FAMILY ORGANIZATION AND COMMUNICATION TOOL
A family organization and communication tool is preferably provided via a web site that enables interne access by both parents and their children. The tool provides features for the managing, scheduling and sharing of information among the parents and children of blended families. Specifically, the tool provides for an access schedule calendar to which can be posted specific events requiring the pick up and drop off responsibilities of a parent. Additionally, the tool provides a means for electronically requesting a swap or trade in days of responsibility for a child and the tool provides for an “ask and approve” expense log for the sharing of children's expenses among parents. The tool further provides for date and time stamping of access by the parents or children to each web page within the tool and for protected entries, entries that can only be edited or deleted by the original creator.
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This patent application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/075,536, filed on Mar. 9, 2005, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/551,657, filed Mar. 9, 2004, the benefit of priority of each of which is claimed hereby, and each of which are incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to non-verbal electronic communication and, more specifically, to non-verbal electronic communications between non-cohabitating parents for the managing, scheduling and sharing of information about their children.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe concepts of divorced parents and blended families are commonplace today. As are hectic schedules for both children and their parents. Trying to coordinate such hectic schedules among blended families is often quite difficult. Each family has to attempt to make their plans while respecting the interests of former spouses and the needs of other blended households. The common result, however, is scheduling mishaps due to poor communication. The inability to communicate effectively among former spouses further often results in conflicts that create more stress for everyone involved, both parents and children.
In a world awash in communication technology with virtually everyone having Internet access, there is a need for a web site that enables communicating, scheduling and sharing information with a former spouse that would help remove the stress from all involved lives. The site should be designed for separate households and built with features to accommodate families that live apart. The site should enable managing, scheduling, and sharing information cooperatively and efficiently about shared children in a non-verbal manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe needs described above are in large part addressed by the family organization and communication tool and method of the present invention. The tool is preferably provided via a web site that enables interne access by both parents and their children. The tool provides features for the managing, scheduling and sharing of information among the parents and children of blended families. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tool provides an access schedule calendar, whereby parents and children can determine which parent is responsible for a child on a certain day and/or certain event.
An event is presented on the calendar as an event box, wherein the event box provides the viewer of the calendar with an indication of not only the time and date of the event but for which child the event is occurring, which parent is responsible for the drop off of the child, which parent is responsible for the child during the event, and which parent is responsible for picking up the child from the event. In the preferred embodiment, each of these indications is provided through the use of color-coded sections of the event box, wherein each child and parent is assigned a unique color for quick ascertainment of responsibility.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the tool provides for the ability of a parent to electronically request the trade or swap of a day or days of responsibility for a child with the other parent. The requesting parent can establish a response date for response from the other parent, which will also act as an expiration if no response is required. A negative or non-response to a request maintains the current color-code status of the access schedule while a positive response to the request results in an automatic color-code update to the access schedule calendar to indicate who is the newly responsible parent
In still another preferred embodiment of the invention, the tool enables the user parents to enter and post incurred expenses for their children. The expense is designated with a type indicating whether the expense is to be split between parents, at a predetermined percentage, or whether the expense is to be born by one parent alone. Upon posting a shared expense, the posting parent can electronically ask for and track approval and payment of the expense by the other parent. The expense types are preferably customizable to each users needs and specific situations.
A feature preferably provided in all embodiments of the present invention is that of date and time stamping. Specifically, each accessed web page of the tool is provided with an indication, e.g., a footer at the bottom of the page, with the last date and time each user viewed the page, so that there can be no arguments as to whether an individual actually saw an access schedule, event, or expense log posting. Further, all embodiments of the present invention are preferably provided with protected entries, i.e., only the user who created an entry can edit or delete it, and all historical records are locked unless both parents consent to making the change.
A family organization and communication tool of the present invention provides a unique Internet tool and method for scheduling, organizing and sharing information among blended families. Among its features are an access schedule illustrating each child and the responsible parent for each day, activity and holiday. Further, is the ability to trade or swap days in parenting responsibility schedules. As well, a user of the tool can utilize its ask and approve expense log to share child expenses between the parents.
An overview flowchart of the family organization and communication tool (the tool) 10 of the present invention is provided in
Referring once again to
The holiday access schedule 216 web page depicted in
A further feature of the calendar 200 is the ability to establish single and/or recurring events 242 for each child.
With the access schedule and various calendar events defined, the user can view the calendar in a weekly, monthly, or yearly format, an example of the monthly format is provided in
Each event box 262 is outlined, to the left, right and bottom, with bars. The bar to the left in the event box 262 is the “drop-off” bar 263, a bar that is color-coded to indicate which parent will be dropping off the child at the noted event. The bar to the right in the event box 262 is the “pick-up” bar 264, a bar that is color-coded to indicate which parent is responsible for picking up the child from the event. The bar to the bottom in the event box 262 the “child indicator” bar 265, a bar that is color-coded to indicate which child is participating in the event. The background 266 of the event box 262 is color-coded to indicate which parent is responsible for the child during the event. And, a data field 267 is provided within the event box 262 to provide a description of the event, with words and/or an icon, as well as the start and stop time of the event. It should be noted that while the use of color-coding and the use of bars are the preferred method of indicating the parents and children involved with the calendar, other methods of indicating the children/parents can be used without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
An additional function of the calendar function 200, is the trade/swap function 268, which is enabled through the web page of the tool 10 that is depicted in
Additional functions of the calendar function 200 of the tool 10 include the ability to journal 275 relative to the calendar.
Further functions of the calendar function 200 of the tool 10 include accessory functions 283 such as display, print, and export. Both calendar 260 and the journal calendar 275 preferably provide the user not only with the ability to view a weekly, monthly, and yearly calendar format but also provide the ability to click on any entry within the calendar 260, 275 to have the details of the entry displayed on a separate page. Further, both the calendar 260 and the journal calendar 275 are provided with the option of selecting a “printable” option to create a printer-friendly format of the calendar. See
The message function 300 presents the user with a message board 302 to which all messages sent to the user via the tool 10 are posted, see
To create a new message 316, the user is preferably presented with a message template, such as that shown in
The information bank function 400 of the tool 10 enables the parent users to store information about each member of the family. The information is already organized by the tool 10 into the following sections: (1) Activities 402; (2) Address Book 404; (3) Child Care Providers 406; (4) Family Vitals 408; (5) Financial Information 410; (6) School Information 412; (7) Religious Information 414; (8) My Files 416; and (9) Medical Information 418, see
For example, the activity 402 section of the information bank 400 enables the user to enter detailed information about an activity via the “new activity” template 420 presented in
The expense log function 500 of the tool 10 allows the parent to enter expenses for their children, categorize the expense by type, and track the other parent's approval and payment. The expense types are customizable to facilitate each individual's needs. Upon entering the expense log function 500, the user is presented with an expense log summary 502 page, as shown in
A user may create a new expense by selecting the “create expense” option 526 from the summary 502, upon which the user is presented with the “new expense” template 528 of
The expense log function 500 of the tool 10 enables the user to create different types of expenses. For example, see the setup page 543 of
The “my account” function 600 of the tool 10 provides the means to maintain the user's personal information including home and business addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. It further enables the storage of the user's site preferences, such as the colors desired to represent each child and parent, as well as enable the user to establish and save their own “quick list,” a list of the most frequently used pages within the tool for quick and easy access to those pages. The “my account” function 600 also enables the user to add, edit, and delete child accounts and/or “view only” accounts.
VI. E-Coupon FunctionThe e-coupon function 700 of the tool 10 allows member users to have the benefit of access to e-coupons that the tool provider has worked to secure for their members. E-coupons are provided in such areas as books, communication, home improvement, photograph, travel, clothing, health, pets, and recreation among others. Members can simply select the coupon they desire and print it for their use.
VII. Resources FunctionThe resources function 800 of the tool 10 provides links to web sites and services for member users that are focused on families and children. It becomes very difficult to determine which sites are appropriate for the members of a user's family. The resource section supplies families with children, family oriented sites that the tool provider believes will educate, guide, and entertain the user members and their families. The links to resources are provided in such areas as family resources, interne safety tips, consumer safety tips, tools for families, links to filtering software, and reporting trouble online, among others.
VIII. Log Out FunctionThe log out function 900 of the tool enables the user to end their session with the tool 10. After logging out, all data about the current tool session is removed from the user's computer and from the tool provider's temporary database.
An additional feature that applies to all functions noted above is that of a date and time stamp. Every page within the tool 10 web site is marked in the footer with the last time each person viewed the page. Individual entries are all recorded with who performed the entry and at what time the entry was performed. See, for example, item 902 in
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the essential attributes thereof; therefore, the illustrated embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A system for creating an electronic access schedule for parents and children of blended families.
2. A method for creating an electronic access schedule for parents and children of blended families.
3. A system for requesting, granting and/or denying a trade or swap of days of responsibility by a parent for a child.
4. A method for requesting, granting and/or denying a trade or swap of days of responsibility by a parent for a child.
5. A parent communication system established electronically through a web site wherein each page of the web site is marked with an indication the date and time that each parent has accessed said page.
6. A parent communication system that enables posting of entries to a parent communication web site, wherein each posted entry can only be edited or deleted by the original creator of the entry.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 29, 2013
Publication Date: Feb 27, 2014
Applicant: AVIRAT, Inc. (St. Louis Park, MN)
Inventors: Jainarain R. Kissoon (Columbia Heights, MN), Deonarine Kissoon (Prior Lake, MN), Kathleen Kissoon (Prior Lake, MN), Lawrence Patterson (Minneapolis, MN), Dara Wegener-Volker (Andover, MN), Paul Volker (Andover, MN)
Application Number: 14/013,414
International Classification: G06Q 10/10 (20060101);