Granted Patent B1

US 9,166,936 · App. 14/315,762 · Granted Oct 20, 2015

Abstract

Claims (70)

1. A message customization process performed with a communications hub, comprising:

receiving at the hub a messaging job creation request sent over a network connection, the messaging job creation request including a destinations uniform resource locator (URL);

automatically utilizing the destinations URL to obtain via network communication a list of multiple recipient specifiers, each recipient specifier specifying a recipient delivery address and a delivery mode;

obtaining via network communication a list of multiple content specifiers, each content specifier specifying at least a portion of message content to be delivered to at least one recipient;

wherein the recipient specifiers include at least one merge field and corresponding recipient merge value, the content specifiers include at least one merge field also present in the recipient specifiers, process further comprises merging recipient merge values into respective message contents according to the at least one merge field.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the messaging job creation request includes a contents URL, and the process further comprises automatically utilizing the contents URL to obtain the list of multiple content specifiers.

3. The process of claim 2 , wherein the contents URL includes at least one merge field, and the process further comprises:

merging a content identification merge value into the contents URL to obtain a merged contents URL, the merged contents URL identifying a content specifier location;

retrieving at least one content specifier from the content specifier location, the content specifier including at least one merge field; and

merging a recipient merge value into the content specifier merge field.

4. The process of claim 3 , wherein the recipient specifiers include at least one merge field and corresponding recipient merge value, the content specifiers include at least one merge field also present in the recipient specifiers, and the process further comprises merging recipient merge values into respective message contents according to the at least one merge field.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises the following sequences performed as part of a single messaging job which was created in response to the job creation request:

combining content of a first message having a recipient delivery address with content of a second message which has the same recipient delivery address, and then submitting the combined messages for delivery to the recipient delivery address.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises combining content of a first message having a recipient delivery address and a first recipient name with content of a second message which has the same recipient delivery address but a different recipient name, and then submitting the combined messages for delivery to the recipient delivery address.

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein the recipient delivery address comprises a telephone number.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises combining content of a first message having a recipient delivery address provided in a first job with content of a second message for which the same recipient delivery address was provided in a different job, and then submitting the combined messages for delivery to the recipient delivery address.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises the following sequence performed as part of a single messaging job which was created in response to the job creation request: avoiding combining two messages to an individual recipient after determining that even though the messages have the same recipient they also have different delivery modes.

10. A computer-readable storage medium configured with data and with instructions that when executed by at least one processor causes the processor(s) to perform a technical process for message customization, the process comprising:

receiving at a communications hub a messaging job creation request, the messaging job creation request including a destinations uniform resource locator (URL);

utilizing the destinations URL to obtain a list of multiple recipient specifiers, each recipient specifier specifying a recipient delivery address and a delivery mode; and

obtaining a list of multiple content specifiers, each content specifier specifying at least a portion of message content to be delivered to at least one recipient;

wherein the recipient specifiers include at least one merge field and corresponding recipient merge value, the content specifiers include at least one merge field also present in the recipient specifiers, and the process further comprises merging recipient merge values into respective message contents according to the at least one merge field.

11. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the messaging job creation request includes the destinations URL and a contents URL, the recipient specifiers include at least one merge field and corresponding recipient merge value, the content specifiers include at least one merge field that is also present in the recipient specifiers, and the process further comprises merging recipient merge values into respective message contents according to the at least one merge field.

12. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the messaging job creation request also includes at least one of the following items:

a callback URL for the communications hub to use when providing job status information;

an explicit job start time;

an explicit job start date;

an explicit job expiration time;

an explicit job expiration date;

an explicit blackout start time;

an explicit blackout end time; or

information transmitted using an HTTPS POST command.

13. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the process further comprises at least one of the following sequences performed as part of a single messaging job which was created in response to the job creation request:

assembling a first message based on a first message template for delivery according to a first delivery mode, and also assembling a second different message based on a second different message template for delivery according to a second different delivery mode;

assembling a first subset containing messages based on a first message template for delivery to a first set of recipients, and also assembling a second different subset containing messages based on a second different message template for delivery to a second different set of recipients; or

assembling a first set of messages for delivery to a first individual recipient, and also assembling a second different set of messages for delivery to a second different individual recipient.

14. The configured medium of claim 13 , wherein the process comprises at least two of the sequences, and the job creation request includes a contents URL.

15. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the process further comprises the following sequence performed as part of a single messaging job which was created in response to the job creation request: combining content of a first message having a recipient delivery address with content of a second message which has the same recipient delivery address, and then submitting the combined messages for delivery to the recipient delivery address.

16. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the process further comprises avoiding combining two messages to an individual recipient after determining that even though the messages have the same recipient they also have different delivery modes.

17. The configured medium of claim 16 , wherein the different delivery modes comprise a telephone call delivery mode and an SMS delivery mode.

18. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the process further comprises combining content of at least two messages for delivery to a single recipient delivery address.

19. The configured medium of claim 18 , wherein the combining occurs no more than five minutes prior to submitting the combined messages to a delivery mode provider for delivery to the recipient delivery address.

20. The configured medium of claim 18 , wherein the combining occurs no more than one minute prior to submitting the combined messages to a delivery mode provider for delivery to the recipient delivery address.

21. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the process further comprises:

merging a merge value into a contents URL to identify a content specifier location; and

merging a different merge value into a message template to assemble a message.

22. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the messaging job creation request includes at least three of the items.

23. The configured medium of claim 10 , wherein the messaging job creation request includes at least four of the items.

24. A computer system comprising:

a logical processor;

a memory in operable communication with the logical processor;

a messaging job creator residing in the memory and having code which upon execution with the processor creates a messaging job after receiving a job creation request at least in part by (a) determining a destinations URL is present in the job creation request, (b) automatically utilizing the destinations URL to obtain via network communication a list of multiple recipient specifiers, each recipient specifier specifying a recipient delivery address and a delivery mode, and (c) obtaining a list of multiple content specifiers, each content specifier specifying at least a portion of message content to be delivered to at least one recipient;

wherein the recipient specifiers include at least one merge field and corresponding recipient merge value, the content specifiers include at least one merge field also present in the recipient specifiers, and upon execution code of the system merges recipient merge values into respective message contents according to the at least one merge field.

25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the system further comprises the job creation request residing in the memory, and the job creation request includes at least three of the following items:

a callback URL to use when providing job status information;

an explicit job start time;

an explicit job start date;

an explicit job expiration time;

an explicit job expiration date;

information transmitted using an HTTPS POST command;

an inline contents list containing content specifiers;

an inline destinations list containing recipient specifiers; or

an inline list containing merge fields.

26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the job creation request includes an inline list containing merge fields, and also includes at least four of the other items.

27. The system of claim 24 , wherein the system further comprises at least one of the following:

messaging job creator code which upon execution merges a recipient merge value into message content according to a merge field;

messaging job creator code which upon execution merges a content identification merge value into a contents URL to obtain a content specifier location.

28. The system of claim 24 , wherein the system further comprises the job creation request residing in the memory, and the job creation request includes a destinations URL and a contents URL.

29. The system of claim 24 , wherein the system further comprises message combining code which upon execution determines whether to combine content of a first message with content of a second message based on at least recipient delivery address(es) and delivery mode(s).

30. The system of claim 24 , wherein the system further comprises message combining code which upon execution determines whether to combine content of a first message with content of a second message based on at least a recipient delivery mode preference.

Assignments (13)