Patent ID: 8238946

Claim:
A method for personalizing a message from a message originator delivered by a common carrier to a subscriber of the common carrier, comprising: obtaining personal information from the subscriber at a time the subscriber signs on for service with the common carrier; creating a table that assigns the personal information of the subscriber to respective variables that are different than the personal information; loading into a communication terminal used by the subscriber the table that assigns elements of the personal information of the subscriber to the respective variables; accepting a message from a message originator for mass distribution to subscribers of the common carrier; and delivering the message to the subscriber, wherein the message refers to the variables that the common carrier has loaded into the subscriber's communication terminal in order to provide a personalized message for the subscriber, wherein: after receiving the message, making reference to the variables that occur in the table so that personalized advertisements can be generated on the subscriber's communication terminal, making reference includes replacing at least one variable with the personal information, by referring to the table that the common carrier loaded onto the communication terminal when the subscriber signed on for service, and the common carrier maintains the personal information of the subscriber without providing the personal information to the message originator by using the variables instead of the personal information, while distributing the mass distribution messages to the subscriber.