The present invention relates to a method system for automatically building and/or accessing a family tree.
Today when an individual wishes to construct his or her family tree he or she will often talk to as many relatives as they can reasonably contact and get their best recollections of the family relationships. From this information, they will construct the best possible family tree from the available information. A family tree constructed in this manner may often be incomplete since it relies on the memories of those currently living. As such, it may only cover a few past generations unless a tree had previously been constructed. Alternatively, there are other sources of information including government and church records. The Mormon Church, for example, maintains an extensive database of birth and death records. These sources, however, may be difficult and time-consuming to review and may involve extensive communications to obtain the relevant data. Also, in many cases, an individual may need to know the place of birth or death in order to search the relevant database. Once the relevant information has been obtained, the person will need to construct the family tree, though there is commercial software to do this, such as Family Tree Maker, which is currently available from The Learning Company. Another alternative is to pay a third party provider to construct a family tree. This can be expensive and may also contain inaccuracies. Finally, in all of these cases, the data available for the family tree is likely to only consist of the names, dates and places of birth and death, and relationships of family members. While this data will be sufficient to create a classical family tree, it will lack such information as pictures, news clippings, voice or video clips, music, etc. that could enrich the experience of reviewing the family tree.
Thus, there is a need to provide a simple, effective, and inexpensive way to gather information to construct a family tree and to broadly distribute the final result. Additionally, when such information as pictures, sound clips, etc. are added to the family tree, the final result becomes much more valuable and pleasurable for those reviewing the tree.
The present invention seeks to solve these problems by utilizing a communication network, such as the Internet, to allow people to search a wide variety of servers linked to the network, for information that can be used to construct the family tree.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for gathering information relevant to the creation of a family tree, organizing the information, and displaying it in the form of a family tree, comprising the steps of searching multiple databases through a network and scanning the database for relevant information, reviewing the information according to a set of algorithms for relationships to other individuals entered into the local database and assessing the probability that the newly identified individual is related to the original individual, providing the information, along with the probability assessment to the user for acceptance or rejection and updating the database upon acceptance of the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for gathering information relevant to the creation of a family tree, organizing the information, and displaying it in the form of a family tree, comprising the steps of searching multiple databases through a network and scanning the database for relevant information, reviewing the information according to a set of algorithms for relationships to other individuals entered into the local database and assessing the probability that the newly identified individual is related to the original individual, providing the information, along with the probability assessment to the user for acceptance or rejection and updating the database upon acceptance of the user.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention there is provided method for automatically compiling a family tree, comprising the steps of obtaining specified data about a first individual, obtaining the specified data about a second individual, automatically comparing the specified data for the first and second individuals so as to determine if there exists matching data for establishing a family connection and establishing a link when the family connection is found to exist between the first and second individual.
In accordance with yet still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a software product for automatically compiling a family tree such that when loaded onto a computer it would cause the computer to do the following steps of obtaining specified data about a first individual, obtaining the specified data about a second individual, automatically comparing the specified data for the first and second individuals so as to determine if there exists matching data for establishing a family connection and establishing a link when the family connection is found to exist between the first and second individual.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer software product for gathering information relevant to the creation of a family tree such that when loaded on to a computer will cause the computer to do the steps of searching multiple databases through a network and scanning the database for relevant information, reviewing the information according to a set of algorithms for relationships to other individuals entered into the local database and assessing the probability that the newly identified individual is related to the original individual, providing the information, along with the probability assessment to the user for acceptance or rejection and updating the database upon acceptance of the user.
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to
In accordance with the present invention, an individual wishing to construct a family tree, hereinafter called the user, first launches software for constructing the family tree on his personal computer 44, located at home. For the purposes of this description, it will be assumed that the entire transaction occurs from the individual's home, although, the invention covers the operation of the system and the software from any location or any type computer or other access device. Once the software has been launched, the user selects the input display screen 140, shown in
Referring now to
In addition to the data shown on the screen diagram in
The present invention also provides for the data about an individual or family to be partitioned into a number of different sections of a database. These can include separate sections for verified and non-verified data, verified data being that can be substantiated through official records, or other documentation. Such other documentation may include, for example, images, audio clips, or fingerprints that may be confirmed to be a specific person through the use of image comparison algorithms, audio waveform analysis, or fingerprint matching algorithms, respectively. Additionally, access to the various sections of a database may be restricted. For example, a user might choose to provide unlimited access to information about deceased individuals, while restricting access to information about living individuals. Another way the user can partition the data is to keep restricted information on his own personal computer, while storing unrestricted data on a server connected to the Internet.
The present invention also provides for a number of ways to pay for and otherwise derive value from the family tree application. These may include an annual maintenance fee paid to the provider of the service, a subscription model wherein the user receives a number of prints or CD's in return for payment of the subscription, or banner advertising. There could also be embodiments wherein a third party, e.g. a funeral home, camera store or other business establishment participates in the income generated by the system in return for Kiosk placement.
To better understand the present invention, a brief description of this operation will now be discussed in greater detail.
Referring to
Once the family tree has been created, the software that maintains the family tree can set up to review on a periodic basis, various data bases so that related individuals can be automatically added to the tree and provide this information to all of the living individuals on the family tree or designated individuals. This may be done for a fee paid at the time of creation of the family tree or for a fee upon acceptance of the new information to be added to the existing family tree.
It is possible, under the present invention, for an individual to choose only to view a listing of his/her ancestors without actually creating a family tree. Similarly, it is possible to view the family tree without printing it.
It is to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the present invention, the present invention being defined by the following claims.
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