KNOWLEDGE FILTER

• US 20100005093A1
• Filed: 09/14/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gravel Rating Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Kl Internet Applications LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Heumann, Michael Carl, Cooley, Keith
• Granted Patent: US 8,943,069 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method and system for sharing knowledge is disclosed. The method and system comprises receiving information input into a database and organizing items of information in the database. The method and system further includes collecting ratings and comments associated with each item of information and allowing users to access and sort items of information according to selected rating criteria in order to find the most reliable and/or valuable information from the database. In a second aspect, the present invention including an interface for providing information concerning a subject is disclosed. The interface comprises a first area that shows the subject and contributor name; and a second area that shows the content of the information item. The interface includes a third area that shows rating related to the subject; and a fourth area that allows users to submit ratings for the information item. Accordingly, a knowledge sharing system and interface are provided which allows every member of a knowledge sharing group to benefit from aggregate knowledge, experience and opinions of other members of the group. The system and method allows individual members to easily locate the information from a collectively generated knowledge base that is most consistent with that individual'"'"'s personal measures of value in the information.

Claims

1-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A method, comprising:

a computer system receiving items of information from a plurality of users;

the computer system storing the items of information in a database;

the computer system maintaining for each of the items of information a plurality of aggregate ratings, wherein each of the aggregate ratings for a given information item is based on a plurality of individual rating values received from respective users; and

the computer system sorting at least a subset of the items of information in response to a request from a first user, wherein said sorting is performed according to a customized function of the aggregate ratings, wherein the customized function is specified by input received from the first user.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

receiving comments from one or more users of the plurality of users, wherein each of the comments is regarding a corresponding one of the items of information; and

for each of the comments, receiving an indication of whether the comment is a positive, neutral, or negative comment on the respective corresponding item of information;

wherein said maintaining the plurality of aggregate ratings includes maintaining a count of a number of positive comments and count of a number of negative comments for each of items of information, wherein a first of the plurality of aggregate ratings is based on the number of positive comments and the number of negative comments.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a subject area;

displaying an index for a subset of the items of information related to the selected subject area; and

displaying information representing one or more of the plurality of aggregate ratings for each of the items of information of said subset.

32. The method of claim 29,

wherein said receiving items of information includes:

receiving, from a given one of said plurality of users, information indicating a selection of a subject area within the database; and

receiving, from the given user, a first of the items of information; and

wherein said storing the items of information includes storing the first item of information as being related to the selected subject area.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

preventing the first user from providing rating inputs more than once on any one of the items of information.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein a first of the aggregate ratings of a given information item of the items of information is calculated using the ratio of positive comments to negative comments submitted for the given information item.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein the customized function is a weighted combination of selected ones of the aggregate ratings.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

receiving input from the first user, wherein the input specifies a weight value for said selected ones of the aggregate ratings, and wherein the customized function uses the specified weight value.

37. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

displaying one or more links, wherein each of the one or more links corresponds to a user of the plurality of users that is a contributor of one or more items of information; and

allowing communication with said contributor.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

receiving one or more key words; and

performing a search of the items of information using the received key words.

39. The method of claim 29,

wherein the database includes a hierarchy of tables that includes:

one or more tables of category type that are allowed to have children; and

one or more tables of item type that are not allowed to have children; and

wherein the items of information are stored in the tables of item type.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising dynamically updating a displayed map of the hierarchy of tables in response to an addition of a new table to the hierarchy of tables.

41. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

maintaining aggregate contributor ratings for respective users of the plurality of users; and

sorting at least a subset of the items of information at least in part according to the aggregate contributor ratings of the respective users from which items of the subset of items of information are received.

42. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

displaying a subset of the items of information that correspond to a selected subset area, wherein the subset of items is displayed in order of submission date; and

allowing ratings and commentary related to items of the subset of items of information.

43. The method of claim 29,

wherein the database includes a first hierarchy of tables that includes one or more tables of item type and one or more tables of category type;

wherein the items of information are stored in the tables of item type; and

wherein the method further comprises;

receiving a request for the creation of a new table; and

adding a new table to the first hierarchy in response to the request.

44. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory subsystem storing program instructions that, if executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to;

receive items of information from a plurality of content contributors;

store the items of information in a database;

maintain for each of the items of information a plurality of aggregate ratings, wherein each of the aggregate ratings for a given information item is based on a plurality of individual rating values received from respective users; and

sort at least a subset of the items of information in response to a request from a first user, wherein said sorting is based upon one or more of the aggregate ratings.

45. The computer system of claim 44, wherein the sorting is based on a function of the aggregate ratings, wherein the function is based on input received from the first user.

46. The computer system of claim 44, where said sorting is based on a first of the aggregate ratings, wherein the first aggregate rating is selected based on input received from the first user.

47. The computer system of claim 44, wherein said sorting is based on a default combination of the aggregate ratings.

48. The computer system of claim 44, wherein a first of the aggregate ratings is a summation of said plurality of individual rating values received from the respective users.

49. A computer-readable memory medium having stored thereon program instructions that, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

store items of information in a database, wherein the items of information are received from a plurality of users;

maintain for each of the items of information an aggregate rating, wherein the aggregate rating for a given information item is based on a plurality of individual ratings received from respective users of the plurality of users; and

display a sorted version of at least a subset of the items of information in response to a request from a first user, wherein said sorted version is sorted according to the aggregate rating.

50. The memory medium of claim 49, wherein the aggregate rating is a summation of the plurality individual rating values received from the respective users.

51. The memory medium of claim 49, wherein the individual ratings include:

first ratings indicating a positive opinion regarding the given information item; and

second ratings indicating a negative opinion regarding the given information item.

52. The memory medium of claim 49, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the computer system to:

receive comments regarding at least a subset of the information items; and

store the comments in the database.

53. The memory medium of claim 52, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the computer system to:

display a selected one of the information items;

display comments that are positive with regard to the selected information item in a first display area; and

display comments that are negative with regard to the selected information item in a second display area that is separate from the first display area.

54. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing program instructions executable by the computer system to cause the computer system to;

provide a plurality of users with access to a knowledge base that includes articles of content received from at least a subset of the plurality of users;

maintain, for each of the articles of content in the knowledge base, two or more types of aggregate ratings associated with the article of content, wherein each of the two or more types of aggregate ratings is based on a corresponding plurality of individual user ratings of the associated article of content;

in response to receiving a request from a first user of the knowledge base, sort content in the knowledge base according to a function of the two or more kinds of the aggregate ratings; and

display the sorted content.

55. A computer-readable memory medium having stored thereon program instructions that, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

access from a server a first item of a plurality of items of information;

transfer to the server one or more user ratings for the first item of information, wherein the server maintains for each of the items of information one or more aggregate ratings, and wherein each of the one or more aggregate ratings for a given information item is based on a plurality of individual ratings received from respective users; and

send a request to the server for a sorting of at least a subset of the items of information according to a function of the one or more aggregate ratings, wherein the function is determined based on received input.