System and method for the aggregation and matching of information
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a first communication device associated with a first user wherein said first communication device has a physical location parameter and is configured to communicate with a second communications device associated with a second user;
a community engine server comprising a profile associated with said first user wherein said community engine server is configured to compare said profile with at least one affiliate profile and obtain a match result; and
, at least one affiliate server comprising said at least one affiliate profile wherein said at least one affiliate server is configured to provide said at least one affiliate profile to said community engine server over a communication network.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention enable users with communication devices to access affiliate profiles and perform matches on profiles aggregated from multiple independent computer systems regardless of communications device type or operating system and regardless of affiliate match server computer type, operating system or language. Affiliate profiles may comprise user profiles, advertisement profiles or coupon profiles. In addition, embodiments of the invention allow users to broadcast their location with their permission and join groups based on location parameters and connect to or dial other users by alias without knowledge of a machine address or phone number. Embodiments of the invention utilize information from each user in the form of a profile containing metadata. Examples of the type of metadata that comprises a profile include various categories of information describing a user, group, advertisement or coupon. In addition, the profile may comprise the user'"'"'s groups and the user'"'"'s preferences including filters for calculating matches with other user, group, advertisement and coupon profiles. Profiles are typically stored on a community engine server, but may also reside in distributed components configured to interface with the community engine server. A user profile may comprise a flag and other fields for example that signify that a user is interested in receiving advertisements for cars and for the type of car that the user is interested in. When a car dealership accepts delivery of a particular model that the user is interested in, the community engine server finds that affiliate profiles comprising aggregated car dealership advertisements include the same car type that the user is interested in and forward the matching advertisement profile to the user. The user may be paid for the advertisement in cash or coupons for accepting the advertisement. A user profile may also comprise a coupon flag and for example when a store that is an affiliate member provides coupon profiles to the community server engine a user may obtain desired coupons that match the user'"'"'s profile settings if the user'"'"'s profile is set to accept coupons. A user may match advertisements and coupons based on a location parameter and may transfer or trade advertisements and coupons with other users. The communication device may be capable of displaying a bar code in it'"'"'s graphical interface while at a store so as to eliminate the need to physically present coupons.
269 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a first communication device associated with a first user wherein said first communication device has a physical location parameter and is configured to communicate with a second communications device associated with a second user;
a community engine server comprising a profile associated with said first user wherein said community engine server is configured to compare said profile with at least one affiliate profile and obtain a match result; and
,at least one affiliate server comprising said at least one affiliate profile wherein said at least one affiliate server is configured to provide said at least one affiliate profile to said community engine server over a communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system comprising:
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a first communication device associated with a first user wherein said first communication device comprises a physical location parameter and is configured to communicate with a second communication device associated with a second user by asserting an alias associated within N-degrees of freedom of said first user and further configured to allow said first user to join a group based on said physical location parameter of said first communications device;
a community engine server comprising a profile associated with said first user wherein said community engine server is configured to compare said profile with at least one affiliate profile and obtain a match result; and
,at least one affiliate server comprising said at least one affiliate profile associated with an affiliate user wherein said affiliate server is configured to provide said at least one affiliate profile to said community engine server over a communication network. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method comprising:
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obtaining an affiliate profile from an affiliate server;
transforming said affiliate profile to a transformed affiliate profile;
caching said transformed affiliate profile in a cache in a community engine server;
accessing a first user profile in said community engine server;
comparing said first user profile to said transformed affiliate profile; and
,generating a match result based on said comparing. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method comprising:
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accessing a first user profile in a community engine server;
accessing a group profile in said community engine server;
comparing said first user profile to said group profile in said community engine server; and
,generating a match result based on said comparing. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. A method comprising:
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accessing a first user profile in a community engine server;
accessing a second user profile in said community engine server;
comparing said first user profile to a group profile associated with said second user profile in said community engine server; and
,generating a match result based on said comparing. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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42. A system comprising:
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means for obtaining an affiliate profile from an affiliate server;
means for transforming said affiliate profile to a transformed affiliate profile;
means for caching said transformed affiliate profile in a cache in a community engine server;
means for accessing a first user profile in said community engine server;
means for comparing said first user profile to said transformed affiliate profile; and
,means for generating a match result based on said comparing.
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43. A system comprising:
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means for accessing a first user profile in a community engine server;
means for accessing a group profile in said community engine server;
means for comparing said first user profile to said group profile in said community engine server; and
,means for generating a match result based on said comparing. - View Dependent Claims (44)
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45. A system comprising:
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means for accessing a first user profile in a community engine server;
means for accessing a second user profile in said community engine server;
means for comparing said first user profile to a group profile associated with said second user profile in said community engine server; and
,means for generating a match result based on said comparing. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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Specification