Creation of a virtual community

• US 20080082550A1
• Filed: 08/02/2007
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: CVON
• Inventors: Ahopelto, Timo, Friman, Kai, Peppers, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 7,974,941 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

In order to facilitate creation of a community without member-specific registration, one or more sibling identifiers with corresponding units to be distributed to other persons are allocated to a subscriber and the one or more sibling identifiers is associated with the subscriber'"'"'s identifier. The subscriber may then give a unit to his/her friend and when the friend uses the unit, or more precisely a sibling identifier the unit relates to, the system will recognize that the subscriber and the friend belong to the same community on the basis of the association formed when sibling identifiers were allocated.

Claims

1. A method for creating a virtual community comprising:

allocating a subscriber one or more sibling identifiers with corresponding units to be distributed to other persons;

associating the one or more sibling identifiers with the subscriber'"'"'s identifier; and

recognizing, in response to a use of a unit with a sibling identifier, a community to which a user of the unit with the sibling identifier belongs on the basis of the association.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

copying, in response to a first use of the unit with the sibling identifier, additional information on the subscriber to be additional information on the user.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

maintaining status information on sibling identifiers; and

updating, in response to a first use of the unit with the sibling identifier, the status to indicate that the sibling identifier has been taken into use.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining community members on the basis of the status information and associations.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

monitoring whether or not updating of subscriber information on the user is performed within a predefined rule; and

restricting the use of the unit in response to the subscriber information on the user not being updated within the predefined rule.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a service request from the subscriber;

checking whether a predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled;

providing the service if the predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled; and

rejecting the request if the predefined rule is not fulfilled.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a service request from the user;

checking whether a predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled;

providing the service if the predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled; and

rejecting the request if the predefined rule is not fulfilled.

8. A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium and comprising program instructions, wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the steps of:

allocating a subscriber one or more sibling identifiers with corresponding units to be distributed to other persons;

associating the one or more sibling identifiers with the subscriber'"'"'s identifier; and

recognizing, in response to a use of a unit with a sibling identifier, a community to which a user of the unit with the sibling identifier belongs on the basis of the association.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the further step of copying, in response to a first use of the unit with the sibling identifier, additional information on the subscriber to be additional information on the user.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the further steps of:

maintaining status information on sibling identifiers; and

updating, in response to a first use of the unit with the sibling identifier, the status to indicate that the sibling identifier has been taken into use.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the further step of determining community members on the basis of the status information and associations.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the further steps of:

monitoring whether or not updating of subscriber information on the user is performed within a predefined rule; and

restricting the use of the unit in response to the subscriber information on the user not being updated within the predefined rule.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the further steps of:

receiving a service request from the subscriber;

checking whether a predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled;

providing the service if the predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled; and

rejecting the request if the predefined rule is not fulfilled.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein execution of said program instructions causes a computer containing the computer program product to perform the further steps of:

receiving a service request from the user;

checking whether a predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled;

providing the service if the predefined rule relating to the service is fulfilled; and

rejecting the request if the predefined rule is not fulfilled.

15. A server component comprising storing means for storing associations comprising at least a primary identifier associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the primary identifier and intended to be used by users other than the one using the primary identifier.

16. The server component of claim 15, further comprising allocation means for allocating sibling identifiers to the primary identifier.

17. The server component of claim 15, further comprising updating means for storing a sibling identifier as a primary identifier in response to a use of a unit with a sibling identifier in an association and for forming a further association in which the stored primary identifier is associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the stored primary identifier.

18. The server component of claim 15, further comprising filtering means for filtering members belonging to a community at least on the basis of the associations.

19. A server device connectable to a server component having storing means for storing associations comprising at least a primary identifier associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the primary identifier and intended to be used by users other than the one using the primary identifier, the server device comprising filtering means for filtering members belonging to a community at least on the basis of associations comprising at least a primary identifier associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the primary identifier and intended to be used by users other than the one using the primary identifier.

20. A system comprising:

units, each identifiable by a corresponding identifier;

a server component; and

a database accessible by the server component and including associations, at least one of the associations comprising a primary identifier and one or more sibling identifier allocated for the primary identifier, said identifiers relating to said units,

wherein the units relating to sibling identifiers are intended to be distributed to users other than the one using the unit relating to the primary identifier, and

the server component is configured to recognize members of a community at least on the basis of the associations.

21. The system of claim 20, the system further comprising user terminals and at least some of the units are cards containing the corresponding identifier and being connectable to user terminals.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein at least some of the units are user terminals.

23. A server component comprising a storage device which stores associations comprising at least a primary identifier associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the primary identifier and intended to be used by users other than the one using the primary identifier.

24. The server component of claim 23, further comprising an allocation device which allocates sibling identifiers to the primary identifier.

25. The server component of claim 23, further comprising an updating device which stores a sibling identifier as a primary identifier in response to a use of a unit with a sibling identifier in an association and for forming a further association in which the stored primary identifier is associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the stored primary identifier.

26. The server component of claim 23, further comprising a filter device which filters members belonging to a community at least on the basis of the associations.

27. A server device connectable to a server component having a storage device which stores associations comprising at least a primary identifier associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the primary identifier and intended to be used by users other than the one using the primary identifier, the server device comprising a filter device which filters members belonging to a community at least on the basis of associations comprising at least a primary identifier associated with one or more sibling identifiers allocated to the primary identifier and intended to be used by users other than the one using the primary identifier.