Patent Application
20160055553
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates generally to the fields of Internet-based computer-implemented methods and computer-implemented systems for community collaboration and innovation. For the purposes of this patent application, a community collaboration software includes any form of collaboration software including without limitation bulletin boards, forum software, wikis, blogs, chat rooms, white boards, e-learning software, desktop sharing, file sharing, social media software and social networking software. This invention further relates to the creation of an on-line market for the purposes of authoring and distributing innovative knowledge.
Collaboration and social networking have been active fields of development in recent years. The current state of the art in collaborative Internet-based software for innovation is to provide collaboration software for groups of individuals to create and share information, interact with each other through the software and generally use the software to achieve an individual or group objective. Generally these systems store the collaboration for future reference and further discussion or collaboration. These existing systems have a number of limitations: first, there are substantial barriers to entry as there is no efficient way for problems to be posed to a crowd via the Internet and for all contributors to be rewarded according to the merit of the ideas that they contribute, secondly, there is no technique or process for providing expert based communities with the ability to provide alternative interfaces and controls for those posing questions and those proposing answers to questions and serving all audiences in one framework. There has long been a need for a means to keep the individuals returning to the collaborative application to contribute their expertise as the value of a network is largely based on its size and level of activity. Accordingly, there have been long felt needs for some solutions that address at least one or more of the aforementioned limitations.
In general, in one aspect, a computer-based social network for connecting persons willing to pay for crowd-sourced answers to technical problems and subject matter experts willing to sell answers to said problems in return for any type of currency, including crypto currency or equity interests, the apparatus comprising: a computer network which connects a network provider with user devices for communicating over the computer network. The apparatus configured so that a user can input initial projects, pose research problems or questions, input instructions, and receive solutions for enterprise development.
In general, in an aspect, a system comprising one or more processors or virtual machines, one or more memory units, one or more input devices and one or more output devices, a network, and shared memory supporting communication among the processors, for connecting persons willing to pay for crowd-sourced answers to technical problems and subject matter experts willing to sell answers to said problems in return for crypto currency or equity interests. The system comprising a computer network which connects a network provider with user devices for communicating over the computer network in which the said user can input initial projects, pose research problems or questions, input instructions, and receive solutions to enterprise development. The system further comprises an innovation engine which facilitates crowd-sourcing development of projects. The system further comprises a pricing engine for evaluating the compensation of a subject matterexpert for a solution. The system further comprises an exchange engine for facilitating trading in a marketplace of services, equity shares, currencies, and other items of value.
In general, in an aspect, a machine-based method for connecting persons willing to pay for crowd-sourced answers to technical problems to subject matter experts willing to sell answers to said problems in return for any type of currency, including crypto currency or equity interests. The machine-based method comprising providing one or more secure repository (repositories) for questions to be posed by users and answered by other users, determining the market value of the ideas submitted via a pricing engine and communicating between individual users and either other individual users or groups of users. The machine-based method comprising storing documents, media communications, and services for delivery to subject matter experts. The machine-based method in some embodiments enables users to give orders to storage modules regarding documents, media communications, and services for delivery to investors or to company purchasers. The machine-based method facilitates crowd-sourcing development of projects. The machine-based method evaluates the compensation due to users for idea submissions via supply and demand or actuarial methods into the appropriate quantity of crypto currency, CHIPS. The machine-based method enables a user to input initial projects, pose research problems or questions, input instructions, and receive solutions. The machine-based method enables users to give orders to storage modules regarding documents, media communications, and services for delivery to subject matter experts. The machine-based method enables users to give orders to storage modules regarding documents, media communications, and services for delivery to investors or to company purchasers. The machine-based method for provides using a secure, authenticated platform for facilitation of crowd-sourcing development of projects.
In general, in one aspect, a machine-based method for investing the crypto currency earned by users, of the system mentioned above, in securities comprising corporate debt, convertible notes, stock indexes, futures, FOREX, stock options, stocks, and other real or virtual assets available via any market. In a further aspect, a machine-based method for investing the crypto currency earned by users, of the system mentioned above, in securities comprising corporate debt, convertible notes, stock indexes, futures, FOREX, stock options, stocks, and other real or virtual assets available via any market.
In general, in another aspect, a non-transitory computer readable medium to collaboratively develop enterprises, comprising program code to interactively communicate information among entrepreneurs, subject matter experts, investors and corporate representatives. In a further aspect, program code to select subjects matter experts to solve problems, the selection criteria based on historical data using predictive analytics. In a further aspect program code to determine the value of solutions presented by subject matter experts, the determination based on historical data using predictive analytics.
Some or all of the above needs may be addressed by certain embodiments of the invention. Certain embodiments of the invention may include systems and methods for fostering collaboration among large groups of subject matter experts on questions submitted by others in return for any type of currency, including a crypto currency that can be converted to U.S. dollars or other currency at a later time and can be invested in securities or in return for equity in any entity that is formed to exploit the concept shared by the subject matter expert. The present invention overcomes the limitations of conventional approaches by providing an incentive for innovative answers to questions related to long felt problems to be shared in a secure online community. Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, it provides an efficient method and system for experts to package their expertise and for organizations and users to acquire and consume expertise in the context of their business or industry. The present invention uses crowd-sourcing defined as the gathering of information from multiple, independent sources via any means over a period of time irrespective of the location of the sources of the information.
Variations and modifications can be made to these exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. Such other embodiments and aspects can be understood with reference to the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and claims.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated more fully in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment and such variations come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Like numbers refer to like elements to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The term “exemplary” as used throughout this document is defined to mean “example.” It will be appreciated that terms such as “left”, “right”, “top”, “bottom”, “inwardly”, “outwardly”, “front”, “inner”, “up”, and “down” and other positional descriptive terms used herein below are used merely for ease of description and refer to the orientation of the components as shown in the Figures. It should be understood that any orientation of the elements described herein is within the scope of the present invention.
As desired, embodiments of the invention may include the innovation generation system with more or less of the components illustrated.
The invention is described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to exemplary embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, respectively, can be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some embodiments of the invention.
These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, embodiments of the invention may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer-usable medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions embodied therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. In one embodiment, a handheld device, such as a smartphone, could be used to deliver said computer program instructions so that persons could pose questions that they want answered by the community of subject matter experts and that they are willing to compensate those who deliver useful answers to and subject matter experts could input answers via said handheld device. These computer-implemented processed could be virtualized in a cloud-based environment.
Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, can be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and various embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined in the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
While the invention has been described by reference to certain preferred embodiments, it should be understood that these embodiments are within the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts described. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited by the embodiments, but that it have the full scope permitted by the language of the following claims.
The network provider, 104, supplies a database server, 116, to the computer network, 102, wherein the database server has one or more databases, 118 [118A, 118B, . . . , 118M], for storing projects, questions, answers, and messages as well as the profile and historical data of networked entrepreneurs, free lancers, company representatives, investors together with information on vendors, distributors, and the logistics needed to facilitate corporate commerce. The system that we describe here enables members of a community or users of a network, for example, entrepreneurs, free-lancers, investors, private and public corporations, and combinations of any two or more of those, to cause projects to be undertaken and products to be developed that launch new corporations at future times or enhance existing corporations with innovative products. Such a community provides global reach to individual and corporate entrepreneurs with problems and research needs and a global community of individual free-lance experts or corporate consultants who can solve those problems and address those needs. This form of knowledge-based crowd sourcing in a commercial context is similar to the collaborative community that has constructed site such as Wikipedia. Implementations of the system need not be limited to networks of the kind known as social or need not all classes of users, but some implementations will be in the context of social networks or will be corporate or both. For convenience, we sometimes refer to the system in some examples as a collaborative ecosystem network, but we mean that phrase in a very broad sense to include, for example, any sort of network or grouping in which a community of users (we sometimes use the terms entrepreneur users or users who are subject matter experts (SMEs) or investor users and members interchangeably) participate, that includes members of a single project or of multiple projects, or both features. In one embodiment of the present invention, the group from which contributors would be selected could be a closed, pre-selected, group of securely authenticated members, such as a group inside of a corporation or other entity, and, in one embodiment, the compensation could be directly in non-crypto currency or via debit cards, such as gift cards, issued in such a currency.
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A predictive analytics submodule, 306, applies search algorithms and forecasting models stored in the project database library, 308, to select potential free-lance experts, consultants, or other details related to the successful project. The predictive analytics submodule, 306, may implement one or more forecasting techniques, including simple algorithms, including statistical techniques such as machine learning (e. g., as applied by IBM's Watson computer), game theory, and data mining. In some examples, the predictive analytics incorporate the robust, optimizing forecasting techniques of Pinto et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,897, issued on Mar. 3, 2009; U.S. Pat. No. 7,562,058, issued on Jul. 14, 2009; U.S. Pat. No. 7,725,300, issued on May 25, 2010; U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,003, issued on Jun. 1, 2010; U.S. Pat. No. 7,933,762, issued on Apr. 26, 2011; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/826,949, filed Apr. 16, 2004, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference), that manage historical data using missing values, which must be inferred.
In some examples, the predictive analytics submodule, 306, may be configured as described by Gruber et al. (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/987,982, filed Jan. 10, 2011, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/492,809 filed Jun. 9, 2012, the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference). For instance, the predictive analytics submodule, 306, may include an automated assistant receiving user input. The predictive analytics submodule, 306, may also include an active ontology with representations of concepts and relations among concepts drawn from various databases of historical data. For instance, for the example in which the consultant is an agent of a corporation, the corporate personnel database may be referenced in the active ontology. The predictive analytics submodule, 306, may also include a language interpreter to parse the sender's input in order to derive a representation of the sender's intent in terms of the active ontology. The predictive analytics submodule, 306, may also include a services orchestration component to output responses and instructions to implement the sender's intent. A display module, 304, communicates the results of the analysis conducted by the predictive analytics submodule, 306, to the entrepreneur 108, (
In another example, the predictive analytics submodule, 306, may identify potential subject matter experts based on an analysis of electronically-accessible sources of information, profile data stored in the collaboration database, 302, or both. For instance, potential collaborators may be identified that meet one or more specified characteristics (e.g., professional developers or corporate chemists). Potential collaborators may be identified by their relationship with the entrepreneur (e.g., previous members of entrepreneur's team or all social network connections of the entrepreneur). In some examples, the predictive analytics submodule, 306, may have access to resume databases to analyze characteristics of potential collaborators. In some examples, the predictive analytics submodule, 306, may have access to a list of past or potential employers and may identify and rank potential collaborators based on that list in terms of propensity to succeed based on historical data.
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Upon encountering a potentially solvable problem, the entrepreneur, 108, initiates a project, 902; on the network using the innovation engine, 110. Then he selects potential contributors to the solution of the problem or the system does this for the entrepreneur based on pre-selected criteria such as the profiles of the contributors and what each contributor has contributed in the past, 904, and negotiates compensation contracts with the selected contributors, 906. To the panel of selected contributors he poses the problem, answers questions and provides relevant information, 908. Over a predefined discovery period potential solutions are collected from the selected contributors, 910, and evaluated, 912. Based on the evaluations and within the terms of the compensation contracts the selected contributors receive incentivization rewards in the form of the CHIPS currency, 914, that can be used for services within the collaborative community in the exchange marketplace or traded at current rates for standard currencies.
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Upon determining there is an opportunity to add to his portfolio, the investor, 122, initiates a search, 1102, then searches current projects, 1104, to find a potential match. After extensive due diligence review, 1106, including review of the profiles of the entrepreneur 108 and his team or potential team, 114, the quality of the solutions to problems encountered, the current business plan and potential market, a project is selected, 1108. After terms of an investment are negotiated, 1110, an investment or tier of investments is scheduled by the investor or a group of investors, 122A . . . 122M, 1112, and the initial investment amount in CHIPS is made, 1114.
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Upon determining there is a corporate need for new products, the corporate representative, 124, initiates a search, 1302, then searches current projects, 1304, to find a potential match. After extensive review, 1306, including review of the profiles of the entrepreneur, 108, and his team of experts, 114, the quality and potential of products/solutions developed, a product is selected, 1308, along with a potential team of potential employees or consultants, 1310. Then the terms are negotiated for licensing of the product or process, bringing the product or product in-house, or investing in the project for the current or future products, 1312. Finally the financial component of the negotiated terms is completed with the appropriate amount in CHIPS is made, 1314.
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Upon requiring services from the exchange marketplace, a registered user, (108, 114, 122, 124), logs into to his account, 1502, then makes a choice of which type of transaction to engage in, 1504. If the registered user, for example, a free-lance expert, wishes to convert some earned CHIPS into US dollars or British pounds, he initiates a currency conversion, 1506, and selects the currency of choice and views the exchange rate for CHIPs to standard currencies retrieved from the currency trading station, 608, on the display, 604, of the exchange marketplace engine. After selecting a currency at the posted rate on the exchange the free-lance expert, 114, selects the currency to convert into, 1512, makes the conversion, 1518, and receives confirmation for example via email that the converted funds have been posted to an external account, for example, PayPal or a bank account. Conversely, a corporate representative, 124, or an investor, 122, is able to convert standard currency into the currency of the collaborative community (CHIPS). On the other hand an entrepreneurial registered user, 108, needs the services of a professional expert such as a consultant or attorney on a fee-for-service basis. The user, 108, chooses to purchase services, 1508, then selects the appropriate service provider, 1514, and negotiates terms of compensation, 1520. On the other hand a free-lance expert registered user, 114, who has logged into his account in the exchange, 1502, chooses a third option, 1504, to offer services, 1510. The expert registered user, 114, markets his services on the exchange engine display, 604, and selects a prospective buyer of those services, 1516. The two registered users negotiate the terms of services and appropriate compensation, 1522. After completion of each of the options the register user can make a choice, 1524, to continue in the exchange marketplace for another service, 1504, or to exit the exchange marketplace and return to another arena of the collaborative development community.
