WO2001033389A2

WO2001033389A2 - User loyalty and award program

Info

Publication number: WO2001033389A2
Application number: PCT/US2000/026656
Authority: WO
Inventors: Henry Ellenbogen; John Wang; Kristin Murphy
Original assignee: Hello Asia
Priority date: 1999-09-29
Filing date: 2000-09-28
Publication date: 2001-05-10
Also published as: WO2001033389A8; AU7727600A

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention provides for a system comprising a user profile module comprising a plurality of usr profiles stored therein. Each user profile includes one or more classes of information about the user and a user award account. An award earnings module comprising a plurality of awards earnings profiles which specify an award value to be added to an award account of a user in response to a combination of a user activity and one or more classes of information about the user. An awards decision module receives an award signal indicating an activity of a given user, accesses a given user's profile in the user profile module, identifies an award earning profile in the earnings module which corresponds to a combination of the given user's profile and the given user's activity, and adds the award value to the award account of the given user.

Description

USER LOYALTY AND A ARD PROGRAM

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of network applications. In particular, the invention relates to the field of applications that award users on a network for performing specified activities with products and services. Description of the Related Art

Network applications provided over a wide-area network such as the Internet typically include, for example, user-interactive content provided on a web site, and/or Internet email services. Network applications often use portals that act as a hub to allow users to link to various applications or affiliate sites.

One source of revenue available for operating network applications is advertisement. Media can be displayed to users who surf the Internet, or emails can be delivered to individuals to advertise products and services. The value a network operator can charge to advertisers depends greatly on the information the network operator can provide to the advertisers to target advertisement campaigns effectively. Other examples of advertisement revenue can include referring users to a product, service, or web site.

Another source of revenue for operating a network service is e- commerce. E-commerce includes sales of products and services using the Internet.

In both examples for generating revenue, the number of users that are available to the network service and the amount of information available regarding each user affects the revenue that can be generated. Previous network services request registration to make network services available to users. Registration often requires users to provide basic information such as a name and an email address. While other questions may be asked, users can decline answering optional registration questions to begin using the network services. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the invention provides for a system comprising a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user and a user award account; an award earnings module comprising a plurality of awards earnings profiles which specify an award value to be added to an award account of a user in response to a combination of a user activity and one or more classes of information about the user; and an awards decision module which receives an award signal indicating an activity of a given user, accesses a given user's profile in the user profile module, identifies an award earning profile in the earnings module which corresponds to a combination of the given user's profile and the given user's activity, and adds the award value to the award account of the given user.

Another embodiment of the invention provides for a system comprising a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user and a user award account; an award redemption module comprising a plurality of user redemption profiles which specify an award category to be associated with a user in response to one or more classes of information about the user; a redemption decision module which receives a redemption request from a given user, accesses a given user's profile in the user profile module, and causes an award category to be displayed to the given user based on the redemption profile which matches the given user's profile; and a selection module which receives a selection signal indicating that the given user has selected an award in the award category, and signals the user profile module to reduce the award account for the given user based on an award value of the award.

Another embodiment of the invention provides for a system comprising a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user; an award election module comprising a plurality of awards election profiles which specify one or more award choices to prospectively be made available to users, an award election profile requiring a user's profile to include one or more classes of information in order for that award election profile to be displayed to the user; an election decision module which receives a ballot request from a given user, accesses the user profile for the given user, and displays a ballot comprising those award election profiles for which the required one or more classes of information are satisfied by the given user; and an election receiving module which receives one or more elections made by the given user based on the award choices displayed to the given user, and tallies the elections received from the given user with elections received from other users. Another embodiment of the invention provides for a system comprising a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user; a ballot response module which displays a ballot to a user upon a request; an award tallying module comprising a plurality of award tallying profiles, the award tallying profiles corresponding to one or more classes of information to specify a prospective response to the ballot from a given user with responses to the ballot from other users; and an elect receiving module which receives the ballot response from the given user, and accesses a given user's tally module to tally the ballot response received from the given user with ballot responses received from other users who share one or more classes of information with the given user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that awards users for performing certain activities.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that allows users to redeem awards using award values.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that allows users to elect awards from a ballot that is displayed to users according to one or more classes of information about the user.

FIG. 4 illustrates a ballot under an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that tallies elections in response to a ballot based on one or more classes of information about the user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A. System Overview

Embodiments of the invention include a network service that promotes user growth and commercial activity. The network service can include a system for awarding exchange value to users for performing certain activities, a system for providing users with the ability to exchange accumulated award value for awards, and/or a system to promote users into participating in ballots to facilitate commercial activities such as the content of an online catalog. Each system described under an embodiment of this invention can be included in the network service individually or in combination with the other systems.

Examples of a network service for use with an embodiment of this invention include an Internet portal or hub. The portal or hub can be, for example, a default page when accessed by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Examples of services provided under an embodiment of the invention include Internet email service, on-line calendar applications, on-line securities transactions, retail services, and user-interactive content such as news stories. Countless other applications are known or can be derived for use with a network service under an embodiment of this invention.

A user refers to visitors to the network site or users of services provided by the network. Preferably, users are registered, meaning each user has answered at least a few basic questions and is provided a mechanism to be identified when using services of the network.

As used herein, a module includes a program, a subroutine, a portion of a program, or a hardware component capable of performing a stated task or function. A module can exist on a hardware component such as a server independently of other modules, or a module can exist with other modules on the same server, or within the same program. B. System Including Award Earnings Based on User Activity

An embodiment of the invention provides for an award earnings program in which users receive earnings that can be applied for awards. The earnings can be awarded to users for performing activities having a specified award value.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 under an embodiment of the invention, that award users for performing specified activities. The system 100 includes a profile module 110, an award decision module 120, and an award earning module 130. The system 100 is signaled 140 by an activity performed by a user. In response, the system 100 outputs 150 an award value based on the user's activity. As will be further described in other embodiments, users can redeem award values for awards.

The profile module 110 includes a user profile and an award account for each user. Each user profile includes one or more classes of information about the user. A class of information refers to a characteristic category used to group or sort a plurality of individuals. Examples of characteristic categories include demographic information, such as age, gender, occupation, marital status, race, education, interests, salary, country of residence, and native language. Other examples include type of Internet service provider (ISP), type of Internet browser, and the type of terminal being used by the individuals. In an embodiment, the classes of information specifically refer to a country or region of an individual's location, and/or the language which the user is using to communicate to the system.

One or more classes of information include any combination of at least one characteristic category. For example, one or more classes of information may refer to an individual's location, an individual's language, or the combination of an individual's location and an individual's language.

The award account stores award values compiled by the respective user in performing activities having award values associated with them. An award value refers to an exchange value that can be given to a user for the purpose of redeeming an award. An award value can be termed in units such as points, credits, or dollars. A user activity refers to a predetermined activity that can be performed by a user to receive an award value. The user activity may be a computer based activity or a non-computer based activity. Computer based activities include for example, activities performed on a computer and optionally over a network such as the Internet. Examples of computer based activities include sending emails, participating in chat-rooms, viewing advertisement, filling out on-line surveys, visiting web sites, purchasing merchandise over the network, using network applications such as on-line calendars and pagers, and using the network to trade securities. Non-computer based activities include participating in marketing surveys, providing demographic information, or referring individuals to a service or product. A specific example of a non-computer based activity can be found in a loyalty program in which users on a network are provided a membership identification. The membership identification may be used with affiliate companies, where purchasing products or services offered by the affiliate companies constitutes an activity.

An award value for an activity may be affected by the one or more classes of information associated with the user performing the activity, as well as the type of activity performed by the user. A user activity performed by a user associated with one class of information may have a different award value than the same activity performed by another user associated with a different class of information.

In an embodiment, the award decision module 120 receives 140 an activity signal corresponding to a user activity that is predetermined to have an award value associated with it. The award decision module 120 identifies the user performing the activity either manually or automatically. For example, the user may enter an identification by logging in to perform the computer based activity or by sending an email. The user performing the activity may also be identified automatically, such as by way of a cookie. A user performing a non- computer based activity can be identified, for example, by subsequent manual entry by the user, or by an affiliate such as a company receiving a benefit from the user's activity. The award earnings module 130 includes a plurality of award earning profiles. Each award earning profile is associated with one or more classes of information contained in the user profiles. The award earning profiles specify the award value to be associated with a user activity based on one or more classes of information about the user's profile. The award earning profile can also specify awards based on the award values compiled by the user. Preferably, the award earning profiles are arranged as a look-up table in which classes of information, or alternatively the user's profile is referenced against an activity to provide the award value associated with different user activities. Once the user is identified, the award decision module 120 accesses the user's profile and the user's award account in the profile module 110. The award decision module 120 uses one or more classes of information from the user's profile to identify an award earning profile. The award value determined from the award earning profile is then added to the user's award account. As an example, embodiments under this invention allow users in different countries to be assigned relatively different award values for performing the same activity. For example, a referral to purchase a service or product in one country may be awarded a different award value than a similar referral in another country. This may be the case when the referral being sought is for a product or service that is relatively well known in one country, but unknown in another country. In this example, a referral in the country where the product/service is just being introduced is more valuable than the country in which the product/service is established. Embodiments of the invention allow for the award value given to the user for performing an activity such as a referral to be adjusted based on classes of information about the user, such as the user's country of residence.

C. System Including Award Redemption Based on Award Values

An embodiment of the invention provides for an awards redemption program in which users can redeem awards using award values accumulated in an award account. The user is displayed an award category in which an award can be selected upon requesting to redeem an award. FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 under an embodiment in which a user can redeem an award using award values. The system 200 includes the profile module 110, a redemption decision module 220, and an award redemption module 230. The redemption decision module 220 receives 250 requests for redemption and outputs 260 to a selection module 240.

The profile module 110 includes the user profile and the award account for each user. As mentioned, the user profiles include one or more classes of information. The award account contains award values for the respective user. Preferably, the award values are compiled from user activities that have an award value associated with performance of the activity. The award account can also include award values that are added to the award account for other reasons, such as on a periodic basis for membership to the system.

In an embodiment, the award redemption module 230 includes a plurality of user redemption profiles. The user redemption profiles specify an award category that can be associated with a user profile based on one or more classes of information about the user. An award category includes a grouping of one or more redeemable awards. Preferably award redemption module 230 may include a look-up table in which one or more classes of information about the user can be referenced to specify the award category or one of the redeemable awards for the user.

In an embodiment, one award category consisting of a group of awards may be designated to all users sharing a class of information. For example, a listing of redeemable awards may be designated to users according to the country or region in which each user is located. In another example, award categories include a grouping of redeemable awards may be associated with users according to the language the user uses to communicate with the system. Therefore, all users who use a given language may be offered the same award categories. Still further, award categories may include a grouping of redeemable awards that are assigned to users sharing more than one classes of information. A specific award category may be assigned to users sharing a common country or region of residence, and a common language. As such, an embodiment of this invention can be adapted to match awards with preferences, customs, and regulations of multilingual and multicultural countries.

The redemption decision module 220 receives 250 a redemption request from a user to indicate a request to exchange an award value for an award. In an embodiment, the redemption request is made over a network such as the Internet, where the user accesses a web site to request the redemption. The redemption decision module 220 accesses the profile module 110 to determine the requestor's profile. The redemption decision module 220 uses one or more classes of information from the requestor's profile to match to the corresponding user redemption profile to cause the award category to be presented to the user. Preferably, the award category is displayed on a user- interface, such as provided on a web site accessible to the user via the Internet.

A selection module 240 receives a selection signal from the requestor to select an award from an award category in exchange for an award value. Preferably, the user redemption profiles provide an award value for each award specified to a user based on one or more classes of information about that user. For example, the user redemption profiles can reference the requestor's country of residence with, the award category and the award value associated with every award in the award group. In another embodiment, the selection module 240 includes a plurality of selection profiles. The selection profiles match an award value with the awards specified by the user redemption modules, preferably using one or more classes of information about the requestor.

The award value matched to the award selected by the requestor is signaled to the user profile module 110. The signal from the selection module 240 identifies the requestor, and deducts the award value of the award selected by the requestor from the requestor's award account.

In an embodiment, the system 200 verifies that the user has a sufficient award value to allow the user to select the award from the award category. One implementation of the embodiment limits the awards in the award categories displayed to the user to only awards that the user can afford. This can be accomplished by, for example, the redemption decision module 220, which references an award value of each award in the award category with the requestor's award account. Then, only the awards in the award category that the user can afford are displayed. Another implementation of the embodiment provides, for example, that the selection module 240 verifies the award value associated with the award selected against the requestor's award account.

As an example, a user can make a request to exchange award points in an award account for an award. The requestor may reside in a given country. The user redemption profile may specify one or more award categories for users depending on their country of residence. For instance, customs and regulations in one country may allow awards which are illegal or undesirable in other countries. The redemption decision module 220 causes award categories to be displayed to the user when the user accesses a web site on the Internet. The user can request over the Internet an award category available for redemption, such as by use of an icon appearing on the web site. The selection module 240 receives 260 the request and identifies the cost of the item in terms of award points. The selection profiles may account for currency deviations between countries based on the user's country of residence. The selection profile then deducts the award value from the user's award account.

In a specific embodiment, the award categories displayed to the user may be limited to awards that the user can afford based on the number of award points in the user's award account. Alternatively, the selection module 240 can verify that the user's award account has sufficient value to exchange for the award selected by the user.

D. System Including Providing Ballots and Tallying Responses

An embodiment of the invention includes one or more modules which generates and/or tallies ballots, based on profiles such as user profiles, user redemption profiles, and/or award earning profile. Information garnered from responses to the ballots can be used for purposes such as marketing. In one application, marketing information may be compiled in a catalog, presenting commercial services and products as tallied by the ballots. (1) Embodiment for Displaying Ballots According to One or More Classes of Information About the Requesting User

FIG. 3 illustrates a system 300 of an embodiment in which the system generates a ballot 340 and records responses to the ballot. The system includes a profile module 310, an election decision module 320, an award election module 330, and an election receiving module 350. The election decision module 320 generates the ballot 340 upon a request from the user. In the system shown by FIG. 3, the ballot 340 is varied among users based on one or more classes of information about the users. A requesting user prompts the system 300 for the ballot 340 by making a ballot request to the election decision module 320. The ballot request may be entered through a terminal coupled to a network, such as the Internet. For example, the requestor may access a web site and enter the ballot request using user-interactive features on the web site. The request is forwarded through a network to a server that includes the election decision module 320. Preferably, each ballot request includes identification information regarding the requestor. The identification information may be provided manually by the requestor or automatically from the terminal.

When the ballot request is received by the election decision module 320, the election decision module accesses a user profile of the requestor to display the ballot 340. The ballot 340 contains award election profiles corresponding to the requestor's user profile. Preferably, the election decision module 320 accesses the award election module 330 and the user profile module 310 to reference the requestor's user profile against one or more award election profiles.

As previously described, the profile module 310 includes a plurality of user profiles, each of which correspond to a user on the network. The user profiles can be arranged as a look-up table in which identification information from the requestor's terminal references the requestor's user profile. Each user profile includes classes of information for the corresponding user, such as name, gender, age, income, profession, country of residence and language. The election decision module 320 accesses one or more award election profiles for the requestor from the award election module 330. Award election profiles can be associated with one or more classes of information contained in the requestor's user profile. As such, the requestor can be associated with one or more award election profiles which are used to specify award choices that appear on the ballot 340. An award choice includes an option for a user to elect from one of a plurality of awards.

The award choices for each award election profile can be determined using a look-up table containing prospective awards that can be made available to the requestor on the ballot. Preferably, the look-up table references classes of information contained in the user profiles against prospective awards or award choices corresponding to those classes of information. When the requestor's user's profile is accessed, the classes of information contained in the requestor's user profile are referenced against the look-up table to specify award choices appearing on the ballot 340.

In one embodiment, the ballot 340 varies between users depending on a single class of information contained in the user profile, such as for example, a user's country of residence. The award election module 330 specifies some or all of the award choices contained on the ballot 340 based on the requestor's country of residence. The election decision module 320 generates a ballot 340 based on award choices specified for each country by the award election module. The ballots 340 can differ from user to user based on the user's respective country of residence.

In an embodiment, the award election profiles prospectively display on each ballot 340 a subset of the total award choices available. For example, the award choices on the ballot 340 may be categorized according to cost and subject matter. Categories include, for example, big ticket items, leisure products, office products, network services or any other categorical product or service. Each award election profile corresponds to one or more categories of award choices. Preferably, each award election profile requires a user's profile to include classes of information in order to be displayed. The requirement can be implemented using the look-up table. The requestor can elect an award among the one or more award choices appearing on the ballot 340. Responses to the ballots 340 are recorded in an election receiving module 350. In one embodiment, the requestor's election for each award choice on the ballot 340 is tallied with corresponding elections made by other users who were displayed the same ballot 340. Ballots are tallied by compiling responses made by the users who respond to the ballots. Each election made by the user is a choice corresponding to one of the award choices presented on the ballot. Therefore, a user may make several elections on one ballot, depending on the number of award choices presented on the ballot. Alternatively, the election receiving module 350 can tally the requestor's election of a specific award choice on the ballot 340 with the same award choice appearing on a different ballot displayed to another requestor.

An elected award can be determined by summing the elections from the users. Preferably, an elected award coincides with the award in the award choice receiving the greatest number of elections. The elected award may also be decided as the award in the award choice receiving the greatest number of elections when compared to other awards appearing in the award choice that satisfy an additional criteria. The additional criteria may, for example, be based on additional classes of information for users who made elections for that award choice.

Among other advantages, the responses tallied from the ballots 340 are specific to a demographic defined by classes of information used to determine the award choices appearing on the ballot 340. In this way, the responses to the ballots 340 can be tallied to provide market information that is specific to a demographic population.

According to one example, if users on the network reside in any one of three countries, a total of three award election profiles can be used to generate up to three possible ballots. Each ballot 340 then displays award choices tailored to one of the three countries. In other examples, the ballots 340 vary among users based on multiple classes of information, such as country of residence, language, age, sex, and/or income. For example, ballots may be generated for users in two countries, where users residing in each country can speak one of two languages. Based on classes of information consisting of the country of residence and the language of the user, up to four ballots can be generated for users of the network under this embodiment. Each user is displayed a ballot after an identification from the user accesses a corresponding user profile for that user. The two classes of information contained in the user profile are referenced in the award election module 330 against award choices available for the demographic population represented by the combination of the two classes. Users in a first country that speak a first language are therefore presented the ballot 340 containing different award choices than users in the first country who speak a second language. Responses to each ballot are then specific as to the demographic population of the first country defined by users who speak the first language and users who speak the second language. Based on the results tallied, specific marketing information can then be garnered that is more valuable to the operator of the network services.

In an embodiment, the ballots 340 are used to select items that appear in a catalog. Users can select an award from the catalog in exchange for award values in the user's respective award account. A catalog can market awards based on information garnered by the responses to the ballots 340. In one example, the catalogs can display only awards receiving the most votes in response to the ballots 340. In another example, the ballots 340 can be used to weed-out items receiving low number of responses from being displayed in the catalog. The ballots 340 can also be used to effectively predict the desirability of a particular award among the users. This allows awards to be physically stored or otherwise accounted for that are know to be desirable, thereby avoiding costs and resources associated with displaying and making available relatively unwanted awards. In another example, information garnered from responses to the ballots 340 can be used to predict the desirability of each award appearing on the ballot 340, thereby allowing the awards appearing on the ballot to be efficiently stored and made available to the users.

Under an embodiment, the catalogs provided to users may vary according to one or more classes of information used to specify the award choices appearing on the ballot 340. In one example, the contents in the catalog provided to the user may depend-on the award choices displayed on the ballot 340 for that user. The catalog may provide the user with awards selected from the award choices that receives the most votes from the users who were displayed the same ballot. In another example, the catalogs can provide the user with awards selected from the award choices that receive the most votes from the users who were displayed ballots containing that award choice.

The catalogs can be displayed in an electronic medium such as on a user-interactive display on a web site accessible by the user. The items selected to be displayed in the catalogs may correspond to awards receiving the most elections by users. The awards can also be presented or formatted according to a priority determined by the responses to the ballots 340.

The catalogs can also be provided in a non-computer displayed format. For example, the catalog can be displayed in magazine form. The catalog can also be communicated to users of the network through, for example, a voice message. The users can call a number and hear a voice message in which selections can be made over the phone.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sample ballot 340 under an embodiment of the invention. The ballot 340 displays award choices to users on an electronic medium, such as on a user-interactive display of a terminal coupled to a network.

Preferably, the ballot 340 displays award choices arranged in categories. For example, a total of n award categories can be displayed on one ballot 340, where each award category allows users to select an award from four choices. Each category can correspond to an award election profile specified for the requestor based on one or more classes of information about the requestor. Alternatively, each category can be formed from a plurality of award election profiles specified to a requestor based on multiple classes of information.

(2) Alternative Embodiments for Tallying Ballots According to One or More Classes of Information About the Requesting

User FIG. 5 details an alternative system 400 in which a ballot 440 displayed to all the users contains the same- award choices. In this embodiment, however, the ballots are tallied and categorized with specific reference to one or more classes of information. In this embodiment, the ballot 440 is displayed to the user upon a request to vote. The ballot 440 can be similar to the embodiment illustrated by FIG. 3. The ballot 440 includes award choices arranged as categories. Each category allows users to select an award from one of a plurality of awards. The requestors responses to the award choices presented on the ballot 440 are then recorded in an elect receiving module 420.

The award tallying module 430 includes award tallying profiles that reference one or more classes of information available from the requestor's user profile against a condition or result that affect the accounting of the response to the ballot from the requestor. For example, conditions provided by the award tallying module 430 may cause certain choices made by the requestor to be ignored, or altered to be associated with another award.

The elect receiving module 420 accesses profile module 110 and an award tallying module 430 to tally the elections made by the requestor with elections from other users. The elect receiving module can use one or more classes of information about the requestor to determine an accounting result or condition for the requestor based on the corresponding award tallying profile in the award tallying module 430.

As an example, users residing in a certain country may have certain awards unavailable on a ballot, due to customs, local regulations, or problems in shipping. Under an embodiment, responses from users in such countries can be ignored in the tallying of the responses to the ballots. The user can also be prompted to select another award in the award choice appearing in the ballot 440.

The election receiving module 420 then tallies the total result by sorting responses to the ballot 440 according to users who share one or more classes of information. The responses can be sorted according to, for example, a country of residence, a language or both for each user responding to the ballot 340. E. Marketing Applications for Use with Embodiments of this Invention

The profiles disclosed under embodiments of this invention can be used for the purpose of marketing campaigns designed to target select portions of the demographic population. Each user profile, for example, contains classes of information about the user. Embodiments of this invention can be combined to develop classes of information in each user profile by providing incentives for each user to supply personal information in exchange for specific network services. Examples of such network services include systems described above for providing award values, ballots, catalogs. In a specific example, a user can be provided a number of award points for responding to a survey received via email or otherwise made available through a web site. The survey can include questions to garner various types of information from gender to dining and entertainment preferences. The responses to the survey can be stored in the responder's user profile or another profile such as a marketing profile.

Similarly, profiles such as award earning profiles, user redemption profiles, award election profiles, and user selection profiles can be used to garner demographic information that can be added to the user's profile or another profile for marketing purposes. As an example, award election profiles can be referenced to determine information such as user preferences as between products and services. Therefore, if a user selects a specific item over another type of item, the information can be used to market products to the user that are more closely related to the item that the user elected.

Marketing activities can be conducted through mediums such as email delivery as well as through media broadcasts such as advertisement banners on web sites. The content of the marketing activity can be used to promote goods and services.

In an embodiment, a marketing profile is associated with each user. The marketing profile can be substantially similar to the user profile in that it contains classes of information including demographic information such as age, gender, occupation, marital status, race, education, interests, salary, country of residence, and language of the user. The marketing profile can also include additional information such as information determined, extrapolated, or forecasted from user activity. Either computer based activities or non-computer based activities can be used for this purpose. Marketing profiles can also extrapolate or forecast information based on other profiles, including for example, award election profiles, user redemption profiles, and user selection profiles.

In a specific embodiment, the marketing profile for each user includes information detailing the user's purchasing preferences based on the user's election of awards from award choices displayed on ballots. The marketing profile can also include information detailing the user's selection for redemption of awards. Repeated elections in response to ballots or selections of awards for redemption can be factored and stored into the marketing profiles to develop specific information about each users preferences.

For example, a brand preferred by the user can be stored when a user selects to exchange award values for a product with the brand more than one time. The user's positive response to the brand can then be provided to advertisers at a premium cost.

In an application, the profiles including the user profiles and/or the marketing profiles can be queried for marketing purposes. Queries sample a database containing profiles such as marketing profiles or user profiles that are sorted according to classes and subclasses. A class is a broad category that can include two or more options, in which the user must belong to one of the options. For example, gender is a class because a user can either be a male, female, or unknown. Other examples of classes include country of legal residence and user's language, because a user can be assumed to have only one legal residence and one native language.

Queries can sample information from a database as a class or subclass For example, occupation can be a subset of the gender class in a query regarding the number of female professionals. Queries for sampling a database can be made in the form of Boolean operations, including AND/OR operators.

Marketers inputting the queries can be provided an output including email addresses of users matching criterias set forth in the query. Marketers can also be provided an expective result of the queries, such as by way of percentages of users in the database who match the criteria set forth in the query. The latter output can be applied when the campaign is delivered as, for example, through banners displayed to users in the network when they visit a particular web site such as the home page of the network services.

A marketing profile developed from user's behavior such as award value exchanges, or elections of awards in ballots, can also be used to provide classes or subclasses of specific information about the user. For example, a user's preference for a particular brand may be provided as class information that can be queried for a marketing campaign targeting products similar to or having the preferred brand.

F. Conclusion

The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and equivalent arrangements will be apparent.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A system comprising: a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user and a user award account; an award earnings module comprising a plurality of awards earnings profiles which specify an award value to be added to an award account of a user in response to a combination of a user activity and one or more classes of information about the user; and an awards decision module which receives an award signal indicating an activity of a given user, accesses a given user's profile in the user profile module, identifies an award earning profile in the earnings module which corresponds to a combination of the given user's profile and the given user's activity, and adds the award value to the award account of the given user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more classes of information about the user include information selected from the group consisting of age, gender, occupation, marital status, race, education, interests, salary, Internet service provider, type of Internet browser, and type of terminal.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more classes of information about the user include a region of residence and/or language used to communicate to the system.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a marketing module including a plurality of marketing profiles, each marketing profile associated with one of the users to record activities performed by that user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user activity includes one or more activities performed by the user on a computer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user activity includes an activity selected from the group of activities consisting of sending emails, participating in chat-rooms, viewing advertisement, filling out on-line surveys, visiting websites, purchasing merchandise over a network, using a network application, and using a network to trade securities.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user activity includes an activity selected from the group of non-computer based activities consisting of participating in marketing surveys, providing demographic information, referring others to an affiliated service or a product, or using a membership identification provided to users in exchange for using the system at an affiliated business.

8. A system comprising: a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user and a user award account; an award redemption module comprising a plurality of user redemption profiles which specify an award category to be associated with a user in response to one or more classes of information about the user; a redemption decision module which receives a redemption request from a given user, accesses a given user's profile in the user profile module, and causes an award category to be displayed to the given user based on the redemption profile which matches the given user's profile; and a selection module which receives a selection signal indicating that the given user has selected an award in the award category, and signals the user profile module to reduce the award account for the given user based on an award value of the award.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the selection module further comprises a plurality of user selection profiles, each user selection profile specifying an award value associated with the selected award based on one or more classes of information about the user.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a marketing module including a plurality of marketing profiles, each marketing profile associated with one of the users to record the selection signal received from that user.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the redemption profiles specify the award category to be associated with the user in response to the user's region of residence and/or the user's language of communication with the system.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the redemption request from the given user is made over the Internet.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the award value is specified to the given user based on one or more classes of information about the given user.

14. A system comprising: a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user; an award election module comprising a plurality of awards election profiles which specify one or more award choices to prospectively be made available to users, an award election profile requiring a user's profile to include one or more classes of information in order for that award election profile to be displayed to the user; an election decision module which receives a ballot request from a given user, accesses the user profile for the given user, and displays a ballot comprising those award election profiles for which the required one or more classes of information are satisfied by the given user; and an election receiving module which receives one or more elections made by the given user based on the award choices displayed to the given user, and tallies the elections received from the given user with elections received from other users.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising an output module which accesses the election receiving module to output a tally of elections, the tally of elections representing an elected award group including one or more elected awards, the elected award group being associated with the given user based on one or more classes of information for the given user.

16. The system of claim 15, including a selection order module which receives a select award request, accesses the output module and the user profile menu to exchange a given award value in the award account of the given user for an elected award in the elected award group associated with the given user.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a marketing module including a plurality of marketing profiles, each marketing profile associated with one of the users to record one or more elections from that associated user.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the ballot is displayed on a terminal coupled to the system via a network, and the ballot includes a plurality of user- interactive features that allow the given user to select from the award choices.

19. The system of claim 14, further comprising: a catalog display module that displays selected items based on the elections tallied by the election receiving module.

20. The system of claim 14, further comprising a non-computer displayed catalog that provides selected items based on the elections tallied by the election receiving module.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the catalog display module displays user-interactive features that allow a user viewing the catalog to select displayed items.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the catalog display module signals the user profile module to deduct an award value associated with the selected item from an award account of the user viewing the catalog.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the catalog display module predicts the desirability of one or more awards appearing on the ballot is based on the elections tallied by the election receiving module.

24. A system comprising: a user profile module comprising a plurality of user profiles stored therein, each user profile comprising one or more classes of information about the user; a ballot response module which displays a ballot to a user upon a request; an award tallying module comprising a plurality of award tallying profiles, the award tallying profiles corresponding to one or more classes of information to specify a prospective response to the ballot from a given user with responses to the ballot from other users; and an elect receiving module which receives the ballot response from the given user, and accesses a given user's tally module to tally the ballot response received from the given user with ballot responses received from other users who share one or more classes of information with the given user.