System and method for providing centralized management and distribution of information to remote users

• US 20050197871A1
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Pruett, Jonathan C., Mendonca, Pat
• Granted Patent: US 8,601,049 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/00 Alarm systems in which the alarm condition is signalled from a central station to a plurality of substations
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

The invention includes systems, methods, and software applications for centrally maintaining information and automatically distributing relevant portions of the information to remote users. In one embodiment, a central server stores the information, which is maintained on the central server. Periodically, or each time the server information is updated, the server identifies the portion of the information that is relevant to each user and downloads the relevant portion of information to each user, for example to a mobile device such as a Blackberry™. The invention may be used to maintain and timely distribute information related to emergency response procedures, sales or servicing schedules, and delivery schedules, among other things.

Claims

1. A system for providing centralized management and distribution of information, comprising:

a central data processing apparatus for maintaining a set of information for an organization and for dividing the set of information into a plurality of subsets of information based on relevance to a plurality of users;

a network, communicatively connected to the central data processing apparatus, for communicating each subset of information to the user to which each subset is relevant; and

a user device, communicatively connected to the network, for receiving, storing, and presenting the subset of information relevant to a user of the user device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the network comprises a wireless communications link.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the central data processing apparatus comprises an updating component for sending a subset of information to a relevant user via the network after the subset of information is updated on the central data processing apparatus.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of information comprises emergency-response-related information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of information comprises item-delivery-related information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of information comprises service-visit-related information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of information comprises sales-visit-related information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is one of a group of devices comprising:

a Blackberry™

device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, and a home computer.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein dividing the set of information into the plurality of subsets of information is based on relevance to each of the plurality of users.

9-1. (canceled)

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is a wireless device.

10-2. (canceled)

16. A system for providing centralized management and distribution of information, comprising:

means for storing information regarding an organization in a central apparatus;

means for accepting an update to the information;

means for determining a portion of the information that is relevant to a user;

means for communicating the portion of the information to a device associated with the user; and

means for storing the portion of the information on the device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the device is one of a group of devices comprising:

a Blackberry™

device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, and a home computer.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for communicating comprises:

means for wirelessly communicating the portion of the information to a device associated with the user.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the information comprises:

emergency-response-related information.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the information comprises:

item-delivery-related information.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the information comprises:

service-visit-related information.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the information comprises:

sales-visit-related information.

23. A computer program product containing instructions for causing a processor to perform operations related to centralized management and distribution of information, the operations comprising:

storing information regarding an organization in a central location;

accepting an update to the information;

determining a portion of the information that is relevant to a user; and

communicating the portion of the information to a device associated with the user for storage on the device.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the device is one of a group of devices comprising:

a Blackberry™

device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, and a home computer.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein communicating comprises:

communicating the portion of the information to a device associated with the user via a wireless link.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the information comprises:

emergency-response-related information.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the information comprises:

item-delivery-related information.

28. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the information comprises:

service-visit-related information.

29. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the information comprises:

sales-visit-related information.

30. A system for providing centralized management and distribution of emergency response procedures, comprising:

a server containing the emergency response procedures;

at least one wireless device for receiving and storing information; and

a wireless communication network for connecting the wireless device and the server,

wherein

the server sends a portion of the emergency response procedures to the wireless device when the emergency response procedures are updated; and

the wireless device receives and stores the portion of the emergency response procedures.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the server determines the portion of the emergency response procedures to send based upon whether the portion corresponds to a user of the wireless device.

32. A system for providing centralized management and distribution of item delivery information, comprising:

a server containing the item delivery information;

at least one wireless device for receiving and storing information; and

a wireless communication network for connecting the wireless device and the server,

wherein

the server sends a portion of the item delivery information to the wireless device when the item delivery information is updated; and

the wireless device receives and stores the portion of the item delivery information.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the server determines the portion of the item delivery information to send based upon whether the portion corresponds to a user of the wireless device needs the portion of the item delivery information to delivery an item.

34. An apparatus for centralized management and distribution of information to a plurality of users, comprising:

a memory for storing information regarding an organization;

a receiver for accepting an update to the information regarding the organization stored in the memory;

a processor for determining a portion of the information stored in the memory that is relevant to a selected user; and

a transmitter for sending a signal representing the portion of the information to a device associated with the selected user for storage on the device.

35. An apparatus for receiving distributed centralized information, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a subset of information from a set of information regarding an organization after the set of information is updated in a central data storage device, the subset of information being relevant to a user;

a memory for storing the subset of information; and

a user interface for presenting the stored subset of information to the user.

36. A method for receiving distributed centralized information comprising:

receiving, at a device associated with a user, a subset of information from a set of information regarding an organization after the set of information is updated in a central data storage device, the subset of information being relevant to the user;

storing the subset of information; and

presenting the stored subset of information to the user.

37. A method for providing centralized management and distribution of information, to users comprising:

storing information regarding an organization in a central apparatus;

accepting an update to the information;

determining a portion of the information that is relevant to a user;

communicating the portion of the information to a device associated with the user; and

storing the portion of the information on the device.

11. The method of claim 37, wherein communicating comprises:

wirelessly communicating the portion of the information to a device associated with the user.

12. The method of claim 37, wherein the information comprises:

emergency-response-related information.

13. The method of claim 37, wherein the information comprises:

item-delivery-related information.

14. The method of claim 37, wherein the information comprises:

service-visit-related information.

15. The method of claim 37, wherein the information comprises:

sales-visit-related information.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the device is one of a group of devices comprising:

a Blackberry™

device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, and a home computer.