Curating communications

• US 8,972,574 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2014
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Forget You Not, Llc
• Original Assignee: Forget You Not, Llc
• Inventors: Mansfield, Richard J. W., Shani, Nissim, Shani, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US14/190,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20140306801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 370 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/206, 709/217
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

A computer-implemented method includes notifying a first person that a significant event is going to occur with respect to a second person; receiving from the first person, the second person, or another person a communication that relates to the significant event and to the first person and that has been curated at least in part from information that has been accumulated automatically from online resources; and sending the curated communication to the communication target.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising

notifying a first person that a significant event associated with a second person has occurred or is going to occur;

receiving, from the first person, a communication that relates to the significant event and to the second person and that has been curated at least in part based on information about the significant event, the second person, or both that has been accumulated automatically from online resources,

automatically determining an identity of a recipient of the communication, in which the identity of the recipient is undetermined at the time when the curated communication is received from the first person, and

enabling the curated communication to be sent to the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting an occurrence of the significant event.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising determining that one or more conditions for the occurrence of the significant event have been satisfied.

4. The method of claim 3, in which the one or more conditions for the occurrence of the significant event had been defined earlier by the first person or the second person or by both.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising generating an automatically generated communication based on the information about the significant event, the second person, or both that has been accumulated automatically from online resources.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising providing the automatically generated communication to the first person.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the communication includes comprising receiving an approval of the automatically generated communication.

8. The method of claim 5, in which receiving the communication includes receiving a curated version of the automatically generated communication from the first person.

9. The method of claim 5, in which the automatically generated communication includes the information about the significant event, the second person, or both that has been accumulated automatically from online resources.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising retrieving the information about the second person from one or more of the following publicly available sources:

(a) online or mobile social networking facilities, (b) online or mobile periodicals, and (c) websites.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the communication includes receiving a communication that has been generated by the first person and that includes at least some of the information that has been accumulated.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an identification of the second person from the first person.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising enabling the curated communication to be sent to the recipient on a date that is later than a date on which the curated communication is received from the first person.

14. A system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory, the processor and the memory configured to;

notify a first person that a significant event associated with a second person has occurred or is going to occur;

receive, from the first person, a communication that relates to the significant event and to the second person and that has been curated at least in part based on information about the significant event, the second person, or both that has been accumulated automatically from online resources,

automatically determine an identity of a recipient of the communication, in which the identity of the recipient is undetermined at the time when the curated communication is received from the first person, and

enable the curated communication to be sent to the recipient.

15. The system of claim 14, in which the processor and the memory are configured to detect an occurrence of the significant event.

16. The system of claim 14, in which the processor and the memory are configured to enable the curated communication to be sent to the recipient on a date that is later than a date on which the curated communication is received from the first person.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for causing a computing system to:

notify a first person that a significant event associated with a second person has occurred or is going to occur;

receive, from the first person, a communication that relates to the significant event and to the second person and that has been curated at least in part from information about the significant event, the second person, or both that has been accumulated automatically from online resources,

automatically determine an identity of a recipient of the communication, in which the identity of the recipient is undetermined at the time when the curated communication is received from the first person, and

enable the curated communication to be sent to the recipient.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, in which the instructions cause the computing system to detect an occurrence of the significant event.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, in which the instructions cause the computing system to enable the curated communication to be sent to the recipient on a date that is later than a date on which the curated communication is received from the first person.