Storage, management and distribution of consumer information

• US 20080010298A1
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Published: 01/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CXT Systems, Inc. (Quest Patent Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Guardian Networks, LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bradnan, Andrew, Hawkins, Stan, Steele, Nick, Maranville, Joe
• Granted Patent: US 8,260,806 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/010
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/966 Distributed
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

Consumers may centrally store, manage and distribute information using an information account stored in a central data repository. The information account is accessible from any client device, without the need to permanently store or install proprietary software thereon. The information account comprises a plurality of consumer information elements stored in a tagged data format. A host server hosts a database management system for accessing the information account. A client-side application may manage communications with host server. Alternatively, the client device may interact with a vendor server that executes a server-side application for managing communications with the host server. In response to a request from the consumer, the host server may filter selected consumer information elements from the information account and transmit the filtered consumer information elements to the client-side or server-side application. The filtered consumer information elements may then be automatically integrated into a vendor business process on behalf of the consumer, if desired.

Claims

1-23. -23. (canceled)

24. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for storing, managing and distributing consumer information via a distributed electronic network, by causing one or more processors to perform the steps of:

storing an information account in a central data repository accessible via the distributed electronic network, the information account comprising a plurality of consumer information elements associated with a consumer and being subject to the consumer'"'"'s control and management;

receiving, with a database management system, a request over the distributed electronic network from a network device for one or more selected consumer information elements, the request including consumer authentication information and being made by the network device responsive to an input command supplied by the consumer;

in response to the request, authenticating the consumer based on the authentication information, retrieving the selected consumer information elements from the information account by filtering data from the information account with the database management system, and transmitting the selected consumer information elements, over the distributed electronic network, to the network device; and

autopopulating the selected consumer information elements into at least one input field of a web page file.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the network device comprises a client device executing a browser, and wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of, prior to receiving the request from the network device for the selected consumer information elements, transmitting to the network device a temporary client-side application configured to manage the request/response process for the network device.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of causing the browser displays a web page file that has been retrieved from a vendor server, the web page file including an instruction that causes the browser to request transmission of the client-side application.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of causing the client-side application to receive the selected consumer information elements and integrate the selected consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein said computer-executable instructions which cause the one or more processors to perform the step of integrating the selected consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process further comprise computer-executable instructions which cause the one or more processors to perform the step of:

allowing the consumer to interact with the browser in order to submit the web page file that has been auto-populated with the selected consumer information elements to the vendor server for processing of the selected consumer information elements.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

allowing the consumer to edit at least one of the auto-populated selected consumer information elements before submitting the web-page file to the vendor server;

causing the client-side application to detect that the at least one auto-populated selected consumer information elements has been edited; and

causing the client-side application to transmit the at least one edited auto-populated selected consumer information elements to the information account for updating of the information account.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

allowing the consumer to input at least one additional consumer information element before submitting the web page file to the vendor server;

causing the client-side application to detect that the at least one additional consumer information element has been input; and

causing the client-side application to transmit the at least one additional consumer in formation element to the information account for storage.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the network device comprises a vendor server interacting with a client device, and wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of causing the vendor server to execute a server-side application for interacting with a database management system that manages the central data repository.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of causing the server-side application to receive the selected consumer information elements from the database management system and to integrate the selected consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said computer-executable instructions which cause the one or more processors to perform the step of integrating the selected consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process further comprise computer-executable instructions which cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

transmitting the auto-populated web page file to the browser for display to the consumer; and

in response to a submit command received from the browser, passing the selected consumer information elements to a processing module executed by the vendor server.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

allowing the consumer to edit at least one of the auto-populated selected consumer information elements before issuing the submit command;

causing the server-side application to detect that the at least one auto-populated selected consumer information elements has been edited; and

causing the server-side application to transmit the at least one edited auto-populated selected consumer information elements to the information account for updating of the information account.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

allowing the consumer to input at least one additional consumer information element before issuing the submit command;

causing the server-side application to detect that the at least one additional consumer information element has been input; and

causing the server-side application to transmit the at least one additional consumer information element to the information account for storage.

36. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of:

hosting a web page file accessible via the distributed electronic network by a client device executing a browser, the web page file prompting a consumer to input selected consumer information elements; and

executing a server-side application configured for communication with a host server that hosts a central data repository, the server-side application operable to;

determine the selected consumer information elements that are to be input into the web page file by the consumer,

transmit a request to the host server for retrieval of the selected consumer information elements from an information account associated with the consumer, and

in response to receiving the selected consumer information elements from the host server, passing the selected consumer information elements to a processing module for processing.

37-78. -78. (canceled)

79. In or for a system for storing, managing and distributing consumer information via a network, a propagated signal carrying thereon a tagged data stream representing consumer information elements that have been filtered from an information account by a database management system, stored in a central data repository, in response to a request for the consumer information elements from a client device, the client device executing a browser accessing a web page that prompts for input of the consumer information elements, the consumer elements being autopopulated into at least one input field of a web page.

80. In or for a system for storing, managing and distributing consumer information, a propagated signal carrying thereon a data structure comprising:

a client-side application configured for managing communications between a client device and a database management system, the database management system being stored on a host server that filters and accesses an information account comprising consumer information elements associated with a consumer stored in a central data repository, the client-side application autopopulating selected consumer information elements into at least one input field of a web page file.

81. The propagated signal of claim 80, wherein the client device executes a browser for accessing the web page file that prompts for input of selected consumer information elements;

and

wherein the client-side application requests the selected consumer information elements from the database management system, which accesses and filters the information account to retrieve the selected consumer information elements and returns the selected consumer information elements to the client-side application.

82. The propagated signal of claim 81, wherein the client-side application submits consumer authentication information along with the request for the selected consumer information elements;

and

wherein prior to retrieving the selected consumer information elements from the information account, the database management system authenticates the consumer based on the authentication information.

83. The propagated signal of claim 82, wherein in response to authenticating the consumer, a single sign-on mechanism is invoked so that the consumer will not be required to resubmit the consumer authentication information upon accessing a subsequent web page file prior to expiration of a time-out period.

84-95. -95. (canceled)