Storage, management and distribution of consumer information

• US 8,260,806 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 09/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CXT Systems, Inc. (Quest Patent Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Grdn Net Solutions LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Stan, Steele, Nick, Bradnan, Andrew, Maranville, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US11/824,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20080010298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,894 Days
• Field of Search: 707/9, 707/10, 707/102, 707/705, 707/769, 707/770, 707/781, 707/784, 707/785, 707/754, 707/755, 707/779, 707/764, 707/758, 707/766, 707/783, 707/787, 709/201, 709/203, 715/225, 715/224, 715/780, 715/700, 715/741, 715/507, 705/30, 705/35, 705/36.R, 705/42, 705/44, 705/64, 705/67, 705/68, 705/69, 705/70, 705/50, 705/1.1, 705/14.17, 705/14.18, 711/118, 711/119, 711/120, 711/121, 711/122, 711/123, 711/124, 711/125, 711/126
• US Class Current: 707/770
• 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. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for storing, managing, and distributing consumer information via a distributed electronic network, by causing a computing device to perform operations comprising:

determining one or more consumer information elements for fields of a web page, the one or more consumer information elements associated with an information account and in a data storage 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;

causing a browser to display 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 a client-side application having at least a temporary portion;

executing at a network device an application configured to manage a request/response process for the network device;

transmitting over the distributed electronic network from the network device a request for the determined one or more 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;

receiving at the network device the one or more consumer information elements filtered from the information account; and

autopopulating the filtered one or more consumer information elements into corresponding fields.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein said computer executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising causing the client-side application to receive the one or more consumer information elements and integrate the one or more consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein said computer-executable instructions which cause the computing device to integrate the one or more consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process further comprise computer-executable instructions which cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

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

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

allowing the consumer to edit at least one of the auto-populated 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 consumer information element has been edited; and

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

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

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 information element to the information account for storage.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising causing a vendor server to execute a server-side application for interacting with the central data repository.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising causing the server-side application to receive the one or more consumer information elements from the central data repository and to integrate the one or more consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein said computer-executable instructions which cause the computing device to integrate the one or more consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process further comprise computer-executable instructions which cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

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

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

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

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

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

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

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

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.

11. A method for storing, managing, and distributing consumer information via a distributed electronic network comprising:

determining one or more consumer information elements required by input fields of a web page file displayed on a network device, the one or more consumer information elements being stored in 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;

causing a browser to display 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 a client-side application having at least a temporary portion;

transmitting over the distributed electronic network from the network device a request for the determined one or more 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;

prior to transmitting the request from the network device for the determined one or more consumer information elements, receiving and executing at the network device the client-side application configured to manage the request/response process for the network device;

receiving at the network device in response to the request data including the one or more consumer information elements retrieved from the information account by filtering data from the information account and transmitted over the distributed electronic network to the network device;

filtering the one or more consumer information elements from the data including the one or more consumer information elements; and

autopopulating the filtered one or more consumer information elements into corresponding input fields of the web page file displayed on the network device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising causing the client-side application to receive the one or more consumer information elements and integrate the one or more consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein integrating the one or more consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process further comprises allowing the consumer to interact with the browser in order to submit the web page file that has been auto-populated with the one or more consumer information elements to the vendor server for processing of the one or more consumer information elements.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

allowing the consumer to edit at least one of the auto-populated 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 consumer information element has been edited; and

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

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

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 information element to the information account for storage.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising causing a vendor server to execute a server-side application for interacting with a database management system that manages the central data repository.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising causing the server-side application to receive the one or more consumer information elements from the central data repository and to integrate the one or more consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein integrating the one or more consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process further comprises:

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

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

19. A system for storing, managing, and distributing consumer information via a distributed electronic network comprising at least one processor programmed to execute a method comprising:

determining one or more consumer information elements required by input fields of a web page file displayed on a network device, the one or more consumer information elements being stored in 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;

causing a browser to display 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 a client-side application having at least a temporary portion;

transmitting over the distributed electronic network from the network device a request for the determined one or more 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;

prior to transmitting the request from the network device for the determined one or more consumer information elements, receive and execute at the network device the client-side application configured to manage the request/response process for the network device;

receiving at the network device in response to the request data including the one or more consumer information elements retrieved from the information account by filtering data from the information account and transmitted over the distributed electronic network to the network device;

filtering the one or more consumer information elements from the data including the one or more consumer information elements; and

autopopulating the filtered one or more consumer information elements into corresponding input fields of the web page file displayed on the network device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to cause the client-side application to receive the one or more consumer information elements and integrate the one or more consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the processor is further programmed to integrate the one or more consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process by allowing the consumer to interact with the browser in order to submit the web page file that has been auto-populated with the one or more consumer information elements to the vendor server for processing of the one or more consumer information elements.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

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

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

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

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

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

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

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

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to cause a vendor server to execute a server-side application for interacting with a database management system that manages the central data repository.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the processor is further programmed to cause the server-side application to receive the one or more consumer information elements from the central data repository and to integrate the one or more consumer information elements into a vendor'"'"'s business process on behalf of the consumer.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

integrate the one or more consumer information elements into the vendor'"'"'s business process by;

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

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

27. A method performed by a computing device having a processor and memory, comprising:

determining by the processor one or more user information elements for fields of a web page, the one or more user information elements associated with an information account and in a data storage accessible via the distributed electronic network, the information account comprising a plurality of user information elements associated with a user and being subject to the user'"'"'s control and management;

causing a browser to display 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 a client-side application having at least a temporary portion;

executing at the network device an application configured to manage a request/response process for the network device;

transmitting over the distributed electronic network from the network device a request for the determined one or more user information elements the request including user authentication information and being made by the network device responsive to an input command supplied by the user;

receiving at the network device the one or more user information elements filtered from the information account; and

autopopulating the filtered one or more user information elements into corresponding fields.