Method and system for providing on-line wellness and retail access through a distributed network

• US 7,412,511 B2
• Filed: 11/24/1999
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: James Prescott Curry
• Original Assignee: James Prescott Curry
• Inventors: CURRY, JAMES PRESCOTT
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess, Glenton B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US09/449,237
• Publication Number:
  US 20020059359A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,184 Days
• Field of Search: 713/201, 709/203, 709/219, 709/229, 709/228, 705/16, 705/26, 705/93, 235/379, 235/380, 482/8.9, 482/198
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The invention provides a method and a system that allow users to purchase goods and health-related services over a distributed network, like the Internet. Using a portal or a buyer interface, a user connects to a controller or server through a distributed network either directly or via a service provider. When the user connects to the controller, the controller initiates a validation sequence to identify the portal and the user. When the portal and the user are identified, the controller assigns an access code that defines the user'"'"'s access rights to the controller. The user can then access fitness, nutrition, and wellness information or purchase goods from the controller, which in one embodiment emulates a web site, or provide access to other linked sites. In addition, the method and system provides users with opportunities to engage in on-line conversations with fitness instructors, coaches, doctors, and others that may be on-line. Moreover, the method and system categorizes users within control groups and develops user improvement plans for improving the users'"'"' fitness, nutrition, and/or wellness. The improvement plans, which are based on practical guidelines and advice, are periodically updated by the method and system if the plans are not consistent with the previous expectations. Furthermore, the users are recategorized if the user fails to meet his or her plan.

Claims

1. A method of providing wellness-related services, including at least one of wellness, health, or fitness services through a publicly accessible distributed network to authorized users using authorized portals, comprising:

providing an online site that enables wellness-related databases to be accessed from at least one of a sponsored and a non-sponsored portal;

placing in communication at least one of a sponsored and non-sponsored portal to the online site through the publicly accessible distributed network wherein the publicly accessible distributed network includes the Internet, wherein the sponsored portal is at least in part sponsored by and located at, a fitness center, and wherein at least one of the non-sponsored portals accesses the on-line site through the Internet;

receiving a request at the online site requesting access to the wellness-related database;

processing the request at the online site to determine whether the portal was sponsored and whether the request was received from an authorized user;

responding to the request based in part on whether the portal was sponsored and whether the user is authorized;

wherein the method further comprises obtaining fitness-related data from the user through the sponsored portal at the fitness center, entering the fitness data for the user into the database, and providing access to the user to the fitness data through the non-sponsored portal through the Internet;

further comprising automatically assigning the user to a control group based on user attributes.

2. A method as in claim 1, further comprising providing fitness advice and goals to the control group, wherein the advice and goals are at least in part a result of the group result data.

3. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of creating practical guidelines and advice for the control group, and wherein the services providing step comprises providing a user improvement plan for the user, the user improvement plan is selected to be similar to the practical guidelines and advice for the control group.

4. A method as in claim 3, wherein each control group includes group result data, the method further comprising the step of:

providing result data to the portal;

storing the result data to the group result data for the authorized user'"'"'s control group; and

adjusting the user improvement plan for each user in the authorized user'"'"'s control group based on the stored group result data.

5. A method as in claim 3, further comprising:

storing result data for the authorized user; and

assigning the user to a new control group based on the stored result data for the user.

6. A method of providing wellness-related services, including at least one of wellness, health, or fitness services to an authorized user through a distributed communications network, comprising:

identifying a portal with a portal identifier;

storing the portal identifier associated with the portal in a database;

receiving a request from the portal by an online wellness-related site;

processing the request at a controller to determine whether the request was from the portal;

assigning an access code to the user, the access code defining a level of wellness related services available to the user;

providing the services to the user through the distributed network that corresponds to the user'"'"'s access code;

providing at least one control group, wherein each control group includes at least one authorized user; and

assigning the user to one of the control groups, wherein the assigning is done automatically based on user attributes.

7. A method as in claim 6, wherein the services providing step comprises providing information or goods to the user based on the control group to which the user has been assigned.

8. A method as in claim 6, further comprising the step of creating practical workout guidelines and workout advice for the control group, wherein the services providing step comprises providing a user improvement plan for the user, and the user improvement plan is selected to be related to the practical guidelines and advice for the control group.

9. A method as in claim 8, wherein the user improvement plan is at least in part based on the collective workout related attributes of the control group.

10. A method as in claim 8, further comprising the step of providing an alarm signal to a system administrator if the user improvement plan for the users in the control group needs to be adjusted.

11. The method as in claim 8, further comprising:

storing result data for the authorized user; and

assigning the user to a new control group based on the stored result data for the user.

12. A method as in claim 6, wherein each control group includes group result data, the method further comprising the steps of:

providing the result data to the portal;

storing the result data to the group result data for the authorized user'"'"'s control group; and

adjusting the user improvement plan for each user in the authorized user'"'"'s control group based on the stored group result data.