Method and apparatus for facilitating development of an on-line personal community of individuals
First Claim
1. A method for managing communications between an end user seeking to communicate over an open network with at least one member meeting a prescribed set of criteria established by the end user, said end user and said at least one member being registered members of a common service, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving over the open network an end user request generated by the end user which includes the prescribed set of criteria;
storing in a database a profile of characteristics of a plurality of members, each profile being associated with an address corresponding to a particular member;
searching the database to generate a search result containing at least one candidate member with characteristics which correspond to the end user request; and
transmitting an electronic address to the end user or the candidate member so that the end user or candidate member can initiate online communication with the other.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is provided for managing communications between an end user seeking to communicate over an open network with at least one member meeting a prescribed set of criteria established by the end user. The end user and the member are registered members of a common service. The method begins by receiving over the open network an end user request generated by the end user. The end user request includes the prescribed set of criteria. Next, a profile of characteristics of a plurality of members are stored in a database. Each profile is associated with an address corresponding to a particular member. The database is searched to generate a search result containing at least one candidate member with characteristics which correspond to the end user request. Finally, an electronic address is transmitted to the end user or the candidate member so that the end user or candidate member can initiate online communication with the other.
37 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for managing communications between an end user seeking to communicate over an open network with at least one member meeting a prescribed set of criteria established by the end user, said end user and said at least one member being registered members of a common service, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving over the open network an end user request generated by the end user which includes the prescribed set of criteria;
storing in a database a profile of characteristics of a plurality of members, each profile being associated with an address corresponding to a particular member;
searching the database to generate a search result containing at least one candidate member with characteristics which correspond to the end user request; and
transmitting an electronic address to the end user or the candidate member so that the end user or candidate member can initiate online communication with the other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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16. An on-line apparatus for managing communications between an end user seeking to communicate over an open network with at least one member meeting a prescribed set of criteria established by the end user, said end user and said at least one member being registered members of a common service, said apparatus comprising:
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a controller unit for receiving over the open network an end user request generated by the end user which includes the prescribed set of criteria, the controller unit having a database for storing therein a profile of characteristics of a plurality of members, each member profile being associated with an address corresponding to a particular member;
means for searching the database to generate a search result containing at least one candidate member with characteristics which correspond to the end user request; and
means for forwarding an electronic address to the end user or the candidate member so that the end user or candidate member can initiate online communication with the other.
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29. A method of establishing an on-line network of members belonging to a common on-line service and having a self-defined set of interests in common, said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting over an open computer network a prescribed set of criteria to a processor communicating with a database storing a member profile of characteristics of a plurality of members; and
receiving over the open computer network an electronic address of at least one individual member who satisfies the prescribed set of criteria based on the member profile of characteristics of the individual member.
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Specification