System and method for voting in online competitions

• US 20080313026A1
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Social Mecca, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Social Mecca, Inc.
• Inventors: Rose, Robert, Matthews, Camille, Hung, Kelvin, Wiles, Jeremy
• Application Number:
  US11/893,839
• Publication Number:
  US 20080313026A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/00 Voting apparatus

Abstract

Content distribution systems that support Cost-Per-Engagement (CPE) based advertising are disclosed. One embodiment of the invention includes a server connected to a network, a database connected to the server and a voter computer connected to the network. In addition, the server is configured to provide a plurality of options to the voter computer, the voter computer is configured to register with the server using a profile and to communicate a current selection from one of the options to the server, the database stores information concerning past activity associated with a voter profile and the server is configured to determine the value of the vote as a function of at least one factor indicative of stored information concerning the past activity associated with the voter profile.

Claims

1. A system for collecting online votes, comprising:

a server connected to a network;

a database connected to the server; and

a voter computer connected to the network;

wherein the server is configured to provide a plurality of options to the voter computer;

wherein the voter computer is configured to register with the server using a profile and to communicate a current selection from one of the options to the server;

wherein the database stores information concerning past activity associated with a voter profile; and

wherein the server is configured to determine the value of the vote as a function of at least one factor indicative of the stored information concerning the past activity associated with the voter profile.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the server is configured to provide a plurality of options to the voter computer in accordance with at least one voting rule; and

the information concerning past activity includes information indicative of attempts to violate at least one voting rule.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the server is configured to disregard selections that violate any of the voting rules.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

at least one voting rule specifies a minimum allowed time between selections from the same set of options;

the server is configured to apply a time stamp to the current selection;

the information concerning the past activity associated with the voter profile includes a time stamp of the last time an identical selection to the current selection was made by a voter using the voter profile; and

the server is configured to determine whether the current selection constitutes a violation of the voting rules by comparing the minimum allowed time to the time difference between the time stamp of the current selection and the time stamp of the last identical selection.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

devices connected to the network possess an IP address; and

the server identifies the voter computer using the IP address of the voter computer.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the voter computer is configured with a browser application that accepts cookies; and

the server is configured to provide a cookie that identifies the voter computer to the browser application.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the minimum allowed time is measured in units of minutes.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the server is configured to interact with the voter computer;

the server is configured to associate interactions with the voter computer with the voter profile in the database; and

at least one of the factors indicative of the stored information concerning past activity is indicative of the recorded interactions.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the server is configured to determine a reputation factor using at least the recorded interactions associated with the voter profile; and

at least one of the factors indicative of the stored information concerning past activity is the reputation factor.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein

the server is configured to determine an activity factor using at least the recorded interactions associated with the voter profile;

and

at least one of the factors indicative of the stored information concerning past activity is the reputation factor.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a plurality of member computers;

wherein the database stores a profile with respect to each member computer;

wherein the server is configured to interact with the voter computer by enabling the voter computer to establish an association with a member computer;

wherein the server is configured to record associations between the voter profile of the voter computer and the profiles of the member computers in the database; and

wherein at least one of the factors indicative of the stored information concerning past activity is indicative of the recorded associations.

12. A method of tallying votes from a plurality of voters, comprising:

maintaining information concerning the activity of each voter;

receiving a vote from one of the voters;

verifying that the vote does not violate at least one voting rule;

determining a value to attribute to the verified vote using a function of at least one factor that is indicative of the stored information concerning the activity of the voter; and

adding the value of the vote to the tally.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that a second vote violates at least one voting rule; and

including the violation of the voting rules in the voting record of the voter that cast the second vote.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

soliciting votes in response to a plurality of options, where the solicitation includes at least one voting rule prohibiting casting more than one vote within a predetermined time period; and

wherein determining whether a vote violates any of the voting rules, comprises;

reviewing the stored information concerning the activity of the voter to determine when the voter last cast a vote with respect to the plurality of options; and

determining whether the time between the received vote and the last vote is greater than the predetermined time period.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether a vote violates any of the voting rules comprises detecting attempts by a single voter to cast multiple votes under a plurality of identities.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting attempts by a single voter to cast multiple votes under a plurality of identities comprises:

logging the IP address of votes cast by voters; and

comparing the IP address of the received vote to previous votes cast by voters.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

recording information concerning the actions of the voter; and

determining the reputation of a voter based upon the recorded actions of the voter;

wherein at least one of the factors indicative of the stored information concerning past activity is indicative of the stored information concerning the reputation of the voter.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

recording information concerning associations between voters;

wherein the reputation factor of a voter is indicative of the recorded actions of the voter and the recorded associations between the voter and other voters.

19. A system for collecting online ratings, comprising:

a server connected to a network;

a database connected to the server; and

a user computer connected to the network;

wherein the server is configured to provide a candidate to the user computer;

wherein the user computer is configured to register with the server using a profile and to communicate a rating of the candidate to the server;

wherein the database stores information concerning past activity associated with a voter profile; and

wherein the server is configured to determine the value of the rating as a function of at least one factor indicative of the stored information concerning the past activity associated with the voter profile.