Granted Patent B2

US 12,379,903 · App. 18/234,857 · Granted Aug 5, 2025

Inventors: Alexander Colin Meyer (Chicago, IL); Gerardo Díaz De La Serna Formoso (Mexico City, MX); Gideon Daniel VanRiette (Chicago, IL); James Quinlan (Richmond, VA); Joy Taylor Kaufman (Durham, NC); Kameron Ahler (Colorado, CO); Lauren Leia Rouse (Nashville, TN); Vishak Swaminathan Visvanathan (Brooklyn, NY)

Assignee: Stodge Inc.

G06F8/34G06F9/543

Abstract

Claims (115)

1. A system for providing message campaign services in cooperation with an application builder platform comprising one or more computers on which are stored instructions operable to cause the application builder platform to operate as a backend component of an application controlled by an application operator, and wherein the application builder platform:

is operable to communicate events to the system, and

is operable to send to the system notifications describing events that are each associated with a respective one of a plurality of end users;

the system comprising:

a message management platform, wherein the message management platform:

is separate from and operates independently of the application builder platform; and

is one or more computers on which are stored instructions operable to cause the platform to perform actions comprising:

receiving, through a user interface, from an application operator, a definition of a campaign, the campaign being a message flow plan, the campaign including (i) two or more messages, (ii) multiple flow plan steps, and (iii) an instruction to launch the message flow plan, wherein the multiple flow plan steps are connected to each other to define the campaign, and each of a plurality of the multiple flow plan steps are associated with a respective particular message of the campaign,

wherein the campaign is defined by the application operator to be distributed to multiple end users, the campaign comprising target recipient criteria for selecting a group of two or more end user subscribers to receive messages from the message flow plan, subscribers being subscribers to messages from the application operator,

wherein the target recipient criteria comprise characteristics of end users who are to receive an initial message of the campaign,

wherein the definition of the campaign includes a definition of the message flow for the campaign that (a) begins with the initial message for each subscriber satisfying the target recipient criteria and (b) specifies further messages to be transmitted in the campaign, and

wherein the definition of the campaign specifies a scheduled start of the campaign, the scheduled start being specified by the application operator;

receiving from the application builder platform notifications describing events that are each associated with a respective one of a plurality of end users;

storing, before the scheduled start of the campaign, for multiple end users that are subscribers, subscriber events, the subscriber events being events that are described in the notifications and are associated with the subscribers; and

identifying, at the scheduled start of the campaign and based on one or more of the previously stored subscriber events as of the scheduled start of the campaign, two or more subscribers as target subscribers that satisfy the target recipient criteria, and starting the message flow plan of the campaign and sending the initial message to the target subscribers at the scheduled start of the campaign.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actions further comprise:

receiving, after the scheduled start of the campaign, one or more new subscriber events associated with a first subscriber, the first subscriber being one of the target subscribers; and

determining that the one or more new subscriber events satisfy an exclusion condition defined in the message flow plan of the campaign, and, in response, excluding the first subscriber from receiving further messages of the campaign, wherein the excluding is temporary or permanent.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the exclusion condition is that the first subscriber has opted-out from the campaign.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the excluding is permanent.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the excluding is temporary.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the message flow plan defines multiple series of the messages.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the message flow plan contains one or more branching conditions and at least two branches that each include at least one different message for transmission to subscribers; and

the message flow plan branches according to the respective events associated with target subscribers.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the characteristics of end users who are to receive the initial message of the campaign comprise consented information of users, opt-in or opt-out option selections of computing devices of users, records of users' messages, records of users' chats, metadata of users' messages, or purchase actions of users, wherein the consented information comprises one or more of gender, age, or interested products.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the message flow plan is defined by a series of rules and logic for automatically transmitting one or more messages of the campaign.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the message flow plan of the campaign determines which subscribers get which messages in the campaign.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the messages are SMS messages.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow plan steps include waiting for an event to occur, or introducing a delay of a predetermined amount of time prior to proceeding with the message flow, or splitting the end users of the message flow plan into two or more groups.

13. A system, comprising:

a message management platform, wherein the platform is one or more computers on which are stored instructions operable to cause the platform to perform actions comprising:

receiving, through a user interface, from an application operator, a definition of a campaign, the campaign being a message flow plan, the campaign including (i) two or more messages, (ii) multiple flow plan steps, and (iii) an instruction to launch the message flow plan, wherein the multiple flow plan steps are connected to each other to define the campaign, and each of a plurality of the multiple flow plan steps are associated with a respective particular message of the campaign,

wherein the campaign is defined by the application operator to be distributed to multiple end users, the campaign comprising target recipient criteria for selecting a group of two or more end user subscribers to receive messages from the message flow plan, subscribers being subscribers to messages from the application operator,

wherein the target recipient criteria comprise characteristics of end users who are to receive an initial message of the campaign,

wherein the definition of the campaign includes a definition of the message flow for the campaign that (a) begins with the initial message for each subscriber satisfying the target recipient criteria and (b) specifies further messages to be transmitted in the campaign, and

wherein the definition of the campaign specifies a scheduled start of the campaign;

subscribing, on behalf of the application operator, to at least one application programming interface (API) notification channel of an application builder platform, wherein the application builder platform comprises one or more computing servers and operates as a backend component of an application controlled by the application operator, and the application builder platform is separate from and operates independently of the message management platform;

receiving a plurality of API notifications from the application builder platform, the plurality of API notifications comprising respective API payloads that include information describing events associated with a plurality of users of the application builder platform;

receiving a plurality of code-snippet notifications describing events associated with a plurality of user computing devices, a code-snippet notification being received from a user computing device of the plurality of user computing devices via a corresponding code snippet incorporated in an instance of the application operated at the user computing device, the user computing device being associated with a corresponding subscriber with a corresponding subscriber identifier used by the message management platform;

identifying a plurality of user identifiers in the plurality of API payloads from the application builder platform; and

determining that the plurality of user identifiers in the plurality of API payloads correspond to a plurality of subscriber identifiers used by the message management platform;

receiving notifications describing events that are each associated with a respective one of a plurality of end users;

storing, before the scheduled start of the campaign, for end users that are subscribers, subscriber events, the subscriber events being events that are described in the notifications and are associated with the subscribers;

wherein storing subscriber events comprises storing events comprising one or more events described in one or more API notifications associated with the respective subscribers and one or more events described in one or more code-snippet notifications from one of the user computing devices associated with the respective subscriber identifiers;

identifying, at the scheduled start of the campaign and based on one or more of the previously stored subscriber events as of the scheduled start of the campaign, two or more subscribers as target subscribers that satisfy the target recipient criteria; and

starting the message flow plan of the campaign and sending the initial message to the target subscribers at the scheduled start of the campaign.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein a subscriber event described in an API notification received from the application builder platform is related to a transaction performed at the application builder platform operating as the backend component.

15. A computer-implemented method for providing message campaign services in cooperation with an application builder platform comprising one or more computers on which are stored instructions operable to cause the application builder platform to operate as a backend component of an application controlled by an application operator, and wherein the application builder platform:

is operable to communicate events to a system for providing the message campaign services in cooperation with the application builder platform, and

is operable to send to the system notifications describing events that are each associated with a respective one of a plurality of end users;

the method being performed by a message management platform comprising a system of one or more computers that is separate from and operates independently of the application builder platform, the method comprising:

receiving, through a user interface, from an application operator, a definition of a campaign, the campaign being a message flow plan, the campaign including (i) two or more messages, (ii) multiple flow plan steps, and (iii) an instruction to launch the message flow plan, wherein the multiple flow plan steps are connected to each other to define the campaign, and each of a plurality of the multiple flow plan steps are associated with a respective particular message of the campaign,

wherein the campaign is defined by the application operator to be distributed to multiple end users, the campaign comprising target recipient criteria for selecting a group of two or more end user subscribers to receive messages from the message flow plan, subscribers being subscribers to messages from the application operator,

wherein the target recipient criteria comprise characteristics of end users who are to receive an initial message of the campaign,

wherein the definition of the campaign includes a definition of the message flow for the campaign that (a) begins with the initial message for each subscriber satisfying the target recipient criteria and (b) specifies further messages to be transmitted in the campaign, and

wherein the definition of the campaign includes a scheduled start of the campaign;

receiving from the application builder platform notifications describing events that are each associated with a respective one of a plurality of end users;

storing, for multiple end users that are subscribers, subscriber events, the subscriber events being events that are described in the notifications and are associated with the subscribers; and

identifying, at the scheduled start of the campaign and based on one or more of the previously stored subscriber events as of the scheduled start of the campaign, two or more subscribers as target subscribers that satisfy the target recipient criteria, and starting the message flow plan of the campaign and sending the initial message to the target subscribers at the scheduled start of the campaign.

16. The method of claim 15 , comprising:

receiving, after the scheduled start of the campaign, one or more new subscriber events associated with a first subscriber, the first subscriber being one of the target subscribers; and

determining that the one or more new subscriber events satisfy an exclusion condition defined in the message flow plan of the campaign, and, in response, excluding the first subscriber from receiving further messages of the campaign, wherein the excluding is temporary or permanent.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the message flow plan defines multiple series of the messages.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the message flow plan contains one or more branching conditions and at least two branches that each include at least one different message for transmission to subscribers;

the message flow plan branches according to the respective events associated with target subscribers; and

the message flow plan of the campaign determines which subscribers get which messages in the campaign.

19. A computer-implemented method performed by a message management platform comprising a system of one or more computers, the method comprising:

receiving, through a user interface, from an application operator, a definition of a campaign, the campaign being a message flow plan, the campaign including (i) two or more messages, (ii) multiple flow plan steps, and (iii) an instruction to launch the message flow plan, wherein the multiple flow plan steps are connected to each other to define the campaign, and each of a plurality of the multiple flow plan steps are associated with a respective particular message of the campaign,

wherein the campaign is defined by the application operator to be distributed to multiple end users, the campaign comprising target recipient criteria for selecting a group of two or more end user subscribers to receive messages from the message flow plan, subscribers being subscribers to messages from the application operator,

wherein the target recipient criteria comprise characteristics of end users who are to receive an initial message of the campaign,

wherein the definition of the campaign includes a definition of the message flow for the campaign that (a) begins with the initial message for each subscriber satisfying the target recipient criteria and (b) specifies further messages to be transmitted in the campaign, and

wherein the definition of the campaign specifies a scheduled start of the campaign;

subscribing, on behalf of the application operator, to at least one application programming interface (API) notification channel of an application builder platform, wherein the application builder platform comprises one or more computing servers and operates as a backend component of an application controlled by the application operator, and the application builder platform is separate from and operates independently of the message management platform;

receiving a plurality of API notifications from the application builder platform, the plurality of API notifications comprising respective API payloads that include information describing events associated with a plurality of users of the application builder platform;

receiving a plurality of code-snippet notifications describing events associated with a plurality of user computing devices, a code-snippet notification being received from a user computing device of the plurality of user computing devices via a corresponding code snippet incorporated in an instance of the application operated at the user computing device, the user computing device being associated with a corresponding subscriber with a corresponding subscriber identifier used by the message management platform;

identifying a plurality of user identifiers in the plurality of API payloads from the application builder platform; and

determining that the plurality of user identifiers in the plurality of API payloads correspond to a plurality of subscriber identifiers used by the message management platform;

receiving notifications describing events that are each associated with a respective one of a plurality of end users;

storing, before the scheduled start of the campaign, for end users that are subscribers, subscriber events, the subscriber events being events that are described in the notifications and are associated with the subscribers;

wherein storing subscriber events comprises storing events comprising one or more events described in one or more API notifications associated with the respective subscribers and one or more events described in one or more code-snippet notifications from one of the user computing devices associated with the respective subscriber identifiers;

identifying, at the scheduled start of the campaign and based on one or more of the previously stored subscriber events as of the scheduled start of the campaign, two or more subscribers as target subscribers that satisfy the target recipient criteria; and

starting the message flow plan of the campaign and sending the initial message to the target subscribers at the scheduled start of the campaign.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein a subscriber event described in an API notification received from the application builder platform is related to a transaction performed at the backend component that is operated by the application builder platform.

21. The method of claim 19 , comprising:

receiving, after the scheduled start of the campaign, one or more new subscriber events associated with a first subscriber, the first subscriber being one of the target subscribers; and

determining that the one or more new subscriber events satisfy an exclusion condition defined in the message flow plan of the campaign, and, in response, excluding the first subscriber from receiving further messages of the campaign, wherein the excluding is temporary or permanent.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein:

the message flow plan defines multiple series of the messages.

23. The method of claim 19 , wherein:

the message flow plan contains one or more branching conditions and at least two branches that each include at least one different message for transmission to subscribers;

the message flow plan branches according to the respective events associated with target subscribers; and

the message flow plan of the campaign determines which subscribers get which messages in the campaign.

24. The system of claim 13 , wherein the actions further comprise:

receiving, after the scheduled start of the campaign, one or more new subscriber events associated with a first subscriber, the first subscriber being one of the target subscribers; and

determining that the one or more new subscriber events satisfy an exclusion condition defined in the message flow plan of the campaign, and, in response, excluding the first subscriber from receiving further messages of the campaign, wherein the excluding is temporary or permanent.

25. The system of claim 13 , wherein:

the message flow plan defines multiple series of the messages.

26. The system of claim 13 , wherein:

the message flow plan contains one or more branching conditions and at least two branches that each include at least one different message for transmission to subscribers;

the message flow plan branches according to the respective events associated with target subscribers; and

the message flow plan of the campaign determines which subscribers get which messages in the campaign.

27. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actions of the message management platform further comprise:

receiving a plurality of code-snippet notifications describing events associated with a plurality of user computing devices, a code-snippet notification being received from a code snippet incorporated in an instance of the application running on a respective user computing device, the user computing device being associated with a corresponding subscriber with a corresponding subscriber identifier used by the message management platform;

wherein the notifications received from the application builder platform comprise API notifications comprising respective API payloads that include information describing events associated with a plurality of users of the application builder platform; and

wherein storing subscriber events comprises storing events comprising one or more events described in one or more API notifications associated with the respective subscribers and one or more events described in one or more code-snippet notifications associated with respective subscriber identifiers.

28. The system of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a plurality of code-snippet notifications describing events associated with a plurality of user computing devices, a code-snippet notification being received from a code snippet incorporated in an instance of the application running on a respective user computing device, the user computing device being associated with a corresponding subscriber with a corresponding subscriber identifier used by the message management platform;

wherein the notifications received from the application builder platform comprise API notifications comprising respective API payloads that include information describing events associated with a plurality of users of the application builder platform; and

wherein storing subscriber events comprises storing events comprising one or more events described in one or more API notifications associated with the respective subscribers and one or more events described in one or more code-snippet notifications associated with respective subscriber identifiers.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (355)