Document delivery system and related method for generating and delivering personalized activity publications

Abstract

A method for and apparatus capable of generating a personalized activity publication includes the receipt of a publication profile from a requesting user. A lesson plan based, at least in part, on at least a subset of a plurality of information in accordance with the received publication profile is dynamically generated. Periodically, a targeted publication is assembled for delivery to the requesting user to satisfy at least a subset of the lesson plan generated from the publication profile.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for generating a publication comprising: 
 receiving a publication profile from a requesting user;    creating a lesson plan from at least a subset of a plurality of information in accordance with the received publication profile; and    periodically generating the publication for delivery to at least the requesting user from at least a subset of content received from one or more content providers dynamically selected to satisfy at least a subset of the lesson plan.    
     
     
         2 . A method according to    claim 1   , wherein the received publication profile includes information regarding an intended audience of the publication.  
     
     
         3 . A method according to    claim 2   , wherein the information regarding the intended audience of the publication includes at least one or more of: an average age of the audience, activities in which the audience is engaged, likes of the audience, dislikes of the audience, educational topics needing reinforcement in the audience, and the number of individuals in the audience.  
     
     
         4 . A method according to    claim 1   , further comprising: 
 delivering the generated publication to the requesting user.    
     
     
         5 . A method according to    claim 4   , wherein delivering the publication includes one or more of printing the publication at a printing device denoted in the publication profile, sending the publication to an email address(es) denoted in the publication profile, and/or sending the publication to a facsimile machine at a telephone number denoted in the publication profile.  
     
     
         6 . A method according to    claim 1   , wherein the publication includes an instructor subset of content and a student subset of content.  
     
     
         7 . A method according to    claim 6   , further comprising: 
 delivering at least the instructor subset of content to the requesting user.    
     
     
         8 . A method according to    claim 7   , further comprising: 
 delivering at least the student subset of content to one or more recipients denoted in the publication profile.    
     
     
         9 . A method according to    claim 6   , further comprising: 
 delivering the periodically published publication to the requesting user; and    delivering only the student subset of content to one or more recipients denoted in the publication profile.    
     
     
         10 . A method according to    claim 1   , wherein creating a lesson plan comprises: 
 reviewing information in accordance with the publication profile;    extrapolating lesson plan topic(s) based, at least in part, on the reviewed information; and    developing a topical publication schedule, wherein each publication is devoted to at least a subset of the lesson plan topic(s) extrapolated from the reviewed publication profile.    
     
     
         11 . A method according to    claim 10   , wherein extrapolating lesson plan topic(s) from the reviewed publication profile comprises: 
 comparing information received in the publication profile against an educational development profile; and    identifying lesson plan topic(s) from topics appearing in both the publication profile and the educational development profile.    
     
     
         12 . A method according to    claim 1   , wherein publishing a publication comprises: 
 comparing content available from one or more content providers against the lesson plan to identify content that satisfies one or more lesson plan topics;    selecting a lesson plan topic based, at least in part, on the available content; and    generating a publication comprising one or more of an instructor subset of content and/or a student subset of content, in accordance with a format denoted in the publication profile.    
     
     
         13 . A method according to    claim 12   , further comprising: 
 iteratively repeating the step of periodically generating the publication utilizing new content until all of the lesson plan topics of the dynamically created lesson plan are exhausted.    
     
     
         14 . A storage medium comprising a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed by a computing system, implement a method according to    claim 1   .  
     
     
         15 . A document delivery server comprising: 
 a storage device for storing publication content received from one or more content providers; and    an edit module, coupled to the storage device, to periodically generate and deliver a targeted publication from content stored in the storage device to satisfy at least a subset of a lesson plan dynamically generated in accordance with a publication profile received from a requesting user.    
     
     
         16 . A document delivery server according to    claim 15   , further comprising: 
 a knowledge module, coupled to the edit module, to receive and maintain publication profiles for each of a plurality of requesting users.    
     
     
         17 . A document delivery server according to    claim 15   , wherein the edit module dynamically generates the lesson plan from at least a subset of information contained within the publication profile of a requesting user, the lesson plan including one or more educational topics which are emphasized in the targeted publication(s).  
     
     
         18 . A document delivery server according to    claim 17   , wherein the edit module generates the lesson plan by comparing information received in the publication profile against an education profile to identify suitable educational topics.  
     
     
         19 . A document delivery server according to    claim 15   , wherein the edit module selects an educational topic from the lesson plan and assembles content from at least the storage device to generate the publication.  
     
     
         20 . A document delivery server according to    claim 19   , wherein the edit module actively solicits one or more content providers for current information associated with the educational topic of a targeted publication.  
     
     
         21 . A document delivery server according to    claim 15   , wherein the publication includes an instructor subset and a student subset.  
     
     
         22 . A document delivery server according to    claim 21   , wherein the edit module schedules delivery of at least the instructor subset to the requesting user.  
     
     
         23 . A document delivery server according to    claim 21   , wherein the edit module schedules delivery of at least the student subset of the publication to a recipient list denoted in the publication profile.  
     
     
         24 . A document delivery system according to    claim 21   , wherein the edit module delivers the instructor subset of the publication to the requesting user, and the student subset of the publication to members of a recipient list denoted in the publication profile.  
     
     
         25 . A storage device comprising a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed on a computing system, implement an edit module to review information contained within a publication profile of a user requesting periodic delivery of a publication and dynamically generate a lesson plan, wherein the edit module utilizes the lesson plan to periodically generate a targeted publication of content associated with educational topic(s) for delivery to at least the requesting user.  
     
     
         26 . A storage device according to    claim 25   , wherein the edit module generates the lesson plan by comparing information contained within the publication profile against an educational profile to identify educational topics which may be of interest to members of a recipient list denoted in the publication profile.  
     
     
         27 . A storage device according to    claim 26   , wherein the members of the recipient list are students of the requesting user.  
     
     
         28 . A storage device according to    claim 25   , wherein the publication includes an instructor subset of content and a student subset of content.  
     
     
         29 . A storage device according to    claim 28   , wherein the edit module selectively delivers at least the instructor subset of content to the requesting user, and only the student subset of content to members of a recipient list denoted in the publication profile.