WO2001059657A1

WO2001059657A1 - Reminder service with vendor linked offer system

Info

Publication number: WO2001059657A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/003889
Authority: WO
Inventors: Scott Adams
Original assignee: Scott Adams
Priority date: 2000-02-08
Filing date: 2001-02-07
Publication date: 2001-08-16
Also published as: AU2001234882A1

Abstract

A method for coupling business vendors with potential customers is described. The method comprises storing in a computer at least one user associated event (120) having at least one corresponding reminder date, the event including an event classification; registering in the computer at least one vendor (200) interested in providing a product or service (160-168) relating to the event classification (120); and providing a vendor offer (205) of the product or service (160-168) to the user at a time relative to the date of the event comporting with user-defined preferences for receiving said offer stored in said computer (245). An information management system provided over a network (145, 150) is also disclosed. The system includes: a calendar information database (106) coupled to a user device and having a plurality of user selected events (120), each event (120) having at least a keyword associated with said event (120); a vendor database including at least one vendor providing a product or service (160-168) relating to said event; and a selection routine, responsive to an event arrival, communicating with the user to provide at least one offer (215) to the user from the vendor to provide the product or service (160-168).

Description

REMINDER SERVICE WITH VENDOR LINKED OFFER SYSTEM

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The invention relates to personal information management and coupling businesspeople with potential clients, and in particular, the invention relates to a personal data reminder system

Description of the Related Art

Calendars and address books play a central role in allowing people to track task and contact information relating to both personal and professional matters. Recently, with the advent of personal computing and the development of the

Internet, a migration from paper calendars and address books toward electronic personal information managers (PIMs) is taking place. PIMs may comprise software applications running on a personal or laptop computer and personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as Palm-top devices, all of which store varying types of reminder, contact, task and note text information.

Generally, software PIMs include products such as Microsoft Outlook^®, Symantec's ACT!™, and other similar programs are designed to run on a computer. Each of the aforementioned software programs includes built-in reminder services for appointments and tasks. PDA devices, such as those using the Palm^® operating system, are also gaining popularity. Each PDA generally includes a calendar, which may be synchronized with a personal computer having a PIM software running thereon. Again, these electronic calendars include some mechanism for reminding people when a particular event arrives, such as playing a tone, providing a visual alert, sounding an alarm, or the like.

Many Internet web portals also now provide contact and calendar services. For example, major service portals such as Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos, Snap! and others provide on-line calender and contact manager services via a web browser and user account. This allows a user to log in to their own calendar and address book from any Internet-capable web browsing application as the user's individual data is stored on a host server maintained by the web portal provider. Beyond mere web-based calendar applications, web-based service sites have been developed which provide people with reminders for important events. One such service is operated under the name of LifeMinders.com . LifeMinders.com provides a free service that e-mails individuals with weekly reminders and timely tips. E-mail messages are forwarded out from LifeMinders.com to the user via a unique profile.

The service provides a number of particular categories such as personal events, pets, family, entertainment, and the like to remind a user to do things such as fertilize the lawn, remind them when a new video comes out, or what behaviors to expect from a six-month-old child. Nevertheless, with each of the aforementioned personal information management services, the user is still responsible for taking care of the task in question. To date, no known mechanism exists for facilitating the user's completion of the tasks after being reminded that the task is due.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide the user with a personal information management system which reminds the individual of any number of different types of tasks and further facilitates the use of local service providers to implement those tasks. The invention, roughly described, comprises a method for coupling business vendors with potential customers. In one embodiment, the method comprises storing in a computer at least one user associated event having at least one corresponding reminder date, the event including an event classification; registering in the computer at least one vendor interested in providing a product or service relating to the event classification; and on or before the date of the event, providing a vendor offer of the product or service to the user comporting with user defined preferences for receiving said offer stored in said computer.

In a further embodiment, the invention comprises a system over a network, including: a calendar information database coupled to a user device and having a plurality of user selected events, each event having at least a keyword associated with said event; a vendor database including at least one vendor providing a product or service relating to said event; and a selection routine, responsive to an event arrival, communicating with the user to provide at least one offer to the user from the vendor to provide the product or service. In yet another embodiment, the invention comprises a method for connecting clients with vendors, comprising: (a) registering client events having an event date in a database; (b) registering vendors interested in providing products and services relating to the event in a second database; (c) reminding the client of the event on the event date; and (d) determining whether the client wishes to receive vendor offers for said products or services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described with respect to the particular embodiments thereof. Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the specification and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the system of the present invention showing the relationship of a users and vendors within the system.

Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating the process of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the implementation and method of providing a computer-based calendar, scheduling and contact management system (or personal information manager (PIM)) which automatically informs vendors of products and services that would be of interest to the user. Vendors can then choose to offer their services to users on a project-by-project basis or through a standing offer or advertisement.

Various implementations of the address book and calendering program of the present invention are contemplated. In one embodiment, the system calendar program may be a client-executable program, running entirely on a client device such as a personal computer, work station, PDA, laptop or Palm^® device, which is coupled to the Internet or private network. Users input reminder events and event dates with keywords stored with the entries into the calendar and, at an appropriate time, the management system informs vendors via the private network or the Internet of users who have particular needs based upon user preferences. Such preferences may include inhibiting notice to certain vendors or classes of vendors.

For purposes of the present invention, the term "vendor" includes any person or entity interested in providing products or services which may be of use to a user of the calendar and contact management system of the present invention. The "client" device includes PC's, work stations, PDA's, laptops, Palm^® devices, both wired, wireless and hand-held devices, or any hardware supporting an operating system capable of running a PIM system, or a web browser, as described herein.

A first embodiment of the system is shown in Figure 1 , and includes a client device 100 coupled via a private network connection 145 or Internet 1 50 to a web/system server 1 10. The web/system server 1 10 is also coupled to a plurality of vendors 1 60-1 68 via a private network 147 or the Internet 1 50. Each of the

Internet 1 50 and private network connections 145, 147 described herein may comprise any number of types of physical connections. For example, the private network connection may be a direct modem connection to the system server, a wireless direct connection, a direct Ethernet network connection or the like. Likewise, various alternatives for connection to the Internet directly or through an

Internet service provider, including analog modem, cable modem, DSC, ISDN, T1 , T3, wireless and the like, are contemplated.

The web/system server 1 10 may comprise a single physical server, or may comprise multiple servers. For example, a web server may provide the Internet information services such as an HTML interface, having the functions described herein, while one or more physically separate system servers maintain the user and vendor databases. Such databases include data related to the users, user events and vendors on a system separate from the web server to increase the security of such data and prevent unauthorized access by individuals with malicious intent. As shown in Figure 1 , device 100 provides a user interface to the personal information manager of the system. The PIM may be a local client executable application 106 running on the client device 100, specifically designed to interact with the web/system server 1 10 of the present invention. Alternatively, the calendaring software of the present invention may comprise a plug-in to an existing calendar program 104 which might include a product such as Microsoft Outlook^®,

Lotus Organizer, and Symantec's ACT!™, enabling those products to communicate with web/system server 1 10.

Finally, the PIM function may be provided by the web information server 1 10 to a client device 100 running a web client 102 such as a web browser. This embodiment allows events and reminders to be stored on the web/system server

1 10. The PIM can be entirely integrated with the browser software, or it may emulate some of the features of the browser for the purposes of exchanging information via the Internet.

The PIM 106 may include an address book and contact handling features. This allows vendors to be easily added to the address book at the election of the user. The private network connection and/or the Internet can also be used to receive updates to the calendar itself, and sharing calendar information with other people or computers such as family or spouses.

In a value-added component of the invention, the calendering software could be provided free to the user with or without the ability to provide pop-up advertising via a user interface of the calendar. Financial support for the system may be derived through advertising, or a system administrator can request that vendors pay a flat or usage-based fee to the service provider for registering products and services with the system. In a particular aspect of the invention, the PIM is uniquely adapted for scheduling common household work and personal activities. Activities can be associated with specific dates or carried in an ongoing "to do" list format. More common activities may be selected from a checklist for ease in entering to ensure the use of the best keywords to elicit appropriate solicitations from vendors. It will be readily within the scope of one of average skill in the art to provide the functionality described herein in a software application enabling any embodiment of a PIM heretofore described.

The web/system server 1 10 includes at least two databases. While the databases will be described herein as separate, it should be readily recognized that a single database package will be sufficient to handle the data described herein and any number of data structures, physical organizations of data, database types or physical database machines may be used to provide the function of databases 120 and 1 30 without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. A client database 1 20 will include information stored on a user basis which includes reminders of specific events that the user wishes to note. Examples of the reminders might include home-related activities such as changing furnace filters, arranging for burglar alarm service, arranging for furnace and air conditioning service, fertilizing one's lawn, spraying bushes for bugs, cleaning gutters, power-washing the deck, and the like; or personal activities such as going to the dentist for teeth cleaning, picking up dry cleaning, remembering birthdays and holidays, attending soccer practice, changing the oil in the car, and the like.

A vendor database 1 30 stores information on vendors who have a particular interest in providing services in accordance with the system of the present invention. Vendors will be sorted and stored with information such as the region which the vendor services, the subject matter or type of service the vendors provide, which client keywords the vendor is interested in receiving information about, and predefined solicitations which a vendor provides for standard services In particular, these solicitations might include standing offers by the vendor to perform a particular service for a particular fee, such as changing the oil in one's car for a flat fee Data in database 1 20 is provided by the user via the client device 100

Vendor information is provided from vendors 1 60-168 via the Internet 1 50 or private network connection 147.

The system server includes software routines for connecting events registered by users with vendors and standing vendor solicitations In operation, such routines enable automatic notification and filtering described with respect to

Figure 2.

Figure 2 shows one embodiment of the method of the present invention which may be implemented on the system shown in Figure 1 . In the method described herein, information regarding a particular client's service needs will be provided to each of vendors 160-168 through solicitation notιfιcatιon(s) allowing the vendor to provide a specific offer with respect to the user's needs, or a standing offer provided by the vendor will be provided to the user based on the user's own preferences for receiving such offers.

As shown in Figure 2, a user 210 begins the user portion of the process by registering with the service at step 220. In order to register, the user will provide information such as the user's location and user preferences for receiving solicitations from vendors in accordance with the system. The user can choose to: receive no offers from vendors and simply use the system as a personal information manager; receive a limited number of applications and solicitations, receive standing solicitations without specific solicitations; or receive only vendor-specific responses to the user's event stored in the system.

The user then inputs event reminders and event reminder dates at step 225. Any number of dates for any number of subjects may be inputted into the system The system and method may include suggested keywords to make it easier for the database 1 20 to be searched for specific types of events which vendors may wish to provide offers for.

Vendor 200 begins the process of the present invention by registering with the system at step 205, and provides information such as the type of service the vendor provides, the location of the vendor, and whether the vendor wishes to provide offers on select events or provide a standing offer, or both. Vendors register via the Internet either directly through third-party products and services which are stored in database 1 30. Vendors specify which keywords from users' calendars trigger an automatic solicitation of their products and services. Returning to step 230, when the reminder date arrives, or at some pre- defined (user-defined) date prior to or after the arrival of the event, a determination as to whether the user, in fact, wants offers for the particular event. If the user does not want the offer, at step 235 the user will simply be provided with a reminder notification. While not shown specifically in Figure 2, the method may further include a completed task loop, allowing the user to specify whether the user should continue to be reminded of the event until the user checks a "completed task" flag in the calendar. If the user does want an offer, any user preferences will be filtered at step 240. As noted above, such preferences include the local area (a geographic limitation) within which vendors are to be searched or notified, the type of vendor the user wishes to receive notification from, and the specific keywords provided in the event reminder. If the particular meets the aforementioned criteria, will notify the particular vendors who meet the criteria. The identities of calendar users are kept private from vendors except in cases where the calendar users take the initiative to contact a vendor.

If the vendor has a standing offer (or advertisement) 210 and the vendor meets the criteria, the standing offer will be selected for presentation to the user at step 245. If the vendor has not provided a standing offer, the vendor will be provided with the opportunity at step 21 5 to provide an offer for the individual event which has arrived. If the vendor chooses to provide an offer, the offer will be selected at step 245 for provision to the user. At step 250, the range of selected offers will be filtered based on the user preferences for the number of preferences to be provided, and the types of vendors the user wishes to see offers from. Once the filtering process is complete, at step 255, the offers will be provided to the user via a chosen medium of receipt. This chosen medium can be display on a web page, provision through e-mail, or by opening a window in the calendering and personal information manager application. Incoming solicitations are organized by topic and date, and hidden from the user until the user elects to view them. The calendar can alert the user to the existence of solicitations via visual, audio or tactile indicator or in any combination thereof.

After provision to the user at step 255, if the user chooses to select an offer at step 250, the system may further provide a mechanism for notifying the vendor and opening a communication channel 270 between the user and the vendor, such as providing an e-mail link to the vendor, or providing a secure chat link, or an online meeting module. If the user does not select the offer, the process ends at step 275. Hence the system and method of the present invention provide a unique way to bring customers and potential product and service providers together. The system provides users with a common interface and provides a unique use of that interface to couple users to potential product service providers. User security and preferences are maintained in order to prevent users from receiving information or solutions they do not wish to receive. The many features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one of average skill in the art from the written description and the Figures. Numerous variations on the invention are possible while still being within the scope of the invention. All such variations of the present invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1 . A method for coupling business vendor with potential customers, comprising: storing in a computer at least one user associated event having at least one corresponding reminder date, the event including an event classification; registering in the computer at least one vendor interested in providing a product or service relating to the event classification; and providing a vendor offer of the product or service at a time relative to the date of the event to the user comporting with user defined preferences for receiving said offer stored in said computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of storing comprises: providing a storage server and user interface coupled by a network; receiving the event input at the user interface and storing the event on the storage server.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the network comprises the Internet.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the user interface is a plug-in to a calendaring program.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the user interface is an HTML interface provided from the storage server to a client coupled to the storage server by a network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of registering includes identifying each vendor by a location and said step of providing includes sorting vendors by said location.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one standing vendor offer is stored in the computer prior to the step of providing, and said step of providing includes providing said standing vendor offer.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein, prior to said step of providing, at least one vendor is notified of said at least one user associated event and said at least one vendor submits the vendor offer responsive to said notification.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said vendor offer includes a price and said step of providing sorts said vendor offer by price.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of providing includes providing a plurality of vendor offers, and said plurality is limited to a user defined preference limit.

1 1 . An information management system, including: a calendar information database coupled to a user device and having a plurality of user selected events, each event having at least a keyword associated with said event; a vendor database including at least one vendor providing a product or service relating to said event; and a selection routine, responsive to an event arrival, communicating with the user to provide at least one offer to the user from the vendor to provide the product or service.

12. The system of claim 1 1 wherein said calendar information database is stored on a network server, and the user device is coupled to the network server via a network

1 3. The method of claim 1 1 wherein the user device is a World Wide Web browser.

14. The system of claim 1 1 wherein each user selected event includes a user identifier.

1 5. The system of claim 1 1 wherein the calendar information database includes a user preference set, and said selection routine is responsive to said user preference set.

1 6. The system of claim 1 5 wherein the user preference set includes a geographic vendor limitation.

1 7. The system of claim 1 5 wherein the user preference set includes a vendor offer price limitation.

18. The system of claim 1 5 wherein the user preference set includes a limit on the number of vendor offers received.

1 9. The system of claim 1 1 wherein said at least one offer includes a standing offer.

20. The system of claim 1 1 wherein said at least one offer is provided in response to a specific notification from the system to the vendor that the event arrival is due.

21 . A method for connecting clients with vendors, comprising: (a) registering client events having an event date in a client database;

(b) registering vendors interested in providing products and services relating to the event in a vendor database;

(c) reminding the client of the event on the event date; and

(d) determining whether the client wishes to receive vendor offers for said products or services.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said steps (a) - (d) are performed using a computer.

23. The method of claim 21 further including the step (e) of: providing the client with said vendor offers.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein said step (a) includes registering client preferences concerning receiving vendor offers.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein said client preferences includes a geographic preference.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein said client preferences includes a limit on the number of vendor offers provided.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein said client preferences includes a limit on the price of vendor offers.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein said step (b) includes charging a fee for said step of registering.

29. The method of claim 21 further including the step of registering standing offers from said vendors for said products and services.