Abstract:
A pet or human care management system and method are provided. In one embodiment, the system includes a portable electronic device carried by a care service provider to scan a care customer bar code at the location of a care visit to indicate the start and/or end of the care visit. The portable electronic device also includes a GPS component and transmits its location at a plurality of times during the care visit, such as to indicate the path of a scheduled walk. A website is employed to administrate the care management system, including scheduling walks, licensing care providers, and creating customer and care provider accounts.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/427,779, filed Dec. 28, 2010, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to a pet and people care management system. Although the disclosure below is set forth in the context of pets, the care of people, including but not limited to the elderly or infirm, is also within the scope of the invention. More particularly, the invention relates to pet care providers who require access to the homes of individual clients to service and care for the clients&#39; pets. It has particular application to pet services such as walking a client&#39;s pet dog during times when the client requests such services. Hereinafter, when mention is made of walking, it will be understood that this invention could relate generally to any service provided by a pet care company. Further, when reference is made to walking a dog, it will be understood that this invention could relate to walking any pet that a client desires. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    When a client signs up with a pet care company or specifically a dog walking service, the client must blindly trust that the pet care company will perform the services agreed upon. Therefore, there is a need to give the client the ability to check and make sure that the pet care company is providing the services that they promise. 
         [0004]    Typically pet care providers come to an agreement with a client to arrive at a client&#39;s home at a specified time to walk the client&#39;s pet for a predetermined period of time or distance. Previously, there had been no way for a client to verify that the pet care provider was indeed arriving at the agreed upon time and walking the client&#39;s pet animal the contracted time or distance. 
         [0005]    Therefore, it is an objective of the invention to give the client the ability to review exactly what time a pet care provider arrived and departed from the client&#39;s home, as well as viewing the length and path of the walk. Another important aspect of the invention is to create a mobile system utilizing smart phones to allow a pet care provider to scan in and scan out when visiting a client&#39;s home. This allows the pet care company and client to have real-time status updates to ensure that the client&#39;s pet is being taken care of. 
         [0006]    Further, it is another object of the invention to simplify the process of scheduling a service appointment by allowing for online scheduling of the appointment. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In one aspect of the present invention, a pet and human care management system is provided. The system includes a portable electronic device including a microprocessor, a memory, a geographic location sensing mechanism, and a code input mechanism. A typical example of a portable electronic device suitable for purposes of the invention is a smartphone, but the device may also take the form of a pocket PC, tablet, PDA, for example. The microprocessor is programmed with instructions to input and store data logging the details of a care visit, especially a care visit that involves travel during the visit, such as a dog walking appointment or an appointment to accompany an elderly or disabled person in a shopping trip, for example. The programming includes an instruction to receive a customer code input by a user to identify a care customer. Preferably, the code is input automatically by using the portable device to scan a bar code or other image or object located at the site of the care customer, which may typically be the care customer&#39;s home. If scanning (or other form of automatic code entry) fails for any reason, the system preferably includes a database of customer names which a care provider can access remotely via the portable electronic device and select the appropriate customer from a list to check in, in lieu of scanning. Additionally or alternatively, an alphanumeric or similar written code may also be present at the care visit site as a backup, which may be entered manually into the portable device by the care provider. Once the code is scanned or otherwise entered, the portable device preferably automatically transmits the code to a server via a system website for verification. The programming also includes an instruction to receive input from the user to mark the start of a care visit to the care customer. This may consist simply of scanning/entering the customer code itself and the server confirming the code, or it may entail receiving a separate input from the caregiver such as the push of a button or entering of a separate code. The microprocessor is also programmed to cause to be stored the time at which the visit start input is received. This may be done by recording and storing the time locally if the device includes a clock, by immediately transmitting a visit start message to the server which includes a clock. More preferably, the time is logged both locally by the portable device and remotely by the server, so that in case the portable device does not have a signal when the start input is entered, the correct start time may still be stored and transmitted to the server later. The microprocessor is also programmed to cause to be stored the sensed geographic location of the portable device at a plurality of times during the care visit. These time-sequenced geographic data points may then be constructed into the path of the walk, shopping trip, or other ambulatory service provided by the caregiver during the care visit, again either locally by the portable device, remotely by the server, or both. Finally, the microprocessor is programmed to receive input from the user to mark the end of the care visit. Like the visit start input, the visit end input may also be the scanning/input of the customer code itself, some other input, or both. The time at which the visit end input is received is stored in a similar manner to the start time. 
         [0008]    In one embodiment, the system includes a portable device that may be carried by the care customer. For example, when the care customer is a pet, this may be an electronic device attached to a collar worn by the pet. The pet-carried device may be programmed to be used in addition to or instead of a caregiver-carried device for any of the portable device functions, especially the location-logging function, as one of the pet owner&#39;s concerns will be whether the pet itself has actually walked the recorded route. 
         [0009]    In another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing managed care to a pet or human customer is provided. The method includes providing a portable electronic device substantially as described above, scanning/entering the customer code at the care visit site, inputting care visit start data, transporting the device while providing an ambulatory service to the care customer so that the device records the path traveled, and inputting care visit end data. 
         [0010]    In another aspect of the present invention, a pet and human care management system comprises a server and website programmed/constructed to facilitate the administration of care visits where the above-described portable devices are used. The server includes a microprocessor, a memory, and means for receiving data input. The system also includes a display that is either part of the server or configured to display information received from the server either directly or indirectly, such as the computer monitor of a customer or pet care company employee who logs into the website. The memory stores codes identifying care customers, and the microprocessor is programmed with instructions to input a received care customer code and compare the received care customer code to the stored care customer code. If the received care customer code equals the stored care customer code, the microprocessor is programmed to store a care visit start time, input a received care visit end message, store a care visit end time, input received data indicating the geographic location of a portable electronic device at a plurality of times between the care visit start time and the care visit end time, and display on the display the care visit start time, care visit end time, and input geographic locations of the portable electronic device. The microprocessor may be further programmed to automatically email a care customer a notification of the visit. A summary of the visit, including the start time, end time, and path traveled, may be either made available on website  70  for the customer to view or included in or attached to the email itself. 
         [0011]    A method of administrating a care visit to a pet or human customer is also provided. The method includes providing a system including the above described server, causing the server to receive data from a portable device carried along the path of a care visit, and causing to be displayed on a display the start time, path, and end time of the care visit. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    It shall be understood that the drawings briefly described as follows are intended only to aid in illustrating certain embodiments of the invention, and the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  represents a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a pet care management system according to the present invention, illustrating how various entities and devices relate to one another through use of the system. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  represents a diagram of the home check-in system as applied to a licensor administrator. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  represents a diagram of the home check-in system as applied to a licensee administrator. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  represents a diagram of the home check-in system as applied to a licensee employee. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  represents a diagram of the home check-in system as applied to a licensee care provider. 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  represents a diagram of the home check-in system as applied to a customer. 
       
    
    
       [0019]    Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals indicate like elements throughout, there is shown in  FIGS. 1-6 , a preferred embodiment of a home check-in system in accordance with the present invention. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0020]    A pet care management system  10  is a complete software and mobile application system for arranging, scheduling, and verifying pet care service visits. In the example illustrated herein, system  10  is configured for use between a licensor administrator  20  of a software owner company  5 ; a licensee administrator  30 , a licensee employee  40 , and a licensee care provider  50  of a pet care company  15 ; and a customer  60 , the home of customer  60  also being indicated by the reference numeral  60 . However, the illustrated network of entities is intended merely as a non-limiting example of a particular embodiment facilitating what the inventor considers to be a typical pet care business model. Accordingly, it will be understood that the present invention does not require the participation of licensor administrator  20 , licensee administrator  30 , licensee employee  40  and licensee care provider  50  as separate entities; rather, these roles may be filled by as few as one entity, or even one person, without departing from the scope of the invention. Of course, in the case that software company  5  and pet care company  15  are the same entity or person, licensing the software of system  10  to pet care company  15  is not necessary, and the designations “licensor” and “licensee” referred to herein may be ignored, as well as any description of company  5  licensing any part of system  10  to company  15  or overseeing the use of system  10  by company  15 . 
         [0021]    Turning now to  FIG. 1 , system  10  uses an online website  70  to allow for pet care companies  15  to request a license from a company  5 . Website  70  also allows for online scheduling of service appointments and customer billing of services. It will be understood that wherever the term “website” is used herein, whether indicating “website  70 ” or otherwise, it may refer to a single website or as many plural websites as may be desired for the described purpose. 
         [0022]    System  10  also uses smartphones  25  with a customized mobile application that works on a variety of smartphone platforms. As depicted in  FIG. 1 , this mobile application allows a licensee care provider  50  to check in and out of customer home  60  using a photographic scanner, laser scanner, or other suitable bar code input device on smartphone  25  and a barcode  80  placed inside customer home  60 . It will be understood that any suitable code input mechanism and corresponding code format are also within the scope of the invention, including but not limited to an RFID reader and emitter; a manual keypad and a printed code; and a magnetic strip reader and a magnetic strip; to name but a few possible pairings. In the situation where the walking of a pet is requested, an internal GPS (or other suitable location sensing mechanism, such as one that triangulates the position of smartphone  25  using cellular towers as opposed to GPS satellites) of smartphone  25  is used to track the time, distance and path that a care provider  50  has taken a pet during their walk. Alternatively or in addition to using smartphone  25  to track the details of the walk, a separate location sensing device  90 , worn or carried by a pet P to be walked as shown in  FIG. 1 , may record the walk data, as an added safeguard against care provider  50  staging a fake walk without actually taking pet P, for example. Simultaneously using separate location sensing devices carried by care provider  50  and pet P may have the added benefit of confirming whether care provider  50  has remained with pet P during the walk as opposed to, for example, leaving pet P unattended for a significant amount of time while shopping in a store. As desired, device  90  may transmit the walk data to website  70 , as the data is generated in real time or at the end of the walk, or it may simply store the data for later retrieval or viewing by customer  60 . 
         [0023]    Licensor administrator  20  is defined as an employee for company  5 , which owns the software of system  10  and licenses the software out to individual pet care companies  15 . Licensor administrator  20  has rights over website  70  of system  10  and end users who are registered with website  70 . The use of system  10  by licensor administrator  20  is illustrated as a flowchart in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0024]    Licensee administrator  30  is defined as the owner or senior manager of a pet care company  15  who has licensed system  10 . Licensee administrator  30  has administrative rights to schedule pet care services, manage customers  60 , maintain accounts of licensee care provider  50 , utilize the licensor billing system for their customers and manage company  15  on system  10 . The use of system  10  by licensee administrator  30  is illustrated as a flowchart in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0025]    Licensee employee  40  is defined as an employee for pet care company  15 . Licensee employee  40  has administrative rights to schedule walks, manage customers  60  and accounts of licensee care provider  50 , and manage company  15  on system  10 . Licensee employee  40  can add additional licensee care providers  50  and customers  60  but cannot add other licensee administrators  30 . The use of system  10  by licensee employee  40  is illustrated as a flowchart in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0026]    Licensee care provider  50  is defined as a care provider or walker for a pet care company  15 . Care provider  50  has access to specific rights related to pet care services and the mobile application. Care provider  50  also has access to an online calendar which displays their assigned customer walks. This calendar display can show either a daily, weekly or monthly overview of their scheduled appointments. The use of system  10  by licensee care provider  50  is illustrated as a flowchart in  FIG. 5 . 
         [0027]    Customer  60  is defined as any customer for pet care company  15 . Customer  60  has access to a particular webpage within website  70  of system  10  that is dedicated only to their pet care company  15 . Customer  60  has the ability to access this pet care company&#39;s webpage to verify certain information provided to customer  60  once they log on. On this webpage, customer  60  can see information pertaining to customer  60 , including, for example, a calendar displaying all of their scheduled pet care appointments, their address, phone number, and/or their pet information. Customer  60  can use the system to make scheduling requests for the service of their choice. The calendar can display either a daily, weekly or monthly overview. The use of system  10  by customer  60  is illustrated as a flowchart in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0028]    Licensee administrator  30  and licensee employee  40  are typically the senior decision makers within pet care company  15 . They are typically tasked with the authority to manage dog walking operations and scheduling customers  60  online. Within system  10 , licensee administrators  30  and licensee employees  40  will typically see the same webpage screens and have most of the same user permissions when they log on. However, only licensee administrator  30  has the authority to add, edit or archive licensee employees  40  and view or edit company account information. 
         [0029]    Administrator  30  or employee  40  can also add or edit a care provider  50  or customer  60 . They also have the ability to view schedules of all licensee care providers  50  and can run various reports containing details of each scheduled pet care appointment. System  10  also gives these users the ability to manage account settings. However, only licensee administrator  30  is given this user privilege. Licensee administrator  30  alone has the authority to manage their business account within system  10 . From the main control panel, administrator  30  can click an “Account Management” link which will allow them to do the following, for example: add or change their company logo, add or edit company contact information and hours of operation, change password information, view monthly billing statements from company  5 , edit customer payment information, edit pet walk length, set up alerts for missed appointments, or order additional equipment. 
         [0030]    In the illustrated embodiment, in order to use system  10 , a pet care company  15  must first contact company  5  for a license to use system  10 . This can be accomplished through website  70  of company  5  which has a specific page dedicated to allowing a pet care company  15  to apply for a license. Licensor administrator  20  is in charge of accepting or denying a licensee request and setting up a new licensee account. 
         [0031]    A licensee request form asks a pet care company to leave contact information and set up their billing type to be either credit based on transaction based. A credit based billing type sets up a defined quantity of pet care service appointments up front and allows the licensee the option to obtain bulk discounts. A transaction based billing type will bill licensee  15  and customer  60  every week and clients are billed based on actual walks completed. There is also the option to include additional services such as walking a second pet, feeding the pet, watering plants, house sitting, transportation of pets, giving pets medication and working during off hours such as weekends and holidays. 
         [0032]    Whether licensor administrator  20  accepts or rejects a request for license, an account is regardless set up for potential customer  15  and a custom URL website is created on website  70  of system  10 . However, whether licensor administrator  20  actually accepts or rejects a request will determine whether the URL and account are marked active or inactive respectively. If administrator  20  rejects the request for license, then the account will be held inactive indefinitely until it is changed to an active state. Administrator  20  has the authority to edit the status of the account along with several other fields. The only field that administrator  20  cannot edit on an account is the transaction based billing type information. This is not editable and a new account must be set up to change this setting. 
         [0033]    If licensor administrator  20  accepts the license request, then pet care company  15  can begin using system and setting up appointments on system  10 . In order to schedule an appointment with a licensee care provider  50 , either licensee administrator  30  or licensee employee  40  must login with their own user identification name and password to gain access to website  70  of system  10 . After entering website  70 , licensee administrator  30  and employee  40  have the ability to schedule an appointment with a licensee care provider  50 . 
         [0034]    To schedule an appointment, the user must input the date of service, the name of licensee care provider  50  and the services desired by customer  60 . In this particular embodiment, administrator  30  or employee  40  would input the length of time or distance that customer  60  desired for their pet to be walked. Also, the date of service field will be pre-populated with the current day&#39;s date. However, this date can be altered and additional days can be added using check boxes corresponding to each day of the week. 
         [0035]    Administrator  30  or employee  40  would then assign the appointment to the desired customer  60 . If the desired customer  60  is a preexisting client, then administrator  30  or employee  40  can search for that customer  60  by name and select the appropriate customer  60  that appears in the search results. However, if customer  60  is a new client, the user is given an option to create a new customer and they can manually enter information pertaining to customer  60  on a separate screen. This information could include a full name, address, phone number, email, emergency contact information, pet information, house alarm code, preferred length of time or distance for walk, veterinary contact information, pet medical information, pet birthday, the date the customer signed up, days of service, referral information, credit card information and any additional necessary notes relating to customer  60 . 
         [0036]    If desired, administrator  30  or employee  40  could also edit or archive an existing customer  60 . Archiving an existing customer  60  is defined as deactivating an account that can later be reactivated. Editing or archiving customer  60  information is accomplished from the main control panel where a user  30 ,  40  can click on a button labeled “manage customers”. There, a user  30 ,  40  can manually edit any information about customer  60 . In order to archive or disable a customer account, a user  30 ,  40  would simply change their status from active to inactive. 
         [0037]    Licensee administrator  30  or licensee employee  40  also has the option of managing licensee care providers  50 . During the scheduling of an appointment, a user  30 ,  40  has the option to either select a preexisting care provider  50  or creating a new care provider  50  for the particular appointment. If a new care provider  50  is desired, the user can input information such as the care provider&#39;s full name, hiring date, date of birth, photograph, biography, work username, home address, phone number, email address, type of transportation, license plate number, emergency contact information, and any additional necessary notes. Further, this information can be edited at any time by administrator  30  or employee  40 . 
         [0038]    Once this information is input, administrator  30  or employee  40  clicks a button on the computer screen labeled “Save” to save the appointment. This automatically saves the appointment to the calendars of both care provider  50  and customer  60 . An alert email can also be automatically sent to both care provider  50  and customer  60  detailing the scheduled appointment and particular details about the job. For care provider  50 , they will be sent details about the name of customer  60 , pet&#39;s name, address, walk time, walk length or any special notes concerning this account. For customer  60 , they will be sent details about the name of care provider  50 , walk start time, and generic cancellation information and contact phone number should they need to cancel the appointment. 
         [0039]    Once an appointment has been scheduled, the designated licensee care provider  50  can log into their computer or portable device/smartphone  25  to view their calendar work week online. This information includes items such as a daily and weekly calendar views, walks presently scheduled with details such as customer name and address, pet name, walk start time, walk window or walk distance, and walks previously completed with information such as customer name and address, pet name, length of scheduled walk, length of actual recorded walk, link to recorded Global Positioning System (“GPS”) path, and any additional notes. 
         [0040]    Once the time for a scheduled appointment arrives, care provider  50  goes to the home of customer  60 . In one embodiment, in order for a customer  60  to use system  10 , they must use a proprietary system which uses barcode technology, mobile devices  25  and an online scheduling tool. When a customer  60  signs up to use system  10 , a unique barcode  80  will be created and printed for the residence of customer  60 . Barcode  80  will contain a unique identification code and will be printed on magnet strips or a sticker, for example, so that they can be placed on a refrigerator R or other convenient location that can be easily accessed by a care provider  50 . 
         [0041]    Once care provider  50  enters the home of customer  60 , they check in using their smartphone  25  which has been equipped with a barcode scanner. This barcode scanner may either be integral to smartphone  25 , as in a mobile scanning application that is loaded on smartphone  25 , using a camera component of smartphone  25  to capture and scan an image of barcode  80  as depicted in  FIG. 1 , or the scanning equipment may be an external attachment. Care provider  50  opens a mobile application program on their phone which is part of system  10 . The mobile application will request that the user login with a username and password. The login information is sent to website  70  of system  10  and checks user credentials in the database as well as user rights. If the user is recognized, the mobile application will allow the user access. While in the application, the user will never be logged out of the program. In other words, the user login will never time out. 
         [0042]    Once in the mobile application program, care provider  50  locates and scans barcode  80  located inside the home of customer  60 . As depicted in  FIG. 1 , one suitable type of scanning mechanism for this purpose is a mobile smartphone application of the type that uses a photographic image of bar code  80  captured by a camera device of smartphone  25 . If there is no mobile signal at the time of the scan, the mobile application will recognize this and a message will appear asking the care provider if they wish to store the scan to be resubmitted when mobile signal is restored. Once mobile signal is restored, the care provider will receive a message to resubmit the scan where it is treated as a successful scan and recognizes the scan at its original scan time rather than when the stored scan was resubmitted. If care provider  50  cannot find a barcode or if barcode  80  is damaged, care provider  50  can use the mobile application to look up and choose the appropriate customer in order to check in, which would replace the need to scan barcode  80 . Alternatively, an alphanumeric code corresponding to customer  60  may be present at the home of customer  60  as a backup for care provider  50  to enter manually into smartphone  25 . 
         [0043]    However, if care provider  50  is able to successfully locate barcode  80  and the scan is successful, the name of customer  60  will display on the screen of smartphone  25 . A prompt will appear and ask care provider  50  to verify that customer  60  name displayed is correct customer  60 . If the scan is not successful, an error message will display on the screen of smartphone  25  stating the number of attempts made and further requesting that the user please try again or look up customer  60 . 
         [0044]    However if the scan is successful and the correct customer  60  is shown, then care provider  50  selects “Yes” to the on-screen prompt. At this point, information such as account information of customer  60 , identification of care provider  50  and scan date and scan time is preferably sent to website  70  of system  10  to check the database of system  10  for proper verification. If care provider  50  selects “No” because the wrong customer  60  account information is shown, then a message will display on the screen of smartphone  25  requesting that the user attempt to rescan barcode  80  or contact an administrator  30  for assistance. 
         [0045]    If this information is verified, then further information such as the status of the walk and the start time and date are posted on the calendar for this particular appointment. An email is also sent to customer  60  to let them know that the walk has started. However, if the database cannot verify the information such as in a circumstance where a customer  60  requested a last minute service appointment and the appointment was not entered into system  10 , then the mobile application will display a message that the current walk is unscheduled and ask the care provider  50  to verify that this is correct. If care provider  50  verifies this, then system  10  will alert either license administrator  30  or employee  40  or both that an unscheduled walk is occurring with the name of customer  60 , the name of care provider  50 , date and time recorded. The mobile application will also continue to make a record of the unscheduled walk with information similar to a scheduled walk. 
         [0046]    Whether the walk is scheduled or unscheduled, once the walk begins, smartphone  25  will preferably begin sending GPS coordinates in real time at regular intervals to the database of system  10  for mapping and tracking purposes. The display on smartphone  25  of care provider  50  will show information such as a running time, a radio button to show the calendar of work of care provider  50 , and a radio button which care provider  50  can activate to show that the service appointment is completed. 
         [0047]    Once care provider  50  has finished with their service appointment, they re-enter customer home  60  and activate the radio button which signals that the service appointment is complete. For example this radio button can be labeled “End Service Appointment” or “End Walk”. Preferably, once this button is clicked, the scanner of smartphone  25  is again activated and care provider  50  scans the bar code at customer home  60 . If the scan is successful, information such as, for example, the name of customer  60 , a visual map of the geographic coordinates of the walk, total time and distance walked will appear on the screen of smartphone  25 . If there is no mobile signal at the time of the scan, the mobile application will recognize this and a message will appear asking the care provider if they wish to store the scan to be resubmitted when mobile signal is restored. Once mobile signal is restored, the care provider will receive a message to resubmit the scan where it is treated as a successful scan and recognizes the scan at its original scan time rather than when the stored scan was resubmitted. A text field is also available on the screen to allow care provider  50  to enter any notes about the walk. 
         [0048]    A button will also appear after a successful scan which allows the user to submit their completed service appointment. Clicking on this button sends user information back to the database of system  10  for verification. If system  10  verifies the information, the status of the service appointment or walk is posted to the calendar including an update to the status stating that the appointment is complete, and sending the date and start and end time of the service appointment. An email is also sent to customer  60  to let them know that the walk has ended. At that time, smartphone  25  also stops sending GPS coordinates to system  10  and a final map displaying the walk path is displayed on website  70  of system  10  for the specific customer  60  to review. 
         [0049]    While the invention has been described with respect to certain embodiments, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, it is to be understood that the invention is capable of numerous changes, modifications and rearrangements, and such changes, modifications and rearrangements are intended to be covered by the following claims.