Resource hubs for heterogeneous groups

• US 8,943,046 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2011
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edmond K. Chow
• Original Assignee: VitaCount Limited
• Inventors: Chow, Edmond K.
• Primary Examiner(s): LU, KUEN S
• Application Number:
  US13/175,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20120005215A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,306 Days
• Field of Search: 707/723, 707/741, 707/736
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

An invention is disclosed for providing a digital resource gathering and dissemination system, method, or process that can accommodate digital resources of interest for heterogeneous groups and communities of online users for the same topic, demographic, or some other categories as provided by a particular classification scheme. Such a system, method, or process also provides a more reliable or otherwise representative selection of digital resources of interest to the population as a whole.

Claims

1. A method for rating a digital resource for heterogeneous groups of members, comprising:

making the digital resource available to a first hub and a second hub, the first hub comprising a first plurality of members and the second hub comprising a second plurality of members, the first plurality of members differing from the second plurality of members, each member having a member account;

receiving a first rating for the digital resource from a first member of the first hub;

receiving a second rating for the digital resource from a second member of the second hub;

determining a first hub-level score for the first hub based on the first rating;

determining a second hub-level score for the second hub based on the second rating;

determining an overall score for the digital resource based on the first hub-level score that is based on the first rating from the first member and the second hub-level score that is based on the second rating from the second member;

storing an indication of the first hub-level score, second hub-level score, and overall score in a memory; and

providing the first hub-level score to a member of the first plurality of members.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a third member as a member of the first hub; and

presenting the third member with the first hub-level score based on the third member being a member of the first hub.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving an indication to present a fourth member of the second hub with a rating for the digital resource; and

presenting the fourth member with the second hub-level score based on the fourth member being a member of the second hub.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an indication to present a fifth member with a rating for the digital resource, the fifth member not belonging to the first hub or the second hub; and

presenting the fifth member with the overall score based on the fifth member not belonging to the first hub or the second hub.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein no member is a member of more than one hub.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a third member attempting to join the first hub;

determining that the third member is eligible to be a member of the first hub based on what the third member is, where the third member claims to reside or is located, what the third member claims to believe, what the third member can do, or what digital resources the third member has given a favorable rating; and

creating a member account for the third member in the first hub based on determining that the third member is eligible to be a member of the first hub.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a fourth member attempting to join the first hub;

determining that the fourth member is not eligible to be a member of the first hub based on what the fourth member is, where the fourth member claims to reside or is located, what the fourth member claims to believe, what the fourth member can do, or what digital resources the fourth member has given a favorable rating; and

determining not to create a member account for the fourth member in the first hub based on determining that the fourth member is not eligible to be a member of the first hub.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining to remove the third member from the first hub; and

removing the third member from the first hub.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining to remove the third member from the first hub based on the third member not voting on any digital resource for a period of time, none of the third member'"'"'s submitted digital resources being selected as a prize resource for the first hub for a second period of time, or because a threshold number of submitted digital resources have received a threshold amount of negative ratings.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a query from the first member indicating a physical location;

determining a third hub based on the physical location; and

sending the first user an indication of a hub-level score for a second resource in the third hub.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first advertisement for the digital resource for the first hub;

determining a second advertisement for the digital resource for the second hub;

responding to a first query from the first member in the first hub by sending the first member an indication of the digital resource and an indication of the first advertisement; and

responding to a second query from the second member in the second hub by sending the second member an indication of the digital resource and an indication of the second advertisement.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a third member attempting to join the first hub; and

making the third member a member of the first hub in response to determining that the third member meets a criteria for membership.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a fourth member attempting to join the first hub; and

determining not to make the fourth member a member of the first hub in response to determining that the fourth member does not meet the criteria for membership or another criteria for membership.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a comment on the digital resource from the first member in the first hub; and

in response to receiving a query from the second member in the second hub, and in response to determining that comments may be exported between the first hub and the second hub, determining to send the second member an indication of the digital resource and an indication of the comment.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second rating is a negative rating.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to determining that the first hub-level score is highly positive and the second hub-level score is highly negative designating the digital resource as having a high controversial score.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a third member to join a hub provider that supports the first and second hubs;

determining, based on a physical location of the third member to make the third member a member of a third hub; and

making the third member a member of the third hub.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a third hub comprises the first hub and the second hub.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first hub is a prize hub based on a number of resources originated from the first hub that have a high overall score.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first member is a prize member of the first hub based on determining that the hub-level scores of digital resources the first member has submitted to the first hub are high.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first member is a prize member of a hub provider supporting the first and second hubs based on determining that the overall scores of digital resources the first member has submitted to the first hub are high.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the third member to join the first hub; and

in response to determining that the first hub is private to the first member, denying the request from the third member to join the first hub.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for rating a digital resource for heterogeneous groups of members, bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed upon a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

making the digital resource available to a first hub and a second hub, the first hub comprising a first plurality of members and the second hub comprising a second plurality of members, the first plurality of members differing from the second plurality of members, each member having a member account;

receiving a first rating for the digital resource from a first member of the first hub;

receiving a second rating for the digital resource from a second member of the second hub;

determining a first hub-level score for the first hub based on the first rating;

determining a second hub-level score for the second hub based on the second rating;

determining an overall score for the digital resource based on the first hub-level score that is based on the first rating from the first member and the second hub-level score that is based on the second rating from the second member;

storing an indication of the first hub-level score, second hub-level score, and overall score in a memory; and

providing the first hub-level score to a member of the first plurality of members.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein receiving the first rating for the digital resource from the first member of the first hub comprises:

accepting the first rating based on determining that the first member has reviewer access to the first hub, and further comprising;

accepting a submitted digital resource from a third member of the first hub based on determining that the third member has scout access to the first hub.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, further bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

accepting a submitted digital resource from a third member of the first hub; and

determining to make the submitted digital resource available to the first hub but not to the second hub based on determining that the third member has indicated that the submitted digital resource is to have privacy.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, further bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

accepting a submitted digital resource from a third member of the first hub; and

determining to make the submitted digital resource available to the first hub and to the second hub based on determining that the third member has indicated that the submitted digital resource does not have a privacy restriction.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein receiving the first rating for the digital resource from the first member of the first hub comprises:

accepting the first rating based on determining that the first member has reviewer access to the first hub, and further comprising;

determining that a third member of the first hub may neither submit a digital resource to the first hub nor review the digital resource based on determining that the third member has observer access to the first hub.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the first member is part of a plurality of members of the first hub, and further bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

determining that the first member is a prize member among the plurality of members of the first hub based on the first member having submitted a set of digital resources to the first hub that have a higher hub-level rating than submissions of another member of the plurality of members.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the digital resource is part of a plurality of digital resources of the first hub, and further bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

determining that the digital resource is a prize resource among the plurality of digital resources of the first hub based on the digital resource having a higher hub-level score for the first hub than the hub-level score of another digital resource of the plurality of digital resources for the first hub; and

displaying an indication that the digital resource is the prize resource.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein determining the first hub-level score for the first hub based on the first rating comprises:

determining the first hub-level score for the first hub based on the first rating based on a scoring system; and

wherein determining the second hub-level score for the second hub based on the second rating comprises;

determining the second hub-level score for the second hub based on the second rating based on the scoring system.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the first hub and second hub are both provided by a hub provider.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, further bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on the computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

in response to determining that the first user has not rated any digital resource for a period of time, modifying the first member'"'"'s permissions so that the first member may view digital resources but not rate digital resources.

33. A system for generating a plurality of selections of resources from a plurality of resources, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor when the system is operational, the memory bearing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system at least to;

make the digital resource available to a first hub and a second hub, the first hub comprising a first plurality of members and the second hub comprising a second plurality of members, the first plurality of members differing from the second plurality of members, each member having a member account;

receive a first rating for the digital resource from a first member of the first hub;

receive a second rating for the digital resource from a second member of the second hub;

determine a first hub-level score for the first hub based on the first rating;

determine a second hub-level score for the second hub based on the second rating;

determine an overall score for the digital resource based on the first hub-level score that is based on the first rating from the first member and the second hub-level score that is based on the second rating from the second member;

store an indication of the first hub-level score, second hub-level score, and overall score; and

provide the first hub-level score to a member of the first plurality of members.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the memory further bears computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system at least to:

in response to determining that the first member has a hub priority list comprising the first hub and a third hub, determine the first hub-level score for the first hub based on the first rating, and a third hub-level score for the third hub based on the first rating.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the memory further bears computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system at least to:

determine the third hub-level score as a score lower than the first hub-level score based on the third hub having a lower priority than the first hub in the hub priority list.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the memory further bears computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system at least to:

receive the digital resource at the first hub; and

in response to determining that a subscription indication for the digital resource is public, share the digital resource with the second hub.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein the memory further bears computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system at least to:

receive the digital resource at the first hub; and

in response to determining that a subscription indication for the digital resource is a prize resource at the first hub, share the digital resource with the second hub.

38. A system for presenting a plurality of selections of digital resources among a plurality of digital resources, comprising:

a non-transitory hub storage medium for storing a plurality of hubs in a database;

a non-transitory user storage medium for storing a plurality of user accounts in a database;

a non-transitory resource storage medium for storing a plurality of resources in a database;

a non-transitory relationship storage medium for storing a plurality of relationships in a database;

a communication interface component configured to send and receive data to and from a user via a user device over a network, the user having a user account in the user storage medium, the user having a membership relationship between the user account and one or more of the plurality of hubs in the relationship storage medium, and the data including one or more submissions, each having a recommended resource or a rating, a user ID relative to the user account, the recommended resource comprising a reference to a resource, and the rating comprising a target resource, wherein the target resource includes a recommended resource;

a submission handler component configured to receive one or more recommended resources and one or more recommended ratings;

a resource analyzer component configured to determine if each of the one or more recommended resources exists in the resource storage medium, and to add the recommended resource to the resource storage medium if the recommended resource does not already exist in the resource storage medium, the recommended resource including an overall score, a user ID to a user account, and a timestamp;

a resource distributor component configured to determine whether an availability relationship between the recommended resource and each of the one or more hubs exists in the relationship storage medium, and to add an availability relationship between the recommended resource and each hub in the relationship storage medium if the availability relationship does not already exist in the relationship storage medium, the availability relationship including a hub-level score, the user ID relative to the user account, and a timestamp;

a score generator component configured to determine if an availability relationship between each of the one or more target resources and each of the one or more hubs exists in the relationship storage medium, and to update the hub-level score in the availability relationship based at least in part on the rating if the availability relationship exists in the relationship storage medium, and to update the overall score in the target resource in the resource storage medium based at least in part on the hub-level score;

a list maker component configured to generate a plurality of selections of digital resources, the generating including determining a first selection based at least in part on the overall score of each of the digital resources in the resource storage, and a second selection based at least in part on the hub-level score of each of the digital resources in a first hub of the one or more hubs, the generating including presenting the plurality of selections to the user via the user device, wherein the first selection includes the overall scores, and the other selections includes the hub-level scores; and

a user interface component configured to interact with the user via the user device, the interacting including receiving the one or more resource submissions from the user, and presenting the plurality of selections of digital resources to the user.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

a membership controller component configured to;

check whether an activity relationship between the user account relative to the user and the first hub exists in the relationship storage medium within a period of time;

assert that the user be removed from the one hub when the activity relationship does not exist in the relationship storage medium within the period of time; and

remove in the relationship storage medium the membership relationship between the user account in relation to the user and the first hub when the user should be removed from the first hub.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the activity relationship includes submission of a resource to the first hub, or rating of a resource in the first hub.