Methods and apparatus for managing a universal list system

• US 8,606,655 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2011
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZipList, Inc. (Advance Publications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: ZipList, Inc. (Advance Publications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Allen, Geoffrey Benjamin, Geyer, Steven Lee, Herrup, Bradley Spector, McElrath, Rodney Dale, Ramsey, Timothy Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg, Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US13/233,388
• Publication Number:
  US 20130073423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/26.2, 705/26.8, 705/44, 705/1, 707/736, 707/999.107, 707/803, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

In some embodiments, a non-transitory processor-readable medium includes code to cause a processor to receive, via a first communication mode, a first indicator associated with a first user-performed process, and receive, via a second communication mode different from the first communication mode, a second indicator associated with a second user-performed process. The code includes code to cause the processor to identify, using the first indicator a first set of items for the first user-performed process, and identify, using the second indicator, a second set of items for the second user-performed process. The code further includes code to cause the processor to define a vendor-agnostic list to include the first set of items and the second set of items, and send a signal associated with at least a portion of the vendor-agnostic list to a communication device.

Claims

1. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:

receive, via a first communication mode, a first process identifier associated with a first user-performed process and a first account identifier associated with an account of a user;

receive, via a second communication mode different from the first communication mode, a second process identifier associated with a second user-performed process and a second account identifier associated with the account of the user;

identify, using the first process identifier, a first plurality of items for the first user-performed process;

identify, using the second process identifier, a second plurality of items for the second user-performed process;

define a vendor-agnostic list associated with the account of the user to include the first plurality of items and the second plurality of items, based on the first account identifier and the second account identifier; and

send a signal associated with at least a portion of the vendor-agnostic list to a communication device associated with the account of the user.

2. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first communication mode and the second communication mode each includes at least one of an instant message, an electronic-mail message, a text message, an optical pattern scan, a mobile device application, a personal computer application, a response to an interactive advertisement, an interactive television application response, a TCP/IP transmission, or an interactive voice response.

3. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first process identifier has a representation within a print medium to be viewed by the user.

4. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first process identifier has a representation within television viewable content to be viewed by the user.

5. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first process identifier has a representation within audible content to be perceived by the user.

6. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first user-performed process and the second user-performed process each is at least one of an activity, a recipe or a home improvement project.

7. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code to cause the processor to identify the first plurality of items includes code to cause the processor to query a process database using the first process identifier.

8. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

store an association of the first process identifier with the account of the user in response to receiving the first process identifier.

9. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

determine an identity of the user involved in the first communication mode and the second communication mode based on at least one of a telephone number of a communication device, a user name associated with an instant message account, an electronic mail address, or an identifier of the communication device.

10. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

associate the first user-performed process with the account of the user such that the user can view the first user-performed process when signing into the account.

11. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first user-performed process is associated with a set of instructions used to perform the first user-performed process with the first plurality of items.

12. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first process identifier is associated with an advertisement campaign, an effectiveness of the advertising campaign to be tracked based on the first process identifier.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a first communication module implemented in a processing device or stored in a memory and configured to be executed by a processing device, the first communication module configured to receive, from a first communication device via a first communication mode, a process identifier of a user-performed process associated with a plurality of items and a plurality of instructions used to perform the user-performed process;

a second communication module configured to receive, from a second communication device via a second communication mode different than the first communication mode, the process identifier of the user-performed process;

an item module operatively coupled to the first communication module and the second communication module, the item module configured to retrieve from a process database, based on receiving the process identifier from at least one of the first communication module or the second communication module, an identifier for each item from the plurality of items and an identifier for each instruction from the plurality of instructions used to perform the user-performed process; and

an action module operatively coupled to the item module, the item module configured to provide to the first communication device (i) a first vendor-agnostic list including the identifier for each item from the plurality of items and (ii) the identifier for each instruction from the plurality of instructions,

the action module configured to provide to the second communication device (i) a second vendor-agnostic list including the identifier for each item from the plurality of items and (ii) the identifier for each instruction from the plurality of instructions.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first communication mode and the second communication mode each includes at least one of an instant message, an electronic-mail message, a text message, an optical pattern scan, a mobile device application, a personal computer application, a response to an interactive advertisement, an interactive television application response, a TCP/IP transmission, or an interactive voice response.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a validation module configured to query a user database to retrieve an identifier of a user account based on at least one of a telephone number of the first communication device, a user name associated with an instant message account, an electronic mail address, or an identifier of the first communication device.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the plurality of items is at least one of a list of ingredients used in a recipe, a list of supplies used in a home improvement project, or a list of supplies used in an activity.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the process identifier has a representation within a print medium to be viewed by at least one of a user of the first communication device or a user of the second communication device.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the process identifier has a representation within television viewable content to be viewed by at least one of a user of the first communication device or a user of the second communication device.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first communication module is configured to receive, via the first communication mode, a first identifier associated with an account of the user, the first vendor-agnostic list being associated with the account of the user.

20. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:

receive, via a plurality of communication modes, a plurality of process identifiers, each process identifier from the plurality of process identifiers being uniquely associated with a user performed process from a plurality of user-performed processes;

receive, via at least one communication mode from the plurality of communication modes, an identifier associated with an account of the user;

identify, based on the plurality of process identifiers and for each user-performed process from the plurality of user-performed processes, a set of items and a set of instructions for that user-performed process;

define, in response to the identifying, a vendor-agnostic list to include the set of items for each user-performed process from the plurality of user-performed processes; and

associate the vendor-agnostic list and the set of instructions with the account of the user based on the identifier associated with the account of the user.

21. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the plurality of communication modes includes at least two of an instant message, an electronic-mail message, a text message, an optical pattern scan, a mobile device application, a personal computer application, a response to an interactive advertisement, an interactive television application response, a TCP/IP transmission, or an interactive voice response.

22. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the identifier associated with the account of the user is at least one of a telephone number of a communication device of the user, a user name associated with an instant message account, an electronic mail address, or an identifier of the communication device.

23. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein a first user-performed process from the plurality of user-performed processes is a recipe and a second user-performed process from the plurality of user-performed processes is a home improvement project.

24. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

store an association of each process identifier from the plurality of process identifiers with the identifier associated with the account of the user in response to receiving the plurality of process identifiers.

25. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein an identifier from the plurality of the identifiers is associated with an advertisement campaign, an effectiveness of the advertising campaign to be tracked based on the identifier.