Methods and systems for gathering information from units of a commodity across a network
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A system comprising:
- units of a commodity that can be used by respective users in different locations,a user interface, which is part of each of the units of the commodity, configured to provide a medium for two-way local interaction between one of the users and the corresponding unit of the commodity, and further configured to elicit, from a user, information about the user'"'"'s perception of the commodity,a memory within each of the units of the commodity capable of storing results of the two-way local interaction, the results including elicited information about user perception of the commodity,a communication element associated with each of the units of the commodity capable of carrying results of the two-way local interaction from each of the units of the commodity to a central location, anda component capable of managing the interactions of the users in different locations and collecting the results of the interactions at the central location.
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Abstract
In an exemplary system, information is received at a central location from different units of a commodity. The information is generated from two-way local interactions between users of the different units of the commodity and a user interface in the different units of the commodity. The interactions elicit from respective users their perceptions of the commodity.
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Citations
74 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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units of a commodity that can be used by respective users in different locations, a user interface, which is part of each of the units of the commodity, configured to provide a medium for two-way local interaction between one of the users and the corresponding unit of the commodity, and further configured to elicit, from a user, information about the user'"'"'s perception of the commodity, a memory within each of the units of the commodity capable of storing results of the two-way local interaction, the results including elicited information about user perception of the commodity, a communication element associated with each of the units of the commodity capable of carrying results of the two-way local interaction from each of the units of the commodity to a central location, and a component capable of managing the interactions of the users in different locations and collecting the results of the interactions at the central location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A system comprising:
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units of a facsimile equipment that can be used by respective users in different locations, a user interface which is part of each of the units and is configured to trigger a two-way interaction to occur on-line between the unit of the facsimile equipment and a vendor of the facsimile equipment, the user interface being configured to generate information about use of the unit by the user, a communication element associated with each of the units capable of carrying results of the two-way local interaction from each of the units to a central location, and a component capable of managing the interactions of the users in different locations and collecting the results of the interactions at the central location. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A system comprising:
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units of a commodity that can be used by respective users in different locations, a user interface which is part of each of the units of the commodity and is configured to provide a medium for two-way local interaction between one of the users and the corresponding unit of the commodity for generating information about use of the unit of the commodity by the user, the user interface being configured to elicit information about (i) steps that a vendor of the commodity could take to improve the user'"'"'s satisfaction or (ii) training or support provided for users of the commodity; a communication element associated with each of the units of the commodity capable of carrying results of the two-way local interaction from each of the units of the commodity to a central location, and a component capable of managing the interactions of the users in different locations and collection of the results of the interactions at the central location and provides access to the collection of results to a third party. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A method for gathering information from units of a commodity in different locations, each unit of the commodity being coupled to a remote database on a network, the method comprising:
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eliciting user perceptions of respective units of the commodity through interactions at a user-interface of the respective unit; generating perception information based on inputs of the users at the respective user-interfaces; transmitting the perception information to the remote database; receiving the transmitted perception information from different units of the commodity; and collecting and storing the received information at the remote database. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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Specification