System and method to customize the facilitation of development of user thinking about an arbitrary problem

• US 7,577,630 B1
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Issued: 08/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zxibix Inc.
• Original Assignee: Zxibix Inc.
• Inventors: Heidenreich, James Ralph, Higgins, Linda Shawn
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes; Michael B
• Application Number:
  US11/894,136
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 706/45
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

Preferred embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for customizing the facilitation of development of user thinking about an arbitrary problem. The system includes first logic to facilitate user specification of a problem structure, second logic to facilitate user specification of a conclusion structure, third logic to facilitate specification of a knowledge structure, related to the arbitrary problem. Some embodiments of the system further include customization logic to accomplish customized or specialized facilitation as in the provisioning of a customized or specialized process for the user. Other embodiments further include customization or specialization of the structure for the user and in some embodiments, customization of the system output.

Claims

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

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one problem to populate a problem statement structure;

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one conclusion, related to at least one problem specification, to populate a conclusion statement structure;

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

Control logic to persuade user interaction with the problem facilitation, conclusion facilitation, and knowledge facilitation 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;

Customization logic to modify at least one of the facilitation of user specification, facilitation of problem specification, facilitation of conclusion specification, facilitation of knowledge specification, interactions, sequences of interactions, interaction sequences, display and output, or any combination thereof, to provide a customized archetype process for user thinking about the problem;

At least one of logic to display, logic to store and logic to output at least a subset of the resulting user structure, or any combination thereof.

2. The system of claim 1 further including logic to track user interaction with at least one of the archetype process and the customized archetype process, or both.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify a recommended starting point for user interaction.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one recommended sequence of user interactions.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify initial content of at least a subset of the problem specification, conclusion specification and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify content available for specification of at least a subset of the user structure.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to selectively include or preclude, or include and preclude, interactions of interaction sequences of an archetype process.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to selectively include or preclude, or include and preclude, types of structures for at least one of the problem specification, conclusion specification and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify suggested emphasis a user should devote to the specification of at least a subset of the user structure.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify suggested emphasis a user should devote to at least one of the interactions of the interaction sequences of the archetype process.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one of guidelines of user interaction and provision of user prompts, or both.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to select or modify, or select and modify, the views provided to the user in the interactions of the interaction sequences of the archetype process or the customized archetype process, or both.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify the form of the output utilized.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes at least one of logic to modify and logic to add rules, or both, for the archetype process or a customized archetype process, or both.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the archetype process and the customized archetype process, or both, includes process suggestor logic to suggest to the user next steps to take, and wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one of modification and addition, or both, to said processor suggestor logic.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein at least one of the specified modifications of or additions to said processor suggestor logic includes the specification of evaluation criteria for the suggestion of next steps for the user to take.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein at least one of the specified modifications of or additions to said processor suggestor logic includes the specification of next steps for the user to take.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to substitute at least one of an external tool, system and resource, or any combination thereof, for at least one of the interactions of the interaction sequences of at least one of the archetype process and a customized archetype process, or both.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes logic to add at least one of an external tool, system, and resource, or any combination thereof, to at least one of the interactions or interaction sequences, or both, of the archetype process or a customized archetype process, or both.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes the use of a modified or substituted, or both, at least one of a data base, object set, and table, or any combination thereof, utilized by the system to accomplish customized facilitation.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization logic includes the provisioning of input to at least one of predefined parameters or options, or both, utilized by the system to accomplish customized facilitation.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein customization logic includes use of proxy components related to the archetype process utilized by the system to accomplish customized facilitation.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the customization is initiated or controlled, or both, by at least one electronic source or system, or both.

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

25. The system of claim 1 wherein the archetype process has multiple or alternative paths of sequences of interaction sequences.

26. The system of claim 1 further comprising 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 control logic persuades user interactions additionally with the subtopic logic to a sequence of interactions within a predefined set of interaction sequences.

27. The system of claim 1 further comprising logic to facilitate user 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 control logic persuades the user interactions additionally with the meaning statement logic to a sequence of interactions within a predefined set of interaction sequences.

28. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes at least one of the user derivation and specification of data, or both, and wherein the knowledge structure is a data structure to hold data.

29. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes at least one of the user derivation and specification of information, or both, and wherein the knowledge structure is an information structure to hold information.

30. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes at least one of the user derivation and specification of analysis, or both, and wherein the knowledge structure is an analysis structure to hold analysis.

31. The system of claim 1 wherein the user specification of at least a subset of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof, is derived from at least one external source.

64. The system of claim 1 wherein the user is a group or team or multiple individuals.

32. One or more computer readable media having processor executable instructions for implementing a system for customized facilitation of user thinking about an arbitrary problem, comprising:

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one problem to populate a problem statement structure;

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one conclusion, related to at least one problem statement, to populate a conclusion statement structure;

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

Model logic to construct a resulting user model structure;

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

Customization logic to modify at least one of the facilitation of user specification, facilitation of problem specification, facilitation of conclusion specification, facilitation of knowledge specification, archetype structure, model logic, structure analysis logic, display and output, or any combination thereof, to customize at least one of the facilitation of the user and the user structure, or both;

At least one of logic to display, logic to store and logic to output at least a subset of the resulting user structure, or any combination thereof.

33. The system of claim 32 further comprising model logic to track user interaction additionally with the customization logic.

34. The system of claim 32 wherein the archetype model structure is a dynamic structure that changes in response to the user structure.

35. The system of claim 32 wherein the archetype model structure is specified in a set of rules specifying relationships among at least a subset of the problem structure, conclusion structure, and knowledge structure, or any combination thereof.

36. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify initial content of at least a subset of the problem specification, conclusion specification and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

37. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify content available for specification of at least a subset of the user structure.

38. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify suggested emphasis a user should devote to the specification of at least a subset of the user structure.

39. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to selectively include or preclude, or preclude and include, structures of at least one of the archetype model structure and the customized archetype model structure, or both.

40. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to selectively include or preclude, or include and preclude, types of structures for at least one of the problem specification, conclusion specification and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

41. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes at least one of logic to modify and logic to add to, or both, relationship specifications among the components of the archetype model structure or a customized archetype model structure, or both.

42. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to add customized types of formatted structures for at least one of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein at least one formatted structure includes at least one formatted analysis structure.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein at least one formatted structure includes at least one formatted information structure.

45. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to substitute at least one of an external tool, system and resource, or any combination thereof, for at least one of the components of the archetype model structure or a customized archetype model structure, or both.

46. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to add at least one of an external tool, system, and resource, or any combination thereof, to at least one of the types of components of at least one of the archetype structure or a customized archetype model structure, or both.

47. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes at least one of logic to modify and logic to add rules, or both, for the archetype structure or the customized archetype structure, or both.

48. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one of guidelines of user interaction and provision of user prompts, or both.

49. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes at least one of logic to select and logic to modify, or both, the views provided to the user in the facilitation.

50. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify the form of the output utilized.

51. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one of modification of and addition to the structure analysis logic, or both.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein at least one of the specified modifications of or additions to the structure analysis logic includes the specification of evaluation criteria for the suggestion of next steps for the user to take.

53. The system of claim 51 wherein at least one of the specified modifications of or additions, or both, to the structure analysis logic includes the specification of next steps for the user to take.

54. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes the use of at least one of a modified and substituted, or both, at least one of a data base, object set, and table, or any combination thereof, utilized by the system to accomplish customized facilitation.

55. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes the provisioning of at least one of input to predefined parameters and options, or both, utilized by the system to accomplish customized facilitation.

56. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization logic includes the use of proxy components related to the archetype model structure utilized by the system to accomplish customized facilitation.

57. The system of claim 32 wherein the customization is initiated or controlled, or both, by at least one of an electronic source or system, or both.

58. The system of claim 32 further comprising 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 interactions additionally with the subtopic logic to construct the user model.

59. The system of claim 32 further comprising logic to facilitate user 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 the user model.

60. The system of claim 32 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes at least one of the user derivation and specification of data, or both, and wherein the knowledge structure is a data structure to hold data.

61. The system of claim 32 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes at least one of the user derivation and specification of information, or both, and wherein the knowledge structure is an information structure to hold information.

62. The system of claim 32 wherein the user specification of knowledge includes at least one of the user derivation and specification of analysis, or both, and wherein the knowledge structure is an analysis structure to hold analysis.

63. The system of claim 32 wherein the user specification of at least a subset of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof, is derived from at least one external source.

65. The system of claim 32 wherein the user is a group or team or multiple individuals.

66. A computer implemented system for customized facilitation of user thinking about an arbitrary problem, comprising:

a process manager and customization system executed by one or more processors, comprising;

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one problem to populate a problem statement structure;

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one conclusion, related to at least one problem specification, to populate a conclusion statement structure;

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

Control logic to persuade user interaction with the problem facilitation, conclusion facilitation, and knowledge facilitation 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;

Customization logic to modify at least one of the facilitation of user specification, facilitation of problem specification, facilitation of conclusion specification, facilitation of knowledge specification, interactions, sequences of interactions, interaction sequences, display and output, or any combination thereof, to provide a customized archetype process for user thinking about the problem;

At least one of logic to display, logic to store and logic to output at least a subset of the resulting user structure, or any combination thereof.

67. The system of claim 66 wherein the customization logic includes logic to selectively include or preclude, or include and preclude, types of structures for at least one of the problem specification, conclusion specification and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

68. The system of claim 66 wherein at least one of the archetype process and the customized archetype process, or both, includes process suggestor logic to suggest to the user next steps to take, and wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one of modification and addition, or both, to said processor suggestor logic.

69. The system of claim 66 wherein the customization logic includes at least one of logic to modify and logic to add rules, or both, for the archetype process or a customized archetype process, or both.

70. The system of claim 66 wherein the customization logic includes logic to substitute at least one of an external tool, system and resource, or any combination thereof, for at least one of the interactions of the interaction sequences of at least one of the archetype process and a customized archetype process, or both.

71. The system of claim 66 wherein the customization logic includes logic to add at least one of an external tool, system, and resource, or any combination thereof, to at least one of the interactions or interaction sequences, or both, of the archetype process or a customized archetype process, or both.

72. The system of claim 66 wherein the customization is initiated or controlled, or both, by at least one electronic source or system, or both.

73. The system of claim 66 wherein the user specification of at least a subset of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof, is derived from at least one external source.

74. A computer implemented system for customized facilitation of user thinking about an arbitrary problem, comprising:

a process manager and customization system executed by one or more processors, comprising;

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one problem to populate a problem statement structure;

logic to facilitate user specification of at least one conclusion, related to at least one problem statement, to populate a conclusion statement structure;

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

Model logic to construct a resulting user model structure;

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

Customization logic to modify at least one of the facilitation of user specification, facilitation of problem specification, facilitation of conclusion specification, facilitation of knowledge specification, archetype structure, model logic, structure analysis logic, display and output, or any combination thereof, to customize at least one of the facilitation of the user and the user structure, or both;

At least one of logic to display, logic to store and logic to output at least a subset of the resulting user structure, or any combination thereof.

75. The system of claim 74 wherein the customization logic includes logic to selectively include or preclude, or preclude and include, structures of at least one of the archetype model structure and the customized archetype model structure, or both.

76. The system of claim 74 wherein the customization logic includes logic to specify at least one of modification of and addition to the structure analysis logic, or both.

77. The system of claim 74 wherein the customization logic includes logic to add customized types of formatted structures for at least one of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof.

78. The system of claim 74 wherein the customization logic includes logic to substitute at least one of an external tool, system and resource, or any combination thereof, for at least one of the components of the archetype model structure or a customized archetype model structure, or both.

79. The system of claim 74 wherein the customization logic includes logic to add at least one of an external tool, system, and resource, or any combination thereof, to at least one of the types of components of at least one of the archetype structure or a customized archetype model structure, or both.

80. The system of claim 74 wherein the customization is initiated or controlled, or both, by at least one electronic source or system, or both.

81. The system of claim 74 wherein the user specification of at least a subset of the problem specification, conclusion specification, and knowledge specification, or any combination thereof, is derived from at least one external source.