NZ515499A - Advertising or sign reply system using short message service mobile services - Google Patents

Abstract

An information system comprises: a display identifying a code to be supplied to a text massaging system, the code reacting to a particular product or service; a message originator capable of supplying a text message containing the code to an SMS messaging system; a messaging server capable of receiving an SMS text message from a message system and of discriminating within the received text message the code indicating a specific product or service, of forwarding this code to a data server, of receiving data relating to the specific product or service from the data server and returning this data to the text message originator and a data server capable receiving from a message server the code, translating this as a request for information on a specific product or service and extracting and returning to the message server data relating to that product or service.

Description

Patents Form # 5 515499 intellectual property office of N.Z. 2 4 DEC W2 RECEIVED NEW ZEALAND Patents Act 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION AFTER PROVISIONAL # : 515499 DATED : 15 November 2001 TITLE : Advertising System We, COOL 123 LIMITED Address: 16 Byron Avenue, TAKAPUMA, Auckland, New Zealand Nationality: A New Zealand company do hereby dcclare the invention ibr which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: PF05 JW|' FEE CODE 1050 ADVERTTSING SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to advertising in printed media, or on signs, and has particular application to the sale of products or service items where the advertiser hopes to catch the 5 attention of the potential customer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION At present people who wish to sell a product or service normally use a sign or sandwhich board outside their premises, or an advertisement in a newspaper, or other periodical. 10 Typical examples for sale would include cars, houses, in-service items might include the rental of property, or travel or holidays.

The problem is that there are so many signs associated with products, signs on the streets, and even paper media, that consumers suffer from a visual overload., and no longer respond or even remember or even notice these advertisements unless some very creative and costly 15 design work is supplied by the advertiser.

In addition, the size of the sign, or the size and layout of the advertisement in printed media is dependent upon the cost of the advertisement (space means money), and it is desirable for an advertiser to endeavour to attract the consumer's attention and interest. It is also desirable to supply as much information to the consumer as is possible within a given price range of 20 advertisement, so that the consumer has the nccessary information to approach the vendor.

Another problem is that some signs or advertising continue to attract responses after the product has been sold - to the annoyance of the vendor and that prospective purchasers.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention in pan to improve advertising system, or one which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION In one aspect the invention provides a sign or advertisement that contains information linking the product or service to a telephone number encouraging the recipient to send a text message to a data service and wherein said data service is adapted to send a specific reply with details of the product or service for sale to the recipient of said text message.

Preferably the data service can charge the seller a setup fee and the cost of text replies to interested parties.

Preferably the data service charges the recipient for the enquiry. More preferably the data service makes use of "B" party billing where the carrier debits the recipients telephone account and shares revenue with the data service.

The invention can best be understood from the more detailed examples given below.

In another aspect, the invention provides each product an advertising system for a product or service comprising a database or service server having an identification code containing information on a range of products or services for sale, a plurality of signs or advertisements containing at least a brief message about each product or service and a reference to its identification code together with instructions to send a text message by phone to a specified number containing the identification code, means for receiving such text messages, and means for sending a reply to the originating phone, the reply containing information from the database or service server on the selected product or service.

Preferably the reply is sent as one or more text messages using a Small Message Services (SMS) product. Alternatively the reply could be a recorded voice message.

Preferably each sign or printed advertisement contains an identification code. This may be a number or word or alpha numeric related to a particular product or service for sale. In some examples the reference may be to a motor vehicle number plate, where the sign appears on a motor vehicle, and the customer then has to send a text message of that motor vehicle number plate to a specified mobile phone number in order to receive information about the motor vehicle.

Q0W330NZ TIER 2004 0312.doc INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z 12 mar m received U V V~C ! *J ■ n im u • i o a u f ■ 0/ i i ;-4- ;These and other aspccts of this invention, which should be considered in all its novel aspects, will become apparent from the following description, which is given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: ;Figure 1 illustrates a schematic illustrating a motor vehicle for sale and the associated 5 sign ;Figure 2 illustrates a preferred sign with associated logo, to alert consumers to the "feedback" sign. ;Example 1 - Feedback signs ;Refer to Figure 1. The basic concept of a feedback sign is that very simple information can 10 be on a sign or advertisement. Example, "Car for sale TXT the plate number to 021899 IN" or "House for sale, TXT this code to 021899111". The people see the item and that it is for sale. If they want more information or the price then they follow these steps, one step at a time: ;(i) Since people can see that the car or house is lor sale they can embrace and 15 ponder the possibility of ownership without being concerned about the price or other details which may have a negative effect while they are in this "JUST LOOKING" stale of mind. ;(ii) When the person's interest has built, the person then sends off the plate detail or simple code number to a server. At this stage, the person has just bought ;20 into the possibility of ownership and will wait expectantly for the details to arrive. ;(iii) When the details arrive, the person quite often feels that they must acccpt. the information, ;(iv) Information should include some more positive detail that is not obvious to 25 the person and also have a contact phone number to ring to make the next level of contact, PERSONAL. ;wVViVs umnvin ;Received Time 24.Dec. 13:46 ;24.Dec. 2002 13:48 PIPERS A No.13 95 P. 9/17 ;-5- ;(v) In some cases it may be prudent and acceptablc to get the person to TXT again to a code within the first message. ;Example 2 - Web based signs ;Private people may purchase a pre coded sign off the web with a fixed amount of replies and 5 type in their own reply message. ;Commercial applications may involve registration of an entire system where the business may use their own codes for the feed back process. They may have web interface to enable this. ;By using a web interface, the advertiser can then change the price and details without making 10 a new sign. For example the bottom portion of Figure 1 shows a change in the data base information which the advertiser subsequently inserts onto the website, which is then stored in the data base and is ready to be sent out to further customers who subsequently text the data servicc for information on the product. ;This web interlace allows the advertiser to be issued with a PIN so that he can edit the 15 information or placc a "stop order" when the product has been sold. ;Example 3 - Advertisements ;This system lends itself to a trade and exchange type of publication. This type of publication allows advertisers to place short advertisements, by including their telephone number, and usually placing the advertisement is free to the advertiser lor a limited period of time. The 20 revenue being made by the sale of the newspaper. Such publications are often used by people who have a product to dispose of at low cost, or even to give away. The difficulty is that the periodical may have a long latency period, and if the first person to reply to the advertisement then purchases the product, the advertiser may be inundated with numerous telephone calls even though they have sold the product. ;25 A similar problem occurs when people advertise for flatmates, or flats to rent, or where there is a very high demand, hence a huge number of telephone calls even after the flat has been let. ;Received Time- 24.Dec. 13:46 ;24.Dec, 2002 13:48 PIPERS A No.1395 P. 10/17 ;-6- ;The solution is to use this type of feedback sign in classified advertisements, or other advertisements in the printed media, which simplifies the layout of the print advertisement. The print advertisement can be short. The information stored in the data base can be much longer. It allows the advertiser to determine the wording placed in the database, and the 5 duration of the print advertisement by registering with the periodical, or the advertising service, and having the right to then place a stop in the database on further contacts once the product has been sold. ;For example if the advertiser is advertising a car for sale in this printed publication the advertisement might state 1942 FORD V8 send "B432156B to 021899111" for full details. 10 The data base can then send the full information back to the enquirer if the vehicle is still for sale. This has the advantage that the advertiser can change the price during the period of the advertisement, or more particularly, once the vehiclc has been sold he can then contact the advertiser or apply via the web interlace to record that the product has been sold, so that the database then sends a reply message to any further customers stating the product has already ! 5 been sold. ;Alternatively, the periodical might have a policy that if a product has been sold then no reply is sent to the incoming text message from the potential customer. It is however preferable to send an immediate reply to the customer if that product has been sold so that customer is in no doubt that that product is gone and they need to look at other products. ;20 The advantage of this system is that it shields the advertiser from direct contact by customers. ;Example 4 ;The advertising system is simple to use and lends itself to dating services where a person places an advertisement describing some of their characteristics, or the characteristics of the 25 type of person they wish to meet. Most such systems involve an 0900 number, in which the recepient responds to a voice mail box, and the advertiser is then able to retrieve the messages and determine who they should contact. ;Received Time 24.Dec. 13:46 ;24.Dec. 2002 13:48 PIPERS A No.1395 P. 11/17 ;- 7 - ;Tn this case the advertisements can be contained in a periodical, and can contain a message to text a particular code number, may also specify the additional information that the sender should include in the text message. ;As the advertiser can specify the characteristics in more detail in the database, the person 5 sending the text message, can receive more information than would normally be included in the printed advertisement (via one or more text messages), and can then determine whether to make further contact. In this case it is preferable that the contact is brokered by the database server so that there is a log of the telephone numbers involved, and in most cases where the advertiser or the responder wishes to retain some anorunity the text messages may 10 be buffered by the data base, and on sent to the other party without including the number of the originating mobile phone. ;The system of this invention is sufficiently adaptable to accommodate the requirements of such a dating service. ;Variations ;15 This system lends itself to the sale of items where the item is closely associated with a sign. For example the sale of a car with an associated sign attached, or the sale of a house where a real estate sign is placed outside the house, and may include a feedback sign with an appropriate phone number so the customer can text for more information. This could lead the customer into obtaining a variety of information on the property for sale, for example the 20 title, a valuation, a LIM report, or whatever other information the vendor or agent wishes to provide, either for free, or at a nominated cost. ;From the point of view of a potential customer, they are able to obtain information, easily, and store it on the mobile phones. ;Finally various other alterations and modifications may be made to the foregoing without 25 departing from line scopc of this invention. ;w.VU'nr*; w/w/ip/«« , ^ ^ . . A Received Time 24•Dec■ 13:46

Claims (5)

1 An information system comprising a display identifying a code to be supplied to a text messaging system, the code relating to a particular product or service a message originator capable of supplying a text message containing the code to an SMS messaging system, a message server capable of receiving an SMS text message from a message system and of discriminating within the received text message the code indicating a specific product or service, of forwarding this code to a data server, of receiving data relating to the specific product or service from the data server and returning this data to the text message originator, a data server capable of receiving from a message server the code, translating this as a request for information on a specific product or service and extracting and returning to the message server data relating to that product or service.

2. An information system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the returned information is in the form of a recorded voice message.

3 A method of requesting desired information from an information system as claimed in claim 1 comprising: acquiring from a display data containing initial information relating to a desired product or service sending, to a message service address contained in the initial information, a text message including a code contained in the initial information and identifying the product or service receiving at a message server a text message request for desired information identifying in the request for desired information a code indicating a particular product or service extracting from a data service by means of the code, information on the desired product or service sending to the originating requester the extracted desired information. 0DW330NZ TIER 20040312.doc INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z 12 MAR 2004 received

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the initial information is acquired from a visual advertisement.

5. An information system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Pipers Attorneys for Cool 123 Limited D0W330NZ TIER 20040312.doc INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFRCE OF HI 12 MAR 2004 RECEIVED