Collaborative system and method for generating biographical accounts

• US 8,103,947 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2006
• Issued: 01/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Timecove Corporation
• Inventors: Lunt, Christopher, Halliday, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US11/415,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20070261071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,093 Days
• Field of Search: 715/200, 715/255, 715/751, 715/273
• US Class Current: 715/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A collaborative system and method are used to capture, organize, share and preserve life stories. Life stories can be expressed in first person or third person. In either case, the process of developing the life stories is carried out with collaboration with and contributions from other users. The collaboration among the users is desirable because it serves to encourage and prompt users to record their life stories and also increases the relevance of the recorded life stories, so that an online community of users containing highly relevant and meaningful content, that is also relatively permanent in nature, about the users can be created.

Claims

1. A method for communicating with a first individual to generate life stories of a second individual, said method comprising the steps of:

presenting a GUI to the first individual, the GUI including a first hyperlink to a web page for managing relationship data of the first individual and a second hyperlink to a web page for inputting life stories on behalf of the second individual;

receiving an input from the first individual, the input selecting said second hyperlink;

presenting said web page for inputting life stories on behalf of the second individual, the web page including a first section for inputting text and a second section for attaching an image;

receiving text inputs from the first individual through the first section of the web page and an image selection through the second section of the web page, the text inputs describing a life event of the second individual and the selected image being associated with said life event; and

transmitting the text inputs and the selected image to a host computing device over a computer network along with data that associates the text inputs and the selected image with the second individual.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first individual and the second individual are registered users of an online system that maintains biographical accounts for each of the first and second individuals.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first individual is a registered user of an online system that allows multiple profiles to be created by a single registered user and maintains biographical accounts for each of the profiles, and wherein the multiple profiles of the first individual includes a profile of the first individual and a profile of the second individual.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the GUI includes a first section for entering text, a second section for attaching images, and a third section for entering a date.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving electronic content from the host computing device over the computer network for display, the electronic content comprising biographical accounts of the second individual including said text inputs from the first individual.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

presenting the text inputs from the first individual to the second individual for approval; and

receiving an input made by the second individual, the input indicating approval or rejection of the text inputs from the first individual.

7. A collaborative system accessed by multiple users for communicating with the multiple users to generate life stories of the multiple users, the system comprising:

a memory unit storing profile data about the multiple users; and

a processor programmed to generate web pages based in part of said profile data and transmit said web pages to the multiple users in response to inputs received from the multiple users, at least one of the web pages to be transmitted to one of the multiple users including a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays a question that is posed by another one of the multiple users;

wherein said at least one of the web pages further includes a first hyperlink to a web page used for inputting life stories on behalf of another one of the multiple users and a second hyperlink to a web page used for specifying a question to be posed to another one of the multiple users.

8. The collaborative system according to claim 7, wherein said at least one of the web pages further includes a plurality of images, a first one of which is associated with a life story of another one of the multiple users and a second one of which is associated with a comment made by another one of the multiple users regarding a life story of said one of the multiple users.

9. The collaborative system according to claim 7, wherein the memory unit stores profile data about a user as inputted by the user and profile data about one or more characters or groups as inputted by the user, and the memory unit stores stories about each of said one or more characters or groups as inputted by the user.

10. The collaborative system according to claim 9, wherein said one or more characters or groups includes a fictional character.