Balanced Routing of Questions to Experts

• US 20100070554A1
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brill, Eric D., White, Ryen W., Richardson, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,751,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A question processing system routes questions among participants in a balanced and sustainable manner. Any participant can act as an inquirer (who poses questions) and an expert (who answers questions). In one illustrative case, the question processing system operates by: receiving a question from an inquirer; determining at least one expert that is appropriate to answer the question; and routing the question to the expert. The receiving, determining, and routing are repeated with respect to other inquirers and other experts to achieve a desired balance of information exchange among the plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system.

Claims

1. A method for routing a question using an electronic question processing system, comprising:

receiving a question from an inquirer, the inquirer being one of a plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system;

determining an expert that is deemed appropriate to answer the question, the expert being another of the plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system; and

routing the question to the expert,

the receiving, determining, and routing being repeated with respect to other inquirers and other experts to achieve a desired balance of information exchange among the plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system, wherein each of the plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system can act as either an inquirer-participant or an expert-participant at any given time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising interpreting the question to determine a subject matter to which the question pertains.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining of the expert comprises determining plural experts that are deemed appropriate to answer the question, and the routing comprises routing the question to the plural experts.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining of the expert comprises performing an analysis of expertise associated with a plurality of expert candidates, and selecting the expert from among the plurality of expert candidates based on the analysis of the expertise.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the analysis of the expertise comprises determining the expertise of the plurality of expert candidates relative to a baseline of expertise possessed by the inquirer.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said determining of the expert also comprises performing an analysis with respect to at least one supplemental consideration pertaining to the plurality of the expert candidates.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the analysis with respect to said at least one supplemental consideration corresponds to an analysis of an availability factor associated with each expert candidate, the availability factor for a particular expert candidate indicating whether the particular expert candidate is available to answer the question.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the analysis with respect to said at least one supplemental consideration corresponds to an analysis of a rating score associated with each expert candidate, the rating score for a particular expert candidate being based on prior performance of the particular expert candidate.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the prior performance of the particular expert candidate is based on one or more of:

evaluations made by a group of inquirers with whom the particular candidate expert has interacted;

or at least one statistical characteristic associated with answers provided by the particular expert candidate.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the analysis with respect to said at least one supplemental consideration corresponds to an analysis of an engagement balance factor associated with each expert candidate, the engagement balance factor for a particular expert candidate conveying a degree of prior engagement of the particular expert candidate in asking and answering prior questions, wherein the desired balance of information exchange is achieved, at least in part, by managing the degree of prior engagement.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the degree of prior engagement of the particular expert candidate is gauged based on credit earned by the particular expert candidate, wherein the particular expert candidate can earn credit by answering a question, and the expert candidate can expend credit in asking a question.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a recommendation from the expert that another expert is appropriate to answer the question; and

routing the question to the other expert.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing the expert with a suggestion regarding one or more other experts to answer the question, wherein the recommendation made by the expert is based on the suggestion.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating a communication session between the inquirer and the expert if the expert agrees to answer the question that was routed to the expert.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an evaluation by the inquirer of the expert, and using the evaluation to adjust a rating score associated with the expert, the rating score comprising one factor that governs routing of questions to the expert in the future.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising giving the inquirer an opportunity to share information provided by the expert to at least one other potential inquirer.

17. A computer-readable medium for storing computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions providing an electronic question processing system when executed by one or more processing devices, the computer-readable instructions comprising:

logic configured to receive a question from an inquirer;

logic configured to interpret the question to determine a subject matter to which the question pertains, to provide an interpreted question;

logic configured to determine an expert that is deemed appropriate to answer the interpreted question, said logic configured to determine the expert comprising logic configured to perform analysis of the appropriateness of a plurality of expert candidates and to select the expert from among the plurality of expert candidates based on the analysis, the analysis being based at least on;

an expertise associated with each of the plurality of expert candidates;

a rating score associated with each of the plurality of expert candidates; and

an engagement balance factor associated with each of the plurality of expert candidates, the engagement balance factor for a particular expert candidate conveying a degree of prior engagement of the particular expert candidate in asking and answering prior questions;

logic configured to route the question to the expert;

logic configured to initiate a communication session between the inquirer and the expert if the expert agrees to answer the question, the communication session being conducted using an instant messaging system; and

logic configured to receive an evaluation of the expert by the inquirer, the evaluation being used to modify the rating score associated with the expert.

18. An electronic question processing system for routing a question over a communication system, comprising:

a profile creation module configured to create respective profiles for a plurality of experts, the experts comprising participants of the electronic question processing system that can also act as inquirers;

an expert selection module configured to receive a question from an inquirer, select an appropriate expert to answer the question based on the profiles provided by the profile creation module, and route the question to the expert; and

a management module for assigning credit to the participants of the question processing system, wherein each participant that acts as an expert earns credit by answering a question, and each participant that acts an inquirer expends credit in asking a question,

the expert selection module being configured to cooperate with the management module to manage the routing of questions to achieve a desired balance of information exchange among the participants of the electronic question processing system.

19. The electronic question processing system of claim 18, wherein the communication system is a synchronous communication system.

20. The electronic question processing system of claim 18, wherein the communication system is an asynchronous communication system.