Balanced routing of questions to experts

• US 8,751,559 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Richardson, Matthew, White, Ryen W., Brill, Eric D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zong, Ruolei
• Application Number:
  US12/211,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070554A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,093 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 705/1, 705/2, 705/3, 705/4, 705/7, 705 8- 9, 705/10, 706 45- 62
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A question processing system routes questions among participants in a balanced and sustainable manner. Any participant can act as an inquirer (who poses questions) and an expert (who answers questions). In one illustrative case, the question processing system operates by: receiving a question from an inquirer; determining at least one expert that is appropriate to answer the question; and routing the question to the expert. The receiving, determining, and routing are repeated with respect to other inquirers and other experts to achieve a desired balance of information exchange among the plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

tracking a number of questions asked by an inquirer, the inquirer being one of a plurality of participants of an electronic question processing system;

tracking a number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer at the electronic question processing system;

receiving a question from the inquirer;

determining whether the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance;

if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance;

determining a person to answer the question, the person being another of the plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system; and

routing the question from the inquirer to a device associated with the person; and

if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are not in balance, preventing the question from the inquirer from being routed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising interpreting the question to determine a subject matter to which the question pertains, and wherein if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance, then the person determined to answer the question comprises an expert in the subject matter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the person to answer the question comprises determining a plurality of experts that are deemed appropriate to answer the question, the method further comprising routing the question to the plurality of experts.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the person to answer the question comprises performing an analysis of expertise associated with individual ones of a plurality of candidates, and selecting the person from among the plurality of candidates based on the analysis of the expertise.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the analysis of the expertise comprises determining the expertise of individual ones of the plurality of candidates relative to a baseline of expertise possessed by the inquirer.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the person to answer the question further comprises performing an analysis with respect to at least one supplemental consideration pertaining to individual ones of the plurality of the candidates.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one supplemental consideration corresponds to an availability factor associated with each candidate, the availability factor for a particular candidate indicating whether the particular candidate is available to answer the question.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one supplemental consideration corresponds to a rating score associated with each candidate, the rating score for a particular candidate being based on prior performance of the particular candidate.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the prior performance of the particular candidate is based on one or more of evaluations made by a group of inquirers with whom the particular candidate has interacted or at least one statistical characteristic associated with answers provided by the particular candidate.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one supplemental consideration corresponds to a personal engagement balance factor associated with each candidate, the personal engagement balance factor for a particular candidate conveying a degree of prior engagement of the particular candidate in asking and answering prior questions, wherein a balance of information exchange is achieved, at least in part, by managing the degree of prior engagement.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the degree of prior engagement of the particular candidate is gauged based on credit earned by the particular candidate, wherein the particular candidate earns credit by answering a question, and the expert candidate can expend credit by asking a question.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance, the method further comprises:

receiving a recommendation from the person that an expert is appropriate to answer the question; and

routing the question to the expert.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing the person with a suggestion regarding one or more experts to answer the question, wherein the recommendation made by the person is based on the suggestion.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance, the method further comprises initiating a communication session between the inquirer and the person if the person agrees to answer the question.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance, the method further comprises receiving an evaluation by the inquirer of the person, and using the evaluation to adjust a rating score associated with the person, the rating score comprising one factor that governs routing of questions to the person in the future.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein if the number of questions asked by the inquirer and the number of answers to questions answered by the inquirer are in balance, the method further comprises providing the inquirer an opportunity to share information provided by the person to at least one other potential inquirer.

17. One or more computer-readable storage devices storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on one or more processing devices, perform operations comprising:

tracking a number of questions received from a first participant in an electronic question processing system;

tracking a number of answers to questions received from the first participant in the electronic question processing system;

receiving a question from the first participant in the electronic question processing system;

before routing the question to a second participant in the electronic question processing system, determining that the number of questions received from the first participant and the number of answers to questions received from the first participant are in balance;

identifying the second participant as an expert deemed appropriate to answer the question; and

routing the question to the second participant or a device associated with the second participant.

18. An electronic question processing system for routing a question over a communication system, comprising:

one or more processors;

a profile creation module executable by the one or more processors to create respective profiles for a plurality of participants of the electronic question processing system;

a selection module executable by the one or more processors to receive a question from a first participant, select a second participant to answer the question based on the respective profiles provided by the profile creation module, and route the question to the second participant, wherein the selection module routes the question to the second participant if a number of questions previously received from the first participant is in balance with a number of answers of questions previously provided by the first participant and the selection module prevents the question from being routed to the second participant if the number of questions previously received from the first participant is not in balance with the number of answers of questions previously provided by the first participant; and

a management module executable by the one or more processors to determine whether the number of questions previously received from the first participant is in balance with the number of answers to questions previously provided by the first participant.

19. The electronic question processing system of claim 18, wherein the communication system is a synchronous communication system.

20. The electronic question processing system of claim 18, wherein the communication system is an asynchronous communication system.

21. The electronic question processing system of claim 18, wherein credit that contributes to the balance is awarded to the first participant for non-question answering actions including at least one of recommending an expert, providing useful profile information, or providing a useful evaluation of an expert.