System and method for managing and presenting entity information

• US 20060101005A1
• Filed: 10/11/2005
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stan J. Simon, Wendy W. Yang
• Original Assignee: Stan J. Simon, Wendy W. Yang
• Inventors: Simon, Stan J., Yang, Wendy W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A system and method for managing and presenting entity information is described. In an illustrative implementation, information such as product availability and operating hours is stored in a server (130). A query may be sent from a client (202) having a time (1402), date (1410), or both inquiring, for example, which entities are open at a certain or range of times, in the past, present or future. The server (130) compares the queried time with stored information, such as hours entries (4000, 4050). The results are displayed on a map (300) with open entities represented by a first symbol (930R) and closed entities by a second symbol (930G) such that all the entities on the map (300) are viewable without further searches. Clicking on a symbol (422) leads to a display (940) containing information about the associated entity, thereby enabling an entity'"'"'s information to be found using only its location.

Claims

1. A method of presenting information regarding a plurality of entities, comprising:

for each said entity, storing at least one entity characteristic list, said at least one entity characteristic list comprising entity characteristic information regarding each said entity;

receiving a queried time;

for each said entity, resolving a characteristic classification from said queried time and said at least one entity characteristic list, said characteristic classification having a plurality of possible values, said possible values comprising at least a first value and a second value; and

for each said entity, displaying at least one representation for said each entity, said at least one representation rendered in a first state when said characteristic classification of each said entity has resolved to a first value and said at least one representation rendered in a second state when said characteristic classification of each said entity has resolved to a second value.

2. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

associating a physical location with each said entity;

displaying a viewable portion of a map of a predetermined area, said viewable portion being all or a portion of said map;

selecting from said plurality of entities at least one entity associated with a physical location correspondingly located within said viewable portion of said map; and

placing said at least one representation for said at least one selected entity on said viewable portion of said map at a location that is correspondingly proximate to said physical location associated with said at least one selected entity.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said queried time comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

current time, past time, future time, current date, past date, future date, day of the week, a range of time having a begin time and an end time, and a combination thereof, said each begin time and said each end time comprising at least one of a group consisting of;

current time, past time, future time, current date, past date, future date, day of the week, and a combination thereof.

4. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said at least one entity characteristic list comprises information from at least one of a group consisting of:

regular hours of operation information, one or more opening times for a given day, one or more closing times for a given day, currently open information, currently closed information, open 24 hour information, exceptional hours information, and a combination thereof, said first value for said characteristic classification comprises a value representing an entity that is open, and said second value for said characteristic classification comprises a value representing an entity that is closed.

5. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said entity characteristic list comprises at least one time entry, said at least one time entry comprising time information expressed in a unit with a duration that is less than one day.

6. The method recited in claim 5, wherein said operation of resolving further comprises:

adjusting said queried time by adding to queried time an offset from at least one of a group consisting of;

a predetermined time set by a server, a time entered by a user, a calculated time offset based on distance of a user from each said entity, and a combination thereof, the adjusted queried time used in place of queried time in said resolving step.

7. The method recited in claim 5, wherein said operation of resolving further comprises:

for each said entity, adjusting one or both of said queried time and said at least one time entry so that said queried time and said at least one time entry are in the same time zone, adjusting for daylight savings status of said queried time and daylight savings status of each said entity.

8. A computer-readable medium bearing computer-readable instructions for instructing a computer to carry out the steps recited in claim 1.

9. A system of presenting information regarding a plurality of entities, comprising:

means for storing at least one entity characteristic list for each said entity, said at least one entity characteristic list comprising entity characteristic information regarding each said entity;

means for receiving a queried time;

means for resolving a characteristic classification from said queried time and said at least one entity characteristic list, for each said entity, said characteristic classification having a plurality of possible values, said possible values comprising at least a first value and a second value; and

means for displaying at least one representation for each said, said at least one representation rendered in a first state when said characteristic classification of each said entity has resolved to a first value and said at least one representation rendered in a second state when said characteristic classification of each said entity has resolved to a second value.

10. The system recited in claim 9, further comprising:

means for associating a physical location with each said entity;

means for displaying a viewable portion of a map of a predetermined area, said viewable portion being all or a portion of said map;

means for selecting from said plurality of entities at least one entity associated with a physical location correspondingly located within said viewable portion of said map; and

means for placing said at least one representation for said at least one selected entity on said viewable portion of said map at a location that is correspondingly proximate to said physical location associated with said at least one selected entity.

11. The system recited in claim 9, wherein said queried time comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

current time, past time, future time, current date, past date, future date, day of the week, a range of time having a begin time and an end time, and a combination thereof, said each begin time and said each end time comprising at least one of a group consisting of;

current time, past time, future time, current date, past date, future date, day of the week, and a combination thereof.

12. The system recited in claim 9, wherein said at least one entity characteristic list comprises information from at least one of a group consisting of:

regular hours of operation information, one or more opening times for a given day, one or more closing times for a given day, currently open information, currently closed information, open 24 hour information, exceptional hours information, and a combination thereof, said first value for said characteristic classification comprises a value representing an entity that is open, and said second value for said characteristic classification comprises a value representing an entity that is closed.

13. The system recited in claim 9, wherein said entity characteristics list comprises at least one time entry, said at least one time entry comprising time information expressed in a unit with a duration that is less than one day.

14. The system recited in claim 9, wherein said means for resolving further comprises:

means for adjusting said queried time by adding to queried time an offset from at least one of a group consisting of;

a predetermined time set by a server, a time entered by a user, a calculated time offset based on distance of a user from each said entity, and a combination thereof, the adjusted queried time used in place of queried time by said resolving means.

15. The system recited in claim 9, wherein said means for resolving further comprises:

means for adjusting one or both of said queried time and said at least one time entry, for each said entity, so that said queried time and said at least one time entry are in the same time zone, adjusting for daylight savings status of said queried time and daylight savings status of each said entity.

16. A method of managing and presenting information regarding a plurality of entities, comprising:

providing an entity directory comprising a plurality of entities, each said entity associated with at least one entity representation;

associating each said entity with a physical location;

associating each said entity with entity information;

providing a map of a predetermined area;

accepting at least one location query comprising at least one of a group consisting of;

textual address query, user interface click on said map, and a combination thereof.

generating a viewable portion of said map responsive to said at least one location query, said viewable portion can be all or a portion of said map, said viewable portion of said map containing street-level data;

selecting from said plurality of entities the entities associated with physical locations correspondingly located within said viewable portion of said map; and

for each of the selected entities, placing said at least one entity representation associated with each said selected entity on said viewable portion of said map at a location that is correspondingly proximate to said physical location associated with each said selected entity.

17. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising

accepting a search query;

for each of the entities associated with said at least one entity representation that is displayed on said viewable portion of said map, comparing said search query with said entity information associated with each said entity to select the entity information that matches said text query; and

for each of the entities associated with entity information that do not match said search query, eliminating from said viewable portion said at least one entity representation associated with each said entity.

18. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising:

for at least one of said plurality of entities, allowing a user to manually select from said map a physical location for said at least one entity representation associated with each said entity; and

storing the selected physical location as said physical location associated with said at least one plurality of entities.

19. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising:

for each said entity displayed on said viewable portion of said map, displaying the name of each said entity on or proximate to a location on said viewable portion of said map correspondingly proximate to said physical location associated with each said entity,

thereby allowing identification of each said entity.

20. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising

allowing a user to enter a note and choose a physical location for said note;

storing said note and said physical location; and

displaying said note on said physical location in response to a command by said user.