Patent Publication Number: US-2015081450-A1

Title: System and method for social network and e-commerce supporting user goals

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     There are known social networking systems and methods such as demonstrated in Facebook, Myspace, and Google+, that allow users to connect with other users as friends, and share photos, videos, comments, likes and dislikes, opinions and experiences. There are sites such as Twitter Facebook, and Instagram that allow a user to post their current status of what they are doing, liking, and observing in life currently or previously. There are also merchant and distributor sites that allow users to purchase discounted products and travel services such as Travelocity, Expedia and Groupon. None of these systems and methods however, offer a dynamic view of users future goals and aspirations with ties to friends and merchants that can efficiently assist the user in the fulfillment of these aspirations and life goals. 
     The present invention involves creating a social network around the future goals and aspirations of individual users and efficiently supports the user in the fulfillment of their goals through efficient social networking support of their friends, family, associates and merchants that are interested and relevant in helping user fulfill their goals. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing and other advantages and features of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention given below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of the system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 2  is an illustration of an example of an input screen describing a user&#39;s goal as it is entered into the system; 
         FIG. 3  is an exemplary block diagram illustrating 3 the system search capability which may be present anywhere within the user portal experience; 
         FIG. 4  is an exemplary block diagram illustrating the interaction of users and vendors within the system associated with processing a transaction 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary environment for generating a system  100  for users to list and fulfill their goals and for vendors (or merchants) to advertise and sell products and services in support of fulfilling users goals. System  100  comprises a portal  101  that is accessed via the web or Internet (not shown). A portal or gateway for the World Wide Web site is a starting site for users when they get connected to the web. Users may access the portal from any number of devices that are internet connected such as personal computers, cell phones, and tablets. The system provides a method of registering users to the web site through the portal  101  to connect user  102  to home page  103 . The registration process requires the user to set up a login account and password and provide relevant personal information such as name, email, age or birthday, and current address. Numerous specific users connect to the site and their user home page  103 . From the home page  103 , users can navigate to their Goal List  104 . Users may manually search for friends within the system and request through the system to be friends. Once friend request is accepted the system allows user and friend to see detailed information about each other as users may specify in their profile setup such as under privacy settings. Users may import an email list from other programs such as email programs or other social networking websites and request for system to use these emails to automatically send a friend request to any system users that match and email address in the email list. The system would then automatically make all matching friend requests for the user. All of the information from system  100  is stored in database  105  which interacts directly with web pages within the site including  103  and  104 . Users also have the option to Follow a user, rather than send a Friend Request. This can be done by the user clicking on a follow link or button so the System knows that User requests information updates from this area. If a user follows another user or vendor, all public content that the followed user posts will be directed to the following user&#39;s news feed. 
     Users may add goals to their account as they wish by specifying the goal attributes including goal description, category, location, target completion date, friends they desire to be including in the goal, and vendors or merchants and their respective products that user is considering to help fulfill the goal. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates one possible embodiment of a method for users to add a goal to their profile or account.  201  illustrates how the user can set the privacy of their goal in categories such as Private, Friends (View Only), Public (View Only), Friends (Open to Join) or Public (Open to Join). If a user selects Private, only the user themselves can view that specific item on their goals list. If a user selects Friends (View Only) that item on their list is able to be seen by the other users in their friends list, versus if they choose Friends (Open to Join) where their friends can both see the item, and also have the opportunity to elect to join this item/goal in which case this item would show up on the friends&#39; goals list who elected to join. If a user selects Public (View Only) all users who have accounts on this system are granted access to view this item. Public (Open to Join) allows all users on this system to elect to participate in this item/goal in which case this item would show up on these users&#39; goals list who elected to join.  202  illustrates a multi-stage pull down method for user to identify the category for their specific user goal. For example,  FIG. 2  shows the user chosing Outdoor Water Activity/Scuba Dive as the category for their goal.  203  illustrates how a user can specify the location of the goal. This example shows user choice of North America/United States of America/Hawaii. Menus  202  and  203  may be a single level, two level or three or more levels.  204  illustrates the users ability to specify the gfoal as a vacation package, and if so, specify details such as including flights, accommodations, number of rooms, hotel amenities, and desired vacation time.  204  provides information to the that enables the System Match Engine  106  to match user&#39;s goal interests with the appropriate merchant(s) or vendor(s) product or service offerings.  205  Illustrates the users option to include specific friends in the goal. In this example, the user has chosen to invite their friends John Doe and Jane Dane to either Share or Support this goal. If a user is requesting a friend to Share the goal, it is asking the friend to participate and complete this goal with the user that has sent the request. If a user requests a friend to Support the goal, the user is requesting that this friend be involved in some way, but not expecting them to participate in the goal. The user creating this goal has the option to add a description to these requests. In this example, the user is requesting Jane Dane to Support them by driving them to the location of the Scuba Diving event, and to come for moral support. The invited friends have the option to accept or decline the invitations they receive through the system.  206  illustrates the option the user has to create a deadline for the specific goal. If a Goal Date is set, the system will notify the user of any approaching deadlines from their goals list.  207  illustrates the option of setting a desired budget for the goal.  208  illustrates a list of recommended vendors or merchants that would best suit the user&#39;s desired requirements based on the information the user input such as in  202 ,  203 ,  204 ,  206  and  207 . The user has the option to choose from this list but it is not required.  209  illustrates the users option to select a vendor on their own. When the user completes the initial input of the goal as illustrate in  FIG. 2  or updates an existing goal, they complete the process by pressing a button of command key such as submit or update button after which the goal is updated in database  105  and recorded to users goal list and system automatically presents invitations and publishes goal information throughout system according to the user&#39;s information designated for the goal. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , vendors may enter the system similar to users via portal  101  to their vendor home page  107 . Vendors may add all their demographic information and contact info such as location, company description and company website. Instead of adding goals as users do, vendors add products and/or services to their account and specify their products and services similar to goals as illustrated in  FIG. 2  by including data such as category, location, dates offered, and pricing. A vendor also has the ability to create Special Offers that have a countdown, where users will have the ability to purchase an item/service for a discounted rate if purchased before the countdown for that item/service expires. Vendors have the ability to edit their profiles freely, except the review section of their Vendor page. The review section is the area of a vendor&#39;s profile where users have the ability to post comments and opinions based on their experiences with a particular vendor. Along with their comment, the user has the ability to rate the vendor on a scale of one to five stars if they so choose. This allows users to read unbiased reviews of vendors before making a purchase. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , information from home pages ( 103 ,  107 ), user goals ( 104 ), Product/Service List ( 108 ) and other pages the system may have that display or use vendor or user data are connected and stored in a database  105 . A system match engine  106  is also connected to the database  105  and User home and user goals as in  103  and  104 . The system match engine provides useful information to the user home pages ( 103 ,  107 ) and goal lists ( 104 ) for a given user such as other users with the similar goals, and vendor/merchant information, products, and services related to user&#39;s specific goals. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates the system search capability which may be present anywhere within the user portal experience and typically is a standard part of every page within the system such as in a search filed area at the top of every page (but may be placed at bottom or side or anywhere on page). For example, from the user home page  103 , user may enter a search string regarding information about a subject, category, vendor, product, or person and the search engine  106  will access the system database  105  and return detailed search results information  301  that most closely matches the users search string. The search engine algorithm can provide more relevant results by matching up additional information in the users profile such as age, location, past goals, with the requested search information and results listing. This more efficient method provides user with more relevant information. From the search results, user can hyperlink directly to more detailed information from the results such as to vendor profiles  302 , friend profiles  303 , public profiles  304 , and vendor product and/or service offerings  305 . Within the friend profile, user may click view friends goals and add information such as a text posting, posting of support which may be noted as a “cheer”, or request to join a person&#39;s goal item or support a person&#39;s goal item. 
     As part of the System Match Engine, users may search for other users who share a specific goal. This allows users to put a friend request to such a user and collaborate on their common goals. This could allow users to join schedules and resources to attain their common goal. 
     Another aspect of the system is the ability for friends to send private messages to each other in real-time such that user may respond instantly. System may display which friends are currently logged in so user may know which friends are available to send real-time messages back and forth. Messages may be associated with or linked to a specific goal and the history of the messaging may be saved within the system for reference by the user at any time. This allows users to keep separate message histories organized by goal for efficient reference and planning purposes in support of achieving their goal. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates how the user is connected with vendor products and/or services via the system and how the connections may generate e-commerce between users and vendors. One embodiment of this connection method is shown in  FIG. 4  whereby the user&#39;s home  103  is automatically populated with advertisements and/or information related to vendor products and/or services that are matched to user as determined by the System Match Engine  106 , and such related vendor information hyperlinks to Product/Services Detail Page  401 . The System Match Engine  106  matches user profile information such as location, age, gender, user&#39;s prior search history (within and outside of the system) and other demographic information and information from user goals such as is illustrated in  FIG. 2  (and described previously) and system information tied to goals such as friend recommendations, other user recommendations, “cheers” or Star Ratings to vendor products and/or services information including all the attributes associated with products and/or services such as category, location, pricing, dates available and recommendations. The System Match Engine  106  may also adjust the ranking order of these matches by taking into account vendor advertisement payments from vendors/service providers such that the match algorithm increases the ranking of products/services information based on the advertising payment. In such case, a vendor pays the system provider a fee to improve their ranking and likelihood that their product and/or service information will be displayed to user for user&#39;s consideration. The vendor advertising payment may be calculated using various business models including payment on a per-click basis (payment assessed only after user clicks on the vendor information related to the paid advertisement) or payment may be assessed a per-displayed basis to user or payment may be assessed as a flat-fee basis or as a percentage of the price of the vendor product and/or service upon user purchasing or signing up for vendor&#39;s product or service. Once the system match engine  106  completes the rank-ordered matching according to the above description, the top items are displayed for consideration by user. Since the vendor products and/or services are closely matched to the user&#39;s background and goals, this method provides a useful and efficient way for user to consider products and/or services to fulfill his/her goals. In a similar fashion, these top-matched vendor products and/or services  400  may be displayed on user&#39;s goals page  104  preferably alongside related user information. Matched product and/or service information  400  may be displayed anywhere throughout the system and is preferentially displayed alongside of related or matched user information. The system may display links that provide this match information in more detail; for example a goal listing may have a link that is labeled “Products/Services Matched to This Goal”, and when selected, system will display a detailed list of the results from System Match Engine  106  related to this specific area or goal. 
     An alternate embodiment of the above would not include vendor advertising payments into the System Engine Search  106  for displaying search results, but instead simply provide a separate advertisement display on any or all pages throughout the system including search pages. Such advertisements may still be matches to the content of the page on which it is displayed as outlined above, but simply displayed separately and not embedded in the user&#39;s search results. 
     Matched listing from the system match engine  106  may also be ranked or categorized such as putting a measuring attribute to indicate how well listing is matched to user&#39;s search or related information on the page such as a goal. For example a product may be displayed as a 96% matched to user goal #3. Another embodiment may show a measurement of match quality on a scale from 1 star to 5 star or similar ranking methods. 
     The system may further improve efficiency for users to find appropriate products/services to match their goals by allowing users to select customized searches for vendor products and/or services. System offers users the ability to search for matches by any criteria within their goals such as location, budget, category, date and star ratings. Another embodiment is that users may search based on recommendations of friends or users in general. The system may highlight goals of other users based on number of recommendation, number of “cheers”, number of page-views, or any other attribute that is tracked in the system. 
     Users may search for friends and read friends profiles and goals where they have security privates granted by their friends to view content. In viewing friends and/or other users goals, users may copy another person&#39;s goal to their listing by clicking a link such as “Add to My Goals”, whereby the system will automatically add a new goal for user and copy the relevant information to the new users goal and allow them to edit it further to customize it for themselves. Users may add a goal in a similar way by clicking the same type of link on a vendors&#39; product/services page. 
     User may purchase/sign-up for/schedule a product/service from the Product/Service Detail Page  401  whereby they will be routed to a Buying Engine  402 . The buying engine may be within the system and include a shopping cart, wanted items (or wish list), and a checkout function that allows users to finalize their purchase and pay for the item(s). Users may pay for items within Buying Engine  402  via any e-commerce method such as credit card, PayPal, or virtual money. As part of finalizing user&#39;s order, the system may allow for scheduling of the activity and provide guidance information of availability of product/services by all attributes such as date, location, dimensions, quantity and duration. The Buying Engine  402  may be integrated into vendor&#39;s website (outside of System  100 ) or user may simply be directed to pay vendor directly through the vendor&#39;s system, in which case, vendor may supply information back to System  100  so System  100  may make use for such information in updating the status of user information such as user&#39;s goals, schedules, and calendars. 
     Another key aspect of the system is its ability to organize date information contained in its database and provide detailed reports to users and vendors. User can click on My Calendar link to display user goal information formatted by date such as plotted on a calendar. This includes information on goal dates or deadlines, goal planning activities necessary to prepare for goals, user friends&#39; birthdays, manual ad-in reminders written by user and vendor advertisements associated with specific user goals. All of this information is date-specific and organized in various formats including multi-year view, yearly view, monthly view, weekly view, daily view, and list view. Vendor advertisement information may be prioritized by System Match Engine which ranks and orders the information as described previously and illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Information may also be plotted on a geographic map to allow users to see their goals plotted by location and possible vendor/merchant products or services locations nearby. 
     Another key aspect of the system is its ability to provide useful and pertinent news feeds to a user. System will automatically provide one or more news feeds generated by the System Match Engine. One embodiment of the news feed will be Vendor Opportunities, where vendors are offering new, improved or timely products and/or services related to and matched well with one or more user goals. Another embodiment of the news feed is one that lists information posted by friends and followed users of a user which include status updates, photos, updated content, videos, etc. Another embodiment to this is a news feed of items which are only related to your goals. 
     Another key aspect of the system allows users to post the status of goals, pictures, videos, comments, and blogs about their general aspirations and/or specific goals. Status update may include setting such as thinking about, planned, started, and completed. This content may be tied specifically to a goal or posted generally within their account or home page. Users may comment on their own content and other user&#39;s content with the appropriate security approvals. 
     Another key aspect of the system allows users to create an Event and/or Fundraiser. If a user chooses to create an Event, user creates a page where they can store information for an upcoming event. Information can include description of the event, time, place, cost, etc. The user has the ability to send an invitation to specific friends through the system, or send an invitation to their entire friends list. They also have the option to choose their security settings for the group, Private, meaning only people invited can see this event through the system, Friends (View Only), which means only the user&#39;s friends can see the event through the portal but do not have the ability to attend unless invited, Friends (Open to Join), which means their entire friends list is allowed to view and attend the event, or Public, all users on the system have the ability to see and attend. After publishing the event page, an invitation notification will be sent to the user&#39;s friends who were invited and they have the option to RSVP in the form of going, not going, or maybe going. If a user creates a Fundraiser, they are creating a page to raise money for a cause/person/place/animal. The privacy settings and information for a Fundraiser page is the same as in the Event page. An event page however also connects to the Buying Engine  402  where users who were invited or have the ability to see the page have the ability to donate to this fundraiser via any e-commerce method such as credit card, PayPal, or virtual money.