System and method for managing questions and answers using subject lists styles

• US 7,366,709 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XpertUniverse, Inc.
• Original Assignee: XpertUniverse, Inc.
• Inventors: Steinhoff, John, Zelkin, Abraham, Mason, Richard W., Nevin, James B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thai; Hanh B
• Application Number:
  US11/097,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20050262114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,125 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 9, 706/60
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/358 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method of categorizing a user'"'"'s inquiry and defining the scope of the assistance sought by creating a subject list style. A subject list style is created in a computer based match and route system by selecting a quantity of inquiry criteria and values to present to a user in an interactive manner. The inquiry criteria and values are organized into one or more groups, and an interrelationship between them is defined within each group. The interrelationship may be independent, hierarchical and a combination of independent/hierarchical. Additionally, a parameter is designated that indicates a source of retrieving the inquiry criteria and values. Such a subject list is then presented to a user in an interactive problem definition page.

Claims

1. A method of categorizing inquiries from a member of an organization by creating a subject list style in a match and route system, comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a first member of the organization, inquiry types reflecting information needs of members of the organization;

creating a catalog of inquiry types classified by one or more underlying criteria;

assigning values corresponding to an inquiry type for at least two different inquiry types in the catalog;

pre-selecting, prior to receiving an inquiry from a second member of the organization, a quantity of inquiry criteria and values in accordance with a predetermined context;

presenting to the second member at least a portion of the pre-selected inquiry criteria and values in an interactive manner, wherein the second member is presented those inquiry criteria received from the first member and their assigned corresponding values and the second member is restricted from modifying or editing the pre-selected criteria set by the first member;

organizing the inquiry criteria and values into one or more groups;

defining, prior to receiving the second member'"'"'s inquiry, a first interrelationship between the inquiry criteria and the values, within each group, as being one of an independent, a hierarchical and a combination of independent/hierarchical;

designating a parameter that indicates a source from which inquiry criteria values are retrieved; and

wherein the presenting step presents the inquiry criteria and the values in an interactive problem definition page that includes the first interrelationship.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining inquiry criteria values from the source of a seeker profile.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining inquiry criteria values from the source of a Get Assistance Page.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a subject list style as a drop down menu on the Get Assistance Page.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

obtaining the second member'"'"'s inquiry from the interactive definition page;

defining a second interrelationship between the inquiry criteria and the values based on a nature of the second member'"'"'s inquiry; and

representing the second interrelationship to the second member in the interactive problem definition page.

5. A system of creating a subject list style for presentation to a member of an organization using a match and route system, the system comprising:

a computer having a processor and a memory;

a database stored in memory containing at least one file for presenting a structure of an overall style for a subject list;

the database further including information on a quantity of inquiry criteria and values to be presented to a second member of the organization;

the information being received from a first member of the organization, and reflecting information needs of members of the organization;

the database connected to a plurality of monitors presenting the quantity of the inquiry criteria and values to the second member in an interactive manner, wherein the second member is presented those inquiry criteria and values received from the first member and the second member is restricted from modifying or editing the pre-selected criteria set by the first member;

the database further including information defining, prior to receiving the second member'"'"'s inquiry, a first interrelationship between the inquiry criteria and values as being one of an independent, a hierarchical and a combination of independent/hierarchical;

the database also including a parameter that indicates a source from which inquiry criteria values are retrieved; and

the processor being configured to extract unique combinations from the database and evaluate the combinations, and being further configured to pre-select, prior to receiving the second member'"'"'s inquiry, a quantity of inquiry criteria and values in accordance with a predetermined context.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the second member'"'"'s inquiry from one of the plurality of monitors, and define a second interrelationship between the inquiry criteria and the values based on the nature of the second member'"'"'s inquiry.