METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A GEOGRAPHICALLY DEFINED COMMUNICATION PLATFORM

• US 20110087667A1
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rblock Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Rblock Incorporated
• Inventors: Hutheesing, Vivek A.
• Application Number:
  US12/973,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20110087667A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/737
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for a geographically defined platform. In one embodiment, a block is divided into one or more partitioned blocks comprising geographically proximate street addresses. Residents whose street addresses are located within the same partitioned block may contribute and view resident-generated content through a spatial platform. Further, contiguous blocks may elect to combine with each other and a partitioned block may elect to separate from the larger block that comprises it.

Claims

1. A system to enable the sharing of information within and across geographically defined communities, the system comprising:

a database having location identification data associated with one or more street addresses wherein the location identification data are sorted;

a partitioning module for assigning one or more street addresses to blocks wherein the blocks are defined by geographic parameters and each first partitioned block derived from a first block comprises either a subset of the street addresses in the first block or all of the street addresses in the first block; and

an interface module capable of receiving, publishing, sharing and targeting content generated by one or more residents who reside at one or more street addresses, wherein the content generated by the residents who reside at the street addresses within a second block is associated with the second block and only the residents who reside at street addresses within the second block may view and share the content associated with the second block.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the interface module is an interactive web page.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the resident-generated content comprises postings.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the resident-generated content is a type of format including at least one selected from the group consisting of text messages, graphics, video, and audio.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a log-in module for authenticating a resident,

a location-verification module for verifying the resident'"'"'s residence within a block;

a content-editing module for editing the resident-generated content, and

a notification module for sending notifications to one or more residents.

6. The system as recited in claim 5, wherein the notification module sends the notifications through the Internet.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each resident is associated with one or more attributes.

8. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the one or more attributes include a credit value.

9. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the one or more attributes include a coordinate value wherein the coordinate value is a measure of the physical distance between one resident'"'"'s block and another resident'"'"'s block.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the interface module comprises one or more functionalities.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the one or more functionalities include rides and/or services sharing.

12. A method, comprising:

identifying one or more street addresses in a predefined area;

partitioning the street addresses and assigning the street addresses to one or more partitioned blocks, wherein each specific partitioned block is derived from a specific block and comprises a subset of the street addresses in the specific block or all of the street addresses in the specific block;

receiving resident-generated content from a resident;

associating the resident-generated content with a partitioned block comprising the street address in which the resident resides;

broadcasting, through an interface, the resident-generated content; and

restricting access to the resident-generated content associated with the partitioned block to one or more residents who reside at street addresses within the partitioned block.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the one or more street addresses is associated with a unique location identification number.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising, before the partitioning step, the step of sorting the one or more street addresses by their corresponding unique location identification numbers.

15. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the interface is an interactive web page.

16. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising the step of combining a first partitioned block with a second partitioned block that is geographically proximate to the first partitioned block and forming a combined block having the street addresses of the first partitioned block and the street addresses of the second partitioned block, wherein the residents residing at the street addresses of the first and the second partitioned blocks have access to the resident-generated content associated with both the first partitioned block and the second partitioned block.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

registering, as a resident, to a block through the interface; and

verifying that the resident resides at a street address within the block.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising the step of separating a partitioned block from a block that the partitioned block was either initially a part of or earlier combined with, wherein the residents of the separated partitioned block no longer have access to resident-generated content associated with the block from which the partitioned block separated;

and the residents of the block from which the partitioned block separated no longer have access to resident-generated content associated with the separated partitioned block.

19. A method, comprising:

sorting one or more street addresses, wherein each of the one or more street addresses is associated with a geographical identification attribute and the street addresses are sorted according to their respective geographical identification attributes;

partitioning the one or more street addresses into one or more groups according to the geographical identifications associated with the one or more street addresses, wherein each of the one or more groups comprises a geographically proximate subset of the street addresses; and

associating a block identification attribute to each of the one or more street addresses wherein street addresses belonging to the same group are associated with the same block identification attribute.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of receiving resident-generated content from a resident.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of associating the resident-generated content with the group comprising the street address at which the resident resides.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising the step of broadcasting, through an interface, the resident-generated content.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of restricting access to the resident-generated content associated with the group to residents who reside at street addresses within that group.