U.S. patent application number 12/905615 was filed with the patent office on 2011-02-24 for systems for communicating current and future activity information among mobile internet users and methods therefor.
Invention is credited to Neeraj Jhanji.
Application Number | 20110042453 12/905615 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46329478 |
Filed Date | 2011-02-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110042453 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jhanji; Neeraj |
February 24, 2011 |
Systems for communicating current and future activity information
among mobile Internet users and methods therefor
Abstract
The invention relates, in one embodiment to a
computer-implemented method implemented via the Internet for
coordinating an activity between a user of a mobile Internet device
and other users communicating through the Internet. The method
includes receiving activity information pertaining to the event
from the user via the mobile Internet device. The activity pertains
to an activity occurring during a time period that overlaps the
time the activity information is received. The method further
includes transmitting the activity information to a backend
database coupled to the Internet, the backend database being remote
from the mobile Internet device. The method further includes
rendering the activity information accessible to at least one
recipient via the Internet. The recipient represents a subset of
the users coupled to the Internet and having access privilege to
information pertaining to the event involving the user.
Inventors: |
Jhanji; Neeraj; (Tokyo,
JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LOUIS J. HOFFMAN, P.C.
11811 North Tatum Boulevard, Suite 2100
Phoenix
AZ
85028
US
|
Family ID: |
46329478 |
Appl. No.: |
12/905615 |
Filed: |
October 15, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12210065 |
Sep 12, 2008 |
7818415 |
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12905615 |
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11871190 |
Oct 12, 2007 |
7822823 |
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12210065 |
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10149203 |
Sep 11, 2002 |
7284033 |
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PCT/IB00/01995 |
Dec 13, 2000 |
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11871190 |
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60170844 |
Dec 14, 1999 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
235/375 ;
235/494 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/18 20130101;
G06Q 30/0261 20130101; H04L 67/306 20130101; H04W 4/029 20180201;
H04L 51/04 20130101; H04L 51/24 20130101; G06Q 30/0267 20130101;
H04W 4/20 20130101; G06Q 30/0259 20130101; H04W 4/02 20130101; H04L
67/24 20130101; H04L 51/20 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
235/375 ;
235/494 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00; G06K 19/06 20060101 G06K019/06 |
Claims
1-13. (canceled)
14. A method for using a commercial offering by a user's
Internet-capable mobile device, said commercial offering pertaining
to a product or a service provided by a merchant, the method
comprising: a) receiving the commercial offering over the Internet
at the user's Internet-capable mobile device, which commercial
offering includes a bar code displayable on a display of the
Internet-capable mobile device; and b) presenting the bar code,
displayed on the display, to said merchant for scanning by a bar
code scanning device.
15. (canceled)
16. The method of claim 14 wherein presenting the bar code further
comprises causing the bar code scanning device to scan the bar
code.
Description
[0001] This application claims priority from an earlier filed
provisional patent application entitled "Improved Systems for
Communication among Mobile Internet Users" by the same inventor
Jhanji, application Ser. No. 60/170,844, filed on Dec. 14, 1999,
which is incorporated herein by reference. Priority is also claimed
from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/589,684, filed Jun. 7,
2000 and 09/589,685, filed Jun. 7, 2000, the contents of which are
incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to systems and methods for
facilitating communication between mobile Internet users and for
facilitating electronic commerce that is tailored to the
communicated information. More particularly, the present invention
relates to techniques for allowing users of Internet-capable mobile
devices to communicate in a manner that takes into account user
identity and profile, user status, user present and future/intended
activity, user present and future/intended location, and time
duration and for allowing merchants to promote goods and services
in a more effective manner based on the user's communicated
information and behavior profile.
[0003] As the Internet becomes more accepted and useful, there has
been a tremendous amount of interest in endowing mobile devices,
such as cellular phones, laptop computers, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), pagers, and the like, with wireless Internet
capability. Emails and access to web search engines are often cited
as the two Internet applications that users wish to have access to
while being away from their desktop Internet terminal. As
manufacturers turn their attention to the wireless Internet market,
consortiums and standards have evolved for bringing the power of
the Internet to the wireless and miniaturized world of mobile
devices. By way of example, technical proposals such as the
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and mobile Internet (mobile IP)
have received much attention in the press as of late.
[0004] As the wireless mobile Internet area is in its infancy and
market penetration has been rather low, much of the current
attention is directed toward issues involved in achieving an
acceptable data transmission rate, data security, and reliability
via the wireless medium and in bringing desktop-type applications,
which the users have long enjoyed on their desktop terminals, to
the small screen of the typical mobile device. However, there has
been less attention to other important implications of wireless
Internet access, particularly implications that do not apply to
stationary, desk-bound Internet users.
[0005] It is reasoned by the inventor herein that one implication
of wireless Internet computing is that the mobile user's location
may dynamically change with time as the mobile user moves about
during his day. Since his Internet access is through a portable
mobile device, the mobile user essentially carries the whole
Internet with him from location to location. Accordingly, wireless
mobile Internet access is capable of a whole range of applications
vastly different from those applicable to stationary, desktop
Internet access. With convenient mobile Internet access, the user
may readily update his information to the Internet as well as
utilize the Internet to search for information pertaining to other
users, for example. For mobile Internet users, time and location
become very important dimensions of the communication
experience.
[0006] Furthermore, it is expected that mobile users will utilize
wireless Internet access in a manner that is more integrated with
their daily routines than their deskbound counterparts. Because of
the small size, convenience, and portability of the portable
Internet access devices, it is expected that mobile users will
integrate Internet technology into their daily activities in ways
that are simply not possible before. By way of example, a user
employing an Internet-capable cellular phone may have Internet
access while shopping, commuting, dining, strolling about town, and
the like. It is expected that mobile Internet users will access the
Internet to receive information, to communicate, to engage in
electronic commerce, and the like while moving about handling their
day-to-day chores. In contrast, deskbound users, because of the
lack of mobility of their Internet access, are typically restricted
to accessing the Internet only when at home, in the office, or at a
location where Internet access through a desktop terminal may be
found.
[0007] Two of the most challenging but potentially useful areas in
wireless mobile Internet access involve mobile user coordination
and electronic commerce. Mobile user coordination refers to
time-dependent, activity-dependent and/or location-dependent
coordination among individual mobile Internet users to enable them
to coordinate in order to participate in a certain activity or
accomplish a certain goal, either in the present time or at some
future point in time. By way of example, a mobile Internet user may
wish to coordinate an impromptu gathering with selected friends and
may wish to use the Internet to both gather information about the
friends' availability, current location, and/or current/planned
activities and to invite the friends to meet at a specified
location at a specified time. As another example, a mobile Internet
user may indicate that he intends to be at some particular place in
the future and invite/instruct others to meet at the same place. As
yet another example, a mobile Internet user may be interested in a
certain activity (e.g., shopping, playing tennis) at some specified
location at some specified time (either in the immediate future or
at some specified time in the future) and may employ the Internet
to publish his intention to invite either selected others or anyone
interested to participate.
[0008] Electronic commerce based on user location and activity
information is another area that merchants are highly interested
in. If the user past, current, and future activity and location are
known, such information in conjunction with the user's behavioral
and/or purchasing profile may allow a merchant to more precisely
tailor the offering of their products or services and communicate
such offering to the user to maximize the chance of purchase.
[0009] In the current art, users may attempt to employ emails to
inform others of his coordination effort. However, even if emails
become widely accessible by mobile Internet users, there are
drawbacks to using emails for mobile user coordination purposes.
For one, emails owes it popularity partly to the fact that it
allows the user to attend to the emails only when convenient. The
rest of the time, the received emails sit patiently in the
receiver's mailbox, waiting to be read. However, this manner of use
is incompatible with mobile user coordination of events that are
location-dependent and are perishable with the passage of time. By
the time the recipient gets around to reading his email, the time
for the event may have already passed. Additionally, email is a
"push" medium, which intrudes into the recipient's daily routine.
This is particularly disadvantageous to mobile phone users who may
wish to be notified with an audible warning (such as a ring) as
soon as an email arrives.
[0010] Furthermore, email communication is intrusive in that it
presumes that the recipients wish to receive and review the
information sent by the senders. In fact, most Internet users
nowadays are deluged with emails, most of them may even be
well-intentioned, all of which require an undue amount of time
every day to review and respond. Users resent this and for many
users, the response has been to filter emails, either manually or
automatically, so that only the urgent emails (e.g., those from
superiors, loved ones, or work-related) are attended to right away
and the rest ignored until a convenient time (such as at the end of
the day or on weekends). Again, this manner of use is also
incompatible with the needs of mobile user coordination pertaining
to events which may be location-specific and time-sensitive.
[0011] Furthermore, unless a user sends out an email or responds to
one, email communication does not allow others to query for one's
availability, current location, mood, intended activity, location
in the future, etc. without being intrusive. By way of example, a
user cannot readily inquire about the current location or
availability of another user without sending an email and
requesting a reply or in some manner require a response from the
other user, who may be busy or simply uninterested in the reason
for the inquiry.
[0012] Additionally, email content tends to be free-form and is
thus difficult for merchants to easily utilize the information
contained therein for the purpose of determining the user's
location, present and intended activity, and the like. Since such
information is of great interest to merchants, the difficulty of
ascertaining such information from free-form email communication is
a drawback. Additionally, the free-form nature of email also
renders it less convenient as a communication tool for mobile
Internet users. This is because most mobile Internet users loath to
enter free-form data on the miniaturized keyboard/handwriting
recognition pad that are furnished with most mobile Internet
devices today.
[0013] With regard to the need to furnish time-relevant location
information for mobile Internet users, it has been proposed that
the user's current location can be tracked using location-finding
technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS). In fact, it
has been proposed that GPS circuitries be incorporated into mobile
Internet devices in the future. However, there are drawbacks to
such a proposal. For one, GPS tracking seriously threatens the
privacy of the user of the GPS-enabled mobile Internet device since
it renders it possible to track the user at every instant. For most
users, this is the equivalent of being followed throughout the day
and is simply an unwelcomed intrusion. The integration of GPS
technology into mobile Internet devices also involves additional
power requirement, complex circuitries and costs, both for the
mobile Internet devices and for the transmission networks that
handle them. As the majority of mobile Internet devices, as well as
their support infrastructures, are not GPS-enabled today, it is
also not possible to offer services based on GPS technology until a
sufficient number of users and service providers have upgraded
their equipment to work with GPS.
[0014] Still furthermore, although location-finding technologies
such as GPS can track a given user's current location, no
information is available about that user's current activity, future
activity, intended future location at a specified time, and/or
availability/willingness to participate. Yet, these are some of the
pieces of information that may be very useful in a mobile user
coordination application.
[0015] Group calendar programs are another class of desktop
application programs that may conceivably be used for coordinating
mobile users. However, most group calendar products are directed
toward small, closed groups, i.e., groups whose members are known
and/or formed in advance to further a particular goal such as
employees of a business. The available group calendar products are,
for the most part, ill adapted for use via the Internet wherein the
number and identity of users may not be known in advance and
wherein the range of activities proposed may be infinite. By way of
example, most group calendar programs are not well adapted for
allowing previously unknown users to sign on and perform searches
and for allowing the users to control the privacy settings for
individual items of information about themselves. As another
example, group calendars tend to work by posting information on
calendars of others, a paradigm that is unsuitable when the size of
the group that a user wishes to gain expose to may be as large as
the Internet community itself. In fact, most group calendars become
unmanageable when the size of the group become too large and the
sheer volume of calendared events overwhelm most users (giving rise
to a problem not unlike the spam email problem). This paradigm also
tends not to work well on the miniaturized screens of most mobile
Internet devices, which render it difficult to view a large amount
of displayed data.
[0016] Additionally, because calendar products tend to be employed
by users to plan their day and activities, the majority of which
involve private activities and typically do not include other
users, most of the entries therein are inapplicable for use in
mobile user coordination applications (which, by design, are
directed toward sharing information among mobile users). Also,
daily calendar information (versus posted information designed to
invite participation by others) is typically considered highly
private by most users, and a user tend to be reluctant to disclose
such information to others (which partly explains the relative lack
of use of such products nowadays and where they are used, only for
work-related purposes and work-related entries among small, known
group of people). Because most people tend to associate a greater
degree of privacy with their calendar entries, using calendar
information for the purpose for promoting goods and services by
merchants may provoke an unduly negative reaction among users.
[0017] A case can be made for maintaining multiple calendars, one
of which could be designated for public/semi-public access so that
other users can review the calendared information for the purpose
of deciding whether they wish to participate. However, such a
solution tends to be impractical as users typically do not want to
have to keep track of which calendar to use for which purpose since
the goal of using a calendar, after all, is to centralize
information in one location for the purpose of planning one's
day.
[0018] Furthermore, most group calendar products are not well
adapted to the needs of mobile Internet users, who inherent
characteristics is constantly changing location. This is hardly
surprising since group calendar products were developed primarily
for the desktop Internet users. Furthermore, most group calendar
products also involve unstructured data entry, which tends to be
less attractive for mobile Internet users who, as mentioned
earlier, have to contend with the limited screen space and
keyboard/handwriting recognition pad of their mobile Internet
devices. Still further, the group calendar products currently
available, being developed for desktop computers, tend to require a
large amount of memory, permanent storage, and processing power to
run. Most of these programs exist as executable codes permanently
stored on the desktop computers. Permanent and random access
memory, as well as computing power and battery life, are of course
limited resources on mobile Internet devices, thus rendering the
current generation of group calendar products unsuitable for use on
the mobile Internet devices. Instant messaging, which is a
technology developed when Internet access was primarily
accomplished via desktop terminals, also suffer many of the same
deficiencies. Through instant messaging, it is now possible to
inform other users of the user's current activity and availability.
However, instant messaging as it is currently implemented does not
account for the mobile nature of users (as would be the case when
users access the Internet wirelessly via mobile Internet devices)
or the time-dependent nature of the activities involved. For
example, there is no established facility within instant messaging
to allow users to invite others to a planned activity happening at
some predefined time in the future at some predefined location (or
allow others to search for the same). Instant messaging
applications also require downloading executable codes, a
requirement that is typically unwelcomed by users of the mobile
Internet devices who are constantly challenged with doing more with
less power consumption, and less computing and memory
resources.
[0019] Because of these shortcomings, these technologies, which
were developed when desktop Internet access were the predominant
mode of access, do not adequately serve the needs of the mobile
Internet users. As front-ends for electronic commerce applications,
they also have many deficiencies. In view of the foregoing, there
are desired improved techniques for allowing mobile Internet users
to communicate for the purpose of coordinating activities and to
allow merchants to employ user identity and behavior/shopping
profile, user status, user present and future/intended activity,
user present and future/intended location, and/or time duration in
the promotion of goods and services.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0020] The invention relates, in one embodiment to a
computer-implemented method implemented via the Internet for
coordinating an activity between a user of a mobile Internet device
and other users communicating through the Internet. The method
includes receiving activity information pertaining to the event
from the user via the mobile Internet device. The activity pertains
to an activity occurring during a time period that overlaps the
time the activity information is received. The method further
includes transmitting the activity information to a backend
database coupled to the Internet, the backend database being remote
from the mobile Internet device. The method further includes
rendering the activity information accessible to at least one
recipient via the Internet. The recipient represents a subset of
the users coupled to the Internet and having access privilege to
information pertaining to the event involving the user.
[0021] The invention also relates, in another embodiment, to a
computer-implemented system for coordinating an activity between a
user of a first mobile Internet device and other users
communicating through the Internet. The computer-implemented system
includes a server arrangement coupled to the Internet. The server
arrangement includes first codes and second codes. The first codes
is configured to implement a first application program using a
web-based paradigm on the first mobile Internet device. The first
application program is implemented with the first codes transmitted
from the server arrangement to the first mobile Internet device.
The first application program is configured to receive activity
information pertaining to the activity from the user. The activity
pertains to an activity occurring during the time period
overlapping the time the activity information is received. The
computer-implemented system also includes a backend database
coupled to the server arrangement. The backend database is
configured to be in communication with the first application
program via the Internet. The backend database is configured to
receive the activity information from the first application
program. The backend database is remote from the first mobile
Internet device. The second codes is configured to implement a
second application program using the web-based database on a second
mobile Internet device. The second application program is
implemented with the second codes transmitted from the server
arrangement to the second mobile Internet device. The second
application program is configured to render the activity
information to a recipient via the second mobile Internet device.
The recipient represents a subset of the users coupled to the
Internet and having access privilege to information pertaining to
the event involving the user.
[0022] The invention relates, in one embodiment to a
computer-implemented method implemented via the Internet for
coordinating a future event between a user of a mobile Internet
device and other users communicating through the Internet. The
method includes receiving future activity information pertaining to
the future event from the user via the mobile Internet device. The
future activity pertains to an activity occurring at a future time
relative to a time the future activity information is received. The
method further includes transmitting the future activity
information to a backend database coupled to the Internet, the
backend database being remote from the mobile Internet device. The
method further includes rendering the future activity information
accessible to at least one recipient via the Internet. The
recipient represents a subset of the users coupled to the Internet
and having access privilege to information pertaining to the future
event involving the user.
[0023] The invention also relates, in another embodiment, to a
computer-implemented system for coordinating a future event between
a user of a first mobile Internet device and other users
communicating through the Internet. The computer-implemented system
includes a server arrangement coupled to the Internet. The server
arrangement includes first codes and second codes. The first codes
is configured to implement a first application program using a
web-based paradigm on the first mobile Internet device. The first
application program is implemented with the first codes transmitted
from the server arrangement to the first mobile Internet device.
The first application program is configured to receive future
activity information pertaining to the future event from the user.
The future activity pertains to an activity occurring at a future
time relative to a time the future activity information is
received. The computer-implemented system also includes a backend
database coupled to the server arrangement. The backend database is
configured to be in communication with the first application
program via the Internet. The backend database is configured to
receive the future activity information from the first application
program. The backend database is remote from the first mobile
Internet device. The second codes is configured to implement a
second application program using the web-based database on a second
mobile Internet device. The second application program is
implemented with the second codes transmitted from the server
arrangement to the second mobile Internet device. The second
application program is configured to render the future activity
information to a recipient via the second mobile Internet device.
The recipient represents a subset of the users coupled to the
Internet and having access privilege to information pertaining to
the future event involving the user.
[0024] Another aspect of the present invention is a
computer-implemented method implemented via the Internet for
facilitating commercial offering to a user of a mobile Internet
device, said commercial offering pertaining to a product or a
service provided by a merchant. The method comprises receiving a
first set of data pertaining to an activity from said user via said
mobile Internet device, said activity pertaining to an activity
occurring during a time period which overlaps a time that said
activity information is received, said first set of data including
an activity type and location information. The said first set of
data is transmitted to a backend database coupled to said Internet,
said backend database being geographically remote from said mobile
Internet device. The first set of data is compared with a second
set of data in said backend database, said second set of data
including activity and location information received from said
merchant prior to said receiving said first set of data from said
user. If information in said first set of data satisfies conditions
specified in said second set of data, the commercial offering
available is rendered to said user via said Internet device through
said Internet.
[0025] Preferably, the second set of data also includes time
information, wherein said commercial offering is rendered to said
user only if said time period also overlaps with a time specified
by said time information.
[0026] Preferably, the activity type is shopping.
[0027] Still preferably, the activity type is eating.
[0028] Still preferably, the second set of data includes age
information, wherein said commercial offering is rendered to said
user only if an age of said user satisfies conditions specified by
said age information.
[0029] Still preferably, the commercial offering represents an
electronic coupon to be redeemed at a store operated by said
merchant.
[0030] Yet another aspect of the present invention is a
computer-implemented method implemented via the Internet for
facilitating commercial offering to a user of a mobile Internet
device, said commercial offering pertaining to a product or a
service provided by a merchant. The method comprises receiving a
first set of data pertaining to an activity from said user via said
mobile Internet device, said activity pertaining to an activity
occurring during a time period which overlaps a time that said
activity information is received, said first set of data including
an activity type and location information. The first set of data is
transmitted to a backend database coupled to said Internet, said
backend database being geographically remote from said mobile
Internet device. Parameters in a second set of data is compared
with a third set of data in said backend database, said second set
of data including said first set of data and data pertaining to an
activity entered by another user different from said user, said
third set of data including activity and location information
received from said merchant prior to said receiving said first set
of data from said user. If information in said second set of data
satisfies conditions specified in said third set of data, the
commercial offering available to said user is rendered via said
Internet device through said Internet.
[0031] Preferably, the third set of data also includes time
information, wherein said commercial offering is rendered to said
user only if said time period also overlaps with a time specified
by said time information.
[0032] Preferably, the third set of data includes age information,
wherein said commercial offering is rendered to said user only if
an age of said user satisfies conditions specified by said age
information.
[0033] Still another aspect of the present invention is a
computer-implemented method implemented via the Internet for
facilitating commercial offering to a user of a mobile Internet
device, said commercial offering pertaining to a product or a
service provided by a merchant. The method comprises receiving a
first set of data pertaining to an activity from said user via said
mobile Internet device, said activity pertaining to an activity
occurring during a time period which overlaps a time that said
activity information is received, said first set of data including
an activity type and location information. The first set of data is
transmitted to a backend database coupled to said Internet, said
backend database being geographically remote from said mobile
Internet device. Parameters in a second set of data are compared
with a third set of data in said backend database, said second set
of data including said first set of data and historical purchase
history by said user, said third set of data including activity and
location information received from said merchant prior to said
receiving said first set of data from said user. If information in
said second set of data satisfies conditions specified in said
third set of data, rendering said commercial offering available to
said user via said Internet device through said Internet.
[0034] Preferably, the purchase history by said user is updated in
said backend database if said electronic coupon is redeemed.
[0035] Preferably, the first set of data also includes time
information, wherein said commercial offering is rendered to said
user only if said time period also overlaps with a time specified
by said time information.
[0036] Still preferably, the third set of data includes age
information, wherein said commercial offering is rendered to said
user only if an age of said user satisfies conditions specified by
said age information.
[0037] Further aspects of the present invention include computer
program products, including computer readable media comprising
instructions. These instructions enable one or more computers to
perform the methods disclosed above.
[0038] These and other features of the present invention will be
described in more detail below in the detailed description of the
invention and in conjunction with the following figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0039] The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and
not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying
drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar
elements and in which:
[0040] FIG. 1 is a graphical depiction of one exemplary
implementation.
[0041] In FIG. 2, three sample views are provided.
[0042] In FIG. 3, an explanation of the two modes of operation is
provided.
[0043] In FIG. 4, an exemplary system architecture is proposed.
[0044] In FIG. 5, exemplary registration and log-in procedures are
illustrated.
[0045] FIG. 6 shows greater details pertaining to one exemplary
registration procedure.
[0046] In FIG. 7, exemplary application flows are illustrated to
show how the service would normally be used.
[0047] In FIG. 8, exemplary views of the public mode and the
private mode are illustrated.
[0048] In FIG. 9, exemplary views of the mates screen and the
sign-on screen are shown.
[0049] In FIG. 10, exemplary views of e-coupon activity are
shown.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0050] The present invention will now be described in detail with
reference to a few preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in
the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous
specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough
understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent,
however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may
be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In
other instances, well known process steps and/or structures have
not been described in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure
the present invention.
[0051] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a communication system implemented over the
Internet for allowing users of Internet-capable mobile-devices
(herein mobile Internet users) to make available and to control the
sharing of information about himself (or other users), availability
status for various modes of communication (e.g., by phone, by
email, and/or pager), activity (present or planned), location
(present or planned), and the time duration valid for such present
or planned activity. Since the postings may include information not
only about the user profile, status, and current activity but also
about future planned activity, location (current and planned), and
the time component, the communication system proposed is highly
suitable for mobile Internet usage, particularly in the area of
mobile user coordination wherein the relevance of the communication
is highly dependent on the status/activity/location/time
information pertaining to various users. Furthermore, the proposed
communication system permits a user to announce his present or
future location activity status to multiple people at once, who can
view it from the system website at the time of their choosing. The
proposed communication system also increases the likelihood of
chance encounters (through the use of the public mode, for example)
and enables users to communicate simple invitations in an
unobtrusive manner, which, if they had been issued via emails,
would have been perceived as "spamming." Furthermore, unlike group
calendars which work well for planned time but does not work well
for unplanned activities, the proposed communication system works
particularly well for a user or group of users who want to find
others to take advantage of unplanned time or a block of time that
has suddenly become available.
[0052] Among the first considerations of the proposed communication
system is ease of data entry for mobile Internet users, reduced
resource requirements for executing the application, as well as
gaining a critical mass of user participation. Ease of data entry
is critical for mobile Internet users since mobile Internet devices
are typically severely limited in its data entry capability (e.g.,
most do not have a full size keyboard to save space), its display
capability (e.g., most have a small screen to facilitate
portability and to reduce power usage). To this end, the inventive
application employs innovative interfaces to reduce the amount of
data entry and further to reduce the number of screen jumps or
scrolling that the user has to perform while entering data. As will
be shown in the exemplary implementation below, extensive use of
drop-down lists is employed whenever possible to allow data entry
by the point-and-click (or point-and-tap) method. As one example,
it is envisioned that location entry may be made by tapping on a
map displayed on the screen. It should be noted that the current
location status is self-declared. Furthermore, the selectable items
in the drop-down lists are intelligently ordered so that the items
most likely to be selected will be presented first in order to
minimize scrolling. By way of example, locations that the user most
frequently visit may be listed in the drop-down list for entered
locations. As another example, context analysis may be employed to
present more intelligent choices (e.g., presenting time selections
of 11:30 AM, noon, and 12:30 PM first when the action relates to
lunch instead of presenting time selections for the evening).
[0053] Reduced resource requirement is addressed by the innovative
methods described herein, which eliminates the use of exotic and
power-hungry technologies such as GPS for location determination.
As will be discussed later herein, the invention preferably
requests the location description from the user in order to
maximize the chance that such description will be understood by the
intended recipient and to allow the user some measure of control
over the privacy of the input information. As noted, the location
information is self-declared.
[0054] Further, unlike prior art group calendar programs, the
inventive technique preferably requires little, if any, resident
executable codes, thus minimizing the need to store such codes
permanently in the mobile Internet device and/or the need to
download and install such codes. All these techniques reduces the
processing, memory and/or I/O requirements, which contribute to
lower power consumption and render the inventive communication
system more adaptable for use with mobile Internet devices.
[0055] In one embodiment, the user profiles, status, and posted
information for mobile user coordination purposes are stored in a
backend database system, which is coupled to the Internet and
remote from the mobile Internet devices, to reduce the need to
store large volumes of data locally on the mobile Internet devices.
The database of user profiles, status, and posted information may
then be accessed by the mobile Internet users through their mobile
Internet devices using a web-based paradigm (e.g., by filling out
webpages which are served up to the user upon accessing the
service's website) in order to reduce the need to download
executable codes or to store executable codes on the mobile
Internet devices.
[0056] Preferably, updates of user profile and status, as well as
posting of information occur through webpage entries to be uploaded
to the backend system, which resides in the Internet. Likewise,
search parameters may also be inputted via webpage data entry. To
minimize power, memory, and processing requirements on the part of
the mobile Internet devices, memory and processing-intensive tasks
such as database storage, database updates, database searches, and
the like preferably occur remotely at the backend system instead
locally on the mobile Internet devices. Communication of search
results and other forms of communicated information between the
backend system and the individual users also preferably occur
through webpages. Data entry of user information, profile, and
status, as well as searches through the profiles, status updates,
and posted information associated with other users are accomplished
through the use of web-based forms, which both minimize/eliminate
the need for local executable codes and facilitate compatibility
across different mobile Internet devices.
[0057] A critical mass of user participation is required to make
any application that rely on users sharing data useful. To address
this point, innovative methods are described herein to make the
service more convenient for users, as well as to arouse potential
user's desire to be part of the system for the purpose of
communicating with others.
[0058] In accordance with one aspect of the invention, privacy is
protected since the sharing of the posted information is fully
controlled by the user himself. In one embodiment, the location
information (present and/or future) is entered by the user himself
through the mobile Internet device, thereby giving him full control
of whether to let the system (and thus anyone else) know his
location information. This is one important advantage of the
present invention. As will be discussed later, even after the user
enters his location information, privacy protection is provided by
allowing the user to control the dissemination of the posted
information.
[0059] Another advantage of this mode of information location entry
is that the information entered may take any form that may be
understood by the intended recipient. The location information can
be fully descriptive (e.g., "Restaurant Mikasa on Main Street") to
ensure understanding or in a secret code that is only understood
among selected friends (e.g., "place where we usually meet for
lunch") to provide an additional measure of privacy. The ability to
control the content of the location information, which is not
available with location-finding technologies such as GPS, allows
the content to be tailored for improved understanding and/or
privacy and is an important benefit of the present invention.
[0060] Another important benefit of this mode of location
information entry is the ability to include and utilize location
information for communication purposes in the communication system
of the present invention without requiring the use of complicated
location-finding technologies such as GPS, which would increase the
power consumption, cost, and complexity of the mobile Internet
devices. In this manner, the communication system proposed can be
implemented today without requiring updates by users and wireless
service providers to GPS technology. With the current method of
information entry, users can communicate their location information
irrespective whether the person posting the information or the
person accessing the posted information has the ability to receive
and/or understand GPS information.
[0061] Although this method of location information entry may not
furnish instantaneous location updates all the time, such is not an
important issue in most mobile user coordination applications.
Because time is another component of the information entered, other
users may readily ascertain, from the data pertaining to when the
location information is updated, the nature of the activity
involved, the expiration time and/or common sense, whether the
posting is still valid. By way of example, location data about a
movie (e.g., "watching a movie at the theater on 5.sup.th Street")
is probably not valid if entered more than six hours ago. As
another example, location data about lunch (e.g., meeting friends
for lunch at restaurant Mikasa on Main Street") is most likely
invalid if the current time is evening. Of course, if the
activities entered are accompanied by explicit time duration
information (e.g., watching a movie theater on 5.sup.th Street
until 8 PM), another user accessing such information may readily
determine whether the posting is still valid in view of the current
time. In one embodiment, expired activity entries are either not
displayed or clearly marked as such (e.g., "previous known status")
as soon as the current time exceeds the end time of the activity
entry.
[0062] Although user entry for location information is one
advantageous mode of operation, it is contemplated that as future
automatic location-finding technologies are phased into mobile
Internet devices, the user may also utilize the location finding
information to assist in the entry of his current location
information. By way of example, GPS coordinates, the location of
the wireless transmitter which the user employs for wireless
communication, the use of the wireless phone network to determine
user location, and the like, may be used as a substitute for or a
supplement to the current location information entered by the
user.
[0063] An important aspect of the present invention pertains to the
ability to furnish future location information. For mobile user
coordination applications, specifically in situations where users
try to coordinate an event to happen in the future at some
location, this information is of course highly useful. Again, the
future location information may be entered by the user in the same
way that he enters his current location information, i.e., via the
user interface of the mobile Internet device. This is an important
advantage since there is no simple way to accomplish the entry of
future location with location-finding technologies, such as GPS,
since location-finding technologies are useful only for finding a
current location. Although electronic databases of locations exist
and theoretically could allow a user to look up the information
pertaining to a location other than his current location, this is
not easily or conveniently done today due to the limitations in
transmission speed, display screen size, memory and/or storage of
most mobile Internet devices.
[0064] The inclusion of the time component, in addition to
furnishing information about the probable validity of the
activity/location posted, also facilitates the posting of
information pertaining to a future planned event at some future
point in time and/or location. This is an important advantage since
it allows users to communicate not only about current
activity/location but also about intentions or proposals regarding
a future activity and/or location. This has tremendous applications
in the mobile user coordination applications as it allows the
planning of, invitation to, and/or searching for events that has
yet to happen. By way of example, a user may now post information
pertaining to a proposed meeting at a certain location at a certain
time period and make the posting accessible to selected users or to
the public to allow them to plan accordingly.
[0065] In order for other users or groups of users to access such
posted information, access privilege needs to be granted by the
original posting user. Access privilege can be granted to
individual users, to all users belonging to predefined groups, or
even to the entire public (e.g., for information that the original
posting user does not deem to be highly private). Further,
different items of information pertaining to a particular user may
have different access privilege associated therewith. By way of
example, a particular user may grant the public access to his name
and email address but may withhold from the public the privilege to
check on his current location and/or email address (which may be
made available only to selected friends, for example).
[0066] In one embodiment, the Internet-capable mobile devices
represent Internet-capable cellular phones although, as mentioned
earlier, other devices including laptop computers, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), pagers, and the like, may also employ the
techniques disclosed herein. Preferably but not necessarily, the
communication system is implemented such that the front-end for
posting information or reviewing the posted information is
accessible through a web browser (i.e., an application for
accessing websites and webpages). In the case of Internet cellular
phones, the front-end may be a manufacturer-specific web browser or
one that adheres to an industry standard, e.g., the Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) standard. Even more preferably, access
to the inventive communication system for the purpose of posting
information and/or accessing the posted information by others
(and/or other communication via the inventive communication system)
may be accomplished via standard browser technologies (e.g., HTML,
XML, Java, ActiveX, and/or the like) so that no download or
installation is necessary.
[0067] Generally speaking, a user registered with the inventive
communication system may use the Internet to access the system for
updating information about himself. As mentioned earlier, this
information includes not only profile information (e.g., name,
phone number, email address, hobby, zodiac signs, blood group,
favorite movie star, etc.) and availability information (e.g.,
available for telephone calls, available for chats, available for
activity, etc.) but also current activity, current location (if
applicable) and the duration of such current activity (if
applicable). By way of example, a user may update his information
to indicate that he is dining at a specific restaurant until 9 PM.
This information may be made available to selected people to whom
the posting user has granted permission earlier. The information
may be simply updated to the system backend (which includes a
webserver subsystem as well as any necessary gateway servers--such
as those offered by cellular service providers--and a database
subsystem for storing and accessing user information) to render
them accessible to users having the proper access privilege.
Alternatively or additionally, the posting of information may cause
the posted information (or a notification pertaining thereto) to be
automatically sent to selected users in the form of a link to a
webpage or email.
[0068] In the mobile user coordination context, an invite facility
is provided to permit a user to send invitations to selected other
users (or to the public) to invite participation in a current or
planned event. By way of example, a user may invite selected other
users to a movie or tennis game by posting the activity, time
and/or location pertaining to the event and send such information
to the backend system for access. The event itself need not happen
presently or even planned. The invitation may take the form of a
query, for example, to allow the user sending out the invitation to
ascertain the identity, the level of availability and/or
willingness of the invitees in the proposed activity. Invitation
may be used a way to indicate to a familiar group of users of one's
current or proposed activity/location/time to allow others to
respond appropriately, or may be used as a way to publish one's
current or proposed activity/location/time to users known or
unknown to facilitate meeting new people.
[0069] In some context, an invitation may take the form of a
request and may carry the force of a command, depending on the
relationship between the sender and the invitee (e.g., an
invitation between a boss and a subordinate in the context of work
may imply that there is no option as to participation on the part
of the invitee/subordinate). This may be true if the communication
is employed to facilitate work coordination among employees, for
example.
[0070] Once the invitation is sent to the backend system, it may be
made available for review by those who have been granted the proper
access privilege. Alternatively or additionally, a message may be
sent out to the invitees to alert them of the presence of the
invitation so that a more rapid response can be facilitated. The
option to be alerted may be specified by the sender, may be handled
automatically by the system, or may be specified as an option by
the recipient based on some filtering criteria.
[0071] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a search facility wherein a user may search among
all users and/or posted information (or at least users and/or
information to which the searcher has access privilege) for
postings or users based on some search criteria. Since
substantially all user profiles and posted information are kept in
the database subsystem, such data is available to those having the
proper access privilege. By way of example, a certain user may
perform a search among selected ones of her friends for those
currently engaged in shopping activities or planning to go
shopping. As another example, a certain user may perform a search
to check on the status, location, or activity pertaining to a
specific other user. As another example, a given user may wish to
search for anyone in the public who is interested in a particular
activity, who may be in a particular location, or who may have a
certain profile characteristic of interest. Since many of the items
of information pertaining to user activities are time-sensitive,
searches preferably take into account the time component whenever
appropriate (e.g., for activity currently taking place or proposed
in the future). Along with user profile and activity, the invention
permits users to find one another based on location and time, as
well as having a degree of control over the privacy of their user
profile and posted information.
[0072] By implementing the proposed communication system on the web
and allowing users to perform searches through the database of user
profile/status/posted information, the present invention
facilitates meeting people in a way that is simply unattainable
before. The fact that the posted information pertains to current
activities or proposed activities of mobile Internet users, and
includes both the location and time dimensions, means that a user
looking for partners for activities now has unprecedented exposure
and access to an audience that is potentially as large as the
Internet user base itself. By permitting a user to selectively
grant/withhold access by other users to the information posted,
privacy is enhanced. It is contemplated that privacy control
setting may be provided to allow a given user to control whether
another user or group of user has access to none, to a part, or to
all of the information pertaining to the given user. By way of
example, a given user may decide that some users may be granted
access only to certain types of postings or even only part of the
information in the postings and may set the privacy control setting
associated with these information items accordingly. Of course
privacy control setting may be associated with any aspect of the
user's profile, status, location, time, etc. and may be set
individually for specific users who may wish to access the given
user's information (e.g., granting John access to the user's name
and email but not business address). The point is that privacy
control setting, if desired, can be associated with any item of
information pertaining to a particular user to allow that user to
finely control access by other users, groups of users, or the
public. For usability reasons, however, groups of information may
be grouped together and have a common privacy control setting in
order to simplify access control.
Exemplary Process Flows
[0073] Exemplary process flows for signing up a user, for login,
for private mode and public operations are shown below for users of
Internet-enabled cellular phones. It should be noted that the
specific process flows disclosed below are only exemplary and
specific implementations may vary. Accordingly, it will be apparent
to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be
practiced without some of the specific steps in the process flows
and that not every conventional, minute process step has been
described in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure the
present invention. [0074] 1. Sign-Up [0075] 1.1. User has been
invited (by the computer-implemented mobile user coordination
system or by another user) [0076] 1.1.1. Clicks on invitation URL
(containing the e-mail address to which the invitation was sent)
[0077] 1.1.2. User is welcomed by the welcome screen of the
Internet-enabled cellular phone [0078] 1.1.3. User is shown his
mates' status information, else shown public mode information if no
mates' status information is available (as in the case when, for
example, the user is invited by the computer-implemented system
instead of being invited by another user) [0079] 1.1.4. User is
asked to sign-up Yes/No [0080] 1.1.5. If Yes, user is asked to
enter phone # (if the e-mail address doesn't contain the phone
number already) and choose a password [0081] 1.1.6. User is asked
to save the next screen as a cached page for future logins if
desired [0082] 1.1.7. User is asked to grant privilege to mate (who
invited user) [0083] 1.1.8. User is asked to invite 3 mates by
entering their e-mail addresses (makes score=3). This optional step
is done to facilitate fast viral growth of the base of users [0084]
1.1.9. User is asked to enter profile information such as, for
example, age, sex and other profile information. To submit a photo,
he is requested to use the web site, if desired. [0085] 1.1.10.
Enjoy! Sign-up is completed. [0086] 1.2. User has come in cold
(e.g., by entering or clicking on URL on Internet-enabled cellular
phone) [0087] 1.2.1. User enters/clicks on URL [0088] 1.2.2. User
is welcomed by the welcome screen of the Internet-enabled cellular
phone [0089] 1.2.3. User is shown public mode information [0090]
1.2.4. User is asked to sign-up Yes/No [0091] 1.2.5. User is asked
to enter e-mail address, phone#, password [0092] 1.2.6. System
sends out e-mail address verification e-mail (no response
necessary), if desired [0093] 1.2.7. User is asked to save the next
screen as cached page for future logins if desired [0094] 1.2.8.
User is asked to invite 3 mates by entering their e-mail addresses
(makes score=3). This optional step is done to facilitate fast
viral growth of the base of users [0095] 1.2.9. User is asked to
enter profile information such as, for example, age, sex and other
profile information. To submit a photo, he is requested to use the
web site, if desired. [0096] 1.2.10. Enjoy! Sign-up is completed.
[0097] 2. Login [0098] 2.1. User comes in through the front door
(by using the cached page and optionally with a password procedure)
[0099] 2.1.1. User submits the cached page to the backend server
(containing the e-mail address) [0100] 2.1.2. User is asked to
approve "grant privilege" requests. User can grant privileges and
additionally also pre-approve sharing of his information (by
invitee with other users). In case of a group "grant privilege"
request, user can grant privilege to the invitee or to the entire
group. [0101] 2.1.3. User is asked to update status if the last
entry has expired [0102] 2.1.4. User is shown last mode used with
updated search results [0103] 2.1.5. Enjoy! Login is completed.
[0104] 2.2. User comes in through the side door (by using bookmark
or typing URL) [0105] 2.2.1. User enters URL [0106] 2.2.2. User is
asked to enter e-mail ID and password [0107] 2.2.3. User is asked
to approve "grant privilege" requests. User can grant privileges
and additionally also pre-approve sharing of his information (by
invitee with other users). In case of a group "grant privilege"
request, user can grant privilege to the invitee or to the entire
group. [0108] 2.2.4. User is asked to update status if the last
entry has expired [0109] 2.2.5. User is shown last mode used with
updated search results [0110] 2.2.6. Enjoy! Login is completed.
[0111] 3. Private Mode [0112] 3.1. Check Custom Messages [0113]
3.1.1. The "custom message waiting" icon is displayed (custom
message can be posted for an individual or for an entire group by a
user) [0114] 3.1.2. By clicking on icon, the user is presented with
a list of messages waiting which the user can selectively view.
Custom messages may expire automatically as they become
time-irrelevant. [0115] 3.2. Updates Personal Status [0116] 3.2.1.
User selects current "location", "activity", "till when" from the
customized options shown (location and activity option choices may
be ordered by frequency and recency, the last options of these two
fields being "custom", "custom by mate" and "custom by group". In
case the user selects "custom" or "custom by mate" or "custom by
group", he is taken to a screen where he can type the custom
message and in case of "custom by mate" or "custom by group",
additionally select recipient mate(s)/group(s) from the drop-down
box. The time duration choices may be any amount of time, for
example, 1, 2, 4 or 12 hours) [0117] 3.2.2. Clicks Go! [0118]
3.2.3. User shown updated screen, "custom message waiting" flags
set for recipients [0119] 3.3. Contacts Mate [0120] 3.3.1. User
scrolls and selects one of the mates user wishes to contact by
clicking on the link [0121] 3.3.2. User is shown the full message
(in case of a custom message/custom format) and given the option to
call or send e-mail (without needing to know the number) or to set
an "availability status change" alert.(this alert would notify the
user by e-mail when the availability status of the mate changes)
[0122] 3.4. Conducts a Search [0123] 3.4.1. User selects one or
more of the search criteria (by location, activity, time, group,
mate, freeform) from the drop-down boxes (in case more than 1
search criteria are chosen, it becomes an AND failing which an OR
search) (contents of the drop-down boxes, particularly the location
and activity boxes, are "current data dependent"--for example,
Shibuya is shown as a choice only if the system has some data on
Shibuya) [0124] 3.4.2. Presses Go! [0125] 3.4.3. System refreshes
screen with matching mates information results (number of results
displayed per page is a user-controlled setting) [0126] 3.5. Sends
Invitations (by clicking on `Mates`) [0127] 3.5.1. User can enter
e-mail address and send invitation as an individual or a group.
User can customize the invitation by entering name, message
greeting or choosing a format (for example, X-mas format or any
other format). Additionally, the user can offer privileges to his
information and also allow pre-approved sharing of user's
information (by the invitee with others) at the same time. In case
of a new user, the new user may be allowed to skip the "invite 3
mates" process in case user doesn't remember the phone numbers at
that time by simply leaving behind names of mates but user may be
asked provide the phone numbers at the time of subsequent logon.
[0128] 3.5.2. In case the invitee is not a current user of the
system, system sends out the invitation e-mail and in case the
invitee is a current user of the system, system stores the
invitation message to display it as a dialog-box at subsequent
logon [0129] 3.5.3. In case the invitation message to a potential
user is not responded to within 3 days, it is resent (if still not
responded to within 7 days, the inviting party is notified and
asked to provide an alternative e-mail address). In case the
invitation message bounces, the inviting party is notified and
asked to provide an alternate e-mail address. [0130] 3.5.4. After
sending the invitation, the user is returned to the `Mates` screen
to allow the user to send out more invitations. [0131] 3.6.
Modifies Privileges (by clicking on `Mates`) [0132] 3.6.1. The user
can select the group (listed by recency and frequency, the last
options being "other", "unfiled" and "all") or the mate (listed by
recency and frequency, the last option being "other") and for that
group/mate, change the privileges (in case the user selects "other"
and clicks Go!, The user is taken to a separate screen with a full
listing of his groups or mates respectively with a privilege Y/N
drop-down box, Edit link, New link in front of each one of them)
[0133] 3.6.2. After user changes mate/group privileges and clicks
on Go!, privileges are updated in the system and the `Mates` screen
is shown again [0134] 3.6.3. User can also create a new group or
edit properties of an existing group--Share Yes/No, Members, Name,
Voice Channel On/Off, Delete (only permitted if he user created
that group i.e. is the group owner) [0135] 3.6.4. User can also
create a new mate (takes user back to invitation section of the
`Mates` screen`) or edit the properties of an existing mate--Share
Y/N, Crossing Paths Alert On/Off, Voice Channel On/Off, Name, Phone
Number (useful if that mate has not provided any phone number),
Group Affiliation(s), Delete [0136] 3.7. Updates Schedule [0137]
3.7.1. In the Schedule screen, user can create new, edit or delete
future status entries of the format location--activity--time. User
can view this schedule in the day or week view. [0138] 3.8. Changes
Settings [0139] 3.8.1. Owner Info: screen name, alternate contact
phone number, alternate contact e-mail address, locations
(work/school, home, play), age, sex, blood group, zodiac sign,
profession, hobbies/areas of interest [0140] 3.8.2. Preferences:
Search results per screen (3/4/5), startup mode (last mode/private
mode/public mode), voice channel on/off (for public mode), alert
(via e-mail) when custom message waiting Y/N, customize public mode
search criteria (can select any 2 of age/sex, blood group, zodiac
sign, profession, hobbies), change e-mail address, change password
[0141] 3.9. Special Promotions based on activity, location and/or
time [0142] 3.9.1. User is shown specials information for the
area-activity-time zone he is in (optionally matching his
hobbies/areas of interest as gathered from, for example, profile or
past activity) [0143] 3.9.2. User has the option of clicking on any
of the specials and calling the merchant in advance [0144] 3.9.3.
User also has the option of forwarding an entry in the specials
section to a mate/group as a custom message (clicks on the
"forward" link and is shown a new screen of the format of the
bottom part of the `Mates` screen where the user can select
mates/groups to forward the specials info to) [0145] 3.9.4. The
information on the user shopping pattern is recorded by the system
(in the format: user-location-activity-time-merchant-product)
[0146] 3.10. Events [0147] 3.10.1. User is shown public events
information for the area-activity-time zone he is in matching his
hobbies/areas of interest as gathered from, for example, profile or
past activity [0148] 3.10.2. User has the option of clicking on any
of the events and calling the event organizer in advance [0149]
3.10.3. User also has the option of forwarding an entry in the
events section to a mate/group as a custom message (clicks on the
"forward" link and is shown a new screen of the format of the
bottom part of the `Mates` screen where the user can select
mates/groups to forward the events info to) [0150] 3.10.4. The
information on the user behavior is recorded by the system (in the
format: user-location-activity-time-event organizer-event) [0151]
3.11. Switch Mode [0152] 3.11.1. User is switched to the other mode
[0153] 4. Public Mode [0154] 4.1. Check Custom Messages (same as
Private Mode 3.1) [0155] 4.2. Updates Posting [0156] 4.2.1. User
selects desired "location", "activity", "from when" from the
customized options shown (location and activity option choices are
ordered by frequency and recency, the last option being "custom".
In case the user selects "custom", he is taken to a screen where he
can type the custom message. The time duration choices may be any
duration, for example, 1, 2, 4 or 12 hours in advance) [0157]
4.2.2. Clicks Go! [0158] 4.2.3. Desire registered in the database
and user shown updated screen [0159] 4.3. Contacts a Person [0160]
4.3.1. User scrolls and selects'one the persons he wishes to
contact by clicking on the link [0161] 4.3.2. He is shown the full
message (in case of a custom message/custom format) and given the
option to view profile and call or send e-mail (without being shown
the number) [0162] 4.4. Conducts a Search [0163] 4.4.1. User
selects one or more of the search criteria (by location, activity,
time, freeform and any 2 of age/sex, blood group, zodiac sign,
profession, hobbies) from the drop-down boxes (in case more than 1
search criteria are chosen, it becomes an AND failing which an OR
search) (contents of the drop-down boxes, particularly the location
and activity boxes, are "current data dependent"--for example,
Shibuya is shown as a choice only if the system has some data on
Shibuya) [0164] 4.4.2. Presses Go! [0165] 4.4.3. System refreshes
screen with matching people information results (number of results
displayed per page is a user-controlled setting) [0166] 4.5.
Deletes Posting [0167] 4.5.1. User is shown a list of all his
status updates which he then has the option of selectively editing
or deleting (postings are automatically deleted as time expires)
[0168] 4.6. Edits Profile [0169] 4.6.1. User has the option of
entering freeform profile information such as favorites,
self-introduction, photo (optional--only through the web site and
only of a fixed dimension, file size and file type(s)) [0170] 4.7.
Changes Settings (same as Private Mode 3.8) [0171] 4.8. Specials
(same as Private Mode 3.9) [0172] 4.9. Events (same as Private Mode
3.10) [0173] 4.10. Switch Mode (same as Private Mode 3.11)
[0174] As mentioned earlier, the availability of the user's
profile, status, present and future activity, present and future
location, and the relevant time facilitates targeted marketing by
allowing merchants to target their products/services in ways that
are simply unavailable with current systems. Merchants now have
access to the user's past behavior (shopping, click, coupon
response, etc.) as well as present activity/location (e.g.,
shopping at a certain mall until 3 PM) as well as future
activity/location (e.g., intend to shop tomorrow on a certain
street from 5 PM-8 PM) as well as the possible participants as well
as his demographics. With this information, the merchant can tailor
the products/services most likely desired/purchased/have a chance
of being considered by the user (and his group members) and offer
these directly to the user and his group members via the Internet
(e.g., direct email, short message, instant message, voice mail,
e-coupons, and the like). An exemplary arrangement for offering
special promotions based on the user's profile, status, present and
future activity, present and future location, and the relevant time
is shown below. Again, it should be noted that the specific process
flows disclosed below are only exemplary and specific
implementations may vary. Accordingly, it will be apparent to one
skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced
without some of the specific steps in the process flows and that
not every conventional, minute process step has been described in
detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present
invention.
Exemplary Arrangement
[0175] 1. Merchant goes to a section of the web site to upload his
offer. He can select his target user profile by adjusting
parameters for some or all of the options offered: age, gender,
location(s), intention/activity, timeframe, alone/together, past
purchases. The merchant can then define the offer, say "10% off at
all purchases at Gap" in Harajuku on Sunday evening. The system
assigns a unique promotion ID to this offer (which is used to later
generate the e-coupon#s).
[0176] 2. User updates his location and status
(intention/activity/time) information and is shown search results
on his mates. At the same time, he is shown specials and events for
that time in that location matching his desired activity
(shopping/eating, etc. . . . ), state (alone/with other
male(s)/with other female), and past response (coupon clicks, and
purchases).
[0177] 3. At this point the system matches the user to the merchant
using these criteria, some specified by the merchant and the rest
determined by the system based on the user's status. In one
embodiment, the final list of events/specials to be shown to the
user may be sorted based on the cpm rate offered by the
advertiser.
[0178] 4. User can click on a special to display the e-coupon which
has a unique number valid for that location-activity-time zone.
User can show the displayed coupon to the cashier at the merchant
to get the offered discount. (The user may also simply copy down
the number and show it to the merchant.) If the merchant prefers,
the user can be permitted to simply tell the merchant "I found your
offer by the mobile user coordination system" in order to obtain
the discount or premium. (Other "code-word" systems can be used
(e.g., "I like jeans") or the user could "reserve" a special by
telling the retailer his/her name via phone or email.)
[0179] 5. The merchant uploads a flat file of coupon numbers to the
website to receive macro-level analysis of the customers who
responded to his offer. He can then use this information to better
target customers for future offers.
[0180] 6. The merchant has the option of giving users who redeemed
coupons additional incentives via future discounts and other
promotional offers. This may be done by providing a frequent
shopper ID to the user-purchaser (useable to access a webpage). Or
the user can click on a link on the coupon after exercising it to
get more offers of that type in the future)
[0181] FIGS. 1-9 illustrate an exemplary implementation of the
present invention for smart phones, i.e., cellular phones that are
endowed with Internet capability for accessing web pages and web
sites. In the example of FIGS. 1-9, a service called ImaHima is
created to allow users to register, update information about
themselves (which include identity, profile, status) and postings
(which include current/proposed activity, current/future location,
and/or the relevant time period) and to set access privilege for
other users, and to permit users to search in order to coordinate
for activities, meetings, etc.
[0182] In FIG. 1, an explanation of the exemplary implementation is
provided, along with some illustrative example of how the Imahima
service could be used. In FIG. 2, three sample views are provided,
which include the home view on the left (of the private mode in
this case). At the top of the page, the user is shown to be in
private mode, engaged in work (other possible choices are shown
above), and the location. The mates or friends/acquaintances
information of interest is also shown. A "search" button is
provided (with search options shown associated therewith by way of
further explanation), along with a "Prefs" button for setting
preferences pertaining to selected other users ("mates"), schedule,
owner information, and other general settings.
[0183] The page view for viewing group information and setting
access privilege for members of the group (center) to control
access by those members to the information of the user "Neeraj". In
this example, the group is called "Friends" and access privilege is
binary (i.e., yes/no) although a finer degree of privacy control
(e.g., down to control for individual items of user "Neeraj") can
be provided if desired. As shown in this page view, the group may
be edited and a facility is provided (e.g., "New") to allow the
creation of new groups.
[0184] On the right page view, a page for setting Neeraj's schedule
is provided. The schedule may be employed to automatically update
(or update upon request by Neeraj) the information pertaining to
Neeraj for other properly authorized users to see. In FIG. 3, an
explanation of the two modes of operation is provided. In FIG. 4,
an exemplary system architecture is proposed. Note that the
architecture is only exemplary and quite technology specific.
However, variations of the architecture is possible and should be
well understood by those skilled in the art. In FIG. 5, exemplary
registration and log-in procedures are illustrated. In the
exemplary implementation, the newly registered user is requested to
enter the data pertaining to 3 other users to facilitate rapid
expansion of the user base. However, this is optional and not
absolutely required although in general, such entry tends to be
quite advantageous (and of course the more the better) in expanding
the reach and usefulness of the Imahima service. In FIG. 6, greater
details pertaining to one exemplary registration procedure is
described. In FIG. 7, exemplary application flows are illustrated
to show how the service would normally be used. In FIG. 8,
exemplary views of the public mode and the private mode are
illustrated. In FIG. 9, exemplary views of the mates screen and the
sign-on screen are shown.
Another aspect of the present invention is bar code based
e-Coupons. Using the current/future location, current/future
activity, the disclosed system enables a new kind of Just-In-Time
Commerce. Advertisers can reach customers who are shopping in the
vicinity of the store, event organizers can reach people with spare
time in the neighborhood who may be interested in last minute
discounted tickets. These people can see the ad, click on it to get
detailed information, download the e-coupon (containing the bar
code) and carry it to the store to get the discount. This is where
the bar code based e-coupons become effective. They provide a
unique and easy means of identifying the user of the disclosed
system and the particular promotion they have chosen to respond to.
By scanning the bar code (part of the e-coupon) digitally displayed
on the screen of the mobile device (mobile phones, PDAs . . . ),
the clerk at the store location can easily capture this unique
coupon number. Once the e-coupon information has been captured, the
applicable discount can be automatically offered to this user. At a
later time, by uploading a flat file of these coupon numbers to the
server, merchant can verify promotion effectiveness and go through
macro analysis of the user who responded to the offer. FIG. 10
shows a schematic of how this feature operates.
[0185] The bar code can be scanned by a regular scanner available
at the cash register of most stores and provides an easy mechanism
for transferring the e-coupon information from the user to the
merchant. The digital bar code enables several new functions:
[0186] identification of the user [0187] identification of the
coupon and the promotion [0188] identification of discounting
information
[0189] Once this e-coupon# has been captured by the merchant, a
flat file of these coupon numbers can be uploaded to the server for
further analysis: [0190] promotion effectiveness analysis [0191]
macro analysis of the profile of the users that responded to the
promotion
[0192] The bar codes on the mobile phones thus close the loop
between the system, the user and the participating merchant. It
becomes possible to find out not only how many ad impressions we
showed and how many impressions were clicked on, but also how many
actual visitors it generated. The disclosed techniques provide a
new kind of targeted marketing vehicle that offers the retailer
unprecedented control and efficiency. It is the first system in
marketing history that is able to target qualified individuals by
proximity to a store or entertainment venue (or intend to be in the
vicinity within a particular timeframe) and by current intention.
It is like having trained salespeople in the street, who are able
to spot and qualify prospects by demographic and psychographic
profile, identify their immediate behavioral intentions, and
present them with a custom-tailored promotional offer.
[0193] The disclosed system and techniques are highly suited to
promotions that are activity/intention-specific, location specific
or both. For example, the disclosed system might be used to offer
an e-coupon to users who are near a particular boutique and who are
engaged in "shopping" activity. Or it could offer an e-coupon
useable at any one of a chain of fast food restaurants or drug
stores throughout a metropolitan area, but that would be targeted
by intention or time only (e.g., only users currently planning to
eat would receive the coupon.)
[0194] This is possible because the disclosed system possesses
knowledge of more aspects of individual consumer behavior than have
been available in the past. In addition to the usual consumer
supplied demographics obtained during signup, the disclosed system
is able to track past coupon-response and purchase history, current
physical location of user, current/desired activity
(shopping/eating/working/etc.), and the presence of user's friends
in the vicinity.
[0195] For the consumer, this means receiving messages that are
perceived to be valuable because they are relevant and
personalized, accurately anticipating and responding to real needs.
The delivered messages dynamically integrate into the current
activity and ongoing lifestyle of the user. The user is free to
click for more information, leading ultimately to the advertiser's
website, or to simply accept an e-coupon for a discount.
[0196] The following describes how the disclosed system works for
targeted intention-specific promotions:
1. Merchant goes to a section of the web site to upload his offer.
He can select his target user profile by tweaking all of the
options offered: age, gender, location(s), intention/activity,
timeframe, alone/together, past purchases. The merchant can then
define the offer, say "10% off at all purchases at Gap" in Harajuku
on Sunday evening. The system assigns a unique promotion ID to this
offer (which is used to later generate the e-coupon#s). 2. User
updates his location and status (intention/activity) information
and is shown search results on his mates. At the same time, he is
shown specials and events for that time in that location matching
his desired activity (shopping/eating, etc. . . . ), state
(alone/with other male(s)/with other female), and past response
(coupon clicks, and purchases). 3. At this point the system matches
the user to the merchant using these criteria, some specified by
the merchant and the rest determined by the system based on the
user's status. The final list of events/specials to be shown to the
user is sorted based on the cpm rate offered by the advertiser. 4.
User can click on a special to display the e-coupon which has a
unique number valid for that location-activity-time zone. User can
show the displayed coupon to the cashier at the merchant to get the
offered discount. (The user may also simply copy down the number
and show it to the merchant.) If the merchant prefers, the user can
be permitted to simply tell the merchant "I found your offer by the
disclosed system" in order to obtain the discount or premium.
(Other "code-word" systems can be used (e.g., "I like jeans") or
the user could "reserve" a special by telling the retailer his/her
name via phone or email.) 5. The merchant uploads a flat file of
coupon numbers to the system website to receive macro-level
analysis of the customers who responded to his offer. He can then
use this information to better target customers for future offers.
6. The merchant has the option of giving users who redeemed coupons
additional incentives via future discounts and other promotional
offers.
[0197] This may be done by providing a frequent shopper ID to the
user-purchaser (useable to access a webpage). Or the user can click
on a link on the coupon after exercising it to get more offers of
that type in the future). Apart from systems and methods, computer
program products are also within the scope of the disclosed
teaching. These computer program products comprise instructions on
computer readable media that enable a computer to perform the
methods disclosed herein. The instructions are not limited, and
include but not limited to, source code, object code and
executables. The computers on which the instructions are
implemented include, but not limited to, minis, micros, and
mainframes. The computer readable medium includes, but not limited
to, floppies, RAMs, ROMs, hard drives, magnetic tapes, cartridges,
CDs, DVDs, and internet downloads.
[0198] While this invention has been described in terms of several
preferred embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and
equivalents which fall within the scope of this invention. By way
of example, although the point-and-click and visual interface are
discussed throughout, it is contemplated that user interfaces
involving speech recognition (for data input) and
computer-generated voice may also be employed to exchange
present/future location/activity. Of course other methods of data
input/output may also be employed. It should also be noted that
there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and
apparatuses of the present invention. It is therefore intended that
the following appended claims be Interpreted as including all such
alterations, permutations, and equivalents as fall within the true
spirit and scope of the present invention.
* * * * *