Fully Customizable Mobile Greeting Card App

Abstract

A system is provided for downloading a fully customizable greeting card application to a mobile device such as a tablet, the application simulating the behavior of a child making handmade cards with blank paper and physical drawing tools and other decorative effects. The application allows a user to create a card from a variety of pre-designed greeting card templates or to fully customize three full pages of a blank greeting card. A completed greeting card may be electronically mailed to one or more email recipients or one or more copies of the greeting card can be ordered and purchased from within the application and may be printed and sent from a remote fulfillment facility to one or more specified recipients. The application contains parental controls for ordering and purchasing the greeting cards while not interfering with a child's ability to fully express their creativity through various in-app drawing tools and available effects.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/969,335, filed on Mar. 24, 2014. This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/460,045, filed on Apr. 30, 2012, which is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/481,028, filed on Apr. 29, 2011 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/486,050, filed on May 13, 2011. Each of the above-referenced patent applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of social expression products and more specifically, fully customizable electronic greeting cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure and related inventions is directed to an electronic greeting card application for mobile devices. The application is geared toward children but may be used in a variety of circumstances by children and adults alike. It provides users with the ability to create a greeting card using pre-loaded greeting card designs in various greeting card categories or to create a fully customizable greeting card completely from scratch. To facilitate user customization of the greeting cards, the application provides a suite of drawing tools, design elements, and also provides the ability to upload photos or other personal digital effects. A digital signature can be used to sign the greeting card in the user's own handwriting. Once a greeting card has been designed and customized by a user, he/she can either send the greeting card electronically to a recipient or he/she may choose to have the greeting card printed at a remote location and sent either to themselves or to one or more greeting card recipients.

The present disclosure and related inventions also provide a way for parents to allow children to be creative and create a fully (or partially) customized greeting card without having the expense of purchasing the wide array of drawing tools available from within the digital application. It is also a way to keep things tidy with no clean-up required once the child is done crafting his/her personalized creation. An actual physical representation of the child's greeting card can be realized by purchasing one or more copies of said card and sending same to one or more selected recipients.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of the home screen of the app of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is an exemplary embodiment of the “Pick-a-Card” grid view screen.

FIG. 2B is an exemplary embodiment of the “Pick-a-Card” single view screen.

FIG. 3A is an exemplary embodiment of the first page of a greeting card selected through the “Pick-a-Card” option.

FIG. 3B is an exemplary embodiment of the first page of the greeting card of FIG. 3A in edit mode.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary embodiment of an inside page of a greeting card selected through the Pick-a-Card” option with text entry and digital signature features.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary embodiment of an inside page of a greeting card selected through the “Pick-a-Card” option, with picture adding feature.

FIG. 6A is an exemplary embodiment of the front page of a greeting card selected through the “Make-a-Card” option, with partial (first half) tool carousel.

FIG. 6B is an exemplary embodiment of the front page of a greeting card selected through the “Make-a-Card” option, with partial (second half) tool carousel.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Make-a-Card” color carousel.

FIG. 8A is an exemplary embodiment of the “Make-a-Card” add (keyboard) text screen.

FIG. 8B is an exemplary embodiment of the card of FIG. 8A with text added via drawing tool.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary embodiment of a “Make-a-Card” greeting card panel with drawing and stamps added, and stamp carousel.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary embodiment of the rear “Make-a-Card” greeting card panel.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Cards Read to Send” screen.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary embodiment of a screen indicating that parental/adult involvement is necessary.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary embodiment of a screen which requires a parental/adult touch screen gesture.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary embodiment of the parental/adult “Sign-In” screen.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary embodiment of the parental/adult “Confirmation” screen.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Address/Envelope” screen.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Review Order” screen.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Payment” screen.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Parental Dashboard”.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Settings” screen.

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram of an exemplary system environment for electronically merchandising and delivering greeting card templates and app updates over the internet.

FIG. 22 is a flow diagram of an exemplary system environment for sending user-created designs through the order process.

FIG. 23 is a flow diagram of an exemplary app user experience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS

The fully customizable greeting card application of the present invention provides an electronic option for children to create customized greeting cards. The application simulates the existing behavior of children making customized handmade greeting cards from blank, foldable paper, using a variety of physical drawing tools such as, for example, crayons and markers to write or draw upon said paper, and using a plurality of embellishments, such as, for example, stickers and stamps to further embellish and add a personal touch to the greeting card. The completed greeting card can be sent electronically to one or more greeting card recipients or the completed greeting card can be ordered as an in-app purchase and remotely printed and sent via the U.S. Postal Service to one or more greeting card recipients. While the greeting card and associated application is described herein as being directed to children and described as simulating a child's behavior in creating a handmade greeting card, it is contemplated that the application is adaptable to a wide variety of situations and uses and it is intended that the application may be used by users of any age.

The application has been described herein as being a mobile application for download to a mobile computing device, such as an Apple iPad®. However, the application may be used with other mobile devices such as a smart phone, other tablet computers, laptop computers, and the like. Also, other types of tablet computers such as the Samsung Galaxy®, the Microsoft Surface® and others can be used. The application can be used with any computing device having a touch screen. The program may be manipulated by the use of a user's finger or by a stylus or other touch capacitive device.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention applies. The examples set forth herein are intended to describe particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the invention in any way.

The term “software” or “computer program” as used herein includes, but is not limited to: one or more computer or machine readable and/or executable instructions that cause a computer, microprocessor, logic circuit, or other electronic device to perform functions, actions and/or behave in a desired manner. The instructions may be embodied in various forms such as routines, algorithms, modules or programs including separate applications or code from dynamically linked libraries. Software may also be implemented in various forms such as stand-alone programs, apps, a function call, a servlet, an applet, instructions stored in a memory or any other computer readable medium, part of an operating system o other type of executable instructions. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the form of software is dependent on, for example, requirements of a desired application, the environment it runs on, and/or the desires of a designer/programmer or the like.

“Mobile application” or “Mobile App” or “App” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: applications that run on smart phones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. The terms “mobile application”, “mobile app” and “app” can be used synonymously with “software”. Mobile applications allow users to connect to services which are traditionally available on a desktop or notebook platforms. Typically, these services access the internet or intranet or cellular or wireless fidelity networks to access, retrieve, transmit and share data.

The terms “computer”, “processor” or “processing unit” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: any programmed or programmable electronic device, microprocessor, logic unit that can store, retrieve and process data.

The term “network” as used herein includes, but is not limited to: a collection of hardware components and computer or machines interconnected by communications channels that allow sharing of resources and information, including, without limitation, the worldwide web or the internet.

The term “web browser” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: a software for retrieving and presenting information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource may be a web page, an image, a video, or any other type of electronic content.

The term “server” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: a computer or machine or a device on a network that manages network resources. The general term “server” may include specific types of servers such as a file server (a computer and storage device dedicated to storing files), a print server (a computer that manages one or more printers), a network server (a computer than manages network traffic), and a database server (a computer system that processes database queries). Although servers are frequently dedicated to performing only server tasks, certain multiprocessing operating systems allow a server to manage other non-server related resources. A “web server” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: a server which serves content to a web browser by lading a file from a disk and serving it across a network to a user's web browser, typically using a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP).

“API files” or “API” or “Application Programming Interface” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: an interface between different software programs or software files which facilitate the interaction of the different software programs or software files by way of a specific set of rules and specifications.

“Electronic Greeting Card”, “e-greeting”, “e-greeting card” or “e-card”, as used herein, includes, but is not limited to any greeting card, or a personalized message or a message which delivers a pieces of communication from one user to another user or non-user through electronic media.

Downloading the App

Once downloaded, the app of the present invention provides the user with the option of creating a customized greeting card by starting out with a pre-loaded greeting card template (“Pick a Card” 12) or by providing a blank slate, akin to a blank piece of paper, which a user may fully customize (“Make a Card” 10). As shown in FIG. 1, the “home” screen provides the user with both create-a-card options plus give the user access to the “Cards Ready to Send” 14 screen, where previously made greeting cards are saved and the “Where's My Card?’ 16 screen, which provides the status of previously sent greeting cards. The “Where's My Card” 16 feature is inaccessible until there are cards which have been sent to order. These features will be discussed in further detail below.

“Pick-a-Card”

If the user chooses to create a greeting card using a pre-loaded greeting card template (the “Pick a Card” 12 option), the user is given a variety of greeting card categories 18 from which to choose a suitable greeting card template. These greeting card categories 18 may include, but are not limited to: birthday; get well; miss you; thank you; and seasonal holiday cards such as, for example, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. Photo cards are also available in a separate category and are represented by a “Say Cheese” camera icon. The “Pick a Card” 12 function can be presented to the user via a grid view, shown in FIG. 2A, wherein the front face of a variety greeting card templates 20 are shown on the screen and selectable by the user. The user may scroll up and down the grid view by swiping up or down on the touch screen. Alternately, the “Pick a Card” 12 function can be presented in a single card view, shown in FIG. 2B, by selecting the “grid” icon 21B on the upper right side of the screen (user can likewise switch back to the single card view by tapping the “single” icon 21A) wherein the front face of a single greeting card 20 template is shown on the screen at a time and the user can iterate through each template by swiping left or right, on a card-by-card basis. The greeting cards 20 are visualized on a carousel of greeting cards which can be browsed with the swipe of a finger. Each greeting card 20 has a pre-defined “resting point” on the carousel which it will “snap” into if close enough thereto. Snapping into this point may also activate information pop-ups and voiceovers to let the user know what can be done with each particular card. In both the grid view and the single card view, a group of icons representing various greeting card categories 18 is shown at the bottom portion of the screen. The user may select a category 18 from the carousel, upon which the main content area of the carousel will be refreshed only with greeting cards 20 which fall into the category selected by the user. Since many users of the application may be children below an age at which they can read, heavy use of iconography and voiceover are used to aid in navigation (e.g. smiley face for “thank you”, heart for Valentine's Day, etc.). The user may swipe his/her finger to the right or to the left to view, select, and navigate between any of the available greeting cards 20. For example, a user may swipe to the right to move from the first card to the least card, while the user may swipe left to move from the last card to the first card. While browsing through the available greeting card templates 20, a user may select a particular greeting card template 20 by tapping on the particular card in order to view the inside greeting card sentiment and/or artwork. The user is able to easily navigate through each page of the greeting card 20 by interacting with the user interface. Since the user interface is a touch screen, the user may tap on a greeting card 20 to open the selected card's interactive view. The application depicts a conventional, folded four page paper card having four pages, including a front cover page (page 1 P1), a left inside page (page 2 P2), a right inside page (page 3 P3) and a rear page (page 4 P4). The greeting card 20 may, in other embodiments contain less than four pages, such as one, two or three pages, or the greeting card may contain multiple greeting card pages which include embodiments with greater than four pages. This disclosure will refer to the preferred embodiment as having four pages, although other numbers of pages have been contemplated and are considered to be within the scope of the present invention. To move between the various pages P1-P4 of the greeting card 20, the user may tap and drag the greeting card panel P1-P4 to either the left or the right. For example, the user may tap and drag from right to left of page 1 P1, to view the inside right page (page 3 P3) of the greeting card. To view the inside left page (page 2 P2) from the inside right page (page 3 P3) the user may tap page 3 P3 and drag from right to left. To move back to the inside right page (page 3 P3) the user may tap page 2 P2 and drag from left to right. To move to the rear page (page 4 P4) with page 2 P2 facing forward, the user may tap page 3 P3 and drag from right to left. Once the user finds an appropriate greeting card 20, he/she can select the “Personalize” icon to begin adding personalized sentiment to the selected greeting card template 20. Once the user has chosen to personalize a particular greeting card 20, the greeting card appears in an “edit” view wherein the user my iterate through the greeting card pages P1-P4 by tapping the right 22R or left 22L arrows contained on the sides of each greeting card page. Each greeting card template 20 contains specified areas on the greeting card 20 which can be personalized by the user. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the front page P1 of a birthday greeting card 20 may contain an editable text box 24 into which the user can enter the greeting card recipient's name. Other greeting cards 20 may contain text editable portions which contain an icon such as a pencil and/or a phrase such as “Tap to Write a Message”, indicating to the user where to tap on the template to begin adding personalized text or data. Once the user taps onto the editable portion of the template, a virtual keyboard 26 appears and he or she may add the recipient's name or other personalized text sentiment, as shown in FIG. 3B. The inside pages of the greeting card may contain additional text boxes for adding text sentiment. One example, shown in FIG. 4A, contains a text box on the inside right panel of the greeting card indicated by the text box 24, “typewriter” icon 28 and the phrase “Tap to Write Message”. Tapping into this box 24 will cause the virtual keyboard 26 to appear on the screen so the user can enter a text message. Also on this page is a box 30 with a “pencil” icon 32 and the phrase “Tap to Sign Your Card”. When the user taps into this box 30, he/she is able to add his/her digital signature. The user will first be prompted to select a line width in which he/she would like his/her signature to appear. Then he/she can sign his/her signature on the box 30 with his/her finger. The user may tap the “trash can” icon located below the signature box to erase his/her signature, or he/she may tap the “done” icon to return to the greeting card. Other editable areas 34 of the greeting card template are indicated as being able to accept a user-uploaded picture or other digital data. These editable areas 34 may be indicated by a camera icon 36 or the phrase “Tap to Add a Picture”, as shown in FIG. 5. Simply tapping on this section 34 of the template will initiate the upload process by displaying a search screen onto which the user can enter or select the path and select the specific file which the user wants to upload to the greeting card template 20. Alternatively, the application may allow the user to take a picture with the camera on the portable device and use said picture in the greeting card 20. During the editing process, a set of icons is available to the user along a top portion of the template or screen which allow the user to save a particular template (“disk” icon 40), to delete data entered (“trash can” icon 38) into a particular template, to zoom in on (“magnifying glass” icon 42) a particular area of a selected template, or to finish editing the greeting card (“done” icon 46). When the user is satisfied with the greeting card, he/she can select the “done” icon 46 to be taken directly to the “Cards Ready to Send” 14 screen wherein the completed greeting card 20, along with any other saved (but not yet sent) greeting cards 20 will appear.

“Make-a-Card”

If the user chooses to create a fully customizable blank greeting card 50 from scratch (the “Make a Card” option), he/she will be presented with a blank screen symbolizing the cover page P1 of the greeting card 50, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The first three pages P1-P3 of the blank greeting card 50 are fully customizable, wherein the first three pages P1-P3 are completely blank until the user adds text, artwork, a photo or other digital upload, or a combination thereof. Each page of the first three pages P1-P3 of the blank greeting card 50 is separately customizable to simulate the drawing of a paper greeting card wherein each page is separately personalized. The application may “auto save” between pages. An “up” arrow (“A”) 48U at the bottom of the screen can be selected which reveals a suite of tools 52 available to the user, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The suite of tools 52 (also referred to herein interchangeably as “tool box” or “tool carousel”) will appear as a scroll or carousel across the bottom portion of the screen. Icons representing the various tools 52A-52N appear in a row along the carousel 52. The user can scroll through the carousel 52 by moving his/her finger left and right along the carousel. The drawing tools include, but are not limited to: fat paintbrush 52A; thin paintbrush 52B; thin paintbrush 52C; regular pencil 52D; crayon 52E; colored pencil 52F; marker 52G; tube of paint 52K and chalk 52H. Selecting a specific drawing tool 52A-52N will reveal a plurality of the chosen drawing tool 52A-52N in various colors. For example, if the “crayon” icon 52E is selected from the tool carousel 52, the selections on the carousel change into a plurality of crayons 52E, each of a different color as shown in FIG. 6C. To draw with a particular colored crayon 52E, the user simply picks (taps) the crayon 52E and begins to draw or write with his/her finger on the blank greeting card 50, as shown in FIG. 7. To change back to a different drawing tool 52A-52N, the user can select the “back” arrow 54 to return to the original suite of tools 52. The tool carousel 52 is hidden from view while the user is editing the greeting card 50 with a selected tool 52. It can also be manually removed or hidden from the screen by selecting the “down” arrow (“”) 48D. Also, as mentioned above, while the user is editing the greeting card 50, to move between pages P1-P4 of the greeting card 50, the user must use the “right” 22R or “left” 22L arrow, located at the right and left side of the greeting card 50. As shown in FIG. 8A, the user can insert a text box 56 for inserting text from the virtual keyboard 26 by selecting the “ABC” icon 52L from the tool carousel. As shown in FIG. 8B, the user may also write text sentiment by selecting one of the many drawing tools 52A-52N. The user may also use one of the many drawing tools 52A-52N to draw a picture 58, and add other decorative effects by using the stamp feature 52N, as shown in FIG. 9. The tool carousel 52 located across the bottom of the screen (shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B) gives the user the option of selecting from various tools 52A-52N to decorate pages one (1) through three (3) P1-P3 of the blank greeting card 50. For example, in addition to the drawing tools mentioned above the tool carousel 52 may additionally contain, but is not limited to: a “camera” icon 52M (for uploading a personal photo); a “sticker” icon 52N (for adding various stickers); an “ABC” icon 52L (for adding text sentiment); a “stamp” icon 52N (for adding decorative stamps); a “frame” icon 52M (for adding a frame around a photo). The user can add text via a pop-up keyboard 26 by selecting the “ABC” icon 52L from the tool carousel 52. The user may alternatively use his/her finger to draw text onto the card. Selecting the “camera” icon 52M allows a user to either upload a picture from his/her mobile device or to take a picture with his/her device and then add said picture to the greeting card 50. Once a picture has been uploaded, the user may edit the photo by using various touch screen gestures. For example, a user may pinch or stretch the screen to zoom or place and turn two or more fingers on the photo to rotate or tilt the photo. The “stamp” 52N or “sticker” 521 icon can be used to add a variety of stamps 52N or stickers 521 onto the greeting card 50 by first selecting, for example, the “stamp” icon 52N. Then, the tool carousel 52 will change into the various stamp options 52N. After selecting a particular stamp 52N, the user may then just tap on a particular area of the card 50 to place the stamp 52N on that area (as shown in FIG. 9). The “sticker” option 521 is used in the same manner. There may be some special stickers 521 on the sticker carousel which have a cost associated therewith. These stickers 521 may contain certain licensed content or characters. If the user selects a sticker 521 which is not free, a message will pop-up indicating that there is a cost associated with the sticker along with the actual cost. If the user opts to purchase the sticker 521, he/she must involve a parent/adult to complete the purchase. An “eraser” icon 52J is available so that the user may easily clear any unwanted hand-draw art. The eraser 52J does not erase parts of stamps 52N, stickers 521, text 52L or photos 52M. Any of the tools 52 located on the tools carousel 52 can be used on any of the first P1, second P2 or third page P3 of the blank greeting card 50. On the back cover or last page P4 of the greeting card 50, shown in FIG. 10, the phrase “Made by” appears in an text box 60, after which the user may enter his/her name to further personalize the greeting card 50. As mentioned above with the “Pick-a-Card” 12 option, a series of icons is available across the top of the screen while the user is editing the “Make-a-Card” greeting card 50. The user can delete the entire card by selecting the “trash” icon 38. Selecting the “trash” icon 38 will prompt a message box asking the user if he/she is sure he/she wants to delete the current card. The user may also undo a previous action by selecting the “undo” or “back” arrow icon 62. The user may also save his/her work by selecting the “save” disk icon 40 or he/she may zoom the particular page by selecting the “zoom” magnifying glass icon 42. Once the user is satisfied with his/her work, the “done” icon 46 may be selected. Once the “done” icon 46 has been selected, the user is automatically directed to the “Cars Ready to Send” 14 screen wherein the completed greeting card 50, along with any other saved (but not yet sent) greeting cards will appear.

Saving Customized Greeting Cards

Once a greeting card 20 or 50, whether made from scratch or from an existing template, is saved by the user, the completed card is visible from the “Cards Ready to Send” 14 screen, which is accessible through the main menu. If the “saved card” area is empty, the user is encouraged to make a greeting card and given the option to “Make a New Card” 10 or “Pick a Card” 12. If there are saved cards 20 or 50, the front page P1 of each saved card 20 or 50 is shown on this screen, as shown in FIG. 11. Tapping on the front face P1 of one of the completed cards 20 or 50, brings up the front face P1 of the greeting card 20 or 50 along with a “trash can” icon 38 wherein the user can delete the greeting card 20 or 50, a “pencil” icon 62 wherein the user can edit the saved greeting card 20 or 50, and the “mailbox” icon 64 wherein the user can initiate the send process. The user may store up to “X” completed greeting cards 20 or 50.

Sending a Customized Greeting Card

As discussed in further detail below, once a child user has created a customized greeting card and is ready to send said card to a recipient, he/she must involve his/her parent or an adult to further accomplish this task. For example, if the child user taps on the “send” mailbox icon, he/she will be prompted to get his/her parent to complete the mailing process, as shown in FIG. 12.

Send Options

The user (parent/adult) has the option of sending the child's customized greeting card 20 or 50 to a physical facility which is operative to receive, print and mail the customized greeting card 20 or 50 to the intended recipient. The user may alternatively opt to send an electronic version of the child's customized greeting card via SMS text message, email or to post the greeting card to a social media website, such as Facebook® or Twitter®. The electronic version of the greeting card may also be sent to a photo finishing website, such as Snapfish® or Shutterfly®. Another available option is for the user to send the customized greeting card 20 or 50 to a local retail store for printing and pickup. In this case, the user may enter his/her zip code to view a list of nearby retail locations with the print and pickup service.

“where's My Card?”

Once a greeting card has been sent to a recipient, by including a parent or other adult in completing the send process, discussed in detail below, the user may visit the “Where's My Card?” screen via the main menu, as shown in FIG. 13. The “Where's My Card’ screen is a visual way for a child to understand the stage of the printing/mailing process in which their greeting card is currently located. For example, a visual path is shown between “sending” the greeting card and having the greeting card “delivered” to the recipient. For each “sent” greeting card, a child can visit this page to watch how each greeting card is progressing through the send/print/mail/deliver process. This option will only appear in the application if there are cards to be mailed to a recipient.

Parental/Adult Participation

While a child may open the greeting card application and create a greeting card (whether by picking a greeting card template 20 or by creating a greeting card from scratch 50), parental or adult participation is necessary for the child to actually order and send, print or mail a greeting card 20 or 50. A “parental gateway” (also referred to herein interchangeably as “authentication gateway”) separates the child-enabled portions of the application from the order, payment and mailing process. The “parental gateway” on the application assumes that a child is of an age that he/she may be unable to read. In order to reach the order and payment screen, the application asks the user to perform some non-common function or gesture, such as, for example, swipe from left to right using two fingers or swipe right with three fingers, as shown in FIG. 14. The actions requested by the application frequently change so that a child cannot memorize the action.

Once the parent or adult has entered through the “parental gateway”, he/she may decide to “take a tour” of the application, especially if it is his/her first time using the application. The “take a tour” option will guide the adult user through a series of screens to show the various capabilities and options provided by the application. Text instruction or descriptions may also appear on the screen. Once the user has completed the “take a tour” option, or if he/she bypasses this option, he/she must sign in to the application or if it is the first time ordering greeting cards through the application, he/she must create an account, as shown in FIG. 15. The account creation process begins by entering a unique email address 66 and password 68. Once the unique email address 66 and password 68 are established, the adult must further provide the application with a first name, last name, and birthday. The user has the option of allowing the application to use the provided email address to send emails and updates relating to the application. For security reasons, adults/parents are required to re-authenticate or provide login credentials each time they access the parental dashboard (discussed in further detail below). Also, the application may require re-authentication after inactivity for a pre-determined amount of time.

The adult user has the option of sending his/her child's greeting card 20 or 50 electronically via email to a recipient or to order one or more copies of the greeting card 20 or 50 and have them sent either to themselves, whereby they can personally mail or deliver said card, or have the application mail the greeting card 20 or 50 directly to the specified recipient(s). If the user decides to have the greeting card 20 or 50 mailed out by the application, the application sends a digital file containing the customized greeting card 20 or 50 to a fulfillment center which receives, prints and mails out the greeting card(s). The physical product that is printed at the fulfillment center is made with the same quality of store bought greeting cards.

The authorization required to print and send a selected personalized greeting card to a provided recipient address via the U.S. Postal Service is, as a precaution, set to “no” as the default selection 70, as shown in FIG. 16. This requires the adult-user to actively change the “no” to “yes” to have the select greeting card 20 or 50 mail to the provided recipient. The adult-user must then provide both the sender 72 and the recipient 74 addresses, as shown in FIG. 17. This may be provided manually by typing the addresses 72, 74 into the application or the addresses 72, 74 may alternatively be selected from the adult-user's contacts or from the adult-user's address book created on the Cardstore.com website. Addresses selected from My Contacts or Cardstore address book may be edited once they are imported to the application. The adult-user may be prompted to add the edited changes to the Cardstore address book. The application will notify the adult-user of any errors in the provided address and allow the adult-user to correct said errors. Once any address errors have been corrected, the adult-user will receive an order summary 76, including the cost and also provide the adult-user with the option to add and apply a promotional code, as shown in FIG. 18. Once the application has determined that the provided addresses and optional promotional codes contain no errors, the adult-user is then prompted to enter payment information 78, shown in FIG. 19. The adult-user has the option of saving entered credit card information for later use. Whether or not provided credit card information is saved for later use, once the credit card information is determined to be error-free, the user is then prompted to submit payment. After payment is submitted, a confirmation email is sent to the provided email address. The adult-user may the return to the application home screen or to the “Where's My Card” 16 screen, as described above.

A parent dashboard 80 is available to view order history 80A, view and edit account information 80B; and view, edit and add to saved payments 80C. If the adult-user has previously ordered greeting cards through the application, the order history 80A will show the front face P1 of each previously ordered greeting card 20 or 50 along with the order number, send date, recipient, price and status (sent, delivered, etc.), as shown in FIG. 20. The adult-user may also view and update account settings 82 including adjusting the application volume 82A; turn application sound effects on/off 82B; turn voiceover on/off 82C; view the application privacy policy 82D; view the application terms and conditions 82E; view application information 82F and/or frequently asked questions 82G; or sign in/out of account 82H, as shown in FIG. 21.

Hardware/Software

Once the application is downloaded to a portable computing device, the app provides a system for merchandising and delivery greeting cards (both physical and electronic). FIG. 22 depicts a flow diagram of this exemplary system environment 100 for electronically merchandising and delivering greeting card content over the internet, consistent with the exemplary methods described herein. In one embodiment, the system environment 100 may include, but is not limited to: a content merchandising system 110, a content delivery platform (not shown), a cloud service system 120 and a plurality of portable computing devices 130.

The content merchandising system 110 may consist of any number of computers or serves that the merchandiser uses to program and create electronic and physical greeting card templates and card categories to be downloaded to users' portable computing devices. The content delivery platform is the software platform which enables the content merchandiser to program and create electronic greeting cards and card categories to be downloaded to the users' portable computing devices. A content merchandiser may include the owner/host/provider of the app or a third party provider which provides content, such as card categories or greeting card templates, to the owner/host/provider for use in the content merchandising system 110. A cloud service system 120 is a collection of servers, including web servers 125.

Using the content merchandising system 110, a content merchandiser programs card categories and electronic greeting card templates into the content delivery platform. Programming card categories may include, but are not limited to: creating new card categories, deleting existing card categories, and modifying existing card categories. Categories may correspond to birthdays, anniversaries, or any other type of holidays or events. Similarly, programming electronic greeting cards may include, but is not limited to: creating new greeting card templates, deleting existing greeting card templates, and modifying existing greeting card templates. After the card categories and/or greeting card templates are programmed into the content delivery platform, the changes 140 are propagated or transmitted into the cloud service system 120. Changes 140 include any edits, updates, deletions and additional to the card categories and/or greeting card templates. The cloud service system 120 may include or interact with a plurality of web servers 125 that are disposed in communication with the system environment 100.

A plurality of portable computing devices 130 with the downloaded app monitor the cloud service system 120 for changes 140. Once changes 140 are recognized by the plurality of portable computing devices 130, any of said devices 130 request the changes 140 from the cloud service system 120. Depending on the type of portable computing device 130, making the request for changes 140, an Application Programming Interface (API) 160 of the content delivery platform serves up or transmits changes 140 that correspond to the type of portable computing device 130 making the request. The changes 140 are stored in the portable computing device 130 local cache 150 for later use. Local cache 150 in each portable computing device may assist in reducing network bandwidth, improving User Interface (UI) responsiveness, enabling offline usage and preserving battery life. When the app is loaded initially, the app will download a content catalog and card content through the API 160. The app also requests card content for new categories and cards based on respective device screen sizes and resolutions (i.e., pixel density). The API 160 provides a nearest match for the requested sizes, so that resources for a particular tablet computer, for example, will serve larger or smaller content than resources for other smaller or larger screened devices. In one embodiment, subsequent for the content changes 140 are then made by comparison to the applicable local cache 150, each time checking whether the existing content has changed. If the cache has changed, before downloaded the new changes, the app will check with the server whether or not the content has been modified. This validation step helps to prevent unnecessary requests for redundant data. In another embodiment, subsequent requests for the content changes 140 are made to the API 160 without first checking for changes to the existing content in the local cache 150. Here, new content is simply requested from the API 160, and any new content provided therein by the API 160 is cached in the local cache 150.

On the back end of the application, once a user has created and finalized a customized greeting card, the system is configured to send a rendering of the greeting card to be printed and mailed to the intended recipient. This configuration includes a system of hardware and software (both physical and virtual) which is logically separated into a client application, which includes, but is not limited to: one or more web servers, one or more application servers per step (for example, Product Rendering 210 and Product Submit 220, each being a step), and facilities capable of generating physical custom greeting cards. In one embodiment, shown in FIG. 23, user-created designs captured on the electronic device 230, consisting of but not limited to images and text data, are communicated over a network to one or more web servers via an Application Programming Interface (API) 260. The application utilizes any network capabilities supported by the computing device. The web servers 240 communicate these designs to the Product Rendering Service 210. The Product Rendering Service 210, itself running on one or more application servers, converts the design into a specific layout of proper alignment and quality to be printed as a physical greeting card. The layout is then communicated to the Order Submit Service 220. The Order Submit Service 220, itself running on one or more application servers, converts the card design output from the Product Rendering Service 210 into a format compatible with the Print Facility 250. The Print Facility uses the data from the Order Submit Service 220 to print high quality greeting cards based on the user-created designs from the computing device.

User Operation and Flow of App

FIG. 24 shows a user flow diagram which outlines the user experience 300 when interacting with the app. The home screen 310 is the hub for the entire app experience and where all “roads” lead from and eventually back to. The home screen options will focus on the primary activities of the app, namely, “Make-a-Card” 320 (3 fully customizable blank pages) and “Pick-a-Card” 330 (greeting card template with customization areas), with access to “Cards Ready to Send” 340 (provides access to each saved greeting card). The home screen (as well as all other app screens) also provides a banner along the top of the screen which provides access to a help menu (onboarding experience, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding how to interaction with the application) and a global settings menu (control basic app settings such as volume, background music, and voiceover options, privacy policy, terms of service, feedback and information about the app). The home screen also include access points to “Make-a-Card” 320, “Pick-a-Card” 330, “Cards Ready to Send” 340, “Where's My Card” 350 and the “Parental Dashboard” 360. Also, the first the time app is launched after install, users will be prompted to take a tour of the application. This will be repeatable via the global help settings 370.

The “Pick-a-Card” 330 option provides a plurality of greeting card templates having various customization areas. The greeting card templates are located on a carousel that can be browsed with the swipe of a finger. If the user selects a category from the smaller carousel below, then the main content area will be refreshed with cards from only that category, and the label at the top will show the category name. This screen also allows the user to choose (filter) card choices based on pre-defined categories such as holiday, occasion, event, or person (family/friend). When a category is selected, the cards for that category appear in the main content area above. Each of the pre-designed greeting cards in each category allow for various levels of customization based on the pre-defined templates. Customization options include, but are not limited to: adding customized text via a keyboard, uploading a personal photo, and adding a digital signature.

The “Make-a-Card” 320 option provides the user with the ability to create a fully customizable greeting card wherein three (3) pages of a four (4) page greeting card are blank and fully customizable by the user. The “tools” and “colors” area of the “Make-a-Card” 320 screen provide most of the user functionality. The tool and color selection are a two-step process whereby only the “tools” tray is visible until the user selects a tool. Once a tool is selected, the tray changes to offer a series of that selected tool in a plurality of different colors. Tools include, but are not limited to: crayons, markers, colored pencils, paint brushes (large and small), watercolors, spray paint, chalk, rubber stamps (pre-set size), stickers (including message stickers with pre-set size), picture frames, photo inserts, insert text box (pre-set fonts and colors). An “eraser” icon only clears hand-drawn art and does not erase parts of stamps, stickers, text or photos.

The “Cards Ready to Send” 340 screen provides access to each saved greeting card. Tapping on a card in this view brings up the card in preview. The user can delete a card from this screen by tapping the “trash can” icon. Users will be asked to confirm this action prior to deletion. Users can also opt to edit or send the greeting card. Tapping the “send” icon will alert the user (kids) that parents (adults) are needed to proceed. In order to send the card, the user will be forced to the password-protected “Authentication Gateway” 380, described in further detail below.

The “Preview Card” 390 screen appears whenever a user opts to edit a previously saved greeting card. The selected card appears on the screen along with a “trash can” icon wherein the user can delete the greeting card, a “pencil” icon wherein the user can edit the greeting card, and a “mailbox icon” wherein the user can send the greeting card. As mentioned above, if a child selects the send option, he/she will be alerted that a parent/adult is needed to proceed. The parent/adult is then prompted to login to the application using his/her email and password.

The “Where's My Card” 350 screen allows the user to check the status of his/her sent card. Cards that have been “sent” will appear in a single-row carousel so that the user can see the order status of any of the cards in process. Because the API does not provide a status after “shipped”, based on a pre-determined time lapse, the card will move through the ordering sequence. Fun visuals will help the user (child) know if the card has been sent or not, is in processing, being shipped or suspected to have been delivered. Only one card is able to be tracked at a time. The selected card's visual state will change to indicate which card is being tracked. Cards will be removed from this screen under two conditions: the parent (adult) trashes the card in the “Ready to Send” 360D screen on the “Parent Dashboard” 360; or after thirty (30) days from the day the parent sends the card. Parents (adults) will be able to access the “Send a Card” 400 feature from behind the “Authentication Gateway” 380 which is not accessible by the child.

The “Global Settings” 370 page allows access to various app controls such as volume control, sound effect and voice over on/off options, the app privacy policy, terms and conditions, information about the app, an option to provide feedback regarding the app, and an option to sign into the app.

The “Authentication Gateway” 380 is the area of the app beyond which user login is required. Existing customers will be prompted for sign in information and new customers will be prompted to register. Baseline registration information may include email address, password, and birthday. Users under the age of thirteen (13) will not be permitted to register for an account. Once a user is logged into the app, they can proceed to the “Parent Dashboard” 360 screen or they may opt to “Sent a Card” 400 including entering payment information and recipient address information.

The “Parent Dashboard” 360 is available behind the “Authentication Gateway” 380 for registered users. This screen provides the user (parent/adult) with the ability to update customer or account information 360A, change notification settings, view order history 360B and saved payment data, edit cards and view cards which are ready to send. The “Ready to Send” 360D area of the “Parent Dashboard” 360 displays a collection of cards that the child user has selected to “send”.

The “Send a Card” 400 screen is accessible beyond the “Authentication Gateway” 380 for registered users to select a card which is ready to send. As mentioned above, users must login to the app using their credentials. New users will be prompted to create an account. Before sending a card, the user must acknowledge that the card they are submitting is correct and ready for printing.

The foregoing embodiments of the present invention have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. These descriptions and embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principle of the invention and its practical applications to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in its various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the invention be defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. An electronic greeting card system including an application downloadable to a portable computing device comprising:

a server;

an electronic greeting card application program that is downloaded to the portable computing device from the server;

the electronic greeting card application having a plurality of greeting card templates for customization by a user, at least one page of the plurality of greeting card templates being completely blank;

a plurality of electronic drawing tools contained within the electronic greeting card application, each of the plurality of electronic drawing tools operative to be selected by a tap of a user's finger upon the touch screen of the portable computing device above one of a plurality of icons representing each of the plurality of electronic drawing tools;

wherein once a user has selected one of the plurality of electronic drawing tools, the user may customize the greeting card by drawing or writing on the touch screen of the portable computing device above the electronic greeting card template.

2. The electronic greeting card system of claim 1, wherein once a user has customized and saved one of the plurality of greeting card templates, the user may order and purchase a physical copy of the customized greeting cards.

3. The electronic greeting card system of claim 1, wherein the system is further operable to electronically send a rendering of a saved customized greeting card template to a print facility for printing a physical copy of the customized greeting card.

4. The electronic greeting card system of claim 3, wherein a user can choose to pick up the physical copy of the customized greeting card at the print facility.

5. The electronic greeting card system of claim 3, wherein a user can choose to have the print facility mail the physical copy of the greeting card to a recipient.

6. The electronic greeting card system of claim 1, wherein the electronic drawing tools are selected from the following: a pencil, a crayon, a marker, a paintbrush, a piece of chalk, a sticker, and a stamper.

7. The electronic greeting card system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of greeting card templates are operative to accept a user photo to be displayed thereon.

8. An electronic greeting card system comprising:

a server;

an electronic greeting card application downloadable from the server to a portable computing device having a touch screen thereon;

the electronic greeting card application operative to provide both pre-designed greeting card templates with one or more areas which can be customized by a user with text, photographs, and/or a digital signature and also blank greeting card templates which can be completely customized by a user with text, drawings, and/or photographs;

wherein the pre-designed and blank greeting card templates are customizable through user interaction with the touch screen of the portable computing device; and

wherein physical printed copies of a customized pre-designed and blank greeting card templates can be purchased and mailed to one or more recipients from within the electronic greeting card application.

9. The electronic greeting card system of claim 8, wherein the blank greeting card templates are customizable with a plurality of electronic drawing tools available from within the electronic greeting card application.

10. The electronic greeting card system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of electronic drawing tools include a pencil, a crayon, a marker, a paintbrush, a piece of chalk, a sticker and a stamper.

11. The electronic greeting card system of claim 9, wherein the user may select to use one of the plurality of electronic drawing tools by tapping on one of a plurality of icons representing each of the plurality of electronic drawing tools.

12. The electronic greeting card system of claim 8, wherein each greeting card template contains four pages.

13. The electronic greeting card system of claim 8, wherein each page of each of the greeting card templates is electronically movable by a user by a touch of a finger.

14. The electronic greeting card system of claim 8, wherein the electronic greeting card application contains safeguards which prevent a child user from ordering or purchasing a physical copy of a customized greeting card without parental consent or participation.

15. A method for creating a physical customized greeting card from within a mobile application comprising the steps of:

downloading an electronic greeting card application to a mobile computing device with a touch screen;

selecting a greeting card having at least three completely blank pages operable to be fully customized by a user;

selecting one of a plurality of electronic drawing tools by tapping one's finger on an icon representing said selected drawing tool;

selecting one of a plurality of colors of the selected one of the plurality of electronic drawing tools by tapping one's finger on an icon representing said selected color;

using one's finger to draw or write or tap upon one or more of the at least three completely blank pages of the greeting card;

wherein one may iterate through the at least three completely blank pages by swiping one's finger to the left or to the right or by tapping on left and right arrows on the touch screen;

saving the customized greeting card;

providing greeting card recipient name and address information to the electronic greeting card application;

providing payment information to the electronic greeting card information;

wherein the electronic greeting card application will process said recipient name and address and payment information and send a rendering of the user's customized greeting card to a print facility which will print a physical copy of the customized greeting card and mail said customized greeting card to the recipient name and address provided by the user.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of adding a name to a fourth partially customizable page of the greeting card.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of providing user email and password information prior to providing the greeting card recipient name and address information.

18. A system for electronic creation of a physical greeting card comprising:

at least one server accessible via a computer network, the at least one server having data thereon defining a blank greeting card template having four pages wherein three of the four pages are completely blank and a plurality of electronic drawing tools;

a mobile computing device for accessing the at least one server;

a mobile application downloaded from the at least one server to the mobile device, the mobile application providing access to the data on the at least one server;

wherein a user may fully customize the blank greeting card template by using one's finger to interact with the blank greeting card template and the plurality of electronic drawing tools through mobile application via a touch screen on the mobile device; and

wherein the user may order and purchase a physical copy of the fully customized representation of the blank greeting card template from within the mobile application and have it printed and mailed to a specified recipient from a remote location.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the user may choose to send an electronic version of the fully customized representation of the blank greeting card template to a recipient via SMS text message or email, or to post the electronic version onto a social media website.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the mobile application also provides the option to select a pre-designed greeting card template having one or more areas which can be customized by a user.