Granted Patent B2

US 8,161,375 · App. 12/188,721 · Granted Apr 17, 2012

Abstract

Claims (40)

1. A computer-implemented method for creating personalizable stationery product templates in a plurality of stationery product categories, comprising:

defining, by a computer system comprising one or more servers, a global template that specifies a plurality of variables and formatting options for the variables;

receiving a selection, by a template designer, of a first set of variables in the global template to create a first stationery product category;

receiving a selection of a second set of variables in the global template to create a second stationery product category;

receiving, by the computer system comprising one or more servers, a first product design in the first stationery product category and a second product design in the second stationery product category;

extracting a first set of metadata from the first stationery product design;

extracting a second set of metadata from the second stationery product design;

creating a first stationery product template using the first set of metadata and the first set of variables in the global template; and

creating a second stationery product template using the second set of metadata and the second set of variables in the global template,

wherein each of the first stationery product template or the second stationery product template is configured to receive data from a user to create a personalized stationery product.

2. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the first set of variables or the second set of variables receive the data from the user as input value to form a personalized stationery product.

3. The computer-implemented method as in claim 2 , wherein the global template defines an operation of a first variable in the first set of variables which depends on the input value to a second variable in the first set of variables.

4. The computer-implemented method as in claim 3 , wherein the operation comprises if user's data is required to be received from the user as input to the first variable.

5. The computer-implemented method as in claim 3 , wherein the global template defines that user's data is to be received as input value to the second variable before any user data is received as input value to the first variable.

6. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the global template is set up by an online stationery product provider using the computer system, wherein the steps of selecting, by a template designer, a first set of variables in the global template, the step of selecting a second set of variables in the global template, and the step of receiving are performed using a secure Web browser access to the online stationery product provider.

7. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the global template is set up by an online stationery product provider using the computer system, wherein the data is received from the user over the World Wide Web.

8. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the global template comprises a series of questions to collect the data from the user, wherein values of the first set of variables are conditional based on the user's answers to the series of questions.

9. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the formatting option specifies how data received from the user is to be formatted in the first stationery product template and the second stationery product template.

10. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the first set of metadata comprises font type, font size, coordinates, and color for a text in the first product design.

11. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 , wherein the global template defines variable types, and wherein each of the plurality of variables is defined in one of the variable types, and wherein each of the variable types is associated with one or more formatting options.

12. The computer-implemented method as in claim 11 , wherein the variable types include one or more of a name, a sibling's name, a date, a time of the day, a weight of a baby, or a length of a baby.

13. The computer-implemented method as in claim 12 , wherein the formatting options for a date comprise a first option of represent day, month and year with words and a second option of representing day, month and year using Arabic numbers.

14. The computer-implemented method as in claim 2 , further comprising:

publishing the first stationery product template online to allow the user to send the data to the computer system.

15. A computer-implemented method for creating personalizable stationery product templates in a plurality of stationery product categories, comprising:

defining, by an online stationery product provider using a computer system comprising one or more servers, a global template that specifies a plurality of variables, variable types, and one or more formatting options for each variable types, wherein each of the plurality of variables is defined in one of the variable types;

receiving a selection, by a template designer, of a first set of variables in the global template to create a first stationery product category;

receiving a selection of a second set of variables in the global template to create a second stationery product category;

receiving, by the computer system comprising one or more servers, a first product design in the first stationery product category and a second product design in the second stationery product category;

extracting a first set of metadata from the first stationery product design;

extracting a second set of metadata from the second stationery product design;

creating a first stationery product template using the first set of metadata and the first set of variables in the global template;

creating a second stationery product template using the second set of metadata and the second set of variables in the global template; and

publishing the first stationery product template or the second stationery product template online to receive data as input to the first set of variables or the second set of variables from a user to create a personalized stationery product.

16. The computer-implemented method as in claim 15 , wherein the global template defines an operation of a first variable in the first set of variables which depends on the input value to a second variable in the first set of variables.

17. The computer-implemented method as in claim 16 , wherein the operation comprises if user's data is required to be received from the user as input to the first variable.

18. The computer-implemented method as in claim 16 , wherein the global template defines that user's data is to be received as input value to the second variable before any user data is received as input value to the first variable.

19. The computer-implemented method as in claim 15 , wherein the steps of selecting, by a template designer, a first set of variables in the global template, the step of selecting a second set of variables in the global template, and the step of receiving are performed using a secure Web browser access to the online stationery product provider.

20. The computer-implemented method as in claim 15 , wherein the global template is set up by an online stationery product provider using the computer system, wherein the data is received from the user over the World Wide Web.

21. The computer-implemented method as in claim 15 , wherein the global template comprises a series of questions to collect the data from the user, wherein values of the first set of variables are conditional based on the user's answers to the series of questions.

Assignments (13)