailable format If a conversion driver is available, the file format is converted to the preferred format (step S370) and the file is provided to message generation system 200 (step S340). The data elements are then combined into the file to produce the message. If the data elements cannot be combined with a file of the preferred format, or if combination of elements and files is not desired, then the elements and the file can be provided, for example, as two attachments to a message. While there has been illustrated and described what are at present considered to be a preferred embodiment and method of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the invention. Modifications may be made to adapt a particular element, technique, or implementation to the teachings of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, while delivery systems such as facsimile and e-mail were discussed above, the message generation system can be used with future electronic delivery systems. Also, while the preparation and storage of a message occurred prior to a recipient being notified of a remote location of where a message is stored, the signaling procedure could notify the recipient prior to preparing and storing the message. For example, the signaling procedure could prepare the message in real time, in response to a recipient's request for the message. Therefore, it is intended that this invention not be limited to the particular embodiment and method disclosed herein, but that the invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A method for a handling a message, including receiving a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, obtaining a preference of a particular recipient of the message; and combining the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message. 2. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising delivering the message to the particular recipient 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining includes obtaining a preferred delivery format. 4 A method according to claim 3, wherein the sending includes determining if delivery using the prefeπed delivery format is possible, and if the delivery using the prefeπed format is not possible, dehveπng using an alternative delivery format. 5. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising. electronically dehveπng the message to the particular recipient. 6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising: electronically delivering the message to the particular recipient using e-mail. 7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining includes extracting the preference of the particular recipient from the data set. 8 A method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining includes accessing a memory including the preference of the particular recipient. 9. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising- storing a file, wherein a preference of the particular recipient includes a prefeπed file format and the combining includes determining the format of the stored file and comparing the stored file format to the prefeπed file format 10 A method according to claim 9, further comprising: converting the stored file to the prefeπed file format if the prefeπed file format does not match the stored file format 1 1 A method for a handling a message, including receiving a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file. combining the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message, and sending a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed 12 A method according to claim 1 1 , further comprising storing the prepared message at the remote location 13 A method according to claim 1 1 , further comprising veπfying the authenticity of the particular recipient in response to a request for a prepared message 14 An advertising method, compπsing indicating to a data provider the ability to receive a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, obtain a preference of a particular recipient of the message, and combine the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message 15. An advertising method, compπsing indicating to a data provider the ability to- receive a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, combine the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message, and send a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed 16 An apparatus for a handling a message, including a data receiving system that receives a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file, a recipient preference system that obtains a preference of a particular recipient of the message, and a message generation system that combines the file and data from the data set for the particular recipient in accordance with the obtained preference to prepare a message 17 An apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising an output system to deliver the message to the particular recipient 18. An apparatus according to claim 17. wherein the preference of the particular recipient includes a prefeπed delivery format. 19. An apparatus according to claim 18. wherein the output system determines if delivery using the prefeπed delivery format is possible, and if the delivery using the prefeπed format is not possible, delivers the message using an alternative delivery format 20. An apparatus according to claim 16. further comprising an output system to electronically deliver the message to the particular recipient. 21. An apparatus according to claim 16, further compπsing an output system to electronically deliver the message to the particular recipient using e-mail. 22. An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the message generation system extracts the preference of the particular recipient from the data set. 23. An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the message generation system accesses a memory including the preference of the particular recipient. 24. An apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: a file management system that stores a file, wherein a preference of the particular recipient includes a prefeπed file format and the message generation system determines the format of the stored file and compares the stored file format to the prefeπed file format. 25. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein if the prefeπed file format does not match the stored file format, then the file management systems converts the stored file to the prefeπed file format 26. An apparatus for a handling a message, including: a data receiving system that receives a data set including data for respective plural recipients, the data to be combined with a file; a message generation systems that combines the file and data from the data set for a particular recipient to prepare a message; and an output system that sends a signal to the particular recipient indicating a remote location where the message can be accessed 27. An apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising- a memory that stores the prepared message at the remote location. 28. An apparatus according to claim 26. further comprising a security system that verifies the authenticity of the particular recipient in response to a request for a prepared message

Inventors: MCDONALD PAUL, MCDONALD, PAUL
Applicants: CABLE & WIRELESS USA INC, CABLE & WIRELESS USA, INC.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G06F17
IPC codes: G06F13, G06Q10