System and method for overcoming decision making and communications errors to produce expedited and accurate group choices

• US 20050067493A1
• Filed: 09/29/2004
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Trustees of The Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens Institute Of Technology)
• Original Assignee: The Trustees of The Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens Institute Of Technology)
• Inventors: Urken, Arnold B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,172,118 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/386
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system and method is provided overcoming decision-making and communications errors to produce expedited and accurate group choices. The invention provides collective outcomes that are resilient to communication and decision making errors, and which are provided with a minimum wait time. The system comprises a user interface engine that provides a channel to the features of the present invention, an agenda manager module for creating and presenting questions, a user manager module that controls interactions with user who request questionnaires, submit response data, and request access to analytical results, and a report manager module that identifies collective outcomes that are resilient to error and/or that weight individual votes to optimize the group'"'"'s performance in producing one or more correct or optimal collective choices. A common data exchange allows communication between the modules.

Claims

1. A system for producing error-resilient collective group decisions comprising:

a plurality of computing systems interconnected by a communications network, each of the plurality of computing systems including a user interface for allowing communication with a voter at each computing system;

an agenda manager module for creating and presenting at least one question to be voted on to each voter using the user interface;

means for calculating a voting termination point based upon vote scoring methods and a voting objective;

a user manager module for controlling interactions between each voter and receiving votes up to the voting termination point; and

a report manager module for processing the votes by applying a plurality of vote scoring methods to produce a collective group decision that is resilient to errors.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the voting termination point is calculated based upon a predetermined number of votes.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the voting termination point is calculated based upon a preset time period for voting.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the agenda manager module calculates a number of voters required to reach the voting objective.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications network comprises a wired or wireless network.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a common data exchange for allowing communication between the user interface, the agenda manager module, the user manager module, and the report manager module.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising at least one common data format for exchanging information over the common data exchange.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an agenda database for storing voting information.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising and administrator for supervising a voting process.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising an analyst for analyzing collective outcomes.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the agenda manager module comprises a question creation module for creating questions to be voted on.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the agenda manager module comprises a plurality of voting templates to be applied to the questions.

13. The system of claim 12, where the voting templates implement one or more voting rules.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more voting rules implements one or more scoring methodologies for achieving an optimized collective group outcome.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more voting rules defines endowment and allocation rules for each of the voters.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more voting rules defines an aggregation rule for collecting votes.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more voting rules determines voter competence.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the user manager module comprises a vote data collection module for collecting the votes.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the vote data collection module decrypts votes submitted by users.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the user manager module further comprises a voter identification module.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the voter identification module identifies permitted voters.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the voter identification module analyzes voter demographics and attitudes.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the user manager further comprises a trust profile module for determining voter trust levels.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the report manager module comprises a report creation module for creating voting reports.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the report creation module determines voting objectives.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module processes the votes using deterministic or stochastic vote weights.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module processes the votes using voter trust information.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module comprises an error-resilient vote processing module.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the error-resilient vote processing module computes the probability of collecting enough votes to produce an error-resilient outcome.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module comprises an approval vote processing module.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the approval vote processing module computes the probability of collecting enough votes to satisfy an aggregation rule.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module comprises a trust risk analysis module.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the trust risk analysis module computes the probability of collecting enough trusted votes to satisfy an aggregation rule.

34. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module comprises a plurality vote processing module.

35. The system of claim 25, wherein the report creation module comprises an optimization vote processing module.

36. The system of claim 24, wherein the report manager module comprises a notification module for notifying voters of voting results.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the notification module provides an indication of whether the collective group decision is resilient to communications or decision-making errors.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the notification module suggests gathering additional votes if the collective group decision is not resilient to communications or decision-making errors.

39. The system of claim 24, wherein the report manager module comprises a follow-up module for submitting follow-up questions to voters and instituting contingency plans after a collective group decision has been made.

40. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications network comprises a peer-to-peer network.

41. A method for producing an error-resilient collective group decision from a plurality of voters on a communications network comprising:

establishing a voting agenda having at least one of question to be voted on;

determining a voting objective;

presenting the voting agenda to each of the plurality of voters;

calculating a voting termination point based upon vote scoring methods and the voting objective;

allowing each of the plurality of users to vote;

receiving votes until the voting termination point; and

processing the votes with a plurality of vote scoring methods to produce a collective group decision that is resilient to errors.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of calculating the voting termination point comprises calculating the voting termination point based upon a predetermined number of votes.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of calculating the voting termination point comprises calculating the voting termination point based upon a preset time period for voting.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising terminating voting upon receipt of sufficient votes under the one or more scoring methods to reach the voting objective.

45. The method of claim 41, further comprising allowing the voters to modify the agenda.

46. The method of claim 41, further comprising implementing one or more voting rules.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the step of processing the votes comprises processing the votes using aggregation rules and scoring methods based upon the one or more voting rules.

48. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using an error-resilient outcome analysis.

49. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using an optimization vote analysis.

50. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a plurality vote analysis.

51. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using an approval vote analysis.

52. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a Condorcet scoring method.

53. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a Borda scoring method.

54. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a Copeland scoring method.

55. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a plurality aggregation method.

56. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a majority aggregation method.

57. The method of claim 41, further comprising processing the votes using a unanimity aggregation method.

58. The method of claim 41, further comprising assigning weights to the votes.

59. The method of claim 41, further comprising determining voter trust levels.

60. The method of claim 59, further comprising weighting the votes using the voter trust levels.

61. The method of claim 41, further comprising performing a gap analysis on the votes.

62. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of processing the votes comprises applying stochastic or deterministic measures of competence to the votes.

63. The method of claim 41, wherein the communications network comprises a peer-to-peer network.

64. A method for deploying resources comprising:

providing a communications network interconnecting a plurality of voters with a command center;

issuing a voting agenda from the command center to each of the plurality of voters;

calculating a voting termination point based upon vote scoring methods and a voting objective;

allowing the voters to vote;

terminating voting at the voting termination point;

processing the votes using a plurality of vote scoring methods to produce a collective group decision; and

deploying resources based upon the collective group decision.

65. The method of claim 64, wherein the step of calculating the voting termination point comprises calculating the voting termination point based upon a predetermined number of votes.

66. The method of claim 64, wherein the step of calculating the voting termination point comprises calculating the voting termination point based upon a preset time period for voting.

67. The method of claim 64, wherein the step of deploying resources comprises deploying resources in an emergency response environment based upon the collective group outcome.

68. The method of claim 64, further comprising:

issuing a second voting agenda from the command center to each of the plurality of voters;

calculating a second voting termination point based upon vote scoring methods and a voting objective;

allowing the voters to vote;

terminating voting at the second voting termination point;

processing the votes using a plurality of vote scoring methods to produce a second collective group decision; and

redeploying resources based upon the second collective group decision.

69. The method of claim 64, wherein the communications network comprises a peer-to-peer network.

70. A method acquiring data from a plurality of sensors comprising:

providing a communications network interconnecting a plurality of sensors with a center processor;

determining a plurality of vote scoring methods;

calculating a data acquision termination point based upon vote scoring methods and a voting objective;

acquiring data from the plurality of sensors until the data acquisition termination point; and

processing acquired data using the plurality of scoring methods to produce a collective group decision.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the step of calculating the data acquisition termination point comprises calculating the data acquisition termination point based upon a predetermined quantity of data.

72. The method of claim 70, wherein the step of calculating the data acquisition termination point comprises calculating the data acquisition termination point based upon a preset time period for acquiring data.

73. The method of claim 70, further comprising determining a group of sensors to activate to achieve the voting objective.

74. The method of claim 73, further comprising activating the group of sensors.

75. The method of claim 70, wherein the communications network comprises a peer-to-peer network.