Referral Tracking
First Claim
1. A referral-tracking system comprising a computer system so configured that the referral-tracking system:
- is operable, in response to input representing submission of a listing, to generate an identifier, associate that identifier with the listing, and send a user a message incorporating that identifier;
responds to receipt, from a requester, of a message representing an offer to forward the listing and incorporating an identifier associated by the referral-tracking system with the listing by, in at least some circumstances, generating as a child to that identifier a further identifier, associating the further identifier with the requester and the listing, and sending the requester a message that incorporates the further identifier; and
responds to a request for a set of ancestors and/or offspring of a given identifier associated by the referral-tracking system with the listing by determining the set and computing an output based upon the set.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer system is configured as a referral-tracking system that responds to receipt of a listing from a recruiter by generating an identifier, associating it with that listing, and giving it to the recruiter. If, before the listing is withdrawn, the system thereafter receives from a requester a message offering to forward the listing and incorporating that identifier or another identifier that the system has associated with that listing, it generates a further identifier as a child of the received identifier, associates that further identifier with the listing and the requester, and sends it to the requester. Consequently, if the listing is fulfilled by someone identified to the system as having received a message that incorporated one of those identifiers, the system determines that identifier'"'"'s ancestors and thereby compute the chain of referring requesters that led to the listing'"'"'s being fulfilled. It can also compute an appropriate incentive-award distribution to the referring requesters.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A referral-tracking system comprising a computer system so configured that the referral-tracking system:
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is operable, in response to input representing submission of a listing, to generate an identifier, associate that identifier with the listing, and send a user a message incorporating that identifier;
responds to receipt, from a requester, of a message representing an offer to forward the listing and incorporating an identifier associated by the referral-tracking system with the listing by, in at least some circumstances, generating as a child to that identifier a further identifier, associating the further identifier with the requester and the listing, and sending the requester a message that incorporates the further identifier; and
responds to a request for a set of ancestors and/or offspring of a given identifier associated by the referral-tracking system with the listing by determining the set and computing an output based upon the set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A storage medium containing machine instructions readable by a computer system to configure the computer system as a referral-tracking system that:
- is operable, in response to input representing submission of a listing, to generate an identifier, associate that identifier with the listing, and send a user a message incorporating that identifier;
responds to receipt, from a requester, of a message representing an offer to forward the listing and incorporating an identifier associated by the referral-tracking system with the listing by, in at least some circumstances, generating as a child to that identifier a further identifier, associating the further identifier with the requester and the listing, and sending the requester a message that incorporates the further identifier; and
responds to a request for a set of ancestors and/or offspring of a given identifier associated by the referral-tracking system with the listing by determining the set and computing an output based upon the set. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- is operable, in response to input representing submission of a listing, to generate an identifier, associate that identifier with the listing, and send a user a message incorporating that identifier;
Specification