Method, apparatus and system for hosting information exchange groups on a wide area network

• US 7,752,251 B1
• Filed: 08/21/2000
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hoshiko LLC (Raoul Management LLC)
• Inventors: Shuster, Brian Mark, Shuster, Gary Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Dustin
• Application Number:
  US09/648,474
• Time in Patent Office: 3,606 Days
• Field of Search: 705/12, 705/10, 707/12, 707/5, 707/10, 707/1, 709/206, 709/204, 709/228, 709/224, 709/229, 709/201, 709/205, 463/25, 702/179, 345/763, 345/706, 715/733, 715/751, 715/234
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

An method and system for hosting information exchange groups on a wide area network is disclosed, using various tools for promoting topical organization and self-evolution of the information exchange groups, and of a system of information exchange groups. These tools include methods for providing user rating of posts within the exchange group, for rating and ranking users of the exchange group, for rating and ranking links to related information pages and especially to related exchange groups operating according to the methods of the invention, and for continuously updating rating and ranking information. Additionally, methods are provided for users to found exchange groups, to filter information in exchange groups according to specified user preferences, and to protect private information from inadvertent disclosure to other users of the exchange group.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for exchanging information within a group of users on a wide area network, comprising:

serving a topic-specific user interface to a plurality of remote clients over a wide area network;

receiving information posts responsive to a defined topic;

receiving a plurality of links to respective different remote information resources, each containing information related to the defined topic from certain of the plurality of remote clients, wherein the plurality of links are distinct from the information posts;

updating the topic-specific user interface to include the information posts and the plurality of links;

updating the topic-specific user interface to include user-interface objects associated with respective posts or links, wherein the user interface objects are configured to enable users to rate the relevance of respective ones of the information posts and of the plurality of links to the defined topic;

receiving user ratings from the plurality of remote clients responsive to the user-interface objects;

aggregating the user ratings from the plurality of remote clients to determine aggregate relevance ratings data;

updating the topic-specific user interface so that the information posts and the plurality of links in the topic-specific user interface are displayed in a ranked order according to the aggregate relevance ratings data;

serving the updated topic-specific user interface to requesting users; and

receiving preference information from respective requesting users, wherein the preference information specifies a threshold aggregate relevance ratings data and wherein the topic-specific user interface includes ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings data that exceed the threshold and does not include ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings data less than or equal to the threshold;

wherein at least some of the method is performed by a suitably configured computing system having one or more computing devices.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user-interface objects are further configured to enable the users to rate the respective ones of the information posts and of the plurality of links according to predetermined rating values.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising aggregating user ratings for information posts associated with one or more selected users to provide a user rating score.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising ranking the one or more selected users according to each user'"'"'s respective user rating score.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising updating the user interface to include one or more of the user rating scores.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising receiving preference information from the plurality of remote clients, wherein the preference information specifies threshold criteria, set by respective ones of users employing the remote clients, for filtering the information posts according to the respective user rating scores.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising presenting the plurality of links on a menu of a web page.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising presenting the plurality of links grouped in a corresponding plurality of menus of the web page, wherein each of the plurality of menus contains links pertaining to a category of information.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing an action selected from adding a link to the plurality of links, and deleting a link from the plurality of links, according to the aggregated relevance ratings data.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising serving an interactive tolerance bar for providing the users an option to send the preference information.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising ranking the plurality of links according to a measurement of activity of respective ones of at least a portion of the plurality of links.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the measurement of activity of respective ones of the plurality of links comprises measurement of at least one of a first number of requests received by the topic specific user interface for the respective remote information resources of the plurality of links and/or a second number of requests received for the topic-specific user interface from the respective remote information resources of the plurality of links.

13. A computing system comprising one or more computing devices including memory and configured to exchange information within a group of users on a wide area network, comprising:

a computing device operative to;

provide a topic-specific user interface that enables display of a defined topic to a plurality of remote clients over a wide area network;

receive information posts responsive to the defined topic and a plurality of links to respective different remote information resources each containing information related to the defined topic;

receive user ratings indicating relevance of respective ones of the information posts to the defined topic and relevance of ones of the plurality of links to the defined topic;

aggregate the user ratings to determine aggregate relevance ratings for respective information posts and links; and

update the topic-specific user interface to include the information posts and the plurality of links in a ranked order according to the aggregate relevance ratings for respective information posts and links;

receive preference information from respective requesting users, wherein the preference information specifies a threshold aggregate relevance ratings and wherein the topic-specific user interface includes ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings that exceed the threshold and does not include ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings less than or equal to the threshold; and

a data store in communication with the computing device, the data store operative to store at least one of the information posts, the plurality of links, and the user ratings.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the computing device is further operative to apply a relative weighting factor to the received user ratings based on one or more attributes associated with the respective user.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the computing device is further operative to update the user interface to include the user rating of respective information posts.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the computing device is further operative to aggregate user ratings for information posts associated with one or more selected users to provide a user rating score.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the computing device is further operative to rank the one or more selected users according to each user'"'"'s respective user rating score.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the computing device is further operative to update the user interface to include one or more user rating scores.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein a user'"'"'s ability to provide user ratings is dependent upon their respective user rating score.

20. The system according to claim 13, wherein the ranking of respective ones of the information posts and the plurality of links are time dependent.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the ranking of respective ones of the information posts and the plurality of links decreases with time absent receipt of new user ratings.

22. The system according to claim 13, further comprising ranking the plurality of links according to a measurement of activity of respective ones of at least a portion of the plurality of links.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the measurement of activity of respective ones of the plurality of links comprises a measurement of at least one of a first number of requests received by the topic-specific user interface for the respective remote information resources of the plurality of links and a second number of requests received for the topic-specific user interface from the respective remote information resources of the plurality of links.

24. A computer-implemented method for exchanging information, the method comprising:

generating a user interface for display of a defined topic that enables user input of information posts related to the defined topic and a plurality of links to respective different remote information resources each containing information related to the defined topic;

for respective information posts,

receiving user ratings indicating relevance of respective information posts to the defined topic from respective users;

aggregating the user ratings for respective information posts to determine aggregate relevance ratings for respective information posts; and

wherein at least some of the information posts are listed in the user interface in a ranked order according to the aggregate relevance ratings for the information posts;

receiving a threshold aggregate relevance rating from respective requesting users, wherein the topic-specific user interface includes ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings that exceed the threshold and does not include ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings less than or equal to the threshold; and

for respective links,

measure activity of respective links; and

,

for each link whose measured activity exceeds a selected value, update the user interface to include the respective link in the user interface.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein activity of respective links comprises at least one of a first number of requests received by the user interface for the remote information resource associated with the respective link and a second number of requests received for the user interface from the remote information resource.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein links whose measured activity falls below the selected value are not included in the user interface.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein a relative weighting factor is applied to the received user ratings, based upon the respective user.

28. The method according to claim 24, further comprising updating the user interface to display the user rating of respective information posts.

29. The method according to claim 24, further comprising aggregating user ratings for information posts associated with one or more selected users to provide a user rating score.

30. The method according to claim 29, further comprising ranking the one or more selected users according to each user'"'"'s respective user rating score.

31. The method according to claim 29, further comprising updating the user interface to include one or more user rating scores.

32. The method according to claim 29, wherein a user'"'"'s ability to provide user ratings is dependent upon their respective user rating score.

33. A tangible computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for serving a topic-specific user interface to a plurality of remote clients over a wide area network;

instructions for receiving information posts responsive to the defined topic and a plurality of links to respective different remote information resources, each containing information related to the defined topic from certain of the plurality of remote clients, wherein the plurality of links are distinct from the information posts;

instructions for updating the topic-specific user interface to include the information posts and the plurality of links;

instructions for updating the topic-specific user interface to include user-interface objects associated with respective posts or links, wherein the user interface objects are configured to enable users to rate the relevance of respective ones of the information posts and of the plurality of links to the defined topic;

instructions for receiving user ratings from the plurality of remote clients responsive to the user-interface objects;

instructions for aggregating the user ratings to determine aggregate relevance ratings;

instructions for updating the topic-specific user interface so that information posts and the plurality of links in the topic-specific user interface are displayed in a ranked order according to the aggregate relevance ratings;

instructions for serving the updated topic-specific user interface; and

instructions for receiving a threshold aggregate relevance rating, wherein the topic-specific user interface includes ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings that exceed the threshold and does not include ones of the information posts having aggregate relevance ratings less than or equal to the threshold.

34. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 33, further comprising instructions for aggregating user ratings for information posts associated with one or more selected users to provide a user rating score.

35. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 34, further comprising instructions for ranking the one or more selected users according to each user'"'"'s respective user rating score.

36. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 34, further comprising instructions for updating the user interface to include one or more of the user rating scores.

37. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 33, further comprising instructions for performing an action selected from adding a link to the plurality of links, and deleting a link from the plurality of links, according to the aggregated relevance ratings.

38. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 37, further comprising instructions for serving an interactive tolerance bar for providing the users an option to send the preference information.

39. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 33, further comprising instructions for ranking the plurality of links according to measurement of activity of respective ones of at least a portion of the plurality of links.

40. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 39, wherein measurement of activity of respective ones of the plurality of links comprises measurement of at least one of a first number or requests received by the user interface for the respective remote information resources of the plurality of links and a second number of requests received for the user interface from the respective remote information resources of the plurality of links.

41. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 33, wherein the ranking of respective ones of the information posts and the plurality of links are time dependent.

42. The tangible computer-readable storage medium according to claim 41, wherein the ranking of respective ones of the information posts and the plurality of links decrease with time absent receipt of new user ratings.