U.S. patent application number 10/875796 was filed with the patent office on 2006-04-06 for method and apparatus for collection and dissemination of information over a computer network.
Invention is credited to Daniel D. Briere.
Application Number | 20060074727 10/875796 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44147863 |
Filed Date | 2006-04-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060074727 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Briere; Daniel D. |
April 6, 2006 |
Method and apparatus for collection and dissemination of
information over a computer network
Abstract
A system for managing relationships in an industry community
having various groups of parties, each of which has a common
interest in the industry. The system includes means for collecting
and sharing information between the parties. The collected
information is classified in accordance with the group from which
it came and the relationship between the groups is managed in
accordance with a set of relationship rules.
Inventors: |
Briere; Daniel D.;
(Mansfield Center, CT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ADORNO & YOSS, LLP
400 7TH STREET, N.W.
SUITE 304
WASHINGTON
DC
20004
US
|
Family ID: |
44147863 |
Appl. No.: |
10/875796 |
Filed: |
June 25, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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09948050 |
Sep 7, 2001 |
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10875796 |
Jun 25, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.12 ;
705/7.33 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0204 20130101;
H04L 29/06306 20130101; H04L 67/16 20130101; H04L 67/30 20130101;
G06F 16/972 20190101; H04L 67/42 20130101; H04L 29/06836 20130101;
H04L 63/102 20130101; G06Q 30/0201 20130101; H04L 67/02 20130101;
H04L 67/10 20130101; H04L 67/18 20130101; H04L 29/08936 20130101;
G06F 16/951 20190101; G06F 16/24578 20190101; G06F 16/958 20190101;
G06F 16/9535 20190101; G06F 16/2379 20190101; H04L 67/306 20130101;
G06Q 10/10 20130101; G06F 16/955 20190101; G06F 16/986 20190101;
G06F 2221/2129 20130101; H04L 67/1097 20130101; G06Q 10/0631
20130101; H04L 67/26 20130101; G06F 40/174 20200101; H04L 29/08972
20130101; G06F 16/248 20190101; G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06F 21/6236
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/008 |
International
Class: |
G05B 19/418 20060101
G05B019/418 |
Claims
1. A system for managing relationships in an industry community
having a first group of parties and a second group of parties each
of which has a common interest in said industry, said system
comprising: first information collection means for collecting
information about said first group of parties; second information
collection means for collecting information about said second group
of parties; first classification means for classifying said
information about said first group of parties in a predetermined
manner; second classification means for classifying said
information about said second group of parties in a predetermined
manner; and predetermined relationship management rules for
managing the relationships between said first and second groups in
accordance with their classification.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein said first group of parties
includes a company marketing department.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein said first group of parties
includes a company public relations department.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein said first group of parties
includes a marketing firm.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein said first group of parties
includes a public relations firm.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry publisher.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry reporter.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry analyst.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry association.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry forums group.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry standards organization.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry event organizer.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry regulatory body.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein said first and second
classification means includes a three-tiered classification system
for classifying said first and second groups of parties.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industry to which said first and
second group belongs.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the product and/or services that said
first and second group offers.
17. The system of claim 14, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industries said first and second
groups support.
18. The system of claim 14, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industry to which said first and
second group belongs and in accordance with the product and/or
services that said first and second group offers.
19. The system of claim 14, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industry to which said first and
second group belongs, in accordance with the product and/or
services that said first and second group offers and in accordance
with the industries said first and second groups support.
20. A system for electronically managing relationships in an
industry community having a first group of parties and a second
group of parties each of which has a common interest in said
industry, said system comprising: first data collection means for
electronically collecting data about said first group of parties;
second data collection means for electronically collecting data
about said second group of parties; first classification means for
electronically classifying said data about said first group of
parties in a predetermined manner; second classification means for
electronically classifying said data about said second group of
parties in a predetermined manner, a plurality of predetermined
relationship management rules; and processing means for
electronically processing said data for managing said relationships
between said first and second groups in accordance with their
classification and disseminating said data in accordance with said
relationships.
21. The system of claim 20, wherein said first group of parties
includes a company marketing department.
22. The system of claim 20, wherein said first group of parties
includes a company public relations department.
23. The system of claim 20, wherein said first group of parties
includes a marketing firm.
24. The system of claim 20, wherein said first group of parties
includes a public relations firm.
25. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry publisher.
26. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry reporter.
27. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry analyst.
28. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry association.
29. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry forums group.
30. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry standards organization.
31. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry event organizer.
32. The system of claim 20, wherein said second group of parties
includes an industry regulatory body.
33. The system of claim 20, wherein said first and second
classification means includes a three-tiered classification system
for classifying said first and second groups of parties.
34. The system of claim 33, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industry to which said first and
second group belongs.
35. The system of claim 33, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the product and/or services that said
first and second group offers.
36. The system of claim 33, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industries said first and second
groups support.
37. The system of claim 33, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industry to which said first and
second group belongs and in accordance with the product and/or
services that said first and second group offers.
38. The system of claim 33, wherein said three-tiered
classification system classifies said first and second groups of
parties in accordance with the industry to which said first and
second group belongs, in accordance with the product and/or
services that said first and second group offers and in accordance
with the industries said first and second groups support.
39. The system of claim 33, wherein said processing means including
input means for manually inputting said data.
40. The system of claim 33, wherein said processing means including
input means for accepting an electronic data feed of said data.
41. The system of claim 33, wherein said processing means including
control means for managing the content of said data and controlling
its dissemination.
42. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published over a computer
network.
43. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published on an Internet
website.
44. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published in a newsletter.
45. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published in an article.
46. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published in a brief.
47. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published in a newspaper.
48. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published in a directory.
49. The system of claim 33, further including synchronizing means
for synchronizing industry data published in an Internet
webcast.
50. The system of claim 33, further including alert means for
alerting users of said system when predetermined data in said
system has changed.
51. A system for electronically managing relationships in an
industry community having a first group of parties and a second
group of parties each of which has a common interest in said
industry, said system comprising: first data collection means for
electronically collecting data about said first group of parties
and storing said data on a storage layer; second data collection
means for electronically collecting data about said second group of
parties and storing said data on said storage layer; first
classification means for electronically classifying said data about
said first group of parties in a predetermined manner within said
storage layer; second classification means for electronically
classifying said data about said second group of parties in a
predetermined manner within said storage layer; a plurality of
predetermined relationship management rules stored in said storage
layer; processing means for electronically processing said data for
managing said relationships between said first and second groups in
accordance with their classification in a processing layer; and
user interface face means within an interface layer for
disseminating said data to users of said system in accordance with
said relationships.
52. The system of claim 51, wherein said processing layer is
between said storage layer and said interface layer
53. The system of claim 51, wherein each of said layers is
self-contained and communicating with adjacent layers using
established procedures and protocols.
54. The system of claim 51, further including a security layer
between said storage layer and said processing layer.
55. The system of claim 51, wherein all layers are located on a
network server.
56. The system of claim 51, wherein said storage and processing
layers urn on a network server.
57. The system of claim 51, wherein said interface layer runs a
computer desktop.
58. The system of claim 51, wherein all of said layers runs a
computer desktop.
59. The system of claim 51, wherein said storage layer uses an SQL
database.
60. The system of claim 51, wherein said storage layer uses a MYSQL
database.
61. The system of claim 51, wherein said storage layer uses an
Oracle database.
62. The system of claim 51, wherein said processing means includes
a plurality of processing engines selected from among the group:
retriever engine for retrieving data requested by the user.
submitter engine for submitting user requests for processing by
processing layer. search engine for searching the data layer in
response to a user request. workflow engine for organizing the work
flow the processing layer. presentation engine for communication
with the interface layer. notification engine for providing
notification messages to the user. forms engine for generating
forms for use in the presentation layer. messaging engine for
generating messages for the user, processing outgoing messages from
the user and processing incoming messages for the user.
Import/export engine for importing and exporting data into and out
of the data layer.
63. A method of communicating information within a community having
a first group of parties and a second group of parties each of
which has a common interest in said community, said method having
the following steps: collecting information about said first group
of parties; collecting information about said second group of
parties; classifying said information about said first group of
parties in a predetermined manner; classifying said information
about said second group of parties in a predetermined manner;
establishing a relationship rule between said first group of
parties and said second group of parties; and communicating said
information between said first group of parties and said second
group of parties in accordance with said relationship rule.
64. The method of claim 63 further including the step of alerting
said parties when information is available for communicating.
65. The method of claim 63, further including the step of including
within said first group a company marketing department.
66. The method of claim 64, further including the step of including
within said first group a company public relations department.
67. The method of claim 63, further including the step of including
within said second group an industry publisher.
68. The method of claim 64, further including the step of including
within said second group an industry publisher.
69. The method of claim 63, further including the step of including
within said second group an industry reporter.
70. The method of claim 64, further including the step of including
within said second group an industry reporter.
71. The method of claim 63, further including the step of including
within said second group an industry analyst.
72. The method of claim 64, further including the step of including
within said second group an industry organizer.
73. The system of claim 1, further including a plurality of
telecommunication devices for permitting said parties to
communicate with one another.
74. The system of claim 1, wherein said telecommunication devices
include unicaste conferencing facilities.
75. The system of claim 1, wherein said telecommunication devices
include multicaste conferencing facilities.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 60/230,799 filed Sep. 7, 2000 and entitled
"Marketing Collateral Repository And Supporting Data Management And
Communication Environment" and utility application Ser. No.
09/948,050 filed Sep. 7, 2001 bearing the same title.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention generally relates to the field of
information technology and more particularly, is directed to a
method and apparatus for the collection and dissemination of
information in an organized and systematic manner using one or more
computer networks.
[0003] The Internet's phenomenal success has brought a wealth of
options to a user's computer screen, allowing him to research and
choose information for products and services that best fit his
needs and wants. In fact, so many options exist that searching for
information can easily become a daunting task as relevant
information often is difficult to find, conflicting, incomplete, or
simply missing. The novice web user can easily become overwhelmed
trying to discern who has what information and how the information
may best be obtained. On the other hand, those having information
to share do not always have a reliable method of reaching their
intended audience.
[0004] Consumers of goods and services typically rely on the
Internet as an information resource to guide their purchase
decisions at some point during the selection process. Increasingly,
consumers, especially more sophisticated buyers, are turning to
trusted advisors (referred to herein as, "Influencers") to guide
their purchase decisions. These Influencers come in many forms:
[0005] People:
[0006] Reporters, editors, financial analysts, industry analysts,
associations/forums, regulatory bodies, etc.
[0007] Web-Based Media:
[0008] Online vertical sites and buyer's guides covering a specific
industry or a broad spectrum of technology-based products,
directories, links pages, FAQs, comparative websites, and search
engines.
[0009] Other Media:
[0010] Print publications like magazines and newspapers, radio, and
TV shows, such as MSNBC, CNET TV, etc.
[0011] Influencers fill a critical role in helping consumers to
better understand product requirements and features and move more
quickly to a purchase decision. They are the gatekeepers for
Sellers to reach Buyers--whether buying optical telecommunications
switching equipment or cleaning fluids for contract office
cleaners. Influencers are the indirect channels that influence the
mainstream purchasers. Sellers must, therefore, establish strong
relationships with the many Influencers who have heavy influence
over their consumers.
[0012] There are many known Influencers in the purchasing process,
including:
[0013] Web Content Publishers [0014] Vertical Websites/Portals
[0015] Comparison Sites [0016] Search Engines [0017] Discussion
Groups [0018] FAQs [0019] Links Pages
[0020] Print Publications [0021] Buyer's Guides [0022]
Directories
[0023] Analysts [0024] Industry Analysts [0025] Financial
Analysts
[0026] Industry Associations/Forums/Regulatory Bodies [0027]
Industry Standards/Trends [0028] Membership Directories [0029]
Members Listed by Product/Services Categorizations [0030] Industry
Statistics
[0031] Other Media [0032] Radio/Web Broadcast [0033] TV/Web
Broadcast
[0034] Consumers who must make purchasing decisions are not the
only ones in need of relevant information about a particular issue
at hand. In today's information driven world, ready access to
reliable and timely information is extremely important. The
emergence of computer networks and their widespread use as
information highways has made searching for, and delivery of,
information much easier than in times past.
[0035] For example, those who follow and/or report on developments
in a particular industry, one category of so-called Influencers,
must have ready and rapid access to industry news and trends. Those
within the industry who are tasked with keeping industry followers
informed, such as company sales and marketing departments (the
Sellers), are equally motivated to get their message out. The
challenge is achieving the objectives of both groups (Influencers
and Sellers) as efficiently and effectively as possible.
[0036] Accordingly, there is a great need in the art for a method
and apparatus for the collection and dissemination of information
in an organized and systematic manner for users of information and
information sources. This need in the art extends to work flow and
coordination paths for the execution and processing of legal
documents, i.e., non-disclosure agreements, multi-party leases,
rental and sales contracts and the like, arranging of meetings and
appointments, coordinating of contests and product reviews, and all
other activities involving two or more parties when a rapid and
reliable flow of information is important.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0037] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer network
which can be used to host the methods, apparatus and functionality
of the present invention. The network illustrated in FIG. 1 is the
Internet and is generally represented by network cloud 1 with a
plurality of connected Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 2 as is
well known in the art. Each ISP serves as the entry point for users
of the Internet. Today, such devices as computer workstations 3,
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) 4, facsimile machines 5,
cellular telephones 6, and GPS systems 7 are but a few of the many
devices that Internet users have at their disposal for sending and
receiving information across the Internet.
[0038] Internal to the Internet are a plurality of servers and
routers which are responsible for storing and serving content to
Internet users when requested. Routers 9 provide the switching and
routing functions needed to direct user requests to the appropriate
server and retrieval of the requested content back to the user
using Internet protocols that are well known in the art.
[0039] Most users of the Internet use the World Wide Web ("web") to
retrieve web pages that are hosted by particular servers on the
Internet using Internet Protocol addresses and domain naming
conventions that are well known in the art. The popularity of the
web and rapid advances in server technology and software, such as
Internet Explorer and Netscape, have resulted in many applications
now being resident on an Internet based server as an enterprise
solution for a great number of people rather than being resident on
a stand-alone computer for a single user. More importantly,
information providers and information consumers are much more
computer savvy today than in the past and now often look to the
Internet as the solution of choice for their information
dissemination and retrieval needs. Moreover, the widespread use of
the Internet for sending and receiving of e-mail messages is
further evidence of the importance of the Internet as an
information highway. It is in this environment that the present
invention is particularly well suited.
[0040] At its core, the present invention is a massive database of
product/service data, company and personnel information, contact
information, personal preference information, event information,
messages and communications, news, images and just about every
other conceivable type of digital information. The system of the
present invention will be referred to as a "Gateway" which provides
ready access to information and information sources needed by
Influencers, Sellers and Buyers of goods and services along with
work flow and coordination paths for various multi-party
activities.
[0041] The Gateway of the present invention is a rich supporting
layer of web-based applications for inputting, accessing,
comparing, sharing, challenging, hosting and researching of
information. The invention also offers a variety of supporting
applications for the exchange of data such as APIs, pre-coded
modules and hosted environments.
[0042] The methodology for the technical design of the Gateway is
to keep the data layer independent of the application layer as much
as possible, meaning that the supporting applications are not
dependent on the data design and vice-versa. The data layer is
structured for maximum flexibility in usage by a wide variety of
applications, both now and in future additions to the Gateway. The
data layer is designed to allow an infinite variety of data types
as more and more varied product/service categories are included and
as the Gateway matures in scope and usage.
[0043] A key to the power of the Gateway is that every unit of data
accumulated allows a wide variety of information to be attached to
it. A supporting data layer contains meta and supporting data about
each product/service/company data field, and allows for expansion
of the supporting data as the scope of the Gateway grows.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0044] The novel features of the present invention are set out with
particularity in the appended claims, but the invention will be
understood more fully and clearly from the following detailed
description of the invention as set forth in the accompanying
drawings in which:
[0045] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the Internet structure; and
[0046] FIGS. 2-4 are further illustrations of the architecture of
the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0047] A preferred embodiment of the Gateway of the present
invention will now be described.
[0048] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the tiered structure
of the method and apparatus for collection and dissemination of
information in accordance with the present invention. Tiered or
layered approaches to server based applications are well known in
the art and include a data layer, a business logic layer and a
presentation layer. The theory behind the tiered approach is to
make each layer internally self contained and independent of other
layers. Communications between each layer are conducted in
accordance with established protocols that are well known in the
art.
[0049] The data layer contains data that is used by the other
layers. The Business Logic Layer contains the decision making and
data processing routines that are customary to any computer
application. The Presentation Layer is the user interface for the
application.
[0050] As can be seen in FIG. 2, each layer has a plurality of
modules that carry out the functionality requirements of that
particular layer. FIGS. 3 and 4 further illustrate the present
invention and its connection to the Internet. These illustrations
correspond to the 3 layers shown in FIG. 2.
[0051] A number of integral functions underlie all of the modules
and functionality of the present invention. Representative ones of
these functions and modules will be described below in the context
of one embodiment of the Gateway of the present invention. The
method and apparatus of the present invention, however, is not
limited to the described embodiment.
[0052] The Gateway of the present invention allows users to keep
informed and current on what's happening in their marketing world.
To do that, the Gateway has an extensive alerting and notification
system that can inform system users by email, voice mail, fax,
Instant Messaging, paging, SMS, on-screen toolbar, and even an
Ambient Devices Orb. The Orb device is one which changes color, or
some other physical characteristic, as a means of conveying
intelligent information.
[0053] Gateway users often do not know where they will be at any
particular time, but editorial and marketing requirements are
round-the-clock. Thus, extensive notification capability is needed
in order to keep Gateway users informed.
[0054] In accordance with the Gateway, "On the Desktop"
notifications are present in the Tasks portlet, a simple listing of
actionable hyperlinks that when clicked upon, take the user
directly to the place where the user needs to work. Alert are
emails sent by the Gateway and are not "task-oriented", but are
informational email messages that alert the user that an event has
occurred--for example, someone has joined the user's classification
list.
[0055] Many people represent more than themselves in a marketing
capacity. Public relations (PR) firms, for instance, have multiple
client relationships. With the present invention, users can request
permission from their clients to have side-by-side access to their
Gateway records, enabling them to `alias` an internal employee.
Each sees what the other sees to the extent that they have been
granted access to all content in the Gateway. Thus, a PR firm could
help maintain product information, respond to reporter inquiries,
see if Product Managers have filled out a survey, or any of a
number of PR activities. Accordingly, a PR person and an
organization can now work in concert, in a multi-user, simultaneous
way. That was not possible prior to the Gateway of the present
invention.
[0056] A number of the various modules and sections of the Gateway
of the present invention will now be described. It should be
understood that the functionality and utility of the Gateway is not
dependent on the presence of all of the described modules and
sections. New modules and sections may be added and old modules and
sections may be deleted without taking away from the spirit of the
invention.
[0057] The Gateway Messaging module is a basic email capability
that enables a Gateway user to send and receive emails to their
Gateway Inbox.
[0058] myGateway is a customized work environment that gives the
user a quick look at all tasks, notifications, requests, projects,
and other system functions, from one central location. Information
is customized to the user in "Portlets" so that only those issues
pertinent to the user are displayed. Portlets are small windows
that provide key statistics and activity updates for each of the
major modules in the Gateway. Users who do not have authorization
to take part in a Buyer's Guide with a publication for instance,
simply would not see that publication in their Buyer's Guide
portlet.
[0059] The Gateway Desktop is the main page of the myGateway
environment, and it contains Tasks listings, portlets for each
major function in the Gateway (including Buyer's Guides,
Classifications, Retrievers, Surveys, Messaging, etc.), client
aliasing capability, person aliasing capability, and Help for all
functions. Portlets may be minimized or removed to customize the
look of the Desktop. The Desktop is a dynamic environment, changing
according to daily tasks, current editorial relationships, current
editorial requests, present projects, system requirements,
subscriber level, and other key activity impacting features. The
Desktop is where a user does his or her marketing work each day, in
one concentrated, prompted environment space.
[0060] The Tasks portlet is a customized listing of actionable
hyperlinks that when clicked upon, take the user to the place where
the activity must take place. For instance, if the user has not
entered a logo for their firm, a notification would appear in the
user's Tasks portlet prompting the user to enter a logo. If the
user then clicked on the notification, the Gateway would take the
user to the Logos module where the logo could be uploaded. The
Tasks portlet is the user's virtual to-do list each day, and will
ensure that the user organization's web presence is maximized.
[0061] The Buyer's Guide portlet is a listing of those Buyer's
Guides that the user is managing (i.e., the user is with a
publication or analyst firm), those Buyer's Guides the user is
responding to, and/or those Buyer's Guides that are open to all
Gateway users and in the user's area of interest--meaning the user
should consider entering his or her product information into these
Buyer's Guides. Different publications and analyst firms use
different terms for the content--Buyer's Guides, Roundups,
Comparative Matrix, Summary Analysis, etc. However, the Buyer's
Guide portlet will show the user in an overview format his or her
present status with each of the listed Buyer's Guide processes and
provide the user with hyperlinks directly into each of the Buyer
Guide records. If the user is managing the Buyer's Guide, the user
will be shown the present status in their Buyer's Guide, from
`Invited` to `Completed Buyer's Guide`.
[0062] The Surveys portlet is a listing of the surveys the user is
managing, those Surveys the user is responding to, and/or those
Surveys that are open to all Gateway users and in the user's area
of interest--meaning the user should consider taking part in these
Surveys should it be in the user's best interests. The Surveys
portlet will show the user in an overview format the user's present
status with each of the listed Survey processes, and provide the
user with hyperlinks directly into each of the Survey records. If
the user is managing the Survey, the user will be shown the present
status in his or her Survey, from `Invited` to `Completed
Survey`.
[0063] The Classifications portlet is a listing of the
classifications that the user has not yet identified the user's
firm with--or ones that need attention, either because they have
new nodes in their classification system or because the user has
not checked it for a while to make sure it is still current. The
Classifications portlet allows the user to click straight through
to the listed classifications system.
[0064] The Retrievers portlet provides the user with the status of
all the user's information retrievers, whether the user is
searching for books, white papers, events, articles, press
releases, webinars, or any of the many retriever types the Gateway
supports. Users can click directly through to the listed retriever
to process records.
[0065] The Events portlet gives users insight into upcoming events
in their area of interest, action items for upcoming events (like
speaker information due or presentation materials required). The
user can see events that they might want to consider attending,
exhibiting at, speaking at, sponsoring, or otherwise becoming
involved with. The user can click straight through to the event to
take the action listed, or to review information pertinent to the
event.
[0066] The Editorial Opportunities portlet summarizes for the user
upcoming editorial opportunities that the user should be aware of,
whether it is the opportunity to take part in an article or submit
editorial content. The portlet lists the publication and due date,
and listings are hyperlinked to their more detailed listings within
that publication's editorial calendar listing. Also listed are ad
hoc reporter inquiries from editors looking for sources, story
ideas, case studies, or other editorial input.
[0067] The Messages portlet is the user's Gateway inbox. In the
inbox, the user can review any messages waiting in their inbox.
[0068] The Search portlet is the user's Desktop entry into the
Gateway's powerful search capability.
[0069] The Gateway has been designed around intuitive process flows
in the way marketing and research typically is done. However, it is
not possible to anticipate every instance, so the Gateway has
online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), help for each question
and portlet, and an online help provided via a chat session.
[0070] The Organization area of the Gateway is geared towards the
organizational representation in the Gateway--basic company info,
logos, products, publications, classifications, investors, clients,
and partners. All of these tell the company story in some fashion,
and in aggregate define the company to the world at large.
Underneath this section, individual modules help support the
processes to maintain this information across the World Wide Web
and its various databases.
[0071] Organization profiles are often used throughout the
marketing process--in `About` paragraphs in press releases, on
membership pages at association and forum sites, in speaker
introductions at events, in show directories, tradeshows, etc.
Various small summaries about companies can be found in many
different places. However, they are rarely centrally coordinated by
the marketing department and are often an afterthought in someone's
process. What's more, many times generic paragraphs are used when
more industry or topic-specific ones are more appropriate. The
Gateway Profiles module enables a user to create multiple profiles
for a firm by industry, by topic, by product, or by whatever
category desired. The profiles are then accessible throughout the
Gateway process. If a user is filling out their data for an
association in a particular industry, the user might use an
industry specific profile or create a custom one on the fly. The
filling out of a directory listing merely requires applying the
correct profiles. Gateway profiles enable the user to control their
Web presence by linking their profiles with the `requesters` of the
information. The user can change their firm positioning by merely
changing their profiles and the changes will automatically flow
throughout the Gateway.
[0072] Logos are used extensively all over the Web and many times
without the permission of the owner. The Gateway Logos module
enables organizations to maintain more control over the use of
their logo on the Web. Firms merely upload their logos to the
Gateway databases, and then other entities link, download, or
otherwise use the logos from the Gateway. If a firm changes their
logo, they need only upload a new one and designate it as their
primary logo, and alerts, notifications, feeds and other
communications from Gateway will update their logos across the
Web.
[0073] One of the hardest parts of marketing is making sure that a
firm is placed in the right categories. Being compared with the
wrong products or the wrong competitors can be devastating to a
firm. The Gateway Classifications module puts proper classification
in the user's control by enabling the user to select those
categories that the user's firm competes in. The user can
specifically list their firm in dozens of directories, yellow
pages, links listings, etc., all by merely applying their profiles
to their categories. The user need only click on the correct
categories and select the appropriate profile in order to properly
classify his or her firm. As new nodes and categories are added to
the Classifications module, Gateway users are notified through the
Classifications portlet and through alerts. The Classifications
module is the Gateway user's path to ensuring that a firm is
optimally positioned in the marketplace.
[0074] Product information is often kept in company content
repositories or in internal documents, but it is almost never
openly available to the media, analyst, and other communities for
inclusion in Buyer's Guides, feature stories, product directories,
etc. The Gateway Products module makes this information readily
available for the first time. Editors and analysts can download
product information for stories by linking to or downloading
product information. Buyer's Guide administrators can prepopulate
their surveys with existing product fields. This enables firms to
answer a majority of reporter questions from the Gateway databases
before they quarry public relations. Firms with content management
systems can keep their product areas current via Gateway Web
services interfaces. The Products module seeks to provide a central
place where Influencers can grasp data across companies at one
time, thus facilitating their processes and enabling them to
include more data in their stories or research projects.
[0075] The Gateway Publications module is used by publishers to
represent their `products`, but in a different way than most
products found in the Products module. The Gateway Publications
module tracks key data about the newspaper, magazine, online site,
or other publications. Such data includes editorial calendars,
staff, and beats. This data helps drive the Gateway information
services for users interested in finding editorial opportunities
coming up, and matching their road show tour with the right group
of analysts. Publishers can use data stored in the Publications
module to drive content to their own website and display listings
of reporters by beats or rolling editorial calendars. This module
enables publishers to ensure that the information about their
products is as current as it can be. Changes can be pushed out to
key publisher tracking sites that link to the Gateway content. As
such, Gateway's Publications module provides a centralized place to
enter and update information that appears on a publisher's website,
as well as through out the Web.
[0076] In the Gateway's Clients Module, users can easily identify
client relationships, and request access to the client's Gateway
records. Once approved, users can use the Alias function to quickly
switch among clients. Also, client lists can be published to user
sites, so that a PR Firm could have a client page that lists the
logos, company profiles, and website address of clients--all of
which would be kept current by merely adding and deleting clients
in the Gateway database.
[0077] In the Gateway Investor module, users can easily identify
investor relationships. Investor lists can be published to user
sites, so a startup firm could have an investor page that lists the
logos, profiles, and website address, for example, for each venture
capitalist, all of which are maintained current by merely adding
and deleting investors to the Gateway databases. As the investors
make changes their logos or profiles, the changes flow through the
Gateway and become available to all Gateway users
automatically.
[0078] In the Gateway Partners module, users can simply maintain
links with partner records, and use the information from these
records to populate their own and other websites. If a user wishes
to advertise their partners on another website, as is often popular
with startups trying to legitimize themselves, doing so is very
easy using the Partners module by a simple mouse click to add the
partner(s) to the list.
[0079] The People section of Gateway is geared towards helping
organizations communicate about their key people and the roles
played by those people. The Gateway enables firms to look at their
entire extended family of people, including subcontractors,
partners, etc., to enable a full view of the people who make their
organization work on a day-to-day basis. A fundamental feature of
the Gateway is its ability to assign ownership and control of roles
and responsibilities, such as who is in charge of booths at
tradeshows or who is the firm's representative to a particular
forum or association. As firms grow larger, it is particularly
difficult to keep track of such assignments both internally and
externally. Reporters, editors, event organizers, etc., all need to
be able to efficiently converse with the right people, quickly. The
Gateway of the present invention facilitates those communications
by clearly assigning specific roles to specific people. As those
people leave the company or change jobs, the roles can be easily
transitioned to others. The changes and updates flow through the
entire marketing information chain via the Gateway.
[0080] The Gateway's Company Contacts module is a listing of the
individual personal profiles of all the people that are associated
with a user's firm in the Gateway, both internal and external. This
feature can be though of as a `bucket` from which all assignments
are made, access is granted, choices are made, etc. When Gateway
needs a listing of personnel for whatever reason, it pulls from
Contacts module. If someone leaves the firm or changes jobs, a
Gateway user can navigate here and update their records.
Individuals, when they access the system, are prompted to maintain
their own records as well, providing another check and balance for
data currency.
[0081] A key fundamental element of the Gateway of the present
invention is functionality that constantly attempts to build direct
relationships between people and organizations. The
Roles/Organization module in the Gateway is designed to
specifically assign individuals, complete with their public profile
information to roles within a user's organization (like Board of
Director positions, media relations positions, event
responsibilities, etc.) and outside a user's organization (such as
association roles or judges for awards contests). The
Roles/Organization module allows for hierarchical structures, like
organization charts, so that a user can show parent/child
relationships as well. This feature is particularly important in
large public relations groups where different people might have
different `beats` (like `Northeast` or `Printers`, for example).
The Gateway allows users to place people in multiple positions
around the firms since in practice, most people hold many roles in
a firm. A Gateway user can click on a person's record to view not
only their contact and background information, but also all the
roles that that person holds in an organization.
[0082] In the Gateway's People module, users can assign account
representatives to clients, making it easy for outside personnel,
such as editors and analysts, to know which people cover which
clients.
[0083] The My Contacts module is used to aggregate Gateway users
into groups that facilitate interaction between themselves. The My
Contacts module enables the creation of lists within the system.
These lists are not static and can be set up by roles, for
instance, so that when there are changes in personnel beneath the
roles, the changes flow through each list automatically. Gateway
users can also track companies or segments of an industry, and as
companies come and go, they are added and deleted from user
list.
[0084] The Gateway Search module is another fundamental capability
that is used throughout the system, but which has a user interface
for direct, standalone searches by Gateway users. Users can "Search
for this exact phrase", "Search for all of these words", or "Search
for any of these words" to maximize their search effectiveness. The
search function searches for database matches in organizations,
logos, people, roles, beats, products, publications, editorial
opportunities, events, white papers, classifications, articles, and
press releases. The content in the Gateway databases is actively
and purposefully categorized and classified which makes searching
more successful and efficient. Search results are also hyperlinked
to more detailed information, so that users can drill down for more
detailed information and direct access into the databases. The
Gateway Search functionality is also directly addressable from
various Gateway tools, such as the Internet Explorer Gateway
Toolbar and the Microsoft Office, Gateway Add-In, thus making it
easy for a user to find exactly what the user is looking for.
[0085] Tabs within the results returned by the search displays the
results in a number of formats and manners depending on the keyword
search terms used, including the following: [0086] 1. Organizations
where the keywords match the organization's name, organization's
former name or abbreviated name, the organization's city, state,
country, or phone number, the organization's website, or the
description of the organization; [0087] 2. Logos where the keywords
match the logo's description or the organization that owns the
logo; [0088] 3. People where the keywords match the person's name,
the person's organization, the person's job title, the person's
phone number, or the person's email address; [0089] 4. Roles where
the keywords match the role description, the name of the person in
the role, the name of the organization whose people are in the
role, or the job title, phone number, or email of the person in the
role; [0090] 5. Beats where the keywords match the beat
description, the name of the person in the beat, the name of the
organization whose people are in the beat, or the job title, phone
number, or email of the person in the beat; [0091] 6. Products
where the keywords match the product's name, the organization that
makes the product, the product's part number, or the name of the
product contact person; [0092] 7. Publications where the keywords
match the publication's name, the organization that publishes the
publication, or the publication's description; [0093] 8. Editorial
opportunities where the keywords match the title or description of
the opportunity, the name of the publication providing the
opportunity, or the organization that publishes the publication;
and [0094] 9. Events where the keywords match the title or
description of the event. [0095] 10. Articles where the keywords
match the title, author, summary, or text of the article; [0096]
11. Press releases where the keywords match the title, summary, or
text of the press release; [0097] 12. White papers where the
keywords match the title, summary, or text of the white paper; and
[0098] 13. Categories where the keywords match the title or text of
the categories.
[0099] The Content section contains databases of content that is
uploaded by users as well as downloaded from the Web by the Gateway
system. It is a central repository for information that is to be
accessed and disseminated by a Gateway user firm and the people it
is trying to influence. Sophisticated retrievers scour the Web
based on parameters set by the user, and stores content in parsed
databases. Users can also upload press releases, white papers, case
studies, book listings, FAQ lists, glossaries, links listings, and
even icons into the Gateway for easy access, dissemination and Web
presentation. A central retriever and document repository makes all
these forms of information easily accessible in one place, and
content-specific modules make the most common forms of information
available in context.
[0100] The Gateway Retriever module is home to the various the
Gateway agent records that contain keyword and target Websites for
information gathering. Retrievers can be set up to find press
releases, articles, white papers, case studies, books, event
listings, FAQ listings, and glossary listings. Found information is
presented to the user in bulk or item-by-item processing form, so
that the records may be edited and approved for publication to
internal databases for publishing to a company Website or
publisher's information portal. Publishers can post content
retrieved from the Internet, to their site, formatted, sorted, and
complete, with one mouse click per item.
[0101] The Gateway Documents module houses all uploaded documents
by a firm in the Gateway. These documents include presentations,
white papers, press releases, training manuals, case studies,
tutorials, and any other type of content that a Gateway user firm
might want to have available to the Media or to their own Website.
Documents uploaded in this module are available to other modules as
well, so they can be incorporated in processes and/or uploaded to
upstream systems, such as white paper dissemination services as is
well known in the art. Likewise, content loaded into specific
modules in the Gateway are also stored here where appropriate, like
press releases entered into the Gateway Press Releases module, but
saved to the Documents repository as a PDF format document for
posting to the firm website.
[0102] The Gateway Press Releases module enables firms to upload,
store, and publish press releases to the major newswires and to
sites that link to the Gateway press release content, including the
user's own website. Thus, the Gateway of the present invention has
the ability to make positive matches with publisher classification
systems, ensuring that the right people see the Gateway user's
releases. It also ensures that more websites, Influencers and other
Gateway users will have access to the user's Gateway content,
because there is less clutter to get in the way.
[0103] The Gateway Classifications capability applied to press
releases enables Influencers to link to specific content that is
pertinent just to their topics.
[0104] The Gateway Press Releases module also provides a stronger
keyword capability by enabling users to link to hundreds of
industry specific words that better reflect the user's topic rather
than something like the word `Networking` which is the most
specific telecommunications keyword for, example, some newswire
services. The Gateway Press Releases module allows the user to link
to preset company profiles, from the Profiles module, so that users
can ensure that they have the right and current positioning to add
to that important press release. In all, the Press Releases module
gives the user a great deal of control and functionality in one
place.
[0105] The Gateway Articles module enables firms to upload, store
and publish article references to their website. Publishers can
locate keyword references to topics that they track, and post
articles headlines, complete with URL hyperlinks, to their sites.
Information stored includes the author, date of publication, and
other key data about the story. Companies can even rate the stories
found for later trend analysis.
[0106] The Gateway White Papers module makes it easy for firms to
maintain their cadre of white papers, and to get them in front of
the readers that marketing departments covet. The user can upload
their white papers for publishing to their website and to white
paper disseminators like BitPipe, Marketresearch.com, and
Webtorials.com. The user can also use the Gateway's retrievers to
find white papers of interest to them based on key words, track
competitor white paper listings, find the latest technology white
papers on key topics, etc. The Gateway White Papers module is a
central store for the user's white paper oriented content for
internal and external use.
[0107] Case studies, like white papers, can be uploaded and
downloaded using the Gateway. The Gateway Case Studies module is a
repository for the user's case studies, which then can be pushed
out to the user's website or key information distributors.
[0108] The Gateway Books module works in tight conjunction with key
online book sellers like Amazon.com to make it easy to publish and
track book information in the user's Gateway databases. Using web
services from the Gateway and Amazon.com, the Gateway Books module
can interface with all key information on Amazon.com to track
rating, ranking, and pricing information, to make sure that the
user's book references are as current as possible. The Gateway
allows the user to upload their own information into Gateway, so
the user can publish the information about the book alongside or
separate from Amazon.com listings. The Books module is yet another
means for users to track information by keyword to have a complete
view of any topic.
[0109] By listing the user's event in the Events module, the users
are able to push information about their event out to influencers
who have linked to the event data streams. By classifying the
user's event, the user can start to attract new potential attendees
through the Events Portlet. The Gateway is a focal point for
gathering and disseminating information about the user's events,
whether they are as big as a tradeshow, or merely a one-hour
Webinar/Webcast. The Gateway can communicate the user's event
information to key event listing and eventwire publishers as well.
When using the Gateway retrievers, the user can retrieve event
information to populate the user's Website with upcoming event
information.
[0110] Managing FAQ lists on a user site can be an administratively
difficult, particularly if multiple people have to help maintain
them. The Gateway's simple FAQ module enables multiple users to
have access to maintaining an FAQ of key information the user
wishes to communicate to their users. When using the Gateway's
retriever functionality, the user can create virtual FAQs based on
other firms' FAQ lists--the Gateway will retain the question and
URL for the answer, so that users are sent to the originating site
for more details. This enables the creation of metaFAQ lists.
[0111] The Gateway Glossaries module enables the user to enter and
maintain a glossary of key information on the user's site. Using a
simple and intuitive interface, the user enters his or her terms,
abbreviations, definitions, URL links, diagrams and other
information to create and maintain, in a single or multi-user
fashion, a listing of terms for the user's site or channel
partners. Once in the Gateway, the user's glossary can be published
to anyone to whom the user grants permission. The user can also use
the Gateway retriever to track definitions on other glossary
sites--the user can create a metaglossary of information contained
on other sites, with links to those other sites for definition
information.
[0112] The Gateway Links module is designed to help maintain links
listings on the user's site. The user can enter and view key
information partners, sources, partners,. whoever--simply enter
their URLs into the system and the Gateway Presentations module
processes and publishes the data to the user's site. The Links
listing--like so many of the other Gateway's modules--can also be
accessed by anyone to whom the user grants access, enabling the
user to centrally manage information across the user's partners or
distributors and for them to automatically publish content on their
site, based on the user's databases.
[0113] Many firms create specialized icons for their products that
are often used in programs like PowerPoint, Visio, and other
graphics/presentation programs. The Gateway Icons module enables
the user to upload and maintain these icons for use by anyone. The
Gateway Office Add-In enables access to the Icons from directly
within the user's PowerPoint, Excel, or Word applications. The user
can also create an Icons library on the user's Website using the
same information.
[0114] The Gateway Buyer's Guide module provides a research
capability that covers the end-to-end process for gathering a large
amount of discrete information from many information sources. The
module supports the entire testing and review process as well, for
organizations that receive product or services for testing, and
need to rate these products. The module enables tracking of each
participant through the process, and stores the entire
communications history. Acquisitions surveys enable the user to
gather initial data about each product from the vendors. Feature
surveys help the user gather and confirm detailed product level
information. Shipping forms enable the user to electronically track
receipt and shipping of items. Rating forms allow the user's
internal and external testers to log in and record results. Data
can be auto-published to matrices and tables on websites, or
downloaded in XML, Excel and other formats. Electronic surveys
enable the user to create and edit the forms into which data is
entered and validated; a wide variety of question types, including
phone, URL, date, rating, table listing, and other types, is
available. The Buyer's Guides can be left `open` to allow for
ongoing data updating by included vendors. The Buyer's Guide
process is an end-to-end workflow that can reduce the time required
for custom research down from weeks and months, to just days.
[0115] The Gateway Surveys module is an electronic survey tool that
is designed for one-time and scheduled/repetitive surveying of, for
example, customers, vendors and service providers. A broad range of
question types enables the user to very specifically gather and
validate data for the user's research needs. The user can access
listings of companies and individuals from within the user's My
Contacts module, link to specific groupings of companies, like
those that have classified themselves against the user's
classification system, or import the user's own contact lists. The
user can track all communications with the user's research targets,
and know who has entered to complete surveys and who has not. The
user can search the user's communications history to make sure
emails were sent out. The user can use system generated emails, or
create the user's own. The user can publish results to the user's
website or download them via a list of output options. The Surveys
module tightly integrates with the Gateway's other modules to give
the user a very powerful on-line research tool that can continually
produce results for the user's organization.
[0116] The Gateway Classifications Systems module enables any
organization to create and maintain its own hierarchical
categorization system for content. With such a classification
system in the Gateway, content can be classified against the user's
system by others, thus enabling the user to, for example, gather
company data for a links listing or classify companies for analysis
or other such use. The Gateway Classification System enables the
user to create the user's own special view of the user's world, and
then organize the user's own and other people's content around that
view. This module enables the user to have a full and ongoing
interaction with all companies classified in the user's system,
even alerting them when the user adds nodes, and alerting the user
when they change their classifications. The Classification Systems
module empowers the user to be able to segment and structure
content with great ease.
[0117] The Gateway Awards module was specifically designed to
support awards organizers and publishers who need to have a full
end-to-end workflow supporting the nomination, judging and final
promotion of an award. The Awards module supports all the
e-commerce of the nomination process, supporting online forms and
credit card interfaces to access a nomination application and
application fee. The module supports the communication with
potential judges and assignment of judges to categories. It enables
award administrators to centrally view the status of nominees,
judges, and other key personnel as they interface with the Gateway.
The user can use system emails or create their own, to guide the
nominees and judges through the process. Single and multi-stage
(semi-finalist, finalist, winner) judging processes are supported
by the Gateway. On-line rating forms enable judges to enter
information directly into databases from anywhere in the world at
any time. Shipping forms can track the receipt and return of
products and services being submitted for judging. Output can be
loaded onto websites as well as downloaded for use in other
systems. Information, such as nominees, categories, judges, process
dates, etc., can be auto-published to the user's website, thus
providing the user with a content management solution as well as an
awards workflow process. The Awards module provides everyone
involved with the awards process with a streamlined, trackable, and
reliable interface for all tasks associated with naming winners in
award categories.
[0118] The Gateway Event relations module provides key external
relationship management for events organizers and internal events
coordinators. The user can easily gather information required for
the user's event through this workflow. By listing the user's
speakers, the user can, in one place, communicate with and download
voluminous profile, bio, logo, picture, and other information that
the user needs to populate the user's event site and documentation.
By listing the user's exhibitors in the Gateway, the user makes it
easy to communicate with and gather profile, logo, representative,
and other information to drive event directories, website content,
and other marketing information. The Gateway can be enhanced to
also facilitate the entire process of managing the effort of
setting up meetings between the press and executives at tradeshows.
The Gateway Event Relations module is designed to facilitate all
back and forth communications to aid the user in achieving a
successful event.
[0119] The Gateway Member Relations module provides association,
forum, and other member-driven organizations with an efficient tool
to gather and maintain information from their membership. Items
like logos, company information, bios, trade show representatives,
PR representatives, and other company specific pieces of
information, are very time-consuming for membership managers to
track. The Member Relations module provides a tight workflow that
is integrated throughout the Gateway, to pull out specific roles
and responsibilities and push corporate data to membership
organizations who need that data. Associations and forums can set
up classification systems and other data gathering structures in
the Gateway and receive that information in the form of
pre-formatted HTML, XML streams, text data, or any of a number of
other formats, to drive their own systems and processes. The Member
Relations module was designed to solve the dual problem of
organizations that need data and ones that want to control the
positioning of that data.
[0120] The Legal Relations module provides companies with an
end-to-end means to manage the process of entering into, storing,
and updating marketing-related legal agreements, such as
Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). NDAs are routine in marketing
discussions; however, the process of tracking which agreements are
in place, when they expire, who signed them, etc., is anything but
routine in most firms. For the most part, NDAs are signed, filed
and forgotten about, until they are referenced for a legal reason,
and by then it is often to late to do anything about any problems
within the agreement itself. The Legal Relations module provides
the user with an infrastructure to track all the user's outstanding
NDAs and other legal documents, and provides a mechanism for
updating these agreements when they expire or when the user needs
to insert new content. As companies, personnel, and processes
change, it's easy for required changes and updates to go undone,
yet it can be very important in protecting the legal interests of
the user's firm. The Legal Relations module is a one-stop shop for
multi-user workflow that can include all the necessary parties to
concluding agreements. With the addition of electronic signatures,
these on-line documents can, in many cases, replace the popular fax
machine in concluding such documents.
[0121] The Gateway Prospects module is a sales tracking module
designed to help marketers research customer databases from within
the Gateway. Designed to complement sales tools available in the
prior art, the Prospects module helps track customer data so that
the user can filter and segment the user's marketing efforts, as
applied to inbound and outbound marketing efforts. New prospects
and existing customers can be loaded into the module to facilitate
all forms of research. Prospect lists can be accessed by the
various Gateway modules so the user can invite customers to join
the user's classification system, or send surveys to them.
[0122] The Gateway Tasks module is a basic To Do tracking facility
that allows for notifications and tracking of things to be done.
Users can set up their own Tasks groups and add team members into
the group. Tasks can be created, assigned and tracked from within
the system.
[0123] The Market Presence module enables a firm to analyze its
current corporate and/or product positioning, aka, their
"presence", on the Web. Examples of this functionality includes
incorrect or inconsistent representation of the company's
information, executives, and products; lack of presence on websites
where the company's competition is listed, lack of accuracy in
representing merged, acquired, or renamed companies. The Market
Presence module uses the Gateway's sophisticated retriever
capabilities to analyze key indicators of the firm's marketing
presence, from the number of articles found in various sites, to
the comparative listings in directories, to membership in
associations and forums. The Market Presence module gives the user
a snapshot of the user's success and failures in maintaining the
user's information across the Web.
[0124] The Gateway Suggestions module provides users with a means
to interact with the Gateway organization and with others, to
provide feedback and recommendations regarding the Gateway. A user
can suggest that companies or Influencers be added to the Gateway,
report bugs and feature ideas, and invite other people to join the
user in the Gateway. The Suggestions module functionality is
integrated throughout the Gateway, showing up in context where
suggestions and invitations are most often used.
[0125] The Gateway Suggestions module also enables a user to easily
invite a partner, employee, contractor or anyone else to log in,
and become part of the user's Gateway experience. Most often, PR
firms can use this functionality to get clients to register for the
first time. Influencers can use this functionality to alert PR
representatives that they should join Gateway. A place is provided
for the user to enter the user's own message to customers, as well
as a preformatted set of instructions from the Gateway. The Gateway
will then send an email message to the invitee listed. The module
is designed to provide an easy, systematic way to get other people
into the Gateway that the user needs to complete the user's work
and/or workflow.
[0126] The Gateway Suggestions module also provides the user with
the ability to suggest a company join the Gateway. Upon filling in
the information, the data is sent to the Gateway's import
processing capabilities, where the company name and URL are
evaluated relative to existing records and added accordingly. Once
added to the system, the user is alerted that the record is now
ready for the user's action. This functionality can be used by
influencers who wish to include a company within a body of research
and find that the company is not yet using the Gateway. The Gateway
will input the basic information about that company and when a
company representative logs into the system, he or she has the
opportunity to update that information.
[0127] The Gateway Suggestions module provides the user with the
ability to suggest an Influencer join the Gateway. Upon filling in
the information, the data is sent to the Gateway's import
processing functionality, where the Influencer name and URL are
evaluated relative to existing records and added accordingly. Once
added to the Gateway, the user is alerted that the record is now
ready for the user's action.
[0128] The Suggest A Feature module provides the user with the
ability to request program enhancements to the Gateway. The
architecture of the Gateway is sufficiently flexible that it can be
easily changed as necessary to respond to user requests.
[0129] The Report A Bug module of the Gateway provides a user the
opportunity to inform the Gateway of things that are not working to
the user's satisfaction. Submitted bugs go directly into the
Gateway customer relationship management system for tracking bugs
and setting up tasks to quickly respond to reported bugs.
[0130] The Gateway Recommend Toolbar module allows a user to easily
invite someone else to download the Gateway toolbar. The Internet
Explorer toolbar functionality has been very popular with users,
and word of mouth more than anything else, has spread its
acceptance. To recommend that they install the toolbar, the user
merely enters the name and email address of the invitee into the
Gateway, and add a personalized message if the user wishes, and the
Gateway then sends them a preformatted email to recommend that the
person install the toolbar.
[0131] The Preferences section of the Gateway enables users to
personalize their experience with the Gateway. Users can set up
their own ID and password, manage their notifications, and
determine what information is displayed about the user throughout
the Gateway.
[0132] People tend to have different information they are willing
to share with others. Much information is personal and kept
confidential (such as cell phone numbers or home phone numbers).
But for public relations departments, giving out such information
is routinely expected in their deadline-oriented environment. Thus,
the Gateway Personal Profiles module allows each user to customize
the information they wish to release publicly, and in various
specific instances. This includes key contact information, bios,
and even pictures of the person. Using the Personal Profiles
module, the user can establish their Private Profile (used by the
Gateway system and customer support to communicate with users),
Public Profile (generally viewed by any user of the Gateway), and a
Media Profile. The Media Profile is specific to Influencers and is
used by media information distribution companies to educate media
relations groups about how to contact the media.
[0133] The User Name/Password module enables the user to manage his
or her login information. The validation parameters, which are
necessary if the user loses his or her User Name or password, are
also found in this section.
[0134] The Gateway's extensive notification system is controlled
from the Gateway's centralized Notifications module. Here, users
can decide which notifications they wish to receive and how.
Notifications can be received via a range of options, ranging from
email to the desktop to the user's cell phone.
[0135] Auto-responder functionality in the Gateway's Responders
module enables the user to create special situation responses for
inbound emails to the user's email client. For instance, if the
user was going to attend the Consumer Electronics Tradeshow (CES),
the user might create an email address in the user's email client
called ces@Gateway.net. If the user gets an email from a press
person wanting to set up a meeting at the show, the user can
forward that email to the ces@Gateway.net account and have it
return an email with further instructions as to how to set up
meetings with the user. The Gateway will determine the appropriate
person(s) to send the email to, based on the user's forwarded
email. The user can also use the auto-responder to tell people to
take the user off their lists, or that the user's address has
changed.
[0136] The Gateway's extensive databases can be synchronized to the
user's PDA, cell phone, Outlook, Notes, and other databases on a
regular basis, thus ensuring that the user's information is always
the most up-to-date possible. The Gateway can output content in a
wide variety of formats, including many leading XML-based
structures. All of the user's synchronizations can be controlled
through the Synchronizations module.
[0137] The bulk of the Gateway functionality is available as a
browser-based capability. Where browser-based capability is not
available, helper applications on the device or desktop can be used
to provide more enhanced capabilities. The Tools section of Gateway
provides users with software programs that support the Gateway
process in a number of ways, whether providing for add-ins for
Microsoft products, or browser and synchronization support
capabilities. These are designed to more directly facilitate the
user's Gateway experience and make it as efficient and context
sensitive as possible.
[0138] The Gateway's Office Images Add-In tool is designed to
provide direct access in Microsoft Office for Gateway image
content. Users can, with one mouse click, add a logo or icon to
their Word, PowerPoint or Excel worksheet.
[0139] The Gateway's Office Hyperlinks Add-In tool is designed to
provide direct access in Microsoft Office for Gateway hyperlink
content. Users can, with one mouse click, add a company name and
URL to their Word, PowerPoint or Excel worksheet.
[0140] The Gateway's Office Dictionary Add-In tool gives users a
synchronized custom dictionary within their Microsoft Office
applications to ensure sure that product names, corporate names,
executive names, etc. are spelled correctly using the Microsoft
Spell-check tools. The custom dictionary is merely one of several
dictionaries the Microsoft Office program checks as the user
creates the documents. This functionality ensures ensure
reliability of references within all the user's documents.
[0141] The Office Gateway Files Add-In tool gives users the ability
to upload and download documents from within their Microsoft Office
applications, to make uploading a new white paper or press release
as easy as a Save command in Word, for instance. This tool provides
a shortcut directly into the Gateway system for these purposes.
[0142] The Internet Explorer Gateway Toolbar combines many of the
capabilities of the Gateway, Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBay,
Weather.com, and many other publication search engines into one
powerful toolbar that sits in the user's browser tool window. Users
can directly search for the same topic across many Gateway search
engines at once and in a simultaneous fashion across dozens of
sites. The user can also quickly find the weather, directions to a
location, stock quotes, word spellings, etc., through the
capabilities of this tool. Importantly, the user can be alerted to
tasks the user has pending in the Gateway through the Gateway
notification alert button on the bar itself. The Toolbar
consolidates the user's most important Gateway research and
notifications capabilities in one place, and can be a strategic
feature for any user.
[0143] The Support section of the Gateway is where FAQs,
troubleshooting tips, downloads, and other typical support style
information is provided.
[0144] The Gateway Support FAQ module provides the user with
answers to the most often asked questions of Gateway users.
[0145] The Gateway Email Test functionality is designed to test the
user's access to the Gateway system. In light of the growing use of
multiple layers of SPAM protection in many firms, it can be
difficult to determine whether messages are getting through to
their intended recipients. With the Gateway Email Test capability,
the user can send and track a test email to the user's system.
[0146] The Administration Section of the Gateway is used by Gateway
account administrators (and the users to which they provide access)
to manage some of the more technical and sensitive areas of Gateway
operation. For instance, all security and access privileges are set
from this area, as well as all data feeds and direct website
access.
[0147] The Presentations module allows the user to set up web pages
containing information from the Gateway. For example, the user can
publish directories, buyer's guides, survey results, company
profiles, news, press releases, white papers, events, glossaries,
FAQ pages, links, and other Gateway information to the user's site.
The user's web pages can be automatically updated when the
information changes in the Gateway by scheduling updates in
conjunction with the Data Feeds module and the FTP Sites
module.
[0148] The Gateway Presentations module allows the user to set up
web pages. The user can use pre-defined templates to easily create
web pages and the user can create new templates or customize
existing templates to make the pages fit into the exact look, feel,
and functionality of the user's site. The user can use the
Presentation module as a content editor for the user's web pages,
and the user can also use it to create pages that automatically
include Gateway information. For example, the user can publish
directories, buyer's guides, survey results, company profiles,
news, press releases, white papers, events, glossaries, FAQ pages,
links, and other Gateway information to the user's site. The user's
web pages can be automatically updated when the information changes
in the Gateway by scheduling updates in conjunction with the Data
Feeds module and the FTP Sites module. A
what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor allows the user to
edit the pages without having to learn the technical details of
HTML.
[0149] The Gateway Websites module is a content management module
that lets the user create and edit web pages and then publish the
pages to a website. The module works in conjunction with the FTP
Sites module to deliver the pages directly to the user's
website.
[0150] The Gateway Data Schedules module allows the user to set up
schedules to move information from the Gateway to the user's
website. It works in conjunction with the FTP Sites module to
define what information to move, when to move it, and where to send
it. The information can be web pages created by the Presentation
module, and it can also be information such as buyer's guide data
exported from one of the content modules. Exported data can be
formatted in a number of ways including XML, Access, XLS, and text
formats. The user can also use the Data Schedules module to feed
the information on-demand when the user needs an immediate update
instead of a scheduled update.
[0151] The Gateway Newsletter module allows the user to create
email-based newsletters. The user can manage a newsletter
distribution list, and allow people to sign up for the newsletter
via the user's website. The Gateway's Newsletter module has the
ability to include information that Gateway gathers automatically
for the user, like articles, press releases, and white papers. The
newsletter module is based on the Gateway's Presentation module,
which means that the user can publish the user's newsletters using
rich HTML-enabled templates.
[0152] The FTP Sites section is an administrative function where
the user can set up an authenticated FTP relationship between the
Gateway and a secure area of the user's servers. This functionality
is most often used by Gateway users who wish to drive automated
content to their website, using information derived from online
directories, retrievers, buyer's guides, surveys, etc. Website
owners can enter one or more user IDs and passwords, to give the
Gateway transfer service access to a secure part of their site. The
file transfers are managed by the Gateway on a scheduled or
on-demand basis.
[0153] The Access portion of the Gateway is used by administrators
to grant or deny access to their records by internal and external
parties. While anyone can go to the Gateway and register, even
identifying themselves with a company's Gateway account and
records, they cannot do anything in that account until granted
access by their administrator. PR firms who want to engage in
workflow and other processes side-by-side with their clients have
to request and receive alias access through their Clients module in
order to see and take part in their client's account. When requests
come into the Access module, the user receives notifications and
alerts as defined in their Notifications preferences.
[0154] The Gateway SPAM Blacklist Checker module is an automated
way to check if a company's mail server Internet Protocol (IP)
address has appeared on any of the dozens of SPAM blacklists.
Gateway users can search for their domains as well. Each entry in
the table of IP addresses to be checked includes the company ID of
the company that owns the mail server. Users are alerted by the
Gateway that their outbound emails have been categorized by
anti-spam software as spam and, therefore, may not be getting to
their intended targets.
[0155] The Reports module within the Administration Section of the
Gateway provides Administrators with key overview reports on their
Gateway account. Users can view reports on user access, activity
within the system and other such important items. Reports are added
based on user feedback and information requirements.
[0156] The Internal section of the Gateway only appears on internal
Gateway administrator desktops. These are key support and
information processing tools that enable the Gateway programmers
and support personnel to track and support customers. It also
enables the Gateway to track its sales prospects, their
implementations, and the entire development stack of tasks.
[0157] The Gateway Security module provides Gateway administrators
with the ability to edit any user access rights to any module in
the system. Security access is by groups of modules and can be
easily changed by a selection pull down menu. User IDs and
passwords can also be viewed and changed if necessary.
[0158] The Gateway Alerts module helps Gateway administrators
maintain all system alerts. New alerts can be created using various
system parameters that tie the alerts to events that transpire in
the system.
[0159] The Reports module enables access to a series of reports
that provide information about the pace of development, the health
of the various servers and systems in Gateway, the movement of new
users through the startup processes, etc. All Gateway system
reports are accessible through this module, and in some cases,
within other context-specific modules as well. Saved versions of
commonly run report settings enable users to quickly rerun reports
that they might otherwise have to reset various parameters to match
their intended output.
[0160] The Gateway Identities module enables an administrator to
assume the role as an internal employee of a firm, seeing whatever
that user sees. This module is used to provide support for
customers to `see` what the customer sees.
[0161] The Imports module provides a process for importing data
from various outside databases and retriever processes. For
instance, all Suggestions come into the Gateway system through this
module. All EDGAR retrievals are processed through here as well.
The user can process data by selectively approving records into the
Gateway databases. The user is shown any similar data, such as
companies with the same name, to avoid the entry of duplicate
records into the system.
[0162] The Retriever Releases module is a specialized parsing and
processing module that is designed to evaluate press releases and
events listings from various public sources, and to sort the data
within the listings into those pieces of information desired by the
Gateway. The data is manually processed by Gateway representatives,
who evaluate data presented on a screen as being parsed correctly,
thus putting PR representative names in the right boxes and
capturing the right relationships among the parties represented in
the press release, for example. This module allows new industries
to be added to the Gateway as it provides the system with data
about companies active in marketing, their internal and external PR
representatives, and background information on key firms. This data
is split out and processed into databases for later updating and
approval by the companies as they are requested to enter the system
by Influencers.
[0163] The Form Editor allows all pages within Gateway to be
created, edited and updated. The Form Editor defines how pages are
laid out, how data is accepted and validated by the system, how
Help is accessed by users, and other key structural handling of
information in the Gateway.
[0164] The Organization module in the Internal area of the Gateway
allows administrators to access and edit organization records. Of
particular interest is the ability to merge duplicate organization
records into one record. The Gateway administrator enables the user
to change any profile element of the organizations records.
[0165] The People module in the Internal area of the Gateway allows
Gateway administrators to access and edit personal profile records.
Of particular interest is the ability to merge duplicate people
records into one record. The Gateway administrator enables the user
to change any profile element of the personal profile records.
[0166] The Gateway Help Editor module enables Gateway
administrators to quickly update the Help menus on any page in the
system. If Customer Service notices that a particular page is
misunderstood by some users, the Help text can be immediately
edited in real-time.
[0167] The Gateway Tasks module is the Gateway's main programmer
interface where programmers are assigned tasks. All active
programming tasks are listed, prioritized, and applied status in
this module. Only members of the programming and operations staffs
are given access to these modules. All customer bug and feature
requests flow into this module. The Gateway administrator can
create reports to track developed work versus new requirements, and
create listings on the fly of tasks by status, project, category,
programmer, priority, last update, and other key variables. The
Task module is fully searchable as well.
[0168] The Best in Class Capability module of the Gateway provides
the ability to create a Best In Class dataset by applying selective
filtering to the companies and their products, in a particular
category. For instance, a product manager creating a new product
might wish to simultaneously meet the optimal capabilities from a
number of products or services. Users can simply view a matrix of
the products and check those product responses that constitute the
Best In Class of the offerings as a group. The user can then
display the Best In Class product in a matrix with existing
offerings to show how the Best In Class product fares.
[0169] The Gateway Branding Assistant module is used to help
determine what brands are available to market a product or service.
Examples are available URLs, toll-free numbers, logos, patents and
trademarks. The Gateway will search databases of key `deal
stoppers` to determine the general availability of a term prior to
investing in a more detailed and expensive search with the range of
third party providers of such services. The goal is to provide a
snapshot of available communications paths for the brand manager in
one quick setting.
[0170] The Gateway Briefing Network provides support for unicast
and multicast conferencing. For instance, users of such capability
would be able to share screens, chat, take and share notes, view
participant lists and other standard web conferencing capabilities
(similar to WebEx, PlaceWare, Raindance, etc.) The Gateway Briefing
Network is tied into all elements of the Gateway, enabling
notifications, scheduling, sharing of Gateway data, etc. A typical
use would be for a product briefing from a vendor to a group of
reporters/analysts using integrated voice/data/video
technology.
[0171] The Gateway Challenge/Response module allows users to
partake in an ongoing stored onscreen chat, debating or describing
in more detail information displayed. For instance, a company might
clarify data contained in a Buyer's Guide by adding another layer
of information `attached` to the cell of data, saying perhaps that
while the cell itself says `No`, the comments might say `This
feature will be available in Spring 2005`.
[0172] A further example of use of the Gateway of the present
invention is in respect to a trade show. Industry trade shows are a
popular way for vendors to present their current and future
products and services to the customers and the media. In many
cases, trade shows are an ideal location for meetings to take place
between tradeshow participants, analysts and journalists.
Scheduling such a meeting can, however, prove to be difficult.
[0173] Before a tradeshow, it is typical for people to attempt to
contact the reporters and editors that are going to the tradeshow
to arrange meetings with their executives. It is time consuming and
a real challenge, however, to balance everyone's schedules. During
the show, there are changes to the schedules that have to be
accommodated and thus, a need to contact those who are scheduled
for meeting. Simple messages and inquires such as "I'm running
late." or "Where is the user's booth, I cannot find it.," etc. can
be difficult to communicate effectively.
[0174] The ideal situation would be to provide a central clearing
house for setting these meetings up and to have synchronization
between the Gateway of the present invention and meeting
participant calendar programs in order to keep the two in sync for
all meeting participants. Accordingly, the Gateway provides an
alerting application via SMS that alerts people of upcoming
meetings, and provide the potential to send information back and
forth between the meeting coordinators and meeting
participants.
[0175] At the earliest stage of the process, tradeshow vendors
typically block out a time in which meetings will occur. They then
ask journalists en masse if they would like to meet. They may
invite a select group first, get them on board, and then invite
more to fill vacancies in the schedule. Note that there might be
several tracks of meetings to be planned (e.g., they might have
three conference rooms in their booth plus a suite, to plan
meetings for). They might also decide to plan meetings around a
person or a place, and perhaps both.
[0176] On the recipient side, industry analysts and other
interested parties receive all these requests but really do not
have a good way to manage them all. He or she accepts them (or
rejects them) and then negotiates a time that he will be available
to meet.
[0177] The Gateway of the present inventions works wells as a
"middle man" to help coordinate all of the meeting activities and
frequent meeting updates that usually are required. The difficult
part is the real time coordination of schedules. The Gateway is
particularly suited for such a task.
[0178] Also, there must be provided the ability to account for
transit time between the meeting places. For example, at some
tradeshow locations, it takes as long as 20 minutes or more to walk
from one meeting location to another. The Gateway allows for each
meeting to have an updateable "profile" which takes into account
such things as the meeting location and the expected travel time
between meeting locations. Each meeting participate, being
"tracked" by the Gateway, can also be sent a message via their PDA,
cell phone and/or pager reminding them of the meeting and the
suggest time that they should depart from their current meeting
location to arrive at the next meeting location arrive on time.
Also, a central messaging board can be provided with similar
information for the convenience of those who do not have a way of
receiving such messages personally.
[0179] The Gateway also allows meeting coordinators and schedulers
to put people into `buckets` of prioritization. For example, if a
firm really wants to have particular analysts meet with them, they
are priority one while other analysts are priority two, etc. The
firm may only invite the priority one analysts first before
inviting the priority two analysts. Often, a specific analyst is
not going to the show, but would want another analyst to go in
their place, or to schedule a follow-on (or pre-show) briefing via
telephone, or the Gateway of the present invention. Thus, the
Gateway has the ability to schedule pre-show and post-show
events.
[0180] The Gateway can also be used to provide an end-to-end
process governing the creation, nomination to, judging, award, and
presentation of awards. Nominees might be nominated for one or
multiple awards.
[0181] The first step is to create the award group within the
Gateway. The award group is defined with a description and various
pertinent preferences. If there is just one award, then the award
group and award are the same. If not, there may be a number of
awards underneath an overall award group.
[0182] The next step is to create the awards in the group. This is
like creating a schema for a directory. Each node represents an
award. Judges and nominees will be linked to each award. This
creates the judging relationship for each award.
[0183] There may also be awards that are based on other awards:
Best in Show might be a nominee group made up of the winners of all
sub-categories.
[0184] The next step is to enter the contacts for this award--there
are two groups, Judges and Nominees. The nominees will either go
through a formal entry process, which might or might not have a
payment obligation for submission, or be entered by the
administrator.
[0185] Judges are invited to be judges and are assigned to their
categories in one of two ways--they ask for certain ones (selecting
them in order of preference) or they are put in categories by the
administrator. Judges need to confirm they will participate.
[0186] There might be two levels of judges--one set to narrow it to
semifinalists, and one set to vote on the finalists.
[0187] If nominees fill out forms, then the survey engine within
the Gateway would be the mechanism to create that form. If judges
fill out forms, then the survey engine would be the mechanism to
create that form. Thus, there are multiple forms that might be
created and associated with each award.
[0188] The main interface of communications is email. The
administrator is able to view the progress at any time via a
contacts status page. The administrator will also be able to sort
columns.
[0189] Judges need to be able to say how they would like to receive
the items to be judged, if something other than a form is being
judged. For instance, if this is a software review, it could be
sent via electronic download or CDRom. Some companies ask if the
judge would like to receive all the documentation. Some provide
instructions for how to open an account. Thus, once the Awards
process has begun, the vendors will be asked to come into the
system to fill out a form for how to undertake the process of
judging their products. Likely, they will request a meeting and
suggest some times to meet. This time could be agreed upon and the
judge could have an online representation of his scheduled
meetings.
[0190] It should be obvious from the above-discussed apparatus
embodiment that numerous other variations and modifications of the
apparatus of this invention are possible, and such will readily
occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the scope of this
invention is not to be limited to the embodiment disclosed, but is
to include any such embodiments as may be encompassed within the
scope of the claims appended hereto.
* * * * *