System And Method For Algorithmic Selection Of A Consensus From A Plurality Of Ideas

• US 20090239205A1
• Filed: 05/28/2009
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Watertown Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Watertown Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Roland, Ralph E., Piwowarski, Mark M., Morgia, Michael A., Morgia, Alex M., Gaus, John P., Davis, Shawn M., Fontana, Pat A. SR., Fontana, Pat A. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/362
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system and method for algorithmic selection of a consensus from a collection of ideas is disclosed. A group of ideas is provided to a group of participants for voting. Voting may occur in a single round or in several successive rounds, optionally until a consensus idea is chosen. Typically, the votes that are cast use discrete levels, such as “approve”, “disapprove”, “positive”, “neutral” or “negative”. For ideas that receive the same votes, a differentiator may be the time spent casting the vote. A relatively long evaluation time may signal some internal conflict in the mind of the participant, when compared with a relatively short evaluation time, which may signal no such conflict. The evaluation time may be combined with the rating of the participant to form a weighted rating. Consequently, a short evaluation time of a positive rating may yield a more positive weighted rating, while a short evaluation time of a negative rating may yield a more negative weighted rating.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rating a plurality of ideas, said method comprising:

distributing the plurality of ideas to a group of participants;

collecting from each participant a rating for each idea;

recording an evaluation time for each participant and each idea; and

forming a weighted rating from each rating and each corresponding evaluation time.

2. The product of claim 1,

wherein each rating comprises an approval level ranging from positive to negative;

and

wherein each evaluation time comprises a length ranging from short to long; and

wherein each weighted rating comprises an approval level ranging from positive to negative.

3. The product of claim 2, wherein a weighted rating corresponding to a positive rating and a short evaluation time is more positive than a weighted rating corresponding to a positive rating and a long evaluation time.

4. The product of claim 2, wherein a weighted rating corresponding to a positive rating and a long evaluation time is more positive than a weighted rating corresponding to a neutral rating and a short evaluation time.

5. The product of claim 2, wherein a weighted rating corresponding to a neutral rating and a short evaluation time is more positive than a weighted rating corresponding to a neutral rating and a long evaluation time.

6. The product of claim 2, wherein a weighted rating corresponding to a neutral rating and a long evaluation time is more positive than a weighted rating corresponding to a negative rating and a long evaluation time.

7. The product of claim 2, wherein a weighted rating corresponding to a negative rating and a long evaluation time is more positive than a weighted rating corresponding to a negative rating and a short evaluation time.

8. The product of claim 1, wherein the evaluation time corresponds to an amount of time spent by the particular participant rating the particular idea.

9. The product of claim 1, wherein the evaluation time corresponds to an amount of time spent by the particular participant rating the particular idea, normalized by a length of the particular idea.

10. The product of claim 1, wherein the evaluation time corresponds to an amount of time spent by the particular participant rating the particular idea, normalized by a number of words and a complexity of words of the particular idea.

11. The product of claim 1, wherein the evaluation time corresponds to an amount of time spent by the particular participant rating the particular idea, normalized by a reading rate of the particular participant.

12. The product of claim 11, wherein the reading rate of the particular participant is determined from an amount of time spent by the particular participant reading a set of instructions.

13. The product of claim 11, wherein the reading rate of the particular participant is determined from amounts of time spent by the particular participant rating other ideas in the plurality.

14. The product of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises:

tallying the weighted ratings for all the participants and all the ideas;

forming an idea rating for each idea, each idea rating being formed from the weighted ratings for all the participants for the corresponding idea;

sorting the ideas by their corresponding idea ratings; and

selecting a subset of the ideas having the highest corresponding idea ratings.

15. The product of claim 14, wherein the selected subset comprises the idea having the highest corresponding idea rating.

16. The product of claim 14, wherein the selected subset includes at least two ideas.

17. The product of claim 16, wherein the selected subset is presented to the group of participants for additional rating.

18. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rating a plurality of ideas, said method comprising:

distributing a first plurality of ideas to a group of participants;

collecting from each participant a first rating for each idea in the first plurality;

selecting a first winning idea from the first plurality in response to the first ratings;

collecting a first approval rating from each participant in response to the first winning idea;

distributing a second plurality of ideas to the group of participants;

collecting from each participant a second rating for each idea in the second plurality;

selecting a second winning idea from the second plurality in response to the second ratings;

collecting a second approval rating from each participant in response to the second winning idea;

determining a third plurality of ideas in response to the first and second approval ratings;

distributing a third plurality of ideas to the group of participants;

collecting from each participant a third rating for each idea in the third plurality; and

selecting a third winning idea from the third plurality in response to the third ratings.

19. The product of claim 18, wherein the third plurality of ideas has a subject matter determined by the first and second approval ratings.

20. The product of claim 19, wherein the subject matter of the third plurality of ideas is changed from a predetermined subject matter, in response to a low second approval rating.