System and method for questionnaires and user interactions

• US 8,565,719 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2012
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualtrics LLC (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Mobile Tip LLC
• Inventors: Rao, Bindu Rama
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US13/484,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20120238243A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• Field of Search: 455/2.01, 455/3.05, 455/3.06, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 4554141-4143, 455418-420, 455/466, 455/517, 455/518, 455/550.1, 455/556.2, 455/563, 455/566, 379/92.01, 705/7.29, 705/7.32, 705/14.41, 705/14.44, 707/708, 707/713, 707759-769, 707/771, 235/456, 709/206, 715/235, 715/716, 348/E7.063
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

A questionnaire network in which a mobile device is used by user to create questionnaires and send it to other recipients. The questionnaire is created by user of mobile device using audio inputs for a questionnaire preamble and question preambles. A server in the network incorporates other generic portions of the questionnaire. Thus, a user can make adhoc questionnaires, send them to recipients and receive the results.

Claims

1. A method performed by a system comprising a server, the method comprising:

receiving, at the server, a questionnaire created by an application on a first user device;

modifying the questionnaire optionally, at the server, creating a modified questionnaire, using one or more of a boilerplate text, boilerplate audio information, multiple choice selections and video;

distributing, by the server, one of the questionnaire and the modified questionnaire to a list of recipients, wherein the list of recipients corresponds to at least one of a plurality of mobile devices communicatively coupled to the system, and wherein the list of recipients is specified by picking one or more recipients from a contact list, by identifying a pre-configured mailing list that provides an identification or a reference to the recipients, or by identifying a preconfigured list of phone numbers;

receiving, at the server, one or more user responses captured by the at least one of a plurality of mobile devices; and

providing, from the server, a report with collated user responses or sending, from the server, collated user responses, for display by the first user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein creating comprises:

recording at least one of an audio input and a video input on a mobile device and communicating it to the system to be distributed as part of the questionnaire.

3. The method of claim 1, the distributing comprising:

disseminating the questionnaire based on at least one of the following;

a schedule, requests for the questionnaire, user actions, user preferences, subscriptions to a service, availability of the recipient mobile devices, initiation of distribution by a sending entity and policies.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein distributing comprises:

communicating the questionnaire individually to the at least one of a plurality of mobile devices in segments of one or more questions at a time and receiving partial user responses from them before communicating a next segment of the questionnaire.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

charging for distribution of the questionnaire to the at least one of a plurality of mobile devices employing a flat rate, or charging based on the number of mobile devices or users to whom the questionnaire is distributed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the questionnaire is an audio-assisted questionnaire, wherein parts of the questionnaire is presented to recipients on their respective ones of the plurality of mobile devices in audio form or in video form so as to minimize the amount of text the recipient has to read, and wherein the user response from each of the at least one of a plurality of mobile devices is at least partly in an audio form, in a digital image form, in a video form or a combination of these three forms.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying comprises:

customizing an audio preamble and a textual preamble for the questionnaire and for each question in a questionnaire.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating deleting questionnaires, surveys, after they have been disseminated, deleting them after a period of usage associated with the questionnaires and surveys has expired, creating list of recipients for specific questionnaires, surveys, assigning user groups to specific questionnaires, surveys and distributing the specific questionnaires, surveys to those user groups, and managing a life cycle associated with each of the questionnaires, surveys.

9. A system for interaction, the system comprising:

a first device communicatively coupled to a plurality of devices, wherein the first device and each of the plurality of devices comprise a client application that facilitates interaction with a server;

the client application in the first device recording a message comprising one or more of a first audio message, a first digital image or a first video and communicating the message to a list of recipients among a plurality of devices, wherein the list of recipients corresponds to at least one of the plurality of devices communicatively coupled to the system, and wherein the list of recipients for the message is specified by picking one or more recipients from a contact list, by identifying a pre-configured mailing list that provides an identification or a reference to the recipients, or by identifying a preconfigured list of phone numbers;

the client application in each of the plurality of devices associated with the list of recipients receiving the message from the server and capturing a corresponding user response that the client application in each of the plurality of devices subsequently communicates to the client application in the first device; and

the client application in the first device receiving and facilitating the display of user responses from each of the plurality of devices associated with the list of recipients.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the client application in the first device receives the user responses individually from each of the plurality of devices or receives it as a set in a collated form.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the client application in the first device communicates a notification informing a corresponding user of each of the plurality of devices about the availability of the message.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

the client application in the first device activates recording by a user, when triggered by the user, and facilitates the capture of one or more of the first audio message, the first digital image or the first video; and

the client application in the first device facilitates the subsequent selection of a list of recipients by the user, and the communication of the message to those of the plurality of devices that correspond to the list of recipients.

13. A system for questionnaires, the system comprising:

a server that receives an ad hoc questionnaire from a first device and distributes it to a list of recipients among a plurality of devices, wherein the server is communicatively coupled to the first device and to the plurality of devices;

an interaction client in the first device and in the plurality of devices that facilitates interactions employing ad hoc questionnaires;

the interaction client in the first device facilitating the recording of an audio message, a video message, an image, or a text as part of a question in a first questionnaire;

the interaction client in the first device communicating the first questionnaire to the server for disseminating it to the list of recipients;

the interaction client in the first device receiving a response set from the server, wherein the response set comprises user responses to the first questionnaire from the at least one of the plurality of devices, wherein each of the user responses comprise at least one of an audio response, a video response, an image response, and a text response; and

wherein the list of recipients corresponds to at least one of the plurality of devices communicatively coupled to the system, and wherein the list of recipients for the message is specified by picking one or more recipients from a contact list, by identifying a pre-configured mailing list that provides an identification or a reference to the recipients, or by identifying a preconfigured list of phone numbers.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

the server determining the at least one of the plurality of devices as recipients for dissemination of the first questionnaire based on a list of recipients provided by the first device, based on a pre-configured target list, based on policies, or based on an ad hoc list of friends and family members identified by a user of the first device.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a billing system to selectively charge, based on policies and preferences, for creation of the first questionnaire, for dissemination of the first questionnaire, for collecting user responses to the first questionnaire and for reporting the user responses; and

the server employing the billing system to selectively charge for various activities based on policies.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

identifying and facilitating interactions among pre-configured list of friends and family members, wherein each of the friends or family members employ a corresponding one of the plurality of devices.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

the interaction client in each of the plurality of devices receiving a first questionnaire, if it is communicated to it, and presenting it to a user; and

the interaction client in each of the plurality of devices collecting a user response to the first questionnaire and communicating it to the first device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the user response to the first questionnaire comprises at least one of an audio response, a video response, an image response, and a text response.