TITLE OF THE INVENTION

System and Method for Simultaneously Communicating Personalized Messages to a Large

Number of Recipients

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With respect to the present invention, we seek to provide a communication system that has several important advantages: (a) immediate contact, (b) large scale, (c) selective target, (d) personalized messages, and (e) recipient feedback. No current single system exists that provides these key capabilities simultaneously at reasonable cost, where cost may be considered a further critical parameter. Let's look at current communication systems to provide a basis of comparison with the present invention which will be described below.

Radio or television transmission provides advantages: a and b and is cost effective.

Newspapers, magazines and newsletters provide advantages: b and c. The Postal Service provides advantages: b, c, d and e. Podcasting is primarily used for distributing multimedia files for playback on mobile devices and personal computers and provides advantages: b and c. Telephone communications provides advantages: a, c, d, and e.

Of these alternatives the telephone appears to be the medium with greatest potential. Let us explore this possibility further. Communication by telephone can reach hundreds or even thousands of recipients at once, but such is presently expensive and limited to smaller population segments than broadcasting is capable of reaching. With the advent of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology auto-dialing systems are limited only to the data capacity of the Internet connection and the processing power of the system's supporting computer infrastructure. With the advent of seamless caller-to-recipient VoIP calls, limitations with respect to the number of simultaneous telephone calls that can be executed by an auto-dialer system will soon disappear. At that point, the telephone will then be much more useful as a broadcasting medium for rapid, mass-population alerting/messaging. Also

at that time, the beneficial limitations of such telephone-based alerting/messaging systems will then not be the number of people who can be called, but the level of content richness and personalization such calls will be able to convey, and it is here that the present invention is best applied.

Rich information in the present context is defined as information that is dense with regard to both content, e.g., amount, topical breadth, media vehicles utilized, etc., and value, i.e., timeliness, urgency, importance, impact, etc. In other words, information of a singular media type such as printed text about one subject such as the weather, and which is quite brief, is far less rich than information comprised of, for instance, a multi-media segment with a moderator showing charts, graphs, and pictures about several subjects.

From a technological point of view, it then follows that information richness greatly affects the amount of data the information contains. In other words, the more rich an information transmission is, the larger its corresponding digital equivalent. The rate that digital information can be transferred is dependent on the bandwidth of the transfer medium.

The degree to which information can be personalized depends on the computational power of the computer infrastructure supporting the system. Archiving, retrieval, manipulation, and concatenation of data files containing voice and video are all highly computer-processor-intensive undertakings.

In other words, and to summarize, for a particular set number of recipients sent information within a constrained set amount of time, the "richness" of the disseminated information is limited by the (bandwidth "size" of the) information-dissemination system's

Internet-connectivity, while "personalization" of the information is limited by the system's overall computational power.

To better understand the underlying causes for this technological state of affairs, it is important to first understand that the present state of the art uses a server-(information/data

sender)-side methodology for the "assembly" (concatenation) of customized/personalized information. According to this methodology, it is only after said "assembly" is completed that the personalized information is disseminated/delivered to the targeted recipient.

This methodology is based on the fact that the computational power of the devices leveraged at the sender-side of systems using present methods are typically far greater than the computational power of the devices leveraged at the recipient side. In fact, in the case where the recipient device is a traditional landline-based telephone, _' the recipient-side computational power is practically nonexistent. With such low-computational-powered ("dumb") recipient devices, it is sound reasoning to utilize a methodology whereby all "assembly" of personalized information takes place on the sender side of such a system.

However, device technology at the recipient end of such systems is presently and rapidly undergoing major change. The "dumb," low-computational-powered devices such as landline telephones are being rapidly supplanted with much "smarter" cellular-based handsets. In fact, it is this inventor's conjecture that all recipient devices will very soon possess as much computational power (and data-storage capacity) as present-day personal computers. When and as this evolution occurs, the possibility of transferring traditionally server-(infoπnation/data sender)-side computational tasks to the recipient device will be much more reasonable.

As this relates to and supports the benefits imparted by the method-invention herein described, when computational tasks are migrated from sender devices to recipient devices, far less "pre-assembled" information (data) needs to be sent from the server/sender to the handset/recipient. In turn, and for a given delivery "pipe" size, far "richer" information can be delivered far more rapidly to the end-recipient person or entity.

Today, in order to produce a circumstance whereby a person receives and hears an automated (or pre-recorded) voice message that has been customized specifically for that recipient person, an auto-dialing system is tasked to concatenate ("assemble") "on-the-fly"

(in "real-time") various pieces of pre-recorded voice segments (commonly referred to as a "voice library").

Because all of said voice library segments are stored, assembled, and subsequently delivered by the auto-dialer computer servers, this methodology consequently prescribes that all such voice segments (once concatenated/assembled) be delivered to the recipient device and eventually to the actual recipient-person through the delivery "pipe" that exists for this purpose. And because such voice data is generally rather and relatively "large" in size, so must be the size of the delivery "pipe."

If, however, the cited voice library is stored on the recipient device instead, then all that needs to be "sent" through the "pipe" from the auto-dialer is, instead, merely a "small"- sized assembly instruction set. And it is this alternative methodology that forms the basis of the invention herein described.

To summarize then, current mass communication channels are able to broadcast information to large populations of recipient-individuals collectively within an extremely brief timeframe, and while they can carry audio and video information and are fast and cost effective, their major drawback is their inability to tailor the broadcast information to individuals on an individual-to-individual, personalized basis. Personal communication channels such as telephone networks are also very fast, and they too can communicate audio and video information as well. In addition and by their very nature, such "personal" communication channels are also able to deliver highly personalized (individually-tailored) information to recipients, but at this time, they are not able to broadcast to large populations of recipient-individuals within any reasonably-brief collective timeframe. The present invention combines the best aspects of both of the above traditional communications methods by providing the means to broadcast highly individualized, personally-tailored information to very large populations of recipient-individuals and -entities in an exceedingly brief collective timeframe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.

A method that enhances the speed to which "rich," "personalized" information can be disseminated to an individual or entity, where "rich" information in this context is information that is dense with regard to both content (e.g., amount, topical breadth ¹ , media vehicles utilized, etc.) as well as value (i.e., timeliness, urgency, importance, impact, etc.), and where "personalized" information in this context is information that is specifically generated for, targeted to, and applicable to recipients of such information on a individual, case-by-case basis.

In particular, and in its preferred embodiment, the invention-method provides significant benefits when applied to the dissemination of multi-media informational content to a particular individual person or entity in extremely short notice alerting situations over bi-directional communications networks, where "bi-directional" communications networks in this context are such networks that allow sender and recipient interactivity (e.g., two-way radio, the Public Switched Telephone Network {the "landline"-based "PSTN"}, cellular telephone networks, etc.). For clarity, bi-directional communication networks do not include traditional, one-way broadcast communication systems (e.g., broadcast television, broadcast radio, etc.), for they, by their very nature, do not allow for individualized "personalization" of the content broadcast through them nor bidirectional recipient-sender interactions.

A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of use of such apparatus that yields advantages not taught by the prior art.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a communication system that is able to communicate with a large or very large, but selected portion of the general population;

A further objective of the invention is to provide such a system that is able to personalize communications to each recipient of a single mass broadcast.

A still further objective of the invention is to provide such a system wherein recipients of such a mass broadcast are able to respond to the sender.

Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of at least one of the possible embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate at least one of the best mode embodiments of the present invention. In such drawings:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the system of the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a logic diagram of one embodiment of the method of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The above described drawing figures illustrate the present invention in at least one of its preferred, best mode embodiments, which is further defined in detail in the following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may be able to make alterations and modifications in the present invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, it must be understood that the illustrated embodiments have been set forth only for the purposes of example and that they should not be taken as limiting the invention as defined in the following.

In one embodiment of the present invention, shown in Fig. 1, a communication system comprises an information transmitting device 10 such as a computer, a large or very large number of information receiving devices 20, such as cell phones and similar portable, hand-held devices, operated by their respective users, and an information communication channel 30 linking the transmitting device 10 with the receiving devices 20. Channel 30, as shown in Fig. 1 preferably includes the Internet 32 and the cell network communications transmitters 34.

The devices 10, 20 and the channel 30 are enabled for handling information in discrete blocks which move over the communication channel 30 sequentially. These blocks are not to be confused with, so-called "digital packets" which are the vehicle for digital information transfer in most digital communications systems including the cellular network. In the present invention, the blocks contain information in digital form corresponding to single words, phrases, paragraphs, numerals, numbers, diagrams such as the universal warnings symbols for chemical, biological and nuclear agents, and other similar speech fragments, and so on. The blocks may also comprise instruction sets as to how to assemble the following blocks to create a meaningful message which normally will be made up of blocks stored in the receiving device 20 plus newly received blocks. Such information may be in written and graphical form, or in oral form, or both.

The receiving devices 20 each further comprise a storage device 22 capable of storing and later enabling retrieval of the information blocks. The information blocks are tagged by each receiving device upon receipt so as to identify the blocks in one of three groups as: (i) blocks that are newly received by the receiving device; (ii) blocks that are actually or, anticipated to be, used repeatedly and which are therefore held resonant in the storage device 22; and (iii) newly received blocks that pass, or have passed, a test of repeated use, so as to be tagged for group (ii).

The receiving devices also comprise a means for assembling 40 new received blocks (group (i)), and selected stored blocks (groups (ii) and (iii)), into user recognizable

messages, and a means for testing the blocks for frequency of use. Blocks identified as being frequently used (group (U)), are placed into the storage device 22 pending future use.

Beside information, the blocks transmitted over the channel 30 may include instruction sets informing the assembling means 40 how to assemble the information blocks into the user recognizable messages which then are made available to the receiving device

20. Also, the instruction sets may contain other directions such as which stored blocks to discard and which to substitute if any for discarded blocks.

The preferred method of the present invention is shown in Fig. 2. When a message is broadcast, the blocks arrive at the receiving devices 20 and are processed. Each block is tested to see if it is an instruction set and if it is, the set is stored. If it is not an instruction set, the block is tagged in group (i), i.e., information, and then passed on to a test register. The blocks are then tested to see if they are frequently used and if so, they are stored and also placed in an assembly register. After each block is received and processed in this manner a test is made to determine if the last block has been received and if not the next block is processed in the same manner, while if it is the last block, the intended message is assembled according to the instruction set and then played and/or displayed on the receiving device 20. Clearly, the instruction set provides the necessary information as to how to assemble the message including which order the blocks should be arranged in and when and where a stored block should be filled into the message.

Clearly, the message can be assembled after all of the blocks for that message have been received, or it can be assembled "on the fly" even before the last block has been received.

The enablements described in detail above are considered novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of one best mode embodiment of the instant invention and to the achievement of the above described objectives. The words used in this specification to describe the instant embodiments are to

be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word or words describing the element.

^• The definitions of the words or elements of the embodiments of the herein described invention and its related embodiments not described are, therefore, defined in this specification to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements in the invention and its various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements.

Changes from the described subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope of the invention and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. The invention and its various embodiments are thus to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what essentially incorporates the essential idea of the invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to at least one preferred embodiment, it is to be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited thereto.