IP Library Granted Patent US 8,244,669
Granted Patent B2
US 8,244,669 · App. 12/346,748 · Granted Aug 14, 2012

Dynamic formation of groups in a notification system

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,244,669
App. No.
12/346,748
Granted
Aug 14, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, is disclosed. The method includes associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor and dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications. The method also includes issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients. A system for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, is also provided.

Claims (68)

1. A system for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

a recipient module configured to store information regarding a set of potential recipients of notifications;

a tagging module configured to associate the potential recipients with at least one descriptor comprising an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information;

a grouping module configured to dynamically form a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, wherein dynamic formation of the group of recipients includes changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

a transmission module configured to transmit the at least one notification to the group of recipients.

2. A system for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

a recipient module configured to store information regarding a set of potential recipients of notifications;

a tagging module configured to associate the potential recipients with at least one descriptor comprising an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information;

a grouping module configured to automatically update, in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, wherein the group of recipients is automatically updated by changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

a transmission module configured to transmit the at least one notification to the group of recipients.

3. A method for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor comprising an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information;

dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, wherein the group of recipients is dynamically formed by changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients.

4. A machine-readable medium encoded with instructions for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, the instructions comprising code for:

associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor comprising an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information;

dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, wherein the group of recipients is dynamically formed by changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients.

5. A system for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

means for associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor comprising an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information;

means for dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, wherein the group of recipients is dynamically formed by changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

means for issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the recipient module further comprises another set of potential recipients;

the tagging module is further configured to associate the another set of potential recipients with another descriptor;

the grouping module is further configured to dynamically form a second group of recipients to receive the at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the another set of potential recipients of notifications, such that membership in the second group of recipients is changeable in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the another set of potential recipients of notifications; and

a transmission module configured to transmit the at least one notification to the second group of recipients.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the descriptors associated with the group of recipients and at least one of the descriptors associated with the second group of recipients is the same.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the descriptors associated with the group of recipients and at least one of the descriptors associated with the second group of recipients is different.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a display module configured to display an indicator of at least one of the set of potential recipients and the group of recipients to receive the at least one notification.

10. A system for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

a recipient module configured to store information regarding a set of potential recipients of notifications;

a tagging module configured to associate the potential recipients with at least one descriptor;

a grouping module configured to automatically update, in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications, a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

a transmission module configured to transmit the at least one notification to the group of recipients,

wherein the at least one descriptor comprises an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information.

11. A method for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor;

dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients,

wherein the at least one descriptor comprises an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the group of recipients is dynamically formed by changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

changing membership in the group of recipients in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

displaying the group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

updating the display of the group of recipients to receive at least one notification in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

locating, based on the at least one descriptor, at least one recipient from the set of potential recipients.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

locating, based on the at least one descriptor, at least one recipient from the group of recipients.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

associating the potential recipients with another descriptor different than the at least one descriptor.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

associating another set of potential recipients with another descriptor;

dynamically forming a second group of recipients to receive another notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the another set of potential recipients of notifications, such that membership in the second group of recipients is changeable in response to a change in the descriptors associated with the another set of potential recipients of notifications; and

issuing the other notification to the second group of recipients.

20. A machine-readable medium encoded with instructions for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, the instructions comprising code for:

associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor;

dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients,

wherein the at least one descriptor comprises an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information.

21. A system for determining membership in a group of notification recipients and issuing a notification to the group of notification recipients, comprising:

means for associating a set of potential recipients of notifications with at least one descriptor;

means for dynamically forming a group of recipients to receive at least one notification based on the descriptors currently associated with the set of potential recipients of notifications; and

means for issuing the at least one notification to the group of recipients,

wherein the at least one descriptor comprises an indicator of a gender, grade level, geographical location, educational institution, language, age, physical characteristic, academic characteristic, employment characteristic, political characteristic, performance information, or course information.

Assignments (18)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 4, 2024
From: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.
To: ACTIVE INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 066636/0684 →
PARTIAL RELEASE (REEL 058081 / FRAME 0025) Recorded Sep 16, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 061451/0989 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 15, 2022
From: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.
To: ALTER DOMUS (US) LLC
Reel/Frame 061112/0027 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 15, 2022
From: UBS AG, STAMFORD BRANCH
To: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 061112/0692 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT COLLATERAL Recorded Oct 27, 2021
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; EDLINE LLC; TEACHERWEB, INC.
Reel/Frame 057941/0752 →
FIRST LIEN SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 26, 2021
From: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 058081/0025 →
SECOND LIEN SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 26, 2021
From: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: UBS AG, STAMFORD BRANCH
Reel/Frame 058081/0073 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT COLLATERAL Recorded Oct 26, 2021
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; BLACKBOARD COLLABORATE INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC.
Reel/Frame 058298/0577 →
SECOND LIEN PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Nov 7, 2019
From: BLACKBOARD, INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; BLACKBOARD COLLABORATE INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC.
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 050965/0354 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Nov 7, 2019
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD COLLABORATE, INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC.
Reel/Frame 050953/0361 →
SECOND LIEN PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 20, 2016
From: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD COLLABORATE INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; PARLANT TECHNOLOGY, INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC.
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040435/0932 →
RELEASE OF LIEN ON PATENTS Recorded Nov 19, 2013
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: BLACKBOARD INC.; EDLINE LLC; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; TEACHERWEB, INC
Reel/Frame 031689/0871 →
FIRST LIEN PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 6, 2011
From: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC; EDLINE LLC; TEACHERWEB, INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N. A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 027027/0328 →
SECOND PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 6, 2011
From: BLACKBOARD INC.; BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.; EDLINE LLC; TEACHERWEB, INC
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 027027/0497 →
RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 4, 2011
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.
Reel/Frame 027015/0986 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 1, 2011
From: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 026072/0419 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 5, 2010
From: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 024798/0221 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 31, 2008
From: ELLIS, DEANNA; CHEN, BING
To: BLACKBOARD CONNECT INC.
Reel/Frame 022046/0037 →