Management of Dynamic Email Content

Abstract

Systems and methods to manage dynamic content in email via an image server. The image server being configured to communicate and receive requests from an email client regarding dynamic content. The image server is also configured to load data regarding the email client from an asset database, and to communicate with a decision engine. Further, the image server is configured to communicate with a content acquisition server, to communicate an analytics database, and to cause display of dynamic content in an email.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system to manage dynamic content in email comprising:
 at least one image server ( 430 ) configured to,
 communicate with at least one email client ( 410 ); 
 receive requests from the at least one email client ( 410 ) regarding dynamic content; 
 load data regarding the at least one email client ( 410 ) from at least one asset database ( 435 ); 
 communicate with at least one decision engine ( 445 ); 
 communicate with at least one analytics database ( 465 ); and 
 cause display of dynamic content in at least one email. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the at least one asset database ( 435 ) is configured to receive, store and transmit data regarding images for use in the dynamic emails. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the decision engine ( 445 ) is configured to determine and send to the image server information about content source base on at least one of:
 asset settings, location, time, creative optimization objects, geo-location applications, third party data, device type inferences, and custom business rules. 
 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the image server ( 430 ) is further configured to,
 communicate with at least one content acquisition server,
 wherein the at least one acquisition server is chosen from a list of a capture server ( 450 ), a static server ( 455 ) and an overlay server ( 460 ). 
 
 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4  wherein the capture server ( 450 ) is configured to capture at least a portion of a web page. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the capture server ( 450 ) is further configured to locate and identify links in content source images. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the capture server ( 450 ) is further configured to modify at least one image and return the modified image to the image server ( 430 ), wherein modify includes at least one of: crop image, distort image, and tag image. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the analytics database ( 465 ) is configured to receive, store, and transmit data associated with email actions including at least one of, email opening, email closing, time of email viewing, time of email viewing, email clicking, email forwarding, email printing, location of user at time of email viewing, social cues, fast-moving inventory, and custom business rules. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the dynamic email content includes at least one hyperlink. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the at least one hyperlink directs traffic to a redirect engine, configured to communicate to the image server and transmit information regarding the updated link. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the image server is further configured to store the updated link and allow the redirect engine to reroute traffic to the most updated link. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9  wherein underlying links in a dynamically rendered web page are used to determine updates to the link. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the content of the email includes a subsection adapted to cause display of modifications of the content including at least one of cropping, resizing, deleting, partitioning and adjust the image. 
     
     
         14 . A method of managing dynamic content in email comprising:
 via at least one image server ( 430 ),
 communicating with at least one email client ( 410 ); 
 receiving requests from the at least one email client ( 410 ) regarding dynamic content; 
 loading data regarding the at least one email client ( 410 ) from at least one asset database ( 435 ); 
 communicating with at least one decision engine ( 445 ); 
 communicating with at least one analytics database ( 465 ); and 
 causing display of dynamic content in at least one email. 
   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising, via the image server ( 430 ),
 communicating with at least one content acquisition server,
 wherein the at least one content acquisition server is chosen from a list of a capture server ( 450 ), a static server ( 455 ) and an overlay server ( 460 ); and 
 wherein the capture server ( 450 ) is configured to capture at least a portion of a web page. 
 
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the capture server ( 450 ) is further configured to modify at least one image and return the modified image to the image server, wherein modify includes at least one of: crop image, distort image, and tag image. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein cropping an image includes at least loading the content source, crop the image, identify any html tags, crop the html tags, locate coordinates and dimensions of any links within the content source. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising, via the image server ( 430 ),
 receiving information regarding the device used to open an email; and 
 allowing viewing of the dynamic content. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising, via the image server ( 430 ),
 receiving information regarding a device used to open an email including information regarding whether the device is a mobile device. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising, via the image server ( 430 ),
 adapting the dynamic content to a mobile device format. 
 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the dynamic content includes information about inventory. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising, via the image server,
 calculating inventory; 
 causing display of a comparable product/service in an email, if inventory of a particular item is low; and 
 re-directing access attempts to the comparable product/service. 
 
     
     
         23 . A system to collect email information comprising:
 at least one image server ( 430 ) configured to,
 communicate with at least one email client ( 410 ),
 wherein the communication includes at least information regarding at least one user email access; 
 
 receive requests from the at least one email client ( 410 ); 
 load data regarding the at least one email client ( 410 ) from at least one asset database ( 435 ); 
 communicate with at least one analytics database ( 465 ),
 wherein the communication includes information regarding the at least one user email access; and 
 
   cause display of dynamic content in at least one email.