User matriculation status determination via a computer network

• US 7,209,931 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2002
• Issued: 04/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verico Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Studentuniverse.com
• Inventors: Thambidurai, Sunil, Odegard, Espen, Christiansen, Tore
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell; Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): WILLETT, STEPHAN F
• Application Number:
  US10/161,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20030212790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 709/106, 709/203, 709/219, 709/225, 707/9, 707/10, 707/104.1, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Methods and systems for verifying a user as a member of an affinity group, including receiving user information identifying a user identity and at least one affinity group, and based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate at least one status with the user information. The user information can include at least one of a name, a user name, a social security number, a group identification number, a personal identification number, a member number, a password, a telephone number, a loan number, an email address, a mailing address, a certificate number, and an employee number, for example. The methods and system can thus provide an offer to the user based on the status associated with the user. A threshold can be used in some embodiments to determine whether a further query can be performed to verify status within the affinity group.

Claims

1. A method for verifying a user'"'"'s status in relation to an educational institution, the method comprising:

receiving user information identifying the user and the educational institution, and,

based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate the user information with at least one matriculation status for the educational institution,

wherein querying at least one networked data source includes,

querying at least one first networked data source to determine whether the user information is associated with the at least one matriculation status,

based on the query of the at least one first networked data source, comparing the association of the user information and the at least one matriculation status to a temporal threshold, and,

based on the comparison, querying at least one distinct second networked data source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is a length of time for which the matriculation status is considered to be valid for the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is an end date prior to which the matriculation status is considered to be valid for the user.

4. A method for verifying a user'"'"'s status in relation to an educational institution, the method comprising:

receiving user information identifying the user and the educational institution, and,

based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate the user information with at least one matriculation status for the educational institution

wherein querying at least one networked data source includes,

querying at least one first networked data source to determine whether the user information is associated with the at least one matriculation status,

based on the query of the at least one first networked data source, comparing the association of the user information and the at least one matriculation status to a temporal threshold, and,

based on the comparison, determining that a further query is unnecessary.

5. A method according to claim 4, where the at least one networked data source includes at least one data source accessible by at least one of an internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), and a wide area network (WAN).

6. A method according to claim 4, where receiving user information includes receiving at least one of a name, a user name, a social security number, a personal identification number, a student identification number, a password, a year of graduation, a telephone number, a student loan number, an email address, a mailing address, a dormitory name, and a degree identifier.

7. A method according to claim 4, where the at least one data source includes at least one data source associated wit the educational institution.

8. A method according to claim 4, where the at least one data source includes at least one of an online student directory, an online student listing, a student database, a financial database, a credit database, a government database, a marketing database, and an email database.

9. A method according to claim 4, wherein querying the at least one networked data source can include at least one of a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) request, a Structured Query Language (SQL) query, a telnet command, a Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Remote Procedure Call (RPC).

10. A method according to claim 4, where receiving user information includes receiving user information from at least one of a processor network, a telephone network, a postal service, and hand delivery.

11. A method according to claim 4, further including storing at least the user information and the associated at least one matriculation status.

12. A method according to claim 4, further including receiving at least one off-line data that includes at least one of data from a document examination, a student enrollment catalog, a student list, and a student identification card.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the threshold is a length of time for which the matriculation status is considered to be valid for the user.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the threshold is an end date prior to which the matriculation status is considered to be valid for the user.

15. The method of claim 4, further including receiving at least one data from a telephone conversation.

16. A method for verifying a user'"'"'s status in relation to an educational institution, the method comprising:

receiving user information identifying the user and the educational institution, and,

based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate the user information with at least one matriculation status for the educational institution further including,

obtaining status verification data from the at least one networked data source, comparing the status verification data to a temporal threshold, and,

based on the threshold, performing a further status verification.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the threshold is a length of time for which the matriculation status is considered to be valid for the user.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the threshold is an end date prior to which the matriculation status is considered to be valid for the user.

19. A method for verifying a user as a member of an affinity group, the method comprising:

receiving user information identifying a user identity and at least one affinity group, and,

based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate the user information with at least one matriculation status for the at least one affinity group,

wherein querying at least one networked data source includes,

querying at least one first networked data source to determine whether the user information is associated with the at least one matriculation status,

based on the query of the at least one first networked data source, comparing the association of the user information and the at least one matriculation status to a temporal threshold, and,

based on the comparison, determining that a further query is unnecessary.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein receiving user information includes receiving data from a processor controlled device.

21. A method according to claim 19, wherein receiving user information includes receiving at least one of a name, a user name, a social security number, a group identification number, a personal identification number, a member number, a password, a telephone number, a loan number, an email address, a mailing address, a certificate number, and an employee number.

22. A meted according to claim 19, wherein the at least one networked data source includes at least one networked database and at least one directory listing.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the threshold is a length of time for which the affinity group membership status is considered to be valid for the user.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the threshold is an end date prior to which the affinity group membership status is considered to be valid for the user.

25. A method for verifying a user as a member of an affinity group, the method comprising:

receiving user information identifying a user identity and at least one affinity group, and,

based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate the user information with at least one matriculation status for the at least one affinity group,

wherein querying at least one networked data source includes,

querying at least one first networked data source to determine whether the user information is associated with the at least one matriculation status,

based on the query of the at least one first networked data source, comparing the association of the user information and the at least one matriculation status to a temporal threshold, and,

based on the comparison, querying at least one distinct second networked data source.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the threshold is a length of time for which the affinity group membership status is considered to be valid for the user.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the threshold is an end date prior to which the affinity group membership status is considered to be valid for the user.

28. A method for verifying a user as a member of an affinity group, the method comprising:

receiving user information identifying a user identity and at least one affinity group, and,

based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate he user information with at least one matriculation status for the at least one affinity group,

wherein querying at least one networked data source includes,

obtaining status verification data from the at least one networked data source,

comparing the status verification data to a temporal threshold, and,

based on the threshold, performing a further status verification.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the threshold is a length of time for which the affinity group membership status is considered to be valid for the user.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the threshold is an end date prior to which the affinity group membership status is considered to be valid for the user.