Method and apparatus for conducting an information brokering service

• US 20070061219A1
• Filed: 07/07/2006
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gardner, Graham, Palestrant, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US11/483,407
• Publication Number:
  US 20070061219A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• 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 a creation of a ticket by at least one user, the ticket comprising at least one observation generated by the at least one user; and

accepting, from a plurality of users, a plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a rank of the at least one user.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a rank of each of the plurality of users.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of adjusting the rank of the at least one user based on the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising an act of adjusting the rank of each of the respective users based on their ability to predict an outcome of the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising an act of increasing the rank of the at least one user if the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket form a consensus of agreement with the observation of the ticket.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising an act of decreasing the rank of the at least one user if the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket do not form a consensus of agreement with the observation of the ticket.

8. The method according to claim 4, further comprising an act of decreasing the rank of the at least one user if the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket form a consensus of disagreement with the observation of the ticket.

9. The method according to claim 5, further comprising an act of increasing the rank of at least one of the plurality of users if the at least one user correctly predicts the outcome of the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.

10. The method according to claim 5, further comprising an act of decreasing the rank of at least one of the plurality of users if the at least one user incorrectly predicts the outcome of the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a consensus of opinion among a plurality of users regarding the at least one observation of the ticket.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising acts of maintaining a plurality of tickets created by a plurality of users.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising an act of limiting, for at least one user of the plurality of users, a number of opinions relating to the plurality of tickets that the at least one user of the plurality of users can enter.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising an act of linking, for the at least one user of the plurality of users, the number of opinions the at least one user of the plurality of users can enter to a number of tickets created by at least one user of the plurality of users.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of limiting a number of tickets that can be created by the at least one user.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising an act of limiting a number of tickets that are outstanding from the at least one user.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of providing an incentive to the at least one user if the ticket relates to an area of expertise of the at least one user.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of rewarding an earlier vote more highly than a later vote on a same ticket.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising acts of permitting a user to create a proposed ticket and determining whether the proposed ticket is similar to the created ticket.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising an act of presenting to the user, the created ticket if the proposed ticket is similar to the created ticket.