Systems and methods for enhancing electronic communications

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for enhancing text-based electronic communications. In one embodiment, a sending agent automatically, or upon request by a user, disambiguates identifiers and terms included in a communication internally or in collaboration with a remote device or server based on the identity and history of the sending or intended receiving device or user, the content or context of the communication and/or the sending or intended receiving device or user and automatically or at the request of the sender, appends, enhances or provides certain additional information related to the identifier or terms to the message in real time. This additional information is then included or referenced, but not necessarily initially displayed or communicated, in the communication. The integrated system also may include a receiving agent on the receiving device that can disambiguate the identifier or terms and provide additional information and services related to the identifier or terms in the communication.

Claims

1. A method for disambiguating and enhancing at least one of one or more abbreviated location references, designators, shortcodes, inputs and other terms used in communications and electronic devices, comprising: enabling a user to enter, input, speak, or select, using an electronic device, one or more terms comprising one or more abbreviated terms, designators, shortcodes, or location references; whereupon the electronic device determines whether disambiguation of the one or more terms is appropriate and, if determined to be appropriate, the electronic device disambiguates the one or more terms by using general information related to the one or more terms; and wherein a sending agent of the electronic device disambiguates, uses, or includes additional information related to the one or more terms in a communication to a recipient electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the disambiguation or enhancement is accomplished solely by the sending agent of the electronic device or the electronic device disambiguates the one or more terms in collaboration with a remote server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information comprises a general coordinate or other location of the electronic device, or a location referenced in the communication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more terms are derived from at least one of a proprietary location address or a universal location address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more terms consist solely of a portion of the numbers that are included in a universal location address.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more terms are entered solely or partially from voice input and speech recognition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the general information used to disambiguate the one or more terms is based on one or more of general location information or information on a map displayed on the electronic device when the terms are entered, input, spoken, or selected.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device combines a human readable input term received by voice input with additional information from one of a machine readable bar code, image reader, or tagging or image identification system to disambiguate the one or more terms in the voice input.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information is disambiguated or used based on at least one of: general location information related to the one or more terms; communications that contain terms that are determined to be either geographic or are determined to be other recognized identifiers and have either locally stored disambiguation, enhancement, or additional information in one or more recipient devices or use a remote server hosting the database clearinghouse or other source for the disambiguation or additional information; user identification information known or accessible by the electronic device; past, present, or projected location of at least one of the user of the electronic device or of the electronic device itself; historical information associated with at least one of the user of the electronic device or of the electronic device itself; search information associated with at least one of the user of the electronic device or of the electronic device itself; and contextual information known or accessible by at least one of the user or electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device interacts with a remote database clearinghouse, and: a. the remote database clearinghouse collects contextual information regarding terms from the electronic device which is stored to at least one of a user, device, term, location, assigned identifier profile or otherwise used to enhance future disambiguation or additional information used in communications including the terms by the electronic device; and b. the remote database clearinghouse disambiguates or provides additional information by one or more of: i. assigning information to terms; ii. proposing information to be assigned to terms; iii. acquiring, analyzing and using prior user input and feedback; and iv. acquiring, analyzing and using additional information obtained from a remote website or other information source.

11. The method of claim 1, whereby encryption or other measures are utilized for security purposes in the communication.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising a recipient electronic device collecting feedback from users and other devices as to relevance, usefulness of information communicated when a term is used, disambiguated or enhanced such that the feedback is stored either on at least one of the electronic devices or a remote database, to be retrieved and applied to future communications.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient electronic device receives the additional information, and then enables a user of the receiving electronic device to choose how the additional information is communicated, or the additional information is automatically retrieved and communicated based upon one or more of: a. general location information related to the one or more terms; b. a user id; c. user history; d. device history; e. device generated contextual information; f. contextual information obtained from a remote database clearinghouse; g. a type of information contained within the communication; and h. the communication utilizing a designated keyword or trigger word.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a remote database clearinghouse is curated at least in part by monitoring the usage of terms, identifiers, locations, keywords, trigger words, and user provided terms in order to optimize relevancy and improve disambiguation and enhancement.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more terms are enhanced by automatically displaying one or more of the one or more terms by indicating locations on a map with or without additional information related to such terms by including navigation or route information related to such locations.

16. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of claim 1.

17. A method for disambiguating and enhancing at least one of one or more abbreviated location references, designators, shortcodes, inputs and other terms used in communications and electronic devices, comprising: enabling a user to enter, input, speak, or select, using an electronic device, one or more terms comprising one or more abbreviated terms, designators, shortcodes, or location references; and enabling the user to select one or more of the one or more terms for disambiguation, whereupon the electronic device disambiguates or enhances the one or more terms; and wherein a sending agent of the electronic device uses or includes additional information related to the one or more terms in a communication to a recipient electronic device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the disambiguation or enhancement is accomplished solely by the sending agent of the electronic device or the electronic device disambiguates the one or more terms in collaboration with a remote server.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the additional information comprises a general coordinate or other location of the electronic device, or a location referenced in the communication.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more terms are derived from at least one of a proprietary location address or a universal location address.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more terms are entered solely or partially from voice input and speech recognition.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the general location information used to disambiguate the one or more terms is based on information on a map displayed on the electronic device when the terms are entered, input, spoken, or selected.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the electronic device combines a human readable input term received by voice input with additional information from one of a machine readable bar code, image reader, or tagging or image identification system to disambiguate the one or more terms in the voice input.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a diagram, showing component systems and relevant participants and relationships related to the determination, creation, curation, designation, registration, management, dissemination, display, use, and/or tracking of ISCs and related systems, methods and processes that may be included in an exemplary embodiment of an ISC System.

(3) FIGS. 2A-2D are exemplary images of digital maps that may be displayed by an exemplary system including ISC capabilities (identified as GPA Earth), using Google Application Programming Interfaces. FIG. 2A illustrates the use of exemplary Shortcodes to designate and reference the country (China/CN), city (Beijing/BJ), district (Dongcheng/DNG) and location name (ForbiddenCity/FBDC). It also demonstrates the display of an ISC of FBDC for ForbiddenCity (“ForbiddenCity”). FIG. 2B illustrates exemplary ISCs imbedded in the associated full names for three locations: the District of Dongcheng (DNG), the Dongsishitiao Bridge (DNGSB), and the District of Chaoyang (CHYN). In addition, one type of a Shortcode, referred to as a GPA Address by the GPA Earth system, using the ISCs for China, Beijing, and each of these locations/districts are illustrated. They are: CN.BJ.DNG (the District of Dongcheng), CN.BJ.DNG.DNGBR (the Dongsishitiao Bridge), and CN.BJ.DNG.CHYN (the District of Chaoyang). FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary method to input or select Shortcodes from ISCs into a website optimized for viewing on a mobile phone in order to select a location with minimal input, and FIG. 2D illustrates exemplary outputs from such a method with ISCs for the District of Dongcheng (DNG) and the District of Chaoyang (CHYN).

(4) FIGS. 3A-3C are exemplary images of digital maps and a corresponding satellite image showing a few POIs that may be displayed using systems and methods herein, e.g., based images from Google Maps that may be accessed through an Internet browser. FIG. 3A illustrates the conventional presentation of a few location names on a digital map, e.g., by Google. It should be noted that the area where these location names are displayed includes five 10-story office buildings with dozens of tenants, so it would be extremely difficult to display all of the names of the companies operating within this area. FIGS. 3B and 3C are an exemplary images of digital maps from a system that includes ISCs to present both the location names and the Shortcode for such locations. Note that the images also present Shortcodes for the political subdivisions represented by the area shown on the maps (in this case United States (US), California (CA), and Newport Beach (NB)). FIG. 3C shows the ability of a user to obtain expanded information regarding all of such political subdivisions, including the presentation of the appropriate ISCs.

(5) FIGS. 4A and 4B are exemplary images of digital maps that may be presented on web pages using the systems and methods herein, showing the display of an ISC for a specific commercial establishment in Manhattan Beach, Calif. FIG. 4A illustrates the use of the ISCs for Shortcodes US, CA, MB and SKZ for United States, California, Manhattan Beach, and Sharkeez, respectively, as well as an exemplary combined Shortcode for this location, US.CA.MB.SKZ. FIG. 4B illustrates the provision of additional information for any ISC (e.g., Manhattan Beach), or location utilizing ISCs, including directions to/from the location, obtaining additional information, using, and forwarding the ISCs via email or text messaging, etc.

(6) FIGS. 5A-5C are exemplary screen shots of various applications utilizing an example of an ISC and Shortcodes, in this case GPA Addresses, in publishing/sending and reading/receiving programs, that contain software codes proving ISC functionality, including a word processing program, e-mail program, and web-based e-mail application. FIGS. 5A-5C provide various examples of use and functionality that may utilize ISCs and their corresponding Shortcodes and associated full names in ways that facilitate the use of ISCs and their components by publishers and receivers.

(7) FIGS. 6A-6C are images of illustrative publications and printed materials illustrating the use of ISCs in advertisements, coupons, and articles included in printed publications. FIG. 6A illustrates how ISCs may be used for name, issue, dates, page numbers, articles, and/or subjects (e.g., movies) in a magazine—in this case the Feb. 5, 2010 issue of Entertainment Week. FIG. 6B illustrates how an ISC may be used in the name and issue of a publication as well as the resulting associated Shortcodes, for a publication entitled Hotel Coupon Guide. FIG. 6C illustrates how ICSs may be used for geographic names, page references, and coupon references relating to one of the advertisers/coupons included in the Hotel Coupon Guide publication of FIG. 6B, as well as their ISC and associated Shortcodes.

(8) FIGS. 7A and 7B are sample screen shots of an email/text message communication program, in this case Twitter, including features of the systems and methods herein. These screenshots illustrate the possible use of ISCs in references to specific locations and the ability of ISC enabled programs to assist users in typing and selecting ISCs. The sending agent (FIG. 7A) may recognize the beginning of an ISC and auto-complete and/or spell check the name reference, and/or if ambiguous, present a series of locations and associated ISCs relevant to the user for the user to select the desired location, and the Shortcode or ISC may be automatically imbedded in the message sent by the user. Similarly, the receiving agent (FIG. 7B) may display the ISC and display to the receiver a variety of information regarding that location. Both the sending agent and the receiving agent may be connected to a server and database that is kept current on a real-time basis in order to ensure that the ISCs and related information are current.

(9) FIGS. 8A and 8B are screenshots of a sample web-enabled physical address shortener that automatically converts full, traditional street addresses in any format for any location in the world into shorter addresses and URL strings and demonstrates how Shortcodes and ISCs may be used in full addresses to imbed standardized abbreviated addresses or Shortcodes into the full addresses and how the Shortcodes may also be included in the shortened URL addresses in a manner that is shorter, computer readable, and human readable and friendly.

(10) FIG. 9 is a schematic drawing showing a network architecture providing an exemplary embodiment of a system for registering and using ISCs according to the systems and methods herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(11) Imbedded Shortcode Designation

(12) As explained above, one of the impediments to the adoption of geographic and other Shortcodes (e.g., the PLAs taught in the references incorporated by reference herein or shortened URL addresses or strings) is the additional space and/or characters required to designate and display Shortcodes.

(13) The systems and methods described herein generally involve the presentation of standardized Shortcodes and shortened URL addresses or strings for physical addresses and Internet addresses, which may be further enhanced by the simultaneous presentation of both a Shortcode and a full name by designating the characters in the associated full name that constitute the Shortcode in such a way that the Shortcode may be efficiently imbedded and identified within the presentation and display of the associated full name. For example, the Shortcode DNGSBR for the Dongsishitiao Bridge in the Dongcheng District of Beijing, China, may be imbedded and designated entirely within the associated name Dongsishitiao Bridge as follows: Dongsishitiao Bridge, or any similar presentation that identified the Shortcode DNGBR as the characters in the full name that constitute the Shortcode. The advantage of this solution is that it requires virtually no additional space on a printed or digital map or other image or display beyond the space allocated to the associated full name, yet it clearly designates and associates both the Shortcode and the associated full name, and unambiguously associates the Shortcode with the appropriate geographic name or feature (in this case for a bridge). Advantageously, this unique presentation may also provide other advantages. Imbedding the Shortcodes in the associated name requires only one “insertion” or label for the features, in a map, and scaling of the full name for size and determining inclusion of the name for various map scales may automatically accomplish the scaling, sizing, and inclusion of the Imbedded Shortcodes. It is also therefore not necessary to make determinations as to when to omit Shortcodes. ISCs are likely to be remembered by users with visual cues and imagery because the ISCs are imbedded visually into the full name, so users who recall visually the full name may automatically recall the Imbedded Shortcode. Consistently displaying ISCs may also be used as a reminder and effective communication to viewers as to the availability of ISCs.

(14) The systems and methods herein may include various elements, including the following: a) systems and methods and rules for the creation of ISCs designed to ensure that ISCs: i) are either unique or otherwise unambiguously interpretable within the relevant set of locations or other designated names, and ii) meet the requirements of and are capable of being imbedded and designated within the associated full name in accordance with the concepts described herein. The creation of ISCs may be accomplished in a centralized or de-centralized manner through a registration process, and ISCs may be created on a one by one, case by case basis or en masse for multiple associated names (e.g., all of the cities in California) by applying scripts, programs, and database languages and capabilities to existing databases of associated names. Local user input and feedback may also be incorporated into these methods and systems, which may be designed to optimize the user of ISCs at local, regional, national and international levels; b) a system and method for creating and automatically inputting, creating, storing, managing, referencing, manipulating, checking, copying, displaying, and/or otherwise using ISCs in computer software and programs, online and mobile Internet browsers and other systems, architectures and operating systems, including programming languages, navigation, database, mapping, word processing, messaging, chat/instant messaging, spreadsheet, and other programs in order to provide interoperability across heterogeneous systems, applications and programs to enable and meet the needs and requirements of the systems and methods described herein, including the possible creation of plug-ins, software agents or modules, and/or new and alternative character sets and character repertoires with markers or other imbedded characteristics and mechanisms, properties and specifications necessary to efficiently and uniformly input, create, store, manage, reference, manipulate, check, copy, display, and/or otherwise use ISCs. For example, these programs may need to be enabled to automatically and quickly and efficiently accept, store, copy, and alternatively present full names and ISCs by using new characters with integrated, human readable and imbedded markers as if they were just additional characters. This may be preferable to a system that requires computer coding and programming to display ISCs by combining the Shortcode and the associated name and adding the appropriate markers in order to display the ISC. In other words, creating and using an alternative character set may enable ISCs to be more readily and easily created, typed, copied, stored, and displayed as a single entry; and c) various systems and methods of alternatively using, displaying, encoding, and decoding Shortcodes and their corresponding associated full names along with the ISCs within the associated full names in a manner that may require no or nominal additional space, automatically and unambiguously associate the ISCs with their associated full names and the locations or other features associated with the full names so as to be recognized by users in a way that may make the users aware of ISCs and help them remember specific ISCs for future use.

(15) Imbedded Shortcode Rules and Systems

(16) While there may be numerous alternative rules, conventions, methods, and systems to govern the creation and use of ISCs, certain rules, conventions, methods and systems are helpful to ensure that ISCs may be effectively imbedded and displayed within the associated full name. For example, it may be advantageous if each Shortcode is composed solely of a series of letters that are contained within the full corresponding city, state, street, POI, feature, product, newspaper or magazine name, or other name and that such letters appear in the same order as such letters appear in the full name.

(17) Display of Imbedded Shortcodes

(18) The following examples illustrate various methods of imbedding and displaying different examples of ISCs for both physical locations, addresses, and other names. For ease and simplicity, the illustrated examples include geographic locations, but these methods may apply equally to any other use of Imbedded Shortcodes:

(19) TABLE-US-00001 Imbedded Shortcode Full Name or Term Shortcode (ISC) Oriental Pearl Tower CN.SH.HNG.OPT China, Shanghai. Hongkou. Hongkou, Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower China Dongcheng, Beijing CN.BJ.DNG Dongcheng, Beijing China China Forbidden City CN.BJ.DNG.FBDC Forbidden City Dongcheng, Beijing Dongcheng, Beijing China China Dongsishitiao Bridge CN.BJ.DNG.DNGSB Dongsishitiao Bridge Dongcheng, Beijing Dongcheng, Beijing China China Sharkeez Cantina US.CA.MB.SKZ Sharkeez Cantina 3801 Highland Avenue 3801 Highland Avenue Manhattan Beach Manhattan Beach California California United States United States 90266 90266 Zombieland Review EW.Zland Zombieland Review Entertainment Week Or Entertainment Week Feb. 5, 2010 EW.2.5.10.p53.Zland Feb. 5, 2010 Page 53 Page 53 Hotel Coupon Guide HCG.WS2010.P9.C15 Hotel Coupon Guide Winter/Spring 2010 Winter/Spring 2010 Page 9 Page 9 Coupon 15 Coupon 15 Prego Ristorante US.CA.NB.PREGO Prego Ristorante 18433 Von Karman Ave. 18433 Von Karman Ave. Newport Beach, CA 92612 Newport Beach US California United States Muskogee MSKG Muskogee Oklahoma OK Oklahoma Muskogee, Oklahoma MSK.OG Muskogee, Oklahoma Orange County Dry Cleaning OCCleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning Hal’s Boat Repair Hals Hal’s Boat Repair Joe’s American Bar and Grill JBar Joe’s American Bar and Grill 1743 North Hamilton Drive 1743NHD 1743 North Hamilton Drive Orange County Dry Cleaning OCCleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning OCCleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning OCCleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning (with the letters of the ISC in a different color than the other letters Orange County Dry Cleaning OCCleaning Orange County Dry Cleaning Ozarks Flying Service FLY Ozarks Flying Service Ozarks Flying Service FLY Ozarks Flying Service New Toyota Camry New Camry New Toyota Camry Springfield, Missouri SPFD.MO Springfield, Missouri 1743 North Hamilton Drive, US.MO.SPFD.1743NHD.64803 1743 North Hamilton Drive, Springfield, Missouri 64803 Springfield, Missouri 64803 United States United States

(20) The foregoing descriptions and examples are illustrative of alternative uses and methods, but there are numerous other cases and implementations where the concepts described herein may be beneficial.

EXAMPLES

(21) The following examples indicate some of the possible uses and/or alternative features of the concepts described herein.

(22) Example 1: A person getting ready to take a walking tour of an area of Shanghai, China may look at one or more maps and see numerous ISCs for several features or attractions, all with rather long and unfamiliar names, and rather than inputting the full length of all of those names into their device to create a walking itinerary for the trip, the person may merely input the indicated Shortcodes imbedded in the associated full names of the maps to designate the desired locations. In these situations, the use of ISCs may reduce the number of required keystrokes by an order of magnitude. For example, in the area in Beijing, China indicated on FIGS. 2A-2D, the person may look at the map in FIG. 2B and then merely input an itinerary of “CN.BJ.FBDC, DNG, CHYN” into his or her phone to designate the areas/locations to visit, perhaps using the iPhone as a navigation tool.

(23) Example 2: The importance of interoperability of ISCs, particularly those associated with the transition from paper maps to digital maps and digital navigation devices may be demonstrated by the use of ISCs for virtually every city and every POI on tourism maps for large areas (e.g., each of the states in the U.S.). States or other responsible parties may designate preferred Shortcodes for cities and other POIs, easily print ISCs on various paper and digital maps or otherwise ensure that various digital devices and services displayed such ISCs. Over time people who use those maps may begin to recall the Shortcodes for those cities, POIs, etc. on their own, perhaps without reference to the maps. People who are unfamiliar with the areas, or perhaps who do not speak the native language as their primary language and therefore find the names difficult to remember and communicate, may find ISCs Shortcodes substantially easier to communicate, remember, write down, input into a vehicle or personal navigation device, or otherwise use ISCs. Thus, dozens or hundreds of Shortcodes may be designated and effectively displayed and communicated on paper maps without any increase in map clutter or degradation of the map.

(24) Example 3: It is possible that television, magazine, newspaper, billboard and even radio advertising (with associated visual displays) may utilize ISCs by displaying keywords, destinations, and/or other terms in the manner described and demonstrated herein, thereby helping the viewers of such messaging remember a short sequence of letters and numbers, which the user may use to quickly and unambiguously navigate to, obtain information about, or otherwise designate a product, brand, etc. It is possible that different ISCs may be used for the same associated full name of a product in different publications in order to track and monitor the origin and source of advertising giving rise to the use of such Shortcodes for the same full name. It is further possible that by promoting unique ISCs, advertisers and marketers may gain advantages because of the ease of using Shortcodes to designate locations, products, and services, and/or by reinforcing and building continued and repetitive awareness of Shortcodes by imbedding such Shortcodes through ISCs in virtually all of the displays and visual presentations of their products and brands.

(25) Example 4: Publishing and receiving agents, plug-in, and other programs may be enabled to recognize and interpret Shortcodes and/or names with corresponding ISCs and Shortcodes and automatically display associated full names and/or ISCs, in part based on information and other factors determinable by the context of the user or usage associated with the publisher or receiver of the message including the ISC. For example, a user may type the name “Buckingham Palace” into a word processing program, text messaging, or email publishing program, and the system may automatically recognize that Buckingham Palace is an associated name for an ISC and therefore automatically input (or prompt for the user selection to input) the ISC (e.g., Buckingham Palace) or Shortcode (e.g., Palace) in lieu of the full associated name. Similarly, the system may automatically input the full, traditional street address for that specific location with the ISCs indicated therein. A receiving agent receiving any such message with a Shortcode or ISC may also automatically expand the Shortcode into a full address or associated name with the ISC indicated therein. In addition, the publishing agent may utilize user designated preferences or the context of the usage (e.g., the device being used, the known location or direction of travel of the user, time of day, past usage patterns of the user, or the nature of the information represented by the ISC) to abbreviate, and display the ISC or Shortcode, as appropriate, and the receiving agent may similarly utilize such preferences and context of the user of usage to better meet the needs of the end users. Both publishing and receiving agents and programs may also provide parsing and disambiguation capabilities based on a variety of databases, programs and systems affecting the use of ISCs, including systems that may provide ISC and Shortcode auto-complete and spell-checking functionalities based on specialized, customized, and hierarchically structured dictionaries or other features designed to accelerate the processing, interpretation, and disambiguation of ISCs or Shortcodes based on the context or other information derived from the user.

(26) Example 5: The methods and manners of assigning ISCs for maximum efficacy may be automated through various rules designed to provide priority in the determination of Shortcodes that are compliant with the systems and methods herein by considering various factors that may be indicative of the expected volume or nature of the anticipated uses by taking into consideration various factors, including the size and population of cities, the frequency of city or street names within various political subdivisions or across other political subdivisions. For example, Main St. is a very common street name in the U.S. and thus might be assigned a standard ISC (e.g., MN) first across all jurisdictions in order to ensure the availability of that Shortcode across all jurisdictions and to ensure that the ISC for a very common name (e.g., Main) was also available across all jurisdictions, thereby facilitating the use of the ISC across multiple jurisdictions. This may be accomplished by empirical data collection on the number of states that have identical cities (e.g., Springfield) or the cities which have identical street names and determining through algorithms the optimal Shortcode assignment to maximize the effectiveness of the system.

(27) Example 6: It is possible that ISCs may be designed and used to create an alternative form of identification and branding, governed by agreements and limitations on the use by operators of search and communications systems and devices desiring to use ISCs whereby the various parties associated with names and ISCs have greater protection against confusing or infringing uses of similar ISCs, thereby maximizing or increasing the intangible value for such associated names and ISCs than they would otherwise have without such codes. For example, in the future, companies and individuals may create brand and product names that are particularly conducive to the use of clever, memorable, or otherwise beneficial ISCs and Shortcodes. General search engine companies, like Google, or more narrowly focused search or information services may be required to agree upon certain standards and protocols designed to facilitate the use and efficacy of ISC enabled searches over non-ISC enabled searches (e.g., the prohibition of utilizing any ISC to trigger any search or navigation to anything other than the specific destination or name associated with such ISC). Another such provision may require such search engines to provide specific or specialized traffic measurement, metrics and reporting on the presentation or use of ISCs and/or the associated Shortcodes by their systems and services.

(28) Example 7: The use of ISCs may be particularly valuable in connection with lists and tables where space and brevity is important, especially where there are repetitive uses of similar names. Consider the following table displayed on a mobile phone with a very small and narrow screen size that provides a list of three relevant locations of Sammy's Camera and Video and their street addresses to a person unfamiliar with the area, or perhaps even the English language:

(29) TABLE-US-00002 With Imbedded Shortcodes Include in Full Address for Each Entry 1) Sammy’s Camera and Video 1234 North Hamilton Drive, Rancho Santa Fe, California United States 92748 2) Sammy’s Camera and Video 4267 North Hamilton Drive, Rancho Santa Fe, California United States 92758 3) Sammy’s Camera and Video 4231 Main St., Rancho Santa Fe, California United States 92718 4) Sammy’s Camera and Video 1821 Avenue of the Arts. Century City, California, United States 92648 5) Sammy’s Camera and Video 7454 Santa Monica Blvd. Century City, California, United States 92615

(30) TABLE-US-00003 With Imbedded Shortcodes Displayed Alone After the First Entry 1) Sammy’s Camera and Video 1234 North Hamilton Drive Rancho Santa Fe, California United States 92748 2) Sammys.4267NHD.RSF.CA.US 3) Sammys.4231MN.RSF.CA.US 4) Sammys.1821AVARTS.CC.CA.US 5) Sammys.7454SMB.CC.CA.US

(31) The use of Shortcodes following the presentation of ISCs may require less space, thereby enabling the listing of more locations and information to be communicated in any given area, and the display of the ISCs may make it easier for the user to associate subsequent Shortcodes with the associated full name of the store, street, city and state. In this case, the repetitive nature of the Shortcode may make it easy for the user to focus on the differences in the Shortcodes that are relevant, while at the same time being able to reference the ISC if necessary.

(32) Example 8: ISCs may be assigned, used, and displayed alternatively and selectively to the public or more narrowly to specific users and user groups, thereby allowing different ISCs to be created and used by the general public, governmental employees, private and commercial groups, and even individuals who designate their own ISCs for their own use within closed systems that they have designated. The display and use of any such ISCs may be limited to users who have provided a password or who are otherwise authorized or intended to have access to see and read and/or use ISCs, thereby providing opportunities for enhancing privacy, anonymity, and/or ambiguity to those who are unauthorized to use any such ISCs.

(33) Example 9: ISCs may be used at all levels of any abbreviation or shortcode schema, including extensions and abbreviations for virtual locations, products, generic terms, descriptors and similar references to components or further segmentations of names, products, locations, etc., including alternative websites and URL addressing structures and solutions. For example, individuals and entities may establish their own ISCs for various physical or virtual (e.g., IP addresses of various Internet devices) locations within their business, factory, property, plant, office or home, thereby facilitating the quick referencing or designation of such physical or digital locations with Shortcodes taught by the use of ISCs.

(34) Example 10: ISCs and Shortcodes may be used on any physical or electronic/digital display to provide an alternative or supplement to hyperlinks. For example, in digital maps where it is difficult to provide Internet hyperlinks or other “live” links to all of the various cities, states, POIs, and other locations, names, and information displayed on the maps, ISC and Shortcodes may be used to provide a very efficient way for the user to input into an alternative selection or input box a few characters shown on the map from an ISC and automatically select, input, or find information about that particular location. This is particularly helpful on mobile phones, PNDs, and other small portable devices, where the resolution for selection of a particular label or tag by pointing at the tag on a touch screen may not be practical due to screen size or other limitations. It may also be helpful where the ISC is originally seen on a printed paper map and subsequently used to identify the particular item of interest on a mobile phone or other digital device. For example, while viewing an image such as indicated on FIG. 2B, a user may merely input DNG into the More Info selection box to find more information about, link to, select, or otherwise designate the district of Dongchen, or DNGBR to select information about Dongsishitiao Bridge. The methods, systems, and programs using such ISCs may advantageously interpret such Imbedded Shortcodes solely with reference to the area or image displayed on the map, thereby minimizing the characters required to uniquely select or designate a location with reference to such displayed image. Yet such ISCs may work across all other systems when appended to other, higher level identifiers to designate the image or area or other context of the display or use of the ISC. This alternative method and system may require less resources and complexities than hyperlinks and other methods of selecting images, locations, names, etc., particularly in the context of maps and other images, which may contain numerous locations.

(35) Example 11: ISCs may be designated for micro-locations at virtually any scale or level of precision. For example, a museum and its visitors may utilize ISCs in printed and digital materials, brochures, pamphlets, guidebooks, self-guided tours, etc. to designate various tours, locations, exhibits, sections of exhibits, or even items in exhibits and displays. These ISCs may be used to designate Shortcodes that may be input into a mobile phone or other electronic device, either as a sole designator or perhaps as a series of designators used to create a chronology or itinerary for a visit to the museum, to create notes, logs, or journals of the items seen, or as abbreviated designators to look up additional information about one or more specific items in the exhibit. For example, a placard next to the Paul Rondoley painting “September Morning Sunrise” at the Orlando Museum of Modern Art may easily include an ISC by displaying: September Morning Sunrise by Paul Rondoley so that a user could merely input SMS.PR into an electronic device (where the “Orlando Museum of Modern Art” had already been designated) to find additional information about this specific painting or refer someone else to this information or the location of the painting, e.g., by sending them an email with the Shortcode OMMA.SMS.PR. The recipient of such communication may use this Shortcode to navigate to or obtain more information about this painting. The receiving agent displaying the message may automatically display the entire full name and the ISC on the device as “September Morning Sunrise by Paul Rondoley at the Orlando Museum of Modern Art”.

(36) Example 12: ISCs may be coordinated with other methods of displaying Alternative Shortcodes in ways that facilitate combining various Shortcodes, as appropriate. For example, FIGS. 3C and 4A illustrate maps including areas in Newport Beach and Manhattan Beach, Calif. and indicate alternative uses of full names with ISCs for various political jurisdictions and locations (FIG. 4A) and Shortcodes for various political jurisdictions and locations, with full names and ISC provided on demand to the user (FIG. 3C). This may be accomplished in ways that facilitate the combination of ISCs for bigger areas (countries, states, cities) displayed once on the page with more specific ISCs for other locations shown on the page (e.g., specific streets, houses, businesses, POIs or other locations).

(37) Example 13: ISCs may be used in connection with Internet navigation and domain names through the use of both ISCs and their counterpart Shortcodes in URL addresses, extensions, and search and other navigation strings. For example, the URL “China.Beijing.Dongcheng.mapit.com” may be automatically or alternatively be displayed or presented by a browser as on the page (or pop-up display) as “China.Beijing.Dongcheng.mapit.com” to indicate to a user that in the future inputting “CN.BJ.DNG.mapit.com” may be used as a more abbreviated URL to access the same map, page, or information. Alternatively, the URL “www.mapit.com/China.Beijing.Dongcheng” may be automatically or alternatively displayed or presented by the browser to the user as mapit.com/China.Beijing.Dongcheng to indicate to a user that in the future inputting the URL www.mapit.com/cn.bj.dng may be used as a more abbreviated URL to access the same page.

(38) Example 14: In the context of location-based services where multiple Shortcodes may be used by users to represent various components of traditional physical addresses (e.g., countries, states, provinces, cities, neighborhoods, streets, or location names (e.g., McDonalds), etc., sending and receiving agents or programs may parse and disambiguate alternative methods of input in both the sending and receiving programs. For example, a user inputting just the Shortcode for a location name, e.g., MCD or McDonalds, may be presented with ISCs or Shortcodes for relevant alternative cities, locations, etc. for such location names in order for the user to select the desired location. The system or method may then append the appropriate names, ISCs, or Shortcodes (e.g., CN.BJ.DNG.MCD). Similarly, the system or method may parse inputs from users of ISCs or Shortcodes in any order, as appropriate.

(39) Example 15: One of the aspects of establishing and creating Imbedded Shortcode systems and methods, as described herein, may be providing processes, systems, and/or methods designed to solicit user feedback and comments regarding the selection of Shortcodes imbedded in ISCs and monitor the use of such ISCs to determine their efficacy and to track other measures regarding their use for commercial and other purposes. For example, programs, web sites, and communications may be established that solicit user suggestions, feedback, comments, even polling regarding the best Shortcodes to be assigned and included in ISCs for various locations, neighborhoods, streets, categories of information, or other communications systems based on local experience and colloquial use throughout the world.

(40) Example 16: Another aspects of establishing and creating Imbedded Shortcode systems and methods, as described herein, may be providing processes, systems, and methods designed to track the use of ISCs and/or their corresponding Shortcodes to determine information and metrics related to the use of such ISCs as well as information related to the object related to the underlying associated names. For example, if a retail location's ISC usage drops dramatically or ceases being used it might evidence the closing of or other major change related to that retail location.

(41) Example 17: There may be situations where the size of the display on digital devices (e.g., PNDs, Mobile Phones, etc.) or of printed maps or other materials (e.g., business cards, pocket size printed materials) are so limited relative to the number of locations or names desired to be displayed that only Shortcodes are used and displayed. Those Shortcodes may nevertheless be used in the same media or other media to input or select a location or other name, and the methods and systems incorporated by the other media may automatically interpret the Shortcode, display the Imbedded Shortcode along with the associated full name, and significantly facilitate the efficacy and use of the size constrained display and system, thereby allowing substantially more information, locations, etc. to be effectively displayed visually on the size-limited display and system than may be otherwise displayed. This is beneficial whether the input of the Shortcode is on another interoperable device or into an input box or more information box on the same devices, e.g., as described in example 10 above and illustrated in FIG. 2B.

(42) Example 18: Currently computer software operating systems, programs, and applications are unable to store characters with the imbedded coding necessary to make the use of ISCs easy and interoperable across various systems. For example, it is not possible to copy the ISC “Rancho Santa Fe” as it appears in a word document, database, or spreadsheet directly into a search box written in HTML, the language used for most Internet pages and Internet browsers, etc. and for the resulting ISC to be displayed automatically in the form in which it was copied—with the “R”, “S”, and “F” underlined or bolded or otherwise marked. Further, the word “test” normally requires 4 characters of space to store in a simple database. However, the same word “test” with an ISC for the Shortcode TS (TEST) may take additional characters of space to store: the first four (4) characters of space to store the word itself and an additional two (2) characters of space to store the position of the underlined characters, or “1,3”, therefore requiring additional storage and processes to use ISCs. Accordingly, the effective implementation of the ISC system described herein may likely require creation of additional codes, processes, and data fields populated with the additional formatting data necessary to implement ISCs. In the context of storing and processing millions of ISCs, this may generate significant additional demands on the database servers and processing. The creation of an additional character set including flags or alternative characters (e.g., “A” or “a”) that are included in the ISC may enable the much more efficient use of ISCs and other similar functionality across all computer and electronic systems. This may be accomplished through plug-ins, alternative coding and database or other methods, or possibly through the addition of ISC marked characters into subsequent versions of computer programming characters sets such as ASCII and UTF-8.

(43) Example 19: ISCs and Shortcodes may be used in search strings in order to quickly and efficiently designate information relevant to a search, and ISCs may be used to promote the use of such abbreviated searching techniques. In the context of an LBS Search, a user may search for “hotels near Prego Ristorante in Newport Beach California USA” and the search results may display the search results in way that indicate the location of the search by using ISCs (e.g., “hotels near United States.California.Newport Beach.Prego Ristorante”) or alternatively just the corresponding Shortcode for the address (e.g., “hotels near US.CA.NB.PREGO”). Thereafter, after learning of the Shortcode for the various geographic components of the location of the search, the users may affect the same search by merely entering the Shortcode and the desired search term into the search box. For example, a user inputting US.CA.NB.PREGO.hotels into a mobile phone may generate a search for hotels near the location of PREGO, or by utilizing context as described earlier the user may only need to input the Shortcode PREGO.hotels, or perhaps even inputting something as short as PREGO.RES to designate a search for restaurants near PREGO if the user had been previously made aware of the Shortcode RES for Restaurant through the use of an ISC “Restaurant”).

(44) It will be appreciated that the systems and methods herein may be performed by one or more computers or other electronic devices communicating via a network. For example, FIG. 9 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system 8 for establishing, searching, and/or otherwise using ISCs, according to the systems and methods herein. As shown, the system 8 includes various devices connected to a network 40, such as user devices 10, 20, 30, n, and an ISC database manager 50.

(45) In one embodiment, the network 40 may be a wide area network (“WAN”), a local area network (“LAN”), an intranet, a wireless network, a short messaging service (“SMS”), or a telephony network. For example, the network 40 may incorporate several different types of networks including a WAN, a LAN, and/or a wireless network; one such network including multiple different types of networks is the Internet.

(46) Each of the user devices 10-n is a computing device, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile or cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (e.g., a Palm Pilot device, Blackberry device, and the like), an interactive television, a vehicle or portable navigation system, a kiosk, a lobby or elevator monitor, or other electronic device, capable of communicating via the network 40. Generally, the user devices 10-n may include one or more processors, memory and/or storage devices, communication interfaces, and/or user interfaces, e.g., a display, keyboard, mouse, and the like (all not shown). Users of the user devices 10-n may interact with the ISC database, e.g., by inputting Shortcodes or other requests that may result in the inclusion of ISCs in the information provided or information related to items of interest associated with the Shortcodes, as described elsewhere herein.

(47) As shown further in FIG. 1, the ISC database manager 50 may include one or more computer systems, e.g., servers, communicating with one or more databases, e.g., including one or more processors, memory and/or storage devices, and communication interfaces for communicating via the network 40, e.g., with users 10-n and/or other parties involved in the methods performed by the system 8. The ISC database manager 50 may include one or more hardware-based components and/or software-based modules for performing the various functions related to the methods performed, as described elsewhere herein. Although only one ISC database manager 50 is shown in FIG. 9, it will be appreciated that multiple database managers (not shown) may be provided. The hardware and/or other components of the ISC database manager 50 and/or other components of the system may be similar to those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,088, and U.S. Publications Nos. 2005/0283503 and 2007/0244872, the entire disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference elsewhere herein.

(48) While the invention is susceptible to various modifications, and alternative forms, specific examples thereof have been shown in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the particular forms or methods disclosed, but to the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the appended claims.