Web-based groupware system

• US 7,523,162 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2005
• Issued: 04/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Brokercom Inc., Involv International Corp.
• Inventors: Lee, Richard, Smith, Gerald William, Cannata, Michael J., Powell, Matthew, Ramasra, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky; Moustafa M
• Application Number:
  US11/044,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20050193063A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,546 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-205, 709217-227
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing a communication network. The system comprises a ‘network-connected server having input and access capabilities, a site builder, a transmitter, a communicator, and memory. The site-builder receives instructions input from a first user and creates a dedicated network site based on the received instructions. The transmitter communicates the existence of the dedicated network site to a nominated second user. The communicator provides accesses to the contents of the dedicated network site by the first and second users. The memory stores information input by the first and the second user in the dedicated network site.

Claims

1. A method for communicating information in a collaborative workspace, the method comprising:

providing a collaborative workspace having different permission levels for members of the collaborative workspace, wherein the permission levels comprise a first permission level and a second permission level;

conducting compliance on communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level by routing the communications to one of a plurality of destinations.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the routing of all communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level is to an intermediary destination.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the routing is to one of a plurality of destinations on the basis of the result of an action applied to each communication.

4. A method for communicating information in a collaborative workspace, the method comprising:

providing a collaborative workspace having different permission levels for members of the collaborative workspace, wherein the permission levels comprise a first permission level and a second permission level;

conducting compliance on communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level by applying an action to each communication; and

,

routing the communications to one of a plurality of destinations on the basis of the result of the action.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the action comprises determining whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more keywords.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the keywords are representative of compliance problems.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more keywords includes:

routing the content portion of each communication to a filter including pre-determined keywords, and

using the filter to determine whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more of the pre-determined keywords.

8. The method of claim 7, in which each communication is routed to a reviewer when any keyword is detected.

9. The method of claim 7, in which each communication is routed to a reviewer or to a compliance officer, depending on the keywords detected.

10. The method of claim 9, in which for each communication routed to a compliance officer, the communication is subsequently routed to a reviewer or to the members associated with the second permission level.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the action comprises:

routing each communication to a switch; and

using the switch to determine a compliance mode defined by the member associated with the first permission level.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising routing communications whose compliance mode is determined to belong to a first mode to said members associated with the second permission level.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

routing communications whose compliance mode is determined to belong to a second mode to a reviewer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

routing the communication to said members associated with the second permission level on the basis of receiving an approval from the reviewer.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

routing to said member associated with the first permission level data including (i) the communication and (ii) comments from the reviewer related to the communication on the basis of not receiving an approval from the reviewer.

16. The method of claim 4, further comprising routing to said member associated with the first permission level data representative of whether a communication directed from the first permission level to the second permission level was routed to the second permission level.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a financial advisor of a brokerage and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more clients of the brokerage that interacts with the financial advisor.

18. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an organization and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the organization.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to maintenance of customer loyalty.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of representative expertise, customer business, customer financial situation, and customer personal situation.

21. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with an executive of a company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more stakeholders of the company.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of product direction, news, research, quotes, policies, and procedures.

23. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of a holding company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more subsidiaries of the holding company.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of advice, information about market issues, financing options, partnering opportunities, events, and marketing information.

25. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an electricity company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the electricity company.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of advice about energy conservation, research, news, and customer loyalty.

27. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a facilitator of a trade organization and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more members of the trade organization.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of meeting minutes, meeting agendas, policy agreements, new ideas, and presentations.

29. The method of claim 4, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an insurance firm and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the insurance firm.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of new laws, policy changes, costs, claims, billing, special offers, and surveys.

31. A system for communicating information in a collaborative workspace, comprising:

computer equipment configured to provide a collaborative workspace having different permission levels for members of the collaborative workspace, wherein the permission levels comprise a first permission level and a second permission level, and is further configured to conduct compliance on communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level by routing the communications to one of a plurality of destinations.

32. The system of claim 31 in which the routing of all communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level is to an intermediary destination.

33. The system of claim 31 in which the routing is to one of a plurality of destinations on the basis of the result of an action applied to each communication.

34. A system for communicating information in a collaborative workspace comprising:

computer equipment configured to provide a collaborative workspace having different permission levels for members of the collaborative workspace, wherein the permission levels comprise a first permission level and a second permission level, and is further configured to conduct compliance on communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level by applying an action to each communication; and

rout the communications to one of a plurality of destinations on the basis of the result of the action.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the action comprises determining whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more keywords.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the keywords are representative of compliance problems.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the computer equipment that is configured determine whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more keywords includes:

computer equipment that is configured to route the content portion of each communication to a filter including pre-determined keywords, and use the filter to determine whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more of the pre-determined keywords.

38. The system of claim 37, in which each communication is routed to a reviewer when any keyword is detected.

39. The system of claim 37, in which each communication is routed to a reviewer or to a compliance officer, depending on the keywords detected.

40. The system of claim 39, in which for each communication routed to a compliance officer, the communication is subsequently routed to a reviewer or to the members associated with the second permission level.

41. The system of claim 34, wherein the action comprises:

routing each communication to a switch; and

using the switch to determine a compliance mode defined by the member associated with the first permission level.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the computer equipment is further configured to route communications whose compliance mode is determined to belong to a first mode to said members associated with the second permission level.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein the computer equipment is further configured to route communications whose compliance mode is determined to belong to a second mode to a reviewer.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the computer equipment is further configured to route the communication to said members associated with the second permission level on the basis of receiving an approval from the reviewer.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the computer equipment is further configured to route to said member associated with the first permission level data including (i) the communication and (ii) comments from the reviewer related to the communication on the basis of not receiving an approval from the reviewer.

46. The system of claim 34, wherein the computer equipment is further configured to route to said member associated with the first permission level data representative of whether a communication directed from the first permission level to the second permission level was routed to the second permission level.

47. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a financial advisor of a brokerage and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more clients of the brokerage that interacts with the financial advisor.

48. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an organization and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the organization.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to maintenance of customer loyalty.

50. The system of claim 48, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of representative expertise, customer business, customer financial situation, and customer personal situation.

51. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with an executive of a company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more stakeholders of the company.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of product direction, news, research, quotes, policies, and procedures.

53. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of a holding company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more subsidiaries of the holding company.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of advice, information about market issues, financing options, partnering opportunities, events, and marketing information.

55. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an electricity company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the electricity company.

56. The system of claim 55 wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of advice about energy conservation, research, news, and customer loyalty.

57. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a facilitator of a trade organization and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more members of the trade organization.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of meeting minutes, meeting agendas, policy agreements, new ideas, and presentations.

59. The system of claim 34, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an insurance firm and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the insurance firm.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of new laws, policy changes, costs, claims, billing, special offers, and surveys.

61. A machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for execution on one or more computers for communicating information in a collaborative workspace, comprising instructions for:

providing a collaborative workspace having different permission levels for members of the collaborative workspace, wherein the permission levels comprise a first permission level and a second permission level;

conducting compliance on communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level by routing the communications to one of a plurality of destinations.

62. The machine-readable medium of claim 61 wherein the routing of all communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level is to an intermediary destination.

63. The machine-readable medium of claim 61 in which the routing is to one of a plurality of destinations on the basis of the result of an action applied to each communication.

64. A machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for execution on one or more computers for communicating information in a collaborative workspace, comprising instructions for:

providing a collaborative workspace having different permission levels for members of the collaborative workspace, wherein the permission levels comprise a first permission level and a second permission level;

conducting compliance on communications directed from members associated with the first permission level to members associated with the second permission level by applying an action to each communication; and

,

routing the communications to one of a plurality of destinations on the basis of the result of the action.

65. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein the action comprises determining whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more keywords.

66. The machine-readable medium of claim 65, wherein the keywords are representative of compliance problems.

67. The machine-readable medium of claim 65, wherein determining whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more keywords includes:

routing the content portion of each communication to a filter including pre-determined keywords, and

using the filter to determine whether the content portion of each communication includes one or more of the pre-determined keywords.

68. The machine-readable medium of claim 67, in which each communication is routed to a reviewer when any keyword is detected.

69. The machine-readable medium of claim 67, in which each communication is routed to a reviewer or to a compliance officer, depending on the keywords detected.

70. The machine-readable medium of claim 69, in which for each communication routed to a compliance officer, the communication is subsequently routed to a reviewer or to the members associated with the second permission level,.

71. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein the action comprises:

routing each communication to a switch; and

using the switch to determine a compliance mode defined by the member associated with the first permission level.

72. The machine-readable medium of claim 71, further comprising machine program logic recorded thereon for routing communications whose compliance mode is determined to belong to a first mode to said members associated with the second permission level.

73. The machine-readable medium of claim 71, further comprising machine program logic recorded thereon for:

routing communications whose compliance mode is determined to belong to a second mode to a reviewer.

74. The machine-readable medium of claim 73, further comprising machine program logic recorded thereon for:

routing the communication to said members associated with the second permission level on the basis of receiving an approval from the reviewer.

75. The machine-readable medium of claim 73, further comprising machine program logic recorded thereon for:

routing to said member associated with the first permission level data including (i) the communication and (ii) comments from the reviewer related to the communication on the basis of not receiving an approval from the reviewer.

76. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, further comprising machine program logic recorded thereon for routing to said member associated with the first permission level data representative of whether a communication directed from the first permission level to the second permission level was routed to the second permission level.

77. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a financial advisor of a brokerage and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more clients of the brokerage that interacts with the financial advisor.

78. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an organization and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the organization.

79. The machine-readable medium of claim 78, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to maintenance of customer loyalty.

80. The machine-readable medium of claim 78, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of representative expertise, customer business, customer financial situation, and customer personal situation.

81. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with an executive of a company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more stakeholders of the company.

82. The machine-readable medium of claim 81, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of product direction, news, research, quotes, policies, and procedures.

83. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of a holding company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more subsidiaries of the holding company.

84. The machine-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of advice, information about market issues, financing options, partnering opportunities, events, and marketing information.

85. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an electricity company and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the electricity company.

86. The machine-readable medium of claim 85 wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of advice about energy conservation, research, news, and customer loyalty.

87. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a facilitator of a trade organization and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more members of the trade organization.

88. The machine-readable medium of claim 87, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of meeting minutes, meeting agendas, policy agreements, new ideas, and presentations.

89. The machine-readable medium of claim 64, wherein said member associated with the first permission level is associated with a representative of an insurance firm and said members associated with the second permission level are associated with one or more customers of the insurance firm.

90. The machine-readable medium of claim 89, wherein the content portion of at least one of the communications relates to one or more of new laws, policy changes, costs, claims, billing, special offers, and surveys.