System and method to facilitate and document user thinking about an arbitrary problem with collaboration system

• US 8,676,735 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2011
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zxibix Inc.
• Original Assignee: Zxibix Inc.
• Inventors: Heidenreich, James Ralph, Higgins, Linda Shawn
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes, Michael B
• Application Number:
  US13/068,180
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for facilitating of formal and informal collaborative or cooperative groups, teams or multiple individuals according to exemplary or preferred approaches for problem solving and conducting inquiry based projects. Preferred embodiments use exemplary archetype processes or archetype structures for problem solving or thinking about a problem or inquiry based project.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating collaboration, cooperation or multiple use of documented understanding, related to approaches used by expert problem solvers, said system comprising:

a process manager system operable to execute on one or more processors, to enable activities comprising;

identification or receipt, or both, of at least one problem, topic, area of interest, answer, solution, conclusion, meaning statement, or knowledge component, or a combination thereof;

identification or provisioning, or both, of at least a subset of at least one related user model or specification, or both, said identification or provisioning, or both, accomplished using an exemplary archetype process or an exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof;

automatic creation or generation or both, of at least one subset of at least one user model, said automatic creation or generation or both accomplished using an exemplary archetype process or exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof;

accomplishing user interaction with or access to, or both, at least a subset of at least one user model or specification or both, through display, interaction mechanism, processing device, or output, or a combination thereof.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising enabling the identification or provisioning, or both, of related suggestions.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising enabling adding to, editing, deleting, reorganizing, rearranging, reformatting, linking, commenting, annotating, rating, subsetting, compositing, combining, or comparing, or a combination thereof, relative to at least a subset of at least one user model or specification, or both.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising enabling the identification, use or provisioning, or a combination thereof, of at least one problem, topic, subtopic, question, area of interest, knowledge component, analysis, answer, solution, summary viewpoint, storyline, outline, conclusion, meaning statement, timeline, sequence, comparison, cycle, causation, grouping, family tree, information component, model or specification snapshot, user process history, model development history, related users, related models, related references, or suggestion history, or a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising monitoring, tracking, recording, archiving, evaluation of, use of or output of, or a combination thereof, at least a subset of user actions, user histories, user models, user specifications, users attributed to actions or user models or both, model relationships or linkages or both, specification linkages, user relationships, sources, archetype process histories, archetype structure histories, suggestion history, model development histories, histories of related additional systems or resources or both, use of related additional systems or resources or both, comments, ratings, rewards, user profiles, related users, related models, model references, or specification references, or a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one project plan, project planning module, activity plan, activity tracking module, activity planning module, project template, model template, assignment module, presentation module, communication module, assignment tracking module, project analysis, user analysis, or work plan, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a customized exemplary archetype process or customized exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one of three dimensional representation, three dimensional-like representation, a combination of three dimensional and two dimensional representation, two dimensional representation, outline representation, matrix representation, page layout representation, interactive representation, animated representation, or a same set of content or system capabilities or both provided in both two dimensional and three dimensional form, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising the use of, receiving input from, or providing output to, or a combination thereof, at least one of an additional electronic system, tool, resource, component, or device, or a combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one of a web service, client system, server system, applet, widget, or processor executable instructions embodied in at least one of a computer readable media, memory, or device, or a combination thereof.

11. A processor implemented method for facilitating collaboration, cooperation or multiple use of documented understanding, related to approaches used by experienced problem solvers, said processor implemented method comprising:

activities accomplished using at least one processor, said activities comprising;

identification or receipt, or both, of at least one problem, topic, area of interest, answer, solution, conclusion, meaning statement, or knowledge component, or a combination thereof;

identification or provisioning, or both, of at least a subset of at least one related user model or specification, or both, said identification or provisioning, or both, accomplished using an exemplary archetype process or an exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof;

automatic creation or generation or both, of at least one subset of at least one user model, said automatic creation or generation or both accomplished using an exemplary archetype process or exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof;

accomplishing user interaction with or access to, or both, at least a subset of at least one user model or specification, through display, interaction mechanism, processing device, or output, or a combination thereof.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising enabling the identification or provisioning, or both, of related suggestions.

13. The system of claim 11 further comprising enabling adding to, editing, deleting, reorganizing, rearranging, reformatting, linking, commenting, annotating, rating, subsetting, compositing, combining, or comparing, or a combination thereof, relative to at least a subset of at least one user model or specification, or both.

14. The system of claim 11 further comprising enabling the identification, use or provisioning, or a combination thereof, of at least one problem, topic, subtopic, question, area of interest, knowledge component, analysis, answer, solution, summary viewpoint, storyline, outline, conclusion, meaning statement, timeline, sequence, comparison, cycle, causation, grouping, family tree, information component, model or specification snapshot, user process history, model development history, related users, related models, related references, or suggestion history, or a combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 11 further comprising monitoring, tracking, recording, archiving, evaluation of, use of or output of, or a combination thereof, at least a subset of user actions, user histories, user models, user specifications, users attributed to actions or user models or both, model relationships or linkages or both, specification linkages, user relationships, sources, archetype process histories, archetype structure histories, suggestion history, model development histories, histories of related additional systems or resources or both, use of related additional systems or resources or both, comments, ratings, rewards, user profiles, related users, related models, model references, or specification references, or a combination thereof.

16. The system of claim 11 further comprising at least one project plan, activity plan, activity tracking module, project template, model template, assignment module, presentation module, communication module, assignment tracking module, project analysis, user analysis, or work plan, or a combination thereof.

17. The system of claim 11 further comprising a customized exemplary archetype process or customized exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof.

18. The system of claim 11 further comprising at least one of three dimensional representation, three dimensional-like representation, a combination of three dimensional and two dimensional representation, two dimensional representation, outline representation, matrix representation, page layout representation, interactive representation, animated representation, or a same set of content or system capabilities or both provided in both two dimensional and three dimensional form, or a combination thereof.

19. The system of claim 11 further comprising the use of, receiving input from, or providing output to, or a combination thereof, at least one of an additional electronic system, tool, resource, component, or device, or a combination thereof.

20. The system of claim 11 further comprising at least one of a web service, client system, server system, applet, widget, or processor executable instructions embodied in at least one of a computer readable media, memory, or device, or a combination thereof.

21. A system for facilitating multiple user collaboration or cooperation, or both, related to approaches used by experienced problem solvers, said system comprising:

a process manager system operable to execute on one or more processors, to enable activities comprising;

providing access to or interaction with, or both, at least a subset of at least one user model regarding an arbitrary problem or inquiry based project or both;

enabling editing of at least a subset of at least one user model;

further comprising that said access or editing, or both, is accomplished using an archetype exemplary process or archetype exemplary structure, or both, for user thinking about and documenting regarding an arbitrary problem or inquiry based project, or a combination thereof;

further comprising that at least one user model comprises the enablement of at least one component enabling multiple user or alternative entries, or both;

further comprising monitoring, recording, or tracking, or a combination thereof, of user actions or editing, or both, so that user contributions can be identified, using an exemplary archetype process or exemplary structure for user thinking about and documenting regarding an arbitrary problem or inquiry based project, or a combination thereof;

provisioning of at least a subset of at least one user model or information regarding user actions, or both, through display, output, interaction mechanism, or processing device, or a combination thereof.

22. The system of claim 21 further comprising that editing comprises at least one of adding to, deleting, rearranging, reorganizing, reformatting, linking, commenting, annotating, rating, subsetting, combining, compositing, or comparing, or a combination thereof.

23. The system of claim 21 further comprising at least one of a storyline, outline, presentation format, interactive output, file output, enhanced interactive construct, three dimensional representation, three dimensional output, three dimensional-like representation, a combination of three dimensional and two dimensional representation, animated representation, interactive representation, or the same content or system capabilities or both provided in both three dimensional and two dimensional representation, or a combination thereof.

24. The system of claim 21 further comprising at least one of a web service, client system, server system, applet, widget, or processor executable instructions embodied in at least one of, a computer readable media, memory, or device, or a combination thereof.

25. The system of claim 21 further comprising the use of, receiving input from, or providing output to, or a combination thereof, at least one of an additional electronic system, tool, resource, component, or device, or a combination thereof.

26. A system for multiple user collaboration or cooperation related to approaches used by experienced problem solvers:

a process manager system operable to execute on one or more processors, to enable activities comprising;

facilitating user specification or editing, or both, or at least one user model regarding an arbitrary problem or area of interest or both, said specification or editing or both accomplished using an exemplary archetype process or exemplary archetype structure for user thinking or problem solving, or a combination thereof;

enabling the creation, provisioning or use, or a combination thereof, of at least one related project management component related to or integrated with the use of, or both, at least one user model, said project management component comprising at least one project plan, project planning module, activity plan, activity planning module, project template, activity tracking module, assignment module, assignment tracking module, communication module, project analysis, activity analysis, user analysis, or work plan, or a combination thereof;

enabling the provisioning of at least a subset of at least one user model or at least one subset of related project information, or both, through display, output, interaction mechanism or processing device, or a combination thereof.

27. The system of claim 26 further comprising at least one of a web service, client system, server system, applet, widget, or processor executable instructions embodied in at least one of a computer readable media, memory, or device, or a combination thereof.

28. The system of claim 26 further comprising the use of, receiving input from, or providing output to, or a combination thereof, at least one of an additional electronic system, tool, resource, component, or device, or a combination thereof.