METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SEMANTICALLY MANAGING OFFERS AND REQUESTS OVER A NETWORK

• US 20090030982A1
• Filed: 04/16/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiver LLC
• Original Assignee: Radar Networks Incorporated (EVRI Incorporated)
• Inventors: Thorisson, Kristinn R., Spivack, Nova
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/80 of semi-structured data, e.g. markup language structured data such as SGML, XML or HTML content-based retrieval of web data G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

Among other disclosure, a knowledge network and semcards enabling intelligent matching of offers and requests, involving all types of information and knowledge, including information such as classified ads, data about products and services, or knowledge, expertise, ideas, suggestions, opinions, and other forms of tacit knowledge is described.

Claims

1. A method of intelligently distributing semantic objects that represent offerings, the method comprising:

receiving a query from a user to create a semantic object of a first semantic object type to represent an offering;

creating the semantic object of the first semantic object type to represent the offering, the semantic object having a plurality of meta-tags, the plurality of meta-tags comprising a predetermined set of meta-tags based on the first semantic object type;

optionally linking the semantic object to one or more of other semantic objects;

wherein the linking is one or more of user-specifiable based on a second set of criteria and machine-specifiable based on semantic matching;

identifying a first suitable set of recipients based on a first set of criteria specified by the user; and

sending the offering represented by the semantic object to the first suitable set of recipients over a network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, providing the user with a template associated with the semantic object of the first type;

wherein one or more entries of the template are submitted by the user to specify the first set of criteria for identifying the first suitable set of recipients.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the offering comprises, one or more of, an advertisement, a merchandise offering, finding or procuring items.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, semantically routing or peer-to-peer routing the offering.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of meta-tags are associated with the one or more entries of the template.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, identifying a second suitable set of recipients by performing semantic matching.

7. The method of claim 6, sending the offering represented by the semantic object to the second suitable set of recipients over a network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of criteria comprises, a set of explicitly named recipients.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of criteria comprises, a set of implicit criteria.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, creating another semantic object to represent a request for the offering.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, matching the offering to the request for the offering.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the matching occurs via one or more of, peer-to-peer routing, client-server routing, and semantic routing.

13. A method of semantically representing a relationship between a plurality of users over a network, the method comprising:

receiving a query from a sender to create a relationship semantic object to represent a relationship with another user;

creating the relationship semantic object according to a set of sender-specified policies including a selection of a designated recipient;

sending the relationship semantic object to the designated recipient; and

providing to the sender, a response provided by the designated recipient in response to the relationship semantic object.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the response provided by the designated recipient to the sender includes one or more of, accept the request, counter-invite, decline the request, and cancel the request.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the relationship semantic object represents one or more of, email communications, instant messaging dialogues, discussion group messaging, and any other type of network-based relationship.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the relationship semantic object comprises a set of meta-tags associable with metadata describing meaning and structure of the represented relationship.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the metadata of the relationship semantic object further specifies permissions of the sender to access the designated recipient'"'"'s associated semantic objects.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the metadata of the relationship semantic object further specifies permissions of the designated recipient to access the sender'"'"'s associated semantic objects.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the metadata of the relationship semantic object specifies rules and policies governing the relationship between the sender and the designated recipient.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the relationship semantic object is configurable with a time-to-live (TTL).

21. A system, comprising:

a plurality of user devices communicatively coupled to a host server over a network connection;

a first user device of the plurality of user devices to receive a user query to create a semantic object of a first type to represent an offering, when in operation, the first user device establishes a communication session with the host server to transmit the user query;

wherein, when in operation, the host server provides a user with a template associated with the semantic object of the first type;

wherein one or more entries of the template are submitted by the user via the first user device to indicate a first set of criteria for identifying a first suitable set of recipients;

wherein, when in operation, the host server creates the semantic object of the semantic object type to represent the offering, the semantic object having a plurality of meta-tags associated with the one or more entries of the template and the plurality of meta-tags comprises a predetermined set of meta-tags based on the semantic object type;

wherein, when in operation, the host server optionally links the semantic object to another semantic object;

wherein the linking is user-specifiable based on a second set of criteria and/or machine-specifiable based on semantic matching;

wherein, when in operation, the host server identifies the suitable set of recipients based on the first set of criteria and a second suitable set of recipients based on semantic matching; and

a second set of user devices of the plurality of user devices, when in operation, establishes a communication session with the host server over the network connection to receive the offering represented by the semantic object to be presented to the first and second suitable set of recipients.

22. A system, comprising:

means for, receiving a user query to create a semantic object of a first type to represent an offering;

means for, providing the user with a template associated with the semantic object of the first type;

wherein one or more entries of the template are submitted by the user to indicate a set of criteria for identifying a first suitable set of recipients;

means for, creating the semantic object of the semantic object type to represent the offering, the semantic object having a plurality of meta-tags associated with the one or more entries of the template;

wherein the plurality of meta-tags comprises a predetermined set of meta-tags based on the semantic object type;

means for, optionally linking the semantic object to one or more of other semantic objects;

wherein the linking is one or more of user-specifiable based on a second set of criteria and machine-specifiable based on semantic matching;

means for, identify the suitable set of recipients based on the set of criteria;

means for, identifying a second suitable set of recipients based on semantic matching; and

means for, sending the offering represented by the semantic object to the first and second suitable set of recipients over a network.

23. A method of semantically linking a set of interrelated knowledge objects in a network, the method comprising:

creating a knowledge object of a particular object type in a web space responsive to receiving a query from the user;

wherein the particular object type is associated with a predetermined semantic structure suitable to represent the knowledge object;

presenting a form having a plurality of predetermined fields that is specific to the particular object type to the user in conjunction with creating the knowledge object;

wherein content of at least one of the plurality of predetermined fields is user specifiable;

analyzing the knowledge object to identify metadata associated with the knowledge object; and

creating a semantic link between the knowledge object with another knowledge object of the set of interrelated knowledge objects, based on the identified metadata.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising, tracking a set of rules governing permission to access the set of interrelated knowledge objects;

wherein the set of rules are embodied in the metadata associated with the knowledge object.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein, the set of rules are specifiable by an administrative user of the set of interrelated knowledge objects.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein, the user is one or more of, the administrative user, or another using having access rights in the web space.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein, the form is optionally user-modifiable to add a field to the plurality of predetermined fields or to remove a field from the plurality of predetermined fields.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein, the knowledge object is associated with a knowledge database.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein, the knowledge database is an ontology or a taxonomy.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein, the particular object type is one or more of, a person, a project, a document, a question, and a topic.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein, the knowledge object is accessible via a web-page.