System and Method for Locating Business Verifications from Trusted Persons

• US 20110302191A1
• Filed: 06/04/2010
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Waysgo Corporation
• Original Assignee: Waysgo Corporation
• Inventors: Moroz, Evgenios
• Application Number:
  US12/794,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20110302191A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Systems and methods for obtaining comments of businesses from trusted persons are disclosed. In an embodiment of the present invention, users participating in the system get comments of businesses from other people they trust by searching the comments previously made by those others. Trust connections may be established between pairs of users, before a search is made. Comments made by the system users are stored in a database and are searched based upon search requests made by the users. Both the stored comments and search requests each comprise “tag lists” of words describing some good or service. Businesses are selected to appear in search results by matching words of the comments to a search request, as well as other possible factors, and may be sorted by the number of matching comments that each business has received. Various methods may be used to further filter the results.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of locating comments for businesses, comprising:

receiving a plurality of comments, each comment referring to a specific business and comprising a tag list of words;

forwarding each comment to the business to which it refers;

for each sent comment, receiving an indication of whether the business has activated the comment for inclusion in a database stored in a memory;

entering the activated comments into the database;

receiving a search request comprising a tag list; and

searching the database with a processor to locate the businesses having words in their comments that match any of the words in the search request.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising ranking the businesses located by the search by the number of times the words in the search request have been used in all of the comments referring to each business.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

receiving an indication from a first user indicating that other users are connections of the first user;

wherein the search request is received from the first user; and

listing the businesses located by the search which have comments from the connections of the first user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

defining one or more trust relationships between pair of users;

wherein the search request is received from a first user having one or more trust relationships with other users; and

listing the businesses located by the search which have comments from users in trust relationships with the first user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

receiving an indication from a first user that the first user wishes to be considered to have special expertise in a particular type of business;

determining that the first user should be deemed to have such special expertise;

receiving an indication from a second user indicating that the second user wishes to see comments from the first user;

wherein the search request is received from the second user; and

listing the businesses located by the search which have comments from the first user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein determining that the first user should be deemed to have special expertise further comprises having a predetermined number of businesses activate comments from the first user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein searching the database further comprises returning a list of the words most commonly used in the comments of the located businesses.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

registering a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

wherein the search request is received from a first user;

presenting the first user with the list of words commonly used in the comments of the located businesses;

receiving a selection from the first user of one or more of the commonly used words; and

listing the businesses located by the search which also have comments using the commonly used words selected by the first user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each activated comment indicates a date of a transaction with the business to which it refers, and further comprising removing the comment from the database after a predefined period of time.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the received plurality of comments further comprises a tag list that has been predefined by the business to which the comment refers.

11. A system for locating comments for businesses, comprising:

input/output means for communicating with users and businesses;

a memory for storing a database; and

a processor configured to;

receive a plurality of comments, each comment referring to a specific business and comprising a tag list of words;

forward each comment to the business to which it refers;

for each sent comment, receive an indication of whether the business has activated the comment for inclusion in a database stored in a memory

store the activated comments in the database;

receive a search request comprising a tag list; and

search the database with a processor to locate the businesses having words in their comments that match any of the words in the search request.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to rank the businesses located by the search by the number of times the words in the search request have been used in all of the comments referring to each business.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to:

register a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

receive an indication from a first user indicating that other users are connections of the first user;

wherein the search request is received from the first user; and

list the businesses located by the search which have comments from the connections of the first user.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to:

register a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

define one or more trust relationships between pair of users;

wherein the search request is received from a first user having one or more trust relationships with other users; and

list the businesses located by the search which have comments from users in trust relationships with the first user.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to:

register a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

receive an indication from a first user that the first user wishes to be considered to have special expertise in a particular type of business;

determine that the first user should be deemed to have such special expertise;

receive an indication from a second user indicating that the second user wishes to see comments from the first user;

wherein the search request is received from the second user; and

list the businesses located by the search which have comments from the first user.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the first user should be deemed to have special expertise if a predetermined number of businesses activate comments from the first user.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to return a list of the words most commonly used in the comments of the located businesses.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the processor is further configured to:

register a plurality of users who provide the plurality of comments;

wherein the search request is received from a first user;

present the first user with the list of words commonly used in the comments of the located businesses;

receive a selection from the first user of one or more of the commonly used words; and

list the businesses located by the search which also have comments using the commonly used words selected by the first user.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein each activated comment indicates a date of a transaction with the business to which it refers, and wherein the processor is further configured to remove the comment from the database after a predefined period of time.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein one or more of the received plurality of comments further comprises a tag list that has been predefined by the business to which the comment refers.

21. A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of comments, each comment referring to a specific business and comprising a tag list of words;

forwarding each comment to the business to which it refers;

for each sent comment, receiving an indication of whether the business has activated the comment for inclusion in a database stored in a memory;

entering the activated comments into the database;

receiving a search request comprising a tag list; and

searching the database with a processor to locate the businesses having words in their comments that match any of the words in the search request.