Communications portal

• US 8,676,940 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Joseph Micalizzi, Michael Anthony Buonomo
• Original Assignee: David Joseph Micalizzi, Michael Anthony Buonomo
• Inventors: Buonomo, Michael Anthony, Micalizzi, David Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): HIGA, BRENDAN Y
• Application Number:
  US12/954,063
• Publication Number:
  US 20110295944A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709217-219, 715744-745, 715/748, 717168-178
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Per one embodiment, apparatus may be provided that include a communications portal and a back-end system. The communications portal includes a provider interface accessible by providers and a target user interface accessible by target users. The back-end system may include an deployment management. The provider interface is configured to present graphical user interface tools representing offering options. The graphical user interface tools are presented on a remote provider data access point device display remote from the provisioning portal while the remote provider data access point device is authenticated for a given provider. The offering options include “provider selectable assets” screen inputs configured to receive asset selections from the given provider, and “asset location and identifying data” screen inputs configured to receive data locating and identifying assets selected by the given provider.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising:

a data access point (DAP) device, the DAP device including a memory subsystem, a bus structure, at least one processor, network interface circuitry, a DAP device display, and user interface elements including display-interactive input devices;

the DAP device further including computer-readable media having stored unique data and application programs each uniquely configured by and for a given target user using the DAP device;

the unique data and application programs including given provider aggregated assets previously opted in by the given target user, the given provider aggregated assets having been made available by a given provider to the given target user in the form of a given provider offering; and

the DAP device further including node processing circuits configured to manage the given provider aggregated assets, at least a portion of the node processing circuits having been especially provided on the DAP device via remote deployment after and as a result of both (i) the given provider having created the given provider offering via a communications portal specially configured to be accessible to plural different providers to create their own respective different offerings including different aggregations of assets, and (ii) the given target user having opted in to receive the given provider offering.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the given provider aggregated assets include applications and media content identifying the given provider and informing the given target user about the given provider.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DAP device includes an embedded device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the DAP device includes a network interface configured to provide wireless access to a wide area network.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the DAP device includes a mobile phone.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface elements include keys.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface elements include touch screen elements.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DAP device further includes a web browsing processing circuit, and wherein the web browsing processing circuit includes at least a portion of computer-readable media carrying encoded data for web browsing and components of an active computer ready to execute the encoded data and thereby cause certain acts to occur including reading of remote hypertext in files accessible via a wide area network.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the applications and the media content of the assets include brand image files depicting one or more brands of the given provider.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the provider aggregated assets include assets configured to display, via the DAP device display, information describing products of the given provider and information specifying availability time periods during which the given provider'"'"'s products are available, and wherein the provider is a vendor.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the assets are configured to display via the DAP device display price information regarding the given vendor'"'"'s products.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the node processing circuits include one or more offering install processing circuits configured to install a packaged version of the offering.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the node processing circuits include an identification (ID) assignment processing circuit configured to assign, for each of plural activities involving use of the given provider offering, provider, target user, and asset element identifiers respectively identifying the given provider, the given target user of the DAP device, and a corresponding asset elements within the given provider offering.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the node processing circuits include one or more activity tracking processing circuits configured to track activity and to log activity data in association with corresponding sets of identifiers including a provider identifier, a user identifier, and one or more asset element identifiers.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the given provider aggregated assets for the given provider offering include one or more provider address book entries that provide contact information of the provider or of an individual representing the provider, and further include one or more calendar entries with provider events scheduled by the provider.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the provider aggregated assets for the given provider offering include a vendor website bookmark, and wherein the provider is a vendor.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the provider aggregated assets further include vendor physical site location data.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the location data includes vendor landmarks.

19. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the location data includes vendor location map data.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the provider aggregated assets include service interfacing code including one or more API interfaces configured to call one or more remote APIs of an online vendor notification service.