A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Currently, product rating and rankings are performed in an arbitrary and ad hoc manner. Such ratings and rankings provide an incomplete and often unreliable review of products and/or services. Furthermore, many of the reviews are spread among a variety of disconnected sources, such that the possibility of forming a complete view of a product of service rating and ranking, is impossible. Hence, improved rating and ranking methods and systems are needed in the art.
The present invention is directed to methods and systems which provide a comprehensive rating and ranking of products and services. Furthermore, aspects of the present invention provides a complete review of products and services, as well as rankings of semantic and non-semantic reviews, which provides a “true” reflection of a product and/or service. As such, a calculation of a product/supplier rating based on all of its social entity contexts, is performed. This takes into account factors like, author (of social entity context) credibility, non-semantic (direct) rating, semantic rating calculated from the textual content of the social entity context, the community based credibility of the social entity context, and the like. Then, the community based credibility of a given social entity context is in turn calculated. This is based on comments received from various users within the community. Factors, such as commenter/reviewer credibility, non-semantic (direct) rating given to the social entity context, semantic rating calculated from the text content of the comment, etc., are taken into account. The result includes a comprehensive rating and ranking of the product and/or service.
The present invention is directed to methods and systems which provide a comprehensive rating and ranking of products and services. Furthermore, aspects of the present invention provides a complete review of products and services, as well as rankings of semantic and non-semantic reviews, which provides a “true” reflection of a product and/or service. As such, a calculation of a product/supplier rating based on all of its social entity contexts, is performed. This takes into account factors like, author (of social entity context) credibility, non-semantic (direct) rating, semantic rating calculated from the textual content of the social entity context, the community based credibility of the social entity context, and the like. Then, the community based credibility of a given social entity context is in turn calculated. This is based on comments received from various users within the community. Factors, such as commenter/reviewer credibility, non-semantic (direct) rating given to the social entity context, semantic rating calculated from the text content of the comment, etc., are taken into account. The result includes a comprehensive rating and ranking of the product and/or service.
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In one embodiment, a non-semantic comment includes comments for which a direct rating may be ascertained. For example, a “thumbs up or thumbs down” rating, a 1-10 scaled rating, etc. In a further embodiment, a semantic rating includes a rating that is inferred by the context of textual comments. For example, the text of a review post is parsed and analyzed to determine the tone, bias, rating, etc. of the review post. In other words, a semantic rating is a subjective standard, while a non-semantic rating is an objective standard.
At process block 110, a determination of the type of the social entity context is performed. For example, is may be determined that the type of the social entity context is a blog post or alternatively a poll. Then, based on the type of the social entity context, a weighted value is assigned to the social entity context (see the table in
Further, at process block 120, the text (or other data) of the social entity context may be extracted (or parsed). The extracted text (or other data) or the social entity context may then be analyzed to determine a semantic rating of the social entity context (process block 125). For example, the text may include 5 to 1 positive words or phrases, which may in turn generate a positive semantic rating.
In addition to the text of the social entity context, the author of the social entity context may also be important in determining an overall rating of the social entity context. As such, the author of the social entity context may be determined (process block 130), and then an analysis of the author may be performed in order to determine the author's credibility (process block 135). In one embodiment, the author's credibility may be based on the number of post by the author, the length of time the author has been posting, the rating and reviews of the author's posts by others within the community, and so forth.
At process block 140, a non-semantic rating, if any, of the social entity context may be determined. In one embodiment, a non-semantic rating may not exist for a given social entity context. For example, the social entity context may not include a numeric (or other definitive) rating which can be extracted from the social entity context. In that situation, no non-semantic rating for the social entity context would be determined.
Furthermore, at decision block 145, a determination is made whether the social entity context has reviewer comments. If the social entity context has review comments, then at process block 150, a community based credibility of the social entity context is calculated. In one embodiment, this calculation is based on the comments received from the community about the social entity context (i.e., credibility arrived from the community opinion). If no comments are found. then method 100 moves to process block 155.
At process block 155, based on the semantic rating, non-semantic rating, author credibility, reviewer credibility, and the associated weights of each, the overall rating of the social entity context is determined.
At decision block 160, a determination is made whether additional social entity contexts exist for the product, service, or supplier. If additional social entity contexts exist, then method 100 returns to process block 110, and repeats process blocks 110-155 for each of the additional social entity contexts. Once all of the social entity contexts for the product, service, or supplier have been rated, an average of the ratings for the social entity contexts is calculated (process block 165). Such an average provides a total social rating for the product, service, or supplier.
In addition to the social rating of a product, service, or supplier, an enterprise rating may also be determined (process block 170). In one embodiment, an enterprise rating includes ratings based on sales, product specifications, testing results, etc. at process block 175, an average of the social rating and the enterprise rating of the product, service, or supplier may be calculated to determine a total average rating of the product, service, or supplier.
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In a further embodiment, system 200 may include a rating module 220. The rating module 220 may be configured to implement the rating process described above with regard to method 100 in
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As shown, system environment 700 includes one or more client computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708 communicatively coupled with a server computer 710 via a network 712. In one set of embodiments, client computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708 may be configured to run one or more components of a graphical user interface described above. For example, client computing devices allow user to create and customize network communities, enter search queries, view search results, and others.
Client computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708 may be general purpose personal computers (including, for example, personal computers and/or laptop computers running various versions of Microsoft Windows™ and/or Apple Macintosh™ operating systems), cell phones or PDAs (running software such as Microsoft Windows' Mobile and being Internet, e-mail, SMS, Blackberry™, and/or other communication protocol enabled), and/or workstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX™-like operating systems (including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux™ operating systems). Alternatively, client computing devices 702, 704, 706, and 708 may be any other electronic device capable of communicating over a network (e.g., network 712 described below) with server computer 710. Although system environment 700 is shown with four client computing devices and one server computer, any number of client computing devices and server computers may be supported.
Server computer 710 may be a general purpose computer, specialized server computer (including, e.g., a LINUX™ server, UNIX™ server, mid-range server, mainframe computer, rack-mounted server, etc.), server farm, server cluster, or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. Server computer 710 may run an operating system including any of those discussed above, as well as any commercially available server operating system. Server computer 710 may also run any of a variety of server applications and/or mid-tier applications, including web servers, Java virtual machines, application servers, database servers, and the like. In various embodiments, server computer 710 is adapted to run one or more Web services or software applications described in the foregoing disclosure. For example, server computer 710 is specifically configured to implemented enterprise procurement systems described above.
As shown, client computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708 and server computer 710 are communicatively coupled via network 712. Network 712 may be any type of network that can support data communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, network 712 may be a local area network (LAN), such as an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network; a virtual network, including without limitation a virtual private network (VPN); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network (PSTN); an infra-red network; a wireless network (e.g., a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/or any combination of these and/or other networks. In various embodiments, the client computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708 and server computer 710 are able to access the database 714 through the network 712. In certain embodiments, the client computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708 and server computer 710 each has its own database.
System environment 700 may also include one or more databases 714. Database 714 may correspond to an instance of integration repository as well as any other type of database or data storage component described in this disclosure. Database 714 may reside in a variety of locations. By way of example, database 714 may reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) one or more of the computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708, or server computer 710. Alternatively, database 714 may be remote from any or all of the computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708, or server computer 710 and/or in communication (e.g., via network 712) with one or more of these. In one set of embodiments, database 714 may reside in a storage-area network (SAN) familiar to those skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functions attributed to the computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708, or server computer 710 may be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely on database 714, as appropriate. For example the database 714 stores user profiles, procurement information, attributes associated with network entities.
In various embodiments, computer system 800 may be used to implement any of the computing devices 702, 704, 706, 708, or server computer 710 illustrated in system environment 700 described above. As shown in
Computer system 800 may additionally include a computer-readable storage media reader 812, a communications subsystem 814 (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, etc.), and working memory 818, which may include RAM and ROM devices as described above. In some embodiments, computer system 800 may also include a processing acceleration unit 816, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), a special-purpose processor, and/or the like.
Computer-readable storage media reader 812 can further be connected to a computer-readable storage medium 810, together (and, optionally, in combination with storage devices 808) comprehensively representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing computer-readable information. Communications system 814 may permit data to be exchanged with network 712 of
Computer system 800 may also comprise software elements, shown as being currently located within working memory 818, including an operating system 820 and/or other code 822, such as an application program (which may be a client application, Web browser, mid-tier application, RDBMS, etc.). In a particular embodiment, working memory 818 may include executable code and associated data structures for one or more of the design-time or runtime components/services illustrated in
In one set of embodiments, the techniques described herein may be implemented as program code executable by a computer system (such as a computer system 800) and may be stored on machine-readable media. Machine-readable media may include any appropriate media known or used in the art, including storage media and communication media, such as (but not limited to) volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmission of information such as machine-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data, including RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store or transmit the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer.
Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been described, various modifications, alterations, alternative constructions, and equivalents are within the scope of the invention. Further, while embodiments of the present invention have been described using a particular combination of hardware and software, it should be recognized that other combinations of hardware and software are also within the scope of the present invention. The present invention may be implemented only in hardware, or only in software, or using combinations thereof.
The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Many variations of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the disclosure. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined not with reference to the above description, but instead should be determined with reference to the pending claims along with their full scope or equivalents.
This application relates to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, Attorney Docket No. 021756-097800US, entitled PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION IN PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS, filed on ______, U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, Attorney Docket No. 021756-097900US, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING DECISION MAKING BASED ON SENSE AND RESPOND, filed on ______, U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ Attorney Docket No. 021756-097700US, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ENTERPRISE PROCUREMENT NETWORK, filed on ______, which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for any and all purposes.