PUSH-TO-ASK PROTOCOL LAYER PROVISIONING AND USAGE METHOD

Abstract

Generally speaking, pursuant to these various embodiments, one provides (101) a push-to-ask protocol layer that comprises, at least in part, a question receiving function, an answer receiving function, a trust management function, and a propagation function. By one approach this propagation function is configured and arranged to determine the propagation of content as a function, at least in part, of trust information as is provided by the trust management function. This content can comprise, for example, at least one of a question as is provided by the question receiving function and/or an answer as is provided by the answer receiving function. This push-to-ask protocol layer may then be used (102) to facilitate the automated dissemination of a question as may be provided via a push-to-ask application to, for example, a social network as corresponds to a user of that push-to-ask application and to facilitate a return of at least one corresponding answer to that push-to-ask application.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above needs are at least partially met through provision of the push-to-ask protocol layer provisioning and usage method described in the following detailed description, particularly when studied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 comprises a schematic block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 comprises a schematic block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 comprises a Venn diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 comprises a schematic view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 comprises a schematic view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 11 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 12 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 13 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 14 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 15 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 16 comprises a block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 17 comprises a schematic block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 18 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 19 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 20 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 21 comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 22 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 23 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 24 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 25 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 26 comprises a schematic block diagram view as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 27 comprises a call flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 28 comprises a call flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 29 comprises a call flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 30 comprises a call flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

Claims

1. A method comprising: providing a push-to-ask protocol layer comprising: a question receiving function;an answer receiving function;a trust management function; anda propagation function that is configured and arranged to determine propagation of content comprising at least one of: a question as is provided by the question receiving function; andan answer as is provided by the answer receiving function;as a function, at least in part, of trust information as is provided by the trust management function;using the push-to-ask protocol layer to facilitate automated dissemination of a question as provided via a push-to-ask application to a social network as corresponds to a user of that push-to-ask application and to facilitate a return of at least one corresponding answer to that push-to-ask application.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the push-to-ask protocol layer comprises providing the push-to-ask protocol layer using an end device host.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the push-to-ask protocol layer comprises providing the push-to-ask protocol layer using a network server host.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a push-to-ask protocol layer further comprises providing a question and answer message generation function that is configured and arranged to: generate disseminable questions based, at least in part, upon question content as is provided by the question receiving function;generate answers to received questions.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the trust management function is further configured and arranged to maintain trust information for at least some potential recipients of a question.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the trust management function is further configured and arranged to use the trust information to facilitate determining how appropriate it may be to disseminate a given question to a given candidate recipient.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the trust management function is further configured and arranged to use the trust information to facilitate splitting a question into a plurality of sub-questions and then determining how appropriate it may be to disseminate a given sub-question to a given candidate recipient.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the trust management function is further configured and arranged to facilitate a dynamic run-time establishment of trust as between an answering entity and the user when the answering entity does not comprise a part of the social network as corresponds to the user of the push-to-ask application.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagation function is configured and arranged to determine propagation by, at least in part: not propagating the content upon determining that subsequent propagation is unnecessary; andpropagating the content upon determining that subsequent propagation is necessary.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagation function is configured and arranged to facilitate the propagation of sub-questions as are formed by splitting a question as a function, at least in part, of the trust management function.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagation function is configured and arranged to facilitate the propagation of a question to additional recipients subsequent to having already propagated that question to at least one previous recipient.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the propagation function is configured and arranged to facilitate the propagation of a question to additional recipients subsequent to having already propagated that question to at least one previous recipient upon having determined that the at least one previous recipient provided an unacceptable response.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein using the push-to-ask protocol layer comprises: using the push-to-ask protocol layer to facilitate the automated dissemination of a question as provided via a push-to-ask application to a social network using a Session Initiation Protocol-compatible message;using the push-to-ask protocol layer to facilitate the return of at least one corresponding answer to that push-to-ask application using a Session Initiation Protocol-compatible message.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagation function is further configured and arranged to determine propagation of content comprising at least one of: a question as is provided by the question receiving function; andan answer as is provided by the answer receiving function;

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagation function is further configured and arranged to determine propagation of content comprising at least one of: a question as is provided by the question receiving function; andan answer as is provided by the answer receiving function;

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagation function is further configured and arranged to determine propagation of content comprising at least one of: a question as is provided by the question receiving function; andan answer as is provided by the answer receiving function;

17. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a push-to-ask protocol layer further comprises providing a push-to-ask protocol layer comprising: a retransmission function that is configured and arranged to determine when to retransmit a question that has already been transmitted.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the retransmission function is configured and arranged to determine when to retransmit a question as a function, at least in part, of answer quality as has been provided in response to an earlier transmission of the question.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein using the push-to-ask protocol layer further comprises using a push-to-ask protocol layer template to form a message that contains the content and then propagating the message.

20. An apparatus comprising: a processing platform having a push-to-ask protocol layer stored therein wherein the push-to-ask protocol layer comprises: a question receiving function;an answer receiving function;a trust management function; anda propagation function that is configured and arranged to determine propagation of content comprising at least one of: a question as is provided by the question receiving function; andan answer as is provided by the answer receiving function;as a function, at least in part, of trust information as is provided by the trust management function;