Communications system for delivering promotional messages

Claim 2

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: a message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each subscribed calling party with a plurality of said promotional messages; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to a respective one of said subscribed calling parties and storing data indicative of respective message bank addresses of each of the promotional messages associated with an assigned one of said subscribed calling parties by said association processor; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message stored in said message bank at a message bank address indicated by the data contained in the accessed electronic queue.

Claim 3

A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of electronic queues include a plurality of individual electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers respectively corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers.

Claim 4

A communications system as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a customer profile bank for storing said profile data.

Claim 5

A communications system as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of message bank addresses of a plurality of promotional messages.

Claim 6

A communications system as claimed in claim 4, further comprising means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from an external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting.

Claim 7

A communications system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said call processor receives a personal identification number input by a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of individual queues as identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number.

Claim 8

A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of electronic queues include multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels, and wherein said call processor receives a personal identification number input by a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level.

Claim 9

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to at least one subscribed calling party and storing the data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message according to the data contained in the accessed electronic queue; wherein said plurality of electronic queues include a plurality of individual electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers respectively corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers; wherein said communications system further comprises a message bank for storing data indicative of said promotional messages, and a customer profile bank for storing said profile data; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 10

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to at least one subscribed calling party and storing the data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message according to the data contained in the accessed electronic queue; wherein said plurality of electronic queues include a plurality of individual electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers respectively corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers; wherein said communications system further comprises a message bank for storing data indicative of said promotional messages, and a customer profile bank for storing said profile data; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 11

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to at least one subscribed calling party and storing the data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message according to the data contained in the accessed electronic queue; wherein said plurality of electronic queues include a plurality of individual electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers respectively corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers; wherein said communications system further comprises a message bank for storing data indicative of said promotional messages, and a customer profile bank for storing said profile data; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; wherein said communications system further comprises means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from an external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 12

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to at least one subscribed calling party and storing the data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message according to the data contained in the accessed electronic queue; wherein said plurality of electronic queues include a plurality of individual electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers respectively corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers; wherein said communications system further comprises a message bank for storing data indicative of said promotional messages, and a customer profile bank for storing said profile data; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; wherein said communications system further comprises means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from an external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 13

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to at least one subscribed calling party and storing the data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message according to the data contained in the accessed electronic queue; wherein said plurality of electronic queues include multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels, and wherein said call processor receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level; and wherein said multiple queue types in include individual queues provided for each subscribed calling party which are each identified by a respectively unique queue identification number corresponding to a unique calling party identification number, and group queues provided for groups of subscribed calling parties, wherein the individual queues have a higher message targeting precision level than the group queues.

Claim 14

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to subscribed calling parties, comprising: an association processor for comparing preset targeting criteria of each promotional message with profile data of each subscribed calling party to obtain data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues assigned to at least one subscribed calling party and storing the data associating each of the promotional messages with at least one subscribed calling party; and, a call processor for accessing an electronic queue assigned to a calling party and delivering to at least the calling party a promotional message according to the data contained in the accessed electronic queue; wherein said plurality of electronic queues include multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels, and wherein said call processor receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level; and wherein said multiple queue types in include individual queues provided for each subscribed calling party which are each identified by a respectively unique queue identification number corresponding to a unique calling party identification number, and group queues provided for groups of subscribed calling parties, wherein the individual queues have a higher message targeting precision level than the group queues.

Claim 15

A communications system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said group queues include at least one of categorized queues, geographic queues, usage queues and a general queue, each of said categorized queues associated with groups of subscribed calling parties having overlapping targeting parameters, each of said geographic queues associated with groups of subscribed calling parties of predetermined geographic areas, each of said usage queues associated with differing levels of calling party usage, and said general queue associated with all or a random subset of the subscribed calling parties.

Claim 16

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; a plurality of electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers, each of said electronic queues for storing data indicative of the message bank addresses of each of a plurality of promotional messages associated with a corresponding calling party personal identification number; and, an interface unit which receives a personal identification number input by a calling party and retrieves the data indicative of a message bank address from a one of said plurality of electronic queues corresponding to the received personal identification number, and which retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message stored in said message bank at the message bank address indicated by the retrieved data.

Claim 17

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; a plurality of electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers, each of said electronic queues for storing data indicative of the message bank addresses of each of a plurality of promotional messages associated with a corresponding calling party personal identification number; and, an interface unit which receives a personal identification number input by a calling party and retrieves the data indicative of a message bank address from a one of said plurality of electronic queues corresponding to the received personal identification number, and which retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message stored in said message bank at the message bank address indicated by the retrieved data.

Claim 18

A communications system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a control server which relays information back and forth between said interface unit and an external telephone switching unit, the external telephone switching unit connecting the calling party to a called party.

Claim 19

A communications system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a distribution module which receives and stores data indicative of promotional messages from an external source, and which inserts the data indicative of the message bank addresses of the promotional messages in designated ones of said electronic queues.

Claim 20

A communications system as claimed in claim 12, wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of message bank addresses of a plurality of promotional messages.

Claim 21

A communications system as claimed in claim 15, further comprising means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from the external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting.

Claim 22

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a plurality of electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers, each of said electronic queues for storing data indicative of at least one promotional message; and, an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling partly and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues indicated by queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; and wherein said communications systems further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 23

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a plurality of electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers, each of said electronic queues for storing data indicative of at least one promotional message; and, an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling partly and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues indicated by queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; and wherein said communications systems further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 24

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a plurality of electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers, each of said electronic queues for storing data indicative of at least one promotional message; and, an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues indicated by queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; wherein said communications system further comprises means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from the external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting; and wherein said communications systems further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 25

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a plurality of electronic queues which are respectively identifiable by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to unique calling party personal identification numbers, each of said electronic queues for storing data indicative of at least one promotional message; and, an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues indicated by queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; wherein said communications system further comprises means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from the external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting; and wherein said communications systems further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 26

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues identifiable by unique queue identification numbers and for storing data indicative of a plurality of message bank addresses of a respective plurality of promotional messages stored in said message bank, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of a calling party personal identification number and a calling parting origination number, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number of a calling party to obtain a corresponding queue identification number, and which retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message stored in the message bank at a message bank address indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level and identified by the corresponding queue identification number.

Claim 27

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues identifiable by unique queue identification numbers and for storing data indicative of a plurality of message bank addresses of a respective plurality of promotional messages stored in said message bank, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of a calling party personal identification number and a calling parting origination number, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number of a calling party to obtain a corresponding queue identification number, and which retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message stored in the message bank at a message bank address indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level and identified by the corresponding queue identification number.

Claim 28

A communications system as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a control server which relays information back and forth between said interface unit and an external telephone switching unit, the external telephone switching unit connecting the calling and called parties.

Claim 29

A communications system as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a distribution module which receives and stores data indicative of promotional messages from an external source, and which inserts the data indicative of the message bank addresses of the promotional messages in designated ones of said electronic queues.

Claim 30

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of calling party personal identification numbers and calling parting origination numbers, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by queue identification number corresponding to the received at least one of the personal identification number and the origination number; wherein said multiple queue types include individual queues provided for each subscribed calling party which are each identified by a respectively unique queue identification number corresponding to a unique calling party identification number, and group queues provided for groups of subscribed calling parties, wherein the individual queues have a higher message targeting precision than the group queues.

Claim 31

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of calling party personal identification numbers and calling parting origination numbers, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by queue identification number corresponding to the received at least one of the personal identification number and the origination number; wherein said multiple queue types include individual queues provided for each subscribed calling party which are each identified by a respectively unique queue identification number corresponding to a unique calling party identification number, and group queues provided for groups of subscribed calling parties, wherein the individual queues have a higher message targeting precision than the group queues.

Claim 32

A communications system as claimed in claim 22, wherein said group queues include at least one of categorized queues, geographic queues, usage queues and a general queue, each of said categorized queues associated with groups of subscribed calling parties having overlapping targeting parameters, each of said geographic queues associated with groups of subscribed calling parties of predetermined geographic areas, each of said usage queues associated with differing level of calling party usage, and said general queue associated with all or a random subset of the subscribed calling parties.

Claim 33

A communications system as claimed in claim 19, wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of message bank address of a plurality of promotional messages.

Claim 34

A communications system as claimed in claim 24, further comprising means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from the external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting.

Claim 35

A telecommunications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of calling party personal identification numbers and calling parting origination numbers, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by queue identification number corresponding to the received at least one of the personal identification number and the origination number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of electronic messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 36

A telecommunications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of calling party personal identification numbers and calling parting origination numbers, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by queue identification number corresponding to the received at least one of the personal identification number and the origination number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of electronic messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 37

A telecommunications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of calling party personal identification numbers and calling parting origination numbers, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by queue identification number corresponding to the received at least one of the personal identification number and the origination number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; wherein said communications system further comprises means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from the external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of electronic messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 38

A telecommunications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, each of the queue identification numbers corresponding at least one of calling party personal identification numbers and calling parting origination numbers, said plurality of electronic queues including multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels; an interface unit which receives at least one of a personal identification number and an origination number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by queue identification number corresponding to the received at least one of the personal identification number and the origination number; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages; wherein said communications system further comprises means for presorting the plural data according to coding logic received from the external source, wherein said plural data are retrieved from the queue storage positions based on an order resulting from said presorting; and wherein said communications system further comprises means for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of electronic messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 39

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues identifiable by a unique queue identification number and for storing data indicative of a plurality of message bank addresses of a respective plurality of promotional messages stored in said message bank, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number input by a calling party to obtain a corresponding queue identification number, and which retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message stored in the message bank at a message bank address indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the corresponding queue identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the message queue, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the message queue for storage as the data indicative of the plurality of message bank addresses in designated ones of said electronic queues.

Claim 40

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank which stores the promotional messages at respective message bank addresses thereof; a message queue having a plurality of electronic queues, each of said electronic queues identifiable by a unique queue identification number and for storing data indicative of a plurality of message bank addresses of a respective plurality of promotional messages stored in said message bank, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number input by a calling party to obtain a corresponding queue identification number, and which retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message stored in the message bank at a message bank address indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the corresponding queue identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the message queue, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the message queue for storage as the data indicative of the plurality of message bank addresses in designated ones of said electronic queues.

Claim 41

A communications system as claimed in claim 28, further comprising a control server which relays information back and forth between said interface unit and an external telephone switching unit, the external telephone switching unit connecting the calling and called parties.

Claim 42

A communications system as claimed in claim 28, further comprising a distribution module which receives and stores data indicative of promotional messages from an external source, and which inserts the data indicative of promotional messages in designated ones of said electronic queues.

Claim 43

A communications system as claimed in claim 28, wherein at least a subset of said plurality of electronic queues are respectively addressed by unique queue identification numbers corresponding to respectively unique calling party personal identification numbers.

Claim 44

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages, and wherein said system further comprising means for initiating a message replenishment routine for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 45

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein each of said plurality of electronic queues contains plural queue storage positions for storing plural data indicative of a respective plurality of promotional messages, and wherein said system further comprising means for initiating a message replenishment routine for replenishing said electronic queues when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 46

A communications system as claimed in claim 32, further comprising means for executing a forward replenishment routine in which said control facility initiates off-line downloading of data indicative of promotional messages from said control facility to said local message bank, and for executing a reverse replenishment routine in which said local message bank accesses said control facility for off-line downloading of data indicative of promotional messages when a number of promotional messages indicated by the data stored therein falls below a preset queue level.

Claim 47

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein said control facility comprises means for bundling the data indicative of promotional messages within respective message data modules to be downloaded to said local message bank, each of said message data modules including at least an address associated with the local message bank, the queue identification numbers for a corresponding promotional message, delivery parameters of the corresponding promotional message, and data specifying the promotional message.

Claim 48

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein said control facility comprises means for bundling the data indicative of promotional messages within respective message data modules to be downloaded to said local message bank, each of said message data modules including at least an address associated with the local message bank, the queue identification numbers for a corresponding promotional message, delivery parameters of the corresponding promotional message, and data specifying the promotional message.

Claim 49

A communications system as claimed in claim 34, wherein said delivery parameters are coded to specify at least a delivery timing and frequency of each corresponding promotional message.

Claim 50

A communications system as claimed in claim 35, further comprising a warehouse module for storing said message data modules prior to downloading to said local message bank.

Claim 51

A communications system as claimed in claim 36, wherein said control facility further comprises means for updating message data modules stored in said warehouse module prior to downloading to said local message bank.

Claim 52

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein said plurality of electronic queues of said local message bank include multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels, and wherein said interface unit outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number.

Claim 53

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein said plurality of electronic queues of said local message bank include multiple types of queues having differing message targeting precision levels, and wherein said interface unit outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues having a highest targeting precision level as identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number.

Claim 54

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein said multiple queue types include individual queues provided for each subscribed calling party which are each identified by a respectively unique queue identification number corresponding to a unique calling party identification number, and group queues provided for groups of subscribed calling parties which are identified by respective group queue identification numbers, wherein the individual queues have a higher message targeting precision than the group queues.

Claim 55

A communications system for delivering promotional messages to calling parties, comprising: a local message bank having a plurality of electronic queues for storing data indicative of promotional messages therein and identifiable by queue identification numbers, at least some of said queue identification numbers corresponding to respective calling party personal identification numbers; an interface unit which receives a personal identification number from a calling party and retrieves and outputs to the calling party a promotional message indicated by the data contained in a one of said plurality of electronic queues identified by the queue identification number corresponding to the received personal identification number; and a control facility for associating the promotional messages with subscribed calling parties off-line from the local message bank, and for downloading data indicative of the associations to the local message bank for storage of corresponding data in designated ones of said electronic queues; wherein said multiple queue types include individual queues provided for each subscribed calling party which are each identified by a respectively unique queue identification number corresponding to a unique calling party identification number, and group queues provided for groups of subscribed calling parties which are identified by respective group queue identification numbers, wherein the individual queues have a higher message targeting precision than the group queues.

Claim 56

A communications system as claimed in claim 39, wherein said group queues include at least one of categorized queues, geographic queues, usage queues and a general queue, each of said categorized queues associated with groups of subscribed calling parties having overlapping targeting parameters, each of said geographic queues associated with groups of subscribed calling parties of predetermined geographic areas, each of said usage queues associated with differing level of calling party usage, and said general queue associated with all or a random subset of the subscribed calling parties.

Claim 61

A method as claimed in claim 42, wherein the identification number is a personal identification number input by the calling party.

Claim 62

A method as claimed in claim 43, wherein the personal identification number is embedded with coding logic pointing to one of the electronic queues.

Claim 63

A method as claimed in claim 42, wherein the identification number is an originating number of the calling party.

Claim 68

A method as claimed in claim 47, wherein said delivery parameters are coded to specify at least a delivery timing and frequency of each corresponding promotional message.

Claim 69

A method as claimed in claim 48, further comprising storing said message data modules in a warehouse module prior to downloading to said plurality of electronic queues.

Claim 70

A method as claimed in claim 49, further comprising updating message data modules stored in said warehouse module prior to downloading to said plurality of electronic queues.

Claim 75

A method as claimed in claim 52, wherein the identification number is a personal identification number input by the calling party.

Claim 76

A method as claimed in claim 53, wherein the personal identification number is embedded with coding logic pointing to one of the electronic queues.

Claim 77

A method as claimed in claim 52, wherein the identification number is an originating number of the calling party.

Claim 78

A method as claimed in claim 55, wherein said delivery parameters are coded to specify at least a delivery timing and frequency of each corresponding promotional message.

Claim 79

A method as claimed in claim 55, further comprising storing said message data modules in a warehouse module of said control module prior to downloading to said distribution module.

Claim 80

A method as claimed in claim 57, further comprising updating message data modules stored in said warehouse module prior to downloading to said distribution module.