GB2381999A

GB2381999A - An information provision method and system

Info

Publication number: GB2381999A
Application number: GB0201053A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patrick Henry Lidstone
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-01-17
Filing date: 2002-01-17
Publication date: 2003-05-14
Also published as: GB0201053D0

Abstract

An information provision system provides information to a user. A telecommunication connection is received from a handset operated by the user and the connection carries a code input by the user. A handset identifier from which the telecommunication connection originates is determined and is used to determine a preferred medium type for the user from stored user data which includes a handset identifier for the handset used by the user and information on the preferred medium type for receipt of information by the user. Information to be sent to the user is identified using the received code carried by the telecommunication connection and stored codes identifying associated information. The identified information is then sent to the user using the determined preferred medium.

Description

AN INFORMATION PROVISION METHOD AND SYSTEM The present invention generally relates to an information provision system and method for providing information to a user in response to a code sent from the user over a telecommunications network.

There are many prior art ways in which information can be provided to a user in response to a request made over a telecommunications network. Traditionally, this required a user to provide information to an operator in a call centre. This is, however, inconvenient to a user and for the information provider it is cumbersome since it involves the use of operators.

One prior art method for automatically providing information using a telecommunications service is disclosed in WO01/08430. In this system, particularly designed for providing a telephone directory service, a user can send an SMS message requesting directory service information. At a central processor, the input request contained within the SMS message is used to look up potentially matching directory entries and an SMS message is returned containing the directory information. This type of system is ideal for directory service information since it does not require registration of a user and it provides the short information by a return SMS message. The system is, however, not suitable for larger amounts of information since the size of SMS messages is limited. Further, this does not allow for information to be sent to the user in any other form. It is simply a request response system using a single communication medium, i. e.

SMS.

In the field of advertising, consumers are faced by a barrage of advertising on a daily basis, but frequently fail to follow-up on a product that is of interest because they are unable to make a note of the name or contact details of the vendor, or simply forget the details in passing. The vendor has lost a potential sale, because although they reached a

potential customer, they failed to follow through.

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It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the limitations in prior art information provision systems.

In accordance with a first aspect, the present invention provides an information provision method and system for providing information to a user in which user registration data is stored which contains at least a handset identifier used by the user and information on the preferred type of medium for receipt of the information by the user. The user can obtain an appropriate code, for example by reading an advertisement or the packaging of a product and this can be entered by a user and sent using their telecommunications handset. At the information provision system, when a call is received, the handset identifier of the calling handset is identified and used to identify a preferred medium for receipt of infonnation using the registration data. The code carried by the telecommunications call is then used to identify information to be sent to the user and the system can then cause the information to be sent to the user using the determined preferred medium type.

Thus the present invention provides the advantage that since a user is registered, a user can select the preferred medium type used for transmittal of the information. The medium type can, for example, be an e-mail, a facsimile, the provision of the information on a web page, by post, or by an interactive voice response call. The system can thus either fulfil the request for information directly or instruct an external fulfilment centre to fulfil the request by sending the information in accordance with the preferred medium type.

The automatic determination of a handset identifier in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention enables the system to automatically validate a user and automatically determine their preferred medium type. The only input required from the user is the code in order to identify the requested information. The code can comprise any alpha-numeric code that can conveniently be transmitted by the telecommunications system. In one embodiment, where the telecommunications system is capable of transmitting alphabetical code, the code preferably comprises a memorable keyword.

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The present invention is particularly suited to the use of mobile telecommunications handsets which are capable of transmitting code, e. g. using SMS or GPRS. This enables a user to request information using the code at any location. However, the present invention encompasses any type of telecommunications handset.

In one embodiment of the present invention the registration information includes personal information on the user. In this embodiment category data for the user is determined by categorizing the user according to predetermined criteria based on personal information obtained from the registration process. The information which is sent to the user is then determined not just based on the code received in the telecommunication call, but also based on the category data for the user. Thus in this way the information that is sent to the user can be tailored specifically to the user.

In one embodiment of the present invention the information which is identified by each code is associated with information providers. Providers data is stored which includes information on a preferred method of sending the requested information using the user- preferred medium type. When a code is received in a telecommunication call from a user, the information provider of the information requested by the user can be determined and the preferred method of sending the requested information using the user-preferred medium type for the identified information provider can be determined.

The information can then be provided in accordance with the determined preferred method. Thus in this way the preferred method of fulfilment of a request for information can be preset for an information provider. For example, if a user has requested information to be provided by post as the medium type, an information provider can preset the preferred method of fulfilling the request as being by a third party fulfilment centre. The information provision system therefore sends an instruction to the external fulfilment centre requesting the posting of the information, e. g. an information pack, to the user. The request to the fulfilment centre would include all the necessary information to fulfil the request.

The information provision system can store a record of information sent to users. The users and/or providers of the information can access the stored records to enable them to

review the information. Conveniently this can be provided by a web interface over the Internet.

In one embodiment the information identified by each code is associated with a respective information provider and each provider is billed for respective information provided to users.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a telecommunication acknowledgement can be sent to the handset once the user has been validated to confirm that the request for information will be processed and the information will be sent to the user in due course. The telecommunication acknowledgement can include an indication of how the request will be fulfilled, e. g. when the user can expect to receive the information.

The present invention is particularly suited to the provision of information on products or services to a consumer. The code can thus represent a code for a product or service.

The code can thus be provided in relation to products or services, e. g. on packaging or advertising material so that a consumer can send a request containing the code to the information provision system requesting product or service information. The information identified by each code can be associated with a respective information provider. Each information provider can comprise an advertiser or product or service provider.

In one embodiment of the present invention in which the information comprises advertising information for a product or service and the users comprise consumers,

wherein a consumer is categorized according to personal information entered during the registration process, and the category data determined for the consumer can indicate the user's propensity to purchase the advertised product or service. Thus the type of material or information to be provided in response to the request can be tailored by the advertiser in dependence upon the likelihood of the consumer purchasing the product or service. This enables the advertiser to perform targeted marketing by sending what are considered to be higher value contacts more comprehensive and expensive advertising material. This leads to cost effective marketing.

The information provision system of the present invention can be implemented in hardware or software, or a combination. The present invention thus encompasses a suitably programmed computer system and computer code for controlling such a system. The computer code can be provided to the system on any suitable carrier medium. The carrier medium can comprise a storage medium, e. g. floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, or a programmable memory device, or a transient medium, such as an electrical, optical, microwave or acoustic signal (e. g. a signal carrying the code over a communications network such as the Internet).

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure I is a schematic diagram of an arrangement for the provision of information to a consumer in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the information provision system of the embodiment of Figure 1 ; and Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the method of providing information to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure I, an arrangement for providing advertisement information to a user having a mobile telecommunications handset 1 is illustrated.

A consumer operates consumer equipment 200 which comprises a mobile telecommunications handset 1, a telephone 32, a facsimile machine 3 I, and a computer 28 implementing an e-mail client 29 and a web browser 30. The facsimile machine 31 can either be a stand-alone machine or incorporated in the computer 28. A consumer is thus able to initiate a request for advertising information using the mobile telecommunications handset 1. Information can be received by the telephone 32 or the facsimile machine 31 over a public switch telephone network 27 or over the Internet 22 by the consumer's computer 28 using the e-mail client 29 or the web browser 30. The

I advertisement information can also be received non-electronically, i. e. by post or by couner.

The handset I used by the consumer communicates with a base station 2 which is in turn connected to mobile switching centres 3. A home location register 4 is available to the mobile switching centres 3. A mobile switching centre service centre 5 is provided for passing SMS messages sent from the handset I to an information processing system 100. The information processing system 100 is also connected to the public switch telephone network (PSTN) 27 and to the Internet 22. The information provision system 100 responds to SMS requests for information and controls the fulfilment of the request either by sending the requested information in the requested form to the consumer, or by instructing an external fulfilment centre 26 connected over the Internet 22 to the information provision system 100 to fulfil the request.

An external profiling system 25 is also connected to the Internet 22 to enable the information provision system 100 to call upon the external profiling system 25 to perform external profiling of a consumer when a request for advertising information is received from the consumer.

An advertiser's computer 21 is also available to enable an advertiser to use a web browser 23 implemented in the computer 21 to connected over the Internet 22 to the information provision system 100. Also, an e-mail client 24 is implemented within the advertiser's computer 21 to send and receive c-mails to and from the information provision system 100. This enables the advertiser responsible for the advertising information to manage the information and the provision of information by the information provision system 100.

The consumer's computer 28 which implements the e-mail client 29 and the web browser 30 not only enables the consumer to receive the requested advertisement information by e-mail or by viewing web pages, it also allows the consumer to view information provided by the information provision system 100 or previous requested advertisement information.

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the structure of the information provision system 100. An SMS interface 6 is provided to interface to the SMS service centre 5 to extract the calling telephone number from an incoming SMS message as well as the keyword

contained within the message. This is passed to a validation/registration module 7. The validation/registration module 7 accesses a consumer's database 8 containing information on the consumers obtained during registration of the consumers. A profiling module 10 is provided for profiling a consumer when a request for information is received. The profiling performed categorizes the consumer in accordance with their propensity to purchase the advertised product or service. The profiling can be performed using a local profiling database 9, or by communicating using a profiling interface 1 1 over the Internet 22 with an external profiling system 25.

A fulfilment module 12 is provided for fulfilment of the advertising information request from the consumer. The fulfilment module 12 receives consumer information from the validation/registration module 7 and consumer profiling information from the profiling module 10. An advertiser's database 13 is accessed by the fulfilment module 12 in order to determine how to fulfil the request. A facsimile interface 9 is provided connected to the public switch telephone network (PSTN) 27 for providing fulfilment via a facsimile medium. An interactive voice response interface 20 is provided connected to the public switch telephone network (PSTN) 27 for providing the requested advertisement information by an interactive voice response medium. An e- mail server 17 is provided connected to the Internet 22 for fulfilling the request for advertising information by sending information by e-mail. An application server 33 is provided together with a web server 18 connected to the Internet 22 to make the information available to the consumer as web page data. The web server 18 also functions to provider an interface to the consumer and to the advertiser to provide access via the application server 30 to the consumer's database 8 and the advertiser's database 13. A response database 15 is also provided for storing information on responses to requests, i. e. to keep a record of fulfilment of the requests. Also, a billing database 14 is provided for storing billing data for billing advertisers for providing information or for responding to requests for information. The application server 33 in conjunction with the web server 18 provides access to the response database 15 and the billing database 14 as a web interface to the consumer and advertiser.

The data held in the consumer's database 8 comprise the consumer's mobile telephone number, the consumer's preferred medium for receiving information, e. g. by facsimile, by interactive voice response, by e-mail, as a web page, or by post, contact details for the preferred medium, e. g. facsimile number, e-mail address, telephone number, or postal address, authentication details for call centre and web server access, consumer's name, and consumer's personal details for use in profiling, e. g. age, sex, marital status, etc.

The advertiser's database contains keywords identifying sets of information to be sent to consumers in response to requests. Each set of information for a keyword comprises different information to be sent to different categories of consumer. Thus once a consumer has been profiled, i. e. categorized, the information which the advertiser wishes to send to them to ensure that marketing is targeted can be determined from the set of information for a keyword. The advertiser's database 13 will also store fulfilment preference data, i. e. routing data which will indicate how an advertiser wishes information of a particular medium type to be sent to a consumer. For example, if a consumer has requested to receive advertisement information by facsimile, an advertiser can set the fulfilment preferences to either allow the information provision system 100 to directly fulfil the request by sending the facsimile, or instead to use the external fulfilment interface 16 to instruct the external fulfilment centre 26 to fulfil the request by sending the requisite facsimile. Thus the fulfilment preferences indicate the method by which a particular medium type is to be handled.

The advertiser's database 13 will also include other information regarding the advertiser such as the advertiser's contact details. The advertiser's database 13 can also contain the advertisement information when this is in electronic form. For example, it can contain images which can be sent by facsimile or data which can be used by the fulfilment module 12 to construct a tailored electronic response, e. g. by e-mail, by construction of a web page, or by construction of a facsimile. In addition, the advertised database 13 can include instructions for fulfilment of the request when the external fulfilment centre 26 is used. The data contained can comprise full instructions to instruct the external fulfilment centre 26 on how to fulfil the request.

The local profiling database 9 can contain categorization data to allow for the local

profiling or categorization of consumers. The data can be generated from the analysis I of consumer usage patterns in addition to simple categorization criteria.

The response database 15 contains records of advertisement information sent to consumers. The database thus contains a history which is accessible both by the consumer and the advertiser via the web interface provided by the web server 18 and the application server 33. The records stored in the response database 15 can also be used by the advertiser for the modification or updating of data in the local profiling database 9 so that future advertisement information can be tailored in accordance with the history of previous requests for advertisement information and thus marketing by advertisers can be better targeted.

The billing database 14 stores records of the responses in relation to each of the advertisers to enable advertisers to be billed for the service provided by the information provision system 100. In this embodiment of the present invention, it is the advertiser who pays for the service. The consumer receives the requested advertisement material free of charge. This is in accordance with normal marketing practice. The billing to the advertiser can be based on a per transaction basis, or on a one-off fee basis, or on a combination of both.

Not shown in the arrangement illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, a postcode matching service can be provided accessible to the validation/registration module 7. Thus in this way when a user registers they are only required to enter their postcode and house number whereupon the validation/registration module 7 is able to look up the postal address using the postcode.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the consumer can register for the service by any conventional method. For example, a call centre service can be provided to allow a consumer to perform the registration process by telephone with the call centre.

Alternatively, the user can perform the registration process by accessing an appropriate web page served by the web server 18 in conjunction with the application server 33. As

a third option (as will be described with reference to the methodology of the embodiment illustrated by way of the flow diagram in Figure 3) the registration procedure can be carried out by an SMS message exchange the first time a consumer sends a request for advertisement information to the information provision system 100.

The-minimum information required during registration is information to identify the handset from which the consumer will make the call requesting advertisement information, e. g. telephone number, or SIM card identification number for a mobile phone, preferred medium type for transmital of the requested advertisement information to the consumer, e. g. e-mail, facsimile, interactive voice response, web page, or post, and contact details for delivery of the advertisement information using the preferred medium type, e. g. e-mail address, facsimile number, house number and postcode to enable the full postal address to be determined, or telephone number for interactive voice response information provision, and consumer name. To facilitate profiling, the registration process also preferably obtains personal information from the consumer such as age, sex, marital status, etc. Such personal information will greatly enhance the ability to target the marketing material to the consumer.

The method of provision of advertisement information to a consumer will now be described in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the flow diagram in Figure 3.

When a consumer is presented with an advertisement or product or service literature which includes a code as a keyword identified as a keyword which can be sent to retrieve further information on the product or service, a consumer composes an SMS message including the keyword only and this sent to the information provision system 100 (step S 1). The number to which the keyword is to be sent by an SMS message can be indicated on the advertisement or other literature. Alternatively, where the service is generic, and the mobile handset I is equipped with a single dial or memory dial function for the service, the user is not required to enter or remember the telephone number to call to send the keyword as a request for advertisement information.

The SMS message is received by the base station 2 and transmitted over the mobile switching centres 3. The SMS service centre 5 then passes the message to the

information provision system 100 where it is received by the SMS interface 6 which identifies the originating mobile telephone number from the SMS message (step S2) and extracts the keyword in the SMS message. The keyword and originating mobile telephone number is passed to the validation/registration module 7. The validation/registration module 7 looks up consumer information in the consumer's database 8 using the originating mobile telephone number (step S3). This process is to validate the consumer. If no consumer information is identified in the consumer's database 8 (step S4) this indicates that the consumer is a new consumer and the registration process is required before the request is fulfilled. Thus the validation/registration module 7 instructs the SMS interface 6 to send an SMS message to the handset I of the consumer requesting registration details (step S6). The system then awaits a response from the handset 1. If no details are received by SMS message in response (step S7) the validation/registration module 7 does not process the request.

If details are received by an SMS message response from the consumer (step S7) these details are entered in the consumer's database as a consumer information record (step S8). If a postcode is provided as part of the details returned by the consumer (step S9) the validation/registration module 7 looks up the full address in a postcode database and enters the full address into the consumer's information record (step S 10). If the consumer has not selected the postal medium as the preferred medium type for receipt of advertisement information, it is not essential that the user enters their postcode (step S9).

A confirmation SMS message is returned to the consumer (step S5) to confirm that the request has been received and will be processed. A confirmation message can confirm the way in which the request will be fulfilled. For example, the medium type and date of delivery of the information can be indicated in the confirmation.

The customer's information record is then passed to the profiling module 10 to perform consumer profiling using information in the local profiling database 9 or obtained from the external profiling system 25 by the profiling interface 11. The profiling will perform consumer segmentation to categorize the consumer in accordance with predetermined marketing criteria. The profiling of consumers is well known in the marketing field and can provide for the categorization of consumers into categories or

market segments which indicate consumer behaviour. In this embodiment of the present invention, the profiling preferably categorizes the consumer in accordance with their propensity to purchase the advertised product or service.

Once the consumer profile is determined (step. S 11) this information is passed to the fulfilment module 10 together with the consumer's information record from the validation/registration module 7. The fulfilment module 12 also accesses the advertiser database 13 in order to perform the fulfilment process.

The fulfilment module 12 determines the information to be sent to the consumer, and

how the information is to be provided to the consumer (step S 12). This is achieved by using the keyword contained in the information sent from the validation/registration module 7 to look up a set of information associated with the keyword in the advertiser's database 13. The set of information is a set of information for the various medium types. Thus the information that is to be sent to the user is selected from the set using the preferred medium type for the consumer contained within the consumer information record received from the validation/registration module 7. Thus the advertisement information that is to be sent to the consumer is determined, e. g. a package of information to be sent by post. The method by which the information is to be sent to the user is then determined by looking at the advertiser's preferred method of fulfilment which is stored in the advertiser database 13. Thus, for example, if the preferred medium type selected by the consumer is a facsimile, the advertiser could select to have

the request fulfilled directly by the information processing system 100 by the sending of ZD a facsimile using the facsimile interface 19, or by instructing an external fulfilment centre 26 via the external fulfilment interface 16 to send the facsimile.

Thus the advertisement information is sent to the consumer using the preferred medium type (step S 13). Where the information provision system 100 is required to directly fulfil the request, e. g. by the sending of a facsimile using the facsimile interface 19, the setting-up of an interactive voice response using the IVR interface 20. the sending of an e-mail using the e-mail server 17 or the setting-up of a web page accessible to the consumer using the web server 18, the advertisement information must be available from within the information provision system 100 and is conveniently stored in the

advertiser's database 13. This enables the fulfilment module 12 to compose the necessary advertisement information in response to the request from the consumer, e. g. by constructing a facsimile, IVR, e-mail, or web page. Where an advertiser selects to use an external fulfilment centre 26 for the fulfilment of the request, the external fulfilment interface 16 is controlled to send a fulfilment request to the external. fulfilment centre 26 by the fulfilment module 12. In order to generate this fulfilment request, the advertiser's database 13 can contain the necessary information to generate the request including instructions on how the request is to be fulfilled by the external fulfilment centre 26. For example, the request can include an identification of the advertisement information to be sent to the consumer, together with the consumer's postal details where the fulfilment is to be by post when the consumer has selected the preferred medium type as post.

When the advertising information is sent by the information provision system 100, or an instruction is sent to the external fulfilment centre 26 to fulfil the request, the response database 15 and the billing database 14 are updated (step S14). The response database 15 stores a record of each transaction or request fulfilment. The billing database 14 similarly keeps a record of request fulfilments for billing purposes to information providers, i. e. advertisers. The billing database 14 can be accessed by the advertisers via a web interface provided by the web server 18 and the application server 33. The fulfilment history for consumers or for advertisers can be accessed by consumers and advertisers respectively via a web interface provided by the web server 18 and the application server 33. Thus in this way consumers and advertisers are able to review information provision history.

The web server 18 and the application server 33 provide a web portal to the consumer and to the advertiser to provide access to their respective information domains available within the information provision system 100.

A consumer, using their web browser 30, can access advertisement information provided as a web page in response to a request when the consumer has selected the medium type as a web page. The fulfilment module 12 can co-operate with the application server 33 to generate a specific web page accessible to the consumer, e. g. by

use of an appropriate usemame and password to provide the requested advertisement information. The consumer can also assess information in the response database 15 to look at all previous requested information. This information can be ordered by date, or by advertiser (subject). The consumer can also access their consumer record in the consumer's database 8 to enable them to update their record, e. g. by changing their preferred medium type, or updating their personal details, e. g. mobile telephone number, or contact details. The consumer can also access a registration page when they are new consumers accessing the service for the first time. The registration web page is provided by co-operation between the validation/registration module 7 and the application server 33.

An advertiser can use their web browser 23 to access a web domain hosted by the web server 18 and the application server 33. This allows the advertiser to access the response database 15 to look at response fulfilment history for information provided by them. It also allows them to access the billing database 14 to view billing information for accounting purposes. The advertiser can also access the advertiser database 13 to update their parameters, e. g. to modify their preferred method of fulfilment of a particular medium type.

It can thus be seen that this embodiment of the present invention provides consumers with a simple method of requesting detailed personalized information on products or services of interest to them. An important feature of this embodiment of the present invention is the ability to allow advertisers to target their response and marketing spending. This is achieved by profiling of consumers when requests are received.

Profiling can take into consideration purchase power, products request patterns by market segment, geographical information about where the request was placed from and where the consumer lives, time of day, third party demographic information, and third party marketing information. For example, a car manufacturer launches a campaign for a new executive class saloon and keywords are included in advertising literature so as to provide access to the service in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention. A first customer requests product literature and the profiling assesses that the customer and determines that:

I. This customer has requested product literature for every new car launched in the last twenty-four months using this service; 2. The customer lives in an area where the council tax is 30% lower than the national average; 3. The customer lives in an area where unemployment is 24% higher than average; and 4. The request for literature was generated at 19.30.

The consumer is thus profiled into a category which rates the propensity for the customer to purchase the product as being poor and thus the information selected for fulfilment of the request is a low cost, direct mail flyer. A second consumer requests product literature and the profiling determines : 1. The customer had never requested product literature for a new car; 2. The customer lives in an area which is predominantly occupied by detached housing which is 240% more expensive than the regional average; 3. The customer has previously requested information on high value, brand aware goods; and 4. The request for literature was generated at 08.40.

The consumer is thus profiled into a category indicating a high propensity to purchase the product, i. e. there is an excellent customer/product match. Thus the advertising information selected by the fulfilment module 12 comprises a high quality promotional pack which includes a personalized invitation for a test drive at the customer's nearest dealer.

This embodiment of the present invention can further provide advertisers with a measure of an advertiser's campaign effectiveness. Keywords received from consumers can be specific not just to a product but to an advertisement location. Thus it is possible upon receipt of keywords from consumers to perform statistical analysis on the requests to identify successful advertisements generating a high volume of consumer requests for further information. Further, since the identity of the consumer can be determined, this further allows correlation between the location of the advertisement triggering the request and the consumers making the request to be generated. This can thus provide a measure of an advertiser's campaign effectiveness.

The storage of consumer records in the consumer database 8 and correlated with the history in the response database 15 provides advertisers with valuable information on requests for information previously from consumers. This allows advertisers to followup requests from consumers, thus increasing the likelihood of successful marketing.

Although the present invention has been described hereinabove with reference to

s if I I I specific embodiments, it will be apparent to a skilled person in the art that modifications lie within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Although in the embodiments information sent to the consumer comprises advertisement information, the present invention is not limited to such information. The present invention can comprise any type of information. For example, the information can comprise product and/or service information, e. g. health information or product care information. A keyword initiating the request for such information from a consumer can, for example, be provided on packaging of a product or literature relating to a service. For example, the service can be used in conjunction with healthcare products where a keyword is applied to the product to allow a consumer to request further information on the product.

Although in the embodiments described hereinabove the handset is described as being a mobile telephone, the present invention is not limited to such a mobile telephone and can comprise any telecommunications handset capable of allowing code entry. The code can comprise any numeric, alphabetical, or alphanumeric code. A preferred

embodiment is, however, a mobile telephone since this allows for the sending of a simple keyword, e. g. using an SMS messaging system or a GPRS system and it enables a consumer to enter the request at any place where an advertisement is placed, e. g. standing at a railway station where a consumer views an advertisement.

The present invention is applicable to any means by which the telecommunication handset can be uniquely identified, e. g. by caller identification, or by recognition of the SIM card number in a mobile telephone. This automated recognition of the handset provides a means by which the user can be validated without requiring a user to enter user identification information.

The present invention is applicable to the use of individual telephone numbers for individual advertisers, or more preferably a single telephone number to access the service provided by the information provision system 100. The use of a single telephone number for the provision of information related to any product/service, or information provider, provides a simpler means by which a consumer or user can request information. There is no need for a user to remember or have to read off from an information source a relevant telephone number. It is possible for the handset to memorize and provide a simple key function for a single telephone number to access the information provision system.

The present invention can be implemented on any suitable processing apparatus such as suitably configured hardware, or on a program computer system. The computer system can comprise one or more computers operating together under the control of one or more computer programs. Although in the embodiments described hereinabove, functionality was described by way of reference to modules and specific databases, the present invention encompasses any combination of modules and databases to perform the functionality. Such modules can be implemented by any combination of software or hardware.

It is thus apparent from the above that modifications lie within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An information provision system for providing information to a user, the system comprising : a user data store for storing user data including a handset identifier for a telecommunication handset used by a user, and information on a preferred medium for receipt of information ; an information store for storing codes identifying associated information ; telecommunication means for receiving a telecommunication connection from the handset operated by the user, the telecommunication connection carrying a code input by the user; handset identifying means for determining the handset identifier from which the telecommunication connection originates; determining means for determining the preferred medium for receipt of information by the user using the determined handset identifier and the stored user data; information identifying means for identifying the information to be sent to the user using the code carried by the telecommunication connection; and output means for generating an output to cause the information to be sent to the user using the determined preferred medium.

2. An information provision system according to claim 1, wherein said handset identifying means is adapted to identify the mobile handset using the telephone number for the handset.

3. An information provision system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said user data store is arranged to store personal information on the user; the system including retrieving means for retrieving personal information on the user from the stored user data using the handset identifier, and user category determining means for determining category data for the user by categorizing the user according to predetermined critena based on the retrieved personal information ; wherein said information identifying means is adapted to identify the information to be sent to the user based on the code and the determined category data for the user.

4. An information provision system according to claim 3, wherein the user category determining means is adapted to determine the category data using stored categorization data.

5. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, wherein said information store is arranged to identify a respective information provider associated with the information associated with each code; the system including a providers data store for storing providers data including information on a preferred method of sending the requested information using the user preferred medium; provider identifying means for identifying the information provider of information requested by the user; and

sending method determining means for determining, using the stored providers data, the 9 Z-1 preferred method of sending the requested information using the user preferred medium for the identified information provider; wherein the output means is adapted to generate the output in dependence upon the determined preferred method of sending the requested information using the user preferred medium.

6. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, including a record store for storing a record of information sent to users.

7. An information provision system according to claim 6, including access means for allowing the users and/or a provider of the information access to the stored record.

8. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, wherein said information store is arranged to identify a respective information provider associated with the information associated with each code; the system including billing means for billing each provider for respective information provided to users.

9. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, wherein said handset determining means includes validating means for validating the user using the stored user data.

10. An information provision system according to claim 9, wherein said telecommunication means is adapted to send a telecommunication acknowledgement to the handset when the user is validated.

11. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, wherein the. user comprises a consumer and the information provided to the user comprises product or service information.

12. An information provision system according to claim 11, wherein the information identified by each code is associated with a respective information provider; and each information provider comprises an advertiser or product or service provider.

13. An information provision system according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the user comprises a consumer, the information to be provided to the consumer comprises advertising information for a product or service, and the category data determined for the consumer indicates the user's propensity to purchase the advertised product or service.

14. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, wherein the preferred medium for the user comprises one of : e-mail, facsimile, post, voice message, or web page.

15. An information provision system according to any preceding claim, wherein said telecommunication means is adapted to receive an SMS message or a GPRS connection.

16. An information provision method for providing information to a user, the method comprising: receiving a telecommunication connection from a handset operated by the user, the telecommunication connection carrying a code input by the user; determining a handset identifier from which the telecommunication connection originates; determining a preferred medium for receipt of information by the user using the determined handset identifier and stored user data including a handset identifier for the

handset used by the user, and information on the preferred medium for receipt of information ; identifying the information to be sent to the user using the code carried by the telecommunication connection and stored codes identifying associated information ; and generating an output to cause the information to be sent to the user using the determined preferred medium.

17. An information provision method according to claim 16, wherein said handset identifier comprises the telephone number for the handset.

18. An information provision method according to claim 16 or claim 17, including storing personal information on the user in the stored user data, retrieving personal information on the user from the stored user data using the handset identifier, and determining category data for the user by categorizing the user according to predetermined criteria based on the retrieved personal information, wherein the information to be sent to the user is identified based on the code and the determined category data for the user.

19. An information provision method according to claim 18, wherein the category data is determined using stored categorization data.

20. An information provision method according to any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the information identified by each code is associated with a respective information provider; the method including storing providers data including information on a preferred method of sending the requested information using the user preferred medium; identifying the information provider of information requested by the user; and determining, using the stored providers data, the preferred method of sending the requested information using the user preferred medium for the identified information provider; wherein the output is generated in dependence upon the determined preferred method of sending the requested information using the user preferred medium.

21. An information provision method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, wherein a record of information sent to users is storerl

22. An information provision method according to claim 21, wherein the users and/or a provider of the information can access the stored record.

23. An information provision method according to any one of claim l 6 to 22, wherein the information identified by each code is associated with a respective information provider; the method including billing each provider for respective information provided to users.

24. An information provision method according to any one of claims 16 to 23, wherein the step of determining the handset identifier includes validating the user using the stored user data.

25. An information provision method according to claim 24, including sending a telecommunication acknowledgement to the handset when the user is validated.

26. An information provision method according to any one of claims 16 to 25, wherein the user comprises a consumer and the information provided to the user comprises product or service information.

27. An information provision method according to claim 26, wherein the information identified by each code is associated with a respective information provider; and each information provider comprises an advertiser or product or service provider.

28. An information provision method according to claim 18 or claim 19, wherein the user comprises a consumer, the information to be provided to the consumer comprises advertising information for a product or service, and the category data determined for the consumer indicates the user's propensity to purchase the advertised product or service.

29. An information provision method according to any one of claim 16 to 28, wherein the preferred medium for the user comprises one of : e-mail, facsimile, post, voice message, or web page.

30. An information provision method according to any one of claims 6 to 29, wherein the telecommunication connection comprises an SMS message or a GPRS connection.

31. An computerised information provision system for providing information to a user, the system comprising: a programmable processing system with a telecommunications interface; a program memory storing a computer program comprising instructions for controlling the programmable processing system to carry out the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.

32. A carrier medium carrying computer readable code for controlling a computer to carry out the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.

33. An information provision method for providing advertising information to a consumer, the method comprising: receiving a telecommunication connection from a handset operated by the consumer, the telecommunication connection carrying a code input by the consumer; determining the handset identifier from which the telecommunication connection originates; determining a preferred medium for receipt of advertising information by the consumer using the determined handset identifier and stored consumer data including a handset identifier for the mobile telecommunication handset used by the consumer, and information on the preferred medium for receipt of advertising information; identifying the advertising information to be sent to the consumer using the code carried by the telecommunication connection and stored codes identifying associated

advertising information available from advertisers ; and I sending the advertising information to the consumer using the determined preferred medium.