System and method for software development
First Claim
1. A system for allocating payments associated with the development of a computer program, comprising:
- a development server for conducting competitions for the development of contributions to the computer program, the development server comprisinga specification distribution system for providing, for each competition, a specification describing the desired submission, a predetermined contribution amount, and a royalty pool amount, wherein the royalty pool amount represents a portion of total revenue associated with the computer program to be reserved for payments to contributors who worked on the computer program;
a submission subsystem for receiving submissions submitted in response to the specification;
a review subsystem for facilitating the review of submissions in each competition using on-line evaluation forms to evaluate each submission and for selecting a submission to be a winning contribution based on the on-line evaluation forms; and
an allocation subsystem for allocating the predetermined contribution amount in each competition to the contributor who authored the selected winning submission; and
a management system for allocating payments to the contributors based on the allocated contribution amounts, the royalty pool amount, and the total revenue.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for developing software. In one embodiment, a method for facilitating the distributed development of software components includes providing a skill rating for software developers, communicating specifications for a software component to a subset of the developers, receiving submissions from the developers, scoring the submissions, and selecting one submission to be included in a software repository. In another embodiment, a method for compensating a software developer includes soliciting software developers for the submission of computer software components, receiving software components in response to the solicitation from the developers, evaluating the received software components, selecting one or more of the submissions for potential distribution to the public, and allotting the proceeds from the distribution to the developers.
151 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for allocating payments associated with the development of a computer program, comprising:
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a development server for conducting competitions for the development of contributions to the computer program, the development server comprising a specification distribution system for providing, for each competition, a specification describing the desired submission, a predetermined contribution amount, and a royalty pool amount, wherein the royalty pool amount represents a portion of total revenue associated with the computer program to be reserved for payments to contributors who worked on the computer program; a submission subsystem for receiving submissions submitted in response to the specification; a review subsystem for facilitating the review of submissions in each competition using on-line evaluation forms to evaluate each submission and for selecting a submission to be a winning contribution based on the on-line evaluation forms; and an allocation subsystem for allocating the predetermined contribution amount in each competition to the contributor who authored the selected winning submission; and a management system for allocating payments to the contributors based on the allocated contribution amounts, the royalty pool amount, and the total revenue. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for allocating payments associated with the development of a computer program, comprising:
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conducting via a development server competitions for the development of contributions to the computer program, comprising providing by a specification distribution system, for each competition, a specification document describing the desired submission, a predetermined contribution amount, and a royalty pool amount, wherein the royalty pool amount represents a portion of total revenue associated with the computer program to be reserved for payments to the contributors who worked on the computer program; receiving by a submission subsystem submissions submitted in response to the specification; facilitating by a review subsystem the review of submissions in each competition using on-line evaluation forms to evaluate each submission and selecting of a submission to be a winning contribution based on the on-line evaluation forms; and allocating by an allocation subsystem the predetermined contribution amount in each competition to the contributor who authored the winning submission; and allocating payments by a management system to contributors based on the allocated contribution amounts, the predetermined royalty pool amount, and total revenue.
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18. A system for allocating payments associated with the development of an asset, comprising:
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a competition server for conducting competitions for contributions to an asset, the development server comprising a specification distribution system for providing, for each competition, a specification describing the desired submission, a predetermined contribution amount, and a royalty pool amount, wherein the royalty pool amount represents a portion of total revenue for the asset to be reserved for payments to the contributors who worked on the asset; a submission subsystem for receiving submissions submitted in response to the specification; a review subsystem for facilitating the review of submissions in each competition using on-line evaluation forms to evaluate each submission and for selecting a submission to be a winning contribution based on the on-line evaluation forms; and an allocation subsystem for allocating the predetermined contribution amount in each competition to the contributor who authored the selected winning submission; and a management system for allocating payments to contributors based on the contributor'"'"'s allocated contribution amounts and revenue generated by the asset.
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19. A system for allocating payments associated with development of an asset, comprising:
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a competition server for conducting competitions for contributions to an asset, the development server comprising an allocation subsystem for allocating a predetermined contribution amount for each competition to the submitter of a winning submission in each of the competitions; and a management system for specifying contribution amounts for contributions to the asset provided other than by competition, and for allocating payments to contributors based on the contributors'"'"' total contribution amounts and revenue generated from the asset. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification