Web Community Pre-Population Method and System

• US 20120042013A1
• Filed: 08/16/2010
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avon Products Incorporated (Natura &Co Holding SA)
• Original Assignee: Avon Products Incorporated (Natura &Co Holding SA)
• Inventors: Roman, Jonathan, Irving, Cathleen
• Granted Patent: US 8,868,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services

Abstract

Populating users of a web community into groups. The users may be assigned to, or otherwise associated with, one or more groups in response to an event associated with the user, with another user, with a group, or other type of event. The users may also be removed from a group in response to an event. The population of users into groups can be controlled by a configurable set of rules. These rules can include criteria for associating a user with, or removing a user from, a group in response to an event. The criteria can include criteria based on user information and criteria based on group information. The users may be related to one another in a hierarchical structure.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for populating a web community group of a web community, comprising the steps of:

monitoring, by a computer system, for an event;

in response to detecting the event, applying, by the computer system, a rule comprising membership criteria for the web community group to a user profile for each of a plurality of users of the web community, each user profile comprising information associated with the corresponding user;

associating, by the computer system, each user whose user profile meets the membership criteria for the web community group with the web community group; and

storing, by the computer system, the associations in at least one data store.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises at least one of an expiration of a time period, a change in the user profile of one of the plurality of users, and a change in a group profile of the web community group.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the change in the user profile comprises a change in a status comprising a hierarchical level within the web community.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the change in the group profile comprises a change in the membership criteria for the web community group.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the computer system, the membership criteria for the web community group;

creating, by the computer system, the rule based on the membership criteria; and

storing the rule in a data store.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, a modification to the membership criteria for the web community group of the rule;

modifying, by the computer system, the rule based on the modified membership criteria;

applying, by the computer system, the modified rule to the user profile for each of the plurality of users; and

associating, by the computer system, each user whose user profile meets the modified membership criteria with the web community group.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the computer system, a modification to the membership criteria for the web community group of the rule;

modifying, by the computer system, the rule based on the modified membership criteria;

applying, by the computer system, the modified rule to the user profile for each user comprising an association with the web community group; and

removing, by the computer system, the association with the community web server of each user whose user profile fails to meet the modified membership criteria.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the membership criteria comprises criteria configured by a user of the web community group.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising sending, by the computer system, a notification to each user comprising an association with the web community, the notification indicating membership in the web community group.

10. A computer-implemented method for assigning a user to one or more web community groups, comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a computer system, a data item associated with a user;

receiving, by a computer system, an update to the data item associated with the user;

comparing, by the computer system, the updated data item with a membership criterion for at least one web community group; and

in response to the updated data item matching the membership criterion of one of the at least one web community group, assigning, by the computer system, the user to the one web community group.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

determining, by the computer system, a web community group comprising the user;

comparing, by the computer system, the updated data item to one or more membership criteria of the web community group determined to comprise the user; and

in response to the updated data item failing to meet any of the membership criteria for the web community group, removing, by the computer system, the user from the web community group.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the updated data item comprises information identifying a hierarchical level within an organization.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the hierarchically level identified in the updated data item differs from a hierarchical level of the data item and wherein the one web community group comprises the user and at least one other user associated with the hierarchical level identified in the updated data item.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

creating, by the computer system, a second web community group in response to receiving the updated data item; and

assigning, by the computer system, the user and at least one other user to the second web community group, the at least one other user being associated with a hierarchical level differing from the hierarchical level identified in the updated data item and comprising an association with the user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the association comprises a downline association.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

terminating, by the computer system a web community group associated with the data item; and

reassigning, by the computer system, members of the terminated web community group to another web community in response to the termination.

17. A system for providing a virtual community by way of a distributed network, comprising:

a web server that provides content associated with a virtual community to a client device by way of the network and that receives content from the client device by way of the network; and

a computer system logically coupled to the web server and comprising;

at least one module that maintains information regarding a plurality of users of the virtual community, maintains information regarding at least one group, and maintains membership information identifying member users for each group;

a group populating rules engine that applies a set of rules for populating the users into the groups based on the information regarding the users and at least one group membership criterion;

a groups module that interacts with the rules engine to assign the users to groups based on the application of the rules to the information regarding the users; and

at least one data storage device for storing the information regarding the one or more users of the web community, the information regarding the at least one group, the membership information, and the set of rules.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the group populating rules engine applies the set of rules to the information regarding the users in response to an event.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the event comprises at least one of a change in information regarding at least one of the users, a change in one of the at least one group membership criterion, and a time period lapsing.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer system further comprises at least one communication mechanism enabling users of the virtual community to communicate.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer system further comprises a notification module that provides notification to users regarding membership in a group.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the groups module interacts with the rules engine to reassign a user into one or more of the at least one group in response to change in information regarding the user.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the users of the virtual community are arranged in a hierarchical structure and wherein each user comprising an association with one or more other users at a different level in the hierarchical structure is assigned to a group with the one or more other users.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the groups module interacts with the rules engine to repopulate at least one of the groups in response to a user transitioning from a first level in the hierarchical structure to a second leveling in the hierarchical structure.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the groups module assigns each user to a group corresponding to the hierarchical level of the user.

26. A computer program product for populating a web community group, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code comprising;

computer-readable program code for monitoring for an event;

computer-readable program code for applying, in response to detecting the event, a rule comprising membership criteria for the web community group to a user profile for each of a plurality of users of the web community, each user profile comprising information associated with the corresponding user;

computer-readable program code for associating each user whose user profile meets the membership criteria for the web community group with the web community group; and

computer-readable program code for storing the associations in at least one data store.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the event comprises at least one of an expiration of a time period, a change in the user profile of one of the plurality of users, and a change in a group profile of the web community group.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the change in the user profile comprises a change in a status comprising a hierarchical level within the web community.

29. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the change in the group profile comprises a change in the membership criteria for the web community group.

30. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for receiving the membership criteria;

computer-readable program code for creating the rule based on the membership criteria; and

computer-readable program code storing the rule in a data store.

31. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for receiving a modification to the membership criteria for the web community group of the rule;

computer-readable program code for modifying the rule based on the modified membership criteria;

computer-readable program code for applying the modified rule to the user profile for each of the plurality of users; and

computer-readable program code for associating each user whose user profile meets the modified membership criteria with the web community group.

32. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for receiving a modification to the membership criteria for the web community group of the rule;

computer-readable program code for modifying the rule based on the modified membership criteria;

computer-readable program code for applying the modified rule to the user profile for each user comprising an association with the web community group; and

computer-readable program code for removing the association with the community web server of each user whose user profile fails to meet the modified membership criteria.

33. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the membership criteria comprises criteria configured by a user of the web community group.

34. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable program code for sending a notification to each user comprising an association with the web community, the notification indicating membership in the web community group.

35. A computer-implemented method for populating a web community group, comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a computer system, a hierarchical structure comprising users of a web community; and

populating, by the computer system, a plurality of web community groups with the users based on the hierarchical structure.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, wherein the plurality of web community groups comprises a downline group for each user, each downline group comprising the corresponding user and users associated with the corresponding user at a different level in the hierarchical structure than the corresponding user.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, further comprising the steps of:

detecting, by the computer system, a change in the hierarchical structure; and

repopulating, by the computer system, the plurality of web community groups with the users, based on the changed hierarchical structure.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 36, wherein the change comprises a user transitioning from one level in the hierarchical structure to a second level in the hierarchical structure.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, wherein populating the plurality of web community groups comprises creating, by the computer system, the plurality of web community groups.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, wherein populating the plurality of web community groups comprises:

receiving membership criteria for each of the plurality of web community groups; and

populating the plurality of web community groups based on the membership criteria.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 40, wherein the membership criteria comprises criteria based on a user'"'"'s level in the hierarchical structure.