U.S. patent application number 14/148136 was filed with the patent office on 2014-09-04 for method and apparatus for conducting an information brokering service.
This patent application is currently assigned to SERMO, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is Sermo, Inc.. Invention is credited to Graham S. Gardner, Daniel Palestrant.
Application Number | 20140249888 14/148136 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37637732 |
Filed Date | 2014-09-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140249888 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Palestrant; Daniel ; et
al. |
September 4, 2014 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING AN INFORMATION BROKERING
SERVICE
Abstract
A system and method is provided that provides an early
indication of consensus of opinion among a number of users
regarding an event or observation indicated by a user. Such an
opinion may be interesting to an information consumer, who may be
interested in determining the outcome of the consensus relating to
the event or observation, or may otherwise desire to perform
surveillance or survey of a particular issue or subject. Such
recognition of early events or observations may be useful where
initial observations, if provided early, allow resulting decisions
to be made much earlier. The opinion may, for instance, be used as
an early indicator of problem with a product, company, etc. that
would permit an information consumer to perform an action at a much
earlier point than if he/she relied on traditional sources of
information. Thus, such opinion information may be invaluable as a
tool for monitoring events.
Inventors: |
Palestrant; Daniel;
(Cambridge, MA) ; Gardner; Graham S.; (Sudbury,
MA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Sermo, Inc. |
Cambridge |
MA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
SERMO, INC.
Cambridge
MA
|
Family ID: |
37637732 |
Appl. No.: |
14/148136 |
Filed: |
January 6, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13199886 |
Sep 12, 2011 |
8626561 |
|
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14148136 |
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|
11482523 |
Jul 7, 2006 |
8019637 |
|
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13199886 |
|
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60697213 |
Jul 7, 2005 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.31 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0202 20130101;
G06Q 30/00 20130101; G06Q 10/063 20130101; G06Q 10/10 20130101;
G06Q 30/08 20130101; G06Q 30/0601 20130101; G06Q 10/06375 20130101;
G06Q 10/101 20130101; G06Q 10/0631 20130101; G06Q 10/06395
20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 40/04 20130101; G06Q 50/01
20130101; G06Q 30/0631 20130101; G06Q 30/0201 20130101; G06Q 10/06
20130101; G06Q 30/0203 20130101; G06Q 30/0641 20130101; G06Q
30/0277 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/7.31 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02; G06Q 50/00 20060101 G06Q050/00 |
Claims
1-20. (canceled)
21. A system for conducting an online information brokering
service, the system comprising: a memory storing a plurality of
tickets each including ticket information, the ticket information
including at least one of a description, a specialty, and at least
one keyword; at least one processor operatively coupled to the
memory; a user interface component executed by the at least one
processor and configured to permit access to an online community by
a plurality of users and to display a plurality of views to at
least one user of the plurality of users, the plurality of views
comprising: a home view personalized for the at least one user, the
home view configured to present information regarding previous
transactions in the online community associated with the at least
one user and to present information indicating a status of the at
least one user in the online community; and a ticket creation view
configured to receive content generated by the at least one user,
the content including information defining at least one ticket.
22. The system according to claim 21, wherein user interface
component is further configured to limit access of the at least one
user to the plurality of tickets responsive to a user type
associated with the at least one user.
23. The system according to claim 21, wherein the ticket creation
view is further configured to receive a description including
information associated with the ticket.
24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the ticket creation
view is further configured to display at least one keyword
associated with the ticket responsive to receiving the
description.
25. The system according to claim 24, wherein the ticket creation
view is further configured to display a parameter indicative of a
quantity of existing tickets associated with the at least one
keyword.
26. The system according to claim 21, wherein the home view is
further configured to display at least one of a name associated
with the at least one user, a date, and a status associated with
the at least one user.
27. The system according to claim 21, wherein the home view
includes a control configured to transition the display from the
home view to the ticket creation view responsive to the control
being activated.
28. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of views
further includes a ticket search view configured to receive search
criteria and display tickets matching the search criteria, the
search criteria including at least one of a keyword and a
specialty.
29. The system according to claim 28, wherein the home view
includes a control configured to transition the display from the
home view to the ticket search view responsive to the control being
activated.
30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the ticket search
view is further configured to display the tickets matching the
search criteria in an order based on a rank of the generating user
in the online community.
31. A computer implemented method for interacting with an online
environment, the method comprising: permitting, by a computer
system, access to an online community by a plurality of users;
displaying, by a computer system, a home view personalized for at
least one user of the plurality of users, the home view including
information regarding previous transactions in the online community
associated with the at least one user and to present information
indicating a status of the at least one user in the online
community; displaying, by the computer system, a ticket creation
view to the at least one user; receiving, by the computer system,
ticket information defining at least one ticket in the ticket
creation view, the ticket information including at least one of a
description, a specialty, and at least one keyword; storing, by the
computer system, the received ticket information defining the at
least one ticket.
32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising limiting
access to the at least one ticket based on a user type associated
with a user of the plurality of users requesting access to the at
least one ticket.
33. The method according to claim 31, wherein receiving ticket
information includes receiving a description including information
associated with the ticket.
34. The method according to claim 33, wherein displaying the ticket
creation view includes display at least one keyword associated with
the ticket responsive to receiving the description.
35. The method according to claim 34, wherein displaying the ticket
creation view includes displaying a parameter indicative of a
quantity of existing tickets associated with the at least one
keyword.
36. The method according to claim 31, wherein displaying the home
view includes displaying at least one of a name associated with the
at least one user, a date, and a status associated with the at
least one user.
37. The method according to claim 31, wherein displaying the home
view includes displaying a control configured to transition the
display from the home view to the ticket creation view responsive
to the control being activated.
38. The method according to claim 31, further comprising:
displaying a ticket search view; receiving search criteria, the
search criteria including at least one of a keyword and a
specialty; and displaying tickets matching the search criteria
responsive to receiving the search criteria in the ticket search
view.
39. The method according to claim 38, wherein displaying the home
view includes displaying a control configured to transition the
display from the home view to the ticket search view responsive to
the control being activated.
40. The method according to claim 38, wherein displaying the ticket
search view includes displaying the tickets matching the search
criteria in an order based on a rank of the generating user in the
online community.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of and claims priority
under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120 to U.S. application Ser. No. 13/199,886,
now U.S. Pat. No. 8,626,561, which was filed on Sep. 12, 2011,
entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING AN INFORMATION
BROKERING SERVICE," which claims priority to U.S. application Ser.
No. 11/482,523, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,196,37, which was filed on Jul.
7, 2006, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING AN
INFORMATION BROKERING SERVICE," which claims priority under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.
60/697,213, entitled "SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING
IDEAS, PREDICTING OUTCOMES, GENERATING REVENUE, AND PROCESSING DATA
IN A SELECTIVE MECHANISM," filed on Jul. 7, 2005, which
applications are herein incorporated by reference in their
entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The field of the invention relates to online information
systems, and more specifically, to online systems having
communities of users that share ideas.
[0004] 2. Discussion of the Related Art
[0005] The phenomenon of like-minded people going online to share
ideas, trade, or compete is well-accepted. In moving from the
physical world to the digital one, users create virtual
"communities" where they are bound together by the similarities of
their interests or activities, rather than the proximity of their
location. These communities can take any number of forms, the most
basic being discussion groups, chat rooms, blogs, and forums, which
are, in effect, offline communities reincarnated online.
[0006] Social network theory (SNT) describes how individuals within
a community interact with one another and the community as a whole.
Prediction markets (PM) are a newer discipline that have shown that
individuals competing with one another for real or hypothetical
rewards collectively can make more accurate predictions than
organized bodies, who might have access to higher quality
information. Additionally, studies have shown that a modest number
of users is sufficient to obtain a high degree of accuracy. Various
ideas relating to Social Network Theory (SNT) and the Prediction
Markets (PM) are disclosed in detail below.
Social Network Theory (SNT)
[0007] Social network theory illustrates the ability of persons to
influence one another. What might appear as random conversations
between people in the off-line world, when viewed on-line, can show
clear patterns of influence. In practice, people relate to one
another in different ways. For example, certain people are more
promiscuous in their interactions, speaking with several different
people simultaneously, while others interact with fewer users, but
perhaps more frequently. One of the reasons SNT is studied is that
by understanding the mappings connecting an individual to others,
one can evaluate the social and or professional "capital" of that
individual. In practice, this social capital refers to the network
position of the person and reflects their ability to draw on the
resources available to the members of the network. Human social
networks comprise individuals that interact with each other through
family, work, recreation, community, social, and other activities.
Common to these interactions is the establishment of relationships
that rely on patterns of connection and information exchange
processes.
[0008] An effective on-line system mimics these interactions.
Individuals are able to re-identify each other in the system, as
well as identify all the additional members that the system allows
them to come in contact with. Individuals influence each other
directly, through, for example, persuasion, orders, providing
information and acting as role models, and they adjust or modify
their behavior in consequence of their interaction with other
individuals, and the environment in which they operate.
Communication, and thus social comparison, depends on the
individuals. New issues promote discussion and comparison as
agreement patterns emerge.
Prediction Markets (PM)
[0009] Markets are considered to be a method of allocating
resources among competing uses. Markets can also be used when there
is an absence of an arbiter with helpful information. Prices ensure
that the different agents competing for access have a common
standard for comparison across different choices. The market
clearing process ensures that each resource is assigned to its best
use. Different market designs satisfy different purposes.
[0010] Continuous double auction markets provide goods on demand to
buyers who are willing to pay the going rate, while call or options
markets improve prices for buyers and sellers when time is not the
most crucial factor, allowing for hedging and risk allocation. When
a plurality of buyers have needs for different goods, which also
are interdependent, combination markets may be necessary.
[0011] Prediction markets are a form of market in which the goods
being traded are securities whose values are determined by the
outcomes of future events. The securities are structured so that
trading between buyers and sellers causes the price to reflect the
probability of the underlying event. When a trader sees a market
price (probability) that is less than her expected probability for
the event, she will see a profit opportunity in buying more, thus
likely driving the price up. The new price reflects a higher
probability to others monitoring the market.
[0012] Prediction markets have been applied to a variety of
problems and questions. Several variations on the basic idea have
been described, making it possible to find answers for many
different types of questions, or apply the concept in a wider set
of circumstances. New variations of the original prediction market
concept suggested ways to support conditional bets, which would
elicit estimates about the relative chances that alternative
approaches would have of achieving certain outcomes. In these
variations, pari-mutuel style betting is combined with standard
double-auction prediction markets to increase the liquidity of the
markets at the cost of having prices that don't directly reflect
probabilities.
[0013] Several automated market makers have proposed different ways
to improve the predictive ability of markets with small numbers of
traders ("thin markets"). In markets for general commodities,
similar approaches can make thin markets more liquid and make it
easier for traders to find counterparties to trade with. Key,
however, is that most markets have been limited to questions of
broad interest like national elections and the outcome of
professional sporting events. This limitation reflects a short
falling of conventional prediction markets, that their predictive
capability is a direct function of their liquidity, or ultimately
their number of active users.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] According to one aspect of the present invention, a system
and method is provided that provides an early indication of
consensus of opinion among a number of users regarding an event or
observation indicated by a user. Such an opinion may be interesting
to a consumer of information, who may be interested in determining
the outcome of the consensus relating to the event or observation.
Such recognition of early events or observations may be useful in
different areas, such as healthcare, finance, etc., where initial
observations, if provided early, allow resulting decisions to be
made much earlier. The opinion may, for instance, be used as an
early indicator of problem with a product, company, new insight on
a disease, awareness of a disease outbreak, etc. Such an opinion or
observation may permit an investor or other information consumer to
take a position or take action at a much earlier point than if s/he
relied on traditional sources of information. Thus, such opinion
information may be a valuable tool for monitoring events.
[0015] Similarly, such a tool may be also valuable for participants
in the advancement of ideas, especially those that rely on
collaboration between people (e.g., research) and consensus between
observers. However, conventional social networking systems or other
online communities are insufficient for determining what
information is likely to be quality information versus a random or
incorrect observation or prediction. That is, it is appreciated
that such conventional systems are incapable of distinguishing
quality data from noise.
[0016] Also, such networks do not provide proper incentive for
experts to contribute quality information in particular subject
areas that would be interesting to information consumers (e.g.,
corporations, equity traders, etc.). Further, prediction markets
are insufficient for advancing original ideas and observations, as
predictive events are defined in such systems by a system operator
and users can only vote on the predictive events set forth by the
system operator. Thus, such systems may not be used to submit and
foster the ideas and observations originated by users.
[0017] According to one aspect of the present invention, a
distributed system is provided for determining a consensus of
opinion among users. According to one embodiment, the system may be
capable of accepting original observations and opinions submitted
by users. The system may adjudicate and provide incentives for
users to make and vote on observations, opinions and/or predictive
events.
[0018] Existing predictive markets and social networks are
insufficient for such an application, for example, as they do not
provide proper incentives for users to submit quality information
and/or provide checks and balances to prohibit users from
exploiting the system. To this end, a system is provided that
provides incentives and disincentives for users to cooperatively
contribute observations and opinions to an online system for the
purpose of early detection of consensus.
[0019] Further, according to another aspect of the present
invention, it is appreciated that existing predictive markets and
social networks require a moderator to create issues to be voted on
and adjudicate them. However, according to one aspect of the
present invention, users are permitted to define the issues being
voted on. Because users create the issues, an online system that
permits users to define the issues can function as an early warning
system, whereby users having an observation can submit the
observation to the system. Such users may be in a position to make
the observation at an earlier point than traditional methods of
monitoring issues (e.g., waiting for a journal article to come out
on a particular issue, an FDA action in response to an issue,
etc.), and thus the early observation may be useful.
[0020] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method
is provided for determining consensus of opinion relating to an
observation, opinion, and/or a predictive event, used herein
interchangeably as set forth by a user. A user may submit an idea
to an online system, and other users may submit their opinion of
the observation. In one embodiment, users of the system may be
provided incentives to both create their own observations as well
as provide their opinions on observations created by other users.
These incentives may be in the form of money paid to users for
their observations and opinions of observations.
[0021] According to one aspect of the present invention, users
submit observations in the form of "tickets" to an online system,
the tickets including information relating to the observation or
opinion. These tickets may be, for instance, holders for an
observation or opinion in the online system. These tickets may be
displayed to other users of the online system, where these other
user users may view and cast a "vote" expressing their opinion on
the observation.
[0022] The system may permit a number of users to vote on the
ticket, and, based on the voting performed by users, determine
whether there is consensus forming among the users regarding the
observation or opinion. In this manner, the ticket and its
associated observation or opinion may be submitted for feedback to
the online system. There, the observation or opinion may be
corroborated, refuted, and/or explained by others.
[0023] Other users may, for example, corroborate or otherwise agree
with an observation, modify the observation, or disagree with the
observation. In one example system, a user may be permitted to
"agree" or "disagree" with an observation or opinion. That is, the
user may be permitted to submit either a positive or negative
response.
[0024] In another example voting model, a user may be permitted to
provide another response to the observation or opinion in addition
to the binary yes/no, agree/disagree response model. The submitted
response may be presented to other users as an option for response
(e.g., in the form of a multiple choice selection), where other
users can select the submitted response as their vote on the
observation or opinion. In this way, users can propose new
responses relating to the observation or opinion that can be voted
on by other users.
[0025] In another example, users may be permitted to change their
vote after placing their vote. For instance, it may be beneficial
for an early voter to change their response upon receiving
information that might lead the early voter to change their
response. For instance, if the early voter submits a vote that a
particular drug prevents cancer, but later views a journal article
including a study that shows that the drug does not prevent cancer,
then the early voter may be permitted to change their vote in
response to the additional information. Further, the early voter
may be informed by the system of later responses (e.g., in the form
of alternative responses provided by later users), which may cause
the user to change their response.
[0026] Thus, according to one embodiment, the system may facilitate
monitoring voting by later users, and if their voting or other
observations (e.g., in the form of an alternative submitted
response) changes the mind of the early voter, that voter may be
permitted to change their vote. A change in voting may be permitted
during the pendency of a ticket, allowing the consensus result to
be a more accurate reflection of the users' opinions, and allows
for earlier voters to change their vote in response to later-posted
observations. Further, an information consumer may permitted to
observe the voting process, and any voting trends that may arise
during the pendency of the ticket. The system may also provide the
information consumer key information relating to the ticket during
the voting process, such as trends, alternative responses, or other
information.
[0027] According to one aspect of the present invention, the
tickets and the associated election is created and arbitrated by
users rather than a system operator. That is, users (not an
operator) create the issues which are decided on by the online user
community. In this way, original observations usually made by
people that are in the best position to report the observation are
submitted to the system. Further, according to one embodiment, the
system is configured to rapidly disseminate such observations to
other users. Further, according to another embodiment, it is left
to the user community to agree, disagree, or offer an alternative
response to the observation and otherwise determine collectively
among the user community any consensus of the observation. Also,
the voting process may be monitored by the system, and length of
the voting process may be varied depending on information relating
to the opinions entered by users. Thus, in this way, the users both
create and vote on the issues in the online system.
[0028] To foster such participation, various mechanisms may be used
by the system to motivate users. For instance, monetary or any
other type of value (e.g., points) may be attributed to tickets,
which may increase or decrease based on the opinions submitted by
users. Thus, if other users agree with an observation, a consensus
measurement (referred to herein as a signal strength) of the ticket
is increased. Similarly, if users disagree with an observation, the
consensus measurement of the ticket is decreased. Whether other
users agree or disagree with the observation, a ranking of the user
originating the ticket may be affected. Other mechanisms may be
used by the system to encourage desired participation (e.g.,
submitting opinions by particular users in their field of
expertise, users encouraged to both create observation and express
opinions) and to discourage undesired participation (e.g., gaming
of the system, submission of non-unique observations, etc.).
Further, the system may encourage users to submit tickets in
particular subject areas to foster ideas in those areas (e.g., by
valuing tickets and voting more highly in such areas). According to
one embodiment, the system may use rules to provide such incentives
and disincentives for user behavior.
[0029] According to one aspect of the present invention, an online
system may be provided for users to submit observations, insights,
and/or questions. Such observations, insights, and/or questions may
be submitted in the form of tickets. Information consumers that
desire to have exclusive access to voting results of a particular
ticket may be permitted to bid on the ticket. Once a particular
information consumer has agreed to pay a particular price for the
voting results, that ticket is referred to herein as being
cultivated.
[0030] Users may vote on a ticket until some predetermined criteria
is reached. In one embodiment, a consensus determination is
performed that indicates when the voting process is complete, and
the ticket is closed. Consensus may be measured, for instance,
using a parameter (referred to herein as signal strength) that
determines whether the voting process is complete. Signal strength
may be measured, for example, by the number of users responding to
a particular ticket, the number of votes cast for a particular
answer, or any combination of information associated with the
ticket and/or statistic in voting on the ticket. In addition, the
information consumer may be permitted to specify parameters that
determine when signal strength is reached (e.g., when a particular
number of users vote on the ticket, when a particular number of
votes are received, when the ticket should close, etc.). The
information consumer may be permitted to view voting results in
real time, and may be provided exclusive access to the results
after ticket closing. In one example, the exclusive access may be
granted for a particular period of time, after which the results
may be made available to other users of the online system.
[0031] Further, according to another aspect, it appreciated that
conventional online predictive markets may run afoul of online
gambling laws, including the United States. In particular, one of
several obstacles faced by prediction markets is that the gambling
laws in several jurisdictions are written broadly enough so that
they can be construed to prohibit use of these markets with real
money. Thus, according to one aspect of the invention, an online
information brokering service is provided that permits users to
define and place opinions regarding future outcomes, yet not
impinge on U.S. gaming laws. In particular, users may be
compensated for their opinions regarding predictive events without
placing a wager. Rather, they are compensated if their opinion is
correct, but not charged if their opinion is incorrect. Other
non-monetary mechanisms (e.g., a ranking) may be used to reflect a
user's ability to place correct opinions. Further, information
consumers that purchase the opinion information (e.g., government
officials, investors) are not wagering, because, according to one
embodiment, the purchase of opinion information is completed
independent of the outcome of the "ticket/s." Thus, neither action
performed by the user or information consumer is a speculative
wager.
[0032] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a
system may be provided that permits users to associate
classification information with tickets. For instance, users may be
permitted to associate classification information such as "tags" in
order to classify tickets to permit searching by the system, other
users, programs, etc. Further, a computer system associated with
the system may process tickets to create classifications for a
ticket. In one example, the system may process one or more keywords
associated with the ticket and classify the ticket using those
keywords. Further, the computer system may be adapted to search one
or more databases to locate similar keywords with which the ticket
may be associated. After such classifications are defined, the
ticket may be located using such classification.
[0033] According to another aspect of the present invention,
tickets may be identified in the system and matched to particular
users based on their classification information. For instance, a
ticket may be classified by a submitting user, along with any
classifications assigned by the system, and based on the assigned
classifications, the submitting user is displayed tickets already
submitted to the system having similar classifications. In this
way, the user may more easily locate similar tickets. Tickets may
be associated with users in other ways, such as, for example,
identifying tickets to users that voted on similar tickets,
identifying tickets to users who are identified as experts in a
particular area, identifying tickets to particular consumers of
ticket information that may have previously bid on such
information, among others.
[0034] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method
is provided for conducting an online information brokering service.
The method comprises acts of permitting a creation of a ticket by
at least one user, the ticket comprising at least one observation
generated by a user, presenting, by a computer system, the ticket
to at least one other user, and accepting, from the at least one
other user, an opinion of the at least one other user regarding the
at least one ticket. According to one embodiment of the invention,
the method further comprises an act of presenting, to the at least
one user, an interface that permits the at least one user to
selectively create the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of presenting, to the at least one
other user, an interface that permits the at least one other user
to submit an opinion relating to the created ticket. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
providing for the at least one other user to submit a vote with
respect to the observation. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of providing for the at least one
other user to submit an alternative opinion with respect to the
observation.
[0035] According to one embodiment of the invention, the computer
system accepts a plurality of user opinions relating to the created
ticket. According to another embodiment, a length of time by which
the computer system accepts the plurality of user opinions is
determined based on a determination of consensus among the
plurality of user opinions. According to another embodiment, the
length of time is determined without intervention by an operator of
the online information brokering service.
[0036] According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of determining a value of the ticket. According to
another embodiment, the act of determining the value of the ticket
comprises an act of determining the value by a bid process.
According to another embodiment, the bid process includes an act of
permitting at least one information consumer to bid on the ticket.
According to another embodiment, the act of determining the value
of the ticket further comprises an act of classifying the
observation in a predetermined class, the predetermined class
having a predetermined value, and determining the value of the
ticket based on the predetermined value of the predetermined
class.
[0037] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of providing an incentive, by an operator
of the online information brokering system, to users to submit
tickets relating to a particular predetermined class. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
permitting the at least one user to send the created ticket to the
at least one other user. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of sending the created ticket to a
group of users to which the at least one user has a relationship.
According to another embodiment, the act of determining a value of
the ticket further comprises an act of valuing the ticket at a
higher value than a later-created ticket that relates to a similar
subject as the ticket. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises acts of permitting a user to create a proposed
ticket and determining whether the proposed ticket is similar to
the created ticket.
[0038] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of presenting to the user, the created
ticket if the proposed ticket is similar to the created ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of rewarding the at least one other user based on the opinion
of the at least one other user regarding the at least one ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of determining a reward based on a ranking of the at least one
other user.
[0039] According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of determining the ranking of the at least one
other user. According to another embodiment, the act of determining
the ranking of the at least one other user further comprises an act
of determining the ranking based on a history of voting of the at
least one other user. According to another embodiment, the act of
determining the ranking of the at least one other user further
comprises an act of determining the ranking based on an ability of
the at least one other user to vote for a correct outcome of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
ranking of the at least one other user further comprises an act of
reducing the ranking if the at least one other user places a vote
for an incorrect outcome of the ticket.
[0040] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act of
determining the ranking of the at least one other user further
comprises an act of determining the ranking of the at least one
other user based on a ratio of a number of agreeing votes and a
number of disagreeing votes received after the opinion of the at
least one other user has been made. According to another
embodiment, the act of determining the ranking of the at least one
other user further comprises an act of rewarding an earlier vote
more highly than a later vote on a same ticket. According to
another embodiment, the act of determining the ranking of the at
least one other user further comprises an act of determining user
income based on at least one of a group comprising a ranking of the
user, a number of votes in agreement with the defined ticket, a
weight of the defined ticket, a number of outstanding tickets, and
a consensus quality parameter associated with the defined ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of conducting a bid process to determine a sale of opinion
information associated with the ticket to a winning bidder.
According to one embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
displaying, to the winning bidder, the opinion information in a
display of a computer system.
[0041] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act of
determining the value of the ticket includes an act of conducting a
voting process among a plurality of users, wherein a result of the
voting process in used in the act of determining the value of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
value of the ticket includes an act of determining a market value
of opinion information related to the ticket. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of determining a
ranking of the at least one user. According to another embodiment,
the act of determining the ranking of the at least one user further
comprises an act of determining the ranking based on a history of
voting of the at least one user. According to another embodiment,
the act of determining the ranking of the at least one user further
comprises an act of determining the ranking based on an ability of
the at least one user to vote for a correct outcome of at least one
ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
ranking of the at least one user further comprises an act of
reducing the ranking if the at least one user places a vote for an
incorrect outcome of the at least one ticket.
[0042] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act of
determining the ranking of the at least one user further comprises
an act of determining the ranking of the at least one user based on
a ratio of a number of agreeing votes and a number of disagreeing
votes received after the opinion of the at least one user has been
made. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
ranking of the at least one user further comprises an act of
determining a weighting associated with the at least one user.
According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
weighting associated with the at least one user further comprises
an act of weighting a value of the created ticket by the determined
weighting. According to another embodiment, the act of determining
the weighting associated with the at least one user further
comprises an act of multiplying the value of the created ticket by
the determined weighting to determine a weighted value of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
weighting associated with the at least one user further comprises
an act of determining an independent weighting depending on a
classification of the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
act of determining the weighting associated with the at least one
user further comprises an act of maintaining a plurality of
independent weightings for the at least one user, each independent
weighting being associated with a particular classification.
[0043] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of determining a reward to the at least
one user including an act of reducing the value of the ticket by an
amount paid to the at least one other user, the at least one other
user having voted on the ticket. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of determining a consensus of
opinion among a plurality of users regarding the at least one
observation of the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of measuring at least one parameter
associated with the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
act of determining a consensus of opinion further comprises an act
of determining the consensus of opinion based on the at least one
measured parameter. According to another embodiment, the at least
one measured parameter comprises a number of votes on the ticket
received from users. According to another embodiment, the act of
determining a consensus of opinion further comprises an act of
determining a quality of the consensus of opinion. According to
another embodiment, the act determining a quality of the consensus
of opinion comprises an act of maintaining a quality parameter that
indicates the quality of the consensus of opinion.
[0044] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of increasing the quality parameter if it
is determined that a plurality of users having a similar background
have a similar opinion regarding the at least one observation of
the ticket. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of permitting the at least one user to send the
created ticket to the at least one other user. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of sending the
created ticket to a group of users to which the at least one user
previously sent a previously-created ticket. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of ending a voting
period of the ticket in response to the act of determining the
consensus of opinion among the plurality of users. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
displaying, to a consumer of the ticket, consensus information
indicating the consensus of opinion among the plurality of users.
According to another embodiment, the act of displaying is
responsive to the act of ending a voting period of the ticket.
According to another embodiment, the act of determining a consensus
of opinion among a plurality of users regarding the at least one
observation of the ticket is determined as a function of a number
of votes received on the ticket.
[0045] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of determining collusion between a
plurality of users. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises an act of determining a repeated pattern of
voting among the plurality of users. According to another
embodiment, the act of determining a repeated pattern of voting
among the plurality of users further comprises a determination of a
distribution of voting among the plurality of users. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
comparing the determined distribution of voting with a distribution
of users. According to another embodiment, the distribution of user
is organized by at least one of the group comprising location and
organization.
[0046] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
method is provided for conducting an online information brokering
service. The method comprises acts of permitting a creation of a
ticket by at least one user, the ticket comprising at least one
observation generated by a user, presenting, by a computer system,
the ticket to a plurality of users, accepting, from each of the
plurality of users, a respective opinion regarding the ticket; and
determining a consensus of opinion among a plurality of users
regarding the at least one observation of the ticket. According to
one embodiment of the invention, the computer system accepts a
plurality of user opinions relating to the created ticket.
According to another embodiment, a length of time by which the
computer system accepts the plurality of user opinions is
determined based on a determination of consensus among the
plurality of user opinions. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of measuring at least one parameter
associated with the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
act of determining a consensus of opinion further comprises an act
of determining the consensus of opinion based on the at least one
measured parameter. According to another embodiment, the at least
one measured parameter comprises a number of votes on the ticket
received from users. According to another embodiment, the act of
determining a consensus of opinion further comprises an act of
determining a quality of the consensus of opinion.
[0047] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act
determining a quality of the consensus of opinion comprises an act
of maintaining a quality parameter that indicates the quality of
the consensus of opinion. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of increasing the quality parameter
if it is determined that a plurality of users having a similar
background have a similar opinion regarding the at least one
observation of the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of determining the ranking of the
at least one of the plurality of users. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of permitting the
at least one user to send the created ticket to the at least one of
the plurality of users. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises an act of sending the created ticket to a group
of users to which the at least one user previously sent a
previously-created ticket. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of sending the created ticket to a
group of users, wherein the group of users includes a group of
users identified as experts in a particular subject area. According
to another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
determining a reward to the at least one of the plurality of users
in response to the at least one of the plurality of users's
opinion, the reward being based on a ranking of the at least one of
the plurality of users. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises an act of determining the ranking of the at least
one of the plurality of users.
[0048] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act of
determining the ranking of the at least one of the plurality of
users further comprises an act of determining the ranking based on
a history of voting of the at least one of the plurality of users.
According to another embodiment, the act of determining the ranking
of the at least one of the plurality of users further comprises an
act of determining the ranking based on an ability of the at least
one of the plurality of users to vote for a correct outcome of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
ranking of the at least one of the plurality of users further
comprises an act of reducing the ranking if the at least one of the
plurality of users places a vote for an incorrect outcome of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining the
ranking of the at least one of the plurality of users further
comprises an act of determining the ranking of the at least one of
the plurality of users based on a ratio of a number of agreeing
votes and a number of disagreeing votes received after the opinion
of the at least one of the plurality of users has been made.
According to another embodiment, the act of determining the ranking
of the at least one of the plurality of users further comprises an
act of rewarding an earlier vote more highly than a later vote on a
same ticket.
[0049] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act of
determining the ranking of the at least one of the plurality of
users further comprises an act of determining user income based on
at least one of a group comprising a ranking of the at least one
user, a number of votes in agreement with the defined ticket, a
weight of the defined ticket, a number of outstanding tickets, and
a consensus quality parameter associated with the defined ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of ending a voting period of the ticket in response to the act
of determining the consensus of opinion among the plurality of
users. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of displaying, to a consumer of the ticket,
consensus information indicating the consensus of opinion among the
plurality of users. According to another embodiment, the act of
displaying is responsive to the act of ending a voting period of
the ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of determining
a consensus of opinion among a plurality of users regarding the at
least one observation of the ticket is determined as a function of
a number of votes received on the ticket. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of determining a
value of the ticket. According to another embodiment, the act of
determining the value of the ticket comprises an act of determining
the value by a bid process.
[0050] According to one embodiment of the invention, the bid
process includes an act of permitting at least one information
consumer to bid on the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
act of determining the value of the ticket further comprises an act
of classifying the observation in a predetermined class, the
predetermined class having a predetermined value, and determining
the value of the ticket based on the predetermined value of the
predetermined class. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises an act of providing an incentive, by an operator
of the online information brokering system, to users to submit
tickets relating to a particular predetermined class. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
conducting a bid process to determine a sale of opinion information
associated with the ticket to a winning bidder. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
displaying, to the winning bidder, the opinion information in a
display of a computer system. According to another embodiment, the
act of determining the value of the ticket includes an act of
conducting a voting process among a plurality of users, wherein a
result of the voting process in used in the act of determining the
value of the ticket.
[0051] According to one embodiment of the invention, the act of
determining the value of the ticket includes an act of determining
a market value of opinion information related to the ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of determining a ranking of the at least one user. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises determining a
value of the ticket based on the ranking of the at least one user.
According to another embodiment, the ticket is created without
intervention by an operator of the online information brokering
service. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of determining a quality of the observation of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the quality of the
observation of the ticket is determined without intervention by an
operator of the online information brokering service. According to
another embodiment, the consensus of opinion is determined without
intervention by an operator of the online information brokering
service. According to another embodiment, the consensus of opinion
is determined by voting by the plurality of users.
[0052] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
method is provided for conducting an online information brokering
service. The method comprises permitting a creation of a ticket by
at least one user, the ticket comprising at least one observation
generated by the at least one user, and accepting, from a plurality
of users, a plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the method further
comprises an act of determining a rank of the at least one user.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of determining a rank of each of the plurality of users.
[0053] According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of adjusting the rank of the at least one user
based on the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of adjusting the rank of each of the respective users based on
their ability to predict an outcome of the plurality of respective
opinions regarding the ticket. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of increasing the rank of the at
least one user if the plurality of respective opinions regarding
the ticket form a consensus of agreement with the observation of
the ticket. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of decreasing the rank of the at least one user if
the plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket do not
form a consensus of agreement with the observation of the ticket.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of decreasing the rank of the at least one user if the
plurality of respective opinions regarding the ticket form a
consensus of disagreement with the observation of the ticket.
[0054] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of increasing the rank of at least one of
the plurality of users if the at least one user correctly predicts
the outcome of the plurality of respective opinions regarding the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of decreasing the rank of at least one of the
plurality of users if the at least one user incorrectly predicts
the outcome of the plurality of respective opinions regarding the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of determining a consensus of opinion among a
plurality of users regarding the at least one observation of the
ticket. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises acts of maintaining a plurality of tickets created by a
plurality of users.
[0055] According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of limiting, for at least one user of the
plurality of users, a number of opinions relating to the plurality
of tickets that the at least one user of the plurality of users can
enter. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of linking, for the at least one user of the
plurality of users, the number of opinions the at least one user of
the plurality of users can enter to a number of tickets created by
at least one user of the plurality of users. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of limiting a
number of tickets that can be created by the at least one user.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of limiting a number of tickets that are outstanding from the
at least one user. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises an act of providing an incentive to the at least
one user if the ticket relates to an area of expertise of the at
least one user.
[0056] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprise an act of rewarding an earlier vote more highly
than a later vote on a same ticket. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises acts of permitting a user
to create a proposed ticket and determining whether the proposed
ticket is similar to the created ticket. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of presenting to
the user, the created ticket if the proposed ticket is similar to
the created ticket.
[0057] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
method is provided for conducting an online information brokering
service. The method comprises acts of permitting at least one user
to define a prediction of an event, and accepting, from at least
one other user, an opinion regarding the defined prediction, and
compensating the at least one other user if the opinion is correct.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the at least one user
does not place a wager to qualify for being compensated. According
to another embodiment, the prediction of the event is defined by
the at least one user without intervention of an operator of the
online information brokering service. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of paying, by a
information consumer, for opinion information relating to the
prediction of the event. According to another embodiment, the act
of paying does not depend on whether the prediction of the event is
correct. According to another embodiment, the act of paying is
independent of the outcome of the event. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises an act of determining a
value of the opinion information. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of conducting a bid process
among a plurality of information consumers, and wherein a result of
the bid process determines the value of the opinion information.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of compensating the at least one user if the opinion is
correct.
[0058] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
method is provided for conducting an online information service.
The method comprises acts of collecting opinion information from a
plurality of users, the opinion information relating to an event
defined by at least one user, and providing the opinion information
to at least one information consumer. According to one embodiment
of the invention, the method further comprises an act of defining a
trigger by the at least one information consumer, the trigger being
activated by at least one parameter associated with the event
defined by the at least one user. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of activating the trigger upon
the creation of an event including the at least one parameter.
According to another embodiment, the event relates to a product,
and wherein the trigger, when activated, provides an indication to
the at least one information consumer. According to another
embodiment, the method further comprises providing an indication to
the at least one information consumer that the trigger was
activated. According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises acts of compensating the plurality of users for the
opinion information and selling the opinion information to the at
least one information consumer. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of conducting a bid process to
determine the at least one information consumer to which the
opinion information is sold. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of determining a consensus of the
collected opinion information. According to another embodiment, the
act of providing the opinion information to at least one
information consumer is responsive to the act of determining a
consensus of the collected opinion information. According to
another embodiment, the plurality of users include information
providers that are identified experts in a subject field to which
the opinion information relates. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of maintaining a profile of at
least one of the plurality of users.
[0059] According to one embodiment of the invention, the method
further comprises an act of sending the event defined by at least
one user to at least one user based on the maintained profile.
According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an
act of targeting the at least one user to receive the event,
wherein the act of targeting is performed responsive to a parameter
associated with the maintained profile. According to another
embodiment, the parameter measures an ability of the at least one
user to predict event outcomes. According to another embodiment,
the parameter measures an ability of the at least one user to
recognize trends in opinions. According to another embodiment, the
parameter measures an ability of the at least one user to influence
opinions of other users. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of permitting at least one of the
plurality of users to change their opinion.
[0060] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
method is provided for conducting an online information brokering
service. The method comprises acts of permitting a creation of a
ticket by at least one user, the ticket comprising at least one
observation generated by a user, classifying the ticket by
associating one or more tags to the ticket, and locating the ticket
based upon the one or more tags. According to one embodiment of the
invention, the method further comprises an act of determining, by a
computer system, one or more suggested tags for classifying the
ticket, and displaying to the user as the ticket is being created
the one or more suggested tags. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises determining, based on a description
associated with the ticket, the one or more suggested tags.
[0061] According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of displaying to the user in real-time, the one or
more suggested tags as the description associated with the ticket
is created by the user. According to another embodiment, the method
further comprises an act of permitting the user to associate the
one or more tags with the ticket. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of permitting the user to
accept at least one of the one or more suggested tags. According to
another embodiment, the method further comprises an act of
searching one or more databases to determine whether a similar
ticket exists, the act of searching being based at least in part on
the one or more tags.
[0062] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the
method further comprises an act of determining, based on the
search, whether the ticket is unique among a plurality of
previously-created tickets. According to another embodiment, the
method further comprises an act of determining one or more related
tags associated with the one or more tags, and presenting the one
or more related tags to the user. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises acts of presenting, by a computer
system, the ticket to a plurality of users, accepting, from each of
the plurality of users, a respective opinion regarding the ticket,
and determining a consensus of opinion among a plurality of users
regarding the at least one observation of the ticket. According to
another embodiment, the computer system accepts a plurality of user
opinions relating to the created ticket.
[0063] According to another embodiment, the method further
comprises an act of presenting one or more similar tickets to the
user. According to another embodiment, the method further comprises
an act of presenting one or more users that authored the one or
more similar tickets to the user. According to another embodiment,
the method further comprises an act of displaying, to the user, an
indication of the number of tickets associated with a particular
tag. According to another embodiment, the method further comprises
an act of permitting the user to locate similar tickets relating to
the displayed number of tickets.
[0064] Further features and advantages of the present invention as
well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the
present invention are described in detail below with reference to
the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals
indicate like or functionally similar elements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0065] The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to
scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical
component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by
a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be
labeled in every drawing. In the drawings:
[0066] FIG. 1 is a chart showing a number of knowledgeable people
as a function of time accordance with aspects of the present
invention;
[0067] FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a process for interacting
with an online system according to one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0068] FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a process for interacting
with an online system according to another embodiment of the
present invention;
[0069] FIG. 4 is an example use case showing a process for
conducting an online system according to one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0070] FIG. 5 is an example use case showing a process for
conducting an online system according to another embodiment of the
present invention;
[0071] FIG. 6 is an example use case showing a process for
conducting an online system according to another embodiment of the
present invention;
[0072] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a general-purpose computer
system upon which various embodiments of the invention may be
implemented;
[0073] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a computer system with which
various embodiments of the invention may be practiced;
[0074] FIG. 9A is a block diagram showing an example creation of a
ticket and tagging process according to one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0075] FIG. 9B is a block diagram showing example database elements
according to one embodiment of the present invention that may be
used in a ticket access and triggering process;
[0076] FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an overall logic flow of
ticket creation and lifetime in an online system according to one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0077] FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a thematic logic flow of
ticket creation and lifetime in an application to the healthcare
industry according to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0078] FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing another example logic flow
of ticket creation and lifetime according to one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0079] FIGS. 13A and 13B (collectively, FIG. 13) include a flow
chart showing another example logic flow of ticket creation and
lifetime according to another embodiment of the present
invention;
[0080] FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example interface of an
online system according to one embodiment of the present invention;
and
[0081] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example interface of an
online system according to one embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0082] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is
appreciated that it may be useful to convey information from early
observers to information consumers so that decisions can be made at
an early stage. One aspect of the present invention relates to an
early detection and survey method to track and predict trends in
various markets which can be used to monetize the early trends.
[0083] As shown in FIG. 1, it is appreciated that it takes time for
information to be disseminated from people that have early
observations (e.g., a physician that makes a useful observation in
the field) to other people and entities that act on such
information (e.g., an information consumer such as the FDA). For
instance, a period of days, weeks, or even months may elapse before
a useful observation becomes public knowledge (e.g., through a
newswire service) and becomes public information. There may be
additional periods of time that elapse before the observation makes
its way to others interested in such information (e.g., to form
opinions or to perform an action based on such information).
According to one aspect, it is appreciated that an early
observation, if corroborated, may be effectively used as
information to perform an action. One example includes detection
and reporting of adverse effects of drugs. An information consumer
such as the FDA, an investor, or other entity may perform an action
(e.g., open an inquiry, perform a trade) in response to receiving
the adverse information generated by an early observer in the
field. If received early, such information may be used to save
lives, time, and money.
[0084] To this end, it is appreciated that a system and method for
identifying early observations and communicating them amongst
interested parties in a more timely manner would be beneficial. In
one embodiment, one or more computer systems (e.g., Personal
Computers (PCs), Portable Digital Assistants (PDAs), telephones, or
other computer system types) using various forms of communication
(e.g., Internet, cellular network, etc.) may be used to create an
online ecosystem described below used to exchange observation
information between information providers and consumers, and to
corroborate such observations.
Online Ecosystem
[0085] In one embodiment, an online "ecosystem" is created, the
ecosystem including a community of users that together, function to
exchange information. Such an ecosystem may be novel in its
integration of prediction markets, social networking, decision
making, and group consensus. In such an ecosystem, a community is
created by one or more rules influencing the behavior of a
plurality of users. According to one embodiment, the rules adhere
to the basic drives and ambitions of the users and channel the
interested users back into the ecosystem community. In particular,
rules may be designed that provide incentives (and disincentives)
for certain types of behavior. Optimally, the rules encourage users
to submit original ideas and encourage others to review these ideas
to foster consensus. In one embodiment, the rules function without
external (other than users) or moderator intervention.
[0086] The overall ecosystem may be driven by several processes.
One process permits users to take independent actions, and the
user's independent actions affect the ecosystem. Therefore, the
ecosystem can be self-perpetuating. Further, the ecosystem can
create its own content, as users define and vote on the
observations and opinions of others. The ecosystem may be
self-regulating, for instance, as users determine the value of the
collected observations and opinions. One method of the driving of
the ecosystem involves recruiting new users as individuals within
the ecosystem pursue their own interests.
[0087] The ecosystem can be manipulated to fit the interests of
those that run the ecosystem (e.g., a system operator) is by
generating valuable data for third parties that consume information
generated by the ecosystem. One method for ensuring that valuable
data is generated includes creating rules that promote the creation
of valuable data, and by integrating adjustable variables into the
rules.
[0088] Such an ecosystem may be applied to different problems,
markets, and subject areas. One such application is healthcare, and
the medicine in general. The healthcare industry is a good
application of such a system, as there are a number of readily
available customers for the information generated by the ecosystem.
For instance, there is a need to capture original observations to
further the advancement of understanding of medical treatment,
drugs, and related research, and to ensure patient safety. Such
observations may also be valuable to the financial community when
making investment decisions, and thus a system that makes such
observations aware to the community would be beneficial. Another
application includes the observation of the spread of disease, and
monitoring for outbreaks of such diseases. Further, the ecosystem
may permit physicians to further the advancement ideas by allowing
them to submit observations and to comment on observations of their
physician colleagues.
[0089] The ecosystem may align the interests of clinicians,
industry, and researchers to more effectively capture physician
observations and insight, potentially improving surveillance and
allowing more rapid insight into physician consensus on a given
topic. Organizations that benefit from early insight into
healthcare information create a financial incentive used to
generate, sustain, and regulate participation in the online
community or ecosystem.
[0090] One version of the ecosystem can leverage a high value of
healthcare-related subject-specific information that can be shared
among interested users. Further, the ecosystem can successfully
exploit multiple behaviors of various users, such as greed, drive
for collaboration, and humanitarianism. Because there is a
continuous need for information, the information of the ecosystem
is self-renewing and replenishes itself continuously. Although
healthcare is one application of such an ecosystem, it should be
appreciated that the invention is not limited to any specific
field, and may be applied to other information-sharing situations
where collaboration facilitates information that has value.
[0091] In one example application of such a system, a value of a
physician's observation (modeled in the system in the form of a
"ticket") in the system is determined by how many people agree or
disagree with the observation at any given moment. Physicians from
diverse backgrounds are incentivized to submit observations and to
corroborate or dispute those observations to the system, providing
a resultant method by which clinical data may be gathered. Further,
a ranking of users may be determined, used to determine a value of
observations, and to incentivize desired ticket creation and/or
voting behavior.
Example Ecosystem
[0092] In one example implementation, a system is provided that
permits a user to perform a number of actions relating to
observations or opinions submitted by users. In one particular
embodiment, the user may submit observations or vote on existing
observations. In one example implementation, the observation may be
represented in the system in the form of a "ticket." In the
example, the ticket is a construct that permits an idea to be
shared and viewed by other users as well as allowing the system to
track the idea as it progresses through the ecosystem.
[0093] A user may create an observation by creating a ticket that
describes the observation. In one example, the ticket includes a
number of parameters including a description of the observation as
entered by a user (e.g., in the form of text and/or phrases
describing the observation). In one example, the length of
description of the observation associated with the ticket may be
any length (e.g., no minimum or maximum length). In other words,
the observation description can be as long as a user wants, or as
short as he/she wants.
[0094] Also, the user may be permitted to express an opinion on an
existing observation by voting on an existing ticket. In another
embodiment, the user may be permitted to submit an answer or
opinion to the observation. The answer may be in the form of a
yes/no response, or the user may be permitted to submit an
alternative answer. Here, the user is permitted to provide an
additional statement that allows the user to qualify their
response.
[0095] In another example, the user is permitted to provide an
additional statement which allows the user to provide an
alternative response that may be viewed and selected by other
users. Each of these possible responses may be viewed by other
users in the ecosystem (e.g., as a multiple choice selection), from
which they may choose to provide (or may not) a different
response.
[0096] The user may also be "charged" a currency for voting on a
ticket. For instance, the user may be provided a particular number
of points or other credit, and decremented each time the user votes
on a ticket. The user's credit may be increased in response to a
positive behavior exhibited by the user in the ecosystem (e.g., the
user creates tickets, provides early votes, becomes an expert in a
particular field, etc.). In this manner, the system rewards
positive behavior and encourages participation in the
ecosystem.
[0097] In one embodiment, when a user writes a ticket, the user
classifies the ticket. The classifications may include but are not
limited to classifying the ticket as a particular type of
observation. There may be more or less classification types,
depending on the application, but are generally referred to herein
as an observation. The tickets may also be classified by the user
and/or system. For instance, tags or other classification
information may be associated with a ticket.
[0098] According to another embodiment, the ticket may also include
classification information, either part of or separate from the
ticket, the classification information indicating an organization
of the ticket such that the ticket may be easily located. In one
embodiment, it is appreciated that metadata in the form of "tags"
or keywords may be associated with information such as tickets, and
tags may be used to classify tickets. Because tickets have
associated tags, tickets with similar or the same tags may be
located more easily by a system or an associated user. Further,
actions may be performed in response to tag information, such as
alerting a user when a ticket having a particular tag is created,
locating similar tickets using tag information, and other actions
relating to the organization and control of tickets.
[0099] According to another embodiment, the system may present to
the user an interface that provide real-time feedback of
classification information as the user enters information
associated with the ticket. For instance, a list of related tags
may be presented to the user, and while the user enters description
information of the ticket, the list of the most relevant tags may
be changed in response to the entry of the user. In this way, the
feedback permits users to create better tickets (by seeing how the
system would classify the ticket) and also permits the user to
easily locate similar tickets (e.g., by selecting tag information
presented in real-time to the user in the interface).
[0100] According to one embodiment, an observation may be
classified as a "Case" observation. Using such an observation, it
may be useful to permit users to submit observations by users in a
position to view a particular event or condition. Generally, any
user regardless of rank or stature may be suitable for making such
an observation.
[0101] In another example, an observation may be classified as a
"Consult" observation. In such an observation, it may be useful for
a user to submit an observation, upon which other users can provide
their opinions or consultation on the observation. Generally,
observations made by users having a higher rank, voting history, or
other status may be valued by the system more than observations
made by lower-ranked users. There may be other observation types
and combination types thereof by which a particular observation may
be classified.
[0102] In one embodiment, the online system may assign each ticket
a "value." Depending on the subject matter of the observation, the
ticket may be assigned an initial value, which may be adjusted
depending on the market value of the ticket (e.g., the value of the
ticket as determined by a bid process involving interested
information consumers) and/or the opinions (e.g., in the form of
votes) set forth by other users relating to the ticket.
[0103] The values may be assigned in real-time, when the ticket is
created, however, the initial value can be revisited with the value
on any given ticket increased or decreased as needed to promote the
health of the ecosystem. Health of the ecosystem may be monitored,
for example, by measuring a number of votes received in a
particular area, ticket, or issue. Once submitted, any other users
can vote on a ticket or submit an alternative answer with a ticket
as well as forward the ticket to any other users inside or outside
the ecosystem.
[0104] The ecosystem may have a number of different types of
consumers and providers of information. Users that provide
observations may or may not be charged a fee for accessing the
ecosystem, but in one embodiment of the ecosystem, information
consumers are charged for their use and access to the observations
and opinions provided by and ability of the system to establish
communication between others. In one example system, consumers may
be charged a subscription fee to observe overall activity within
the ecosystem. Such fees may be used, for example, to maintain the
ecosystem. Further, other fees may be charged to consumers for
cultivating tickets submitted by others. In such a system, for
example, customers may observe a ticket that the consumer wishes to
draw attention to, or cultivate. Once the consumer becomes the
owner of the ticket (e.g., through a bid process or other process),
the results of the ticket may be the exclusive property of that
consumer. In another example system, the results may not be shown
to the public. In yet another example, the results of the ticket
may be the exclusive property of the consumer for a fixed period of
time (e.g., 60 days) after which, the results are published to the
ecosystem.
[0105] In such an ecosystem, it is appreciated that there may be
trade-off between consensus and early warning, but according to one
embodiment, such a model according to various embodiments may
perform more quickly and accurately than conventional survey
models. In one such system, a customer/information consumer may be
permitted to set predefined "triggers" that alert the consumer
if/when a user (e.g., a physician) makes an observation of
interest. The consumer may then be able to identify to the
ecosystem how many users would need to vote on that observation for
the observation results to be valuable to them. The system may
determine the current voting rates for the desired population of
users, the amount of incentives (e.g., money) that needs to be
applied, and when the consumer agrees, that consumer may be granted
exclusive access to the result information. Optionally, users that
vote on the observation may be made available to the consumer for
direct contact, permitting the consumer to more quickly and
effectively reach a targeted group that has the necessary insight
and/or experience in a given area.
Example Process
[0106] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example process 200 for
interacting with an ecosystem according to one embodiment of the
present invention. In one example, the ecosystem may include one or
more computers and/or communication systems used to communicate
information between users. A user may have an initial observation,
insight or idea (e.g., at block 210). At block 220, the user logs
onto the system and uses an interface of the system (e.g., a
web-based search engine or similar interface) to search and verify
whether the observation, insight or idea does not already exist. In
one embodiment, the user may be required to join the ecosystem
(e.g., have a uniquely-identifiable identity such as a
username/password) in order to create tickets and/or vote.
[0107] The user may be permitted to create a ticket according to
the initial observation, and submit the ticket to the system. The
system (and/or the user) may search existing tickets to determine
whether there is a ticket on a related subject of the idea,
observation or insight at block 230. For instance, a keyword and/or
tag search may be used to verify if a ticket already exists on the
user's insight, observation, question, idea or thought. Such a
search may be performed manually by the user, but additional
searching may be performed by the ecosystem itself (e.g., by
searching tag data stored in association with other tickets
previously created in the ecosystem).
[0108] If a similar ticket is found, then the user may be permitted
to vote on the existing ticket (e.g., by agreeing or disagreeing)
with the existing ticket at block 240, or by proposing an
alternative response. The user may optionally be permitted to
perform other actions with respect to the ticket, such as, for
example, commenting on the observation by authoring a statement in
a blog, comment area, or other location, sending the ticket to
other users, etc.
[0109] If no similar ticket was found and/or identified, then the
user may be presented the opportunity to create a new ticket at
block 250. Thus, if the user and/or system did not identify any
similar (or adequate) tickets, they could submit their own. A
process of authoring a ticket may involve the user submitting one
or more pieces of information, including, but not limited to, a
title for the ticket, a description of the observation, and any
proposed classification(s) of the ticket (e.g., through the use of
tags), embedding images associated with the observation (e.g.,
medical test results, pictures, etc.).
[0110] In one embodiment, the ecosystem may provide incentive to
the users to make the ticket specific enough so that others with
the same observation would identify with it, but not so general
that the ticket would generate inconclusive insights. Once
submitted, a ticket may be made available for all users to vote on.
The ticket author and those users that subsequently vote on the
ticket now have a vested interest in promoting that consensus.
[0111] Once a ticket is submitted or a vote made, users may be
presented real-time feedback regarding the status of the ticket,
and any status regarding any payments to be made for submitting
and/or voting on tickets. In one implementation, users may be
compensated based their ability to predict consensus. In one
example, the payout that a user receives may be determined as a
function of how many people vote in agreement after them, modified
by the weight of the ticket, the user's reputation, and a variable
that describes the quality of the consensus.
[0112] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example process 300 for
interacting with an ecosystem according to one embodiment of the
present invention. Once a ticket has been posted on the online
ecosystem, the ticket can be viewed and voted upon by users, can be
forwarded by a user to their colleagues, friends, peers, etc. via
many sources of communication to encourage them to vote on the
posted ticket at block 310. For example, tickets may be sent to
other users via electronic mail, wireless paging, telephone, or any
other method of communication.
[0113] As a product of maintaining the ecosystem, meaningful
observations are generated, along with financial income for the
ecosystem participants. In one embodiment, users are encouraged and
rewarded for their votes and original ideas at block 320. For
instance, the amount that a user may be rewarded may be influenced
by the accuracy and speed in which they vote and predict outcomes.
In addition, the system has the ability to recognize the trends as
opinions and votes are posted by users, and provide such
information and trends to information consumers. Similarly, at
block 330, the system may generate financial income for the
participants as providers and consumers in the ecosystem.
[0114] FIG. 4 is an example use case showing an example process 400
for conducting an online system according to one embodiment of the
present invention. A user (e.g., a physician) makes an initial
observation (block 401). The user accesses the ecosystem and
searches a ticket database (block 402) to determine if there is a
related ticket (and observation) generated from another user.
[0115] If a ticket already exists, the user may find and vote on an
existing ticket (block 403). If not, the user is permitted to
author a new ticket (block 404) and submit the same to the
ecosystem. Additionally, the user may encourage others to review
and vote on the ticket (block 405), especially those users that
have previously voted on similar tickets, are experts in a related
field, or those identified with ability to accurately predict
events.
[0116] The ecosystem, after receiving user votes on the created
ticket, may generate signals regarding the observation (block 406)
that indicates the quality of the observation to others (e.g.,
information consumers). Also as discussed, users creating the
ticket may receive financial rewards (e.g., compensation or income)
depending on the quality of the observation and need of the
observation in the marketplace.
[0117] FIG. 5 is an example use case showing an example process 500
for conducting an online system according to another embodiment of
the present invention. In the example, a client or other
information consumer interested in particular observation
information may be capable of setting (e.g., within an interface of
a computer system) a trigger that, when activated, causes the
client to be notified when a ticket having a particular parameter
value is submitted (block 501). For instance, an equity trader may
want to set a monitor for a particular drug name of interest, a
particular company name, or other parameter. At block 502, a
physician or other user has an insight and submits a ticket to the
ecosystem. In the example shown, the ticket may include some
parameter (e.g., a keyword) that activates the trigger, and the
client is notified (e.g., at block 503). In one example, keywords
of the ticket are used to create tags associated with the ticket,
and triggers defined on these tags are activated when a ticket is
created or otherwise classified using such tags.
[0118] At block 504, the ticket is opened for bidding to one or
more information consumers, who will bid to determine exclusive
access to the result of the voting process. After a winning bidder
is determined, the ticket is submitted to the ecosystem where other
users vote on the ticket (block 505). In parallel, physicians or
other users may be notified that the ticket has been cultivated
(block 506), where compensation is determined. When the ticket is
cultivated and compensation (e.g., a price) is determined for the
winner's access to the ticket, access to the result information is
provided to the winning bidder (block 507).
[0119] After the ticket is cultivated, users may be permitted to
vote on the ticket as described above. Also, the client determined
to be the winning bidder may be notified of any result or consensus
determination associated with the ticket, or any updates that may
occur after consensus is reached (block 508).
[0120] FIG. 6 is an example use case showing an example process 600
for conducting an online system according to another embodiment of
the present invention. According to one embodiment, an information
consumer may be capable of initiating collaboration in an area of
interest. For instance, an information consumer (or client) may
have a theory or other idea for which they need feedback from the
user community or otherwise needs feedback from a population of
users. In one embodiment, the information consumer can target a
particular user population (e.g., a group of experts in a
particular field) in order to receive their feedback on a
particular topic. This may be particularly helpful as a tool for a
client to reach consensus on an issue in a timely manner from a
group of experts or authorities in a particular area.
[0121] To this end, the client submits a ticket to the ecosystem
(block 601). Because the idea is proposed by the information
client, the specific client may propose particular target goals, a
timeline for developing consensus on the issue, and may assign a
dollar value to the ticket (block 602). The ticket is then
submitted to the ecosystem (block 604) where the ticket can be
reviewed and voted on by users. In this way, the client may
determine the parameters that define how the information should be
delivered, how much the information is worth, etc.
[0122] In the case of an ecosystem that relates to medical issues,
a physician or other type of user permitted to participate in the
ecosystem may view and vote on the ticket. In one embodiment, a
physician may set a trigger that indicates when particular types of
tickets are submitted to the ecosystem. For instance, if a ticket
relating to cardiac pacemakers is submitted, a particular physician
may be notified by the ecosystem. A user may set a notification,
for example, based on any type of information associated with the
ticket, including keywords, classification of the ticket (e.g., a
tag value), or any other information (block 603). Thus, based on a
predefined notification, a physician or other user may receive an
indication of a ticket being submitted to the ecosystem (block
605), increasing the probability that relevant users will vote on
the ticket, and therefore, consensus will be reached earlier.
[0123] Because the client submitted and financed the ticket, that
client may gain exclusive insight into the result of the consensus
determination by the ecosystem, and any related opinion data (block
606). Also, the client may require further follow-up after
consensus is reached, and may have additional options in this
regard. For example, for a physician that votes on the ticket, a
call may be set up to discuss related issues (block 607), continue
research on the topic, or perform any other type of effort.
[0124] As discussed, the ecosystem may be used to couple any type
of information providers and consumers for the purpose of
exchanging observations and information. For instance,
professionals such as lawyers, consultants, investors, engineers,
scientists, etc. may be capable of submitting observations to a
group of information consumers. Information consumers may include
any entity that is interested in the information, and more
importantly, is willing to pay for the information. For instance,
information consumers may include companies, firms, government
entities, and individuals.
[0125] One embodiment of an ecosystem may be directed to the
investment community which can offer significant rewards for
information that is relevant to investment. Increasingly, funds
trade upon near-instantaneous information about medical products
that may affect company stock prices. An ecosystem that connects
financial information consumers to physicians and other field
observers can provide a mechanism to identify relevant issues long
before they are identified and released by traditional thought
leaders (e.g., the FDA).
[0126] Pharmaceutical and medical device companies may also be
important revenue sources. In the medical field, current reporting
standards depend upon physician calls to report adverse events, and
sometimes, without significant incentive on the part of companies
to forward the reports. Companies may use the ecosystem to monitor
events associated with their products so that they can gauge the
adoption of new devices, detect adverse events, and solicit input
from the online community.
[0127] Revenue sources can be divided into a plurality of
categories, two of which include surveillance and survey.
Surveillance watches for trends that appear in new tickets and
opinions. Although surveillance is, by definition, passive, the
ecosystem can be manipulated by adjusting the ticket value that is
assigned to new and existing tickets. For example, the greater
commercial value of tickets relating to particular subject matter
may be adjusted so that these ticket types are valued over tickets
relating to other types of matters. For instance, although it is
likely that device and pharmaceutical tickets will likely have
greater commercial value, clinical insights with implications for
public health can be weighted to attract more opinions. Thus, the
behavior of users within the ecosystem may be adjusted using
incentives.
[0128] Potential surveillance trends that may be monitored may
include, for example, the total number of opinions, the rate at
which the number of opinions increase, and the ratio of opinions
(Yes vs. No, Agree vs. Disagree or some other opinion/observation),
the composition of opinion makers (average rank/reputation of
user), among others. Surveillance may be based on a subscription
model and can be segmented (for sale to different markets) on the
basis of a pattern, subject matter (including, for example, keyword
search and subject headings), and pattern recognition, tag
information, etc.
[0129] In one embodiment, a ticket may be created that consults a
group of users. In particular, the ticket may be based upon
intentionally introducing and/or promoting tickets to targeted
groups of users. For instance, a customer who is looking to gather
information on any given topic can construct their own ticket
(e.g., discussed above with respect to FIG. 6). Assigning of ticket
value and promotion mechanism to gather this information may be
conducted in real-time. Furthermore, the survey can be targeted at
specific user types. Responses can be categorized by user profile,
and weighted based on past performance.
[0130] Further, users may be "profiled" so that the ecosystem and
its users may be distinguished from one another for the purpose of
evaluating their opinions. This "profiling" allows for
intermediation by the ecosystem between the users and various
clients. In one embodiment, the ecosystem may be adapted to
recognize and identify which users are the innovators, the thought
leaders, and/or the best predictors generally or in particular
areas of expertise. This information is certainly of tremendous
value to advertisers, manufacturers, etc., as this identification
may be exploited (e.g., by advancing a particular ticket to a
subset of users that are the best predictors to reach consensus
earlier).
[0131] In one embodiment, the system may include the ability to
track users and distinguish among users based on their profile
information. For instance, users may be distinguished based on
their early recognition of trends, ability (or inability) to post
accurate predictions, voting accuracy, and/or ability to influence
others.
[0132] The ecosystem may also be adapted to offer any sort of
combination of industry insight. For instance, the ecosystem may be
able to target users by specialty, by predictive ability, ability
to post accurate predictions, ability to recognize trends early,
ability to influence others, determining who the influencers are,
among others.
[0133] Profiling also allows for the introduction of another
variable into determining income, referred to herein as consensus
"quality." The ecosystem may be adapted to identify certain
patterns in emerging consensus. For instance, the system may
identify users of a similar type. For instance, it is appreciated
that a consensus about a ticket relating to a specific medical
specialty held by users in that same medical specialty will have
greater value. In other words, an opinion held universally by a
sub-segment of the user population, which is known to be within
that subset's area of expertise, indicates a far more important or
"pure" consensus.
[0134] Further, by collecting profile information, other types of
trends may be observed. For instance, the ecosystem may
cross-reference emerging consensus with a geographic and/or
institutional distribution of the users. Also, geographic
information may be used to recognize collusion outside of the
system. Further, by observing voting patterns among users,
collusion may be detected. For instance, patterns of voting that
use the exact same population of users, or likewise the same
sequence of users, can be a signal for off-line collusion.
Ecosystem Rules
[0135] The success of the ecosystem depends on the dynamic content
created by its users. But the freedom necessary for this creates a
problem: How can users be encouraged to act in a manner that is
productive to the community without administrative oversight?
According to one embodiment, users are provided incentives that
match their personalities and interests that will encourage them to
share their knowledge with the ecosystem. Further, it is
appreciated that users should be discouraged from "gaming" the
system to their benefit. For example, if a physician will gain a
reward for creating a new ticket, what will prevent them from
creating fifty meaningless ones?
[0136] Further, if there is a financial reward for submitting a
correct vote, it is appreciated that there may be a mechanism that
prohibits a user (e.g., a physician) from voting on every issue
(i.e., guessing). Similarly, the ecosystem may be modulated to
provide the types of information that might be of interest to
customers at a particular point in time. According to one aspect of
the present invention, the ecosystem employs a set of rules that
provide incentives for certain actions and provide disincentives
for other actions.
[0137] For the ecosystem to remain viable, the system may include a
mechanism to achieve certain things, for example: [0138] Maintain a
high throughput of fresh tickets. [0139] Maintain sufficient volume
of votes so that opinions are rendered and "signals" can be
detected. [0140] Create incentive and disincentive that keeps
users' interests aligned with the overall goals of the ecosystem,
preventing gaming of the system.
[0141] According to one embodiment, one method for balancing the
interests of the users with that of the ecosystem is a basic set of
rules. In one embodiment, these rules should to be sufficiently
transparent so that users can understand the rules that are
dictating their compensation, but retain a degree of opacity so
that the system operator can manipulate them to achieve commercial
success. According to one embodiment, four basic laws may be used
to govern an online ecosystem:
[0142] Rank: It may be beneficial to disincentivize random voting
and/or random ticket creation. This rule not only prevents users
from blanketing the ecosystem with as many votes as possible (in
the hopes that one of those tickets will reflect a large financial
reward), but the rule also forces users to write tickets and/or
vote on those topics for which they think they might have a unique
insight or "edge."
[0143] According to one embodiment, a user's rank is calculated
dynamically and is applied to a ticket at the time of writing or
voting, and remains constant for the income related to that ticket.
Therefore, at any given moment, a user's reputation (as represented
by a user's rank), is based on how accurately they have predicted
the future consensus of the ecosystem on any given ticket. Stated
differently, rank is a reflection how often those who rendered an
opinion after another user who rendered an opinion, agreed with the
voter.
[0144] According to one embodiment, rank may be determined using
the following equation:
Rank = [ ( # of opinions voted in agreement after you ) - ( # of
opinions voted in disagreement after you ) ] [ # of outstanding
tickets or opinions ] Equation I ##EQU00001##
[0145] Income: Income for a ticket should be directly proportional
to a user's rank, (i.e., the highest rank will result in the
highest income). According to one embodiment, user rank may be
combined with other factors to modify income on a ticket, such as,
for example, the following factors: [0146] Ticket Weight--The
ecosystem may include a mechanism for determining which issues are
valuable and which are not. For example, a potentially fatal
adverse effect of a major prescription drug should be weighted much
more highly than an observation about a minor allergy. In one
embodiment, ticket weight may be equated with a value of the ticket
(e.g., a dollar value as determined through a bid process). [0147]
Consensus Quality--The ecosystem may be configured to reward
consensus differently. For instance, in one example, a 50/50 voting
pattern presents a different quality of information than 90/10.
[0148] Temporal Weight--Earlier voters are taking greater risks,
and provide greater insight.
[0149] According to one embodiment, ticket income may be determined
by the following equation:
Income = Rank .times. ( # of agreements after you ) .times. (
ticket weight ) .times. ( consensus quality ) [ # of outstanding
tickets ] Equation II ##EQU00002##
[0150] Ticket weight or value may have an associated value that is
designated by the system at the time of ticket creation, and
reflects the commercial value of the ticket to the client
(information consumer). One implementation using weight includes
using the weight value as a multiplier that raises or lowers the
value that the ticket generates. Alternatively, weight can be
defined as a dollar value that is assigned to the ticket, and then
is gradually drawn down as each successive voter is paid out.
[0151] Consensus quality may be measured, for example, by a
variable that the client describes to end users. A temporal weight
may be defined within the income equation that rewards early voters
and ticket writers, and then exponentially decreases payout to
later voters and ticket authors.
[0152] Balance: A rule may be used that brings into balance voting
and ticket writing. In some applications, user income for writing
highly successful tickets may be considerable. As such, it is
expected that users will be inclined to write as many tickets as
possible. This creates two challenges to the health of the
ecosystem. First, the ecosystem's ability to render a consensus on
any given ticket is based upon the number of votes that the ticket
attracts. An ecosystem where a relatively small number of votes are
spread out among a large number of tickets is not a healthy one, as
it becomes difficult to determine consensus on any particular
ticket due to the spread out. Second, according to one embodiment,
users should be incentivized to only write tickets on topics for
which they believe that they have an insight.
[0153] These opposing forces can be brought into balance by tying
the number of tickets that a user can write to the number of votes
they have rendered. In one example, one ticket can be written by a
user for every five (5) votes rendered by a user. In another
example, the number of tickets can be determined by a dynamically
adjusted variable, based on the current health of the
ecosystem.
[0154] According to one embodiment, balance may be ensured using
the following equation:
# of tickets that can be written = # of opinions 5 Equation III
##EQU00003##
which ties the number of tickets to be written to the number of
votes that can be cast. Alternatively, a "points" system may be
used that relates the number of votes that could be cast by a
particular user to the number of opinions (or tickets) authored
(e.g., by awarding points when a user creates a ticket and
decrementing points when a user votes on an opinion, or vice
versa). Such a relation may encourage users to both author opinions
and vote on the opinions of others.
[0155] Self-Policing: Through its users, the ecosystem has the
capability to generate large amounts of information. However, this
abundance of information creates a problem in information
management. The freedom to create new tickets can lead to
insightful new observations, but it can also lead to self-evident
or clinically irrelevant ones.
[0156] Additionally, multiple users can make the same observation,
worded differently, causing confusion and decreasing the total
votes made on the observation. It would be impossible for the
ecosystem itself to manage the dynamic, user-created information.
Therefore, the ecosystem has created a mechanism for users to be
incentivized to manage the system themselves. Before the generation
of any new ticket in the ecosystem, a user may be informed of basic
guidelines. These guidelines may include the prohibition of
self-evident or duplicate posts, or any posts that might be
explained by information existing in the public domain (e.g.,
journals, textbooks, databases, and other medical references,
etc.).
[0157] When any user in the ecosystem views a ticket, s/he can
"report" it as not conforming to these guidelines. This reporting
will require some form of risk to that user in order to prevent
frivolous reports. In his report, he will cite the ticket and
explain his reasoning. Then, the ecosystem will distribute his
report to a random selection of the highest-ranked users (e.g., the
top 10 highest-ranked users) that the ecosystem has determined have
expertise on the ticket's subject. These users will serve to
arbitrate the report validity and will be rewarded for doing so.
These users will then vote if they agree with the original author
or the individual who cited the self-policing policy.
[0158] If the post is found to not meet the ecosystem's basic
criteria or to violate the self-policing policy it will be removed
from the system, the creating user will be penalized, and the
reporting user will be rewarded. If the post is valid, it will
remain, and the reporting user will be penalized. Through this
system, all users who voted in agreement with a removed ticket will
lose the rank points they gained, and those rank points will be
awarded to the user that successfully cited the law. In this way,
the ecosystem simultaneously disincentivizes users from posting or
voting on tickets that might be self-evident or unoriginal, while
recruiting a population of users to self-police the system. Indeed,
users will become increasingly inclined to examine tickets for
violations of the Self-Policing rule as the tickets grow in their
number of votes because the potential payout becomes higher and
higher.
General Purpose Computer System
[0159] Various embodiments according to the present invention may
be implemented on one or more computer systems. These computer
systems may be, for example, general-purpose computers such as
those based on Intel PENTIUM-type processor, Motorola PowerPC, AMD
Athlon or Turion, Sun UltraSPARC, Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC
processors, or any other type of processor. It should be
appreciated that one or more of any type computer system may be
used to facilitate an online ecosystem according to various
embodiments of the invention. Further, the system may be located on
a single computer or may be distributed among a plurality of
computers attached by a communications network.
[0160] A general-purpose computer system according to one
embodiment of the invention is configured to perform any of the
described functions, including but not limited to, creating,
storing, and receiving votes on tickets by/from users and bidding
on tickets by information consumers. It should be appreciated that
the system may perform other functions, including paying users,
receiving payments from information consumers, providing
indications to users and consumers, etc., and the invention is not
limited to having any particular function or set of functions.
[0161] FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a general purpose computer
and network system 700 in which various aspects of the present
invention may be practiced. For example, various aspects of the
invention may be implemented as specialized software executing in
one or more computer systems including general-purpose computer
system 701 shown in FIG. 7. Computer system 701 may include a
processor 704 connected to one or more memory devices 705, such as
a disk drive, memory, or other device for storing data. Memory 705
is typically used for storing programs and data during operation of
the computer system 701. Components of computer system 701 may be
coupled by an interconnection mechanism such as network 710, which
may include one or more busses (e.g., between components that are
integrated within a same machine) and/or a network (e.g., between
components that reside on separate discrete machines). The
interconnection mechanism enables communications (e.g., data,
instructions) to be exchanged between system components of system
701.
[0162] Computer system 701 also includes one or more input/output
(I/O) devices 706, for example, a keyboard, mouse, trackball,
microphone, touch screen, a printing device, display screen,
speaker, etc. In addition, computer system 701 may contain one or
more interfaces (e.g., network communication device 708) that
connect computer system 701 to a communication network (in addition
or as an alternative to the network 710.
[0163] The storage system 709, typically includes a computer
readable and writeable nonvolatile recording medium in which
signals are stored that define a program to be executed by the
processor or information stored on or in the medium to be processed
by the program. The medium may, for example, be a disk or flash
memory. Typically, in operation, the processor causes data to be
read from the nonvolatile recording medium into another memory that
allows for faster access to the information by the processor than
does the medium. This memory is typically a volatile, random access
memory such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or static
memory (SRAM). The memory may be located in storage system 709, as
shown, or in memory system 705. The processor 704 generally
manipulates the data within the memory 705, and then copies the
data to the medium associated with storage 709 after processing is
completed. A variety of mechanisms are known for managing data
movement between the medium and integrated circuit memory element
and the invention is not limited thereto. The invention is not
limited to a particular memory system or storage system.
[0164] The computer system may include specially-programmed,
special-purpose hardware, for example, an application-specific
integrated circuit (ASIC). Aspects of the invention may be
implemented in software, hardware or firmware, or any combination
thereof. Further, such methods, acts, systems, system elements and
components thereof may be implemented as part of the computer
system described above or as an independent component.
[0165] Although computer system 701 is shown by way of example as
one type of computer system upon which various aspects of the
invention may be practiced, it should be appreciated that aspects
of the invention are not limited to being implemented on the
computer system as shown in FIG. 7. Various aspects of the
invention may be practiced on one or more computers having a
different architectures or components that that shown in FIG.
7.
[0166] Computer system 701 may be a general-purpose computer system
that is programmable using a high-level computer programming
language. Computer system 701 may be also implemented using
specially programmed, special purpose hardware. In computer system
701, processor 704 is typically a commercially available processor
such as the well-known Pentium class processor available from the
Intel Corporation. Many other processors are available. Such a
processor usually executes an operating system which may be, for
example, the Windows-based operating systems (e.g., Windows NT,
Windows 2000 (Windows ME), Windows XP operating systems) available
from the Microsoft Corporation, MAC OS System X operating system
available from Apple Computer, one or more of the Linux-based
operating system distributions (e.g., the Enterprise Linux
operating system available from Red Hat Inc.), the Solaris
operating system available from Sun Microsystems, or UNIX operating
systems available from various sources. Many other operating
systems may be used, and the invention is not limited to any
particular operating system.
[0167] The processor and operating system together define a
computer platform for which application programs in high-level
programming languages are written. It should be understood that the
invention is not limited to a particular computer system platform,
processor, operating system, or network. Also, it should be
apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is
not limited to a specific programming language or computer system.
Further, it should be appreciated that other appropriate
programming languages and other appropriate computer systems could
also be used.
[0168] One or more portions of the computer system may be
distributed across one or more computer systems coupled to a
communications network. These computer systems also may be
general-purpose computer systems. For example, various aspects of
the invention may be distributed among one or more computer systems
(e.g., servers) configured to provide a service to one or more
client computers, or to perform an overall task as part of a
distributed system. For example, various aspects of the invention
may be performed on a client-server or multi-tier system that
includes components distributed among one or more server systems
that perform various functions according to various embodiments of
the invention. These components may be executable, intermediate
(e.g., IL) or interpreted (e.g., Java) code which communicate over
a communication network (e.g., the Internet) using a communication
protocol (e.g., TCP/IP).
[0169] It should be appreciated that the invention is not limited
to executing on any particular system or group of systems. Also, it
should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to any
particular distributed architecture, network, or communication
protocol.
[0170] Various embodiments of the present invention may be
programmed using an object-oriented programming language, such as
Java, C++, Ada, or C# (C-Sharp). Other object-oriented programming
languages may also be used. Alternatively, functional, scripting,
and/or logical programming languages may be used. Various aspects
of the invention may be implemented in a non-programmed environment
(e.g., documents created in HTML, XML or other format that, when
viewed in a window of a browser program, render aspects of a
graphical-user interface (GUI) or perform other functions). Various
aspects of the invention may be implemented as programmed or
non-programmed elements, or any combination thereof.
[0171] Various aspects of this system can be implemented by one or
more systems within system 700. For instance, the system may be a
distributed system (e.g., client server, multi-tier system). In one
example, the system includes software processes executing on a
system associated with a user (e.g., a client system). These
systems may permit the user to create, submit, view, search, and
vote on tickets within an online ecosystem.
Example System Architecture
[0172] FIG. 8 shows an architecture diagram of an example system
according to one embodiment of the invention. It should be
appreciated that FIG. 8 is used for illustration purposes only, and
that other architectures may be used to facilitate one or more
aspects of the present invention.
[0173] As shown in FIG. 8, a distributed system 800 may be used to
conduct functions of the ecosystem, including, but limited to, the
creation of tickets, storing ticket information, determining and
storing tag information associated with tickets, performing voting
actions, conducting client bidding, and storing user information.
System 800 may include one or more computer systems (e.g., systems
801, 808A-D) coupled by a communication network 804. Such computer
systems may be, for example, general-purpose computer systems as
discussed above with reference to FIG. 7.
[0174] In one embodiment of the present invention, system 801
stores observation information in the form of a ticket in one or
more databases (e.g., database 802). Further, system 801 performs
associated functions with the observation information and its
associated ticket.
[0175] System 801 may include a server process (e.g., process 805)
that responds to requests from one or more client programs. Process
805 may include, for example, an HTTP server or other server-based
process (e.g., a database server process, XML server, peer-to-peer
process) that interfaces to one or more client programs distributed
among one or more client systems (e.g., systems 807A-807D).
[0176] According to one embodiment, client programs may be capable
of permitting a user to create, submit, view, search, and vote on
tickets within an online ecosystem. Such client programs may
include, for example, any type of operating system and/or
application program capable of communicating with system 801
through network 804. In one particular instance, a client may
include a browser program (e.g., browser program 809) that
communicates with server process 805 using one or more
communication protocols (e.g., HTTP over a TCP/IP-based network,
XML requests using HTTP through an Ajax client process, distributed
objects, etc.).
[0177] Although it is shown by way of example that a browser
program may be used to access the ecosystem by users to perform
ecosystem functions, it should be appreciated that other program
types may be used to interface a user to server process 805. For
instance, an application program that is specially-developed to
manage ticket data may be provided to permit a user to perform
ecosystem functions according to various embodiments of the present
invention. The client program may be, for example, a thin client
including an interface for managing ticket data. Alternatively, the
client may be a scripted program, or any other type of program
having the capability of transferring ticket data. According to one
embodiment, such client programs may, for example, be downloaded
and installed over the network. Further, these client programs may
be stored and distributed by system 801 in the form of one or more
software programs 803.
[0178] In one specific example, the client program may include an
application program 810 that permits the user to create, submit,
view, search, and vote on tickets within an online ecosystem. This
program 810, in one embodiment, may be integrated with browser
program 809 executing on system 807D. For instance, the application
program 810 may include one or more controls that, when selected by
the user, perform functions for manipulating ticket information.
These controls may be written in a variety of programming
languages, and the invention is not limited to any particular
language. In one specific example, the control may be a link that,
when selected, performs one or more programmed functions. Such
functions may permit the user to create, submit, view, search, and
vote on tickets within an online ecosystem.
[0179] Information stored in the database 802 may include, for
example, ticket information including, but not limited to, a unique
ticket identifier, a description of the observation associated with
the ticket, user information such as personal information, user
names, ranking, voting history, classification information
associated with the ticket (e.g., tag information) and other
information that can be used to facilitate the online
ecosystem.
[0180] This information may be collected from the user in an
interface (e.g., as presented by program 810) and stored in the
database (e.g., database 802). Additionally, client systems may
store a local copy of a user's ticket information within a local
database associated with the client system (e.g., database 811
located on client system 807D). However, it should be appreciated
that the invention is not limited to storing ticket and/or user
information in any particular location. A client system (e.g.,
clients 807A-807D) may include one or more interfaces through which
ticket information may be presented to the user. In one example,
ticket information and status may be presented in an interface of a
browser program (e.g., browser program 809) executing on a client
computer system (e.g., system 807D).
Example Implementations
[0181] FIG. 9A is a block diagram showing an example creation of a
ticket creation and tagging process according to one embodiment of
the present invention. At block 901, a user (e.g., a physician or
other person that has an observation or prediction) authors a
ticket (e.g., on a client system 807A-807D of FIG. 8) for
submission to the ecosystem (e.g., in the form of a distributed
computer system 800). At block 902, the ticket is validated where
it can be verified that the ticket is an original concept, is not
similar to other tickets, etc. Further, the ticket may be analyzed
in order to provide one or more classifications (e.g., tags) for
the observations that may be associated with the ticket. Such tag
information may be used to determine an initial value of the
ticket, based on the related subject matter (e.g., an event related
to a pacemaker vs. a general health event).
[0182] In one embodiment, tags may initially be provided by the
author of the ticket. Further, in another example system, the
system may generate and/or suggest other tags that could be
associated with the ticket. Such tags may be generated, for
example, based on associations (or groups) of related tags defined
for similar tickets. Such tickets may include, for example, tickets
having similar tags and which feedback for such tickets has been
provided. Tags may also be suggested based on comparison with
industry databases, similar keywords, synonym databases, or any
other source of tag information.
[0183] In one example, the question or observation posed by the
ticket may be compared to one or more databases (e.g., a keyword
database 909 having keywords of other ticket entries) to determine
whether the ticket is an original ticket, and to create tags for
the ticket. Further, the ecosystem may have the ability to access
other common databases such as, for example, disease and injury
databases associated with the International Statistical
Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (commonly
known by the abbreviation ICD) (e.g., ICD-9 database 908), MEDLINE
database (e.g., MeSH database 906), geographic and institution
databases (block 907) or any other type of database resource to
determine if the observation is original and/or determine the
classification(s) of the ticket. Such classifications may occur
automatically, or may be posed to the author of the ticket as
suggested classifications.
[0184] Once validated, the physician or other user may be presented
a list of tags to which the ticket may be associated (block 903).
The physician may then review the tags and add to them or modify
the tags, as appropriate (block 904). Once the ticket is complete,
the physician or other user submits the ticket to the ecosystem at
block 905.
[0185] FIG. 9B is a block diagram showing example database elements
according to one embodiment of the present invention that may be
used in a ticket access and triggering process. For example, a user
may search for and/or set triggers for particular tickets based on
their tag information. For instance, a tagged ticket 911 in
database 916 may be located in a user interface (e.g., a browser
program interface) by entering in one or more tags (or
classifications). For instance, tags may be located based on
defined classifications in the database (e.g., medical terms in a
MeSH database 912, keywords 914 in a keyword database 909, etc.).
Further, the ticket may be searched according to other information,
such as, for example, a location of or distance to the originator
of the ticket (e.g., by accessing a geography database 913), a
particular vote pattern of the originating user 915 or any other
type of information relating to the ticket and/or its user. In this
way, users can both classify tickets and locate tickets of interest
once submitted.
[0186] FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an overall logic flow of
ticket creation and lifetime in an online system according to one
embodiment of the present invention. As discussed above, a user may
make an observation and possibly submit the observation to an
online ecosystem in the form of a ticket, or corroborate or refute
a similar observation associated with an existing ticket. At block
1001, the user makes an observation. As discussed above, the user
may search an online ticket database (block 1002) to determine
whether a similar ticket exists, or may browse the ticket database
(block 1003) by viewing, for example, a list of recent tickets
authored in a ticket database, highest ranked tickets, or other
criteria or listing. In one embodiment, a user may locate tickets
based on classification information associated with a ticket. Such
classification information may be in the form of one or more tags
created by the ticket creator, the ecosystem, or other entity.
[0187] At block 1004, the user may author a new ticket if the
observation is original, or may alternatively find (block 1005) and
vote on (block 1006) an existing ticket. According to one aspect of
the present invention, as discussed above, tickets created in the
ecosystem may have tags or other classification information
associated with the ticket (block 1007) so that the ticket may be
located easily by users, the ecosystem, or other entity. According
to one embodiment, tickets that are validated and classified may
then be submitted to the ecosystem (block 1008) where they can be
viewed and voted on by users. Also as discussed, the observations
may be stored in the form of a ticket in a database (block
1009).
[0188] Users may set alerts or triggers (block 1010) that, when
activated, notify the other user that a ticket having particular
criteria has been submitted to the ecosystem. For instance, such
triggers may be activated based on classification information
(e.g., tag information) associated with a particular ticket. Also,
once submitted, a ticket may be forwarded to colleagues (block
1011) or other types of users targeted by the ticket. Ticket status
may also be viewed by the originator in real time, as votes are
received along with any opinion data (block 1012).
[0189] Users continue to vote and submit opinions on the created
ticket until a signal strength is reached (e.g., a consensus is
formed and determined by the ecosystem) at block 1013.
Determination of signal strength (or consensus) may be determined
by any criteria, including, but not limited to determining a
minimum number of votes received on a particular ticket, ratio of
agreeing to disagreeing votes, or other criteria and/or combination
thereof. At block 1014, a final tally of the votes is determined,
after which is determined a potential payout at block 1016. At
block 1015, the user's profile (an originator, a voter) may be
updated to reflect the final status of the ticket, and any
adjustment in the user's rank or other profile information (e.g.,
ability to predict outcomes).
[0190] After a closing of the vote, there may be continued activity
relating the ticket including, but not limited to, a user being
able to change their vote (block 1018), participation in an ongoing
forum (block 1017), or other activity relating to the ticket.
[0191] FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a thematic logic flow of
ticket creation and lifetime in an application to the healthcare
industry according to one embodiment of the present invention. As
discussed above, a user/physician 1101 may make an observation 1103
that may relate to one or more triggers set by a client 1102. The
user may either author an original ticket or vote on an existing
ticket as discussed above.
[0192] In one example, client 1102 may be an investor that would
like to observe a particular company and/or its products. To this
end, the client 1102 sets a trigger 1104 that is stored in a
database 1105 of the ecosystem. If the user/physician makes an
observation that activates the trigger, client 1102 is notified.
Similarly, client 1102 may make his/her own observation and propose
the same to the ecosystem for action by one or more users.
[0193] In any case, both the client 1102 and user/physician 1101
may view a status of the ticket. In one example, the user/physician
may be presented a "dashboard" view 1108 of the tickets created by
the particular user, and their statuses. Client 1102 may be
presented real-time reports 1106 relating to the tickets owned by
the client (e.g., through bidding or sponsorship) and may therefore
view any insights related to consensus 1107.
[0194] FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing another example logic flow
of ticket creation and lifetime according to one embodiment of the
present invention. At block 1201, a user has an observation and
authors a new ticket at bock 1202. At block 1203, a nominal signal
strength of five (5) is assigned to the ticket, in that it will
take five votes until signal strength is reached. Other methods for
determining signal strength may be used, and using the number of
received votes in one of many possible methods. The ticket may also
be assigned an initial value of $500, although this value may be
any value related to the worth of the observation.
[0195] At block 1204A, a first user (Dr. Dean, an intern (physician
in-training) having a rank value of 30.5) submits a first vote on
the ticket. Further users may submit votes on the ticket at blocks
1204B-1204E until the ticket closes at block 1205. Such votes may
also have a corresponding vote value at blocks 1208A-1208E,
respectively. Notably, although the first user that votes has a
lower rank (30.5) than a later user (50.5), the value of the first
user's vote (1208A) is valued higher than the vote of the fifth
user (1208E), as earlier votes are valued more highly than later
votes on the same ticket. Also, it is noted that votes by users
having a higher rank will be valued more highly (e.g., a vote by
Dr. Johnson (1208C) than the first voter Dr. Dean (1208A), due to
the different rankings of the users. Also, voters that incorrectly
vote (Dr. Thomas at block 1204D) will yield a value of $0 for their
vote (e.g., 1208D).
[0196] At block 1206, a report is generated after ticket closing,
summarizing the result of the voting process. Such a report may be
made available to the user that originated the ticket and a client
that subscribes to the ticket. After the voting concludes, and the
ticket closes, one or more actions may occur, such as conducting a
forum to receive additional comments (block 1207), allowing users
to change their votes, etc.
[0197] FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing another example logic flow
of ticket creation and lifetime according to another embodiment of
the present invention which illustrates activity after the close of
voting. For example, an observation "Rituximab is effective against
CD20-positive NHL." is made (block 1302) by a physician. A ticket
is authored by the physician/user (block 1303) and is submitted to
the ecosystem. A first vote is received (block 1304) by an intern
who votes "yes" to the observation, after which a vote of "no" is
received (block 1305) from a more experienced physician user.
Afterwards, 200 users vote "yes" (block 1306) and 50 users vote
"no" (block 1307). During the voting process and prior to ticket
close, 45 of the users that voted "no" change their responses to
"yes" (block 1308), and at ticket close, there are 245 votes in
favor of the observation (block 1309) and 5 votes against the
observation (block 1310). Notably, due to the consensus forming in
favor of the observation, the ranking and payout of the intern who
voted "yes" increases, while the payout and the ranking of
more-highly ranked user decreases.
[0198] However, after ticket close, the result of a clinical trial
is released to the public wherein it is shown that the observation
is false (e.g., Rituximab does not cure cancer). In response, 245
of the users who voted "yes" to ticket switch their answers to "no"
(block 1312) while 5 users maintain their answers as "yes" (block
1313) until they change their votes to "no" after receiving the
report (block 1315). Notably, in this example, the intern keeps the
money earned through the voting process prior to ticket closing,
however, his ranking an respect is lost due to activity after
ticket closing. Also, the higher-ranked user does not make any
money due to the change in voting after ticket closing, but gains a
higher ranking and respect. Additional forum comments may be
received at block 1316.
User Interfaces
[0199] The ecosystem and its associated computer system(s) may
present various user interfaces for submitting, organizing, and
reporting various information related to the ecosystem. FIG. 14 is
a diagram showing an example interface 1400 of an online system
according to one embodiment of the present invention. The diagram
shows a user screen that may be displayed, for example, in an
interface of a browser program executing on a general purpose
computer system as discussed above with reference to FIGS. 7-8.
[0200] In one embodiment, interface 1400 may be personalized for a
user that logs into the ecosystem. In one embodiment of the present
invention, the user logs into the system and may be permitted to
view his/her name, title, date, time, and status. In addition, the
user may be permitted to view all the tickets 1401 he/she has
authored and voted on, along with his/her rank 1403, position 1402
and earnings 1404 generated through use of the system. The user can
also view various statistics, such as the number of users that are
in online in real-time, the number of users that are registered
with the ecosystem, current ranking 1407 and the number of earned
tickets 1408 for that particular user. The earning number of
tickets may be, for example, determined based on the number of
votes placed for other tickets existing in the system.
[0201] Also, there may be one or more controls (e.g., links,
buttons, input fields, etc.) that permit a user to search and/or
browse tickets in the database. For instance, a selection of
control 1405 may cause an interface to be displayed that permits a
user to locate tickets based on keyword, tag information, or other
criteria. A control 1406 may, when selected by the user, display
the most popular tickets in the system based on activity, value,
and or any other parameter, either alone or in combination. A
further control 1409 may be provide that, when activated, displays
to the user an interface in which the user may author and submit a
ticket to the ecosystem.
[0202] Interface 1400 may have one or more associated interfaces
(not shown) in which a user (e.g., either an information provider
or an information consumer) may perform functions relating to the
ecosystem. For instance, an information provider may search and
submit tickets, create descriptions of observations, set triggers,
receive updates, forward tickets to user groups, colleagues, etc.
Similarly, information consumers may be presented one or more
additional interfaces that permit the information consumer to
submit tickets for action by users, bid on outcomes of existing
tickets, view reports and opinion results, etc.
[0203] For example, after a user votes on a ticket, the user may be
informed where they are in the voting order (first, second, third,
etc.). However, the user may, according to one embodiment, may not
be given any information on the current "state" of the votes. In
another embodiment, only the user originating the ticket may be
permitted to view voting status. In parallel, the client that has
successfully won the bid for that ticket may be permitted to see
votes materializing in real-time. According to one embodiment,
results of the ticket may be kept hidden from ecosystem users until
the ticket closes. According to one embodiment, it is appreciated
that actual results should be hidden from ecosystem users,
otherwise the results of the votes of the users will influence how
subsequent users vote. This is a critical flaw in conventional
"market style" systems, where the issue's value (e.g., current
market value) transmits information to the voter. When the ticket
reaches signal strength (either an absolute number of votes and/or
a clear consensus), the "absolute results" of the ticket may be
"published" (e.g., by displaying and/or sending the results to
affected users) and users are paid out.
[0204] FIG. 15 shows another example interface 1500 according to
one embodiment of the present invention. For example, an online
ecosystem may support the creation of various types of tickets. For
instance, one type of ticket may relate to an observation of a user
(e.g., a "Case" ticket type, not shown), the user having a
first-hand observation of an event. Other tickets may relate to an
interpretation of observations (e.g., a "Consult" ticket type) upon
which a survey of colleagues is desired. Tickets may have more that
one type of classification, depending on the observation.
[0205] A ticket may have one or more ticket types (e.g., ticket
type 1501) with which a ticket may be classified. One or more
actions may be performed by the system in relation to the
particular ticket type. For instance, users may be compensated
differently based on a particular ticket type (e.g., a user
authoring a "Case" ticket may be compensated independent of rank of
the user as being the first to observe a particular event).
[0206] Interface 1500 may include other information associated with
the ticket, such as a title 1502 and a description 1503 of the
ticket. Such information may be used to form keywords, tags, or
other classification information associated with the ticket, to
locate similar tickets, and/or to send alerts to other users that a
ticket has been created in a particular area or field. Interface
1500 may collect other information associated with a ticket, such
as for example, specialty information 1504 and any other keywords
1505 that are associated with a ticket. Such information may also
be used to locate tickets, trigger notifications to other users, or
perform any other actions in the ecosystem.
[0207] A user may have an idea of possible responses that users may
provide to the observation, and may propose such responses in area
1506 of interface 1500. In one embodiment, other users may select
the predefined responses (e.g., in a multiple choice listing) or
they may propose an alternative response. Such an alternative
response may be presented to other users as an optional
response.
[0208] Further, the author of the ticket may define the number of
respondents needed (1507) on the ticket. The number of respondents
may be used to determine when consensus is reached, or may be used
to define a minimum level of response after which consensus can be
determined. Further, the author may define a deadline (1508) for
responding to the ticket. That is, the ticket may have some time
priority to it, and if the deadline time is exceeded, the ticket
may be automatically closed.
[0209] Also, as discussed above, classification data (e.g.,
classification data 1509) may be associated with a ticket in the
form of one or more tags. Tags may, according to one embodiment,
may take the form of keywords (1510) that are associated with tags
created in the ecosystem. The user may be presented, in the
interface of the system, a listing of the relevant tags associated
with a ticket as it is being created. In a specific example, the
presented list is changed dynamically in response to information
being entered by the user in the ticket creation interface. For
instance, as the user types in a description of the observation in
the "Body Text" section, tags are automatically generated by the
system in response to the entered information, and thus similar
tickets may be located more easily, as tag information (and thus
links to other similar tickets) is updated in real time. Interface
1500 may also use a quantity parameter (e.g., parameter 1511
indicating the quantity of tickets associated with a particular
tag) or other relative parameter to indicate how frequently a tag
is used or reference other tickets. A user may select the keyword
or tag in the interface to locate other similar tickets, thus
minimizing the number of similar tickets defined on such a
system.
[0210] This invention is not limited in its application to the
details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth
in the previous description or illustrated in the drawings. The
invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or
of being carried out in various ways. Also, the phraseology and
terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and
should not be regarded as limiting. The use of "including,"
"comprising," "having," "containing," "involving," and/or
variations thereof in this document, is meant to encompass the
items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as
additional items. Such terms are to be construed as open-ended,
that is, to mean including but not limited to.
[0211] Use of ordinal terms such as "first", "second", "third",
etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself
connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element
over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are
performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim
element having a certain name from another element having a same
name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim
elements.
[0212] Having thus described several aspects of at least one
embodiment of this invention, it is to be appreciated various
alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to
those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and
improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are
intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are by way of
example only.
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