System and method for data management

• US 7,822,816 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2003
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MacroSolve Incorporated (COMSovereign Holding Corp.)
• Original Assignee: MacroSolve Incorporated (COMSovereign Holding Corp.)
• Inventors: Payne, J. David
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh; Khanh Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Nghi V
• Application Number:
  US10/643,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20040034684A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,625 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/06 of the multiple-choice answer-type, i.e. where a given question is provided with a series of answers and a choice has to be made from the answers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A method for the management of data collected from a remote computing device including the steps of: creating a questionnaire; transmitting the questionnaire to a remote computer; executing the questionnaire in the remote computer to prompt a user for responses to questions of the questionnaire; transmitting the responses to a sever via a network; making the responses available on the Web. Preferably, computers used in connection with the inventive method are loosely networked in that network connections between computers are not always available and, when a connection is not available, data is stored at a node of the network and transmitted at the earliest time when a connection is available. In one preferred embodiment, the inventive method is used to collect survey data and to make the responses to the survey available to a client in virtually real time over the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for managing data including the steps of:

(a) creating a questionnaire comprising a series of questions;

(b) tokenizing said questionnaire;

thereby producing a plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire;

(c) establishing a first wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection with a remote computing device;

(d) transmitting said plurality of tokens to a remote computing device via said first wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection;

(e) terminating said first wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection with said remote computing device;

(f) after said first wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection is terminated, executing at least a portion of said plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire at said remote computing device to collect a response from a user;

(g) establishing a second wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection between said remote computing device and a server;

(h) after said second wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection is established, transmitting at least a portion of said response from the user to said server via said second wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection; and

(i) storing said transmitted response at said server.

2. The method for managing data of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(j) translating said response to a format recognizable by a particular computer program; and

(k) accessing the translated response from a computer executing said particular computer program.

3. The method for managing data of claim 1 wherein step (a) includes the substeps of:

(a) creating a questionnaire by;

(i) entering a series of questions into a questionnaire design computer program;

(ii) identifying within said questionnaire design computer program the type of response allowed for each question of said series of questions; and

(iii) identifying within said questionnaire design computer program a branching path in said questionnaire for each possible response to each question of said series of questions.

4. The method for managing data of claim 1 wherein step (b) includes the substeps of:

(b) tokenizing said questionnaire thereby producing a plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire by;

(i) assigning at least one token to each question of said series of questions;

(ii) assigning at least one token to each response called for in said series of questions to identify the type of response required; and

(iii) assigning at least one token to each branch in said questionnaire to identify the required program control associated with said branch.

5. A method for modifying a questionnaire used in data management according to the method of claim 1 including the steps of:

(a) making at least one incremental change to a portion of the questionnaire;

(b) tokenizing said at least one incremental change to said questionnaire;

(c) transmitting at least a portion of said tokens resulting from step (b) to a remote loosely networked computing device, said transmitted tokens comprising less than the entire tokenized questionnaire; and

,

(d) incorporating said transmitted tokens into said questionnaire at said loosely networked remote computing device, thereby modifying said questionnaire.

6. A method for managing data according to claim 1, wherein said first wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection and said second wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection are a same wireless modem or wireless LAN network connection.

7. The method of claim 1 further including performing at least the steps (c)-(k) for at least two different remote computing device types using the same tokens.

8. A method for managing data transfers between computers including the steps of:

(a) creating a questionnaire at a first site in a first computer;

(b) tokenizing said questionnaire, thereby producing a tokenized questionnaire;

(c) bringing a remote computer into electronic communication with said first computer;

(d) transmitting said tokenized questionnaire to said remote computer;

(e) removing said remote computer from electronic communication with said first computer;

(f) within said remote computer, using said transmitted tokenized questionnaire to obtain at least one user response;

(g) storing said at least one user response within said remote computer;

(h) modifying said questionnaire with incremental changes at a second computer located at a second site;

(i) placing said remote computer into electrical communication with said second computer;

(j) transmitting said incremental changes from said second computer to said remote computer;

(k) modifying said transmitted tokenized questionnaire in said remote computer with said incremental changes, thereby creating a modified tokenized questionnaire;

(1) removing said remote computer from electronic communication with said second computer;

(m) within said remote computer, using said modified tokenized questionnaire to obtain at least one additional user response;

(n) placing said remote computer into electronic communication with a server;

(o) transmitting said at least one user response to said server;

(p) transmitting said at least one additional user response to said server;

(q) storing said transmitted at least one user response and said at least one additional user response at said server;

(r) preparing a report using any of said at least one user response and said at least one additional user response; and

,

(s) displaying at least a portion of said report on a visually perceptible medium;

(t) performing at least steps (d)-(p) using at least two different remote computing device types using the same tokens.

9. The method for managing data transfers between computers according to claim 8 wherein said first computer and said second computer are a same computer.

10. The method for managing data transfers between computers according to claim 9 wherein said server and said first computer are said same computer.

11. A method for collecting survey data from a user comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a questionnaire comprising a series of questions;

(b) tokenizing said questionnaire;

thereby producing a plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire;

(c) storing said plurality of tokens on a computer readable medium on a first computer;

(d) placing a handheld remote computing device into electronic communication with said first computer;

(e) transmitting said plurality of tokens to said handheld remote computing device;

(f) taking said handheld remote computing device out of electronic communication with said first computer;

(g) after said handheld remote computing device has been taken out of electronic communication with said first computer,

(g1) executing at least a portion of said plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire on said handheld remote computing device to collect a response from a user, and,

(g2) storing within said remote computing device said response from the user;

(h) placing said handheld remote computing device into electronic communication with a second computer;

(i) transmitting at least a portion of said response stored within said handheld remote computing device to said second computer; and

,

(j) forming a visually perceptible report from any of said at least a portion of said response so transmitted.

12. A method for collecting survey data from a user according to claim 11, wherein step (j) comprises the step of printing a report from any of said response to transmitted.

13. A method for collecting survey data from a user according to claim 11, wherein said first computer and said second computer are a same computer.

14. A method for modifying a questionnaire used in data management according to the method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

(k) making at least one incremental change to a portion of said questionnaire;

(1) tokenizing said at least one incremental change to said questionnaire;

(m) transmitting at least a portion of said tokens resulting from step (k) to said remote handheld computing device, said transmitted tokens comprising less than the entire tokenized questionnaire; and

,

(n) incorporating said transmitted tokens into said questionnaire at said remote computing device, thereby incrementally changing said questionnaire.