WO2007090996A2

WO2007090996A2 - Method for processing intention messages

Info

Publication number: WO2007090996A2
Application number: PCT/FR2007/050764
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gilles Nectoux
Original assignee: Plebicom
Priority date: 2006-02-08
Filing date: 2007-02-08
Publication date: 2007-08-16
Also published as: WO2007090996A8; FR2897180A1; EP1984880A2

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for processing intention messages emitted by users (1-4), relating to an object proposed by a supplier (5, 6), using a system (7) comprising at least one module for receiving (8) user messages (12-15), a message processing station (10), and a results (16-19) emission module (11). The inventive method comprises the following steps: messages are received and processed (12-15), an individual result (R) is determined according to row x, and, if necessary, according to the total number y, for each message, and individual results R (16-19) are emitted to the users. The inventive method encourages participation and recruitment since the result R is even better as row x is weak and the total number y is high.

Description

METHOD FOR DEPOSITING MESSAGES OF INTENT

The present invention relates to a method of stripping intention messages. In the field of message processing, it is known systems for extracting results according to the intentions contained in the messages. None, however, integrates a dynamic dimension, in which the number and speed of production of the messages of intention occur.

A notable difficulty relates to the run-of-the-river processing of messages by an intermediate system when the requests upstream do not concern this intermediate system but a third system. The present invention overcomes these various disadvantages by providing a method of message processing which encourages on the one hand a participation of users in the production of intention messages, the total number of users affecting an individual result of each user and on the other hand to a rapid participation, the reception rank of a message influencing said individual result.

In particular, the invention relies on a complex system for processing messages in order to derive real-time information usable for a feedback.

The subject of the invention is a method for retrieving user-initiated intention messages about an object proposed by a provider, using a system comprising at least one user message receiving module, a message processing central station. and a result transmission module, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

- receiving user messages, - separation of messages by object,

processing of the user messages to extract the rank x of reception of each message,

determination of an individual result R as a function of the rank x for each message,

- issue to the users of the results R.

An advantage of the invention is to encourage speed by offering a better result to the fastest users. The subject of the invention is also a resource allocation method, the method using a system comprising at least one module for receiving messages from a third party module, a message processing central and a module for determining a number of messages. characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

transmitting messages of one type from among a plurality of types of messages sent by said third party module following the interaction of at least one entity, said messages comprising at least one identification datum of the at least one entity,

reception of said messages by said system,

separating said messages according to said type from among the plurality of types of messages,

processing of the user messages of the same type to extract the rank x of reception of each message among the messages of the same type, and to count the total number y of messages of the same type or entities at the origin of a message of the same type, - determination for each message of an individual characteristic R according to the rank x and the total number y: R = f (x, y),

- for at least one of the said entities at the origin of a message, assignment of a resource according to said individual characteristic R associated with said corresponding message.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the processing step counts the total number of messages y or users, and the determination of the result R is a function of this total number y.

Thus each individual R result is influenced by the overall participation. This encourages participation. Each user has an interest in recruiting other users.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the result R is determined by an abacus according to the rank x and the total number y.

According to an alternative characteristic of the invention, the result R is determined by a mathematical function of the rank x and the total number y.

These two methods of calculation allow the establishment of various incentive strategies.

According to one embodiment, the extraction comprises the recording in the same database entry of at least said rank x, said entity identification data contained in said message, and the method further comprises a step recording in said database entry the individual characteristic R determined and associated with said message. This allows users or entities to quickly retrieve the value of the R characteristic and also to facilitate the update of this value when the number of messages varies.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the system further comprises a module for receiving the supplier messages, the receiving step comprises receiving the provider messages, the processing step includes processing the provider messages to extract confirmations of the intentions of the users and the determining step considers only the user messages whose intentions are confirmed.

The confirmation of the intentions of the users by the suppliers makes it possible to secure the results attributed.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the messages may be mails, e-mails, voice messages, telephone data messages (SMS).

According to another characteristic of the invention, the steps of determination and emission of result R are dynamically reiterated when the total number evolves there.

The results are thus dynamically recalculated according to the evolution of user participation.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the result R is all the more important as the rank x is small and the total number is high.

This has the advantage of encouraging massive and rapid participation and encouraging the recruitment of new users.

The invention is applicable to the processing of a vote, the management of a Dutch auction for example, the affection of resources or the management of a humanitarian donations operation.

The invention is still applicable to the sale of goods or services, the intention being a purchase of the object and the individual result a discount or a commercial advantage.

Other characteristics, details and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the detailed description given below as an indication in relation to drawings in which: FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of the system according to the invention,

FIG. 2 presents an example of a result determination chart R, FIG. 3 presents a block diagram illustrating the progress of a sales assignment,

- Figure 4 shows an example of general architecture in which the invention is implemented.

In Figure 1 is presented a system 7 according to the invention adapted to receive and process messages 12-15 users 1-4. Users can be in very large numbers. In Figure 1, four users 1-4 were represented. The system 7 comprises at least one receiving module 8 of the user messages 12-15, a message processing center 10 and a transmission module 11 of the results 16-19. The process according to the invention proceeds as follows. During a period of time open to a consultation, users 1-4 may participate by sending a message to the system 7. This user message 12-15 includes an intent associated with an object. These messages 12-15 are received by the system 7 via a reception module 8. The message 12-15 is then transmitted for processing to the central office 10. The central office 10 separates the messages 12-15 in order to group them by object. For the messages associated with the same object, the central office 10 extracts from said messages 12-15 the rank x of reception or order of arrival. The processing then produces for each message 12-15 an individual result R 16-19 depending on the rank x of arrival of said message. Depending on the application, a user is allowed or not to send several messages during a consultation. In this case a result R is determined for each message and the user receives several results R. The system 7 then transmits the results 16-19 to the users 1-4 via the transmission module 11.

The system 7 can perform, during a consultation, a count of the total number y messages 12-15 or users 1-4. The result R individual 16-19 can then be determined according to this total number y.

A first way to determine the individual result R is to use an abacus according to the rank x and the total number y. Such an abacus can be in the form of a two-dimensional array such as that of FIG. 2. The result R is read at the intersection of the row indicating the rank x and the column indicating the total number y. Thus the result R framed 1,2 is obtained for a rank x between 100 and 200 in a consultation having gathered a total number y of more than 500 user messages.

Alternatively a second means of determining the result R is a mathematical function taking as input the rank x and the total number y. The result is then R = F (x, y). According to one embodiment, the function is used at each calculation of result R. Advantageously, the function is used once to fill an abacus.

Depending on the type of consultation, the intentions contained in messages 12-15 are subsequently followed or not. The intentions applying to objects proposed by suppliers 5, 6, said suppliers are able to determine this effect and to confirm an intention. The system 7 advantageously comprises a receiving module 9 capable of receiving messages from the suppliers. The step of receiving the method further comprises receiving the provider messages. The processing step further includes a processing of the supplier messages to extract confirmations of the intentions of the users. This allows, during the determination step, to consider among the user messages 12-15 only those whose intentions have been confirmed by a provider message.

The system 7 is a message processing unit. This unit can be implemented by a computer system. The message receiving modules 8, 9 are able to process messages in digital form (e-mail or equivalent), voice, paper (mail), telephone data message (SMS) or other. For this they have, as necessary, adapted interfaces: Internet interface, electronic messaging, voice recognition, SMS analyzer, character recognition module, etc.

It appears that a result R for a given user, when it depends on the total number y, changes during the course of the consultation. Thus, by taking again the illustrative abacus of FIG. 2, if the total number there comes to exceed 1000 then 2000, the result R becomes 2 then 2.6 respectively. We note that the rank x can not evolve anymore. The method advantageously comprises, at regular intervals, or at each step crossing of the total number y, a new determination of the results R and, where appropriate, their retransmission 16-19 to the users 1-4 concerned. Thus a user 1-4 can see his result R evolve dynamically during a consultation based on increasing participation.

The method of calculating the result is advantageously such that the result R is all the more important as the rank x is small and the total number is high. Thus an incentive effect is created, to obtain a best R result, a user has an interest on the one hand to quickly send a message to be given a low rank x and secondly that the consultation gets a strong participation . This second aspect encourages the user to recruit other participants.

A preferential embodiment is an application of the method to the sale of goods or services, the intention being a purchase of the object and the individual result a discount or a commercial advantage. This feasible application for online or offline sales is more particularly detailed below.

The system 7 is a sales management server for objects or services offered to potential buyers online or offline. This server 7 is advantageously redundant and secure to resist fraud attempts while providing maximum availability, if possible 7 days on 7 and 24 hours 24. Users are buyers.

The central server 7 includes user profiles associated with visitors and buyers 1-4. Such profiles include identification by pseudo and / or email. The central server 7 provides a web service 70 in the form of a website offering links to commercial sites 40. These links include an identifier of the central server 7 to identify it in the management of purchases by users.

Online shoppers connect via the Internet to the virtual broker site 7, selling directly or acting as an intermediary for other merchant / vendor sites.

When a potential buyer visits and thus establishes a connection with the central server website 70, he selects a link to a merchant site 40 offering a commercial advantage mentioned above. The user then establishes a session http 42 with the merchant site 40 under a user profile associated with it on the server central 7.

Objects are items or services for sale. The user 1-4 makes purchases on the merchant site according to known mechanisms. The validation of a purchase not the user on the site generates 43 a confirmation message 12-15 by the merchant site 40. This message is in the form of an email and sent to an email address of reception of the server 7 (SMTP server 71 ). Whatever the user, this address is not a personal address of the user but is a unique address returning to the server 7 or an address associated with the user's account on the server 7 (for example, an e-mail address). an Internet domain assigned to the Web-SMTP server of the system 7). Intention messages are purchase orders sent by email. Off-line buyers buy from traditional stores and send a message to the system 7 either through the vendor / vendor who confirms the purchase by email or by texting a code provided by the vendor.

Upon receipt, by the SMTP server 71 of the system 7, of each e-mail sent following a purchase intention of the user, the processing server 10 performs a dual function: a lexical analysis 44 (parsing) of the content of the e-mail message received and a transmission 45 of said email to the personal email address of the user so that the latter is notified of the confirmation of his intention to purchase.

The parsing of the e-mail makes it possible to record from the contents of the e-mail message, in a database of the server 7, the content of the purchase (that is to say a reference of the articles / objects purchased), the date of this purchase, possibly an order identifier, and an identifier the user concerned (email address or nickname). Preferably, a table 72 associated with each item that is the subject of a delivery operation is filled in and completed with each new email and informing the user (identifier or email address) having issued the new intention to purchase, in incrementing a counter indicating the purchase rank for this message, specifying a status flag to "pending" until the user definitively confirms its purchase intent and indicating the value of a characterization result that is associated with the message as follows.

This message resulting from an online or offline purchase confers the attribution of a rank x, determined according to the dates of all the purchases concerning the same object (obtained by the parsing). If multiple objects have been purchased, parallel processing is performed for each of the objects for which payment processing is required. Based on this rank x and the total number y of buyers having purchased the same object, the buyer is offered a result R calculated in the form of a rebate all the more important that the purchase was fast and that the sales volume of the object was important.

This calculation is performed by the server 7 upon receipt of the confirmation email by the use of a function or a chart as described above. The results relating to the purchases of the same article by other users (other messages) already contained in the aforementioned table 72 are also recalculated upon receipt of the confirmation email, since the total number of intentions has increased modifying the result. obtained by each user.

The server 7 then resumes waiting for a new confirmation email and proceeds to receive an email again. This treatment along the water (upon receipt of each confirmation e-mail) allows the user to report in real time the progress of his results and thus any discounts obtained, thereby encouraging the increase in the total number of "y" acquisitions. The cancellation of a purchase (possible if it has not been definitively confirmed; status indicator taking the value "confirmed") by a user generates, by the merchant site, a cancellation email, which, once parsed, provides the system 7 information to erase from the database the previously recorded intention. A recalculation of the results of the other messages in the table 72 is done again to take account of this withdrawal.

When the operation ends (end of a predetermined period), the merchant site issues a final report of the purchases made on each given article through the specific web link to access the merchant site from the Web server 7. This account - rendering, usually in the form of an e-mail, is parsed by the system 7 and reconciled, that is to say compared, with the data relating to the given article, in the table 72 of the database through an identifier order and / or the date of purchase. A new step of calculating the result is performed at this stage to produce the final result associated with each user.

The result can be an immediate discount on the current purchase, a cash back, a purchase voucher, a discount on a future sale, or any other commercial advantage. Each buyer is identified in the system 7 by a pseudo or by his e-mail address. It advantageously has an account managed by the system 7 on which the discounts are paid. If necessary, the supplier / merchant confirms each purchase with a message stating that the purchase decision has not been canceled, for example by a renunciation or a return of the object. The The system relies on a seller-configurable chart in a database that describes the variations in discount rebates based on thresholds of the total number y of buyers and the rank x of arrival for dynamic discount calculations. of the buyer. Each sale is associated with an abacus that determines the distribution of rebates for rebates to buyers. At each level crossing, the system recalculates all the discounts of all buyers and updates the accounts associated with each buyer. For each sale the system allows to enter / modify / delete via an Extranet information about offers limited in time with the parameters of the sale.

The information stored for a sale may be as follows:

Each sale is associated with an abacus which defines for each correspondence between a level of number of buyers y and an arrival rank x, a given discount R. The discount can be parameterized or calculated with a mathematical function.

The data of the chart is generated by the mathematical function or parameterized by the seller. An example of an abacus is shown in Figure 2. The system allows the setting the maximum retrocession threshold. Very high discount rates can be used, up to 100%, to speed up the buying decision and to attract a large number of buyers. The system makes it possible to display the information on a sale before its start date as well as the abacus retained.

The system displays the discounts of the first X buyers, X being configurable during the sale. This display is refreshed with each new purchase intention, for example as soon as a level of intention to purchase is crossed when the abacus is established in stages of intentions.

The system dynamically updates the discount and credits it to an account associated with a user. When registering a purchase for a product for sale, the initial discount is credited. The registration may be a confirmation by the seller that the sale is final. The purchase counter field of the previous table is incremented. As soon as the purchase counter passes a step, all the discounts R are recalculated and an update of all the discounts already credited is carried out.

All messages from buyers or sellers are time stamped. These timestamps of buyers' purchase messages or vendor confirmation messages are used to rank buyers and determine their respective rank x. Each buyer can consult in real time, via the Internet or via a mobile phone, the status of the discounts credited to his account and their evolution according to the parameters and the progress of the sale. The block diagram in Figure 3 illustrates the flow of a sales example. The left column is for an online sale, while the right column is for an offline sale. It is possible to combine during a same assignment of sale of purchases made online (Internet) with purchases made offline (Traditional Store + SMS).

The assignment is initiated by the creation of an online sale (creation 21 of an off-line sale, respectively). During this creation are defined all the parameters of the sale and in particular the abacus. At the end of the creation, a sales animation session is launched. A test 22 (respectively 23) determines the end of the sales animation. As long as the sale continues, the occurrence of an online purchase 24 on the merchant site (respectively 25 offline in a store) triggers the following sequence. The purchase message by e-mail is processed 26 with if necessary verification of its confirmation and completion of postings on the discount account. The seller sends the purchase information by telecommunication or gives the buyer a code to send by SMS to the system. On receipt of this SMS, the system processes it and writes to the delivery account. Then a recalculation 28 (respectively 31) of all discounts is done with an update of all accounts of previous buyers. An update 30 (respectively 32) of the state of discounts available online is performed. When the sale is over, the results of the sale for the offline portion and for the online portion are reconciled. 33. A recalculation of the discounts is made.

The invention is not limited to the previously described embodiments. In particular, the method according to the invention can find applications in many fields. So, for example, the treatment of a vote. The result R is a bonus to be defined, all the more important as the vote is expressed early in the time open for consultation. In addition, the voters are all the more gratified that the participation rate is high. This encourages recruitment. The object to which voting is associated is here a question, several questions can be asked simultaneously.

Another application may be a resource allocation operation, the users being the recipients. Here, the result, mainly a function of rank, affects all the more resources as the recipient asserts his need / motivation by participating earlier in the consultation. Such an application finds, for example, its interest in the management of network resources in order to optimize the transmission of data. Indeed, it is sometimes sought that data or files to be transmitted over a network do not take too long to be transmitted. Thus, an access to the resources of the network is allocated a bandwidth all the more important that it accesses it early and a large number of other positions access it later. This ensures that messages or data that begin to be transmitted early on the network will be transmitted more quickly. The end of a transmission can then be assimilated to a cancellation of the intention so that the next user then enjoys the greatest bandwidth, since it is the user having started the transmission in progress since the longest.

Another application is the management of a humanitarian donation television operation. User messages are donation intentions. Here comes the confirmation, which validates an actual donation. The result can be a tax bonus that is all the more important since the donation decision was made quickly. Another application is the determination of counterforce management. For example, a surface is provided with a plurality of pressure sensors. When an impact is detected by a sensor (falling of an object), a counter-force by gas injection (creating an overpressure in cavities below the surface) is applied substantially to the location of the sensor to minimize the deformation of the surface due to impact. The invention thus makes it possible to quantify the counter-force to be applied to the different locations of the surface as a function of the instant of detection (intention message transmitted by the sensor to the central system). This provides a real advantage to anticipate the subsequent impact, that is to say, in particular the size of the object. The larger the object, the more potentially it is heavy. Thus, during the fall and the initial deformation of the surface, a growing number of sensors is activated. If this number is large, a large counterforce is applied at the location of the initial impact to take into account the size and therefore the weight of the falling object. This embodiment makes it possible in particular to use simple pressure switches and thus to dispense with expensive sensors providing information on the force applied to each point of the surface.

Claims

A method of resource allocation, the method using a system (7) comprising at least one receiving module (8) messages (12-15) from a third module (40), a central processing (10) ) messages and a module (11) for determining a characteristic (16-19), characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: - sending messages of one of a plurality of types of messages transmitted by said third-party module (40) following the interaction of at least one entity (1-4), said messages comprising at least one identification data of the at least one entity (1-4), - reception of said messages ( 12-15) by said system (7),

processing user messages (12-15) of the same type to extract the reception rank x of each message from the messages of the same type, and to count the total number y of messages of the same type (12-15) or from entities (1-4) generating a message of the same type, - determining for each message an individual characteristic R according to the rank x and the total number y: R = f (x, y )

for at least one of the entities (1-4) at the origin of a message (12-15), allocating a resource according to said individual characteristic R associated with said corresponding message.

The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of transmitting said received messages (12-15) to said entities (1-4).

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a further step of transmitting, to said entities (1-4), a message (16-19) according to said corresponding individual characteristic.

The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the retrieval comprises recording in the same database entry (72) at least said rank x, said entity identification data contained in said message, and the method further comprising a step of recording in said database entry the individual characteristic R determined and associated with said message.

5. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the determining step, the additional step of transmitting and the step of recording the characteristic R are dynamically reiterated when the total number evolves there.

6. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein the reiterations are performed when the total number y exceeds a threshold among a plurality of thresholds.

7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the characteristic R is determined by an abacus according to the rank x and the total number y.

8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the characteristic R is determined by a mathematical function of the rank x and the total number y.

9. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the system (7) further comprises a receiving module (9) of second messages, and the receiving step further comprises: - the reception of the second messages comprising confirmation of user messages, the processing step includes:

the processing of the second messages to extract the confirmations from the messages of the users, the determination step considers only the user messages that are confirmed.

The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the messages may be e-mails, e-mails, voice messages, telephone data messages (SMS).

11. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the characteristic R is all the better that the rank x is low and the total number is high.

12. Application of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, the processing of a vote, the management of an auction, the allocation of material resources or the management of a donation operation humanitarian organizations.

13. Application of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, for the sale of products or services, the messages being messages of purchase of an object and the individual characteristic a discount or a commercial advantage.

14. A method of characterizing messages of one type among a plurality of message types issued by users

(1-4), using a system (7) comprising at least one user message reception module (8) (12-15), a message processing center (10) and a determination module

(11) of a characteristic (16-19), characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

receiving user messages (12-15); separating said messages according to said type from the plurality of message types;

processing user messages (12-15) of the same type to extract the reception rank x of each message from the messages of the same type, and to count the total number y of messages of the same type (12-15) or users (1-4) having sent a message of the same type,

- determination for each message of an individual characteristic R according to the rank x and the total number y: R = f (x, y).

A method of retrieving user-initiated intention messages (1-4) about a provider's proposed object (5, 6), using a system (7) including at least one receiving module (8). ) user messages (12-15), a central processing (10) messages and a transmission module (11) result (16-19), characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

- reception of user messages (12-15), - separation of messages by object,

processing user messages (12-15) to extract the rank x of each message,

determination of an individual result R according to rank x for each message,

- issue to users (1-4) results (16-19).

16. Stripping method according to claim 15, characterized in that it further comprises a step of transmitting a message to the users (1-4) function of said individual characteristic (16-19).

17. The stripping method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the characteristic R is determined by an abacus as a function of the rank x and the total number y.

18. The stripping method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the characteristic R is determined by a mathematical function of the rank x and the total number y.

19. The stripping method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the system (7) further comprises a receiving module (9) of second messages, wherein the receiving step further comprises:

the reception of the second messages including confirmations of the messages of the users, where the processing step further comprises:

processing the second messages to extract the confirmations from the messages of the users, where the determination step considers only the user messages that are confirmed.

The stripping method according to any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein the messages may be e-mails, e-mails, voice messages, telephone data messages (SMS).

21. Stripping method according to any one of claims 15 to 20, wherein the steps of determination and emission of the characteristic R are dynamically reiterated when the total number evolves there.

22. A stripping method according to any one of claims 15 to 21 wherein the characteristic R is all the better that the rank x is low and the total number is high.

23. Application of the stripping method according to any of claims 15 to 22, the processing of a vote, the management of an auction, the allocation of resources or the management of a transaction. humanitarian donations.

24. Application of the stripping method according to any one of claims 15 to 22, for the sale of products or services, the messages being purchase messages of an object and the individual characteristic a discount or a commercial advantage.