TECHNIQUES FOR GENERATING A TRUSTWORTHINESS SCORE IN AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20120072384A1
• Filed: 08/05/2011
• Published: 03/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ben Schreiner, Dennis King, Don Pettey
• Original Assignee: Ben Schreiner, Dennis King, Don Pettey
• Inventors: Schreiner, Ben, Pettey, Don, King, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,984 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Some embodiments of this disclosure relate to techniques for determining trustworthiness scores for entities in an online environment. Often, the techniques gather behavioral information regarding entities from a number of different online sources, and then process this information to generate the trustworthiness scores. In some embodiments, a portion of one entity'"'"'s score can be scaled with regards to a corresponding portion of another entity'"'"'s score. In still other embodiments, an entity can be provided with a trustworthiness score that has different category components.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of identifiers from a first entity, wherein the plurality of identifiers identify a plurality of respective online sources with which the first entity has interacted or expects to interact;

based on the identifiers, gathering trust records of the first entity from the respective online sources, wherein a trust record from an online source describes behavioral information regarding the first entity with regards to the online source; and

determining a base trustworthiness score of the first entity based on the gathered trust records.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying an entity diversity multiplier to the base trustworthiness score to generate an overall trustworthiness score for the first entity, wherein the entity diversity multiplier that takes into account how many different online sites from which behavioral information is gathered for the first entity.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing the overall trustworthiness score of the first entity to a second entity so the second entity can evaluate trustworthiness of the first entity based on the overall trustworthiness score.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the overall trustworthiness score is a numerical value ranging between a predetermined maximum value and a predetermined minimum value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the base trustworthiness score is also based on a referral score generated based, at least in part, on a referral provided by a referrer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a value of the referral score is based on a trustworthiness score of the referrer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a number of source scores for the first entity, wherein the source scores respectively correspond to the number of online sources;

determining the base trustworthiness score of the first entity based on the number of source scores for the entity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a source score for the first entity for an online source accounts for activity of the first entity on the online source and a length of time during which the first entity has interacted with the online source.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the source score also accounts for the length of time with which a trust profiler has established a relationship with the online source.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a source score is weighted as a function of information that evaluates trustworthiness of a source with which the source score is associated.

11. A method of determining trustworthiness scores in an online environment, comprising:

gathering behavioral information regarding trustworthiness of a first entity from a first plurality of online sites;

gathering behavioral information regarding trustworthiness of a second entity from a second plurality of online sites;

generating a first base trustworthiness score for the first entity based on the behavioral information gathered from the first plurality of online sites; and

generating a second base trustworthiness score for the second entity based on the behavioral information gathered from the second plurality of online sites;

providing first and second overall trustworthiness scores to a receiving entity based on the first and second base trustworthiness scores, respectively, thereby allowing the receiving to evaluate the trustworthiness of the first and second entities based on the first and second overall trustworthiness scores, respectively.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first plurality of online sites is different from the second plurality of online sites.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first plurality of online sites is the same as the second plurality of online sites.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

based on whether the first trustworthiness score meets a predetermined set of criteria, selectively scaling the second base trustworthiness score as a function of the first base trustworthiness score.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first plurality of online sites and the second plurality of online sites are both classified according to a number of different categories.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the number of different categories comprises one or more of a social category, a professional category, a commercial category, an academic category, a community category, a special interest category, and a volunteer category.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the first base trustworthiness score is generated based on a quantity of the first plurality of online sites and based on a quantity of categories with which members of the first plurality of online sites are associated.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining a first category score for the first entity, wherein the first category score is based on behavioral information gathered from at least one of the first plurality of online sites, wherein at least one of the first plurality of online sites is associated with a first category of the number of different categories;

determining a first category score for the second entity based on behavioral information gathered from at least one of the second plurality of online sites, wherein at least one of the second plurality of online sites is associated with the first category; and

if the first category score for the first entity meets a first set of criteria, then scaling the first category score for the second entity based on the first category score for the first entity.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first set of criteria is met if the first category score for the first entity is higher than a predetermined percentage of category scores for other respective entities.

20. A method of determining trustworthiness scores in an online environment, comprising:

gathering trust records from a common online source with which a group of entities individually interact;

based on the gathered trust records, determining respective common online source scores for the respective entities of the group;

selecting some of the common online source scores which have a pre-determined relationship relative to other non-selected common online source scores;

scaling the respective common online source scores for the respective entities of the group based on a scaling factor derived from the selected common online source scores.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining respective overall trustworthiness scores for the respective entities of the group based on the scaled common online source scores.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing the overall trustworthiness scores to a receiving entity, thereby allowing the receiving entity to evaluate trustworthiness of the respective entities.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein determining the respective overall trustworthiness scores for the respective entities is also based on respective source scores for the entities from other online sources.

24. A method, comprising:

gathering information indicative of behavior of a first entity with regards to a number of online sites;

based on the gathered information, determining a trustworthiness score for the first entity;

providing the first entity with a trustworthiness indicia, which includes the trustworthiness score, and which can be embedded in a communication from the first entity to a second entity.

25. The method of claim 24, where the communication is an email message.

26. The method of claim 24, where the communication is a website affiliated with the first entity.

27. The method of claim 24, where the communication is a text message.

28. The method of claim 24, where the trustworthiness indicia includes an icon visually displayed on the communication.