Patent Document ID: 8046012
Application ID: 11726896

Base Claim:
1. A method, comprising: receiving contact information that identifies a portable communication device of a user, wherein said receiving occurs at a central computer system via a web interface; automatically generating an authorization code in response to receiving the contact information; automatically causing a text message including the authorization code to be sent to the portable communication device; receiving at the central computer system, via the web interface, input from the user that includes the authorization code and that indicates an acceptance of the user to receive, via the portable communication device, text message communications relating to one or more of a plurality of message topics; and directing one or more text message communications related to the one or more of the plurality of message topics to the portable communication device based, at least in part, on the received contact information and on the received input indicating the user's acceptance.

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Claim 2:
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the central computer system is configured to store information indicating message subscription preferences of a plurality of users, wherein the subscription preferences are usable to indicate that at least first and second different message topics are subscribed to, respectively, by first and second different ones of the plurality of users.