Patent Publication Number: US-2016225005-A1

Title: People engagement and redemption system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     See Application Data Sheet. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     THE NAMES OF PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM (EFS-WEB) 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to systems and methods for online communication systems, specifically, the present disclosure relates to communication system and methods for rewarding credits based upon user engagement. 
     2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98. 
     It is important for any organization to keep its employees engaged and well-aware about its product/service offerings. More so because the employees are the best marketing tools of an organization. To meet this end, organizations conduct regular campaigns be it online or offline to educate their employees. 
     Other than employees, clients of an organization contribute to the word of mouth publicity through one-to-one interactions, social platforms. This is another source which, if tapped correctly, can result in business for an organization. 
     There is thus a need for a system and method to positively engage the employees, customers, etc of an organization to make them more connected and aware about an organization&#39;s offerings, policies, administration, etc. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the disclosed embodiments and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be gained by taking into consideration the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole. 
     A method of communication with a user is provided. The method includes initiating a campaign which in turn includes sending a series of communications to the user. Further, the method awards at least one credit to the user for each response received from the user relating to the series of communication, maintains a credit balance of the awarded at least one credit in a database and allows the user to redeem a quantity of credits from the credit balance on successfully responding to at least one of one or more conditions, the one or more conditions correspond to the campaign. 
     A system for communication with a user is disclosed. The system includes a web server which is configured to initiate a campaign which in turn includes sending a series of communications to the user. Further, the web server awards at least one credit to the user for each response received from the user relating to the series of communication, maintains a credit balance of the awarded at least one credit in a database and allows the user to redeem a quantity of credits from the credit balance on successfully responding to at least one of one or more conditions, the one or more conditions correspond to the campaign. 
     Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of examples the principles of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a credit redemption system according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIGS. 3, 4, and 5  are flow diagrams illustrating a number of steps carried out by a server in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Methods and systems for multi-way communications are disclosed. The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. For purposes of explanation, specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Descriptions of specific applications are provided only as examples. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein. 
     Applications, software programs or computer readable instructions may be referred to as components or modules. Applications may be hardwired or hard coded in hardware or take the form of software executing on a general purpose computer such that when the software is loaded into and/or executed by the computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention, or they are available via a web service. Applications may also be downloaded in whole or in part through the use of a software development kit or a toolkit that enables the creation and implementation of the present invention. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention. 
     Referring now to the drawings,  FIG. 1  is an example of a distributed system  10  configured as client/server architecture used in an embodiment of the present invention. A “client” is a member of a class or group that uses the services of another class or group to which it is not related. In the context of a computer network, such as the Internet, a client is a process (i.e. roughly a program or task) that requests a service which is provided by another process, known as a server program. The client process uses the requested service without having to know any working details about the server program or the server itself. In networked systems, a client process usually runs on a computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer running a corresponding server process. However, it should also be noted that it is possible for the client process and the server process to run on the same computer. 
     A “server” is typically a remote computer system that is accessible over a communications medium such as the Internet. The client process may be active on a second computer system, and communicate with the server process over a communications medium that allows multiple clients to take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of the server. Thus, the server essentially acts as an information provider for a computer network. 
     The block diagram of  FIG. 1  therefore shows a distributed system  10  that includes a plurality of client computers  12  and a web server  14  which are connected to a network  16 . The network  16  will be hereinafter generally referred to as the Internet. Although the system and method of the present invention is specifically useful for the Internet, it should be understood that the client computers  12  and web server  14  may be connected together through one of a number of different types of networks. Such networks may include local area networks (LANs), other wide area networks (WANs), and regional networks accessed over telephone lines, such as commercial information services. The client and server processes may even comprise different programs executing simultaneously on a single computer. 
     The client computers  12  can be conventional personal computers (PCs), workstations, mobile phones, smartphones, or computer systems of any other size. Each client computer  12  may include one or more processors, memories, input/output devices, and a network interface, such as a conventional modem, a wireless receiver, etc. The web server  14  can be similarly configured. 
     A display on the client computer  12  enables a user to interact with a web application via a user interface displayed on the computer  12 . For purposes of the preferred embodiment, it is assumed that the display is used to present information to each user, but it should be understood that information may be presented to a user by an audio signal, a Braille interface or any other suitable user interface. 
     The client computers  12  can execute web browser programs  18 , such as the NAVIGATOR, EXPLORER, or FIREFOX browser programs, to locate the web pages or records stored on the web server  14 . The browser programs  18  allow the users to enter addresses of specific web pages to be retrieved. These addresses are referred to as Uniform Resource Locators, or URLs. In addition, once a page has been retrieved, the browser programs  18  can provide access to other pages or records when the user “clicks” on hyperlinks or other elements on the web page. Such hyperlinks/elements are located within the web pages and provide an automated way for the user to enter the URL of another page and to retrieve that page. The pages can be data records including plain textual information, or more complex digitally encoded multimedia content, such as software programs, graphics, audio signals, videos, and so forth. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, shown in  FIG. 1 , client computers  12  communicate through the network  16  with various network information providers, including web server  14  using the functionality provided by a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), although other communications protocols, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), TELNET, and a number of other protocols known in the art, may be used. The web server  14  is located on the World Wide Web. 
     The web server  14  hosts the website of an individual/entity. The web server  14  includes a computer storage medium  22  and a processing system  24 . A database  26  is stored on the storage medium  22  of the web server  14 . The database  26  contains data relating to one or more web pages, one or more campaigns, a lookup table of the mappings, account information including without limitation, name of the account holder, age, profession, designation, address, and a variety of information, described below. It will be appreciated from the description below that the system and method of the present disclosure may be implemented in software that is stored as executable instructions on a computer storage medium, such as memories or mass storage devices, on the web server  14 . Conventional browser programs  18 , running on client computers  12 , may be used to access account information stored on the web server  14 . In an embodiment, access to the web server  14  is accomplished through a firewall, not shown, which protects the account management and one or more campaigns and the account information from external tampering. Additional security may be provided via enhancements to the standard communications protocols such as Secure HTTP or the Secure Sockets Layer. A web server  14  may refer to the web server of an entity/individual wanting to advertise, educate, promote, etc its products/services. The modules (described in  FIG. 2 ) on the web server  14  perform various functions without limitation, awarding credits, computing credits accorded to a user and allowing or rejecting redemption of credits on successfully meeting a predefined condition. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary block diagram of the web server  14  that is configured as a credit redemption system. The web server  14  includes an input-output module  202 , a database  204 , a computation module  206 , a processing module  208  and a presentation module  210 . As stated above, the web server  14  is connected to the network  16 , for example, Internet via which it can be accessed by one or more client computers  12 . 
     The input-output module  202  is configured to receive a request from the client computer  12 . Additionally, the input-output module  202  is configured to respond to the received request by transmitting data, for example, web page data, application data, information packets containing a communication, etc to the requesting client computer  12 . The response may include for example, information about a product/service, company policy, new promotional schemes, awareness programs, etc. 
     The database  204  stores one or more conditions that correspond to a campaign. A campaign may be a theme or a topic relating to which for example, awareness is to be spread, user engagement is sought, etc. Each campaign consists of a plurality of communications to be sent to a user. Exemplary communications includes questions on various facet of a topic, audio notes, policy documents, etc. In case a communication is a multiple choice question, a look-up table with one or more mappings of a correct answer to the question is stored. Further, the database  204  stores the number of credits to be awarded for each communication. These mappings may be vary as per the website owner&#39;s preference. Other than communications, for each campaign, one or more conditions are framed that act as a secret question at the time of credit redemption and are stored in the database  204  mapped to the title of the campaign. The database  204  also includes one or more records of account information including without limitation, name of the account holder, age, profession, designation, address, place of work, etc. In addition, the database  204  stores credit balance of a user, credits redeemed, etc. In an embodiment, the information is encrypted to maintain confidentiality and/or privacy of users. 
     The computation module  206  is configured to perform one or more computations relating to the number of credits secured by a user, accuracy of a user&#39;s response, possibility of credit redemption, etc. In an embodiment, the computation module  206  receives a user response and awards one or more credits if the response is correct after referring to the look-up table stored in the database  204 . Alternately, the computation module  206  monitors an action taken by a user for example, viewing a web page, listening to an audio note, etc. before awarding one or more credits to the user. Additionally and optionally, the computation module  206  is provided with an algorithm that awards one or more credits to a user based upon the quality of inputs provided. For example, the quality can be judged based upon the length of a user response, presence of certain key terms, absence of certain key terms, etc. The computation module  206  also determines if the number of credits awarded to a user have crossed a predefined number and can be redeemed. 
     The processing module  208  co-ordinates the functioning of each module and is responsible for the functioning of the web server  14 . It communicates with the input-output module  202  to receive a user&#39;s query and obtains relevant data from the database  204 . The processing module  208  may either fetch the requested web page from the database  204  to the input-output module  202  or communicate with the computation module  206 , provide it the data obtained from the database  204  and forward the computed credits/response to the presentation module  210 . Further, the processing module  210  directs the input-output module  202  to transmit the credits/response to the user. 
     The presentation module  210  collates the credits/response and prepares a list in a predefined format, for example, pdf, a word document, a spreadsheet, etc to be presented to a user. 
       FIG. 3  depicts an exemplary flowchart  300  for the first embodiment of the present disclosure. At step  302 , the credit redemption system hosted on the web server  14  initiates a campaign suggested by a sponsor. To initiate the campaign, one or more communications for example, PUSH messages are delivered to the client  12 . The client may be a mobile phone whose Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) and/or other information (for example, sex, age, etc) is registered with the web server  14 . The messages may be text, audio, audio visual, video etc. In an embodiment, a message relating to the campaign is selected by the web server  14  based upon one or more parameters like category of message, age slab, sex, state, specific time(s) of day ie, start hrs-end hrs, a date range (from and to date), message frequency, hourly, 2 hourly, etc. This selection may be auto-configured or configured by an organization/individual. A communication may be in the form of multiple choice questions with predefined options like good, average, not good and not used or the questions may be descriptive type. In an embodiment, when a message is sent to the client  12 , the corporate product image, logo, etc is displayed as sponsors to increase a product or client visibility. 
     At step  304 , a response to the communication is received. The response may be any related action taken by the client including without limitation, viewing a website, selecting an option from predefined options, providing a detailed response, playing an audio note, etc. In some cases for example, if the client selects average or not good, the user of the client may be requested to provide a feedback. The user may provide feedback by either selecting one of the predefined options provided or input his/her feedback. Alternately, the user may first view the website of the company to gain more information about the product/company and thereafter, respond to the communication. It should be understood that this is merely one aspect of the invention, and that many other options exist for predetermined conditions. 
     At step  306 , the web server  14  awards predefined number of credits to the user based upon the response received. In various embodiments, the web server  14  awards the user credits using the lookup table maintained in the database  204 . The credits are added to the tally of previous credits of the user, if any and thus, a credit balance for the respective user is maintained. At step  308 , a check is made if the number of credits equals to or exceeds the redeemable credit limit. If yes, in an embodiment, a message may be sent to the user. At step  310 , if the user selects to redeem the credits, one or more conditions related to the campaign are posed to the user. Such conditions are retrieved from the database  204  and presented to the user. In an embodiment, the one or more conditions relate to the campaign which the user had participated in. If the user correctly responds to the same, redemption is allowed. In an embodiment, if the user has reached redemption level for the first time, he/she is not evaluated and this step is skipped. This is done to encourage user to become active and promote the credit redemption system. Alternatively, the user has the option of redeeming credits later and saving the balance of earned credits for future use till until the message campaign is running. Details of redemption process are described in  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 4  depicts an exemplary flowchart  400  for the second embodiment of the present disclosure. At step  402 , a campaign is initiated by the web server by triggering an email to a user. Upon receiving the email, the user accesses the website of the individual/entity hosted on the web server  14  through the network  16 . In an exemplary embodiment, this is done by issuing appropriate commands through an associated user interface, which transmits the commands to the associated ISP, which in turn, transmits the command to the appropriate web server  14  through the network  16  and the web server&#39;s ISP. The formatting required to transmit the instructions to the correct ISP is done using standard protocols and is well known to those skilled in the art. In another embodiment of the present invention, an alternate user interface and an alternative service delivery network such as a telephone and a long distance telephone service provider, a television and a cable or satellite transmission system, or any other compatible pairing of service interface and delivery network systems suited to delivery of the service for which credits are redeemed may be used. 
     The user accesses the home page of the website by typing in the URL of the webpage. In various embodiments, the user may access the website directly or by logging in. If the user is a registered member, the user enters a user name and a password. If the user is not a registered member, he or she may register with the website before continuing. For registration, the user may be required to enter information regarding his identity, address, age, contact information, a user name, a password, etc. On successful registration/logging in, the user may select to participate in a campaign run by the website owner at step  404 . In an embodiment, the user may search for the campaign using a search option provided on the web page. A campaign may be a series of communications by the product/service owner to promote, advertise, spread awareness, promote education, etc about the product/service. The registered user is allowed to instantaneously view the results of the campaigns to validate and take advantage of the effectiveness, reach, quality and volumes of the campaigns. 
     At step  406 , the credit redemption system provides the user a webpage containing one or more communications, for example, questions. The questions may be multiple choice questions with predefined options like good, average, not good and not used or the questions may be descriptive type. At step  408 , the credit redemption system receives the user response to the communication. In some cases for example, if the user selects average or not good, the web server  14  requests a feedback from the user. The user may provide feedback by either selecting one of the predefined options or input his/her feedback. 
     At step  410 , the web server  14  awards credits to the user if the previous step is successful. The credits are added to the tally of previous credits of the user, if any. In various embodiments, the user earns credits on viewing of company/product web page, company advertisements (ads), etc and/or by providing feedback. At step  412 , a check is made if the number of credits equals to or exceeds the redeemable credit limit. If yes, a pop up message is displayed to the user. At step  414 , if the user selects to redeem the credits, one or more conditions related to the campaign is posed to the user. If the user correctly responds to the same, redemption is allowed. In an embodiment, if the user has reached redemption level for the first time, he/she is not evaluated and this step is skipped. This is done to encourage user to become active and promote the credit redemption system. Alternatively, the user has the option of redeeming credits, or leaving the website and saving the balance of earned credits for future use till until the message campaign is running. 
     In either of the embodiments depicted in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the response of the user may be immediately presented to the user, sponsor, web hosting entity, etc. Further, a range of analytics like running a vote-count, percentage of ‘good’ response, feedbacks, etc can be tracked and instantaneously displayed. It will be evident to a person skilled in the art that such features/analysis forms a part of the invention. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary credit redemption process  500 . As discussed above, once the user has earned credits such that his account reflects a positive balance of credits, the user can redeem any or all of the balance of credits. Various embodiments of this invention encompass different goods and services for which credits may be redeemed. 
     At step  502 , the web server computes the number of credits of a user to be above a minimum threshold. The web server informs the user of the redeemable number of credits either by way of SMS, email, etc. At step  504 , the web server receives the user response to redeem the credits. The user may be provided with different options against which the credits can be redeem. Such options include with limitation, a company&#39;s product/service, movies, music, televised events, presentations, books, or any other product or service. At step  506 , the web server receives the user selection of the good/service for which the user wishes to redeem the credits. At step  508 , the web server  14  confirms redemption by either arranging for delivery of the product or passing a voucher so that the selected service can be redeemed. 
     It should be noted that the teachings of the present disclosure can be applied individually or features of various embodiments described above may be combined together. Such variations are within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. For example, in one embodiment, the web server may award credits to a user only on viewing, responding and commenting on the questions asked. In other embodiment, there may not be any minimum threshold for credits to be redeemed. 
     As evident, the teachings of the present disclosure find applications with corporates that would like to attract users to learn, become aware more and more about the company′ product/service offerings and al so be positively incentivized by way of redemption of their own products or services. The company gets visibility, advertises product promotion while delivering corporate social responsibility. 
     It will be appreciated that variations of the above disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also, that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.