Patent Application
20100106668
With the growing popularity of the Internet, people are increasingly seeking answers to their problems and concerns online. Due to the overwhelming amount of information that is available over the Internet, however, it is often difficult for a lay person to browse over the Web to find the solution or advice that actually addresses his/her problem. Even when the user is able to find a solution or advice that is relevant to his/her problem, such advice is most likely to be of “one size fits all” type that addresses the concerns of the general public while it does not target the specific needs of the user as an individual. To make matters worse, the user may quite often find varying advice to his/her problem from various self-claimed experts that are different or even conflict with each other and the user may not know whom to believe or which advice to follow. For a non-limiting example, when a person tries to seek advice on how to handle one of his/her emotional/mental problems, people from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences may offer different suggestions as to whether anti-depression drugs should be used or not.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.
The approach is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.
A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to provide one or more potential solutions to a user solicited from a community of wisdom, wherein such solutions are not only relevant to addressing a problem raised by the user, but are also customized to the specific needs and preferences of the user based on the user's profile. Such an approach enables a personalized “agent” who understands the user's specific needs and interests by maintaining a personal profile of the user. The profile is more than a simple tracking of the user's activities online by further including feedback and comments provided by the user him/herself to prior engagements and/or “interview” questions by the agent. Based on such in-depth personal knowledge and understanding, the agent is capable of soliciting, customizing, and presenting the solutions from an online community to the user that specifically address his/her problem or concern. With such an approach, a user can efficiently and accurately find what he/she is looking for and have potential solutions unique to his/her problem that are distinguished from the solutions provided to other users having similar problems.
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As used herein, the term engine refers to software, firmware, hardware, or other component that is used to effectuate a purpose. The engine will typically include software instructions that are stored in non-volatile memory (also referred to as secondary memory). When the software instructions are executed, at least a subset of the software instructions is loaded into memory (also referred to as primary memory) by a processor. The processor then executes the software instructions in memory. The processor may be a shared processor, a dedicated processor, or a combination of shared or dedicated processors. A typical program will include calls to hardware components (such as I/O devices), which typically requires the execution of drivers. The drivers may or may not be considered part of the engine, but the distinction is not critical.
As used herein, the term library or database is used broadly to include any known or convenient means for storing data, whether centralized or distributed, relational or otherwise.
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In some embodiments, the user interaction engine 102 presents a pre-determined list of problems that could possibly be raised by the user in the form of a list, such as a pull down menu, and the user may submit his/her problem by simply picking and choosing a problem in the menu. Such menus can be organized by various categories or topics in more than one level. By organizing and standardizing the potential problems from the user, the menu not only saves the user's time and effort in submitting the problems, but also makes it easier to identify relevant RFW templates and/or solutions to the problem submitted.
In some embodiments, the user interaction engine 102 informs the user whether there is enough relevant material in the solution library 128 to generate one or more potential solutions to the problem submitted by the user or not. If there is not enough relevant material in the solution library 128, a request for (community) wisdom (RFW) can be initiated by the user or by the solution engine 118 transparent to the user to solicit the potential solutions from a community. Here, the community of wisdom includes one or more responders who can be but are not limited to,
other registered users in the community who are eligible to respond to RFWs to provide original content such as personal stories or essays perhaps because their contributions in the past have received good feedback and ratings.
professionals, experts, and service providers who are deemed to be qualified to provide a credible solution to the user who submitted the problem. For a non-limiting example, psychiatrists who are leading authorities in their spiritual domains or in self-help or psychological professions.
In some embodiments, the user interaction engine 102 is configured to enable the user to determine how he/she prefers an RFW to be sent to the community of wisdom from a plurality of options that include but are not limited to the following:
RFW to experts, professionals, and service providers only.
RFW to users in the community who registered to receive RFWs and have similar profiles and/or experiences as the user.
RFW to users in the entire community who have registered to receive RFWs.
In some embodiments, the user interaction engine 102 is configured to enable the user to provide feedback to the potential solutions provided to him/her via the user interface 104. Here, such feedback can be, for non-limiting examples, ratings or ranking of the content, indication of preference as whether the user would like to see the same or similar solutions in the same category in the future, or any written comments or suggestions on the solutions that eventually drive the customization of the solutions. For non-limiting examples, a rating can be from 0-10 where 0 is worst and 10 is best, or 5 stars. There can also be a comment by a user that he/she trusts the responder or not.
In some embodiments, the user interaction engine 102 is configured to enable a responder (e.g., an expert, a professional, a service provider, or another registered user) in the community who is willing to accept the RFW and is qualified to provide a potential solution to the problem to accept and review the RFW for the problem submitted via the display component 106. The user interaction engine 102 is also configured to enable the responder to generate and submit a potential solution such as a statement of wisdom (SOW) to the problem to the solution engine 118 via the user interface 104. The responder can either choose to be anonymous (hide alias/screen name) from the recipient of the SOW (e.g., the user who submits the problem) or can alternatively leave his/her alias/screen name visible.
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Administrative information includes account information such as name, region, email address, and payment options of the user.
Static profile contains information about the user that does not change over time, such as the user's gender and date of birth to calculate his/her age and for potential astrological consideration.
Dynamic profile contains information about the user that may change over time, such as parental status, marital status, relationship status, as well as current interests, hobbies, habits, and concerns of the user.
Psycho-Spiritual Dimension describes the psychological, spiritual, and religious component of the user, such as the user's belief system (a religious, philosophical or intellectual tradition, e.g., Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, atheist, non-religious), degree of adherence (e.g., committed/devout, practicing, casual, no longer practicing, “openness” to alternatives) and influences (e.g., none, many, parents, mother, father, other relative, friend, spouse, spiritual leader/religious leader, self).
Community Profile contains information defining how the user interacts with the online community of experts, professionals, and other registered users (e.g., whom he/she prefers or blocks in the community) and to which problems the user is willing to receive RFWs and to provide his/her own response on the matter.
In some embodiments, the profile engine 110 initiates one or more questions to the user via the user interaction engine 102 for the purpose of soliciting and gathering at least part of the information listed above to establish the profile of the user. Here, such questions focus on the aspects of the user's life that are not available through other means. The questions initiated by the profile engine 110 may focus on the personal interests, spiritual dimensions as well as dynamic and community profiles of the user. For a non-limiting example, the questions may focus on the user's personal interests, which may not be truly obtained by simply observing the user's online habits.
In some embodiments, the profile engine updates the profile of the user via the profiling component 114 based on the prior history/record and dates of one or more of:
problems that have been raised by the user;
relevant solutions that have been presented to the user;
RFW templates that have been used to generate and present the solutions to the user;
feedback from the user to the solutions that have been presented to the user;
RFWs and feedback if any that the user has received and responded to problems submitted by others.
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In some embodiments, each of a text, image, video, and audio item can include one or more elements of: title, author (name, unknown, or anonymous), body (the actual item), source, type, and location. For a non-limiting example, a text item can include a source element of one of professional advice, personal experience, psychology, self help, and religious, and a type element of one of essay, book passage, formal advice, personal story, reference, poem, quote, sermon, speech, and summary. For another non-limiting example, a video, an audio, and an image item can all include a location element that points to the location (e.g., file path or URL) or access method of the video, audio, or image item. In addition, an audio item may also include elements on album, genre, or track number of the audio item as well as its audio type (music or spoken word).
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 can associate each of the text, image, video, and audio items in a solution with a link to a resource or provider of the item from where the user can further pursue the solutions provided. Such resource can be but is not limited to one or more of: contact information of a professional such as a doctor, a lawyer, or a provider of a recommended service, link to further details of the item, or a link to purchase the item, if it is purchasable, from an affiliated vendor of the item, such as Amazon Associates, itunes, etc. The user interaction engine 102 can then present the link together with the corresponding item in the solution to the user and enable the user to pursue an item of his/her interest.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 determines and selects one or more responders in the community to solicit the one or more solutions from (e.g., by sending them the RFW). Such determination is based on at least one or more of the following factors:
The preference as specified by the user (e.g., RFW to experts and professionals only).
The prior community experience of the user who submitted the problem, e.g., whom are his/her preferred responders in the community that the user considers as having provided valuable/helpful advice and solutions in the past.
Credentials of experts and professionals who are experienced in the area to answer the submitted problem.
Users with similar profiles or experiences as the user who submitted the problem.
Feedback and ratings to prior responses from the potential responder candidates.
Current workload of the responders in the community, e.g., the number of RFWs each responder has received and responded to/not responded to.
In some embodiments, when the user is having difficulty making an informed decision as to whom the RFW should be sent, the solution engine 118 may provide the user with a set of potential candidates whom the user may likely prefer to seek advice from. These candidates are selected by the solution engine 118 based on their prior experiences with the problem submitted such as experts or professionals in the area or users in the community who have had similar experiences. For each of the candidates recommended, the solution engine 118 may further provide a brief description of their qualifications as well as their profiles for the user to make an informed decision. The user may then be enabled to selectively send the RFW to all or only a subset of the candidates recommended.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 can set a limit on the total number of RFWs (each to one or more responders) to be sent out for each single problem submitted by the user (in order not to flood and overload the community with RFWs and SOWs). The solution engine 118 can also set a time limit for each of the selected one or more responders to respond, based on the urgency and criticality of the user's problem. For a non-limiting example, if a selected responder has not answered after a week, the responder is considered as non-responsive to the submitted problem.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 may generate the RFW associated with the problem raised by the user by identifying an RFW template for the problem from the RFW template library 126, customizing the RFW template based on the profile of the user before sending it to the one or more responders. Here, an RFW template defines a format and/or types of solution items to be provided by the responders in order to compose a potential solution. Some of the items can be marked as required while others can be marked as optional.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 may evaluate, customize, moderate, and approve the potential solutions solicited from the responders. Since each responder may have provided a potential solution from his/her own perspective, the potential solutions gathered from the responders can be inconsistent with each other. In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 may analyze and characterize the potential solutions into various categories, weigh and assign different numerical metrics to each of the potential answers based upon, for a non-limiting example, the credibility and experience levels of the responders, in order to come up with one or more appropriate solutions that will most likely address the problem of the user. During the evaluation process, the solution engine 118 may utilize domain expertise in the respective areas to evaluate the solutions solicited and continuously monitor and adjust/tune the solutions based on the user's feedback.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 may customize or moderate the solutions solicited based on the user's profile including one or more of: the user's dynamic profile (e.g., current relationship status), his/her spiritual dimension (e.g., belief system), his/her recent comments and ratings on solutions related to the same or relevant problems, and his/her responses to requests for wisdom. For a non-limiting example, solutions that do not appeal to the user in the past based on his/her feedback will likely be excluded. In some situations when the user is not sure what he/she is looking for, the user may simply choose “Cheer me up” from the problem list and the solution engine 118 will automatically retrieve and present potential ways to cheer the user up based on the user's profile.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 may customize the one or more solutions based on an “experience path” of the user. Here, the user experience path reflects the user's experience with or knowledge of the problem he/she submitted. The user experience path contains a list of path nodes, each of which represents a stage in the user's experience/knowledge progression process, for a non-limiting example, stages of expertise from: novice→amateur→professional→expert→guru. By associating the user experience path and path nodes with the potential solutions, the solution engine 118 can select the appropriate solutions for the user that are appropriate to his/her current state of experience or knowledge. In the example above, the solutions for a user new to the problem will be considerably different from a user who already had in-depth knowledge of the problem.
In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 determines if the potential solutions to the problem should be saved in the solution library 128 as community wisdom or not along with the problem, the user's profile, and other relevant factors used to customize the potential solutions. In some embodiments, the solution engine 118 examines the content of the solutions to see how they would enhance the current community wisdom if included in the solution library 128. The solution engine 118 may also review the ratings and feedback from the user on the solutions provided to determine whether the solutions should be included in the solution library 128 or not. Alternatively, the solution engine 118 may make the solutions available not only to the user who submitted the problem, but also to a set of other users whose profiles match that of the user who submitted the problem, plus experts and/or professionals in the community as well to give them a chance to review, rate, and vote on the solutions as to whether the solutions should be included in the solution library 128 or not.
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In some embodiments, the solutions in the solution library 128 can be tagged and organized appropriately to enable the solution engine 118 to access and browse the solution library 128 for the purpose of easy identification, retrieval, and customization. Here, the solution engine 118 may browse the solutions by problems, types of solution items, dates collected, and by certain categories such as belief systems to build the solution based on the user's profile and/or understanding of the items' “connections” with the problem submitted by the user. For a non-limiting example, a sample music clip might be selected to be included in the solution because it was encoded to “cheer up” a user.
In some embodiments, each solution and/or item in the solution library 128 can be associated with multiple tags for the purpose of easy identification, retrieval, and customization by the solution engine 118 based on the user's profile. For a non-limiting example, a pair of (belief system, degree of adherence range) can be used to tag a solution as either appropriate for all Christians (Christian, 0-10) or only for devout Christians (Christian, 8-10). Thus, the solution engine 118 will only retrieve an item as part of a solution for the user where the tag of the item matches the user's profile.
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One embodiment may be implemented using a conventional general purpose or a specialized digital computer or microprocessor(s) programmed according to the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the computer art. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software art. The invention may also be implemented by the preparation of integrated circuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
One embodiment includes a computer program product which is a machine readable medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to program one or more hosts to perform any of the features presented herein. The machine readable medium can include, but is not limited to, one or more types of disks including floppy disks, optical discs, DVD, CD-ROMs, micro drive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs, flash memory devices, magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data. Stored on any one of the computer readable medium (media), the present invention includes software for controlling both the hardware of the general purpose/specialized computer or microprocessor, and for enabling the computer or microprocessor to interact with a human viewer or other mechanism utilizing the results of the present invention. Such software may include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operating systems, execution environments/containers, and applications.
The foregoing description of various embodiments of the claimed subject matter has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the claimed subject matter to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art. Particularly, while the concept “interface” is used in the embodiments of the systems and methods described above, it will be evident that such concepts can be interchangeably used with equivalent software concepts such as class, method, type, module, component, bean, module, object model, process, thread, and other suitable concepts. While the concept “component” is used in the embodiments of the systems and methods described above, it will be evident that such a concept can be interchangeably used with equivalent concepts such as, class, method, type, interface, module, object model, and other suitable concepts. Embodiments were chosen and described in order to best describe the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the relevant art to understand the claimed subject matter, the various embodiments and with various modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated.
This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ being concurrently filed; and entitled “A system and method for content customization based on user profile,” by Louis Hawthorne et al., and is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
