GB2376151A

GB2376151A - Communication and Event Management System and Methods

Info

Publication number: GB2376151A
Application number: GB0110337A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Drake Mowlam; Oladeji Thomas Carr
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-04-27
Filing date: 2001-04-27
Publication date: 2002-12-04
Also published as: GB0110337D0

Abstract

A method of bringing together a plurality of people, each of whom is initially located at a disparate location, to congregate at a specified final venue via a series of intermediate venues, wherein at the initial location and/or the intermediate venues, each person accesses via a wireless terminal, a communication that either on its own or in combination with a separate communication accessed via a wireless terminal of at least one other person present, provides the required information for locating a subsequent or final venue in the series.

Description

COMMUNICATION AND EVENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHODS This invention relates to systems and methods for communication and event management. In particular, but not exclusively, it relates to systems and methods for management of events in which a number of persons in disparate locations are brought into one or more selected locations and guided to those location via communication means.

The invention also relates to systems and methods for organisation of events and congregations of persons and for communicating with such persons.

Conventionally, when events are organised a list of attendees is usually established, formed either by sending invites to selected attendees and monitoring acceptances of these invites, or by attendees specifically requesting to attend. The attendees are then provided with organisational details such as venue, itinerary, and so on. If a particular event is to involve several venues, such as a social event in which persons move from one venue to another, then this has to be clearly indicated to the participants before hand.

Whilst these arrangements can work well, they are sometimes inflexible and, particularly in the case of social events, somewhat formulaic.

Presently, methods of communicating the relevant information to the participants comprise using post or electronic postal (ie e-mail) services, generally to send the same information to all of the participants.

The present invention arose in an attempt to provide a more dynamic and interactive event organisational method and system and an improved communications system.

According to the present invention in a first aspect there is provided a method of bringing together a plurality of people, each of which is initially located at a disparate location, to congregate at a specified final venue via a series of intermediate venues,

wherein at the initial location and/or the intermediate venu each'erson accesses via a wireless terminal, a communication that either on its own or in combination with a separate communication accessed via a wireless terminal of at least one other person present, provides the required information for locating a subsequent or final venue in the series.

The wireless terminal may be mobile terminal configured to receive SMS messages and the communication may be an SMS message.

The wireless terminal may be a WAP or Internet enabled mobile terminal and the communication resides on an ASP driven WAP or Internet site.

The wireless terminal may be a GPRS, UMTS, WAP or other mobile terminal.

The wireless terminal may include, or be associated with, a GPS system.

In a further aspect, there is provided a communication system that comprises a database providing at least two fields of information; means for drawing relevant data from the field and means for using the information to drive an Internet site or to provide individual SMS messages to users of the system providing personalised messages to the user..

According to the present invention in a further aspect there is provided a communications systems comprising an event organiser and means for transmitting selected personalised outputs wirelessly to a plurality of user's mobile terminals.

Preferably, the content of the personalised outputs are time-dependent.

Preferably, an item of information may be distributed over a plurality of individual personalised outputs.

The output means may includes means for sending a block of information, and means generating for dividing the block into a plurality of smaller blocks for transmission to separate terminals.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a dataflow; Figure 2 shows a data structure; Figure 3 is an explanatory drawing; Figure 4 shows a data structure in more detail; Figure 5 shows a computer display of part of event organisation process; Figure 6 shows a computer display of part of alternative event organisation process; and Figure 7 shows a communication system.

Referring to Figure 1, the present invention relates to event organising and to systems and methods for facilitating event organising and for communicating with participants in events.

The event described in the following embodiment is a social event in which a plurality of participants take part, but the invention is equally applicable to business type events, sporting events, or other events.

Essentially, as shown in Figure 1, the system involves an event organiser 1 which will typically be embodied in or as part of a computer system which receives data input 2 from various sources. The event organiser is used to feed an output database 3 which can be used to provide outputs to participants in the event informing them of relevant information, preferably in real time whilst an event is taking place.

A typical type of event involves a plurality of guests (participants) taking place in a

social event in which a number of different venues are visited during the course of an evening for example. In preferred embodiments, a tree structure of venues is arranged and pairs of participants are initially arranged to meet at individual first stage venues, as is shown more clearly in Figure 3. In this figure, a first pair of participants, PI and P2 are instructed to meet at a particular venue A. A second pair of participants P3 and P4 are instructed to meet at a particular venue B. Participant P5 and P6 meet at venue C and participants P7 and P8 meet at venue D. The participants may be instructed to attend a venue some while before the event. However, in preferred embodiments of the invention, they can be instructed, via technical means, a short time before the event. The participant may be provided with pseudonyms, eg they may each be called the name of a mythological figure for example and they are instructed to meet the other person under that other person's pseudonym. Preferably, the participants do not know each other before hand and so once they reach the venue the participants have to find out who their co-participant is at that venue. They may be instructed to wear an identifier (eg a yellow flower).

Most preferably, the participants are caused to attend the first venue by means of a message, eg an SMS (text) message received on a mobile telephone or other mobile terminal, or using a mobile terminal to view an Internet site, WAP site or similar. The site may be provided with personal pages so that a particular user visits their own personal page which just tells them the venue (eg person P2 is total to attend venue A) and the name (or pseudonym) of the person they are to meet there.

The pairs of participants meet at venue A and stay there for a while, generally enjoying a drink or refreshments together. Then, they are instructed to go on together to a second venue and this may be done at a particular time by either sending further SMS messages to participant's telephones or by instructing them to view the Internet site at a particular time. At this time, P I and P2 travel together to venue C where they meet P3 and P4. Similarly, P5 and P6 travel together to venue F where they meet P7 and P8. After a further period of time has elapsed, the participants at venue E and at venue F are instructed to travel to a further venue G where they all meet up. This may be a restaurant for example.

All the participants may then travel on to a party for example.

It will be appreciated that although in the example described above there are eight participants and three"levels"of venues, in practice, there may be any number of participants and levels or venues. In the initial phase, more than two people could be instructed to meet at a particular venue and more than two groups of people may be instructed to meet at subsequent venues where appropriate.

Since participants have been forced to engage into conversation with each other at various stages, and usually with strangers, they soon become familiar with one another and an enthralling party atmosphere should ensue.

In effect, two guest meet in a bar. They are then sent to another bar where they meet two more participants. Making four. These four then meet another four in a restaurant and this eight then venture to a final party having each meet seven completely new people. This is the structure shown as example in Figure 3.

It should be appreciated that combinations of SMS and WAP (other Internet) services may be used to provide the required information and other technologies such as GPRS and UMTS or other third generation mobile technologies may be used.

In addition, if users are equipped with mobile terminals having position finding equipment, such as GPS receivers, then their exact positioning at any time can be known and they can be led in real time to venues and, if they get lost for example, can be redirected easily.

Figure 2 shows the data input section 2 of Figure 1 in a little more detail.

Personal details relating to the various guests 4 are obtained and these are typically obtained either through conventional post 5 or by e-mail 6.

A second-t of information comprises a set of venue details 7 and this information is generally obtained by research 8. Various other types of data 8 may be obtained, including more detail about the venues (type of food, seating, drinks,"ambiance") or guests likes, dislikes and more information about the guests. This may also include time-based information such as whether other events are due to happen in that vicinity, and this may include national events, holidays, etc. All this information is applied to the event organiser and stored in suitable databases. The databases may be based upon priority database software such as Microsoft Access. The event organiser can then use the information in this database, using software developed in accordance with the invention, to organise events.

Figures 5 and 6 show some sample screen displays, in which a number of different venue levels are displayed. Figure 5 shows an example in which there are eight initial venues VI to V8, four second tier venues V9 to V12, two third tier venues V13 and V14 and one fourth tier venue. A user adds venues into data entry boxes in an organising area W, preferably by dragging from a list of venues LI, shown in a screen area W Ito the right.

The list venue also has separate tabbed screens to list the various guests and also their codenames and mobile telephone numbers. The data entry window section W also has separate tabbed screens in which the guests can be allocated into journeys and one showing more detail of the actual venues. Preferably, information can simply be dragged from a respective list in database area W2 into relevant boxes in organising area Wl. The data in W2 is taken from database files, eg Microsoft Access database files.

Figure 6 shows a similar configuration but this time there are only six initial venues, two second level venues and one final level venue.

A complete event requires the correct number of participants to be allocated into selected journeys and venues. Once a complete set of data has been established, then this data is transmitted to an output database 3. Here, it may be used in various ways to actually transmit the information to the participants. Figure 4 shows some examples.

Referring to Figure 4, data from the event organiser 1 is transmitted to the output database 3. In a simple version, this may be used to output printed mission sheets 9 by using standard design and printing software and hardware 10. The printed mission sheets can then be distributed to users by post, fax, etc. A mission sheet may include all the data which a user needs for a whole event, or may include only one journey. Then, when the user reaches a first venue, he may be physically handed a second mission sheet telling him about the next venue.

For a WAP based system, the output database provides an output 11 to an on-line WAP server 12. A WAP site is set up. This will preferably include personalised pages which may also be time variable and which can be accessed from users using specified passwords or other means. The on-line server is accessed by WAP enabled mobile telephones or other mobile terminals, eg PDAs etc 13 and this information is only available to the guests 14.

In the WAP system, a guest can initially view his personalised WAP page and see a first venue to attend and the name (or pseudonym) of one or more people he is to meet there. He may be told attend the venue at, say, 6pm. At, say, 7pm, the content of his WAP page are altered and when then logs onto it from his mobile terminal he sees a second venue and he then, together with the other guests he has met at the first venue, travels to the second venue. After he has arrived there at, say, 8.30pm, the content of his WAP changes again and he is told details of third venue, and so on.

In order to make sure that guests do actually meet in order to progress with the event, the time dependent data (after the first venue has been reached, assuming persons are travelling singly to the first venue) may be incomplete for each user but is distributed over the WAP pages viewable by each of the participants who should have arrived at that venue.

Thus, after each of, say two people reach a first venue and at a predetermined time each of their WAP pages changes to reveal half of the subsequent venues. The users must then meet and communicate in order to determine the full venue. Alternatively, or in addition,

other details of the events may be provided in this distributed form so that full details of a venue, or other information, is only available when all participants due to be at that venue are there. The information is distributed amongst the participants.

A similar methodology can be used where SMS messages are used. Referring again to Figure 4, in an SMS situation, the output database is used to generate a mission text 15 which is a list of all events, participants, venues, journeys, etc. This is used to generate a mission text file 16 which takes the form of a plurality of entries, generally one entry for each sub-event. A sub-event, is for a particular participant to travel to a particular venue and optionally includes data of the person he is to meet. For venues beyond the first, the venue information may be distributed over sets of information for different participants as described above with relation to the WAP system. The mission text file is used to generate an e-mail or other type of electronic communication which includes all of the mission text sub-events. This may be obtained simply by a user copying and pasting events from the mission text file displayed on the screen as separate lines of an e-mail. This is shown as step 17 in Figure 4. Alternatively, the mission file can be used directly to form the body of

c the e-mail 18 or other electronic communication. What is generated is an e-mail having a separate entry, in the form of a line or other delimited portion of text (eg comma delimited semi-colon delimited; and so on). The e-mail is sent at step S 19 to an SMS server 20. The server receives the e-mail and uses it to generate a plurality of separate SMS messages, each message being a separate delimited part of the original mission text file. The SMS messages are then transmitted to the mobile terminals of the participants. Thus, each delimited message in the form of a sub-event is provided with the mobile telephone number or other identifier of the participants to whom that sub-event is appropriate and to whom the ultimate SMS message is to be sent.

The messages are distributed at step 21 to mobile telecommunications networks 22 and then on to guest's mobile terminals 23.

The e-mail 80 may include all events for all times and the SMS server be arranged

to send appropriate message to appropriate users at particular times. Alternatively, a mission text file can be generated at each particular time. Thus, at 6pm a first mission text file can be generated which enables to participants to attend the first set of venues. At 7pm, a second mission text file can be generated which includes distributed data and which enables users to move onto the second venue, and so on.

It will be appreciated that the WAP and SMS systems described are by way of example only and other types of wireless and electronic communication may be used.

Indeed, combinations of text message and Internet or WAP access may be used.

In modifications, when participants arrive at a venue, perhaps being'driven'there by SMS messaging, they may be required to then access a website, WAPsite or similar, which ask them to perhaps answer questions, or tells them what sort of drinks to order, or may impart information about the venue or about their co-participants or may provide may other different types of information.

If unforeseen events occur, then text messages, information on WAP or Internet sites, and so on may be used to provide relevant information to the participants, to redirect their movements or otherwise.

If a participant's mobile terminal is equipped with position finding apparatus such as GPS, then other types of information and events become possible.

In some embodiments, third parties, eg actors, may be used and these can be directed, again by SMS, WAP or other means, to various locations or perhaps to locations intermediate to venues to perform particular roles, scenario, etc to provide a more interactive experience and the messages sent to the participants can then vary dependent upon the results of their interaction with these third parties.

Figure 7 shows a communication system which may be used in embodiments of the

invention. The diagram shows an event organiser 1 which includes, or is associated with, a database la. The event organiser provides an output to the output database 3. This can then provide an output either to a WAP server 12 or to an SMS server 20. Where the output is to the WAP server 12 then the output is in a form suitable for storing and display on a WAP site where it can be accessed by a mobile terminal 23. Where the server is an SMS server 20, then the message is in the form of an e-mail 18 having separate delimited entry for each participants and which includes a mobile telephone number or other identifier for that participant. The SMS server then splits the contents of the e-mail into separate SMS messages 21 a, 21 band 21 c for distribution to respective mobile terminals Ma, Mb and Me of participants.

In more detail, the software may perform the following general task: Data input (guests details, venues details, etc, see system input) Event organisation (arrange when, where and how guests will meet as well as who has paid and who is available) Output (to print for a paper event or to an Access or other database file for an SMS or WAP event) Helpline (for quick tele-aid of guests during an event).

The software forms the core element of a system used to create and manage our events. This system consists of : 1. Data acquisition (eg via e-mail or post).

2. Output database file: * Creation of an access'report'used to print the guests mission sheets (see Appendix) * Upload of the database file to an on-line server for access by WAP phones via an ASP driven WAP site.

* Building of an SMS mission text file for sending in the body of an e-mail to an SMS company's server.

Software is used to create and manage events. Many elements make up an event.

These include, but are not limited to, Guest details Venue details Mobile details Guest codenames Guest identifiers Meeting times Event date Event structure Event type Client details The data in each of the above elements are editable and may be located within one or more access database files.

Events may often be themed (with a story) so codenames can be used in compliance with this theme. Each guest belongs to a group. The group will have a group name. For example, in the'historical'group we can have'Caesar'meeting'Cleopatra'.

The guest may not know each other, therefore identifiers are used so they can recognise one another. So, we send a male guest wearing a'red flower'to meet a female guest wearing a'yellow flower'.

A range of event structures are available. From a group of four guests meeting at two venues to one of twenty four guests meeting at three venues. It is possible to create an event consisting of just one journey group or an event with many hundreds or thousand of groups.

Amongst the type of event are:

Paper-each g is supplied a printed sheet of their individual journey SMS-guests are given their journey via text messages using their mobile phones WAP-the guest log onto a wapsite to obtain their journey.

Some features of the system are: Support for multiple venue database files-a database file for a set of related venues can be created and opened for use within an event. For example, a database file can be created for all the venues in a particular city or area.

Support for multiple guest database files-guest databases are created generally one for every event. For example, a guests database file can be created for a student event and a separate one for a corporate event.

Support for multiple events-the event information including; guests, journey, client information and general event preferences.

Different event structures-are available. For example, not including the final venue (if applicable)

Venues Meets 3 2 7 3 The number of guests in a group for structure 3 venues and 2 meets:

min max 4 8 6 12 8 16 10 20 12 24 The number of guests in a group for structure 7 venues and 3 meets:

min max 8 16 12 24

Data input-the details of a guest are entered into a guest details view. The details of a venue are entered into a venue details view. For new technology events with a large number of sponsored mobile communication devices, these details are entered into a mobile details view.

Search-guests and venues can be quickly found using find.

Data pool-the pools are used to locate guests, venues, mobile or codenames for inclusion in a journey group.

Advanced filtering-guests, venues, codenames and mobiles data can be filtered in or out of the pools using user definable filters.

Drag and drop functionality-any item in the data pool can be quickly put into a slot in a journey using drag and drop operation.

Event settings-an event preference window is used to set the event date, preliminary meeting times and guest identifiers prior to event compilation.

Advanced tools: event reset-all journeys are deleted and even preferences are reset.

Compact database-used to reduce the size of the database file and improve data access speed.

SQL viewer-a custom SQL query string can be written to create a view of the contents of a database file.

Output e rent-this, here the output database file is created. Different options are available depending on what the event type is set to. If the event type is set to WAP, then WAP options are also available. The general options allow selectivity of which guests or groups of guests we want to include in the output database file.

Stages of event compilation 1. Input guests data 2. Choose venue database to use 3. Create new event file (structure and type) 4. Set event preferences (event date, preliminary meet times, identifiers) 5. Match the guests together in journeys using a pool filter system 6. Add appropriate venues to the journey groups 7. Output event to database file 8. Paper event-create template'report'in MS access and print mission sheets for all guests SMS event-convert database information into text file for sending in an e-mail to SMS company WAP event-upload database file to server for access via mobile Internet 9. Use journey group view to help guests during the event.

In a currently preferred implementation, all database access is done through the jet

database engine of DAO 3. 5. All data is persistent and residing in the Microsoft access 97 database files, with the exception of the'ini'file. Program settings and bookmarks etc, are stored here. The program is run client side. All the necessary files and databases are located on the client machine.

Server-a computer used to serve data via the Internet ASP-Active Server Pages (a programming language created by Microsoft for use in dynamic web page design) WAP-Wireless Application Protocol (a system used to serve the Internet to mobile

devices) WML-Wireless Markup Language (a programming language used by WAP sites) SMS-Simple Message Service (a system incorporating network operators and carriers to supply two-way messaging to mobile phones) DAO-Data Access Objects (Microsoft's Data Access Object library) SQL-Syquel Query Language (a database programming language used to filter data in database).

Data may be stored in Microsoft Access Database files (except for program setting which are stored in an'ini'file). The output database file"output. mdb" is created by the event organiser whatever the event type. The database file is used in 3 entirely different ways depending on the event type (paper, WAP, SMS): 1. Paper-the'output. mdb' file is opened in access and a'report'is created with graphics, etc. All of the mission sheets are then printed from this report (which gets its data from a table in the same file).

2. WAP-this'output. mdb' file is uploaded to a web server. The on-line'wapsite' then takes over, pulling the right data from this file whenever needed.

3. SMS-this is a little more complex. The table in the'output. mdb' file is imported into a separate database file which contains forms and reports and programming code. The reports are ran from code to produce a text file.

The text file forms the body of an e-mail which is sent to an SMS company or server. The SMS company's system reads each line of this e-mail and sends each one on, to the mobile network. Alternatively, the text file can itself be sent to be split into SMS messages.

Claims

1. A method of bringing together a plurality of people, each of whom is initially located at a disparate location, to congregate at a specified final venue via a series of intermediate venues, wherein at the initial location and/or the intermediate venues, : ach person accesses via a wireless terminal, a communication that either on its own or in combination with a separate communication accessed via a separate wireless terminal, provides the required information for locating a subsequent or final venue in the series.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the wireless terminal is one which is capable of receiving SMS messages, and the communication is an SMS message.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the wireless terminal is capable of viewing WAP or internet pages, and the communication is provided on a WAP or internet site which the user of the terminal accesses.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the communication is a personalised one.

5. A method as claimed in any of Claims I to 4, wherein the wireless terminal operates GPRS, UMTS, GSM, WAP or other mobile communication methods.

6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein, at least for some instances, a full set of information is partially accessed from one terminal and partially from at least one further terminal whereby the users of said terminals are required to interact to gain knowledge of the full set of information.

7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising means for utilising positioning data (eg GPS data).

8. A communication system comprising a database providing at least two fields of information; means for drawing relevant data from the fields and means for using the information to drive an Internet site or to provide individual SMS messages to users of the system providing personalised messages to the user.

9. A communications system comprising an event organiser and means for transmitting selected personalised outputs wirelessly to a plurality of user's mobile terminals.

10. A communication system as claimed in claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein the content of the personalised messages or outputs is time-dependent.

11. A communication system as claimed in any of Claims 8 to 10, wherein an item of information is distributed over a plurality of individual personalised outputs or messages.

12. A communications system as claimed in any of Claims 8 to 11, including means for transmitting a block of information to a first node, and means for generating a plurality of smaller blocks of information for transmission to separate terminals.

13. A system as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the smaller blocks represent personalised pieces of information transmitted to, or accessed by, specific terminals.

14. A system as claimed in Claim 13, wherein the personalised information is changed in a time-dependent manner.

15. A system as claimed in any of Claims 8 to 14, which is an event organisation system, comprising an input database, means for inputting data into at least two fields of the database, and an output database, wherein personalised messages or outputs are derived from the output database.

16. A system as claimed in Claim 15, wherein the output database is an internet server.

17. A system as claimed in Claim 15 or 16, wherein the output database is used to generate messages which are distributed to a plurality of mobile terminals.

18. A system substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.