System and method of wireless carpool scheduling

• US 20060293937A1
• Filed: 06/24/2005
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Wilhelm, Kathryn, Vettor, Larry, Sohm, Mark
• Application Number:
  US11/165,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20060293937A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment

Abstract

A system and method of wireless carpool scheduling for notifying a carpool schedule change instantly is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of opening up a carpool schedule web page from a carpool application, submitting a carpool schedule change, updating the carpool schedule web page, sending an email notification to the group of carpoolers, pushing a wireless notification to a plurality of mobile devices owned by the group of carpoolers. The system comprises a plurality of mobile devices for loading a carpool schedule web page corresponding to a carpool group from a carpool application and submitting a carpool schedule change, a wireless network, wireless carpool scheduling server for storing and providing carpool data related to one or more group of carpoolers, receiving the submitted carpool schedule change and sending an email notification and pushing a wireless notification with respect to the submitted carpool schedule change.

Claims

1. A method of wireless carpool scheduling for notifying a carpool schedule change for a group of carpoolers, comprising the steps of

loading a carpool schedule web page by a carpool application;

submitting a schedule change;

updating the carpool schedule web page;

sending an email notification to the group of carpoolers; and

pushing a wireless notification to a plurality of mobile devices owned by the group of carpoolers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carpool application is on a mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the carpool application is on a desktop computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the schedule change comprises one of carpool status change of a carpooler and a driver schedule change.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the carpool status change of a carpooler is one of a change from carpooling to not carpooling on a given date and a change from not carpooling to carpooling on a given date.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the driver schedule change is a change from driving to not driving on a given date.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising a step of performing a driver assignment routine, and wherein a driver is assigned based on previous driving times of each driver.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the carpool application is accessed from an icon displayed on a screen.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the carpool application is accessed from a web browser.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the carpool schedule web page comprises carpool date, names of the carpoolers in the group, carpool status of each carpooler, a link to change carpool status, a link to change driving status, a link to update carpool, a link to view a driving schedule, a link to view the contact information of the carpoolers, and a link to view carpool schedule any available day.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the email notification comprises an automatically generated email with respect to the carpool schedule change and a reminder sound.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless notification comprises an icon with an unread status, an icon with a read status and a carpool schedule web page.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the icon with unread status is displayed on the screen of the mobile device when the wireless notification arrives at a mobile device, and the icon with read status is displayed on the screen of the mobile device when the carpool schedule web page is opened.

14. The method of claim 1, where the mobile device is selected from the group consisting of:

wireless handheld communication device, a data messaging device, a cellular phone with data messaging capabilities, a wireless Internet appliance, a data communication device with telephony capabilities and a data communication device without telephony capabilities.

15. A method of wireless carpool scheduling for adding a carpool for a group of carpoolers, comprising the steps of

loading a carpool administration web page by an carpool application on a desktop computer;

entering the carpool information for each carpooler of the group;

generating a carpool schedule web page including a carpool schedule;

sending an email notification to the group of carpoolers; and

pushing a wireless notification to a plurality of mobile devices owned by the group of carpoolers.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of updating a carpool group web page, wherein the carpool group web page includes a list of carpool groups for accessing each carpool group.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the wireless notification comprises an icon with an unread status, an icon with a read status and a carpool schedule web page.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the carpool application is accessed from a web browser.

19. A method of wireless carpool scheduling for updating a carpool for a group of carpoolers, comprising the steps of

loading a carpool administration web page by a carpool application on a desktop computer;

updating a carpool schedule web page;

sending an email notification to the group of carpooler; and

pushing a wireless notification to a plurality of mobile devices owned by the group of carpoolers.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of updating a carpool schedule comprises the steps of

accessing a link to add a carpooler;

and

entering the carpool information of the carpooler.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of updating a carpool schedule comprises the steps of

accessing a link to update the information of a carpooler;

and

entering the updated information of the carpooler.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of updating a carpool schedule comprises the steps of

accessing an link to remove a carpooler;

and

removing the carpooler from the group.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the wireless notification comprises an icon with an unread status, an icon with a read status and a carpool schedule web page.

24. A system of wireless carpool scheduling for serving one or more group of carpoolers, comprising

a plurality of mobile devices for loading a carpool schedule web page corresponding to a carpool group by a carpool application and submitting a schedule change;

a wireless network communicably linked to the plurality of mobile devices;

wireless carpool scheduling server communicably linked to the wireless network for storing and providing carpool data related to one or more group of carpoolers, receiving the submitted schedule change and sending an email notification and pushing a wireless notification with respect to the submitted schedule change;

email server communicably linked to wireless carpool scheduling server via Internet for transmitting the email notification, and

wherein the plurality of mobile devices receive the email notification and the wireless notification.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the schedule change comprises one of a carpool status change and a driving status change.

26. The system of claim 24, further comprising

desktop computer communicably linked to the wireless carpool scheduling server for loading an carpool administration web page by the carpool application and submitting a carpool change, and

wherein the wireless carpool scheduling server stores the carpool administration web page and a plurality of web pages associated with one or more carpool groups and receives the submitted carpool change and sending an email notification and pushing a wireless notification with respect to the submitted carpool change, and the plurality of mobile devices receive the email notification and the wireless notification with respect to the submitted carpool change.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the carpool application is accessed from a web browser.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the carpool application is accessed from a web browser.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the carpool change comprises adding a carpool, removing a carpool and updating a carpool.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein updating a carpool comprises adding a carpooler to the carpool and removing a carpooler from the carpool.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the plurality of web pages associated with one or more carpool groups comprises one or more group carpool schedule web pages, a carpool group list web page, a carpooler information request web page, a carpool update web page, one or more group carpooler driving schedule web pages, one or more group change carpool status web pages and one or more group change driving status web pages.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the email notification comprises an automatically generated email with respect to the carpool schedule change and a reminder sound.

33. The system of claim 24, wherein the wireless notification comprises an icon with an unread status, an icon with a read status and a carpool schedule web page.

34. The system of claim 24, wherein the icon with unread status is displayed on the screen of the mobile device when the wireless notification arrives at a mobile device, and the icon with read status is displayed on the screen of the mobile device when the carpool schedule web page is opened.