Patent Application
20050015447
The present invention relates to the field of service activation and more particularly to a system and method for providing enhanced service activation utilizing existing messaging account information.
Over the past few years, there has been an explosive increase in the use of the Internet for communication, data transfer, research and recreation. Businesses, educational institutions, individuals, and governments are beginning to use the Internet for everything from personal communications to mission-critical commercial negotiations and transactions. Electronic communications and more specifically, electronic mail, is developing into a preferred alternative to the telephone, conventional paper mail service and facsimile transmission as a means to communicate for both personal and business purposes. Typically, to gain access or open an electronic mail account, a user simply has to complete a registration or service activation form administered by the service provider. Upon completion of the form, which may require information such as the user's name, address, telephone, etc., the user will be able to access the electronic mail account.
While these electronic mail or messaging accounts are typically accessed by users from their work/home computers, additional auxiliary services have been developed to provide for alternative access to these electronic mail accounts. For example, many service providers now offer telephone access to electronic mail accounts, pager access to the accounts, etc. Typically, a separate independent registration procedure is required in order for a user to activate one or more of these alternative services. These separate registration procedures will usually require the user to provide information similar to the information the user provided to open up their original electronic mail account, as well as specific information related to the electronic mail account, such as mail server names, etc. In many instances, such information may be very difficult to come by, especially for those users who are not technically savvy and may not know where to find their mail server information. For all users, such separate registration procedures require the users to provide specifically redundant information and thus such procedures act as a deterrent or at least discourage users from activating these auxiliary services since the users may not have the time and/or the desire to provide information they had previously provided when signing up for their original electronic mail account.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to be able to have a system and method for activating new enhanced services without having to require users to provide redundant and/or not easily acquired information.
The present invention is a method for providing enhanced service activation for auxiliary services that provide access to one or more existing messaging accounts belonging to one or more account holders, the auxiliary services being provided by service providers distinct from the account providers providing the existing messaging accounts. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a request for activation of the one or more auxiliary services from the one or more account holders, accessing registration information for the one or more existing messaging accounts and providing for service activation for the one or more auxiliary services, wherein information related to the existing messaging accounts is utilized for providing for service activation for the one or more auxiliary services so that no substantial additional activation information has to be provided by the one or more account holders.
The present invention is also a method for providing enhanced service activation for a user's electronic mail account, the method which includes providing an enhanced service activation selector for an enhanced service related to the electronic mail account, receiving an activation request via the activation selector for the enhanced service related to the electronic mail account, processing the activation request by accessing information related to the electronic mail account and activating the enhanced service related to the electronic mail account, wherein information relating to the electronic mail account is used to activate the enhanced service thus requiring minimal input from the user.
The present invention is also an enhanced service registration method for providing user access to a first service provided by a first service provider by one or more other enhanced services provided by one or more other enhanced service providers distinct from the first service provider which includes receiving registration information for activation of the first service, storing the registration information for the first service, receiving a request for activation of one or more of the other enhanced services, accessing the stored registration information for the first service and activating the one or more other enhanced services using the stored registration information from the first service, wherein activation is performed without requesting undue additional input from the user.
The present invention is a system and method for providing intuitive and expedited service registration and activation for enhanced messaging services which relate to an existing messaging service account. For example, in one embodiment, an intuitive and expedited service activation is provided for telephone access to an existing electronic mail account without having the user to perform undue and burdensome information entry to become activated for the telephone access. In another embodiment, an intuitive and expedited service activation is provided for pager access to an existing electronic mail account. Other variations of both the types of existing messaging accounts and the types enhanced messaging services are possible. In all embodiments of the present invention, the user is not required to repeat entry of redundant and/or uneasily realizable personal/account information or login credentials which may have been required during registration and activation of the user's existing messaging service account, such as the user's name, address, telephone number, mail server name, IP address, etc. As used in this application, “user”, “subscriber” and “registrant” refer to the entity for which a subscriber service is provided, and “service provider” refers to the entity which normally provides a subscribed messaging service to a plurality of subscribers and includes whatever information, devices, protocols and software for implementing the access.
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In the present invention, the methods described herein provide for a simplified and intuitive way to activate enhanced services related to an existing messaging account. In addition, the sign-up facility or mechanism, such as the enhanced or auxiliary service activation button also operates as an advertisement for the service. The button or link provided on the user's existing messaging account screen can include some descriptive information about the enhanced service in order to entice or encourage the user to activate the enhanced services. In the present invention, the service activation mechanism can take any number of forms, such as a button, a link, a “banner-type” link, etc. In this manner, the service activation mechanism can be aesthetically and conveniently placed in a window or screen of the user's existing messaging account so that the service activation mechanism is easily accessed by the user and also serves as a reminder to the user to activate the enhanced service(s) if the user has not already done so. Once a user has activated the enhanced service, the service activation mechanism may be removed from the user's screen or alternatively, a new different service activation mechanism may be provided for the user. For example, if the user's existing messaging account is an electronic mail account and the user has subsequently activated a phone access service to the electronic mail account, the user may then be provided a service activation mechanism for pager access to the electronic mail account.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and substitutions can be made to the system and method described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
