Innovation management network
First Claim
1. An apparatus for receiving and processing suggestions for a company, comprising:
- a central portal for receiving a new suggestion from a submitting party on behalf of a receiving party;
a plurality of innovation zones within said receiving party to which said new suggestion can be routed, wherein said innovation zones comprise any of;
a point of entry for employees within a specific business unit in a larger entity for submission of suggestions related to said business unit;
a point of entry for motivated submitters with an idea about how to change a business practice of said company;
a central point of entry for ideas and suggestions;
a point of entry for ideas on improving a specific aspect of said company; and
a point of entry for third party submissions;
a routing mechanism for routing said new suggestion to one or more of said innovation zones in response to an interaction with said submitting party;
at least one central database into which said new suggestion is categorized based upon key words;
a viewing mechanism allowing for peer viewing and comment before a final decision is made regarding the new suggestion;
a response module that automatically sends an acknowledgement to said submitting party when the new suggestion is submitted by said submitting party, wherein said acknowledgement comprises any of a Web based response and an email message;
a search mechanism that automatically searches for previously-submitted suggestions that are potentially related to the new suggestion and displays the results of the search to the submitting party;
a selection mechanism allowing the submitting party to select any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that the submitting party determines to be similar to the new suggestion;
a linking module that links said new suggestion to any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that are selected by the submitting party, whereby the selected previously-submitted suggestions will be cross-referenced with the new suggestion;
an acknowledgement module for automatic emailing of specific types of suggestions to specific areas of responsibility within said company;
a status module that tracks progression of a suggestion through a review, comment, and approval process; and
a statistics module that reports cumulative submissions in a predetermined format;
wherein said routing mechanism comprises a page based dialog; and
wherein said central portal comprises a Web page.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
An application allows employees to submit suggestions and ideas for improving how a company does business. A presently preferred embodiment of the invention supports multiple points of entry, which can include an entry portal, which is a single point of entry to a Web application; a point of entry for employees within a specific business unit in a larger entity for submission of suggestions related to the business unit; a point of entry for motivated submitters with an idea about how to change the company'"'"'s business; a central point of entry for ideas and suggestions; and a point of entry for ideas on improving a specific aspect of the company, for example the company'"'"'s use of the Internet.
85 Citations
53 Claims
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1. An apparatus for receiving and processing suggestions for a company, comprising:
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a central portal for receiving a new suggestion from a submitting party on behalf of a receiving party; a plurality of innovation zones within said receiving party to which said new suggestion can be routed, wherein said innovation zones comprise any of; a point of entry for employees within a specific business unit in a larger entity for submission of suggestions related to said business unit; a point of entry for motivated submitters with an idea about how to change a business practice of said company; a central point of entry for ideas and suggestions; a point of entry for ideas on improving a specific aspect of said company; and a point of entry for third party submissions; a routing mechanism for routing said new suggestion to one or more of said innovation zones in response to an interaction with said submitting party; at least one central database into which said new suggestion is categorized based upon key words; a viewing mechanism allowing for peer viewing and comment before a final decision is made regarding the new suggestion; a response module that automatically sends an acknowledgement to said submitting party when the new suggestion is submitted by said submitting party, wherein said acknowledgement comprises any of a Web based response and an email message; a search mechanism that automatically searches for previously-submitted suggestions that are potentially related to the new suggestion and displays the results of the search to the submitting party; a selection mechanism allowing the submitting party to select any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that the submitting party determines to be similar to the new suggestion; a linking module that links said new suggestion to any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that are selected by the submitting party, whereby the selected previously-submitted suggestions will be cross-referenced with the new suggestion; an acknowledgement module for automatic emailing of specific types of suggestions to specific areas of responsibility within said company; a status module that tracks progression of a suggestion through a review, comment, and approval process; and a statistics module that reports cumulative submissions in a predetermined format; wherein said routing mechanism comprises a page based dialog; and wherein said central portal comprises a Web page.
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2. An apparatus for receiving and processing suggestions, comprising:
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a central portal for receiving a new suggestion from a submitting party; a plurality of innovation zones to which said new suggestion can be routed; a routing mechanism that routes said new suggestion to one or more of said innovation zones in response to an interaction with said submitting party; a search mechanism that automatically searches for previously-submitted suggestions that are potentially related to the new suggestion and displays the results of the search to the submitting party; and a selection mechanism allowing the submitting party to comment on any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions, and allowing the submitting party to select any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that the submitting party determines to be similar to the new suggestion whereby the new suggestion is linked to any previously-submitted suggestions that are selected by the submitting party, such that the selected previously-submitted suggestions will be cross-referenced with the new suggestion. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A network-based application embedded in a computer readable medium that allows employees to submit suggestions and ideas for improving how a company does business, comprising:
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a central portal for receiving new suggestion from a submitting party on behalf of a receiving party; multiple points of entry comprising innovation groups within said receiving party to which said new suggestion can be routed from said central portal and which can also receive said suggestions directly; and a routing mechanism that routes said new suggestion to a most appropriate one or more of said multiple points of entry in response to an interaction with said submitting party; a search mechanism that automatically searches for previously-submitted suggestions that are potentially related to the new suggestion and displays the results of the search to the submitting party; a selection mechanism allowing the submitting party to select and comment on any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that the submitting party determines to be similar to the new suggestion, whereby the new suggestion is linked to any previously-submitted suggestions that are selected by the submitting party, such that the selected previously-submitted suggestions will be cross-referenced with the new suggestion. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A storage medium comprising a computer implemented process stored therein, said process comprising a network-based application that allows employees to submit suggestions and ideas for improving how a company does business, said process comprising:
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providing a portal through which a submitting party can submit an new suggestion; directing the new suggestion to an innovation zone, such that the new suggestion is considered by most appropriate persons; searching for previously-submitted suggestions that are potentially related to the new suggestion; displaying any potentially-related previously-submitted suggestions to the submitting party; allowing the submitting party to comment on the displayed previously submitted suggestions; allowing the submitting party to select any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that are deemed by the submitting party to be similar to the new suggestion; and linking said new suggestion to the selected previously-submitted suggestions whereby said selected previously-submitted suggestions will be cross-referenced with the new suggestion.
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33. An apparatus for receiving and processing suggestions, comprising;
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central portal means for receiving a new suggestion from a submitting party on behalf of a receiving party; a plurality of innovation zone means within said receiving party to which said new suggestion can be routed; and means for routing said new suggestion to one or more of said innovation zones in response to an interaction with said submitting party; means for automatically displaying previously-submitted suggestions to the submitting party that are potentially related to the new suggestion; means for allowing the submitting party to comment on the displayed previously-submitted suggestions; and means for allowing the submitting party to select any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that are deemed by the submitting party to be similar to the new suggestion, whereby the new suggestion is linked to the selected previously-submitted suggestions, such that the selected previously-submitted suggestions are cross-referenced with the new suggestion.
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34. A network-based process that allows employees to submit suggestions and ideas for improving how a company does business, comprising:
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providing a central portal for receiving a new suggestion from an employee; providing multiple points of entry comprising innovation groups to which said suggestions can be routed from said central portal and which can also receive said suggestions directly; routing said new suggestion to a most appropriate one or more of said multiple points of entry in response to an interaction with said employee; searching for previously-submitted suggestions that are potentially related to the new suggestion and displaying the results to the employee; allowing the employee to select and comment on any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that the employee believes to be related to the new suggestion; and linking the new suggestion to any of the displayed previously-submitted suggestions that are selected by the employee, such that a subsequent viewer of the new suggestion will also see the selected previously-submitted suggestions. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification