Systems and methods for automatically creating and shortening traditional street and postal addresses

• US 10,127,207 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2016
• Issued: 11/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WGRS Licensing Company, LLC
• Original Assignee: WGRS Licensing Company, LLC
• Inventors: Hancock, S. Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Cheryl
• Application Number:
  US15/187,386
• Publication Number:
  US 20170011018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/146 Coding or compression of tree-structured data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for creating and using a Shortcode for any street or postal address, including an imbedded Shortcode (ISC) that differentiates and visually distinguishes the alpha-numeric characters constituting the Shortcode within the visual display of the full street address. A Shortcode may be automatically created and uniquely associated with a full street or postal address for anywhere in the world, including a street number, street name and/or type, city, state, country, or any street or unit prefix or suffix designation. The ISC enables the Shortcode to be visually identified by distinguishing the Shortcode from the other characters constituting the full traditional street or postal address.

Claims

1. A method for creating and using an ISC database, comprising:

identifying a location of interest and assigning the location a full address defined by a first set of characters “

X”

;

automatically, by a database manager, assigning a Shortcode and an imbedded Shortcode to the location, the Shortcode defined by a second set of characters “

Y”

including less than all of the first set of characters “

X”

of the full address such that the Shortcode is unique within the ISC database and is both computer and human interpretable, the imbedded Shortcode comprising a visual representation including the first set of characters “

X”

of the full address with the second set of characters “

Y”

of the Shortcode visually distinguished from the remaining characters of the full address by at least one of underlining, bolding, enlarging, changing the font, and changing the color of the second set of characters “

Y”

in the presentation of the full address relative to the remaining characters, wherein the remaining characters define a third set of characters “

Z” and

wherein “

X”

equals the sum of “

Y” and

“

Z”

; and

storing the full address, Shortcode, and imbedded Shortcode associated together within the ISC database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the full address comprises a plurality of alphanumeric characters defining a traditional street address and wherein the Shortcode includes a subset of the plurality of alphanumeric characters.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subset of the plurality of alphanumeric characters includes a first string of numbers and a second string of letters automatically selected by the database manager from the traditional street address, and wherein the first and second strings are not separated by punctuation in the Shortcode.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first string of numbers corresponds to a street number of the traditional street address, and the second string of letters corresponds to less than all of a street name of the traditional street address.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second string of letters correspond to a minimum sequence of letters from the street name necessary to make the Shortcode unique within the ISC database.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the second string of letters correspond to a first letter of the street name and less than all of the remaining letters of the street name.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the second string of letters are selected based on a Shortcode assigned to another location on the same street.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the subset of the plurality of alphanumeric characters include one or more strings of numbers and one or more strings of letters selected from the traditional street address, and wherein, in the Shortcode, a) adjacent strings are separated by punctuation if the adjacent strings consist of numbers, b) adjacent strings are separated by punctuation if the adjacent strings consist of letters, and c) adjacent strings are placed directly adjacent one another without punctuation if one of the adjacent strings consists of letters and the other of the adjacent strings consists of numbers.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

subsequently receiving an inquiry via a communication interface communicating with a network from a remote electronic device, the inquiry including the Shortcode; and

transmitting the additional information to the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the Shortcode further comprises a date and time automatically assigned to the Shortcode.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of interest is one of a physical location and a virtual location.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the Shortcode and imbedded Shortcode are assigned automatically by the ISC database to ensure that the Shortcode is unique within relevant geopolitical subdivisions.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing additional information regarding the location of interest together with the full address, Shortcode, and imbedded Shortcode within the ISC database.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the Shortcode is a hierarchical string of alphanumeric characters.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a receiving agent to analyze Shortcodes or imbedded Shortcodes in incoming user communications to provide access to real-time information to users regarding locations of interest associated with the Shortcodes within the ISC database.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling sending agents to use and analyze Shortcodes being entered in user communications to access real-time location information and one or more of 1) expand the Shortcodes into the corresponding full addresses, 2) expand the Shortcodes into the corresponding imbedded Shortcodes, 3) auto-complete the Shortcodes, 4) identify errors in the Shortcodes and suggest corrected Shortcodes, and 5) parse and automatically suggest disambiguation of the Shortcodes in order to enable agents receiving such communications to access real-time location information.

17. A method for creating and using an ISC database, comprising:

identifying a location of interest and assigning the location a full address defined by a first set of characters “

X”

;

automatically, by a database manager, assigning a Shortcode and an imbedded Shortcode to the location, the Shortcode defined by a second set of characters “

Y”

including less than all of the first set of characters “

X”

of the full address such that the Shortcode is unique within the ISC database and is both computer and human interpretable, the imbedded Shortcode comprising a visual representation including the first set of characters “

X”

of the full address with the second set of characters “

Y”

of the Shortcode visually distinguished from the remaining characters of the full address by at least one of underlining, bolding, enlarging, changing the font, and changing the color of the second set of characters “

Y”

in the presentation of the full address relative to the remaining characters, wherein the remaining characters define a third set of characters “

Z” and

wherein “

X”

equals the sum of “

Y” and

“

Z”

; and

storing the full address, Shortcode, and imbedded Shortcode associated together within the ISC database,

wherein the location of interest includes a plurality of unaddressed micro-locations that are subsets of or associated with the location of interest, and wherein assigning the location a full address defined by a first set of characters “

X”

further comprises assigning a full micro-location address to a first micro-location of the micro-locations defined by a fourth set of characters “

A”

, the method further comprising;

assigning a micro-location Shortcode and an imbedded micro-location Shortcode to the micro-location, the micro-location Shortcode defined by a fifth set of characters “

B”

including less than all of the first set of characters “

A”

of the full micro-location address such that the micro-location Shortcode is unique within the ISC database and is both computer and human interpretable to enable addressing of the first micro-location; and

storing the full micro-location address, micro-location Shortcode, and imbedded micro-location Shortcode associated together within the ISC database.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the imbedded micro-location Shortcode comprises a visual representation including the fourth set of characters “

A”

of the full micro-location address with the fifth set of characters “

B”

of the micro-location Shortcode visually distinguished from the remaining characters of the full micro-location address by at least one of underlining, bolding, enlarging, changing the font, and changing the color of the fifth set of characters “

B”

in the presentation of the full address relative to the remaining characters, wherein the remaining characters define a sixth set of characters “

C” and

wherein “

A”

equals the sum of “

B” and

“

C”

.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the micro-location Shortcode is appended to the location Shortcode within the ISC database.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the micro-location Shortcode is appended to the location Shortcode when presented on a user electronic device.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the location of interest is a building and wherein the micro-location is one of printed and digital material, a brochure, a pamphlet, a guidebook, and a tour, a location, an exhibit, a section of exhibits, and a display within the building.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising enabling a receiving agent to analyze micro-location Shortcodes or imbedded micro-location Shortcodes in incoming user communications to provide access to real-time information from a centralized clearinghouse to users regarding micro-locations of interest associated with the Shortcodes within the ISC database.

23. A method for creating and using an ISC database, comprising:

receiving from a user, via a network, a full address defined by a first set of characters “

X”

identifying a location of interest;

automatically, by a database manager, assigning a Shortcode and an imbedded Shortcode to the location to ensure that the Shortcode is unique within relevant geopolitical subdivisions, the Shortcode defined by a second set of characters “

Y”

including less than all of the first set of characters “

X”

of the full address such that the Shortcode is unique within the ISC database and is both computer and human interpretable; and

storing the full address, Shortcode, and imbedded Shortcode associated together within the ISC database.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the imbedded Shortcode comprises a visual representation including the first set of characters “

X”

of the full address with the second set of characters “

Y”

of the Shortcode visually distinguished from the remaining characters of the full address by at least one of underlining, bolding, enlarging, changing the font, and changing the color of the second set of characters “

Y”

in the presentation of the full address relative to the remaining characters, wherein the remaining characters define a third set of characters “

Z” and

wherein “

X”

equals the sum of “

Y” and

“

Z”

.