SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING AN EVENT

• US 20100114613A1
• Filed: 11/06/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Echoage Inc.
• Original Assignee: Echoage Inc.
• Inventors: Smith, Alison Lee, Zinman, Deborah Bella
• Granted Patent: US 8,612,268 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, a system and a physical computer readable medium for distributing payment to a host of an event and a second entity by receiving payment confirmations indicating payment amounts from guests for the event. The payment amounts for all received confirmations are aggregated. Using the aggregated payment amounts, a first payment total and a second payment total are calculated and distributed to the host of the event and a second entity, respectively. The present invention further relates to a method for managing an event. The method involves registering a host, registering an event, and registering guests for the event. In response to receiving notification from at least one guest, status information for the event is provided to the host. The status information includes: the event, the guests, and at least some information based on the received notification.

Claims

1. A method for distributing payment to a host of an event and a second entity, the method comprising:

receiving confirmation from a plurality of guests for the event, wherein each confirmation comprises a payment amount;

aggregating the payment amounts for all received confirmations;

calculating a first payment total and a second payment total using the aggregated payment amounts;

distributing the first payment total to a host of the event; and

distributing the second payment total to a second entity.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second entity is a charity organization.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering the event by receiving a plurality of event attributes.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein registering the event further comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of second entities, each second entity being selectable by the host; and

receiving a selected second entity as the second entity for distributing the second payment amount to.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein registering the event further comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of electronic invitation formats, each electronic invitation format being selectable by the host; and

receiving at least one selected electronic invitation format for use in creating a plurality of electronic invitations.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

registering the plurality of guests for the event by receiving a plurality of guest identifiers, each guest identifier being associated with one of the plurality of guest for the event.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein each guest identifier comprises an email address.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising validating each email address.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending an electronic invitation for the event to each guest, wherein each electronic invitation comprises a URL to an RSVP webpage for receiving the confirmation.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising registering the host by receiving a plurality of host attributes.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving electronic payment from one or more of the plurality of guests.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein receiving confirmation comprises:

receiving a plurality of guest attributes from each guest of the plurality of guests.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an event request from one guest of the plurality of guests, wherein the event request comprises a guest identifier;

processing the event request using the guest identifier to identify the event associated with the guest; and

sending an electronic invitation to the guest, wherein the invitation indicates the event associated with the guest and comprises a URL to an RSVP webpage for receiving the confirmation.

14. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

distributing a tax receipt to the host in relation to the second payment total distributed to the charity organization.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein dividing the aggregated payment amounts comprises deducting an administration fee from the aggregated payment amounts prior to dividing into the first payment total and the second payment total.

16. A system for distributing payment to a host of an event and a second entity, the system comprising:

a guest module adapted to receive confirmation from a plurality of guests for the event, wherein each confirmation comprises a payment amount; and

a payment module adapted to aggregate the payment amounts of all received confirmations and calculate a first payment total and a second payment total using the aggregated payment amounts, and further adapted to distribute a first payment total to a host of the event and a second payment total to a second entity.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the second entity is a charity organization.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the event module is further adapted to register the event by receiving a plurality of event attributes and storing an event record in a database, wherein the event record comprises the plurality of event attributes.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising:

a charity module adapted to provide a listing of a plurality of second entities and receive a selected second entity as the second entity for distributing the second payment amount to.

20. The system of claim 18 further comprising:

an invitation module adapted to provide a listing of a plurality of electronic invitation formats, each electronic invitation format being selectable by the host, and receive at least one selected electronic invitation format for use in creating a plurality of electronic invitations.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the guest module is further adapted to register the plurality of guests for the event by receiving a plurality of guest identifiers, each guest identifier being associated with one of the plurality of guest for the event, and store a guest record in a database for each received guest identifier.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein each guest identifier comprises an email address associated with the guest.

23. The system of claim 22 further comprising an email validation module adapted to validate each email address.

24. The system of claim 21 further comprising.

an invitation module adapted to send an electronic invitation for the event to each of the plurality of guests for the event, wherein each electronic invitation comprises a URL to an RSVP webpage for receiving the confirmation.

25. The system of claim 16 further comprising a host module adapted to register the host by receiving a plurality of host attributes.

26. The system of claim 16 wherein the payment module is adapted to receive electronic payment from one or more of the plurality of guests using a payment gateway.

27. The system of claim 16 wherein the payment module is adapted to deduct an administration fee from the aggregated payment amounts prior to dividing into the first payment total and the second payment total.

28. A method for managing an event, the method comprising:

registering a host of the event by receiving a plurality of host attributes;

registering the event by receiving a plurality of event attributes; and

registering a plurality of guests by receiving a plurality of guest identifiers, each guest identifier being associated with one of the plurality of guests for the event;

receiving notification from at least one guest, wherein each notification comprises a plurality of guest attributes; and

providing status information for the event to the host, wherein the status information comprises;

the event, the plurality of guests, and at least a portion of the plurality of guest attributes.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein registering the event further comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of electronic invitation formats, each electronic invitation format being selectable by the host, and

receiving at least one selected electronic invitation format for use in creating a plurality of electronic invitations.

30. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

providing the host with an option to send an electronic invitation for the event to each guest of the plurality of guests.

31. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

providing the host with an option to register an additional guest for the event.

32. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

providing a payment gateway to at least one guest of the plurality of guests for receiving a payment confirmation; and

receiving the payment confirmation from the at least one guest, wherein each received payment confirmation indicates a payment amount.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein managing the event using the event tracker further comprises:

providing the host with the option to close the event.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

receiving a selection from the host to close the event;

aggregating the payment amounts for all received payment confirmations;

calculating a first payment total using the aggregated payment amounts; and

distributing the first payment total to the host of the event.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein registering the event further comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of charity organizations, each charity organization being selectable by the host;

receiving a selected charity organization from the listing of the plurality of charity organizations;

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising:

receiving a selection from the host to close the event;

aggregating the payment amounts for all received payment confirmations;

calculating a first payment total and a second payment total using the aggregated payment amounts;

distributing the first payment total to the host of the event; and

distributing the second payment total to the selected charity organization.

37. The method of claim 32 wherein the status information comprises the payment amount of each received payment confirmation.

38. The method of claim 32 wherein the status information comprises a total payment amount calculated by aggregating the payment amounts for all received payment confirmations.

39. The method of claim 28 wherein each guest identifier comprises an email address.

40. The method of claim 39 further comprising validating each email address.

41. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

providing the host with an option to send a reminder for the event;

in response to receiving a selection from the host to send a reminder for the event, determining which guests of the plurality of guests for the event a notification has not been received from; and

sending an electronic reminder for the event to the determined guests.

42. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

receiving a plurality of friend identifiers from the host;

providing a listing of the plurality of friend identifiers, each friend identifier being selectable by the host; and

receiving at least one selected friend identifier as a guest identifier of the plurality of guest identifiers received at the step of registering the guests.

43. The method of claim 28 wherein the plurality of guest attributes comprises one or more attributes selected from the group consisting of:

a guest name, a guest telephone number, a guest address, an event acceptance, an event refusal, number of guests attending, a guest allergy, a guest special need, a guest medical condition, an event wish, a payment request, and a payment amount.

44. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

registering an additional event for the host by receiving a plurality of second event attributes;

registering a plurality of guests for the additional by receiving a plurality of guest identifiers, each guest identifier being associated with one of the plurality of guests for the additional event;

receiving notification from at least one guest for the additional event, wherein each notification comprises a plurality of guest attributes; and

providing status information for the additional event to the host, wherein the status information indicates the additional event, the plurality of guests for the additional event, and at least some of the plurality of guest attributes received.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising:

providing a listing of all events for the host, each event being selectable by the host; and

in response to the host selecting an event of the listing of all events for the host, providing the status information for the selected event to the host.

46. A physical computer readable medium including computer executable instructions which, when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the steps of:

receiving confirmation from a plurality of guests for the event, wherein each confirmation comprises a payment amount;

aggregating the payment amounts for all received confirmations;

calculating a first payment total and a second payment total using the aggregated payment amounts;

distributing the first payment total to a host of the event; and

distributing the second payment total to a second entity.