Method and apparatus for conducting an information brokering service

• US 8,019,637 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2006
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gardner, Graham, Palestrant, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Jasmin; Lynda
• Assistant Examiner(s): Miller; Alan S
• Application Number:
  US11/482,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20070061217A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,894 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 715, 705/14.3, 705 265- 267, 705/29, 709220-230
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system and method is provided that provides an early indication of consensus of opinion among a number of users regarding an event or observation indicated by a user. Such an opinion may be interesting to an information consumer, who may be interested in determining the outcome of the consensus relating to the event or observation, or may otherwise desire to perform surveillance or survey of a particular issue or subject. Such recognition of early events or observations may be useful in different areas, such as healthcare, finance, etc., where initial observations, if provided early, allow resulting decisions to be made much earlier. The opinion may, for instance, be used as an early indicator of problem with a product, company, etc. that would permit an information consumer to perform an action at a much earlier point than if he/she relied on traditional sources of information. Thus, such opinion information may be invaluable as a tool for monitoring events.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for conducting an online information brokering service, the method comprising acts of:

providing access to an online system to registered users hosted on a distributed computer system, the registered users comprising at least content generating users and information consumers, wherein the content generating users dynamically create content within the online system, and wherein the dynamic content includes respective observations and respective opinions on the respective observations;

permitting, in a user interface, a creation of at least one observation, wherein the at least one observation is generated by at least one registered user;

displaying, in a respective user interface, the created at least one observation to at least one other user, wherein the at least one other user is a content generating user;

accepting, from the respective user interface, an opinion of the at least one other user regarding the at least one observation submitted by the at least one user;

collecting, for the at least one observation, a plurality of respective opinions generated by a plurality of content generating users regarding the at least one observation;

controlling, by the distributed computer system, access to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation, wherein the act of controlling includes;

permitting access by the plurality of content generator users to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation;

restricting access by a plurality of information consuming users to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation, wherein the act of restricting access includes permitting access by at least one information consumer to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the collected respective opinions in response to receiving payment from the at least one information consumer for access; and

monitoring, automatically, by the distributed computer system, at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of monitoring includes an act of executing a user generated monitor configured to identify information associated with at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the accepted opinion information regarding the at least one observation.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the act of monitoring includes an act of notifying at least one of the registered users in response to identified information associated with at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the accepted opinion information regarding the at least one observation.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of monitoring includes by an act of determining, by the computer system, that at least one parameter associated with the user generated monitor has been satisfied based on comparison of the information associated with at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the accepted opinion information regarding the at least one observation and the at least one parameter.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of permitting at least one information consumer to define the monitor in a respective user interface, wherein the monitor is configured to have at least one parameter comparable with the information associated with at least one of the created at least one observation and the accepted opinion information regarding the at least one observation.

6. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of permitting at least one content generating user to define the monitor, in a respective user interface, wherein the monitor is configured to have at least one parameter comparable with the information associated with at least one of the created at least one observation and the accepted opinion information regarding the at least one observation.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the monitor comprises an executable operation associated with the at least one parameter, the executable operation being activated by a comparison of the at least one parameter associated and the information associated with at least one of the at least one observation and the opinion of the at least one other user regarding the at least one observation.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of executing by the computer system an action based upon the creation of the at least one observation including the at least one parameter.

9. The method according to claim 5, further comprising an act of notifying at least one registered user that the at least one parameter associated with a monitor has been satisfied.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one observation relates to a product, and wherein the at least one user has established a monitor having at least one parameter associated with the product.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of collecting a plurality of the at least one observation from a plurality of registered users and a plurality of respective opinions from a plurality of content generating users regarding the at least one observation.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the act of monitoring includes an act of identifying, by the computer system, trends in the plurality of the at least one observation and the plurality of respective opinions from the plurality of registered users regarding the at least one observation.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the act of identifying trends in the collected information includes an act of detecting by the computer system collusion between users in submission of the plurality of the at least one observation and the plurality of respective opinions from the plurality of registered users regarding the at least one observation.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the act of identifying, by the computer system, trends in the collected information includes an act of determining by the computer system a consensus of opinion among the plurality of users regarding the at least one observation of the ticket.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising an act of determining a ranking of the at least one of the plurality of registered users based on the trends in trends in the plurality of the at least one observation and the plurality of respective opinions from the plurality of registered users regarding the at least one observation.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the act of determining a ranking includes at least one of an act of increasing the ranking in response to a determination that a submitted opinion of the at least one of the plurality of registered users agreed with a determined consensus and an act of decreasing the ranking in response to a determination that a submitted opinion of the at least one of the plurality of registered users disagreed with a determined consensus.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

permitting a content generating user to create a respective at least one observation and submit opinions on the at least one observation, and limiting an information consumer to create a respective at least one observation and monitor the accepted opinion of the at least one other user regarding the at least one observation.

18. The method according to claim 12, further comprising determining an early consensus of opinion for the plurality of the collected respective opinions, wherein the act of determining an early consensus of opinion includes determining a quality of consensus based on the identified trends within the plurality of the at least one observation and the plurality of respective opinions from the plurality of registered users regarding the at least one observation.

19. A system, including at least one processor operatively connected to a memory, configured to conduct an online information service, the system comprising:

at least one processor operatively connected to a memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute system components from the memory;

an access component configured to provide access to an online information brokering service, wherein the online information brokering service includes a plurality of registered users comprising at least content generating users and information consumers, wherein the content generating users dynamically create content within the online system, and wherein the dynamic content includes respective observations and respective opinions on the respective observations;

a generation component configured to permit a creation of at least one observation generated by at least one registered user;

a display component configured to display to at least one other user from the content generating users, wherein the at least one other user is a content generating user;

a collection component configured to accept an opinion of the at least one other user regarding the at least one observation submitted by the at least one user, wherein the collection component is further configured to collect, for the at least one observation, a plurality of respective opinions generated by a plurality of content generating users regarding the at least one observation;

a monitor component configured to automatically monitor at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the accepted opinion information regarding the at least one observation; and

a control component configured to control access to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation, wherein the control component is further configured to;

permit access by the plurality of content generator users to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation;

restrict access by a plurality of information consuming users to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the plurality of the collected respective opinions regarding the at least one observation; and

permit access by at least one information consumer to at least one of the at least one observation generated by the at least one registered user and any of the collected respective opinions in response to receiving payment from the at least one information consumer for access.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the generation component is further configured to permit creation of a monitor by a registered user, wherein creation of the monitor includes defining information associated with at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the accepted opinion information.

21. The system according to claim 20, and wherein the monitor component is further configured to notify at least one of the registered users in response to at least one of the created at least one observation generated by the at least one user and the accepted opinion information containing the defined information.

22. The system according to claim 19, wherein the monitor component is further configured to identify trends in collected information, wherein the collected information includes a plurality of observations and any accepted opinion information regarding the plurality of observations.

23. The system according to claim 19, further comprising a role component configured to establish user roles corresponding to the content generating users and the information consumers, wherein a content generating role is configured to permit a content generating user to create a respective at least one observation and submit opinions on any created at least one observation, and wherein an information consumer role is configured to permit the information consumer to create a respective at least one observation and monitor the accepted opinion regarding any of the at least one observation.