System and method for sharing of expert knowledge

• US 20060112055A1
• Filed: 12/08/2005
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topiary Communications, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Topiary Communications, Inc.
• Inventors: Wagner, Clifford, Schramm, Daniel M., Tapio, Thomas H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,337,159 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method of creating electronic files for solving a problem for a learner from the knowledge of an expert, comprising the steps of receiving the expert'"'"'s knowledge in an area of expertise, providing a template for the electronic files and generating the electronic files from the expert'"'"'s knowledge and the template.

Claims

1. A method of authoring and generating a compliance application having a plurality of pages viewable with an interface, the compliance application for interacting with a user to find a solution to a problem through the user answering a series of questions and/or following a series of steps, the method comprising the steps of:

providing for receiving a first question, a second question, and a third question from an expert through an editor;

providing for receiving a first potential answer to the first question and a second potential answer to the first question from the expert through the editor, wherein both the first and second potential answers to the first question are correct answers to the first question, and wherein the first and second answers are utilized to create a compliance path;

providing for receiving a first potential answer to the second question and a second potential answer to the second question from the expert through the editor, wherein both the first and second potential answers to the second question are correct answers to the second question, and wherein the first and second answers are utilized to create the compliance path;

providing for receiving a solution to the problem from the expert through the editor, the solution being an answer and/or a step for the user to follow for use in the compliance application;

providing for receiving a first Boolean logic rule from the expert through the editor, the first Boolean logic rule associating the first potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, and the third question, the first Boolean logic rule being utilized within the compliance application for directing the user through the compliance path for complying with the compliance application;

providing for receiving a second Boolean logic rule from the expert through the editor, the second Boolean logic rule associating the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the second question, and the solution, the second Boolean logic rule being utilized within the compliance application for directing the user through the compliance path for complying with the compliance application; and

,

providing for generating the plurality of pages based on the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and the solution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after the compliance application is generated, further comprising the steps of:

providing for transmitting a first page of the plurality of pages to the user, the first page displaying the first question to the user;

providing for receiving a first response from the user, wherein the first response is indicative of one of the first potential answer to the first question and the second potential answer to the first question, wherein at least one of the first and second potential answers to the first question will match the first response and lead to a further step within the compliance path or to the solution within the compliance path;

providing for transmitting a second page of the plurality of pages to the user, the second page displaying the second question to the user as a part of the further step within the compliance path;

providing for receiving a second response from the user, wherein the second response is indicative of one of the first potential answer to the second question and the second potential answer to the second question, and wherein at least one of the first and second potential answers to the second question will match the second response and lead to a further step within the compliance path or to the solution within the compliance path;

providing for executing at least one of the first Boolean logic rule to produce a first rule result which is indicative of the next step in the compliance path, and the second Boolean logic rule to produce a second rule result, which may also be indicative of the next step in the compliance path or may be indicative of the even further step within the compliance path; and

providing for transmitting a third page to the user, the third page displaying the third question to the user if the first rule result is positive as the next step in the compliance path, the second page displaying the further step in the compliance path or the solution to the user if the second rule result is positive.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising automatically publishing the plurality of pages to a server connected to the Internet.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein one or more of the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and/or the solution is received in free form text format, and wherein the method further comprises the step of:

automatically adding XML keywords to the freeform text format for generating the plurality of pages.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the plurality of pages comprises generating JavaScript.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, wherein generating the plurality of pages comprises generating cascading style sheets.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the plurality of pages comprises using a template.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the template is selected from a plurality of templates and dynamically generated using one or more of the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and/or the solution.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein one or more of the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and/or the solution can be imported and used to generate a second compliance application.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein one or more of the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and/or the solution are received and stored through an outline within the editor.

11. A method as defined by claim 1, wherein one or more of the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and/or the solution are received from a standard word processing file created by a standard word processing software application.

12. An apparatus structured to facilitate authoring and generating a compliance application having a plurality of pages viewable with an interface, the compliance application for interacting with a user to find a solution to a problem through the user answering a series of questions and/or following a series of steps, the apparatus being structured to:

receive a first question, a second question, and a third question from an expert through an editor;

receive a first potential answer to the first question and a second potential answer to the first question from the expert through the editor, wherein both the first and second potential answers to the first question are correct answers to the first question, and wherein the first and second answers are utilized to create a compliance path;

receive a first potential answer to the second question and a second potential answer to the second question from the expert through the editor, wherein both the first and second potential answers to the second question are correct answers to the second question, and wherein the first and second answers are utilized to create the compliance path;

receive a solution to the problem from the expert through the editor, the solution being an answer and/or a step for the user to follow for use in the compliance application;

receive a first Boolean logic rule from the expert through the editor, the first Boolean logic rule associating the first potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, and the third question, the first Boolean logic rule being utilized by the compliance system for directing the user through the compliance path for complying with the compliance application;

receive a second Boolean logic rule from the expert through the editor, the second Boolean logic rule associating the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the second question, and the solution, the second Boolean logic rule being utilized within the compliance application for directing the user through the compliance path for complying with the compliance application; and

,

generate the plurality of pages based on the first question, the second question, the third question, the first potential answer to the first question, the second potential answer to the first question, the first potential answer to the second question, the second potential answer to the second question, the first Boolean logic rule, the second Boolean logic rule, and the solution.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein after the compliance application is generated, the compliance application is structured to:

transmit a first page of the plurality of pages to the user, the first page displaying the first question to the user;

receive a first response from the user, wherein the first response is indicative of one of the first potential answer to the first question and the second potential answer to the first question, wherein at least one of the first and second potential answers to the first question will match the first response and lead to a further step within the compliance path or to the solution within the compliance path;

transmit a second page of the plurality of pages to the user, the second page displaying the second question to the user as a part of the further step within the compliance path;

receive a second response from the user, wherein the second response is indicative of one of the first potential answer to the second question and the second potential answer to the second question, wherein at least one of the first and second potential answers to the second question will match the second response and lead to a further step within the compliance path or to the solution within the compliance path;

execute at least one of the first Boolean logic rule to produce a first rule result which is indicative of the next step in the compliance path, and the second Boolean logic rule to produce a second rule result, which may also be indicative of the next step in the compliance path or may be indicative of the even further step within the compliance path; and

transmit a third page to the user, the third page displaying the third question to the user if the first rule result is positive as the next step in the compliance path, the second page displaying the further step in the compliance path or the solution to the user if the second rule result is positive.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, further structured to automatically publish the plurality of pages to a server connected to the Internet.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, further structured to generate the plurality of pages as HTML files.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, further structured to include JavaScript in the HTML files.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 16, further structured to generate the plurality of pages with cascading style sheets.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, further structured to generate the plurality of pages using a template.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the template includes source code.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the solution comprises text.