Abstract:
A system allows a user to reassign and/or assign territories, geographical territories for marketing and sales purposes. The system displays a geographical area that have assignable, bounded areas. The user selects an area and, by moving a finger or cursor, may add additional areas to the selected area or territory. By also using a function key at the same time, the user can limit the areas added to the territory to other larger geographically defined areas.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED CASE 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 (e) to provisional application No. 61/736,090, filed on Dec. 12, 2012, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a system and a method of aligning or assigning territories for marketing and sales purposes. Typically, the process of assigning geographic areas to territories (for sales, service, franchising, etc.) is done in one of two ways. The first is by taking the geographic area that is to be moved and moving it into the destination territory—a drag and drop method of reassignment. However, this method allows the user to move only one area at a time. It is time consuming and tedious. The second method involves identifying the destination territory and then either clicking on or highlighting the appropriate geographic areas to add to the destination area. This method requires many clicks of the mouse. 
         [0004]    Thus, the present invention allows for the reassignment or the assignment of geographical areas to a responsible person&#39;s territory with a single click of the mouse or pointer. 
         [0005]    2. Summary of the Invention 
         [0006]    The present invention is directed to a sales territory design system that includes at least one computer processor, a display coupled to the at least one computer processor, and a memory coupled to the at least one computer processor, the sales territory design system is configured for displaying on the display a geographic area, the geographic area comprising a plurality of predefined areas and the geographic area is also divisible into a plurality of sales territories, wherein each of the plurality of sales territories includes a plurality of the predefined areas, and also for adjusting a first sales territory in the plurality of sales territories to add at least one of the plurality of predefined areas in response to a user selecting the first sales territory with a pointer and then moving the pointer to another portion of the geographic area, whereby the predefined areas pointed to by the user outside the first sales territory are added to the first sales territory. 
         [0007]    In some embodiments, the predefined areas correspond to areas selected from the group of postal codes, zip codes, telephone area codes, county boundaries, municipal boundaries, and congressional boundaries. 
         [0008]    In some embodiments, the geographic area is further divided into a plurality of sub-geographic areas, each of the sub-geographic areas having at least two of the plurality of predefined areas. 
         [0009]    In some embodiments, the sub-geographic area is chosen by the user when using a function key associated with the at least one computer processor and selecting the first sales territory with the pointer. 
         [0010]    In some embodiments, when the user points to at least one predefined area that is not in one of the plurality of sales territories, a new sales territory is created with the selected at least one of the plurality of predefined areas. 
         [0011]    In yet another aspect, the present invention is directed to a sales territory design system that includes at least one computer processor, a display coupled to the at least one computer processor, and a memory coupled to the at least one computer processor, the sales territory design system is configured for displaying on the display a geographic area, the geographic area comprising a plurality of predefined areas and the geographic area is also divisible into a plurality of sales territories, wherein each of the plurality of sales territories includes a plurality of the predefined areas, and for designing a first sales territory in the plurality of sales territories in response to a user selecting at least one of the plurality of predefined areas with a pointer and moving the pointer to at least one other of the plurality of predefined areas in another portion of the geographic area, whereby the predefined areas pointed to by the user outside the at least one plurality of predefined areas and the first sales territory are added to the first sales territory. 
         [0012]    Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognized by practicing the invention as described herein, including the detailed description which follows, the claims, as well as the appended drawings. 
         [0013]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present embodiments of the invention and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  is schematic of a one embodiment of a system according to the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart showing the use of the system to assign territories; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a representation of a screen of the system illustrating the geographic area, territories, and predefined areas according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a representation of the geographic area of  FIG. 3  illustrating the transition of predefined areas from one territory to the destination territory; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a representation of the geographic area of  FIG. 3  illustrating the new territory after the selected predefined areas have been reassigned from one territory to the destination territory; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is representation of a screen of the system illustrating the geographic area, territories, and predefined areas that are yet to be assigned to territories; 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is a representation of the geographic areas of  FIG. 6  with the pointer selecting a first unassigned predefined area to assign it to a new territory according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  is a representation illustrating the newly created territory of  FIG. 6  after additional selected predefined areas have been assigned to the new destination territory; 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  is a representation of a screen of the system illustrating the geographic area, territories, and predefined areas according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  is a representation of the screen of  FIG. 9  and the use of a function key with the pointer and the selecting predefined areas within a sub-geographic area. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment(s) of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0025]      FIG. 1  is a schematic of one embodiment of a system  10  according to the present invention. As may be understood the system  10  includes a processor  12  that communicates with other elements within the system  10  via a system interface or bus system  14 . Also included in the system  10  is a display device/input device  16  for receiving and displaying data. This display device/input device  16  may be, for example, a keyboard, a touch-sensitive screen, or a pointing device that is used in combination with a monitor. The system  10  further includes memory  18 , which preferably includes both read only memory (ROM)  20  and random access memory (RAM)  22 . The system&#39;s ROM  20  is used to store appropriate systems that help to transfer information between elements within the system  10 . 
         [0026]    In addition, the system  10  includes at least one storage device  24 , such as a flash drive, a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD Rom drive, or optical disk drive for storing information on various computer-readable media, such as a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, or a CD-ROM disk. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, each of these storage devices  24  is connected to the system bus  14  by an appropriate interface. It is important to note that the computer-readable media described above could be replaced by any other type of computer-readable media known in the art. Such media include, for example, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, and Bernoulli cartridges. 
         [0027]    A number of program modules may be stored by the various storage devices and within RAM  22 . Such program modules include an operating system  30  and the territory design system  40 , as well as possible geographic programs as well. As described in more detail below, the territory design system  40  controls certain aspects of the operation of the system  10  with the assistance of the processor  12  and an operating system  30 . 
         [0028]    Also located within the system  10  is a network interface  26 , for interfacing and communicating with other elements of a computer network if so desired. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that one or more of the system  10  components may be located geographically remotely from other system  10  components. Furthermore, one or more of the components may be combined, and additional components performing functions described herein may be included in the system  10 . 
         [0029]    The operation of one embodiment of the system  10  is described in conjunction with the flowchart illustrated in  FIG. 2  and the maps in  FIGS. 3-5 . The system  10  displays on a display, such as the device/input device  16 , a geographic area  50 . A representation of the geographic are  50  is illustrated in  FIGS. 3-5 . The geographic area  50  is used design territories for assignment to sales people, account managers, account representatives, franchise territories, service territories, or for any other purpose where geographic areas are divided up and assigned. Thus, the geographic area  50  may be any geographic area, including but not limited to states, countries, territories, continents, or portions thereof. The geographic area  50  is then divided up into smaller predefined areas  52 . The predefined areas  52  can be defined by postal codes, zip codes, telephone area codes, county boundaries, municipal boundaries, and/or congressional boundaries. Territories  54  are in turn defined by the predefined areas  52  that are assigned according to one of the purposes noted above. The territories  54  are usually defined by more than one of the predefined areas  52 , but the territories  54  may also be a single predefined area  52 . Additionally, several of the predefined areas  52  illustrated in  FIG. 3  may be combined to redefine one of the predefined areas  52 . For example, several zip codes or area codes may be logically grouped together to create a predefined area  52  for the purposes of this invention. 
         [0030]    The predefined areas  52  or geographic area  50  may also be divided into other sub-geographic territories or groupings. For example, the predefined areas  52  may be grouped to make sub-geographic entities such as states, counties, municipalities, boroughs, etc., which are smaller than the geographic area  50  but at least as large as one of the predefined areas  52 . As illustrated in figures, the lighter lines  56  are used to define the predefined areas  52 , while the darker lines  58  are used to identify the boundaries of a sub-geographic region  60 , such as a state. 
         [0031]    Referring back to  FIG. 3 , a geographic area  50  (or a portion of a geographic area) is illustrated in the display. The lighter lines  56  and the darker lines  58  are visible, with the lighter lines  56  defining zip codes in the embodiment illustrated, and the darker lines  58  defining states. Territories  54  ( 7  labeled territories  54   a,    54   b,    54   c,    54   d,    54   e,    54   f,    54   g  in the figures) are illustrated in  FIGS. 3-5  by the hatching of the territories and the predefined areas  52  within those territories. 
         [0032]    A pointer  62  is used to identify a territory  54  of interest, e.g. a destination territory  54   a,  and one that needs to have the boundaries of the territory changed. The pointer  62  is illustrated as a finger icon in  FIGS. 3-5 , could be any appropriate indicia, such as an arrow, a finger as illustrated or a personalized pointer, etc. According to step S 101  in  FIG. 2 , the user moves the pointer  62  to the territory  54  of interest, such as destination territory  54   a  in  FIG. 3 . In this case, the answer to the question in step S 103  is yes (the case of the pointer  62  being in an unassigned area is discussed in detail below) since the user is intentionally pointing to an assigned territory. At step S 105 , the system  10  identifies the territory as a destination territory. The user then left clicks on the mouse (if there is one), or if on a touch-screen device (i.e., a tablet, touch screen monitor, etc.) the user simply holds their finger, stylus, etc., on the screen and moves, as illustrated at step S 107  and  FIG. 4 , the pointer  62  to the predefined areas  52  that are to be included in the destination territory  54   a.  These other predefined areas  52  may be predefined areas  52  in other territories (e.g.,  541 ) or be predefined areas  52  that are not yet assigned to a territory  54 . As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the predefined areas  52  that were in territory  54   e  have a different identity (being stippled in  FIG. 4 ) as the pointer  62  is moved over those areas and they are transitioning to territory  54   a.  In this example, a function key (the control key or some other assigned key in the system  10 ) is not being pressed at step S 109 .  FIG. 5  illustrates the effect at step S 111 , where the system  10  assigns the predefined areas  52  to the territory  54   a  and those new territories have the same indicia as territory  54   a  and not territory  54   f.  The new territory  54   a  is automatically updated and stored in the memory  18 . It should be noted that the territories are typically distinguished from one another with different colors, rather than with hatching or stippling as illustrated in the figures. However, system  10  can show the different territories in any appropriate fashion and still be within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0033]    As noted in  FIG. 2  at step S 111  and as seen in  FIGS. 3-5 , the pointer  62  may also have a predetermined radius  64  around the pointer  62  and any predefined areas  52  that are at least partially within the radius  62  as the user moves the pointer  62  will be included in the new territory, such as territory  54   a  in the above example. The radius  64  may be adjustable, depending on the user&#39;s preference and the zoom factor on the geographic area  50 . 
         [0034]    Turning now to  FIGS. 6-8  and the flowchart in  FIG. 2  at step S 103 . If the user points pointer  62  to a position on the geographic area  50  that has yet to be assigned, the predefined area or areas  52  covered by the pointer  62  and the radius  64  are assigned to a new territory  54   x  at step S 113 . See  FIG. 7 . The process returns to step S 107 , where the user moves the pointer  62  to other predefined areas  52  that are to be included in the new territory  54   x  as illustrated in  FIG. 8 . Again skipping over step  5109  for the moment, at step S 111 , the new predefined areas  52  are assigned to the new territory  54   x  and stored in the memory  18 . 
         [0035]    Returning to  FIG. 2  and step S 109 , the user can press a function key on a computer keyboard, such as the control key or other appropriate function key, which then limits the predefined areas  52  that are assigned to the destination territory  54 . On a tablet or other mobile device or a device with a touch screen, the function key may be a softkey that is displayed on the display  16  or the user may select a mode of operation prior to selecting the territory to activate this function. With reference to  FIGS. 9 and 10 , the use of the function key will be explained. If the function key is pressed (by way of the input device  16 ) or the mode is selected by the user when the pointer  62  is located in a territory (or even if the predefined areas  52  have not yet been assigned), the only predefined areas  52  within the boundaries of a sub-geographic region  60  in the which the user selected the territory can be added. As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , the user has selected the territory  54   a.  As the user moves the pointer  62  down and to the left in the figure, there is a boundary line  58   a  that the radius  64  of the pointer  62  has crossed. However, in comparing  FIGS. 9 and 10 , there are predefined areas  52  above the boundary line  58   a  and within the radius  64  that have not been assigned to territory  54   a,  but remain in territory  54   f  as a result of the function key or mode being used. 
         [0036]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.