METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING AN ANSWER

• US 20100273139A1
• Filed: 04/27/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IAC Publishing LLC (Match Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CityGrid Media LLC (Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP)
• Inventors: O'Donnell, Patrick, Lowry, Ethan, Doppelt, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 8,868,550 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/327
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

A method of providing an answer, comprising receiving a criteria, identifying a subset of a set of answers in a data store based on the criteria, calculating a random value for each of the answers in the subset, ranking the subset of answers based on the random values, selecting one of the answers of the subset based on the ranking; and providing an output including the selected answer.

Claims

1. A method of providing an answer, comprising:

receiving a criteria;

identifying a subset of a set of answers in a data store based on the criteria;

calculating a random value for each of the answers in the subset;

ranking the subset of answers based on the random values;

selecting one of the answers of the subset based on the ranking; and

providing an output including the selected answer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request signal including the criteria of a network at a server; and

transmitting a response signal including the selected answer in response to the request signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria includes a GPS position of a mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a narrowing criteria, the subset of answers being identified based on the narrowing criteria.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the narrowing criteria includes at least one of neighborhood, cuisine and price.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the narrowing criteria includes at least two of neighborhood, cuisine and price.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a position of each of the answers of the set;

determining whether a position is based on a GPS position or whether the position is a selected area;

if the position is based on a GPS position, calculating a distance from the position based on the GPS position to a position of each answer to determine a plurality of distances, obtaining a plurality of distance scores based on a ranking of the distances;

if the position is based on a selected area, setting a distance score for all answers in a selected area at a first value and all answers outside the selected area at a second value; and

storing the distance scores, wherein the criteria includes the distance scores.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating a total score by combining the distance score and the random value for each answer; and

ranking the answers based on the total scores.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing popularity scores of each of the answers;

obtaining a total score for each answer by combining the random value and the popularity score for each answer; and

ranking the answers based on the total scores.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected answer is the answer in the subset having the highest ranking, further comprising:

receiving a request signal; and

in response to the request signal providing an output including a selected answer having the next highest ranking in the subset.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

recording each answer that has been provided as an output; and

limiting the subset of answers to exclude a last predetermined number of answers that have been provided as an output.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the criteria from a remote computer system, wherein the criteria is received at a server computer system.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

entering a narrowing criteria on the remote computer system, the subset of answers being based on the narrowing criteria.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote computer system is a mobile device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

utilizing a GPS module of the mobile device to determine a GPS position of the mobile device, the criteria including the GPS position of the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

detecting movement of the mobile device;

determining whether acceleration of the mobile device is more than a predetermined threshold; and

if acceleration of the mobile device is more than the predetermined threshold, transmitting the request signal from the mobile device to the server.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying a start screen on the display of the mobile device, the start screen including a wheel that is rotatable to select the criteria;

spinning the wheel on the display if acceleration of the mobile device is more than the predetermined threshold;

stopping rotation of the wheel in response to the output; and

displaying the output on the display.

18. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which are readable by a processor of a computer to execute a method of providing an answer, comprising:

receiving a criteria;

identifying a subset of a set of answers in a data store based on the criteria;

calculating a random value for each of the answers in the subset;

ranking the subset of answers based on the random values;

selecting one of the answers of the subset based on the ranking; and

providing an output including the selected answer.

19. A server computer system comprising:

a processor;

a storage device connected to the processor; and

a set of instructions stored on the storage device and readable by a processor to execute a method of providing an answer, comprising;

receiving a criteria;

identifying a subset of a set of answers in a data store based on the criteria;

calculating a random value for each of the answers in the subset;

ranking the subset of answers based on the random values;

selecting one of the answers of the subset based on the ranking; and

providing an output including the selected answer.