Abstract:
Reward units accrued for use of a transactional account to pay for purchases are redeemed to cover any cost associated with activities initiated by an account holder where reward units are applicable to those activities. The redemption occurs as an automatic process in response to the account holder initiating the activity and without requiring the account holder to request that redemption occur. Accordingly, the account holder is not required to recall that reward units are applicable for the activity and is not required to request that the reward units be applied to cover any cost associated with the activity.
Abstract:
Customized transactional cards are created in one of various ways. The card holder may obtain a blank transactional card already having an encoded account number, create a customized design, and then apply the customized design to the blank transaction card such as by printing the design onto a label to be applied to the blank transactional card or directly onto the card. The card holder may obtain a blank transactional card which has not yet been authorized with an account number, create a customized design, apply the customized design to the transactional card, and at some point send the transactional card to the card issuer where it can be authorized by having an account number applied to it and then returned to the card holder. The card holder may access a web site to create a customized design and then the card issuer creates the transactional card according to the customized design and sends the transactional card having an encoded account number to the card holder.
Abstract:
One embodiment of a representative system for web integrated interactive voice response includes an interactive voice response system adapted to provide a plurality of voice menus to a user over a telephone and a graphical user interface system adapted to provide a plurality of menus in a graphical format to the user over a network connection. Information provided in the voice menus corresponds to information provided in the menus in the graphical format and is responsive to commands received by the graphical user interface system from the user. Other systems and methods are also provided.
Abstract:
Customized transactional cards are created in one of various ways. The card holder may obtain a blank transactional card already having an encoded account number, create a customized design, and then apply the customized design to the blank transaction card such as by printing the design onto a label to be applied to the blank transactional card or directly onto the card. The card holder may obtain a blank transactional card which has not yet been authorized with an account number, create a customized design, apply the customized design to the transactional card, and at some point send the transactional card to the card issuer where it can be authorized by having an account number applied to it and then returned to the card holder. The card holder may access a web site to create a customized design and then the card issuer creates the transactional card according to the customized design and sends the transactional card having an encoded account number to the card holder.
Abstract:
One embodiment of the present is a method of implementing privacy control of location information. Such a method comprises defining a geographic zone for which pseudo-location information is to be reported as the current location of the user, wherein the pseudo-location information is not the current location of the user; receiving the current location of the user; determining that the current location is in the geographic zone; and reporting the pseudo-location information as the current location of the user when the current location is determined to be in the geographic zone. Other methods and systems are also provided.
Abstract:
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods of location-based status checking. Such a method comprises scheduling an event to occur at a scheduled time at a defined location; inviting an individual to attend the event; querying the individual as to whether the individual will attend the event; and tracking a physical location of the individual to determine whether the individual is on schedule to appear at the event by the scheduled time. Other methods and systems are also provided.
Abstract:
Included are embodiments of a method for collecting user specific data in an environment. At least one embodiment includes receiving a user identifier from a portable user device and receiving information related to at least one user action, the at least one user action being associated with the environment. Other embodiments include sending information related to the user identifier to a remote component and sending at least a portion of the information related to the at least one user action to the remote component.
Abstract:
A system and method of call-routing and caller-screening that employs voice recognition to automatically recognize a caller's voice and then screen a caller, if appropriate; all without forcing the caller to identity himself/herself, which may be perceived as rude or offensive by some callers. Instead, a synthesized voice automatically asks the caller to identify who the caller wishes to speak with. Caller's response to this query is used to identify the callee as well as to optionally identify the caller. Thus, the screening of the caller takes place in a manner that the caller perceives as a more natural way of telephone communication. Caller's speech is used to generate digital voice samples therefrom and the caller's voice samples are directly compared with other voice samples stored in a database without converting the voice samples into digital text files. Present methodology is particularly useful when it is desired to limit one or more caller's direct access to the called party as well as to identify a caller before the called party wishes to proceed with the call. The digital call assistant system of the present invention may be implemented, for example, in a telephone company central office, in a PBX in an organization or as part of a wireless network. Subscription-based automatic caller-screening service may also be provided by a telephone service provider using the call assistant system of the present invention.
Abstract:
A method for reporting a user's emergency condition by sending an emergency help request message in a TCP/IP format to an emergency service center (ESC). The help request message may be sent over the Internet to advantageously harness the data transmission resources provided by the Internet. A support service provider may commercially provide such an emergency reporting service to a group of subscribers. The service provider may receive emergency requests from the subscribers and may send those requests over the Internet to the emergency service center. The service provider may also convert any non-TCP/IP message received from the subscriber into a TCP/IP message prior to sending the message to the ESC. A per-usage fee or a flat subscription fee may be charged by the service provider to allow users to report emergency conditions over the Internet. The support service provider thus coordinates the emergency help on behalf of the user. Internet-based emergency message delivery may be useful in many situations, for example, when the person in need of help is mute, disabled or in a situation that prevents the person from orally requesting emergency help from the ESC.
Abstract:
Methods, systems and computer program products for providing activity data are provided. Activity data associated with an activity of one or more subscribers of a presence service is received at a presence server. The activity data is provided, from the presence server, to one or more other subscribers of the presence service.