Method and apparatus for conducting an information brokering service

• US 8,160,915 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2006
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sermo, Inc. (Worldone Incorporated)
• Inventors: Palestrant, Daniel, Gardner, Graham
• Primary Examiner(s): Kardos, Neil
• Application Number:
  US11/483,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20070055612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,111 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/7.29, 705/300
• 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:

permitting access to an online community, hosted by a distributed computer system accessed by a plurality of registered users through a web based interface, wherein the plurality of registered users of the online community includes content generating users and information consuming users;

establishing, on the distributed computer system, a plurality of user roles for the plurality of registered users, wherein the plurality of user roles includes at least a content generator role and an information consumer role corresponding with the content generating users and the information consuming users, respectively, wherein the content generating users dynamically create content within the online community through submission of respective observations and respective opinions on the respective observations;

permitting, in a user interface displayed on a host computer system, a creation of a content item by at least one registered user, the content item comprising at least one initial observation generated by the at least one registered user;

classifying, by the distributed computer system, the content item by associating one or more tags with the content item;

locating, by the distributed computer system, the content item based upon the one or more tags, in response to requests by the plurality of registered users;

collecting, by the distributed computer system, a plurality of respective opinions generated by a respective content generating user on the at least one initial observation from a plurality of the registered users having the content generator role, wherein the opinions indicate agreement or disagreement with the at least one initial observation;

receiving, from a user having the information consumer role, an opinion threshold that indicates the number of opinions that must be collected by the distributed computer system before a consensus can be reached;

determining, by the distributed computer system and in response to the number of collected opinions meeting or exceeding the opinion threshold, a consensus of opinion among the plurality of content generating users regarding the at least one initial observation, the consensus based at least in part on the number of opinions collected and the indicated agreement or disagreement of each opinion with respect to the at least one initial observation;

controlling, by the distributed computer system, access to the collected opinions and the determined consensus based on user role, wherein the act of controlling includes;

permitting access by the plurality of registered users having the content generator role;

restricting access by the plurality of registered users having the information consumer role; and

providing, by the distributed computer system, access by at least one user having the information consumer role to the collected opinions and the determined consensus in response to the at least one user with the information consumer role having paid for said access.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining, by a computer system, one or more suggested tags for classifying the content item, and displaying the one or more suggested tags to the at least one registered user as the content item is being created.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising determining, based on a description associated with the content item, the one or more suggested tags.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising an act of displaying the one or more suggested tags to the at least one registered user in real-time as the description associated with the content item is created by the registered user.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of permitting the at least one registered user to associate the one or more tags with the content item.

6. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of permitting the at least one registered user to accept at least one of the one or more suggested tags.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of searching one or more databases to determine whether a similar content item exists, the searching based at least in part on the one or more tags.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising an act of determining, based on the search, whether the content item is unique among a plurality of previously-created content items.

9. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of determining one or more related tags associated with the one or more tags, and presenting the one or more related tags to the at least one registered user.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising an act of presenting one or more similar content items to the at least one registered user.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of presenting one or more users that authored the one or more similar content items to the at least one registered user.

12. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of displaying, to the at least one registered user, an indication of the number of content items associated with a particular tag.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising an act of permitting the at least one registered user to locate similar content items relating to the displayed number of content items.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising acts of:

establishing, by the distributed computer system, a time limitation for the information consumer user'"'"'s access to the content item, the collected opinions, and the determined consensus;

determining, by the distributed computer system, that the time limitation has expired; and

permitting, by the distributed computer system, access to the content item, the collected opinions, and the determined consensus by at least one other information consumer user in response to the determination that the time limitation has expired.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising acts of:

displaying in a user interface information associated with the content item to at least one information consumer having the information consumer role;

accepting at least one bid from the at least one information consumer for the content item, the collected opinions, and the determined consensus;

providing, by the distributed computer system, access to the content item, the collected opinions, and the determined consensus to the at least one information consumer user in response to the at least one information consumer user submitting a winning bid for the content item.

16. A system for conducting an online information brokering service, the system comprising:

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

a computer interface displayed to at least one registered user, configured to permit access to an online community by a plurality of registered users, wherein the plurality of registered users are comprised of content generator users and information consumer users;

a role component configured to establish, for the at least one registered user, a user role from a plurality of user roles, wherein the plurality of user roles includes at least a content generator role and an information consumer role corresponding to the content generator users and the information consumer users, respectively, wherein users having the content generator role create dynamic content within the online community through submission of respective observations and respective opinions on the respective observations;

a generation component configured to permit, in a user interface displayed on a host computer system, creation of a content item by the at least one registered user, the content item comprising at least one initial observation generated by the at least one registered user;

a classification component configured to associate one or more tags with the content item;

a search component configured to locate the content item based upon the one or more tags, in response to requests by the plurality of registered users;

a collection component configured to collect a plurality of respective opinions generated by a respective content generating user on the at least one initial observation from a plurality of the registered users having the content generator role, wherein the opinions indicate agreement or disagreement with the at least one initial observation;

a component configured to receive, from a user having the information consumer role, an opinion threshold that indicates the number of opinions that must be collected by the distributed computer system before a consensus can be reached;

a component configured to determine, in response to the number of collected opinions meeting or exceeding the opinion threshold, a consensus of opinion among the plurality of content generating users regarding the at least one initial observation, the consensus based at least in part on the number of opinions collected and the indicated agreement or disagreement of each opinion with respect to the at least one initial observation;

a content component configured to restrict access to the collected opinions and the determined consensus based on user role, wherein the content component is configured to prevent access to the collected opinions and the determined consensus by the plurality of registered users having the information consumer role, and wherein the content component is further configured to permit access to the collected opinions and the determined consensus by the plurality of registered users having the content generator role;

wherein the user interface is further configured to permit at least one user having the information consumer role to access the collected opinions and the determined consensus in response to the at least one user with the information consumer role having paid for said access.

17. The system according to claim 16, further comprising a compensation component configured to provide compensation to the at least one user of the plurality of registered users who submitted a respective opinion, based at least in part on an amount paid by at least one user having the information consumer role for access to the collected opinions and the determined consensus.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the compensation is independent of the determined consensus.

19. The system according to claim 16, further comprising a rank component configured to score the at least one registered user'"'"'s participation in the online community.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the rank component increases the at least one registered user'"'"'s rank if the determined consensus agrees with the at least one registered user'"'"'s opinion.

21. The system according to claim 16, wherein the content component further comprises a subscription component configured to permit at least one information consumer user to subscribe to participate in the online community, and wherein the content component is further configured to provide access to at least one content item in response to an indication that the at least one information consumer user is subscribed to participate in the online community.

22. The system according to claim 16, the system further comprising:

a bidding component configured to;

display in a user interface information associated with the content item to at least one information consumer having the information consumer role, and

accept bids from a plurality of information consumers for access to the content item, the collected opinions, and the determined consensus; and

wherein the content component is further configured to provide access by the at least one information consumer to the content item, the collected opinions, and the determined consensus in response to the at least one information consumer submitting a winning bid for the content item.