GB2365686A

GB2365686A - A dynamic real-time mediating system

Info

Publication number: GB2365686A
Application number: GB0018864A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Geoffrey Francis Herring
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-08-01
Filing date: 2000-08-01
Publication date: 2002-02-20
Also published as: GB0018864D0

Abstract

A mediation system [C] which can receive, transmit and correlate pre-defined criteria in real-time across multiple modes of telecommunications media so that a common practice can be asserted instantaneously based on pre-defined knowledge held within the system. The system may be used to organise a car sharing scheme where requests are made by parties requiring a journey and these are matched to stored journeys offered by drivers. Communication may be by mobile phone or PC.

Description

<Desc/Clms Page number 1> A DYNAMIC REAL-TRVIE MULTIPLE MEDIA MESSAGE MEDIATING SYSTEM This invention relates to providing a real-time message mediation system to bring interested parties together to achieve a common goal using diverse telecommunications media. Mediation systems and services can be, and are frequently, applied to many business and social problems, normally requiring either human involvement to translate and/or relay information or are restricted by the necessity of using a single mode of communication that is decipherable and therefore understood by both parties. This will typically be known through informal social conversation and/or, for example, an information database where such information may be made available to the employees of a company. However, the comparatively diverse nature of present day telecommunications media often result in a situation whereby parties wishing to communicate with each other must first ascertain a mutually accessible medium within which to transmit data. This often results in a loss of immediacy, which is often disadvantageous to the relevant parties. According to the present invention there is provided a means of communicating pre- defined knowledge both securely and in real-time to both interested parties regardless of the personal telecommunications media being used by either party. This is facilitated by use of a common coda, or business vocabulary, representing a pre-determined set of values, coupled to a central mediation engine correlating inputted data and facilitating bi- directional communication in the desired format. For the purpose of this description, a 'car-sharing' scheme will be given as an example of a mediation process utilising the invention. The concept of car sharing is well known; people who share a common journey, typically to work, may share rides in each others private vehicles with the aim of offsetting motoring costs, reducing parking problems and alleviating traffic congestion. Using a car-sharing process, a specific embodiment of the invention, which shall be known as "TrafficMediator" for the purpose of this example, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure I illustrates the elements and processes necessary for a car-sharing scheme to successfully operate using the invention; Figure 2 portrays an example of the technical architecture required to facilitate such a mediating system. Referring to the drawing in Figure 1, two participants A and B access the mediation system C, which is a Unix server running a relational database with a real-time java- based correlation engine. Both participants are represented as having mobile telecommunications access devices D. Communication between participants and the mediation system has been graphically represented as arrowed lines F and therefore, in usina mobile telecommunication devices for the purpose of this example, it is suggested that Short Message Service -"SMS"- text-message transmissions would be used by participants. The directions of the arrows signify the direction of the communication flow. Numerical references, 1-7, refer to the order in which these communications occur. Within this specific embodiment of the invention enabling a dynamic car-sharing scheme, the sole communicative modes and devices have been depicted as mobile telephones and their textual communications protocol, i.e. Short Message Service (SMS). However, the mediation system C has the ability to correlate these pre-defined criteria from, and into, a diverse range of modes of personal telecommunications and is therefore able to accept and relay messages across multiple access media platforms. The diversity of is represented by both a computer - D - and a mobile telephone - D - are used in Figure 2 to represent the diverse modes of telecommunications that can be used to access and interact with the invention. At each stage of the process the mediation system C instantly updates its records as a result of the inputted pre-defined criteria it receives. For this example, the acronyms RHW (representing Request-Home-Work) could be the required signal for I in requesting transport and OHW (representing Offer-Horne-Work) could be the required criteria for 2 in offering transport. As communications are received, the system C instantly correlates the inputs and analyses data relating to the identities and locations of the participants which it already holds in its database in order to ascertain a potentially viable match. In order for the example of a car-sharing scheme to operate successfully using the invention, participants are required to access the system and offer or request transport by means of the aforementioned pre-defined codes or signifiers (i.e. RHW and OHW). The first signal is sent to the mediation system, TrafficMediator C, in this example as a request for transport 1. As soon as a signal is sent offering transport 2, and received by TrafficMediator C, the system correlates the two sets of data. If closely enough matched,

the system relays a signal 3 back to participant A informing said participant of the potential travel prospect and forwarding the relevant contact details of participant B. Participant A then contacts B directly and without mediation 4 in order to define a precise rendezvous. Once agreed, Participant A re-signals the mediation system C to inform it of the potentially successful liaison 5. The mediation system updates its database 6 of all relevant transactions and confirms with participant B that the transaction will take place prior to pick-up 7. Referring to Figure 2, the mediation system portrayed C, known as TrafficMediator within this example, uses a Unix server with a back-end relational database G coupled to a simple input correlation engine F. This example supports inputs and outputs of data in Short Message Service (SMS), Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) and Wireless Mark-up Language (WMQ formats, therefore allowing the data to be presented and relayed in any of the supported formats to a variety of media access devices. These devices are represented in Figure 2 by a mobile telecommunications device - D - and a computer - D - representing a web-based browser. Arrowed lines, I, within Figure 2 represent the direction of data flow during the mediation process. The mediation system C normalises all inputted data, standardising it into eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) format using the XML formatter H. It then applies logic to the resulting content using the correlation engine F to process and correlate the data according to information already stored in its relational database, G, whereupon it can present output in the supported formats by once again using the XML formatter H.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method to mediate between input from different sources which provides real time updates to those sources for the purpose of carrying out a business transaction.
2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein input and output is possible using any mode of personal telecommunications media.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 where the inputs are encoded to pre-defined messaging standards.
4. A method as claimed in claim I where the core mediation is pre-defined as a sequence of correlated logic.