Method and apparatus for conducting an information brokering service

• US 20070055610A1
• Filed: 07/07/2006
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gardner, Graham, Palestrant, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 10,510,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system and method is provided that provides an early indication of consensus of opinion among a number of users regarding an event or observation indicated by a user. Such an opinion may be interesting to an information consumer, who may be interested in determining the outcome of the consensus relating to the event or observation, or may otherwise desire to perform surveillance or survey of a particular issue or subject. Such recognition of early events or observations may be useful in different areas, such as healthcare, finance, etc., where initial observations, if provided early, allow resulting decisions to be made much earlier. The opinion may, for instance, be used as an early indicator of problem with a product, company, etc. that would permit an information consumer to perform an action at a much earlier point than if he/she relied on traditional sources of information. Thus, such opinion information may be invaluable as a tool for monitoring events.

Claims

1. A method for conducting an online information brokering service, the method comprising acts of:

permitting at least one user to define a prediction of an event; and

accepting, from at least one other user, an opinion regarding the defined prediction; and

compensating the at least one other user if the opinion is correct.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one user does not place a wager to qualify for being compensated.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the prediction of the event is defined by the at least one user without intervention of an operator of the online information brokering service.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of paying, by a information consumer, for opinion information relating to the prediction of the event.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the act of paying does not depend on whether the prediction of the event is correct.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the act of paying is independent of the outcome of the event.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a value of the opinion information.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising an act of conducting a bid process among a plurality of information consumers, and wherein a result of the bid process determines the value of the opinion information.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of compensating the at least one user if the opinion is correct.