WO2001080144A2

WO2001080144A2 - Activity report generation

Info

Publication number: WO2001080144A2
Application number: PCT/US2001/012564
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dustin H. Kassman
Original assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
Priority date: 2000-04-18
Filing date: 2001-04-17
Publication date: 2001-10-25
Also published as: CN1630868A; SE0104212D0; NO20016152L; DE10191779T1; GB2367672A; EP1264265A2; WO2001080144A3; AU2001257084A1; GB0200841D0; SE0104212L; NO20016152D0

Abstract

A service provides an automated and customized activity report that draws event information obtained from event promoters according to user specified event preferences. The report can be automatically delivered to the user.

Description

ACTIVITY REPORT GENERATION

Background: The present invention is generally related to a process of developing calendar entries and more particularly related to the process of generating and scheduling a personal activity report drawing from many disparate events independently offered by event promoters.

We live in a society with rich sources of entertainment ranging, from local events in our towns, to regional events in nearby locations, to national events generally distributed through broadcast, satellite, or Internet channels. Unfortunately, the experience of discovering and scheduling these sources is not nearly as rich. Each source has its own way of advertising and presenting its offerings. One must look in one place to discover what is on TV tonight, another for what is playing at the local movie theater, and yet another for who is the guest host in a specific Internet chat room. In addition, mixed in with the events of interest are those one could not care about in the least.

Most people have had the experience of manually making their plans for the next day, week, month, etc. on calendar or personal organizer. The spread of computers and small electronic organizers have automated and simplified the calendaring process. Warnings of impending activities and schedule conflicts are regularly provided by these processor-based devices.

Others have augmented the automated features by providing a schedule dissemination capability. A user can create a personal schedule and publish the schedule for others - perhaps others in a coordinated work group - to add other items to the schedule or to suggest a better schedule altogether. Further, others have compiled a proprietary data base of events from which the user, as a subscriber to the data base, can peruse and manually select those events of interest to the user and add the event to the user's personal calendar.

These methods have satisfied many users in the past. However, the emergence of a widespread network, the Internet, with abroad availability of information, has not been sufficiently tapped for this information. Moreover, since the information available there is kept in a multitude of different formats, it would be useful to have an automated process of obtaining just the pertinent information in a convenient and personalized form. Thus, it would be desirable to obtain automated calendaring and event identification suited to the desires of the user and matched to the offerings of event promoters, and provided in an automated fashion to the user.

Summary of the Invention:

The present invention encompasses the providing of a report of desired activities to a user and includes the acceptance of an event request list from the user. Scheduled events that correspond to entries in the accepted event request list and event data are obtained from event promoters. The event data is reformatted and delivered as a report to the user, the report including reformatted event data from at least two promoters.

Brief Description of the Drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication arrangement which may be employed by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an Activity Guide report which may be employed in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an Activity Reference Guide service which may be employed in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a User Profile - Interest Sheet which may be employed in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a print format selection document which may be employed in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an alternative Activity Guide report which may be employed in the present invention. FIG. 7A is a process of obtaining promoters' events which may be employed in the present invention.

FIG. 7B is a process of obtaining service provider events, which may be employed in the present invention. FIG. 7C is an alternative process of obtaining promoter's events, which may be used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a Traveling User Profile - Interest Sheet which may be employed in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a traveling report option to the Activity Reference Guide service flowchart of FIG. 3.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments:

The present invention encompasses an Activity Reference Guide service and report that automatically combines information from a multiplicity of recognizable entertainment sources present on a widespread network, filters the information for the preferences of the individual user, and formats the information into a single timely publication for automated printing or real-time viewing with subsequent printing if desired. It is a feature of the present invention that the user does not have to be involved with each individual selection of an event; the present invention includes a process of going to the network, or a collection of event information entered by a plurality of event promoters, on the user's behalf and finding the events of interest to the user based upon the user's previously entered preferences. It should be recognized that the present invention includes not only an automated to-do list but, also provides a presentation of competing activities and events (both in time and place) presorted by user preferences and subject to user bilateral prioritization. A block diagram of a communication arrangement that may employ the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The communication arrangement depicted should not be construed to be a snapshot of communications at any given instant, rather, as an on-going series of communication links that is advantageous to the present invention. It is recognized that a variety of interconnections are possible in the practice of the present invention; an interconnection that is believed most likely for a typical family is shown. The apparatus under direct control of the user, a computer installation, is depicted as installation 101. Included in the installation 101 is a conventional computer 103 and associated memory 105, which can perform unique processes at the behest of the user. The user interacts with the computer 103 via user interfaces 107, including a video display, keyboard, mouse, printer, and the like. The computer may couple to the network 109, typically the Internet, by way of an interconnect device 111 and a public or private communication link 113. Of course, the configuration depicted in FIG. 1 is only one example of an arrangement that can be used in obtaining the benefit of the present invention. Other configurations include the use of PDA's, television set-top interfaces, advanced interactive game controllers, and other wireless or PC-less "off-ramps" as possible user installations.

In a first embodiment of the present invention, a multitude of event promoters, for example Event Promoter A 115, Event Promoter B 117, and Event Promoter C 119, are coupled to the network 109. Each event promoter creates an interesting display, a web page, that is expected to appeal to real time (virtual) visitors to their web page. Thus each web page appears different to the visitor, but the information such as text, etc., is supplied in a reasonably consistent format (e.g. HTML) that can be extracted for further uses. Promoters of scheduled events or activities or programs regularly identify the event, as well as the time and location of the event, in their web page.

The term "event promoter" is used herein to generally define an entity that provides an activity or event and advertises or otherwise makes the event known. The meaning need not be taken so narrowly, however, since it is expected that some entities will aggregate activities and/or events (for example a television cable service) and offer aggregated activities and events to consumers. Such an aggregator is shown in FIG. 1 as service provider 120. The service provider 120 is likely to display the aggregated services via the network 109 and be accessible by the Activity Reference Guide service site 121 through this medium. In an alternative embodiment, the service provider 120 will have a direct link 124 to the Activity Reference Guide service site 121 in order to provide information directly to the Activity Reference

Guide service. An event promoter may also be an individual who is not a commercial enterprise. Both an event promoter and a service provider provide information to the Activity Reference Guide service on their own volition. This is commonly known as a "push" distribution.

The Activity Reference Guide service site 121 of a first embodiment of the present invention is coupled to the network and is capable of searching for event promoters having a presence on the network, a commonly known "pull" distribution of information. Information extracted from event promoters is kept in a memory storage 123 database including the following information that is, in the preferred embodiment, saved in XML format: a) when the event is scheduled to occur, b) the type of event that is to occur, c) the venue/location of the event, d) a freeform description of the event and other miscellaneous information, e) an expiration date, f) an archival date, and g) contact information. It is expected that a record of the occurrence of some events will have archival value, for example, to enable the user to predict future events such as an annual return of the event. For this reason, some events are retained in the database even after they occur for a period of time that can be set as the archival date. An additional feature is that of providing the user the opportunity to obtain tickets to the promoter's event by accessing the contact information field of the stored information. Included in this field, at the promoter's and system operator's option, is an "event plus code", which can be used by the user to obtain even more information and order tickets. While the exact nature of the contact information is left to the promoter's individual preferences, the system of the present invention also provides the capacity for linking to sites where the tickets can be purchased via the network. One way of easily accomplishing this is to provide an event plus code. Moreover, an advanced feature of the present invention provides that the user can set an instruction (i.e. an option) for tickets to be purchased automatically (when the user provides prepayment authorization and certain other time and place restrictions) even before the event is posted by the event promoter. Ticket ordering priority among multiple users can be established by FIFO ranking or by a premium user status created by charging a surcharge to the user desiring such status. The Activity Reference Guide service site 121 is expected to be accessed by a user via the network 109 but may alternatively have a more direct, or separate, path 122 coupling to the user's installation 101. A preferred embodiment provides for user modulation of the information being collected on his behalf. The user can establish a standing order that no activities/events are to be reported for a particular time or date. For example, the user does not want any events reported for the evening hours of the third Thursday of every month. These hours for this day every month are blacked out for this user and no events are reported by the system. The user can also provide a one- time blackout day/time during which the system will not report events/activities. Of course, the user may use the system to schedule the user's own human-selected calendar of events into the report and may elect to either prevent system-found events from being reported during the human-selected calendar or to report the found events as alternatives to the human-selected events. The report, then, can be a calendar of events that are a plan of activities to be followed for the term of the report, or a calendar of event alternatives which may be selected-from as the user lives the time period covered by the term of the report, or an amalgam of both. The user interaction with the system for the foregoing is expected to occur via the link 113 or the direct path 122. In the commercial operation of the service, the user makes the necessary arrangements with the Activity Reference Guide service proprietor for the service of an Activity Reference Guide report to be provided. While a subscription-based service is the most apparent technique of compensation to the proprietor, other types, such as payment by the event promoters and third party sponsors of the event, or unrelated national, regional, or community based advertising may also be integrated into the service.

In a preferred embodiment, the Activity Reference Guide service offers a plurality of report templates for the user's selection of a preferred means of publishing the user's activity list, one of which is shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the user can be given the capability of designing a report format that is favored by the user. The report of FIG. 2, as customized by an exemplary Mary Johnson, is a report of entertainment available in her community on Tuesday and extends from the evening hours of 7:00 PM until 11:30 PM. In order to obtain the information, Mary Johnson would have responded to Activity Reference Guide service queries about the type of activity of interest by responding: "televised movies, movie theaters, legitimate theatre, and web broadcasts"; to the time of events as "7:00 PM to 11:30 PM Tuesday"; and to the geographic location as a preferred zip code. The basic parameters are thus established for Mary Johnson's customized report. Mary Johnson is also asked how she would like the report presented to her. In the preferred embodiment, the optimum method is that an automatic delivery of the report by way of the printer element of the user interfaces 107. A print schedule is requested of Mary Johnson and her answers are stored at the Activity Reference Guide service site 121,123. When the schedule indicates the report document should be printed, the report document is automatically transmitted to the printer without human intervention. The printer automatically prints the report document, again without human intervention being required in the process. Such an automated delivery system is described in U.S. Patent No. 09/325, 040 filed on behalf of Jon A. Brewster et al. on June 7, 1999, titled "Document Delivery System for Automatically Printing a Document on a Printing Device". Alternatively, the report document could be printed at the user's specific request or be displayed on the video monitor at the user's request or be displayed at a specific designated time. The process is illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 3. At the time the Activity

Reference Guide service is set up for the user and at other times initiated by the user, the user is requested to provide user report customization preferences, at 301. A user profile-interest sheet is provided to the user - preferably via the network 109 and user installation 101. An example of such a user profile-interest sheet is shown in FIG. 4. The user enters the types of activities of interest to the user, at 303 (FIG. 3), the time over which the activities and events should be calendared, at 305, and over what geographical range the activities and events can be distributed while still being of interest to the user, at 307. The user, in an alternative embodiment, may predeterminedly decide upon a priority of events should there be a schedule conflict, at 309. The user is also provided a selection of report formats (see FIG. 5) into which the Activity Reference Guide service will provide the information, at 311. Thus, the user is asked for the type of events the user wants in the report. Further, the style of the Activity Reference Guide report (calendar, classified event, etc.) and the period over which it is to run (daily, weekly, etc) is requested in addition to other formatting requests. (One example of a report format was illustrated in FIG. 2. Another example, shown in FIG. 6, is more conversational in tone and provides advertising space for the alternative compensation implementation). Additionally, the user selects the time or times the report is to be delivered to the user. Once the user has made the necessary selections, the profiling and preference steps of blocks 301-311 are complete and the user profile-interest sheet is returned to the Activity Reference Guide service where the user's responses are parsed into separately useful groupings, at 103.

In accordance with the user's selected delivery time, the Activity Reference Guide service obtains, at 315, all of the activities and events information that have been made available, by push or pull distribution and user modulation, to the Activities Reference Guide service. In a first embodiment, each event promoter voluntarily contributes event information (time, place, event summary, etc.) to a stored database in memory at the Activities Reference Guide service site. It should be noted that it is the responsibility of the promoter to get the event into the stored database and it is preferred that insertion into the database is accomplished via the network. Typically, this process is regarded as a promoter "push" process. In this embodiment, the central database contains all possible activities, which have been accepted from a variety of promoters - local, regional, and national. Some potential types of information are TV listings (broadcast, cable, satellite, pay-per-view), movie theater listings, Internet activities (presentations and broadcasts, chat room guests, online gaming), sporting events (local, regional, and national), cultural events, and local events (plays, concerts, presentations, conventions). Information about an event is received into the database from the promoter, in a preferred embodiment, a limited amount of time before an event is scheduled (to avoid speculative event scheduling by overeager promoters) and as late as while the event is actually occurring. Periodically, the system of the present invention culls the database for stale (already performed) events based upon the stored expiration and archival dates. In the preferred embodiment, a recognition of different types of events is made and the archival dates are respected or modified for a planned history retention of past events. Stale event information, which is not determined to have a need for archiving or which has passed its archival date, is deleted from the database. The data is categorized and cross-referenced numerous ways to match users' interests. For example, television stations are tracked across the nation and children's activities are broken down into educational and entertainment. Using the user's profile, the service selects activities that might be of interest. The previously mentioned event plus code, entered by the promoter (or the system operator) into the contact field, is to be used by the user to obtain tickets or additional information. If the user is connected to the service, merely clicking on the event plus code will further connect the user with the promoter or a service authorized by the promoter to provide augmented service to the user. If the user is not on-line, the event plus code can be obtained from the printed report and the user can telephone in to an answering service for further service.

Due to the unique and dynamic scheduling for each user, each day's events are most likely novel for the user. A selection of "of interest" items in an alternative embodiment are displayed on a cover page that accompanies the report. These "of interest" items could include, but would not be limited to, activities outside the user's specified timeframe, or activities that occur outside of the user's selected zip code location. In a second embodiment, the Activities Reference Guide service searches the individual promoters' web pages via the network and pulls in data from those pages which have information meeting the profile established by the user. The process employed in this second embodiment is shown in the flowchart FIG. 7A.

In order to obtain promoters' events 315, the Activities Reference Guide service establishes, at 701, search criteria for the pages available to the network, which are based upon the groupings passed from the user's preferences. A web searching agent (a "bot") searches the network for web sites meeting the established criteria, at 703. Upon finding a "hit", the web page information (but not necessarily the formatting) is downloaded to the Activities Reference Guide service site memory. This search and download continues, at 705, until the web page possibilities are exhausted. At the user's or the Activities Reference Guide's option, a compatibility filter screens out inappropriate lists or information, at 707, before completing the event obtaining task.

A service provider, which generally offers a compilation of events such as television listings, movie theatre listings, pro sports events, and the like, can push the event data to the Activity Reference Guide service as shown in FIG. 7B. Data is fed, usually by the network but alternatively via an independent connection, from the service provider to the Activity Reference Guide service site at 715. An input filter at the Activity Reference Guide service site translates the service provider data, which can be conventional database record format, XML tagged files, common separated fields, and the like, to the chosen Activity Reference Guide database formats and inserts the translated data into memory, at 717.

The event promoter can also push the event to the Activity Reference Guide service, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7C. As briefly mentioned before, the promoter can be an individual who wants to publicize an event, perhaps a noncommercial activity to which the general public is invited. One of the benefits of the present invention is that modestly funded events can be widely publicized to those having interest in the event. The promoter goes to the Activity Reference Guide service publishing web site, at 725. If the promoter is not already a registered entity at the Activity Reference Guide service site, a registration is required, in the preferred embodiment, at 727. The promoter may then create an event entry or edit an already existing event, at 729. An entry or edit changes the event information, for example, the name of the event, the type of event, contact information, ticket information, and similar data, at 731. If the promoter is satisfied, the promoter positively confirms the creation of a new event record or positively confirms the changing of an existing event record, at 733. The Activity Reference Guide service analyzes the new/changed record, at 735, to see if it should be further reviewed by a human. The successful record is then added to the record database, at 737.

If the Activities Reference Guide service depends upon advertisement for compensation, ads are prepared and formatted for insertion into the report, at 317. The stored event information is reformatted, at 319, into a format compatible with the user's report layout and a sort by time, geography, and priority is made to place the information into the report, at 321. In a preferred embodiment, it is the user's preference that establishes the priority of the sort, but alternative embodiments would use alphanumeric character priority or paid promotional fees to establish priority. As described above, the user may modulate the information being reported. This may occur at block 322 during the report formatting and delivery stage. Finally, at the appropriate time, a customized report is delivered in a preferred embodiment, to the user's printer, at 323. Alternatively, the report can be viewed on a video monitor, television screen, PDA-style device, or other human-perceptible means. The user may also request a report on-demand.

An optional feature to the Activities Reference Guide service is that of travel support. Since the activity guide is processed using a zip code, travelers can determine activities at their destinations before arriving there. To support this, the Activities Reference Guide service covers an alternate zip code and has different preferences than the "Home" profile. One example is shown in the Traveling user profile -interest sheet of FIG. 8. This profile sheet allows the user to select alternative activities (without affecting the Home profile), the zip code of the traveled-to destination (or zip codes of concatenated destinations for the user making many stops while traveling), the dates of travel, and when the "travel- version" of the report is to be printed. Thus, the user identifies the requirement for a travel version as part of the user's response to the customization request from the Activities Reference Guide service. When the time specified by the user for report delivery is reached and before the promoter's events are obtained, a determination of whether there has been a travel version request is made. A flowchart of this process is shown in FIG. 9 and the step of recognizing delivery time 901 follows the step of parsing the list into known groupings, 313. It should be understood that an unscheduled amount of time could pass between step 313 and step 901, since the user is given control over when the delivery of the report is to take place. Once the recognition of a time to deliver report has been made at step 903. If a travel request has been made, the travel profile established by the user is employed, at step 905, to select and sort and calendar the selected activities and events which are obtained at step 315. If no travel request has been made, the standard user profile is used, at step 907. Once the events have been obtained, the remainder of the report delivery process is undertaken.

Similar to the travel support report, a household multiple profile option is available as an option to the preferred embodiment. The household, itself, is already identified by zip code and preferences stored by the user. Individual members of the household can save their individual preferences for activities and events under the umbrella household preferences. Of course, individual reports for the members will be generated, if that is the desire of the user. Of more value is the ability of the system to mix and merge scheduled activities and blackout times of the individual members so that scheduled events that occur in non-blackout times of two or more of the individuals can be highlighted. Thus, an active family can readily identify an event of interest to a child in the family that occurs at a time when other events for the adults are not pressing, and attention can be devoted to the child and the child's chosen event.

Thus, a service that provides an automated activities schedule and calendar that gives a user personalized event listing has been described. Such an automated calendaring vehicle accepts user preferences, accepts event promoters' offerings - by pull or push methods - and automatically a customized activity report delivered to the user.

I claim:

Claims

Claims:

1. A method of providing a report of desired activities, comprising the steps of: accepting an event request list from a user; searching network sites for scheduled events that correspond to entries in said accepted event request list; obtaining event data from said corresponding network sites; reformatting said event data; and delivering a report to said user, said report including reformatted event data from at least two sites of said corresponding network sites.

2. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 further comprising the step of accepting a user preferred technique of delivering said report.

3. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 2 wherein said step of accepting a user preferred format further comprises the step of defining said report format.

4. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 further comprises the step of accepting an indication of a geographic location from said user.

5. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 4 further comprising the step of limiting the searching of network sites to those having events occurring within a predetermined distance from said geographic location.

6. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 further comprising the step of accepting at least one user profile from said user.

7. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 6 wherein said step of accepting at least one user profile fiirther comprises the step of accepting profiles from at least two members of a household.

8. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 6 wherein said step of accepting at least one user profile further comprises the steps of accepting from said user a characterization of said user's desired events and a time period over which said desired events are to be scheduled.

9. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 6 wherein said step of accepting at least one user profile further comprises the step of accepting from said user a time at which said report is to be delivered to said user.

10. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 further comprising the step of incorporating advertising into said reformatted event data.

11. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 further comprising the step of accepting user modulation of events of said reformatted event data.

12. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 11 wherein said step of accepting user modulation further comprises the step of accepting a user ticket purchase request.

13. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 further comprising the step of storing said obtained event data.

14. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 13 herein said step of obtaining event data further comprises the steps of obtaining an expiration date for the event and removing said event data from storage following said expiration date.

15. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 13 herein said step of obtaining event data further comprises the steps of obtaining an archival date for the event, maintaining said event data in storage after said event occurs, and removing said event data from storage following said archival date.

16. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 1 wherein the step of obtaining event data further comprises the step of obtaining contact information.

17. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 16 wherein said step of accepting an event request list further comprises the step of accepting a ticket purchase request.

18. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 17 wherein said step of accepting a ticket purchase request further comprises the step of accepting a user's option to purchase event tickets in advance of the step of obtaining event data.

19. A method of providing a report of desired activities, comprising the steps of: accepting an event request list from a user; accepting information for scheduled events entered by a plurality of event promoters; selecting at least two scheduled events that correspond to said accepted event request list; reformatting said information of said selected scheduled events; and delivering a report to said user, said report including said reformatted scheduled event information.

20. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 further comprising the step of accepting a user preferred technique of delivering said report.

21. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 wherein said step of accepting a user preferred format further comprises the step of defining said report format.

22. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 18 further comprises the step of accepting an indication of a geographic location from said user.

23. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 22 further comprising the step of limiting the reporting of events to the user to those events occurring within a predetermined distance from said geographic location.

24. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 further comprising the step of accepting at least one user profile fiom said user.

25. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 24 wherein said step of accepting at least one user profile further comprises the step of accepting profiles from at least two members of a household.

26. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 24 wherein said step of accepting at least one user profile further comprises the steps of accepting from said user a characterization of said user's desired events and a time period over which said desired events are to be scheduled.

27. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 24 wherein said step of accepting at least one user profile further comprises the step of accepting from said user a time at which said report is to be delivered to said user.

28. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 further comprising the step of incorporating advertising into said reformatted event data.

29. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 further comprising the step of accepting user modulation of events of said reformatted event data.

30. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 29 wherein said step of accepting user modulation further comprises the step of accepting a user ticket request.

31. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 further comprising the step of storing said obtained event data.

32. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 31 wherein said step of obtaining event data further comprises the steps of obtaining an expiration date for the event and removing said event data from storage following said expiration date.

33. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 31 wherein said step of obtaining event data further comprises the steps of obtaining an archival date for the event, maintaining said event data in storage after said event occurs, and removing said event data from storage following said archival date.

34. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of obtaining an expiration date for the event and limiting acceptance of said scheduled event information to a predetermined amount of time before said expiration date.

35. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 19 wherein the step of accepting information for scheduled events further comprises the step of accepting contact information.

36. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 35 wherein said step of accepting an event request list further comprises the step of accepting a ticket purchase request.

37. A method of providing a report in accordance with the method of claim 36 wherein said step of accepting a ticket purchase request further comprises the step of accepting a user's option to purchase event tickets in accordance of the step of accepting information for scheduled events.