Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-31
2001-02-06
Black, Thomas G. (Department: 2771)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C705S001100, C705S004000, C705S014270
Reexamination Certificate
active
06185555
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to data processing, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for data management using an event transition network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Without limiting the scope of the present invention, this background of the present invention is described in connection with management of marketing data using an event transition network. The present invention, however, is not limited to the management of marketing data. The present invention is applicable to the management of any type of data where it is desirable to implement a flexible architecture that is adaptable by changing rules rather than changing programs.
One goal of marketing is to acquire, retain and maximize relationships with customers. This goal has become increasingly more important to modern businesses as technological advances have created a global economy, reduced the time it takes to bring a product to market, and caused traditional distribution channels to shrink, as more direct communication channels with customers have emerged. As a result, businesses are attempting to clarify their understanding of a customer's brand and lifetime values while simultaneously attempting to analyze those values more quickly.
Despite significant advances in computer technology and these increasing market pressures, marketing data access and business logic are typically governed by inflexible computer systems. These systems typically have long development times and testing cycles and often rely on batch processing. As a result, the benefits from these systems have been largely tactical—the storage and analysis of large amounts of customer data. Even the newer, more advanced systems typically cannot adapt quickly to changes in the marketing needs of businesses because these systems are large, complex and proprietary in nature. As a result, these systems are generally customized for each client and may require significant recoding to implement changes in the way that the data is analyzed and used. Today's marketplace, however, demands marketing tools that have increased performance, scalability and flexibility.
More recently, in an attempt to improve flexibility and deliver more contemporary functionality, new marketing software has been implemented in a two-tiered architecture (client/server). This two-tiered software, however, still mimics the past twenty years of software development with an occasional use of a “programming bus” to separate the interface and database logic layers. Most of these software components have static rather than dynamic functionality, which means that they have difficulty accommodating emerging variations in data types and inter-process control methods. These limitations are particularly problematic in the areas of modern market research, campaign management, media planning and execution. Moreover, these software components require frequent rewrites, which makes a “whole product” solution that can evolve quickly enough to keep pace with today's rapidly expanding marketing knowledge gap virtually impossible to deliver.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention provides a method for managing data by storing one or more data records in a database, creating a management plan having one or more states, selecting one or more data records from the database and assigning each of the selected data records to an initial state in the management plan, updating the values of the one or more elements of each data record with new data, and moving each selected data record to the next state whenever the trigger value matches the updated value of the trigger element. Each data record has one or more elements. Each state has one or more rules. Each rule has a trigger element, a trigger value and a next state.
The present invention also provides a computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for managing data. The computer program comprises code segments for storing one or more data records in a database, creating a management plan having one or more states, selecting one or more data records from the database and assigning each of the selected data records to an initial state in the management plan, updating the values of the one or more elements of each data record with new data, moving each selected data record to the next state whenever the trigger value matches the updated value of the trigger element. Each data record has one or more elements. Each state has one or more rules. Each rule has a trigger element, a trigger value and a next state.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 31951 (1985-07-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 4603232 (1986-07-01), Kurland et al.
patent: 4970681 (1990-11-01), Bennett
patent: 5374951 (1994-12-01), Welsh
patent: 5557658 (1996-09-01), Gregorek et al.
patent: 5628004 (1997-05-01), Gormley et al.
patent: 5640505 (1997-06-01), Hearn
patent: 5734837 (1998-03-01), Flores et al.
patent: 5737726 (1998-04-01), Cameron et al.
patent: 5819263 (1998-10-01), Bromley
patent: 5999908 (1999-12-01), Abelow
patent: 6064971 (2000-05-01), Hartnett
IEEE publication, “Customer partnering: data gathering for complex on-line documentation”, by Hackos et a., vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 102-110, Jun. 1997.
IEEE publication, “Continual queries for internet scale event-driven information delivery”, by Lui et al., vol. 11, No. 4 of IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering, pp. 610-627, Jul. 1999.
Rubric “Corporate Backgrounder” Overview, Sep. 1998, pp. 1-31.
Rubric “Enterprise Marketing Automation” Overview, May 1998, pp. 1-3.
Gramley George W.
Hatcherson Rob
Major Debbie A.
Sprenger Jeff H.
Thompson Richard A.
Black Thomas G.
Chalker Daniel J.
Gardere & Wynne, LLP
M/A/R/C Inc.
Mizrahi Diane
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for data management using an event... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for data management using an event..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for data management using an event... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2609468