Patent Abstract:
A method and system for handling message-based requests for information about items, and for handling optional message-based purchases of same, includes receiving a request message from a mobile subscriber relating to an item that is of interest to the mobile subscriber, routing the request message for processing, performing one or more activities in accordance with the request message, and returning one or more response messages to the mobile subscriber.

Full Description:
[0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/727,858, filed on Oct. 19, 2005, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates generally to telecommunications services. More particularly, the present invention relates to the utilization of various wireless messaging paradigms including, inter alia, Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) to facilitate the identification and the optional purchase of items.  
         [0004]     2. Background  
         [0005]     While the ‘wireless revolution’ continues to march forward, it carries with it a range of untapped, or under-exploited, potentials. As the various technological (e.g., ubiquitous cross-carrier interoperability), social (e.g., user or subscriber inertia), etc. impediments are breached, wireless data services continue to grow and continue to provide significant revenue opportunities to Wireless Carriers (WCs). To sustain that growth, a continual stream of new ‘singular’ wireless data products and services is required.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The present invention is related to a product/service that allows a Mobile Subscriber (MS), a user of a Wireless Device (WD, such as, for example, a mobile telephone), to quickly and conveniently obtain information (including possibly among other things, description, price, availability, etc.) about an item of interest (using, for example, the Universal Product Code [UPC] or bar code from the item) and optionally purchase the item.  
         [0007]     The present invention is related to various of the challenges (including, inter alia, object identification, payment, etc.) that naturally arise from such an offering,  
         [0008]     In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method for providing information to a wireless device user, comprises receiving an item inquiry message from a wireless service provider associated with the user at a messaging inter-carrier vendor, forwarding the item inquiry message to a service provider, receiving an inquiry response message from the service provider at the messaging inter-carrier vendor, the inquiry response message including information associated with the item of interest, and routing the inquiry response message from the messaging inter-carrier vendor to the wireless service provider.  
         [0009]     According to another exemplary aspect of the present invention, a method of registering a mobile device user associated with a wireless carrier with a service provider comprises storing identification information associated with the mobile device user at a database of the service provider, receiving an acceptance message at an inter-carrier provider, routing the acceptance message from the inter-carrier provider to the wireless carrier, receiving a reply message from the wireless carrier at the inter-carrier provider, forwarding the reply message to the service provider, and updating user entries at the service provider.  
         [0010]     According to another exemplary aspect of the present invention, a method for facilitating a purchase of an item of interest by a user of a wireless device, comprises receiving a purchase message designating the item of interest from a wireless carrier associated with the wireless device user at a messaging inter-carrier vendor, extracting data elements from the purchase message, validating the extracted data elements, and forwarding the purchase message from the messaging inter-carrier vendor to a service provider.  
         [0011]     According to another exemplary aspect of the present invention, a system for facilitating a transaction related to an item of interest identified by a user of a mobile device comprises a messaging inter-carrier vendor linked to a wireless carrier associated with the mobile device. The messaging inter-carrier vendor is configured to receive one or more of an item identifier message and a purchase message associated with an item of interest, wherein information contained in the item identifier message and purchase message includes a destination address of a service provider associated with the item of interest and item identifier information. The system further includes one or more service providers linked to the messaging inter-carrier vendor, wherein the messaging inter-carrier vendor is configured to send the item identifier message to a designated service provider of the one or more service providers based on the information in the item identifier message.  
         [0012]     According to another exemplary aspect of the present invention, a method for providing information to a wireless device user comprises receiving an item inquiry message from a wireless service provider associated with the user at a service provider, wherein the item inquiry message includes an item identifier associated with an item of interest and a destination address of a service provider associated with the item of interest, and sending an inquiry response message from service provider to the wireless service provider, the inquiry response message including information associated with the item of interest.  
         [0013]     These and other features of embodiments of the present invention will be more fully explained below in conjunction with the drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic presentation of an exemplary user experience that may be realized through the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the relative locations of an Inter-Carrier Vendor (ICV), WCs, and a Service Provider (SP) in accordance with embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]     The following hypothetical example is presented to better convey the particulars of the present invention.  
         [0017]     In this example, Alice is a potential Service User (SU) who finds herself in a store and desires to utilize the instant service as offered by a SP to learn more about, and possibly purchase, an item (also termed “the instant item” or the “item of interest” hereinafter).  
         [0018]     Optionally, Alice may have previously completed a registration process with the SP, using as one possible example a publicly-available Web-based interface that the SP provides at a known (and, for example, advertised) Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Web-address, during which Alice provided, and the SP stored or preserved, various identification information (including, inter alia, her mailing address, her mobile telephone number, her e-mail address, a selected password, etc.), various financial information (including, inter alia, credit card number[s], debit card number[s], checking account number[s], etc.), various demographic information (including, inter alia, her age, her product preferences, etc.), and possibly other information.  
         [0019]     The registration process may have concluded with the SP dispatching to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone an (SMS, MMS, etc.) ‘acceptance’ message and Alice affirmatively acknowledging the exchange by dispatching a ‘reply’ message back to the SP.  
         [0020]     In the store (or from any other venue), Alice uses her mobile telephone to capture (e.g., take a picture of, scan, etc.) the UPC or bar code of the instant item.  
         [0021]     Alice then composes a (‘inquiry’) message, directed to a destination address as provided by the SP, requesting information about the instant item. Following the successful receipt and processing of Alice&#39;s message (described in detail below), Alice receives from the SP one or more ‘response’ messages containing information about the instant item.  
         [0022]     The response messages may contain, possibly among other information, the name of and a brief description of the instant item, as well as a list of the stores that are near Alice&#39;s current physical location that stock or carry the instant item along with, for each listed store, an availability indicator (e.g, is the instant item in stock?) and pricing details (e.g., list price, sale price, etc.).  
         [0023]     As Alice reviews the returned list of stores, Alice may optionally elect to purchase the instant item from one of the listed stores by dispatching a ‘purchase’ message. After receiving Alice&#39;s message and completing the purchase transaction (using, for example, the mailing address, credit card, etc. information that the SP had previously collected from Alice and then stored or preserved) the SP may dispatch a ‘confirmation’ message to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone and/or send a ‘confirmation’ e-mail message to Alice&#39;s computer.  
         [0024]     The hypothetical example presented above may be better and more fully understood through the following discussion of  FIG. 1 . Notably, in the discussion to follow, reference is made to messages that are sent, for example, between a mobile telephone user (Alice) and an SP. As set forth below, a given “message” sent between Alice and an SP may actually comprise a series of steps in which the message is received, forwarded and routed between different entities, including a mobile phone associated with Alice, a wireless carrier, an inter-carrier vendor, and a service provider. Thus, unless otherwise indicated, it will be understood that reference to a particular message, such as, for example, an item identifier message, generally includes that particular message as conveyed at any stage between an origination source, such as Alice&#39;s mobile phone, and an end receiver, such as an SP. As such, reference to a particular message generally includes a series of related communications between, for example, Alice and a wireless carrier, the wireless carrier and an inter-carrier vendor, and the inter-carrier vendor and an SP. The series of related communications may, in general, contain substantially the same information, or information may be added or subtracted in different communications that nevertheless may be generally referred to as a same message. To aid in clarity, a particular message, whether undergoing changes or not, is referred to by different reference numbers at different stages between a source and an endpoint of the message.  
         [0025]     Alice  106 , the potential SU, uses her computer  108  to visit  130 / 132 / 136 / 138 , through, for example, the Internet  110 , a Web site that the SP  122  provides at a known (and for example advertised) URL or Web-address.  
         [0026]     While at the Web site, Alice  106  completes a registration process during which she provides various identification information (including, inter alia, her mailing address, her mobile telephone number, her e-mail address, a selected password, etc.), various financial information (including, inter alia, credit card number[s], debit card number[s], checking account number[s], etc.), various demographic information (including, inter alia, her age, her product preferences, etc.), and possibly other information. The SP  122  preserves  134  the provided information in its Database (DB)  124  environment.  
         [0027]     Following the successful completion of the registration process, the SP  122  dispatches a (e.g., SMS, MMS, etc.) ‘acceptance’ message  140  to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104  via a messaging Inter-Carrier Vendor (ICV)  116 .  
         [0028]     U.S. patent application No. 10/426,662, entitled “AN INTERMEDIARY NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING MESSAGE EXCHANGE BETWEEN WIRELESS NETWORKS,” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, provides a description of a messaging ICV  116  and a summary of various of the services/functions/etc. that are performed by the ICV.  
         [0029]     The use of messaging ICV  16 , although not required, provides significant advantages. As shown, for example, in  FIG. 2 , a messaging ICV  204  (e.g., messaging ICV  116  from  FIG. 1 ) is disposed between (that is, communicatively linked to) multiple WCs  202   a . . .  202   z  (e.g., including WC  112  from  FIG. 1 ) on one side and a SP  206  (e.g., SP  122  from  FIG. 1 ) on the other side. Consequently, as long as messaging ICV  116  from  FIG. 1  has a relationship with Alice&#39;s particular WC (WC  112  from  FIG. 1 ) Alice can obtain access to the services offered by SP  122  from  FIG. 1 . In one configuration of the present invention, a messaging ICV, such as ICV  204 , is linked to a plurality of service providers. In other words, SP  206  can be considered to represent more than one service provider, each of which is linked to ICV  204 . Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, as long as messaging ICV  116  from  FIG. 1  has a relationship with Alice&#39;s particular WC (WC  112  from  FIG. 1 ), Alice will be able to obtain access to the services offered by SP  122  from  FIG. 1 , where SP  122  represents any of a plurality of service providers linked to ICY  116 .  
         [0030]     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , message  140  may optionally contain an informational message—e.g., ‘Thank you for registering for our service!’, etc. The informational message may be selected statically (e.g., all generated messages are injected with the same informational text), randomly (e.g., a generated message is injected with informational text that is randomly selected from a pool of available informational text), or location-based (i.e., a generated message is injected with informational text that is selected from a pool of available informational text based on the current physical location of the recipient of the message as derived from, as one example, a Location Based Service [LBS] facility).  
         [0031]     The message  140  may optionally contain advertising—e.g., textual material if an SMS model is being utilized, or multimedia (images of brand logos, sound, video snippets, etc.) material if an MMS model is being utilized. The advertising material may be selected statically (e.g., all generated messages are injected with the same advertising material), randomly (e.g., a generated message is injected with advertising material that is randomly selected from a pool of available material), or location-based (i.e., a generated message is injected with advertising material that is selected from a pool of available material based on the current physical location of the recipient of the message as derived from, as one example, an LBS facility).  
         [0032]     The Gateway (GW)  114  within the messaging ICV  116  receives the message  140 , examines the destination address (i.e., the Telephone Number [TN] of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 , perhaps 703-555-4321), identifies the destination (i.e., Alice&#39;s) WC  112 , and appropriately routes received message  140  as message  142 .  
         [0033]     Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives the message  142 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 ), and delivers received message 142 as message  144  to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 . To indicate her acceptance of, and consequently to finalize, the registration process, Alice dispatches from her mobile telephone  104  a ‘reply’  146  to the received message  144 .  
         [0034]     The reply message  146  may be addressed to a TN, e.g., 703-555-1234. Alternatively, the reply message  146  may be addressed to a Common Short Code (CSC), e.g., 12345. A description of a common (i.e., universal) short code environment may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/742,764 entitled “UNIVERSAL SHORT CODE ADMINISTRATION FACILITY, incorporated herein by reference is in its entity.  
         [0035]     Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives Alice&#39;s reply message  146 , examines the destination address (e.g., the TN or the CSC), identifies the destination address as residing outside of its network, and passes the reply message as message  148  along to its messaging ICV  116  for processing.  
         [0036]     A GW  114  that is located at Alice&#39;s WC&#39;s  112  messaging ICY  116  receives Alice&#39;s reply message  148  and examines the destination address of the received reply message  148 , determines that the message should be processed by a Service Access Subsystem (SAS)  118 , and appropriately routes the reply message as message  150 .  
         [0037]     The SAS  118  receives Alice&#39;s reply message  150  and, possibly among other activities, extracts key data elements from the message  150 , validates the extracted data elements, and then, acting as a facade or an interface to all of the SPs that the ICV  116  supports, dispatches the reply message as message  152  to the SP  122 .  
         [0038]     A GW  120  at the SP  122  receives Alice&#39;s reply message  152 , extracts key data elements from the message  152 , validates the extracted data elements, and then, possibly among other activities, updates  154  the entries for Alice that it maintains in its DB  124  environment.  
         [0039]     At some later time Alice finds herself in a store (or some other venue or location) and desires to learn more about, and possibly purchase, an item.  
         [0040]     On her mobile telephone  104  Alice captures (e.g., takes a picture of, scans, manually enters the number of etc.)  156  the UPC or bar code  102  of the instant item, or otherwise captures information that provides a basis for identification of the item. For example, a picture of the item of interest may be sufficient to identify it. Alice then composes an inquiry message (also termed “item inquiry message”)  158 , directed to a destination address (e.g., a TN or a CSC) as provided by the SP  122 , requesting information about the instant item.  
         [0041]     Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives Alice&#39;s item inquiry message  158 , examines the destination address (e.g., the TN or the CSC), identifies the destination address as residing outside of its network, and passes the inquiry message as message  160  along to its messaging ICV  116  for processing.  
         [0042]     GW  114  receives Alice&#39;s inquiry message  160  and examines the destination address of the received inquiry message  160 , determines that the message should be processed by a SAS  118 , and appropriately routes the inquiry message as message  162 .  
         [0043]     The SAS  118  receives Alice&#39;s inquiry message  162  and, possibly among other activities, extracts key data elements from the message  162 , validates the extracted data elements, optionally performs other processing activities, and then dispatches the message as message  164  to the SP  122 .  
         [0044]     GW  120  receives Alice&#39;s inquiry message  164 , extracts key data elements from the message  164 , validates the extracted data elements (possibly including, inter alia, a determination that Alice is an allowed user of the instant service, a decoding of the UPC or bar code  102  to identify the instant item, etc.), and then, possibly among other activities, sends a query  166  to its DB  124  environment.  
         [0045]     In response to the query  166 , database  124  returns an inquiry response message  168  that includes identification, availability, etc. information for the instant item  102  and may optionally return  168  various identification, financial, etc. information that had been previously stored concerning Alice and a (‘response’) message  170  is dispatched that contains the returned information  168 .  
         [0046]     The response message  170  may contain, possibly among other information, the item name and a brief description of the instant item  102 , as well as a list of the stores that are near Alice&#39;s current physical location (correlated, for example, through a LBS facility) that stock or carry the instant item  102  along with, for each listed store, an availability indicator (e.g., is the instant item in stock?) and pricing details (e.g., list price, sale price, etc.).  
         [0047]     The response message  170  may optionally contain promotional materials (e.g., still images, video clips, etc.) for the instant item  102  that have been provided previously by the supplier(s) of the item.  
         [0048]     The response message  170  may optionally contain an informational message and/or advertising (through a mechanism similar to what was described above with respect to message  140 ).  
         [0049]     The GW  114  within the messaging ICV  116  receives the response message  170 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 ), identifies the destination (i.e., Alice&#39;s) WC  112 , and appropriately routes the message as message  172 .  
         [0050]     Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives the response message  172 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 ), and delivers the message as message  174  to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 . if needed, the SP  122  may dispatch additional response messages (e.g., ‘ 2  of n’ and ‘ 3  of n’ and ‘ 4  of n’ and . . . ) to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104  by repeating the message sequence  170 / 172 / 174  the required number of times (to fully convey to Alice all of the returned information  168 ).  
         [0051]     After reviewing the returned list of stores, Alice may optionally elect to receive farther information about a specific store. That information, the generation of which may leverage LBS-based facilities, may include possibly among other things the address of the store, descriptive travel directions from Alice&#39;s current physical location to the store, a map showing travel directions to the store, etc.  
         [0052]     After reviewing the returned list of stores, Alice may optionally elect to purchase the instant item  102  from one of the listed stores by dispatching a new (‘purchase’) message  176 .  
         [0053]     Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives Alice&#39;s purchase message  176 , examines the destination address (e.g., the TN or the CSC), identifies the destination address as residing outside of its network, and passes the purchase message as message  178  along to its messaging ICV  116  for processing.  
         [0054]     GW  114  receives Alice&#39;s purchase message  178  and examines the destination address of the received purchase message  178 , determines that the message should be processed by a SAS  118 , and appropriately routes the purchase message as message  180 .  
         [0055]     The SAS  118  receives Alice&#39;s purchase message  180  and, possibly among other activities, extracts key data elements from the message  180 , validates the extracted data elements, and then dispatches the message as message  182  to the SP  122 .  
         [0056]     GW  120  receives Alice&#39;s purchase message  182 , extracts key data elements from the message  182 , validates the extracted data elements (possibly including, inter alia, a determination that Alice is an allowed user of the instant service, etc.). Subsequently, SP  122 , possibly among other activities, passes  184  previously extracted/retrieved/etc. information, for example, identification, financial, etc. received during Alice&#39;s registration with SP  122  to its Billing (B) interface  126  which completes a billing transaction  186 .  
         [0057]     The billing transaction  186  may take any number of forms including, inter alias:  
         [0058]     1) The appearance of a line item charge on the bill or statement that Alice receives from her WC  112 . Exemplary mechanics and logistics associated with this approach are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/837,695 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BILLING AUGMENTATION,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Other ways of line item billing are easily implemented by those skilled in the art.  
         [0059]     2) The charging of a credit card or the debiting of a debit card. The particulars (e.g., number, expiration date) of the card that is to be used may, as one example, have been provided previously by Alice during her registration process.  
         [0060]     3) The decrementing of a pre-paid account that Alice established previously during her registration process.  
         [0061]     4) Other means including, inter alia, pre-paid or ‘countdown’ cards, redemption coupons, etc.  
         [0062]     Following the successful completion  188 / 190  of the billing transaction  186  the SP  122  may dispatch a (‘confirmation’) message  192 . The confirmation message  192  may optionally contain an informational message—e.g., ‘Thank you very much for your purchase!’—and/or advertising (using any of the approaches that were described above).  
         [0063]     The GW  114  within the messaging ICV  116  receives the confirmation message  192 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 ), identifies the destination (i.e., Alice&#39;s) WC  112 , and appropriately routes the continuation message as message  194 .  
         [0064]     Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives the confirmation message  194 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 ), and delivers the continuation message as message  196  to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  104 .  
         [0065]     The SP  122  may optionally dispatch an e-mail message  198 / 200  to Alice&#39;s computer  108 . The e-mail message  198 / 200  may optionally contain an informational message—e.g., ‘Thank you very much for your purchase!’—and/or advertising (using any of the approaches that were described above).  
         [0066]     While not explicitly indicated in  FIG. 1 , the SP may optionally dispatch a ‘ship’ message/command/etc. to the store from which Alice ordered the instant item.  
         [0067]     The ship directive may contain, for example, the mailing address information that was provided previously by Alice during her registration process, identifying information for the instant item  102 , details of the previously-completed billing transaction  186 / 188 , etc.  
         [0068]     Entities, such as stores, may submit information  128  to the SP for recording in the SP&#39;s DB  124  environment. That information may consist oft possibly among other things, for each offered item, the name of the item and a brief description of the item, an availability indicator (e.g., is the instant item in stock?), pricing details (e.g., list price, sale price, etc.), promotional materials (e.g., still images, video clips, etc.), advertising information, etc.  
         [0069]     It is important to note that the hypothetical example that was presented above, which was described in the narrative and which was illustrated in the accompanying figures, is exemplary only. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that numerous alternatives to the presented example are easily possible and, indeed, are fully within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0070]     The discussion presented above employed two specific wireless messaging paradigms—SMS and MMS. These paradigms potentially offer an advantage over other paradigms because native support for SMS and/or MMS is commonly found on mobile telephones that a potential SU might carry. However, it is to be understood that it would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that other paradigms (such as, for example, IP Multimedia Subsystem [IMS], Wireless Application Protocol [WAP], Instant Messenger [IM], etc.) are fully within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0071]     While the discussion that was just presented focused on UPC or bar codes on items for purchase in a store, it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that the application of the present invention to UPC or bar codes in numerous other environments (e.g., brochures, posters, printed advertisements, etc.) for numerous other purposes (e.g., making charitable donations, purchasing concert tickets, etc.) is easily possible and, indeed, is fully within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0072]     While the discussion that was just presented focused on using UPC or bar codes as item identify information, it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that the application of the present invention to numerous other item identifier information (e.g., public or private, ubiquitous or exclusive, opaque or transparent, etc.) such as Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) is easily possible and indeed is fully within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0073]     The following list defines acronyms as used in this disclosure.  
                                                   Acronym   Meaning                           CSC   Common Short Code           DB   Database           GW   Gateway           ICV   Inter-Carrier Vendor           IM   Instant Messenger           IMS   IP Multimedia Subsystem           LBS   Location Based Service           MMS   Multimedia Message Service           MS   Mobile Subscriber           SAS   Service Access Subsystem           SMS   Short Message Service           SP   Service Provider           SU   Service User           TN   Telephone Number           UPC   Universal Product Code           URL   Uniform Resource Locator           VIN   Vehicle Identification Number           WAP   Wireless Application Protocol           WC   Wireless Carrier           WD   Wireless Device                      
 
         [0074]     The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many variations and modifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. The scope of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents.  
         [0075]     Further, in describing representative embodiments of the present invention, the specification may have presented the method and/or process of the present invention as a particular sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on the particular order of steps set forth herein, the method or process should not be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps may be possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth in the specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims. In addition, the claims directed to the method and/or process of the present invention should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7