Community directory
First Claim
1. A method of maintaining a directory of items for a community that includes identified sources, comprising:
- a. computing a first limit condition, which is a function a first source'"'"'s history information, b. responsive to the first limit condition being true, performing a first operation that includes inserting the first item value into an item directory, and associating the first item value with the first source, c. performing a second operation that includes updating the first source'"'"'s history information, inserting a second item value into the item directory and associating the second item value with the id of the second source in the item directory, d. computing a second limit condition, which is a function of the updated first source'"'"'s history information, e. responsive to the second limit condition being false, rejecting a third operation initiated in association with the first source, whereby inserting item information responsive to a limit condition results in accumulating high quality item information, automatically assessing value of the information acquired from sources, which may be individual users, and limiting the effects of sources whose item values indicate low quality.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Community members possess information relating to the community, and share that information with other community members to further the goals of the whole community. Some communities—such as geographic positioning system users, music lovers and mail-order businesses—indirectly hire a professional staff to gather information by purchasing professionally assembled directories. However, professionally assembled directories introduce costs for aggregating what community members may already know, and the professional staff'"'"'s information may not be as accurate as information held by the members. However, simply assembling data from community members may introduce problems of data quality—some community members may be careful, some may be sloppy and some may be malicious.
The present invention relates to a system for building a directory of information from members of a community, by distinguishing between members who have historically provided good data and members who have not. A member'"'"'s data submissions are associated with the member. Corrections to a member'"'"'s data may result in the system being less likely to accept submissions from that member. More submissions and more usage of the member'"'"'s data may result in the system being more likely to accept submissions from that member. The system could compensate members with few corrections, many submissions and many references.
The intent is to create a community-built directory that rivals or exceeds the quality and completeness of professionally assembled directories. Further, a professional organization could incorporate the invention to improve the quality of results from its staff.
The present invention considers an embodiment relating to “location directories,” which contains items characterized by a geographic location, such as businesses, homes, wireless internet hotspots, events, etc.
Aspects of the invention include supporting interfaces, such as automatic methods to prompt users to enter location information, and methods for a user outlining a region (such as a building) on a satellite image or map.
226 Citations
50 Claims
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1. A method of maintaining a directory of items for a community that includes identified sources, comprising:
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a. computing a first limit condition, which is a function a first source'"'"'s history information, b. responsive to the first limit condition being true, performing a first operation that includes inserting the first item value into an item directory, and associating the first item value with the first source, c. performing a second operation that includes updating the first source'"'"'s history information, inserting a second item value into the item directory and associating the second item value with the id of the second source in the item directory, d. computing a second limit condition, which is a function of the updated first source'"'"'s history information, e. responsive to the second limit condition being false, rejecting a third operation initiated in association with the first source, whereby inserting item information responsive to a limit condition results in accumulating high quality item information, automatically assessing value of the information acquired from sources, which may be individual users, and limiting the effects of sources whose item values indicate low quality. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for adding information to a directory of items, comprising:
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a. a memory for storing item values including an item index and an additional value, source values including a source id and history values, and owner associations of source ids and item values, b. an input controller for receiving source ids and item values, c. a function evaluator for computing a limit function on a source id dependent on the history values for the source corresponding to the source id, d. an insertion controller for i. receiving a first source id and a first item value, ii. computing the limit function on the first source id, and iii. if the limit function returns false, stopping the insertion, otherwise iv. conditional on the memory containing a second item value with the same item index as in the first item value, and the memory containing a first association between a second source id and the item index, update a history value associated with the second source id, v. irrespective of the condition, store the first item value into the memory, and vi. irrespective of the condition, stores a second association between the first source id and the first item value, whereby information on past modifications or corrections made by other sources can be accumulated for a first source, which might be a user, allowing the system to limit future insertions from the first source if the limit function determined that the source historically provided low quality information, - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A geographical input method allowing a user to specify a specific location comprising:
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a. obtaining an approximate geographic location, b. presenting a geographic representation, c. receiving user input to select a point on the geographic representation, d. computing the geographic location of the selected point by interpolating from known points on the geographic representation, whereby a user can compensate for inaccuracies in the approximate location. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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38. A geographical input method allowing a user to specify geographic region comprising
e. determining an approximate geographic location, f. presenting a geographic representation, g. allowing the user to manipulate a pointing device to outline a region on the geographic representation, h. computing the geographic location of the selected region by interpolating from known points on the geographic representation, whereby a user can both compensate for inaccuracies in the approximate location and identify a region in the geographic representation, such as a map or satellite photograph, representing a building or area where the user can be found.
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40. A geographic input triggering method allowing a system to prompt input of location information comprising
a. determining the location of a device at a first time, b. determining the location of the device at a second time, c. computing a first condition on the device location being approximately in the same location at the first time and the second time, d. responsive to the first condition being true, inserting the location into a directory, whereby a device remaining stationary in a location likely indicates some importance that should be recorded.
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44. A system for inputing a specific geographic location comprising
a. a memory storing geographic representations indexed by geographic location, b. a display device that can show a geographic representation and a pointer, c. an input pointer, d. an input button, e. a display translator that converts a geographic location to a geographic representation and a display position on the display device when it is displaying the representation, f. an input translator that converts the position of the input pointer and a geographic representation to a geographic location, g. an input controller which i. receives a first geographic location, ii. performs display translation to obtain a first geographic representation and a first display position, iii. displays the geographic representation on a display device, iv. waits for an input button to indicate it has been clicked, v. determines the input pointer position, vi. performs input translation on the input pointer position to obtain a second geographic location, and vii. returns the second geographic location, whereby a system can present an approximate location on a map or photograph to a user and receive a corrected location back.
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46. A system for inputing a specific geographic location comprising
a. an image memory storing geographic representations indexed by geographic location, b. a region memory storing a sequence of geographic locations, c. a display device that can show a geographic representation and a pointer, d. an input pointer, e. an input button, f. a completion indicator, g. a display translator that converts a geographic location to a geographic representation and a display position on the display device when it is displaying the representation, h. an input translator that converts the position of the input pointer and a geographic representation to a geographic location, i. an input controller which i. receives a first geographic location, ii. performs display translation to obtain a first geographic representation and a first display position, iii. displays the first geographic representation on the display device, iv. waits for the input button to indicate it has been clicked or the completion indicator to indicate completion, v. if the completion indicator indicates completion, returns the contents of the region memory and terminates, otherwise vi. determines the input pointer position vii. performs input translation on the input pointer position to obtain a new geographic location, and viii. appends the new geographic location in the region memory, ix. goes to step iv, whereby a system can present an approximate location on a map or photograph to a user and receive the outline of a region or a path back.
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48. An input prompting system to collect location information comprising
a. a geographic location memory, b. a geographic positioning system that returns a geographic location, c. a trigger controller which i. requests a first geographic location from the geographic positioning system, ii. stores the first geographic location in the geographic location memory, iii. waits for a period of time, iv. requests a new geographic location from the geographic positioning system, v. compares the new geographic location to the geographic location memory contents, vi. if the two locations differ less than a distance limit, returns with the new geographic location, otherwise, vii. stores the new geographic location in the geographic location memory, viii. goes to step iii, d. an input controller which, i. waits for the trigger controller to return a geographic location, ii. displays a prompt on an output device, iii. receives input information, iv. returns the input information and the geographic location, whereby a device remaining stationary in a location likely indicates some importance that can be associated with a set of input from a user.
Specification