Fee determination device

• US 7,272,582 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2005
• Issued: 09/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DataGater, LLC
• Original Assignee: Data Gater LLC
• Inventors: Rust, Langbourne W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fischer; Andrew J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Augustin; Evens J
• Application Number:
  US11/055,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20060178999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 950 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/400, 705/7, 709/224, 713/202, 713/93
• US Class Current: 705/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems

Abstract

Methods and electronic architectures for volume based handling and processing electronic data, for which a fee is determined based on a selectable metric, are provided. One embodiment includes program instructions for collecting non-aggregated data in an encrypted form that cannot be accessed or presented in aggregation for analysis without first being decrypted. The process of decryption allows for the determination of the fee based on a selectable fee metric associated with the decryption.

Claims

1. A method of handling electronic data, comprising:

receiving non-aggregated data into a number of different records off-line on a data collection device;

locking the data on the data collection device so that individual records are still repeatedly operable upon, including being readable and editable, but cannot be operated upon by analysis software to aggregate and analyze the data between different records without being unlocked;

selecting data to be unlocked;

determining a fee for handling the data based on a user controlled selection of a volume and a type of the selected data;

receiving a number of keys to unlock the volume and the type of selected data, such that analysis software can operate on the different records to aggregate and analyze unlocked data between different records;

unlocking data associated with the received number of keys; and

executing analysis software that is not tied to and is not specifically compiled and associated with the selected and the unlocked data to analyze between and electronically aggregate results of the unlocked data between different records.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes allowing the locked data in a non-aggregated form to be revised or deleted on the data collection device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein operation by analysis software includes performing statistical analysis on the unlocked data.

4. A method of processing electronic data, comprising:

collecting unlocked data into a number of different records on a data collection device;

locking the data on the data collection device so that individual records are still repeatedly operable upon, including readable and editable, but cannot be operated upon by analysis software to aggregate and analyze the data between different records;

selecting data to be unlocked;

determining a fee to charge for unlocking the data based on a user controlled selection of a volume and a type of data to be unlocked;

receiving a number of keys to unlock the volume and the type of selected data such that analysis software can operate on the different records to aggregate and analyze unlocked data between different records;

unlocking the data associated with the received number of keys; and

executing analysis software that is not tied to and is not specifically compiled and associated with the selected and the unlocked data to analyze between and electronically aggregate results of the unlocked data between different records.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein unlocking the data includes:

receiving a request to unlock the data by a fee determination device;

transmitting the particular key from the fee determination device to the data collection device; and

unlocking the data using the particular key.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the method includes applying bytes unlocked as a volume to determine the fee to charge for unlocking the data.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the method includes using a volume of data from the group of a number of surveys unlocked, informational content unlocked, and a volume of memory unlocked to determine the fee to charge for unlocking the data.

8. A method of handling electronic response information, comprising:

collecting response information into a number of different records on a data collection device;

locking the response information in a form that is platform independent to a format of the response information so that individual records are still operable upon, including readable and editable, but cannot be operated upon by analysis software to aggregate and analyze the response information in such a way that combines the response information from different records;

selecting response information to be unlocked;

determining a fee to charge for unlocking the response information based on a user controlled selection of a volume and a type of selected response information to unlock;

receiving a number of keys to unlock the volume and the type of selected response information such that analysis software can operate on the different records to aggregate and analyze unlocked response information between different records;

unlocking the response information associated with the received number of keys; and

executing analysis software that is not tied to and is not specifically compiled and associated with the selected and the unlocked response information to analyze between and electronically aggregate results of the unlocked response information between different records.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the format includes a survey format with open and closed ended questions.

10. The method of claim 9, the method including determining the fee to charge based on a number count of open ended questions responses and closed ended questions responses unlocked.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the format includes a particular application language suited to a particular operating environment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the particular application language includes a video capture program.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein unlocking the response information includes facilitating access to the received response information to a different application operable on the particular application language suited to the particular operating system environment.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the format includes behavioural observations.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the behavioural observations are captured by a video capture program.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the response information includes animal behaviour response information.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein determining a fee includes determining a bandwidth traffic to the received response information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the bandwidth traffic includes video bandwidth traffic.

19. The method of claim 13, the method including a video capture program and the different application includes a video analysis program.

20. The method of claim 8, the method including providing data collection software to receive the response information into the data collection device.

21. The method of claim 20, the method including providing question templates with the data collection software.

22. A method of processing electronic data, comprising:

receiving data in an unlocked form into a number of different records on a data collection device;

locking the data on the data collection device so that individual records are still repeatedly operable upon, including readable and editable, but cannot be operated upon by analysis software to aggregate and analyze the data between different records without being unlocked;

selecting data to be unlocked;

determining a fee to charge based on a user controlled selection of a volume and a type of the selected the data to be unlocked;

receiving a request to unlock the selected data by an electronic fee determination device;

receiving a number of keys to unlock the selected data such that the particular key enables access to the selected data by analysis software to aggregate and analyze unlocked data between different records;

unlocking the selected data associated with the received number of keys; and

executing analysis software that is not tied to and is not specifically compiled and associated with the selected and the unlocked data to analyze between and electronically aggregate results of the unlocked data between different records.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the method includes allowing the data to be revised or deleted on the data collection device while locked.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the method includes:

aggregating the unlocked data; and

performing statistical analysis on the aggregated unlocked data.