Methods and apparatus for facilitating the provision of services
OwnerLindsay T. Atwoodinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention is directed toward business models and Web-based systems for providing interactive web-based services between a company and optometrists/ophthalmologists. This web-based system could also be used to connect a wide range of business professionals in a variety of industries. “Web-based systems” include systems that comprise one or more sites on a global network (e.g., one or more sites on the World Wide Web portion of the Internet).
Claims4
A method of facilitating the provision of services to individuals, said method comprising the steps of
- (a) establishing a services facilitator;
- (b) establishing a first information-sharing relationship between said services facilitator and an organization having a plurality of members, wherein at least some of said plurality of members need certain services;
- (c) establishing a second information-sharing relationship between said services facilitator and at least one services provider that provides said certain services;
- (d) fielding at least one inquiry from at least one member of said plurality of members;
- and
- (e) referring said at least one member to said at least one services provider based upon said at least one inquiry.
A method of facilitating the provision of health services to individuals, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) establishing a health services facilitator;
- (b) establishing a first information-sharing relationship between said health services facilitator and an organization having a plurality of members, wherein at least some of said plurality of members need certain health services;
- (c) establishing a second information-sharing relationship between said health services facilitator and at least one health services provider that provides said certain health services;
- (d) fielding at least one inquiry from at least one member of said plurality of members;
- (e) referring said at least one member to said at least one health services provider based upon said at least one inquiry;
- and
- (f) administering a Web-based system that links said health services facilitator to said at least one health services provider.
A method of receiving and processing information in real time over a network, said method comprising the steps of
- establishing a site on a global communication network;
- providing a central server connected to said site on said global communication network, said central server accessing a dynamic database;
- recognizing an active scheduler;
- prompting said active scheduler with information stored by said central server to collect information for a plurality of fields within said dynamic database;
- receiving said collected information from said active scheduler;
- processing said collected information by said central server;
- and
- updating said dynamic database to reflect said collected information prior to recognizing a second active scheduler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.