Crowdsourcing of trustworthiness indicators

• US 9,438,619 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2016
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: www.TrustScience.com Inc.
• Original Assignee: www.TrustScience.com Inc.
• Inventors: Mawji, Ashif, Chan, Leo M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Okeke, Izunna
• Application Number:
  US15/056,484
• Time in Patent Office: 190 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis

Abstract

Systems and methods are described herein for calculating trust score based on crowdsourced information. The trust score may reflect the trustworthiness, reputation, membership, status, and/or influence of an entity in a particular community or in relation to another entity. The trust score may be calculated based on data received from a variety of public and private data sources, including “crowdsourced” information. For example, users may provide and/or comment on attributes, characteristics, features, or any other information about another user. These inputs may serve to both validate the available data as well as provide additional information about the user that may not be otherwise available. The participation of the “crowd” may form a type of validation in itself and give comfort to second-order users, who know that the crowd can spectate and make contributions to the attributes, characteristics, features, and other information.

Claims

1. A method for calculating a trust score, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a first database using processing circuitry, first data associated with a first entity in a computer network;

calculating a first component score based on the first data;

retrieving, from a second database using the processing circuitry, second data associated with the first entity;

calculating a second component score based on the second data;

calculating a weighted combination of the first component score and the second component score to produce a trust score for the first entity;

receiving, from a user device of a second entity in the computer network, data indicating an attribute associated with the first entity;

recalculating the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity, wherein recalculating the first component score comprises improving the first component score by a predetermined amount;

updating the trust score for the first entity by calculating a weighted combination of the recalculated first component score and the second component score;

receiving a request for the trust score for the first entity from a user device of a third entity in the computer network;

retrieving, using the processing circuitry, data indicating paths in the computer network; and

identifying, based on the retrieved data indicating paths in the computer network, a path connecting the third entity to the second entity in the computer network, the path comprising a number of links that is less than a threshold number of links.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, from the user device of the second entity, the data indicating an attribute associated with the first entity comprises receiving an indication of a user input from the second entity that validates the first data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein recalculating the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity further comprises increasing or decreasing the first component score by the predetermined amount.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein recalculating the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity further comprises increasing or decreasing the first component score until the first component score reaches a threshold component score.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting information intended to cause the user device of the second entity to display a representation related to the updated trust score for the first entity on the user device of the second entity.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising transmitting information intended to cause the user device of the second entity to display an actionable icon for the attribute associated with the first entity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data associated with the first entity comprises data indicating paths from the first entity to other entities in the computer network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the trust score to be transmitted for display on the user device of the second entity.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the user device of the second entity, an indication of an activity to be performed in the future by the first entity and the second entity, wherein the activity is associated with the attribute associated with the first entity.

10. A system for calculating a trust score, the system comprising:

a first database storing first data associated with a first entity in a computer network;

a second database storing second data associated with the first entity; and

processing circuitry configured to;

retrieve, from the first database, the first data;

calculate a first component score based on the first data;

retrieve, from the second database, the second data;

calculate a second component score based on the second data;

calculate a weighted combination of the first component score and the second component score to produce a trust score for the first entity;

receive, from a user device of a second entity in the computer network, data indicating an attribute associated with the first entity;

recalculate the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to recalculate the first component score by improving the first component score by a predetermined amount;

update the trust score for the first entity by calculating a weighted combination of the recalculated first component score and the second component score;

receive a request for the trust score for the first entity from a user device of a third entity in the computer network;

retrieve data indicating paths in the computer network; and

identify, based on the retrieved data indicating paths in the computer network, a path connecting the third entity to the second entity in the computer network, the path comprising a number of links that is less than a threshold number of links.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive, from the user device of the second entity, the data indicating an attribute associated with the first entity by receiving an indication of a user input from the second entity that validates the first data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to recalculate the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity by increasing or decreasing the first component score by the predetermined amount.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

receive, from the user device of the second entity, an indication of an activity to be performed in the future by the first entity and the second entity, wherein the activity is associated with the attribute associated with the first entity.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions encoded thereon for calculating a trust score, the instructions comprising:

instructions for retrieving, from a first database using processing circuitry, first data associated with a first entity in a computer network;

instructions for calculating a first component score based on the first data;

instructions for retrieving, from a second database using the processing circuitry, second data associated with the first entity;

instructions for calculating a second component score based on the second data;

instructions for calculating a weighted combination of the first component score and the second component score to produce a trust score for the first entity;

instructions for receiving, from a user device of a second entity in the computer network, data indicating an attribute associated with the first entity;

instructions for recalculating the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity, wherein the instructions for recalculating the first component score comprise instructions for receiving improving the first component score by a predetermined amount; and

instructions for updating the trust score for the first entity by calculating a weighted combination of the recalculated first component score and the second component score;

instructions for receiving a request for the trust score for the first entity from a user device of a third entity in the computer network;

instructions for retrieving, using the processing circuitry, data indicating paths in the computer network; and

instructions for identifying, based on the retrieved data indicating paths in the computer network, a path connecting the third entity to the second entity in the computer network, the path comprising a number of links that is less than a threshold number of links.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for receiving, from the user device of the second entity, the data indicating an attribute associated with the first entity comprise instructions for receiving an indication of a user input from the second entity that validates the first data.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for recalculating the first component score based on the first data and the received data indicating the attribute associated with the first entity comprise instructions for increasing or decreasing the first component score by the predetermined amount.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for receiving, from the user device of the second entity, an indication of an activity to be performed in the future by the first entity and the second entity, wherein the activity is associated with the attribute associated with the first entity.