Systems and Methods for Micro-Casting in Urgent Needs Fulfillment Matching

• US 20140289074A1
• Filed: 03/17/2014
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: HelpBook, Inc.
• Original Assignee: HelpBook, Inc.
• Inventors: White, Keith T., Keefe, Michael A.
• Application Number:
  US14/217,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20140289074A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A computerized multi-casting distributed urgent goods and services fulfillment system configured to triage a plurality of providers with respect to an urgent need for one or more goods and services of a seeker thereby generating a current seeker-adaptive micro-casting triaged provider pool, and further configured to successively proffer an adjustable portion of the current micro-casting triaged provider pool to the seeker.

Claims

1. In a computerized fulfillment system, an iterative method for matching providers of urgent goods or services with seekers, the seekers having a range of urgent needs, the method comprising:

triaging a plurality of providers with respect to an urgent need for at least one goods and services of at least one seeker thereby generating in real time a current seeker-adaptive micro-casting triaged provider pool; and

successively proffering at least an adjustable portion of the current micro-casting triaged provider pool to the at least one seeker.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating an Urgently Required Goods or Services (“

URGS”

) category in anticipation of the urgent need; and

individually pre-vetting the plurality of providers, wherein the pre-vetting each of the plurality of providers includes at least one of qualifying and ongoing evaluation with respect to the URGS category.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein triaging the plurality of providers further comprises at least one of:

determining suitability of each of the plurality of providers in response to a seeker selected Urgently Required Goods or Services (“

URGS”

) category;

determining proximity of each of the plurality of providers, wherein the proximity includes at least one of temporal and physical proximity; and

determining availability of each of the plurality of providers, wherein availability is determined from at least one of a corresponding explicit provider schedule and supplemental availability characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein successively proffering at least a portion of the current micro-casting triaged provider pool includes at least one of:

bracketing a plurality of outstanding seeker requests;

updating the current micro-casting triaged provider pool by deleting declining providers from the current micro-casting triaged provider pool and adding newly available suitable providers to the current micro-casting triaged provider pool;

issuing at least one of the plurality of seeker requests to at least one of the plurality of providers selected from the current micro-casting triaged provider pool;

suspending issuance of new seeker requests in response to receiving at least one provider offer from the plurality of providers;

resuming issuance of new seeker requests if the at least one seeker has declined the at least one provider offer;

resuming issuance of new seeker requests if the number of outstanding requests is lower than the lower bracket limit; and

halting issuance of new seeker requests if the at least one seeker has accepted the at least one provider offer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the seeker-adaptive micro-casting includes consideration of:

at least one of inherent urgency and experiential urgency, wherein the inherent urgency is related to a nature of the at least one goods and services the at least one seeker needs, and wherein the experiential urgency is associated with the at least one seeker; and

suitability of at least one of the plurality of providers for the at least one urgent goods and services the at least one seeker needs and availability of at least one of the plurality of providers.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein inherent urgency is assessed based on at least one of a plurality of factors including time of day, proximity to a nearby suitable URGS provider, travel conditions, weather conditions, and availability of the nearby suitable URGS provider.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein experiential urgency is monitored periodically using seeker instrumentation associated with or proximate to the at least one seeker.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the seeker instrumentation includes at least one personal device sensor.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein at least one personal device sensor is associated with, attached to or embedded in the at least one seeker.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein experiential urgency is further assessed by analysis of at least one seeker instrumentation utilization characteristic.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one seeker instrumentation utilization characteristic includes one or more of:

bypass of extraneous queries;

change in at least one of seeker voice pitch and volume;

usage of indicative vocabulary; and

substantially rapid movement of the seeker instrumentation.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein monitoring for indications of inherent urgency or experiential urgency includes at least one of:

measuring seeker pupil dilation;

measuring seeker body temperature;

measuring seeker blood pressure;

measuring seeker perspiration;

measuring seeker blood sugar level;

measuring seeker skin conductivity;

measuring seeker speech and voice characteristics;

measuring seeker respiration rate; and

measuring seeker pulse.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one seeker is incrementally enrolled.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein incrementally enrolling the at least one seeker utilizes en-passant information gathering, wherein immediately appropriate and relevant additional enrollment information is requested.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one seeker receives status updates associated with the at least one urgent need.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein a provider matched from the plurality of providers receives status updates associated with the at least one urgent need.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving remuneration from the at least one of the at least one of the seeker and a provider matched from the plurality of providers.

18. A computerized fulfillment system for matching providers of urgent goods or services with seekers, the seekers having a range of urgent needs, the fulfillment system configured to:

triage a plurality of providers with respect to an urgent need for at least one goods and services of at least one seeker thereby generating in real time a current seeker-adaptive micro-casting triaged provider pool; and

successively proffer at least an adjustable portion of the current micro-casting triaged provider pool to the at least one seeker.

19. The fulfillment system of claim 18 further configured to:

create an Urgently Required Goods or Services (“

URGS”

) category in anticipation of the urgent need; and

individually pre-vet the plurality of providers, wherein the pre-vetting each of the plurality of providers includes at least one of qualifying and ongoing evaluation with respect to the URGS category.

20. The fulfillment system of claim 18 wherein triaging the plurality of providers further comprises at least one of:

determining suitability of each of the plurality of providers in response to a seeker selected Urgently Required Goods and Service (“

URGS”

) category;

determining proximity of each of the plurality of providers, wherein the proximity includes at least one of temporal and physical proximity; and

determining availability of each of the plurality of providers, wherein availability is determined from at least one of a corresponding explicit provider schedule and supplemental availability characteristic.

21. The fulfillment system of claim 18 wherein successively proffering at least a portion of the current micro-casting triaged provider pool includes at least one of:

bracketing a plurality of outstanding seeker requests;

updating the current micro-casting triaged provider pool by deleting declining providers from the current micro-casting triaged provider pool and adding newly available suitable providers to the current micro-casting triaged provider pool;

issuing at least one of the plurality of seeker requests to at least one of the plurality of providers selected from the current micro-casting triaged provider pool;

suspending issuance of new seeker requests in response to receiving at least one provider offer from the plurality of providers;

resuming issuance of new seeker requests if the at least one seeker has declined the at least one provider offer;

resuming issuance of new seeker requests if the number of outstanding requests is lower than the lower bracket limit; and

halting issuance of new seeker requests if the at least one seeker has accepted the at least one provider offer.

22. The fulfillment system of claim 18 wherein the seeker-adaptive micro-casting includes consideration of:

at least one of inherent urgency and experiential urgency, wherein the inherent urgency is related to a nature of the at least one goods and services the at least one seeker needs, and wherein the experiential urgency is associated with the at least one seeker; and

suitability of at least one of the plurality of providers for the at least one urgent goods and services the at least one seeker needs and availability of at least one of the plurality of providers.

23. The fulfillment system of claim 22 wherein inherent urgency is assessed based on at least one of a plurality of factors including time of day, proximity to a nearby suitable URGS provider, travel conditions, weather conditions, and availability of the nearby suitable URGS provider.