Inbox management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11250467-B2
Application number	US-201816225143-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2018
Priority date	Jun 29, 2012
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

Electronic correspondence that includes one or more promotions may be generated for presenting to a consumer. In order to determine whether to present the electronic correspondence to the consumer, the promotions included in the electronic correspondences may be analyzed in terms of a probability the consumer will accept the promotions, a relevance level between the promotions and attributes of the consumer, a relevance level between the promotions and the consumer, a relevance level between the promotions and a set of goals or rules, among other similar terms. After the analysis, a determination may be made whether to send the electronic correspondence to the consumer. Similarly, the analysis may compare multiple electronic correspondences, and determine, based on the comparison, which of the multiple electronic correspondences to send to the consumer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program instructions which when executed, in conjunction with the at least one processor, are configured to cause the apparatus to:
access one or more databases each containing a plurality of promotions, each promotion of the plurality of promotions having an associated promotion score;
determine a selected one or more promotions from the plurality of promotions to include in electronic correspondence to be transmitted to a consumer;
generate the electronic correspondence to include the selected one or more promotions;
based at least in part on analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence, generate an electronic correspondence score;
apply a supplemental analysis that determines a specific category value based on a number of promotions associated with a specific promotion category in the generated electronic correspondence;
adjust the electronic correspondence score based at least in part on the specific category value, wherein the adjusting the electronic correspondence score comprises:
determining the specific category value;
adjusting the electronic correspondence score to a greater value when the specific category value satisfies a specific category threshold value; and
adjusting the electronic correspondence score to a lower value when the specific category value fails to satisfy the specific category threshold value; and

in response to determining that the adjusted electronic correspondence score satisfies a transmission threshold value, transmit the electronic correspondence to a consumer device associated with the consumer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the specific promotion category is one of travel promotions, local promotions, short term exclusive promotions, holiday promotions, restaurant promotions, and spa promotions.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the associated promotion score indicates a probability that the consumer will accept the promotion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
assigning a weighted value to each associated promotion score of the selected one or more promotions, wherein a best promotion score is assigned a most weighting value and each lesser promotion score is assigned a progressively lower weighting value; and
calculating a weighted mean score, based at least in part on averaging the weighted associated promotion scores.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
assigning a weighted value to each associated promotion score of the selected one or more promotions, wherein a best promotion score is assigned a most weighting value and each lesser promotion score is assigned a progressively lower weighting value; and
calculating a weighted sum score, based at least in part on summing the weighted associated promotion scores.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
calculating a mean score, based at least in part on averaging the associated promotion scores.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
calculating a sum score, based at least in part on summing the associated promotion scores.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
calculating a median score, based at least in part on determining a median value of the associated promotion scores.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
calculating a local maximum score, based at least in part on determining a best promotion score from the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:
accessing one or more databases each containing a plurality of promotions, each promotion of the plurality of promotions having an associated promotion score;
determining a selected one or more promotions from the plurality of promotions to include in electronic correspondence to be transmitted to a consumer;
generating the electronic correspondence to include the selected one or more promotions;
based at least in part on analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence, generating an electronic correspondence score;
applying a supplemental analysis that determines a specific category value based on a number of promotions associated with a specific promotion category in the generated electronic correspondence;
adjusting the electronic correspondence score based at least in part on the specific category value, wherein the adjusting the electronic correspondence score comprises:
determining the specific category value;
adjusting the electronic correspondence score to a greater value when the specific category value satisfies a specific category threshold value; and

in response to determining that the adjusted electronic correspondence score satisfies a transmission threshold value, transmitting the electronic correspondence to a consumer device associated with the consumer.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the specific promotion category is one of travel promotions, local promotions, short term exclusive promotions, holiday promotions, restaurant promotions, and spa promotions.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the associated promotion score indicates a probability that the consumer will accept the promotion.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
assigning a weighted value to each associated promotion score of the selected one or more promotions, wherein a best promotion score is assigned a most weighting value and each lesser promotion score is assigned a progressively lower weighting value; and
calculating a weighted mean score, based at least in part on averaging the weighted associated promotion scores.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
assigning a weighted value to each associated promotion score of selected one or more promotions, wherein a best promotion score is assigned a most weighting value and each lesser promotion score is assigned a progressively lower weighting value; and
calculating a weighted sum score, based at least in part on summing the weighted associated promotion scores.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein analyzing the associated promotion scores of the selected one or more promotions in the generated electronic correspondence includes:
calculating a mean score, based at least in part on averaging the associated promotion scores.

16. The compute

Assignees

• Groupon Inc

Inventors

• Aggarwal Amit
• Thacker David

Classifications

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06Q30/0254

  based on statistics · CPC title

• G06Q30/0271

  Personalized advertisement · CPC title

• G06Q30/0242

  Determining effectiveness of advertisements · CPC title

• G06Q30/0264

  based upon schedule · CPC title