MEDIATING AND PRICING TRANSACTIONS BASED ON CALCULATED REPUTATION OR INFLUENCE SCORES

• US 20100153185A1
• Filed: 12/01/2009
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Topsy Labs, Inc (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Ghosh, Rishab Aiyer, Prakash, Vipul Ved
• Application Number:
  US12/628,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153185A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Mediating and pricing transactions based on calculated reputation and influence is provided. In some embodiments, mediating and pricing transactions based on calculated reputation and influence includes determining an influence score (e.g., based on a given dimension) for a subject (e.g., a user), in which the subject is requesting a transaction; and determining approval of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of the subject. In some embodiments, the influence score is a directly estimated objective measure of influence (e.g., estimated using a social graph). In some embodiments, mediating and pricing transactions based on calculated reputation and influence further includes determining pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of the subject. In some embodiments, mediating and pricing transactions based on calculated reputation and influence also includes sharing transactional revenue for the transaction with the subject based on criteria including the influence score of the subject.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining an influence score for a first subject, wherein the first subject requested a transaction; and

determining approval of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the first subject corresponds to a user.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the influence score is directly estimated.

4. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the influence score is a directly estimated objective measure of influence.

5. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the influence score is based on a first dimension.

6. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the influence score is based on a first dimension, and wherein the transaction is based on the first dimension.

7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the influence score is weighted by an expertise score for each subject based on descriptive criteria.

8. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the influence score is weighted by an expertise score for each subject based on descriptive criteria, wherein the expertise score for each subject is based on the citations from each subject matching descriptive criteria as a relative share of all citations from the subject, and citations from all subjects matching the descriptive criteria as a relative share of citations from all subjects.

9. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the transaction includes one or more of the following:

a product, and a service.

10. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the transaction includes allowing complete or partial access to content.

11. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject.

12. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

sharing transactional revenue for the transaction with the first subject based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject.

13. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject; and

sharing transactional revenue for the transaction with the first subject based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject.

14. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining an influence score for a second subject, wherein the second subject is a potential participant in the transaction.

15. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining an influence score for a second subject, wherein the second subject is a potential participant in the transaction;

determining pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject and/or the second subject; and

sharing transactional revenue with the second subject based on criteria including the influence score of the second subject, wherein the second subject is determined to have a higher influence score than the first subject on a first dimension,

wherein the influence scores for each subject can be weighted by expertise scores for each subject based on descriptive criteria.

16. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining an influence score for a plurality of subjects, wherein each of the plurality of subjects is a potential participant in the transaction.

17. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first influence score for each of a plurality of subjects for a first transaction, wherein the first transaction is associated with a first dimension; and

determining a second influence score for each of the plurality of subjects for a second transaction, wherein the second transaction is associated with a second dimension.

18. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first influence score for each of a plurality of subjects for a first transaction, wherein the first transaction is associated with a first dimension; and

determining a second influence score for each of the plurality of subjects for a second transaction, wherein the second transaction is associated with a second dimension,

wherein the first dimension and the second dimension are the same dimension.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine an influence score for each of a plurality of subjects, wherein each of the plurality of subjects is a potential participant in a transaction, and wherein the influence score is directly estimated; and

determine potential pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of potential participants in the transaction, wherein the potential participants in the transaction are at least a subset of the plurality of subjects; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

20. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine approval and actual pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of actual participants in the transaction, wherein the actual participants in the transaction are at least a subset of the potential participants in the transaction; and

share transactional revenue with a subset of the actual participants in the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of each of the subset of the actual participants in the transaction.

21. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

determining an influence score for each of a plurality of subjects, wherein each of the plurality of subjects is a potential participant in a transaction, wherein the influence score is a directly estimated objective measure of influence; and

determining approval for participation in the transaction and pricing of the transaction based on criteria including the influence score of each of the requesting participants on a first dimension, wherein the requesting participants requested to participate in the transaction, wherein the requesting participants is at least a subset of the plurality of subjects, and wherein the transaction is associated with the first dimension.

22. The computer program product recited in claim 21, further comprising computer instructions for:

sharing transactional revenue at a first proportion with a first subject based on criteria including the influence score of the first subject on the first dimension; and

sharing advertising revenue at a second proportion with a second subject based on criteria including the influence score of the second subject on the first dimension,

wherein the first subject and the second subject are actual participants in the transaction, wherein the first subject is determined to have a higher influence score than the second subject, and wherein the first proportion is greater than the second proportion.