System and method for organizing a plurality of local meeting groups

• US 10,033,767 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2016
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meetup Incorporated (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Meetup Incorporated (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Pashman, David, Beniflah, Odile, Levine, Jake, Stamas, Nick
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Michael S
• Application Number:
  US15/157,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20160344718A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 726 1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating supervisory control of localized meeting groups is provided. A method includes the steps of generating a master meeting group based on input received from a master organizer, generating a plurality of authentication tickets based on input received from the master organizer of the master meeting group identifying a local organizer for each authentication ticket of the plurality of authentication tickets, transmitting the plurality of authentication tickets to each of the local organizers, authenticating a plurality of local organizers based at least partially on an authentication ticket for each local organizer, and generating a plurality of meeting subgroups associated with the master meeting group based at least partially on the at least one meeting parameter. Each meeting subgroup is associated with at least one local organizer and is generated based at least partially on input received from the at least one local organizer.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating supervisory control of localized subgroups of a master group, comprising:

generating, with at least one processor, a master meeting group based on input received from a master organizer, the input identifying a topic and at least one master meeting group parameter;

generating, with at least one processor, a plurality of authentication tickets based on input received from the master organizer of the master meeting group, the input identifying a local organizer for each authentication ticket of the plurality of authentication tickets;

transmitting the plurality of authentication tickets to each of the local organizers;

authenticating, with at least one processor, a plurality of local organizers based at least partially on an authentication ticket for each local organizer; and

generating, with at least one processor, a plurality of meeting subgroups associated with the master meeting group based at least partially on the at least one meeting parameter, wherein each meeting subgroup is associated with at least one local organizer and is generated based at least partially on input received from the at least one local organizer.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the master meeting group comprises creating a template including a plurality of master meeting group parameters, and wherein the plurality of meeting subgroups are generated at least partially based on the template such that an associated local organizer can customize at least a portion of the parameters but cannot customize the topic or the at least one master meeting parameter.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of authentication tickets comprises a unique token that uniquely identifies a local organizer.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of authentication tickets comprises a hyperlink including the unique token.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one master meeting parameter comprises a group name, and wherein each meeting subgroup of the plurality of meeting subgroups has a unique name that is based at least partially on the group name or includes at least a portion of the group name.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each meeting subgroup is associated with a plurality of in-person events hosted within a geographic region.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein each authentication ticket identifies the geographic region.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a user interface on at least one mobile device of a member of a meeting subgroup, the user interface comprising an attendance tool programmed or configured to input attendance information for an event associated with the meeting subgroup.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the attendance tool comprises a list of members of the meeting subgroup and a plurality of selectable options associated with each member in the list of members that, when selected, indicate that a particular member attended the event.

10. A system for facilitating supervisory control of localized meeting groups affiliated with a master meeting group, comprising at least one server computer comprising at least one processor, the at least one server computer programmed and/or configured to:

generate a master meeting group based on input received from a master organizer, the input identifying a topic and at least one master meeting group parameter;

generate a plurality of tickets based on input received from the master organizer of the master meeting group, the input identifying a local organizer for each ticket of the plurality of tickets;

transmit the plurality of tickets to each of the local organizers;

authorize a plurality of local organizers based at least partially on a ticket for each local organizer; and

generate a plurality of meeting subgroups associated with the master meeting group based at least partially on the at least one meeting parameter, wherein each meeting subgroup is associated with at least one local organizer and is generated based at least partially on input received from the at least one local organizer.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the master meeting group is generated by creating a template including a plurality of master meeting group parameters, and wherein the plurality of meeting subgroups are generated at least partially based on the template such that an associated local organizer can customize at least a portion of the parameters but cannot customize the topic or the at least one master meeting parameter.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of authentication tickets comprises a unique token that uniquely identifies a local organizer.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of authentication tickets comprises a hyperlink including the unique token.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one master meeting parameter comprises a group name, and wherein each meeting subgroup of the plurality of meeting subgroups has a unique name that is based at least partially on the group name.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein each meeting subgroup is associated with a plurality of in-person events hosted within a geographic region.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein each authentication ticket identifies the geographic region.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one server computer is further programmed or configured to generate a user interface on at least one mobile device of a member of a meeting subgroup, the user interface comprising an attendance tool programmed or configured to input attendance information for an event associated with the meeting subgroup.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the attendance tool comprises a list of members of the meeting subgroup and a plurality of selectable options associated with each member in the list of members that, when selected, indicate that a particular member attended the event.

19. A computer program product for facilitating supervisory control of localized subgroups of a master group, comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

generate a master meeting group based on input received from a master organizer, the input identifying a topic and at least one master meeting group parameter;

generate a plurality of tickets based on input received from the master organizer of the master meeting group, the input identifying a local organizer for each ticket of the plurality of tickets;

transmit the plurality of tickets to each of the local organizers;

authorize a plurality of local organizers based at least partially on a ticket for each local organizer; and

generate a plurality of meeting subgroups associated with the master meeting group based at least partially on the at least one meeting parameter, wherein each meeting subgroup is associated with at least one local organizer and is generated based at least partially on input received from the at least one local organizer.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one master meeting parameter comprises a group name string, and wherein each meeting subgroup of the plurality of meeting subgroups has a unique name string that is based at least partially on the group name string or includes at least a portion of the group name string.