Systems and methods of simulating user intuition of business relationships using biographical imagery

• US 9,704,172 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2015
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: E-Valuation, Inc.
• Original Assignee: E-Valuation, Inc.
• Inventors: Murray, Brian J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B
• Assistant Examiner(s): KARMIS, ALISSA D
• Application Number:
  US14/932,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20160055504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• Field of Search: 705 734, 705 733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308

Abstract

The systems and methods of the present disclosure simulate the intuitive visualization of a host organization'"'"'s experienced personnel by graphically portraying business relationships with external and internal business entities including clients, vendors, prospects, service resources, agents, and company personnel in universally recognizable caricatured scenes and images, including animations, based on transactional events that are passively accumulated from the accounting, phone, email, and management operations of a host system, delivering objectively-based graphical renditions of business relationships reflecting tenure, volume, frequency, demeanor, profitability, reliability, and many other relationship attributes thus enabling new, learning disabled, or unfamiliar personnel who possess varying degrees of first-person experience with the subject entities to respond instinctively and accurately to the current occurrence with the subject business entity while preserving invaluable relationship intuition that is otherwise lost when veteran personnel are absent or removed from their position or that takes new personnel weeks, months, or years to acquire.

Claims

1. A method of visualizing a nature, size, tenure, and/or status of any of a host company'"'"'s clientele, vendors, employees, or other business entities or business relationships by instantaneously presenting a multi-dimensional graphical display of a subject business entity profile on a user'"'"'s display screen, the multi-dimensional graphical display being composed of layers of realistic and/or caricatured images that are prioritized to feature dominant attributes of a plurality of attributes indicative of the business relationship, thereby providing the user, including those with learning handicaps, and whether the subject business entity is familiar or unfamiliar to the user, with a capacity to respond timely and accurately to a current contact or event with the subject business entity, the method comprising:

capturing and aggregating, by an imagery server, event data from a plurality of events as it is received through a plurality of data sources operating within a system of the host company and using hardware and software devices of the host company'"'"'s phone, automated accounting, email, and messaging systems resources, the event data collectively reflecting a plurality of transactions between the host company and the business entities with whom the host company maintains business relationships;

relating the subject business entity to current and historical transactional details that comprise attribute statistics of the transactions;

interpreting a plurality of data messages from a plurality of events received from the plurality of data sources and associating each data message to one or more attributes of the plurality of attributes;

generating and storing a plurality of uniformly formatted attribute records based on the plurality of transactions,

pre-assembling the subject business entity'"'"'s cumulative activity for an affected attribute'"'"'s values corresponding to a plurality of transaction records regarding the subject business entity, thereby facilitating conversational response speed of subsequent subject business entity profile assemblies by avoiding a re-computation of current ageing and weighting;

upon passively detecting an inquiry triggering event by the imagery server from the plurality of data sources operating within host system;

assembling cumulative activity of the plurality of attribute values corresponding to the plurality of transaction records regarding the subject business entity;

dynamically prioritizing the plurality of attribute values of the subject business entity based on the plurality of transaction records to which each attribute'"'"'s specific ageing and weighting algorithms are applied, such algorithms reflecting both accelerated and decelerated adjustments to original values of the plurality of transactions;

transforming, by the imagery server, the plurality of attribute records with current values based on the plurality of aged and weighted transaction records regarding the subject business entity into the multi-dimensional graphical display by;

selecting a plurality of value-scaled images from a plurality of image arrays that correspond to the plurality of attributes and that represent each attribute'"'"'s weighted value range of visual representations, wherein each of the plurality of value-scaled images corresponds to each attribute'"'"'s weighted value of the subject entity'"'"'s cumulative transactional data;

layering the plurality of value-scaled images within specific sectors of an image plane according to location and prioritization parameters defined in each attribute definition;

associating various background and foreground images that relate to types of services or products provided by a host entity to the subject business entity;

superimposing successive transparencies of foreground to background images relative to attribute values of the subject business entity according to a prescribed screen location assignment of images that characterize corresponding attributes; and

instantaneously rendering, by the imagery server, a composite image for the multi-dimensional graphical display on the user'"'"'s display screen upon detection of an initiating inquiry, the multi-dimensional graphical display reflecting highest priority attribute images in such priority order and in such recognizable imagery as to invoke the user'"'"'s innate comprehension of the nature, size, tenure, and/or status relationship features of the subject business entity in order of prioritized importance thereby enabling any user, whether familiar or unfamiliar with the subject business entity, to instantaneously assess and respond timely and accurately to a current engagement with the subject business entity.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

propagating the plurality of images into a plurality of size-scaled images of each image master from a plurality of image masters to correspond to a range of values in each of the plurality of attributes;

and

arranging the plurality of size-scaled images corresponding to the plurality of attribute values corresponding to plurality of transaction records that have been propagated from the plurality of events regarding the subject business entity previously received from the plurality of data sources operating within the host system.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of images is selected from the group consisting of cartoon images, caricatures, photographs, still images, moving images, animations, and any combination thereof.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of claim 1 are performed on an independent server or servers that maintain persistent Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or equivalent communications with the host company'"'"'s plurality of data sources including the automated accounting, phone, email, and messaging systems resources, passively detecting initiating events regarding the subject business entity from the plurality of data sources, initiating events including Management Information System (MIS) inquiry activities, incoming or outgoing phone calls, incoming and outgoing emails, and/or incoming and outgoing messages, providing instantaneous inquiry display of the subject business entity'"'"'s profile in response to initiating events without user intervention by deriving and projecting graphical relationship representations to the user'"'"'s display screen, those resulting visually interpretive graphic representations enabling and, in coordination with host company policies, guiding the user'"'"'s response.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising maintaining connection and dialog with the plurality of data sources including the host system'"'"'s automated accounting system, Private Branch Exchange (PBX)-based phone system, email system, messaging system, conventional user workstations, or any combination thereof,

wherein the aggregating includes:

aggregating statistical traffic data on incoming and outgoing phone calls reposited from the host system'"'"'s PBX-based phone system in conventionally generated messages reflecting event particulars including initiating and destination entity identifications, the date, time, or duration of each call, and the call'"'"'s accept, decline, hold, transfer, or other elective dispositions;

aggregating statistical traffic data from the host system'"'"'s email or Short Message Service (SMS) messaging systems transmitted to the imaging server in conventionally generated messages reflecting event particulars including participating entities, the date, time, and disposition as to the email or message having been read, unread, responded, deleted, or other elective dispositions on incoming and outgoing emails or messages; and

aggregating both the statistical traffic data from event messages and quantitative data from event messages received from the host'"'"'s Management Information System (MIS) accounting and management system with the message contents reflecting event particulars, of host system accounting events, each occurring with its external and internal business entities, wherein the business entities include at least one of clients, customers, vendors, agents, service resources, prospects, or personnel in the host company.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the host system is further configured to visually communicate a subject business entity'"'"'s business relationship with the host company, the host system comprising:

operations systems configured to detect and transmit event information regarding the plurality of events relating to the subject business entity to an imagery system; and

a plurality of display screens associated with respective users inquiring the host company, each of the plurality of display screens being dedicated only for use with the imagery system and being configured to display the composite image for the multi-dimensional graphical display representing the profile of the subject business entity,

wherein the imagery system includes an imagery server in communication with the host system, the imagery server being configured to;

receive messages from the host system representing data events originating in the accounting, phone, email and messaging system resources and other interactive user sources in those respective host system operations;

detect an inquiry triggering event message from the host system requesting the profile of the subject business entity;

assemble the plurality of attributes corresponding to aggregated information regarding the plurality of events in response to receiving the inquiry message;

select the plurality of images associated with the plurality of attributes from among an inventory of images;

generate the composite image of a plurality of layers of images from the selected plurality of images;

transmit the composite image to a user display screen of the host system;

transmit inquiry requests for specific subject business entities to the host system in concert with incoming and outgoing phone calls; and

transmit logfile messages of newly created or unidentified business entities to the host system for validation.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the imagery server comprises:

an event code map database storing information regarding a plurality of host accounts and corresponding event codes; and

a subject entity master database storing information regarding a plurality of business entities including primary identification information and secondary identification information as maintained in the host system, the secondary identification information including phone, email address, or entity name,

wherein the imagery server is configured to;

determine whether the subject business entity in the event information is found among the plurality of subject business entities stored in the subject business entity master database;

add a subject business entity to the subject business entity master database if the subject business entity is not found among the plurality of subject business entities;

using native subject business entity identification information and secondary subject business entity identification information to;

validate a host accounting system account code in the event information against the plurality of accounts stored in the event code map database to obtain an event code; and

record changes to the subject business entity identification information in the subject business entity master database from special event messages issued by the host system; and

transmit an acknowledgement message to the host system that the subject business entity has been recognized, or that the subject business entity has been temporarily created in the event of an unrecognized entity, and that the event was successfully recorded by the imagery server.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

reading the host system'"'"'s unique identification code for the subject business entity from the event message;

searching a subject business entity table for the unique identification code on the imagery server;

generating a new subject business entity record on the imagery server if the unique identification code is not found in the search of the subject business entity table;

generating a message from the imagery server to the host system requesting assignment of a host system'"'"'s native entity identification to the new subject business entity;

identifying on the imagery server a secondary business entity within a primary business entity;

specifying on the imagery server a name and rank for the primary or secondary business entity; and

updating on the imagery server the subject business entity with the native entity identification and secondary entity identification subsequently received from the host system.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

retaining additional demographic data regarding a hierarchal structure of the subject business entity as defined in the host system for referencing comparable business entities within region, area, community, building, unit, or lease groups;

providing special event message formats for updating of primary entity master data including specifying a demographic location hierarchy of region, area, community, building, unit, and lease keys;

providing special event message formats for fulfilling primary and secondary entity master data including specifying name and rank;

providing special event message formats for fulfilling primary and secondary entity master data including phone contact information;

retaining the phone contact information to subsequently associate phone record events for a new entity; and

supplying the host system with a message relating a presence of an unidentified phone contact for allowing the host system to identify the unidentified phone contact or to assign a new entity master for the unidentified phone contact.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

tracking phone calls between initiating and receiving entities by using unique entity rank and sequence identifiers within a primary entity master code to graphically inform a user of a relative position of a caller within the caller'"'"'s organization; and

associating a proxy phone identification of a subordinate to a superior entity'"'"'s phone identification to allow for proxy events.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising allowing the user to select and redirect calls to most well acquainted personnel of the company, such redirection being governed by communication with the PBX-based phone system as to current availability of parties to receive the call.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising providing the user with go-back navigation capability to step through recent profile sessions, whether by phone call or host inquiry, and applying call back and/or exception and/or disposition updates to those sessions.

13. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

installing Application Programming Interface (API) functions on the host system that are compatible with MIS operations in order to generate event messages for activities within accounting processes that reflect quantitative accounting activities, including entity inquiry, for accounting system entities;

invoking the API functions on the host system to generate event messages describing the accounting activities and including native entity identification codes, date and time of an activity, and account classifications as defined in an imagery system event map;

sending the event messages from the host system to the imagery system; and

receiving at the host system accepted and rejected event messages.

14. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

maintaining persistent real-time communication between the imagery server and the host'"'"'s PBX-based phone system via Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or other communication protocol for receiving and sending Call Data Record (CDR) and/or Station Message Detail Recording (SMDR) data messages from or to the host system'"'"'s PBX-based phone system on a server indicating communication traffic with various identified and unidentified subject business entities;

maintaining multiple call session dialogs with a PBX-based phone system on a real-time basis for the initiation, answer, decline, termination, transfer, hold, or other call directive functions between the PBX-based phone system and the imagery server;

receiving CDR and SMDR formatted messages at the imaging server from the host'"'"'s PBX-based phone system in notification of new and existing call activities, such call activities to be associated with an identified or unidentified entity in the host system for initiating and managing an inquiry in the imaging server;

sending CDR and SDMR formatted messages from the imaging server to the host'"'"'s PBX-based phone system to manage existing calls and to initiate new calls associated with inquiry actions on the subject entities;

managing users'"'"' phone sessions and real-time phone activities to allow for interruption and redirection of active calls based on attribute prioritization rules;

providing interactive call accept or decline options on the user'"'"'s display screen;

initiating or terminating imagery system inquiry events for the identified subject entity with immediate display of an affected entity'"'"'s profile on the user'"'"'s display screen,

wherein identifying includes creating data entities for unidentified incoming or outgoing phone call numbers, emails, or messages that are not associated to known subject entities;

recording the frequency and connection ratio of specific external contacts to specific internal extension numbers so as to allow the host system to suggest most common routing of an identified external contact to the internal extension numbers;

recording the frequency and connection ratio of specific internal host extensions to specific external contacts so as to further allow the host system to suggest the most common routing of the identified external contact to the internal extension numbers; and

displaying scaled graphical images within rendered entity profiles in proportional size to each of an internal contact entity'"'"'s graphical representations, the internal contact entity'"'"'s graphical representations further depicting the weighted, cumulative dispositions of contact histories, the dispositions being color coded as to favorable, neutral, or unfavorable.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein aggregating the event data includes:

determining a plurality of event codes for the host system'"'"'s native activity codes and/or chart of account codes defined in the event data;

searching an event master table for at least one attribute associated with each of the plurality of event codes; and

assigning an event code for invalid host activity codes, if any, in an event map and generating a log message to the host system for any invalid host activity codes.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein aggregating the event data further includes:

recording a transaction for at least one of the plurality of attributes from each of the plurality of events to obtain a plurality of transactions;

invoking one or more specific attribute references as defined for each event;

generating a transaction record for each defined attribute, including copying of current ageing and weighting rules and other properties for that attribute; and

propagating parent attributes, if any, into the generated transactions for higher tier image display in a subsequent scene of images with the parent attributes.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein aggregating the event data regarding the plurality of events further includes updating a latest transaction date and time in an entity table control record to invoke recalculation of a subject business entity'"'"'s assembly summary workfile upon inquiry as to whether the assembly summary workfile is or is not current.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein assembling a statistical workfile includes:

determining the age of each transaction;

comparing the age of each transaction to a retention date;

bypassing a transaction if the age of the transaction is earlier than the retention date;

accumulating values of aggregated transactions of the subject business entity by attribute code;

accumulating a number of transactions for each attribute code; and

recording oldest and newest transaction dates within the attribute range to an assembly summary workfile record of the respective attribute code.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein building a statistical workfile includes:

using count or quantity values as provided in an attribute master definition to reflect decimal or whole values;

adjusting current count or quantity values for the transaction by static weight and count factors to reflect exaggeration as provided in the attribute master definition and an event master definition;

comparing transaction date to an ageing threshold;

computing positive or negative ageing factors based on flat amounts or based on a percentage of an original count value or an original quantity value of the transaction;

adding positive or negative ageing factors to the original count value or the original quantity value of the transaction based on a comparison of the transaction date to the ageing threshold;

comparing the transaction'"'"'s date to an acceleration threshold;

adding positive or negative acceleration factors to the original count value or the original quantity value based on a comparison of the acceleration threshold to the transaction date;

accumulating the adjusted count and quantity values from current and consolidated transactions for each attribute code;

averaging the accumulated count or quantity values of all transactions for each attribute code based on unit transaction counts from current and consolidated transactions as elected by an averaging option;

reading an associated image master in an images table based on a total accumulated and adjusted summary total of each respective attribute in the statistical work file;

copying an image master identification (ID) code, layer, sector, or other display positioning settings for a selected image into a statistical work file summary for each respective attribute to provide display sector priority; and

recording computed average and transaction counts and other computed statistics to an assembly summary workfile record of the respective attribute code.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein aggregating the event data includes:

pre-assembling historical and current data in advance of receiving inquiry messages to minimize recent transaction update processing and image rendering time upon inquiry of the subject business entity;

updating only assembly summary workfile attribute records that have recently recorded transactions for up-to-the-moment accuracy of those attribute values and image selections, the recently recorded transactions being identified by date/time stamps compared to a last pre-processing date/time stamp in the subject entity master and in each attribute'"'"'s assembly summary workfile record; and

performing the pre-assembly at the moment of collection of each transaction for any currently affected attribute, the determination including an application of that attribute'"'"'s specific ageing and weighting algorithms, which are formulated to reflect both accelerated and decelerated adjustments to original values of such transactions as determined to be needed at posting time of an impacting transaction, the pre-assembly including posting of a current time stamp and the next-scheduled ageing and weighting time to the attribute workfile record as prescribed by an attribute'"'"'s algorithm, the pre-assembly thus facilitating the speed of subsequent profile assemblies by avoiding a re-computation of current ageing and weighting if executed before the next-scheduled ageing and weighting time limit as maintained in the subject entity master and in the respective assembly summary workfile attribute records.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein generating the composite image for the multi-dimensional graphical display includes:

composing predominant facial expressions based on vector location within a fascia tier as directed from various contending attributes to properly reflect current transactional events;

composing statistically derived rating scales depicting the subject business entity'"'"'s relationship to all or specific other business entities within defined demographic ranges or attribute classes;

applying military-type insignia to composite profiles of subject business entities to reflect rank, tenure, or experience; and

applying shading or coloring to intensify or dilute relationship factors.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein generating the composite image for the multi-dimensional graphical display further includes:

determining top attributes in total weighted order allowed within each tier of the image plane;

ordering the top attributes in lightest value to heaviest value within a range of display sectors per tier to assert a most dominant attribute on topmost layers of a respective tier;

scaling and contrast grading each of the layers based on specified width and height;

selecting respective layer images based on an aggregated attribute value falling with a high and low range of the image set; and

positioning selected images based on vector or fixed background, midground, foreground, and fascia sector address within the image plane.

23. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

posting a disposition reflecting a user'"'"'s determination of a favorable or unfavorable conclusion to a current contact with the subject business entity, including successive menus of images depicting various ranges of demeanor that the user may click to or point at on the screen that results in the generation of an additional transaction record noting that conclusion, further memorializing a specific history of activity with the subject business entity;

displaying of the plurality of displays a user interface allowing for an entry by a user of a determined disposition of the current contact related to the subject business entity;

generating or updating an event message for a current inquiry event to include a specific type and details of a chosen disposition; and

processing the generated event message into a standard transaction record to accrete that exception into the subject business entity'"'"'s history on the imagery server.

24. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user'"'"'s option to post a record of the subject business entity'"'"'s exceptional behavior or demeanor during a contact episode so that subsequent immediate or delayed contacts with the subject business entity are made aware of a current temperament of the contact episode and a general demeanor of the subject business entity with a most recent series of contacts, such exceptions being reflected in a sequence of user selected images and temperature type scale setting by the user indicating a measure of that demeanor or behavior as mild to severe;

displaying a user interface including icon-based or image-based menus to record an exception occurrence or condition regarding the subject business entity;

displaying sub-menus of icons or images associated with the exception occurrence or condition regarding the subject business entity;

providing a user control in the user interface for scaling a selected action icon or image to indicate a minimum or maximum rating of the exception occurrence or condition;

generating a prescribed event message for a specific type and details of a chosen exception; and

processing the generated event message into a standard transaction record to accrete that exception into the subject business entity'"'"'s history on the imagery server.