WO2015044710A1

WO2015044710A1 - Global unified communication and transaction processing system for real-time communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors

Info

Publication number: WO2015044710A1
Application number: PCT/IB2013/058820
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anuj RUHELA
Original assignee: Ruhela Anuj
Priority date: 2013-09-24
Filing date: 2013-09-24
Publication date: 2015-04-02

Abstract

A system or process: To help parents and students in finding solution to their problems of searching and viewing complete school profile in a standard, uniform and user-friendly manner, applying for admission, making fee payment, checking school updates, school results, school uniform/study material vendors, getting news, events, assignments, and result information and advice on routine parental issues within a single system in real-time; To help schools in creating their profile on a single system where parents are available; which helps schools to share all school related information with parents and school advertisement. All kinds of news and updates, students' result, application status, can be communicated to parents. Also applications for registration and fee payment can be received in real-time; To help vendors in profile creation on single system and to advertise themselves and receive orders from parents and students; and able to update the order status in real-time.

Description

GLOBAL UNIFIED COMMUNICATION AND TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION SHARING AND TRANSACTION PROCESSING AMID PARENTS, SCHOOLS, STUDENTS AND VENDORS

Abstract

[1] A system or process :

To help parents and students in finding solution to their problems of searching and viewing complete school profile in a standard, uniform and user-friendly manner, applying for admission, making fee payment, checking school updates, school results, school uniform/study material vendors, getting news, events, assignments, and result information and advice on routine parental issues within a single system in real-time;

To help schools in creating their profile on a single system where parents are available; which helps schools to share all school related information with parents and school advertisement. All kinds of news and updates, students' result, application status, can be communicated to parents. Also applications for registration and fee payment can be received in real-time;

To help vendors in profile creation on single system and to advertise themselves and receive orders from parents and students; and able to update the order status in real-time.

Background of the invention

[2] As there has been an explosive and unprecedented growth in number of schools in education sector, finding and selecting the right school for kid has become very difficult. As a parent it is very difficult to find sufficient information about schools, infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission and fee structure and communicate with school in there busy lives. There are very less percentage of schools having such kind of school profiles which are accessible to parents and students for providing the required information in time. Parents are forced to travel to school to find the information and sometimes they didn't even aware of the existence of a better school in a situation where they relocate from a different state or country. Therefore, the problem lies with insufficient visibility of schools among parents. Even if the information about school (infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc.) is accessible to parents or students via school profile on internet or in conventional media like newspaper, pamphlets, advertisement in magazine etc. then also, every school present this information in a different manner which eventually become inefficient because it takes lot of time to figure out the same information due to different placeholders and representation ways OR it became obsolete as information published using conventional media becomes old, obsolete and vanishes over a period of time.

Essential information such as academic system, subject availability, school hours, examination policy, admission process, document checklist for admission, fee structure, transportation details, school uniform, study material, school calendar, public transport details, uniform/study material vendor details, and distance from important facilities like hospitals, police station are difficult to find without visiting the school which increases the pain for parents and students to plan while joining a new school because they do ample amount of hard work and spend lot of time in getting those details and sometimes they don't even get that information. Situation becomes more difficult when family is relocating to a new place because nobody knows anything about that place, city, state or country.

Another aspect is that there are selected schools in society which provides updated information about school activities in real time. Information such as News, Events, Assignments, Results, Situation Vacant is not provided in real time or school practice to convey it by conventional means such as writing student diaries or verbal communication to students which is inefficient and could result in missing communication or delayed delivery of information to the guardians because of lost diaries, incorrect message or wrong interpretation caused by child's error, forget to inform parents etc. It can be improved by using technology and common system which can be easily accessible by society because in today's world, we all know that everyone is busy in their own personal as well as professional life. Parents do not have enough time to spend with their children, their study or their school. Parents do not have updates until any of the school staff call them, or their children are grown up enough that they can give all the 100% information to their parents.

The traditional method of applying for admission in schools varies from school to school and every time whenever parents want to apply for admission, they need to fill the different-different school registration forms and then submit to school. Once school receives the form, it gets processed and status will be informed to user either physically or electronically. The drawback of this system is parents need to enter similar information multiple times in order to submit the application and not all schools are communicating the application status in real time which leads to inefficiency of the existing system. Sometimes the work is manual and parents always need to visit to school for submitting application and getting the status.

[7] The traditional method of paying school fee is either manual, which means you need to visit school or send the fee with student then some member from school administration will collect the fee, prepare fee receipts and deposit it in school's bank account. Mostly schools follow this process in developing countries. Another way of collecting fee would be schools issue a slip against every student and parents need to visit bank and pay the amount. Few tech savvy schools are accepting the fee payment online but they are very rare and not all the schools can get a customized system developed for this need because of cost and skilled staff limitations. Therefore, this is another drawback of this system that- (a) It is not standardized and vary from school to school, (b) It lacks efficiency because lot of manual work is involved, (c) Very less or rare use of technology by which we can solve this problem.

[8] If parents want to buy school uniform or study material for their child then they first need to contact school for getting details about that and then either they need to visit school if school provide that service OR they need to visit market to buy the goods and sometimes they find difficulty in finding the school uniform and study material as there are so many schools in each area and every school has their own uniform. Therefore, the problem lies with lack of information about vendors, placing order and personal visits to market which is time consuming and costly as parents need to go out, search for suitable vendors and buy from them.

[9] The present system aims to close all these gaps by bringing the parents, schools, students and vendors together and providing a single place or system for all of them to make the communication, information sharing, task execution and transaction processing automated, easier, cost effective and efficient. This is a process with unlimited potential to expand beyond one city, state or country and can be used across the globe.

Summary of the invention

[10] The vision of the inventor is to enable all schools to have single system for all above said problems and requirements where they can showcase their profile, sharing all essential information in uniform standardized format so that it would be easily understandable by the parents. Schools can publish messages (news, events, assignments, results and situation vacant) on their profile notice board, accept admission applications and fee payment from parents and display the status which will save their time and cost involved in writing diaries or sending SMS/e-mails to communicate. School's social media profiles (like facebook, twitter, ***+ etc.) and school website URL can also be added in the same profile. Using this system school can save a significant expenditure which it spends in doing advertisement using different media (Tele-Vision, Radio, News Paper, Brochures, and Prospectus Printing etc.). Therefore, the need of advertisement via these printing media could be reduced and it could also resolve school's geographical limitation to reach all parents as current system would be able to accessed from anywhere in this world. Thus, we can save paper and hence, more eco-friendly approach.

According to inventor's vision, this system would be available to all the parents where parents can find solution to their general parental issues. Parents would be able to subscribe for child progress newsletters based on their child's standard (class) and age. Parents can search and locate schools based on school name, location, type of school and area zip code (postal code). Parents or Guardians or Students can view detailed school profile in a standard format where similar kind of information can be found under the same directory structure across all other school profiles which exists in the system. It would help parents to gather all essential information about schools like, infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc. in a similar format and from anywhere in the world with the help of internet availability. This would be helpful in resolving their problem of searching for schools and facilities provided by school especially in relocation cases because parents would be able to locate every registered school on *** map also. They would also be able to report if any false information is available in system which can further be replaced by correct information in a defined period of time.

In this system, parents would be able to register themselves on system and subscribe for multiple schools' messages (Notice Board, Result Board and Situation Vacant Board). Therefore, as and when school would publish the message on their profile in this system, parents who subscribed the notice board of that school will receive SMS and email alerts on their registered mobile number and email address.

Using present system, parents would also be able to submit single application form for registration in every school with her child information which would be picked from their already existing child profile (saved by parents) and can be available for their final review before submission; it would be received by school in their own school specific application format, processed in system and after processing school would be able to update application status in system and notification would be sent to parent who submitted the form. This feature of the system would help parents to keep track of all school registration related activities in real time without any delay in delivery and help them in planning their activities in advance.

In the present system, parents or guardian would be able to make student's school fee payment online and payment receipt would be generated by system, and same receipt would be sent via SMS and e-mailed to parent and school to have a common reference number for the transaction. This way transaction execution time and bank deposit activity time can be reduced significantly for all parties who are involved in this process- giver as well as receiver of payment and then the banker can be relieved from doing manual work and unnecessary trips can be avoided.

The vision of inventor is to enable all vendors to receive orders from parents and deliver the goods accordingly with order processing status update feature. Parents can visit the school profile and access uniform and study material related information and hence place order for the same. Vendor would be able to login in to the system to access the order list against his profile and deliver the goods after validating the order via calling or emailing the customer. This way required goods can be delivered on customer's doorstep as well as vendor can get the orders from all nearby locations which would in turn be feasible for him to deliver goods on these locations. Both the party's will complement each other and save their, efforts, money and processing time involved in completing this activity.

An achievement of the invention is that it serves as a go to guide for School and Parents to bring transformation in Education and society by providing them a user friendly online platform. It enables vast range of services which would improve the communication among schools, parents, students and vendors. It would help to build strong relationship among School, Parents and Students. One system to cater their communication, information and transaction processing needs with schools and vendors; for example school search, admission, fee payment, checking results, subscribing messages and alerts, placing order to vendor, parental guide for child's progress etc.

Another achievement of the invention is that it would be a single system for information in standardized manner to parents where they can find answers to all general parental queries and also search all possible schools, view their profile, check their past activities, infrastructure, facilities, academic system, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport, fee structure, vendor details etc. Therefore, it would serve as a one stop shop for all school search, admission and child progress related worries. It also resolves school's geographical limitation to reach all parents as current system would be able to accessed from anywhere in this world. Thus, less advertisement by schools using paper media to attract parents; hence, we can save paper which indicates a more eco-friendly approach. [18] Another accomplishment of the invention is that there would not be any need for parents to check different systems if their kids are studying in different schools and classes. Parents would be able to subscribe all messages from one system and get e-mail and SMS alerts for every update in real time, which school wants to communicate which saves their significant time and efforts in order to gather the information from different sources and hence improves efficiency.

[19] A further achievement of the invention is that parents can place order to vendors, make fee payment and submit application for registration in real time and also monitor the current status and required acknowledgement in real time. Vendors and school can also view the related applications and transactions and get the acknowledgment in real time which makes the communication process faster and more efficient.

[20] A still further achievement is that schools can share all kind of information for e.g. news, events, assignments, results, situation vacant via updating messages in this system which then be viewed and subscribed by students and parents. Therefore, a standard system for schools to showcase themselves and communicate with parents and students which would remain common across schools and has ability to link all its profiles and websites via single profile.

Brief Description of Drawings

[21] Figure 1 illustrates simple architecture of user's device connected to server system over internet.

[22] Figure 2 shows the block diagram of entities: Student/Child, Parent, School, Vendor and system administrator; and functionalities offered to them using this system.

[23] Figure 3 illustrates the various activities with the application or system which parent/guardian can perform using the application or system.

[24] Figure 4 illustrates the various activities with the application or system which a child or student or public can perform using the application or system.

[25] Figure 5 illustrates the functionalities and services available in application or system with relation to school or college.

[26] Figure 6 illustrates the functionalities and services available in application or system with relation to vendor. [27] Figure 7 illustrates the functionalities available to system or application administrator in system.

[28] Figure 8 illustrates the technical software architecture of the invented system or application.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

[29] The present system overcomes the lacunae of the traditional system of communication, information sharing, and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors.

[30] Although this new system will be discussed and explained with reference to various illustrated examples, where these examples should not be read to underestimate its' limit and broader scope and spirit of the present invention.

[31] The term 'real-time communication and information sharing system', 'application', and 'system' are used interchangeably herein to refer the invention "GLOBAL UNIFIED COMMUNICATION AND TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION SHARING AND TRANSACTION PROCESSING AMID PARENTS, SCHOOLS, STUDENTS AND VENDORS". The terms 'schools', 'college' and 'institution' are used to refer the educational institutions which are sharing information to public (parents, children and society) and providing other services; the terms 'child(ren)', 'student(s)', and 'kid(s)' are used to refer the children or minors who are accessing the system for gathering information shared by system administrator, schools and vendors and communication with them; the terms 'parent(s)' and 'guardian(s)' are used to refer the parents or guardian who are using the system for communicating with schools and vendors and gathering information; the terms 'vendor' and 'seller' are used to refer the vendors who are providing goods and services to parents, guardians and students using this application. The terms 'system administrator representative', 'application administrator representative', 'system administrator' and 'system administrator' are used to refer the user who has administrator rights in the application.

[32] Figure 1 illustrates simple configuration of various user devices are connected to server or cloud server over internet. User devices 1001, 1002 and 1003, used by the users of the invented system to access the invention, which are connected to server or cloud server 1005 through internet service 1004. 1006 is a database management system where data about students, children, schools, vendors; their documents, files, images, applications, and every data item is stored. Child or parental supporting document and interactive educational games and hyperlinks or links are also stored in the same database. The devices 1001, 1002 and 1003 could be any device that connects to the internet like a personal computer, laptop, tablet, smart phone, or IP enabled television. These devices could connect directly or via some other network devices (for e.g. routers) to the internet. The network could be any network including LAN, Dial-up, Broadband DSL/ADSL, Broadband Wireless (Wi-Fi), Satellite, Mobile Broadband (GSM) network or any other mechanism of connecting and transmitting data and voice over internet.

Figure 2 describes the block diagram mentioning about available functionalities to students, school or school representative, parents and vendors in the system. The functionalities are not limited to those mentioned in the diagram and are elaborated in detail in the complete disclosure of the invention. The system serves as an interface amid the students or children, schools or school representatives, parents, vendors and application administrator representative with the server. The user- student or child 2001 can access the system, access school social media profiles and locate school on *** map 2007, view school profile and gallery 2008, view information provided by school 2009, view and download notice and result board information 2010, search and locate school 2011, view and email child progress articles to known people 2012, view school uniform, study material and vendor details 2013, place order to vendor 2041 and could have a relationship with parents or guardian 2014.

The user- parent or guardian 2002 can access the system; view, subscribe and download notice or result or situation vacant board information 2015, view information provided by school 2016. Parent or guardian user can register themselves on application via registration 2006 and access to information through login 2005, create or modify their profile 2017, make school fee payment 2018, apply for child's admission 2019, place order to vendor for study material or uniform 2020, view school social media profiles and locate school on *** map 2021, e-mail and SMS notifications 2022, add or modify child details 2023, view and subscribe child progress articles and email the same to known people 2024, view school uniform, study material and vendor details 2025, view school profile and gallery 2026, search and locate school 2027, and could have a relationship with child or student 2014.

School or school representative 2003 can register themselves on application via registration 2006 and access application through login 2005. The user- School or school representative 2003 can access the system; view and process applications for registration 2032, provide school details to system administrator 2033, view or build school e-profile on application 2034, update messages and files on school profile notice board 2035, publish results on school profile result board 2036, update situation vacant on school profile 2037, school advertisement on public portal or application accessed by public 2038, provide link to social media profiles, *** map and school website 2039, fee payment acknowledgements and reports 2040. The user- vendor 2004 can register themselves on application via registration 2006 and access application through login 2005, view and verify order details 2028, provide their details to application administrator 2029, update order status of orders received from customers 2030, deliver good and completes order processing 2031.

User- system or application administrator 2042, can access the system via login 2005, can perform user management 2043, can perform school management 2044, and manage school messages and applications for registration 2045, can manage vendor profiles and data 2046, management of system or application content 2047, also performs other data management and other reports via reporting mechanism 2048.

Parent or guardian activity in registering with system, login, search and locate school, message and child progress article subscription, creation or modification of guardian and children profile, admission application, order placement to vendor, fee payment and subscription to school alerts and messages are illustrated in Figure 3. The parent or guardian 3001 accesses the system via client device with or without registration process 3002. Parent or guardian 3001, choose 3004 not to do registration then their account would have limited access to overall functionalities available to parents. Every time the user accesses the system with limited access, they are able to search and locate school 3005 with the help of school name, location, area zip or postal code and type of school. In search results, registered parents and unregistered parents or guardians both would be able to see list of schools 3006 based on search criteria, and able to select school 3007. After school selection they would be able to view school detailed profile shared by school and facilities provided by school 3008 and also other useful information 3009 which will contain all useful information such as- about school (for example- history, principal desk, board of management, future expansion plans, school song etc.), academic system (for e.g.- school hours, courses offered, curriculum and examination policy etc.), admission information (like- whom to contact, fee structure, admission process, admission FAQs, document checklist etc.), achievements (like- past achievements, student ranking etc.), activities and events (like- sports, workshops and seminars, music, aerobics, scouts/NCC, swimming, etc.)

Unregistered parent or guardian would be able to view real time notice board, result board and situation board of desired school 3010 and read messages published by school 3011. If there is any attachment 3012 available in school message then user can download attachment 3013 or continue to view school messages. The user can view social media links, school contact and public transport details 3014. Parents or guardian can view Information gallery 3015 which would consists all essential information required by parents such as school infrastructure; school transportation details, school uniform, study material, school calendar, facilities, and faculty etc. are available as provided by school. User can view vendor details 3016 and decide to buy goods or services 3017, can place the order for goods and services 3018 and get the delivery via mentioning their contact details 3019.

The parent or guardian 3001 accesses the system via client device going through registration process 3002 and choose 3003 to do the registration then their account would have access to overall functionalities which are not available to unregistered parent or guardian. After registration is done user account activation 3023 is the next step to verify the e-mail id provided by user. Once account activation 3023 is completed, user can login 3024 to the application using user name and password. The registered parent or guardian 3001 login to the system, create his or her profile 3025, furnishing information such as personal details, contact details, and subscription status etc. The user can view his or her profile 3026 anytime, modifies the profile 3027, update article subscription status 3051 as and when required. The application also provides facility to upload document like ID proof, transcripts, certificates, photographs etc. along with the profile 3028. Parent or guardian can add his or her child's details 3029, view child's details anytime which they saved earlier 3030, modify the child's details 3031. The application also provides facility to upload document like- certificates, mark sheets, photographs, transcripts etc. along with the profile 3032.

The registered parent or guardian can access all view only functionalities available to unregistered parents described in section [43] and [44] and also view school profile 3033, subscribe school notice board, result board and situation vacant board message and alerts to receive SMS and e-mail notifications 3052. The user can place order to vendor for goods and services 3034, get the acknowledgement or reference number 3035 and check order status in real time 3048.

Registered parent can submit application for registration related to his or her kid 3036 either by downloading form for school registration application 3037, taking print and filling the school form for registration application 3038, submitting form to school offline

3041, pay application fee 3051, getting acknowledgement number from school offline

3042, checking school registration application status 3048; OR filling online school registration application form 3039, saving school registration application 3040, submitting school registration application to school online 3041, pay application fee 3051, getting acknowledgement number from school online 3042, checking school registration application status 3048.

The user here can also make the fee payment very conveniently using this application which is available over internet and can be accessible from anywhere in this world. A registered parent or guardian can also make the fee payment facility 3043 by just providing the essential details for payment like- school name or id, child's name, child's parent's name (e.g. father, mother or guardian), child's class and section, date of birth and fee period (month, semester and year etc.) 3044, verify the information by providing final review and confirmation on details entered and final payment in the system 3045, now parent can select the mode of payment and which redirects user to secure payment gateway web site where parent can make the payment 3046. Here system is connected to secure payment gateway web service and after successful payment user will be redirected back to the invented system and get the reference number of monetary transaction 3047; therefore, the payment status can be checked at any point of time and can be tracked easily 3048.

Parent or guardian can also send messages and queries to school(s) 3051, receive and view their response 3052 in real time.

All user activities mentioned in section [40], [41], [42], [43] and [44] after login to system will be tracked by the system. User sessions will be timed out after a period of inactivity or after doing logout 3049 or exiting from system by closing the application window 3050. A registered user can access all the view-only functionality available in the application.

An achievement of the application is that being on any place on the earth parents can search and locate school based on several search criteria like- location, class or grade, school type, area zip or postal code, school name etc. and also able to further locate the school on *** map available for every school. School list will be available as search results where user can select and further access school profile. Therefore, user can apply multiple search criteria to search and locate a school which improves the efficiency in process and ease of use while searching schools as per desired aspects.

Selection of a particular school, the parents can view all the information provided by school or college which includes all essential information like- about school (for example- history, principal desk, board of management, future expansion plans, school song etc.), academic system (for e.g.- school hours, courses offered, curriculum and examination policy etc.), admission information (like- whom to contact, fee structure, admission process, admission FAQs, document checklist etc.), achievements (like- past achievements, student ranking etc.), activities and events (like- sports, workshops and seminars, music, aerobics, scouts/NCC, swimming, etc.), Information gallery which would consists all essential information required by parents such as school infrastructure, school transportation details, school uniform, study material, school calendar, facilities, and faculty etc. are available as provided by school. User can view vendor details and place the order for goods and services via mentioning their contact details. Apart from static information parent or guardian would also be able to view real time notice board, result board and situation board of desired school, read messages published by school and download attachments. The user can view social media links, school contact and public transport details. All this information, communication and facilities at one single place or application helps user to choose the best school for child's admission, provides real time communication from school, placing order to vendors and making fee payment which will improve their life significantly by making things easier, accessing everything using a single system from anywhere in the world, saving their time, cost effective by reducing number for visits and transactions to schools and vendors, getting helpful articles for solving parental issues, keeping track of school's activities, results and planning the future in better way by selecting a best school for the child.

Another achievement of the invention is that multiple reports will be provided to parents or guardians to see the history of messages sent or received to/from schools, school registration applications, fee payment, orders made to vendors, real time status of all the school registration applications, fee receipts and order placed on processing and it will also display the rejected applications and failed transactions in order to keep the user updated in real time.

A further achievement of the invention is that it provides articles on parental issues and child's progress for better parenting and child development for example-School bus safety tips, first aid kit checklist, helping children to control their behavior, food habits and children etc. The system also provides rhymes, stories, and interactive educational games for children which help parent or guardian to groom the child in a better way.

An additional achievement of the invention is that users can view the list of schools recently joined in the system and ratings given to schools by other users which will work as recommendation from other parents and will be helpful in decision making while selecting a school for child.

Figure 4 illustrates the functionalities available for children or students or public with this application. The user- child or student or public 4001 accesses the application via internet. Every time the user accesses the system, they are able to search and locate school 4002 with the help of school name, location, area zip or pin code and type of school. In search results, child or student or public would able to see list of schools 4003 based on search criteria, and able to select school 4004. After school selection they would be able to view school detailed profile shared by school and facilities provided by school 4005 and also other useful information 4006 which will contain all useful information such as- about school (for example- history, principal desk, board of management, future expansion plans, school song etc.), academic system (for e.g.- school hours, courses offered, curriculum and examination policy etc.), admission information (like- whom to contact, fee structure, admission process, admission FAQs, document checklist etc.), achievements (like- past achievements, student ranking etc.), activities and events (like- sports, workshops and seminars, music, aerobics, scouts/NCC, swimming, etc.) The user would be able to view real time notice board, result board and situation vacant board of desired school 4007 and read messages published by school 4008. If there is any attachment 4009 available in school message then user can download attachment 4010 or continue to view school messages. The user can view social media links, school contact and public transport details 4011. Child or student or public can view Information gallery 4012 which would consists all essential information required by parents such as school infrastructure; school transportation details, school uniform, study material, school calendar, facilities and faculty etc. are available as provided by school. User can view vendor details 4013 and decide to buy goods or services 4014, can place the order for goods and services 4015 and get the delivery via mentioning their contact details 4016.

Child or student or public users can play interactive educational games and quiz 4017 and also send these games or quiz links and information to other known people via email functionality 4018. Users can also view various grade or class wise lists of child's progress articles on parental issues and child's progress for better parenting and child development 4019; they can further locate and view the complete articles 4020, these articles can also be forwarded to other known people by sending links and information via e-mail 4021. User can end or exit from application by closing the application window.

A further achievement of the invention is that since the application is accessible via internet; therefore, above said users can access all view-only functionalities available in this system from anywhere in the world and get real time messages and updates from educational institutes.

Figure 5 illustrates the functionalities available to school or college or other educational institute representative with the system. The school or college or other educational institute representative 5001 can choose to do online registration to system 5002, if user agrees to online registration 5003, then he or she can access system via internet 5005, and fill online registration form 5006, which will be submitted to application administrator 5007. User can make a choice of not choosing online registration option 5004. In both the scenarios, school needs to provide information about school 5008; based on information provided by school in predefined template, school profile creation takes place in the system 5009, then unique school ID gets generated in the application 5010.

The school or college or other educational institute representative can login to the application by providing username and password where username can be the unique school ID created in the system 5011, then users would be able to access school admin console 5012. School admin console is having multiple options to manage school messages, admissions, fee and parental communication. Manage messages choice 5013 provides options to create a new message for notice board, result board or situation vacant 5014 and view existing messages list created by institute representative 5020 where modify message option 5021 and view message option 5022 are available; message creation has functionality of uploading file section 5015, defining message publish details and message content 5016 where user can schedule or publish the message 5017; after publishing or scheduling message, institute representative can visit school profile within system 5018 and verify the visibility of message by checking message display on notice board, result board or situation vacant 5019.

The school or college or other educational institute representative can manage applications for registration 5023 where user can search and filter applications for registration based on class or grade, admission year, date and month options 5024, and get the application list based on search criteria 5025; user can select and view a particular admission application from the list 5026, process applications for registration 5041 and update application status in the system 5027.

The school or college or other educational institute representative can manage fee payments made by parents 5028 where user can search and filter on fee receipts based on class or grade, academic year, payment date and month, student's name and date of birth and parent's name and e-mail ID options 5029, and get the fee receipts list based on search criteria 5030; user can select and view a particular fee receipt from the list 5031 and re-send fee receipt and confirmation to the parents in case its' lost by them 5032.

The school or college or other educational institute representative can manage communication with parents 5033 where user can search and filter on parent's messages based on parent's name, date of birth, date, month and e-mail ID options 5034, and get the message list based on search criteria 5035; user can select and view a particular message from the list 5036 and reply back to parents 5037. User can also view statistical reports on all sections that he or she can manage 5038.

All user activities mentioned in section [56], [57], [58], and [59] after login to system will be tracked by the system. User sessions will be timed out after a period of inactivity or after doing logout 5039 or exiting from system by closing the application window 5040.

An achievement of the invention is that institute has a single system to communicate with existing as well new parents and students, a single place where they can communicate and share information and documents in real time, single system to manage all applications for registration, publishing result, posting situation vacant, accepting fee payment, generating fee receipts and respond to parents queries. Also they have access to statistical report in order to check transaction history of each activity. Therefore, it saves lot of time and efforts of school and also very cost effective and prompt in service as everything happening in real time. A further achievement of the present system is that every school will be having a unique link to their profile which can be shared with existing parents and public. This way school's profile can be visited without even searching in the system as user would be able to use the unique address to visit school's profile which saves a lot of time for checking news and school updates and accessing other services. Also the updates shared by schools can be subscribed by any registered parent or guardian on the system which helps them to receive instant SMS and e-mail notifications from school's messages.

Another achievement of the invention is parents can fill a common application form for registration to apply for child's admission, however it is school's wish to use the common form or school specific form without doing rework which gives lot of flexibility and convenience to both the parties.

Figure 6 illustrates the functionalities available to vendor with the system. The school uniform or study material or any other goods vendor 6001; online registration to application 6002 can be chosen by vendor 6003 via accessing application over internet 6005 through filling the online registration form 6006 and submitting it online 6007. Vendor is also open not to choose online registration process 6004, however in both the scenarios vendor needs to provide its' information to system administration representative 6008, then vendor's profile creation will take place in the system 6009 and a unique vendor ID will be generated 6010.

The user- vendor can login to the application by providing username and password where username can be the unique vendor ID created in the system 6011 and view order list 6012 with an additional functionality of applying search and filter option on order list to find out a particular order details based on date, month, time, order status, and user contact details etc. options 6013. User can validate the order by contacting on consumer's contact details 6014 and confirm the order after getting the required information from customer 6015, then update order status (for example- status 'new order' to 'validated and confirmed') 6016 and deliver the goods and collect payment 6017. Once goods or services are delivered and payment is received then again vendor will update the status (for example- from status "validated and confirmed' to 'delivered and payment received') 6016. User can also access the statistical report to analyze the previous order details based on location, school and goods types etc. 6018.

All user activities mentioned in section [64] and [65] after login to system will be tracked by the system. User sessions will be timed out after a period of inactivity or after doing logout 6019 or exiting from system by closing the application window 6020.

An achievement of the present system is that all study material and school uniform vendors would know school details in advance at the time of receiving order from customer. Therefore, they would know what all goods and services are required to serve the customer and arrange goods accordingly if not available. Vendors can also access statistical reports to analyze the previous order details which will help them to forecast the demand of goods ordered by public.

Figure 7 illustrates the functionalities available to application administrator representative. The application administrator representative 7001, can access the present system via login process by providing username and password 7002, then user can have several functionalities in the application based on his or her access. First option is user management 7003, where application administrator can add a user by providing authentication and authorization to access the application 7004, view user list of existing users 7005, modify or delete user 7007, and after making all these changes user would be able to either save or cancel the changes 7008, the application administrator can also monitor user sessions 7006.

The application administrator has another functionality available called school management 7009, where user can add a new school which means getting its profile created in application where school data gets stored in application 7010, search existing schools present in the system based on name, location, area zip or postal code, and unique school ID etc. 7011 and school list will be generated based on search 7012, the user can select a school from list 7013, manage school's data 7014, view statistical reports 7015, or deactivate school from the system 7016. After making above said changes in the system, application administrator can either save or cancel the changes 7025.

The application administrator also has option to manage school messages and admission applications on behalf of school 7017 where he or she can select school by providing school ID or school name 7018, search message or admission applications by providing message type, date, month or grade respectively 7019, message or admission application list will be available as search results 7020, selects a particular message or application 7021, view the selected message or application 7023, edit message or application 7024 and select either save or cancel option 7025. The user can also create a new message and post on school profile 7022 or schedule it for posting later by selecting save option or else cancel to cancel the changes 7025.

The application administrator has another functionality available called vendor management 7026, where user can add a new vendor to the application by entering its' details in system 7027, system administrator can also search a vendor by name, location, area zip or pin code, and vendor ID 7028 which will give vendor list to user as search results 7029, the user can select vendor from the list 7030, view or manage vendor's data or profile 7031, then either save or cancel the changes 7041. The user also has an option to view statistical reports about vendor 7032. The application administrator also has option to manage system content 7033, where he or she can manage system data such as maintaining master data, transaction data, addition or deletion or modification of content etc. 7034, manage child progress articles to solve parental issues 7035, manage advertisement in application 7036 and changes can either be saved or cancelled by user 7041.

The application administrator also has another functionality to manage other data and reports 7037, where he or she has option to display all data tables 7038, has an option to manage data tables and their maintenance 7039. The user can also generate system reports for analytic purposes 7040 and select the option to either save or cancel the changes 7041.

All user activities mentioned in section [68], [69], [70], [71], [72] and [73] after login to system will be tracked by the system. User sessions will be timed out after a period of inactivity or after doing logout 7042 or exiting from system by closing the application window 7043.

Figure 8 illustrates the technical software architecture of the invention. In the system, 8001, 8002, 8003 and 8004 represents user devices used by the users of the invention to access the invented application or system. User devices 8001, 8002, 8003 and 8004 are connected to application server 8009 using HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) over internet 8005. Application server 8009 is the place where one or more then web applications are hosted, and representing the overall system, where programs and applications accesses file system 8008 present in application server and facilitates all functionalities of the invention are maintained. All programs and web applications 8007 presented in the system can be developed in any computer web programming language (like PHP, Zend Framework, ASP.NET/ASP.NET MVC, Google Web Toolkit, ColdFusion, Ruby on Rails, Flex, Perl, and Python etc.). System also has a firewall 8006 for secured data exchange over internet. 8010 is a database server which stores all the data and images related to parents, students, schools, vendors and application. 8011 is data archival system for retention and archival of data (history data) for several years.

Claims

[1] A process for global unified communication and transaction processing system for realtime communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors wherein parents or guardians accessing an electronic web network based central application for resolving their parental issues and problems related to communication with schools and reduces their money, time and efforts in doing the routine work remotely

i. Register with the real time communication and transaction processing system, online over internet;

ii. Search, locate and read child's progress articles for better parenting;

iii. Search, locate and view school's profiles for getting school's information in standardized, uniform layout format;

iv. Accesses school profiles using direct URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) based on area zip or postal code for school details (infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc.), news, events, assignments, result, and situation vacant information updated by school in real time;

v. Subscribe news, events, assignments, result, and situation vacant information alerts via e-mail and SMS (Short Message Service) in real time from school; vi. Exchange (Send and receive) messages with schools in real time;

vii. Add child's details and upload documents within application;

viii. Pay school fee online and get fee receipt for all fee payment transactions made to school;

ix. Apply for admission online and get acknowledgement and status update on the same;

x. Place order online to vendor for study material or uniform or any other service and get status update on order;

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents can register and view profiles of multiple schools in uniform standardized layout to get the information about school; subscribe school's notice board (news, events and assignments), result board and situation vacant board to receive updates from schools in real time.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents can search, locate and view child's progress articles, search schools for better parenting and tracking school profile and admission respectively for their child.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents can make fee payment to school in monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annually manner and get the fee receipt online against child's name. A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents can apply for admission in school by filling a common online form and check admission application status anytime during admission process.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents can send and receive messages with multiple schools in real time to discuss about their issues, queries and suggestions.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents can view list of vendors and place order for study material, uniform or any other service and get the status update on order processing from vendor.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein parents or guardians can add child details and upload documents and pictures in the system to apply for admission in school(s).

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [1] wherein the parents can view list of schools joined recently with the system and also view admission application, fee payment and order detail reports to view transaction history and transaction status at any point in time.

A process for global unified communication and transaction processing system for realtime communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors wherein school or institute representatives accessing an electronic web network based central application for resolving their issues or problems occurs in communicating with parents and students; advertising school among public; reducing cost, operational time and efforts in doing the routine work remotely

II. Create and manage school profile with the system by providing school details about infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, gallery, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc.;

III. Create and manage notice board (news, events and assignments), result board and situation vacant board messages;

IV. Manage applications for registration received from parents or guardians by processing and status update on applications;

V. Manage fee payments and receipts transactions made by parents or guardians;

VI. Exchange messages with parents or guardians in real time;

VII. View applicant's profile who applied for admission;

VIII. Send notifications and alerts to parents or guardians related to admission application, school notice board (news, events and assignments), result board, situation vacant board, fee payment status and message replies to parents;

IX. View list of parents linked with school profile and subscribed for school updates. A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [10] wherein school or institute can register, create and manage school's profile by providing school details about infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, gallery, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc. using standard menu options and selecting a theme layout in the system.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [10] wherein school or institute can create and update messages on notice board (news, events and assignments), result board and situation vacant board and send notifications to parents or guardians regarding same who had subscribed for the services.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [10] wherein school or institute can accept and manage admission applications from parents, view applicant's profile, process application and update application status against applications and send notification or information to the parent or guardian.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [10] wherein school or institute can accept fee payments from parents or guardians against child's fee and provide respective receipts to the parents.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [10] wherein school or institute can view parents list linked to school's profile or subscribed the school messages and communicate with them via exchanging messages.

A process for global unified communication and transaction processing system for realtime communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors wherein vendors accessing an electronic web network based central application for receiving orders for goods and services from parents and students; advertising vendor services among public; reduce their cost, time and efforts in doing the routine work remotely

II. Create and manage vendor independent profile and profile against schools;

III. Receive orders for goods and services from parents or students and update order processing status;

IV. Send notifications to buyer;

V. Access to reports showing order history;

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [16] wherein vendor can register, create and manage vendor profile by providing goods and services details using standard options. A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [16] wherein vendor can accept orders for goods and services from parents or students, update order processing status in the system.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [16] wherein vendor can send notification, billing details to buyers and access order detailed history reports in the system

A process for global unified communication and transaction processing system for realtime communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors wherein children or students accessing an electronic web network based central application for child's progress articles, to play interactive educational games, find school details and message update from a remote place

I. Access the real time communication and transaction processing system, online over internet;

II. Search, locate and read child's progress articles and interactive educational games;

III. Send email about child's progress articles and interactive educational games to known people;

IV. Search, locate and view school's profiles for getting school's information in standardized, uniform layout format;

V. Accesses school profiles using direct URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) based on area zip or pin code for school details (infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc.), news, events, assignments, result, and situation vacant information updated by school in real time;

VI. Place order online to vendor for study material or uniform or any other service and get status update on order;

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [20] wherein student or child can access application to search, locate and read child's progress articles and interactive educational games and sending information via email to his or friends or family members about the content.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [20] wherein student or child can search, locate and view school's profiles for getting school's information in standardized, uniform layout format.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [20] wherein student or child can accesses school profiles using direct URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) based on area zip or pin code for school details (infrastructure, facilities, academic system, admission, school hours, school uniform, school transportation, accessibility to public transport and fee structure etc.), news, events, assignments, result, and situation vacant information updated by school in real time.

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [20] wherein student or child can place order online to vendor for study material or uniform or any other service and get status update on order processing from vendor.

A process for global unified communication and transaction processing system for realtime communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors wherein application administrator representative or customer service representative accessing an electronic web network based central application for helping various system users and managing application content from a remote place

II. Add and manage various users accessing the system;

III. Add and manage school or institute profiles in the system;

IV. Create and manage notice board, result board and situation vacant board messages on behalf of school;

V. Manage admission applications received from parents on behalf of school;

VI. Add and manage vendor profiles in the system;

VII. Add and manage system content and settings for parents, students, schools and vendors;

VIII. Disable or deactivate user accounts, school and vendor profiles for obsolete ones or failing to pay the subscription fee;

IX. Manage application data tables and reports for analysis;

A process for real time communication and transaction processing system as said in claim [25] wherein application administrator representative or customer service representative verifies the school details, affiliation and information provided by school; vendor details and information provided by vendor before activating their profile in the system.

A process for global unified communication and transaction processing system for realtime communication, information sharing and transaction processing amid parents, schools, students and vendors wherein children, students, parents, schools and vendors across the globe are unified and carryout communication, file sharing, admission applications, fee payment, order and transaction processing using a single system.