Influencing communications among a social support network

• US 20050114759A1
• Filed: 10/23/2004
• Published: 05/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caringfamily LLC
• Original Assignee: Caringfamily LLC
• Inventors: Davoust, Paul, Taenzer, David, Williams, Michael David
• Granted Patent: US 7,711,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for promoting and managing communications among a social support network. According to one embodiment, a communication system includes a closed communication service platform and a hardcopy-based communication appliance. The communication service platform provides a caregroup virtual private network (VPN) through which only registered members of the caregroup, authorized personnel of the communication service platform, processes associated with the communication service platform, and a target of the caregroup are permitted to exchange communications. The hardcopy-based communication appliance is associated with the caregroup VPN and used by the target and is operable to be communicatively coupled to the communication service platform to print inbound communications received from registered members of the caregroup, and to upload to the communication service platform outbound digital representations of annotated pages defining communications to be delivered to one or more members of the caregroup.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a digital representation of an annotated routing form, the annotated routing form having a particular form type of a plurality of predetermined form types, one or more portions of the digital representation of the annotated routing form intended for email delivery to one or more addressees, the annotated routing form including thereon a set of item identification marks;

reading the set of item identification marks from the digital representation of the annotated routing form;

determining the particular form type of the annotated routing form and one or more characteristics of the annotated routing form based on the set of item identification marks, the one or more characteristics of the annotated routing form including information regarding a location of an address sector within the annotated routing form;

attempting to determine the one or more addressees by processing a portion of the digital representation corresponding to the location of the address sector;

composing a digital representation of a resulting message based at least in part upon the particular form type; and

distributing the digital representation of the resulting message by associating the digital representation of the resulting message with an email message addressed to email accounts associated with each of the one or more addressees.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after said receiving a digital representation of an annotated routing form, receiving a digital representation of a subsequent page of correspondence; and

determining the digital representation of the subsequent page of correspondence is to be distributed to the one or more addressees as part of the digital representation of the resulting message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining the digital representation of the subsequent page of correspondence is to be distributed to the one or more addressees as part of the digital representation of the resulting message is based upon (i) a lack of identifiable addressing information associated with the subsequent page of correspondence, and (ii) a difference in time between (a) a time stamp associated with the digital representation of the subsequent page of correspondence and (b) a time stamp associated with the digital representation of the annotated routing form being within a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing the digital representation of the annotated routing form based on the particular form type; and

wherein said attempting to determine the one or more addressees by performing one or more image processing techniques to compare one or more portions of the address sector within the digital representation of the annotated routing form to corresponding portions of the address sector within an original version of the particular form type.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if said attempting to determine the one or more addressees is inconclusive, then submitting the digital representation of the annotated routing form to a human augmented dispatch system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital representation of the resulting message comprises a digital gift suitable for printing.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein aesthetic appearance of the digital gift is enhanced by including within the digital representation of the resulting message a background design associated with the particular form type.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics include information regarding a physical location within the annotated routing form of one or more of a handwriting sector and a choice sector.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising retrieving content from a database for inclusion in the digital representation of the resulting message based upon one or more content selections indicated within the choice sector of the annotated routing form.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said composing a digital representation of a resulting message further comprises extracting the one or more portions from the digital representation of the annotated routing form and including digital representations of the one or more extracted portions within the digital representation of the resulting message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of identification marks comprises one or more of a barcode, a semicode, and a MaxiCode.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed as a result of one or more processors executing instructions stored on a computer-readable medium.

13. A method comprising:

as part of a communication to an end user of a hardcopy-based communication appliance, delivering a digital representation of a form to the end user, the form including thereon a set of item identification marks that uniquely associate the form with a record in a database;

receiving from the hardcopy-based communication appliance a digital representation of an annotated version of the form, one or more portions of the digital representation of the annotated version of the form intended for email delivery to one or more addressees;

reading the set of item identification marks from the digital representation of the annotated version of the form;

determining the one or more addressees by retrieving the record from the database based upon a value represented by the set of item identification marks;

composing a digital representation of a resulting message by extracting the one or more portions from the digital representation of the annotated version of the form and including digital representations of the one or more extracted portions within the digital representation of the resulting message; and

distributing the digital representation of the resulting message to the one or more addressees by associating the digital representation of the resulting message with an email message addressed to email accounts associated with each of the one or more addressee.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

after said receiving a digital representation of an annotated version of the form, receiving a digital representation of a subsequent page of correspondence; and

determining the digital representation of the subsequent page of correspondence is to be distributed to the one or more addressees as part of the digital representation of the resulting message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said determining the digital representation of the subsequent page of correspondence is to be distributed to the one or more addressees as part of the digital representation of the resulting message is based upon (i) a lack of identifiable addressing information associated with the subsequent page of correspondence, and (ii) a difference in time between (a) a time stamp associated with the digital representation of the subsequent page of correspondence and (b) a time stamp associated with the digital representation of the annotated version of the form being within a predetermined threshold.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the record contains therein information indicative of a particular form type of a plurality of predetermined form types represented by the form.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising identifying one or more content selections indicated within a choice sector of the digital representation of the annotated version of the form by parsing the digital representation of the annotated version of the form based on the particular form type

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising comparing one or more portions of the choice sector within the digital representation of the annotated version of the form to corresponding portions of the choice sector within an original version of the particular form type by performing one or more image processing techniques.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising retrieving content from the database for inclusion in the digital representation of the resulting message based upon the one or more content selections.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital representation of the resulting message comprises a digital gift suitable for printing.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein aesthetic appearance of the digital gift is enhanced by including within the digital representation of the resulting message a background design indicated by the record.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the set of item identification marks comprises one or more of a barcode, a semicode, and a MaxiCode.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the method is performed as a result of one or more processors executing instructions stored on a computer-readable medium.

24. A method comprising:

receiving from a member of a caregroup an indication of a digital gift desired to be generated and delivered to a target of the caregroup;

for each content-containing component of the digital gift, selecting default content items based upon one or more of biographical information previously supplied by one or more members of the caregroup, information regarding communications history between one or more members of the caregroup and the target of the caregroup, ascertained preferences of the target of the caregroup, and a type of the digital gift;

allowing the caregroup member to immediately initiate delivery of the digital gift with the selected default content items or personalize the digital gift prior to delivery by presenting the digital gift within a corresponding digital gift editor.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein content items from which the default content items are selected are stored in a database, and wherein said selecting default content items further comprises running one or more queries on fields associated with the content items.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising applying a sorting methodology to results of the one or more queries.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the sorting methodology comprises one or more of randomization, least recently used, and alphabetical.

28. A method comprising:

a communication service provider maintaining information regarding events of significance to members of a family support network and a target of the family support network and dates associated with the events of significance;

responsive to determining a particular event among the events of significance is within a predetermined amount of time, the communication service provider encouraging communications among the members of the family support network and the target of the family support network at least in part by delivering a coaching message regarding the particular event to a hardcopy-based communication appliance associated with the family support network and used by the target of the family support network, the coaching message including a suggestion regarding an appropriate digital gift that may be sent via the communication service provider by the target of the family support network to one or more members of the family support network, the coaching message including a form depicting representations of one or more images from which the target of the family support network may select to personalize the suggested digital gift.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the particular event is a holiday celebrated by the members of the family support network.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the particular event is a birthday or an anniversary of a member of the family support network.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the form comprises an eCard order form which allows the target of the family support network to have delivered via email a personalized eCard by marking one or more selections regarding desired content on the eCard order form to create a filled-out eCard order form and returning the filled-out eCard order form to the communication service provider via the hardcopy-based communication appliance.

32. A method comprising:

providing a communication service configured to facilitate and encourage communications among a plurality of members of a caregroup and a target of the caregroup, the target of the caregroup using a hardcopy-based communication appliance associated with the caregroup to transmit and receive electronic communications via the communication service to or from the plurality of members of the caregroup;

capturing information regarding digital gifts exchanged among the plurality of members of the caregroup and the target of the caregroup via the communication service;

calculating one or more metrics based on the captured information; and

based on the one or more metrics, the communication service automatically generating and delivering a coaching message to one or more members of the plurality of members of the caregroup, the coaching message including a suggestion regarding an appropriate digital gift to be sent to the target of the caregroup via the communication service.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising allowing authorized members of the plurality of members of the caregroup to send coaching messages to other members of the plurality of members of the caregroup.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the coaching messages are directed to those of the other members of the plurality of members of the caregroup that have not tried a particular type of digital gift available via the communication service or not used the particular type of digital gift for a predetermined amount of time.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the one or more metrics include one or more of:

a rating regarding an affective-emotional value of digital gifts received by the target of the caregroup;

a rating regarding an intellectual stimulus value of the digital gifts received by the target of the caregroup;

a rating regarding activity induced value of the digital gifts received by the target of the caregroup;

information regarding historical norms of communications frequencies with the target of the caregroup by individual members of the plurality of members of the caregroup.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising the communication service facilitating member-to-member coaching by providing the authorized members with access to visual presentations or summaries of the one or more metrics.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising the communication service facilitating member-to-member coaching by providing suggesting appropriate coaching messages to be sent by the authorized members.

38. A hardcopy-based email appliance comprising:

a scanner operable to create outbound digital representations of annotated pages one or more portions of which are intended for email delivery to one or more addressees of a caregroup associated with the hardcopy-based email appliance;

a scan queue communicatively coupled to the scanner and operable to buffer accumulated outbound digital representations of annotated pages received from the scanner until the digital representations of annotated pages are directly or indirectly uploaded to a closed communication service configured to facilitate and encourage communications among a plurality of members of a caregroup and a target of the caregroup, the closed communication service operable to process the uploaded digital representations of annotated pages and distribute corresponding resulting email messages to the one or more addressees;

a print queue operable to be communicatively coupled to the closed communication service and to receive inbound digital representations of pages of correspondence received via the closed communication service from members of the caregroup intended for delivery to a user associated with the hardcopy-based email appliance and representing the target of the caregroup; and

a printer communicatively coupled to the print queue and operable to create hard copy output of the inbound digital representations of pages.

39. The hardcopy-based email appliance of claim 38, further comprising a scheduler operable to poll the communication service in accordance with a predefined schedule.

40. The hardcopy-based email appliance of claim 38 configured to perform call out remote management.

41. The hardcopy-based email appliance of claim 38 configured to perform unattended scheduled printing.

42. A communication system comprising:

a communication service platform providing various tools and services to members of a plurality of caregroups to facilitate and encourage generation and delivery of digital gifts among members of the plurality of caregroups and corresponding targets of the plurality of caregroups through the communication service platform; and

a plurality of hardcopy-based communication appliances each associated with a particular caregroup of the plurality of caregroups and used by the corresponding targets of the plurality of caregroups, each of the hardcopy-based communication appliances operable to be communicatively coupled to the communication service platform, to receive and print inbound digital gifts received from members of the particular caregroup, and to upload outbound digital representations of annotated pages defining digital gifts to be delivered to one or more members of the particular caregroup by email via the communication service platform.

43. A communication system comprising:

a closed communication service platform providing a caregroup virtual private network (VPN) through which only registered members of the caregroup, authorized personnel associated with the closed communication service platform, automated processes associated with the closed communication service platform, and a target of the caregroup are permitted to exchange communications to the registered members of the caregroup and the target of the caregroup; and

a hardcopy-based communication appliance associated with the caregroup VPN and used by the target, the hardcopy-based communication appliance operable to be communicatively coupled to the closed communication service platform, to receive and print inbound communications received from registered members of the caregroup, and to upload to the closed communication service platform outbound digital representations of annotated pages defining communications to be delivered to one or more members of the caregroup via the closed communication service platform.