Method and system for ranking users

• US 8,380,709 B1
• Filed: 10/14/2008
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elance Incorporation
• Original Assignee: Elance Incorporation
• Inventors: Diller, Jonathan Paul, Song, Sunny SunMin, Kotbagi, Harish Bal
• Primary Examiner(s): Saeed, Usmaan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Uddin, Md I
• Application Number:
  US12/287,994
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/723, 707/740, 707/722, 705/7, 705/26, 705/35
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method of and system for ranking users by reputation enables better searching for a service provider. Service providers are also forced to conform to reputation requirements since they are published. The reputation requirements include reviews, earnings, duration on a site, recent visits and other components that are able to establish a user'"'"'s reputation. The components are also weighted so that more important factors count more towards a user'"'"'s reputation. By combining a search score and a reputation score, a total score is determined which is used to generate a list of results ordered based on the total score.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method of searching for a service provider to provide a service in response to a search text string comprising one or more skills, the method comprising:

a. searching a plurality of fields of each service provider profile in a database of service provider profiles for each of the one or more skills;

b. matching the one or more skills with text within the plurality of fields of each service provider profile to produce a search score for a service provider matching at least one skill;

c. calculating a reputation score for each service provider, wherein the reputation score is dependent on final contribution values computed based on reputation data within a service provider profile belonging to a service provider, wherein each reputation datum is associated with a category having a category weight and with a component weight, wherein each final contribution value is dependent on the component weight, the category weight, and a relative position value of the service provider for the reputation datum, wherein each final contribution value represents a percentage of the reputation score contributed by the service provider and is derived by multiplying a relative position of the service provider to a maximum percentage, wherein the maximum percentage is derived by multiplying a category weight to a component weight; and

d. generating a list of service providers ordered based on a total score, the total score is determined by combining the search score and the reputation score.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the search score is based on matches between the one or more skills and the text within the plurality of fields of the service provider profile belonging to the service provider.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the matches are weighted.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the matches are weighted more when a skill of the one or more skills is within one of a tagline section, a skills section, a keyword tag section, an experience section and a credentials section than when the skill is in one of a description section, a summary section and an about us section.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the search score and the reputations score are weighted equally.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the reputation data comprise components including at least one of feedback data, review data, earnings data, duration data, visitation data and project completion data.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein a portion of the components are correlated in determining the reputation score.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein the components are weighted.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein the components are grouped into categories, wherein the categories are weighted, wherein a total weight of all components associated with a category account for 100% of that category, wherein a total weight of all categories account for 100% of the reputation score.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein each component and at least a portion of the service provider profiles are displayed within the list of service providers.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein each component is viewable by the service providers.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the list of service providers is ordered in descending order with the service provider with a highest combination of the search score and the reputation score atop the list of service providers.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the list of service providers is viewable by the service providers.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising refining the list of service providers.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein calculating a reputation score for each service provider comprises:

a. for each reputation datum within a category, determining a final contribution value by multiplying together the category weight of the reputation datum, the component weight of the reputation datum, and the relative standing value of the service provider for the reputation datum, wherein the relative standing value is a position of the service provider with respect to other service providers; and

b. adding together final contribution values to determine the reputation score of the service provider.

16. A method of providing a list of service providers on a computing device, the method comprising:

a. accessing a database of service providers, each service provider having a service provider profile, and determining a reputation score for each service provider;

b. providing a first user interface to allow entry of one or more skills;

c. matching the one or more skills to a plurality of fields of each service provider profile in the database of service provider profiles to produce a search score for each service provider;

d. calculating a reputation score for each service provider, wherein the reputation score is dependent on final contribution values computed based on reputation data within a service provider profile belonging to a service provider, wherein each reputation datum is associated with a category having a category weight and with a component weight, wherein each final contribution value is dependent on the component weight, the category weight, and a relative position value of the service provider for the reputation datum, wherein each final contribution value represents a percentage of the reputation score contributed by the service provider and is derived by multiplying a relative position of the service provider to a maximum percentage, wherein the maximum percentage is derived by multiplying a category weight to a component weight;

e. generating a list of service providers ordered based on a total score, the total score is determined by combining the search score and the reputation score; and

f. displaying the list of service providers.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the search score is based on weighted matches of the one or more skills and the text within each of the plurality of fields of the service provider profiles belonging to the service provider.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the reputation data are categorized, wherein each category is weighted and each component within a category is weighted.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising providing a second user interface to allow refining a list of service providers.

20. A system for presenting a list of service providers to perform a task comprising:

a. a processor; and

b. an application executed by the processor, the application configured to;

i. search for one or more skills within a plurality of fields of a service provider profile of each service provider in a database of service providers;

ii. match the one or more skills with text within service provider profiles to produce a search score for each service provider;

iii. calculate a reputation score for each service provider, wherein the reputation score is dependent on final contribution values computed based on reputation data within a service provider profile belonging to a service provider, wherein each reputation datum is associated with a category having a category weight and with a component weight, wherein each final contribution value is dependent on the component weight, the category weight, and a relative position value of the service provider for the reputation datum, wherein each final contribution value represents a percentage of the reputation score contributed by the service provider and is derived by multiplying a relative position of the service provider to a maximum percentage, wherein the maximum percentage is derived by multiplying a category weight to a component weight; and

iv. generate a list of service providers ordered based on a total score, the total score is determined by combining the search score and reputation score.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the application is executed online.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the search score is based on matches between the one or more skills and the text in each of the plurality of fields of the service provider profile.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the matches are weighted.

24. The system of claim 21 wherein the matches are weighted more when a skill of the one or more skills is within one of a tagline section, a skills section, a keyword tag section, an experience section and a credentials section than when the skill is in one of a description section, a summary section and an about us section.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the search score and the reputations score are weighted equally.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the reputation data comprise components including at least one of feedback data, review data, earnings data, duration data, visitation data and project completion data.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein a portion of the components are correlated in determining the reputation score.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the components are weighted.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the components are grouped into categories, wherein the categories are weighted.

30. The system of claim 26 wherein each component and at least a portion of the service provider profiles are displayed within the list of service providers.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein each component is viewable by the service providers.

32. The system of claim 20 wherein the list of service providers is ordered in descending order with the service provider with a highest combination of the search score and the reputation score atop the list of service providers.

33. The system of claim 20 wherein the list of service providers is viewable by the service providers.

34. The system of claim 20 further comprising refining the list of service providers.