System and method of facilitating and evaluating user thinking about an arbitrary problem using an archetype problem structure

• US 7,197,488 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2003
• Issued: 03/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zxibix Inc.
• Original Assignee: Zxibix Inc.
• Inventors: Heidenreich, James R., Higgins, Linda S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Knight; Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holmes; Michael B.
• Application Number:
  US10/705,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20040106089A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,233 Days
• Field of Search: 706 45- 47
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/00 Computing arrangements using knowledge-based models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

Preferred embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods of facilitating and evaluating user thinking about an arbitrary problem. The system includes first logic to facilitate user specification of the problem to populate a problem statement structure. It also includes second logic to facilitate user specification of a conclusion, related to the problem specification, to populate a conclusion statement structure. It also includes third logic to facilitate user creation and specification of knowledge, related to at least one of the problem specification and the conclusion specification, to populate a knowledge structure. Certain embodiments include control logic to persuade user interaction with the first through third logic to a sequence of interactions within a predefined set of interaction sequences, wherein the predefined set of interactions define an archetype process for user thinking about the problem. Other embodiments include model logic to track user interaction with the first through third logic to construct a user model structure of user development and population of the user model structure, conclusion statement structure, and knowledge structure, and structure analysis logic to analyze the user model structure relative to an archetype model structure. Some embodiments include model logic to track user interaction with the first through third logic to construct a user model structure of user development and population of the problem structure, conclusion statement structure, and knowledge structure; and visual feedback logic to depict an archetype problem-solution structure and to depict the user model structure. And other embodiments include tracking logic to monitor user interactions with the first through third logic and to build a corresponding model of such interactions so that the model, and the corresponding user thinking process, may be evaluated. The system may monitor the user'"'"'s process of problem solving and the structure of the user'"'"'s problem solving approach and make suggestions to the user.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable media having computer executable instructions for implementing a system for facilitating user thinking about an arbitrary problem, comprising:

First logic to facilitate user specification of the problem to populate a problem statement structure;

Second logic to facilitate user specification of a conclusion statement, related to the problem statement, to populate a conclusion statement structure;

Third logic to facilitate user creation and specification of knowledge, related to at least one of the problem statement and the conclusion statement, to populate a knowledge structure;

Model logic to track user interaction with the first through third logic to construct a user model structure of user development and population of the user model structure, conclusion statement structure, and knowledge structure;

Structure analysis logic to analyze the user model structure relative to an archetype model structure;

And at least one of visual feedback logic to display, logic to store and logic to output the resulting user structure.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the archetype model structure is a dynamic structure that changes in response to the user model structure.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the archetype model structure is specified in a set of rules specifying relationships among the problem structure, conclusion statement structure, and knowledge structure.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes the user specification of data and wherein the knowledge structure is a data structure to hold data.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes the user specification of information and wherein the knowledge structure is an information structure to hold information.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes the user specification of analysis and wherein the knowledge structure is an analysis structure to hold analysis.

7. The system of claim 1 further including fourth logic to facilitate user specification of a least one subtopic statement, related to the problem, to populate a corresponding at least one subtopic statement structure to disaggregate the problem into related subtopics, and wherein the model logic tracks user interaction with the first through fourth logic to construct a user model structure of user development and population of the problem structure, conclusion statement structure, knowledge structure, and the at least one subtopic statement structure.

8. The system of claim 1, further including logic to facilitate specification of at least one meaning statement, related to a corresponding at least one problem or subtopic statement, to populate a corresponding at least one meaning statement structure, and wherein the model logic tracks user interactions additionally with the meaning statement logic to construct a user model structure of user development and population of the problem structure, conclusion statement structure, knowledge structure, and the at least one meaning statement structure.

9. The system of claim 1 further including logic to cause a presentation to the user, including depiction of suggested next steps for the user.

10. The system of claim 1 further including logic to present to the user at least a subset of content of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the logic to present includes logic to depict relationships among content of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the logic to depict relationships includes logic to depict hierarchical relationships.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the logic to present depicts all relationships among the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the logic to present includes logic to present user controls to create at least one new problem statement structure, conclusion statement structure, or knowledge structure.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the logic to present include logic to present user controls to modify at least one of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the logic to present includes logic to present structures all of similar type.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the logic to present includes logic to present user controls to modify or create at least one of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the logic to present includes logic to present an individual structure only.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the logic to present includes logic to present user controls to modify or create at least one of the problem statement structure, the conclusion structure, and the knowledge structure.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein the control logic includes logic to provide suggestion feedback to the user of next steps for a user to take.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes logic to perform gap analysis on the at least a subset of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, the knowledge structure, and the relations therebetween to suggest next steps for the user to create or populate structures identified from the gap analysis.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the logic to perform gap analysis includes logic to analyze linkages among the at least one of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure to detect gaps.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes filtering logic to determine whether to provide suggestion feedback based on the state of development of user interactions.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestions includes content analysis logic to analyze content entered by the user to determine relevant suggestions for next steps to the user.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the content analysis logic parses user entry to determine if the entry corresponds to a predefined set of phrases.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestions includes relationship analysis to identify suggestions of next steps according to predefined relationship criteria.

27. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestions includes logic to present suggestions for next steps to the user.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the logic to present suggestions for next steps to the user presents user controls in emphasis.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the logic to present suggestions for next steps to the user presents workspace controls to activate a workspace corresponding to suggested next steps in proximity to a current workspace.

30. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes logic to provide content analysis of at least one of the problem statement structure, the conclusion statement structure, and the knowledge structure.

31. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback is responsive to prior user interactions.

32. The system of claim 27 wherein the logic to provide suggestions include logic to present suggestions for next steps to the user in a visually distinctive manner.

33. The system of claim 1 further comprising to logic to create or modify relationships among components of the user structure.

34. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes logic to provide model project templates for the user.

35. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a subset of knowledge is derived from electronic sources.

36. The system of claim 1 wherein the user is a group.

37. The system of claim 1 wherein the specification of at least one of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification includes the specification of at least one link to a web site.

38. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes logic to automatically generate at least one component for the user structure.

39. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes logic to automatically modify at least one component for the user structure.

40. The system of claim 20 wherein the logic to provide suggestion feedback includes logic to automatically generate or modify at least one relationship for the user structure.

41. The system of claim 6 wherein the specification of analysis includes reference to at least one information construct.

42. The system of claim 6 wherein the specification of analysis includes reference to relationships among at least two information construct.

43. The system of claim 7 further includes logic to send to at least one message to an electronic search field, as in sending at least one problem or subtopic.

44. The system of claim 5 wherein the specification of information includes the specification of at least one structure information construct.

45. The system of claim 1 wherein the problem specification comprises the specification of more than one problem specification related to the arbitrary problem.

46. The system of claim 1 wherein the conclusion specification comprises the specification of more than one conclusion specification related to the arbitrary problem.