WO2001035272A2 - Appareil et procede dirigeant selectivement des utilisateurs vers des experts via un reseau informatique - Google Patents

Appareil et procede dirigeant selectivement des utilisateurs vers des experts via un reseau informatique Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2001035272A2
WO2001035272A2 PCT/US2000/030314 US0030314W WO0135272A2 WO 2001035272 A2 WO2001035272 A2 WO 2001035272A2 US 0030314 W US0030314 W US 0030314W WO 0135272 A2 WO0135272 A2 WO 0135272A2
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Prior art keywords
user
experts
selected expert
expert
server
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PCT/US2000/030314
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English (en)
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WO2001035272A3 (fr
Inventor
G. Dewey Gaedcke
Carl N. Samos
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Knowitall, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Application filed by Knowitall, Inc. filed Critical Knowitall, Inc.
Priority to AU14594/01A priority Critical patent/AU1459401A/en
Publication of WO2001035272A2 publication Critical patent/WO2001035272A2/fr
Publication of WO2001035272A3 publication Critical patent/WO2001035272A3/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
    • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
    • G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
    • G06F16/953—Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines
    • G06F16/9535—Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for connecting users to expert service providers through a network of computers such as the Internet, and more particularly to routing computer users seeking expert help to experts in one or more topic areas m an online setting.
  • SUBST ⁇ JTE SHEET (RULE 26)
  • a common p ⁇ or art system for addressing the needs of a person seeking expert help is a telephonic help lme.
  • the user is first required to identify the approp ⁇ ate contact number.
  • the user must place the call within a set of limited and often inconvenient busmess hours adopted by the service
  • the user is often channeled through a se ⁇ es of menu options, after which the user may finally be connected with a human being Even at that juncture, the user has no way of knowing the skill set and expe ⁇ ence of the person on the other end of the line
  • Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the system for connecting users to experts of the present invention
  • Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a multiple server and multiple database configuration that may be used m connection with the method of the present mvention
  • Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multiple server configuration with a router for routmg users to experts in accordance with the present mvention
  • Fig. 4 is an exploded block diagrammatic view of a server m accordance with the present mvention
  • Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a taxonomy which may be used in the present invention
  • Fig. 6a is a flowchart of an exemplary initial client logm routme
  • Fig. 6b is an exemplary flowchart of server actions responsive to client logm
  • Fig. 6c is a flowchart of a send request between the client and server
  • Fig. 6d is a flowchart of a receive request from the server
  • Fig. 6e is a flowchart of a send reply routine between the server and the client
  • Fig. 6f is a flowchart of a receive reply routine between the client and server
  • Fig. 7a is a flowchart showing an exemplary user question commumcation protocol between the client and server
  • Fig. 7b is a continuation of the flowchart showing the communication flow responsive to a user question commenced in Fig. 7.
  • Fig. 7c is a further continuation of the flowchart depicted in Fig. 7a and Fig. 7b.
  • Fig. 8 is a flowchart for the find agent routine run by the client application.
  • Fig. 9a and Fig. 9b are flowcharts of the ranking process.
  • Fig. 10a is a flow diagram showing an exemplary routine for initiating a service requestor/service provider conference.
  • Fig. 10b is a flow diagram showing a process for joining a service requestor/service provider conference.
  • Fig. 10c is a flow diagram illustrating a process for leaving a service requestor/service provider conference.
  • Fig. lOd is a flow diagram for the procedure whereby the server of the present invention collects information pertaining to a service requestor/service provider conference.
  • Fig. lOe is a flow diagram for the procedure for terminating a service requestor/service provider conference.
  • the present invention provides for an online, real-time method and system for connecting users to approp ⁇ ate experts through a network of computers such as the Internet. Users seeking a specific type of help are presented with a list of available experts The user may then browse the information presented and select an expert When a selection has occu ⁇ ed, the user and expert are connected, real-time, so that the expert may resolve the question or need of the user Payment may be admmistered by the system, and obtained from either the user or an entity which has engaged the expert or provider of the system.
  • Fig. 1 shows, in block diagram form, the operation of the present invention in its most basic form.
  • a service requestor 10a who is normally operatmg a computer system, issues a request for a service (commonly a request for expert assistance) from one or more service providers 10b located remote to the service requestor 10a.
  • service providers 10b may be experts or other types of service providers, e g , a catalog site.
  • At least a portion of the service requestor's 10a request is formatted mto a data commumcations compatible data package, e g , using a standard such as extensible Markup Language (XML), and then sent to server 30 usmg data commumcations pathway 20.
  • data commumcations pathway 20 is the Internet, using TCP/IP protocols
  • a routing program (not shown) executing within server 30 examines database 40 accessible to server 30 for a list of approp ⁇ ate experts responsive to service requestor's 10a request. If one or more matches are found, a resulting list of matches may be returned to service requestor 10a for acceptance. The list may also include specified attributes for each expert. Service requestors 10a may then be allowed to selectively view the resulting list of service providers 10b uncovered by the match, the ability to sort the list according to one or more attribute c ⁇ te ⁇ a such as name, ranking information, specific attribute, or combmations thereof.
  • service requestors 10a are allowed to browse a portion of database 40 which is a taxonomy 60 (shown m Fig 5), detailed herein below Such browsing may allow service requestors 10a to took at attributes of service providers 10b available either m general or in one or more domains (not shown in the figure), questions asked but not answered, questions asked and answered, ongomg conversations, or any combmation thereof
  • service requestor 10a accepts service provider 10b or otherwise affirmatively mdicates selection of a service provider 10b, and if service provider 10b is available, service provider 10b selected by a service requestor 10a receives a notification of the attempt by service requestor 10a to contact that service provider 10b
  • the notification may include all or a portion of service requestor's 10a request, the location in taxonomy 60 of the classification of service requestor's 10a request, an attribute representmg an identifier for service requestor 10a, or any combmation thereof Service provider 10b may then elect to receive or reject the request
  • service requestor 10a establishes real-time, peer-to-peer level commumcations 12 with that service provider 10b, as those skilled in the art will understand the term, at which pomt the commumcations between clients 10 occurs on a peer-to-peer level without any further need for server 30
  • Real-time, peer- to-peer communication 12, mcludmg the ability to have a secured commumcation established between service requestor 10a and service provider 10b may include text, audio, video, whiteboard, file transfer, and/or remote control, and server 30 may be extracted from the commumcation link at that pomt
  • selection of service provider 10b may be automatically accomplished by the matching program, for example, on a first-match or best fit set of cnte ⁇ a
  • a client application 100 (not shown m Fig. 1) executmg at service requestor 10a and service provider 10b retains state information to allow resumption of a session should the session
  • SUBSTTTUTE SHEET (RULE 26) be discontinued abnormally, e.g., a power outage.
  • the system also provides for logging each transaction between service requestor 10a and server 30, and between client 10a and expert 10b in the event the server 30 is extracted from the communication's loop.
  • client application 100 communicates to server 30 through a class interface module that encapsulates network communication protocol, XML packet building, XML parsing, and server side method invocation.
  • Use of a standard such as XML for packaging and transmitting data between clients 10 and servers 30 allows for flexibility without having to change code executing within server 30 or client 10.
  • Client applications 100 may communicate via dynamically linked library (DLL) modules.
  • DLL dynamically linked library
  • Each DLL presents a set of application program interfaces to client application 100, receiving data from client application 100 and passing on co ⁇ ectly formatted data to another application such as Microsoft® Net Meeting®.
  • Use of DLL modules provides great flexibility in the abilities of client application 100, especially in client-to-client peer level communications, without the need for extensive code changes in client application 100.
  • a client daemon application (not shown in Fig. 1) may be provided to interface other software applications such as browsers to server 30 as well as to provide an interface to facilitate establishment of sessions between service requestors 10a and service providers 10b, e.g. to Microsoft® Net Meeting® or AOL®.
  • a client user interface as that term is understood by those skilled in the computer arts, may be provided independently of the client daemon application, allowing for customization of a user interface.
  • client daemon applications may provide interfaces to standard protocols such as ITU H.323, for real-time video, voice, or data, and ITU T.120, for real-time multipoint
  • server 30 may be multiple servers 3 la, 3 lb, and 31c, and database 40, detailed herein below, may be replaced with multiple databases 41a, 41b, and 41c, and 41d
  • Servers 31a, 31b, and 31c may be in communication with databases 41a, 41b, 41c, and 41d through any number of means, all of which are readily understood by those skilled m the computer arts, including by way of example and not limitation a common bus, local area network, RAID servers, and the like
  • the scalability may be dynamic, providing stateless servers to which requests may be routed and or rerouted depending on load and availability of that server
  • servers 31 a, 31 b and 31 c may be multithreaded wherein the number of threads per server is a customizable number, thus allowing each server to be tuned to match the physical hardware with which such server is implemented
  • the user's computer may be of any family, e g , the x86 family or the Macmtosh Va ⁇ ous databases (e g , Oracle, Sybase) may be used as well
  • Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present mvention with a router
  • intelligent handling routing software such as BIG/IP, marketed and manufactured by F5 may be used to send accept requests from clients 10 and route those requests from router 50 to the best server 30 available at any particular instant from one or more servers 30
  • servers 30 that are no longer responding are removed or otherwise disabled from receivmg any further requests to process client 10 or server 30 requests
  • each server such as server 30a, 30b, or 30c, is stateless, allowing requests from service requestors 10a to be serviced in turn by a plurality of servers 30a, 30b and 30c without degradation to response times or of the request
  • the client/server framework is implemented using the ADAPTIVE Communication Environment (ACE)
  • PD 32 is a Win32 service that runs m a Windows NT environment PD
  • PD 32 supports numerous tasks, including by way of example and not limitation service requestor 10a and service provider 10b logons and logoffs, service requestor 10a and service provider 10b availability status, creation, modification, and deletion of service requestors 10a and service providers 10b, mcludmg attribute information, start conference, join conference, end conference, find service provider, and rank service provider
  • Handler programs 33 are methods m PD 32 that get mvoked to handle a specific request
  • One or more handler programs 33 execute within server 30 to handle the vanous requests, mcludmg by way of example and not limitation mtegration to other systems via one or more application program interfaces (not shown m Fig. 4)
  • every transaction between clients 10 and server 30 is recorded by server 30 .
  • server 30 Accordmgly, the system provides for gathering and reporting of numerous statistical and empmcal data mcludmg usage and performance The information gathered may also be accessible to and stored m database 40, detailed herein below, for further use by database 40 with respect to knowledge domam contents and utilization
  • Database 40 comp ⁇ ses representations of qualifications and characte ⁇ stics of each service provider 10b As will be understood by those skilled m computer arts, database 40
  • SUBSTTTUTE SHEET itself may be a se ⁇ es of databases 40, shown in Fig. 3 as database 41a and database 41b, and may be collocated or dispersed Accordingly, redundancy and replication of databases may be provided to allow for online transactional integ ⁇ ty
  • Service provider att ⁇ butes may mclude, by way of example, overall ratmgs numbers of engagements, certifications, helpfulness ratmg, patience ratings, knowledge rating, and the like
  • service providers 10b may provide alternative sets of att ⁇ butes for a plurality of domains in which the service provider wishes to appear
  • database 40 may be implemented usmg one or more of
  • Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a taxonomy that may be used m the present mvention
  • a method of providing an extensible framework for taxonomy 60 as well as a ratmg methodology may be included m database 40
  • each server 30 obtains a copy of taxonomy 60 including any and all indices for taxonomy 60
  • Extensible taxonomy 60 comp ⁇ ses a collection of domains (not shown), agents 61a, 61b, 61c, and node linkages 64a, 64b, 64c, 64d, 64e, and 64f, mcludmg weightmg factors
  • exemplary domams comp ⁇ se areas in which service providers 10b may be expert such as word processmg, cable modems, or music compact disks
  • Each domam may be subdivided into subdomains, e g within a domain of word processing experts subdomams may exist for two or more operating systems' word processors
  • each term represents a topic area in which a query may be posed
  • At least one contact address is provided
  • Contact addresses 63 may include Internet addresses known as universal resource locators (URLs), telephone numbers for voice contact, telephone numbers for facsimile contact, telephone numbers for pager contact, or the like.
  • URLs universal resource locators
  • extensible taxonomy 60 helps define a set of nodes, where the nodes are agents 61, terms 62, and contact addresses 63. Each node may be linked in extensible taxonomy 60 to more than one other node.
  • Node linkages 64 may be described by additionally weighting factors which describe a node's relationship to the other linked node. Weighting factors may be fuzzy logic, such as "close” or “similar,” or may be non-fuzzy quantities such as an integer or other number within a range, e.g. a number between I and 100 where lower numbers indicate a less robust relationship than higher numbers.
  • Fig. 1 and Fig. 6 a flowchart of the initial client login, clients 10, including end user -service requestors 10a and service providers 10b, wishing to use the present invention invoke a client application 100 native to their operating environment.
  • client applications 100 are written for a Win32 environment in a language such as Microsoft Visual C++.
  • DLLs dynamic link libraries
  • service requestor 10a initializes client application 100.
  • Automatic login 110 may be provided as an option. If automatic login 110 has been configured or otherwise enabled 111, service requestor's 10a login information is retrieved from a local data store such as a hard drive. If configured or provided, service requestor 10a is queried 112 for login information. Once supplied, login information is communicated 113 to server 30.
  • Fig. 6b a flowchart of server 30 actions for login, server 30 verifies login information, generally shown as "120,” and sends a reply to client application 100. If login is
  • client application 100 notifies service requestor 10a and optionally and/or configurably re-prompts for logm information 112
  • Client application 100 interfaces with server 30 and other clients, e g service providers 10b, through data communications network 20 such as the Internet as well as with other applications through one or more approp ⁇ ate application program interfaces
  • Client's 10 requests are formatted into an approp ⁇ ate package using any of numerous packagmg means such as XML, before the packaged request is communicated to server 30 or other clients 10
  • Client application 100 may also be modular to allow utilization of numerous commumcations tools between clients, such as those offered by Microsoft® NetMeetmg® mcludmg but not limited to voice communications, video commumcations, whiteboard and other remote control functionality, chat sessions, and so on Support for multiple media, multiple simultaneous commumcations, or combinations thereof may also be supported
  • Service requestors 10a may optionally provide service provider 10b with information regardmg the operatmg environment of service requestor 10a including by way of example and not limitation hardware platform, software application information, and combmations thereof
  • Client application 100 creates a formatted message 101a which is transmitted 10 Id to server 30
  • Server 30 reads 102a the formatted message, decrypts 102b the message, and processes the formatted message 102e If the message was formatted co ⁇ ectly, server 30 contmues to process 102g the message
  • server 30 formats 103a the response, encrypts 103c the response, and sends 103d and 103e the response back to client application 100
  • Client application 100 receives 104a the response, decrypts 104b, extracts 104d the data, and contmues
  • SUBST ⁇ UTE SHEET (RULE 26) Referring back to Fig. 6, if login is successful, the remainder of client application 100 initializes and service requestor 10a availability is updated 131 m the system
  • state information for service requestors 10a is stored locally on client's 10 computer, including by way of example and not limitation logm information, favo ⁇ tes, and history files
  • service requestor 10a selects an option or otherwise indicates to client application 100, as will be understood by those skilled in the computer arts, to formulate a request 140 to server 30 At least a portion of the request is encapsulated 145 mto an approp ⁇ ate format, m the prefened embodiment XML, and sent 147 to server 30
  • Client application 100 sends a call request 160 to server 30 which m turn calls 165 service provider 10b
  • Service providers 10b may be have one or more statuses with respect to responding to service requestor's 10a requests, mcludmg by way of example and not limitation offline, online but otherwise unavailable (e g busy), online and available Additionally, service providers may provide the system with schedules of availability If service provider 10b accepts the call 170, commumcations between service requestor 10a and service provider 10b begin on a peer-to-peer basis
  • service requestor 10a may select 155 one of the listed service providers 10b
  • Service providers 10b may provide their services for free or for fee
  • service providers 10b may set their rates dynamically, based on one or more factors, may set a flat fee, or any combination thereof
  • Service requestors 10a who so request may be allowed to see service provider's 10b rate at any time including p ⁇ or to engagmg in any communication with the service provider
  • service requestor 10a or service provider 10b may end the peer-to-peer session 175
  • An automatic timeout or pause may be present at step 174 to activate whenever required, such as when there is no activity of some configurable, predetermined amount of tune
  • such a feature is used to more accurately reflect usage with respect to billing for those areas m taxonomy 60 where service requestor 10a gets directly billed or service provider 10b gets paid
  • peer-to-peer sessions between service requestors 10a and service providers 10b can be placed on 'hold" at step 175 rather than abandoned altogether Refernng now to Fig. 9a and Fig.
  • service requestor 10a may rank 180 service provider 10b after which time client application 100 terminates Service requestors 10a may therefore obtain a display of a rank dialog 200 and be allowed to provide quantitative and qualitative feedback 210 on service provider 10b Feedback may mclude knowledge, responsiveness, patience, ease of access, quality of service, and the like Additionally, client application 100, PD 32, or other processes may track other items such as actual tune online, data packet turn around, use of tools such as whiteboards, and the like One or more algo ⁇ thms 240 may then mampulate these quantitative and qualitative feedback measurements mto weightmg factors which are merged or combined with and/or otherwise replace the existmg weightmg factors 241 associated with the node m
  • SUBSTTTUTE SHEET (RULE 26) taxonomy 60 representing the service provider Service requestors 10a are allowed to provide quantitative and qualitative feedback on service provider 10b to server 30, mcludmg responsiveness to the service request, applicability of service provider 10b to a service requested, ease of access to and quality of responsiveness from service provider 10b, and the like Server 30 will update the history 182 of service provider 10b with ranking information and other information such as length of time spent peer-to-peer
  • Client application 100 may also provide an option allowing service requestors 10a to record information about one or more service providers 10b, including by way of example and not limitation biographical information, session information, histo ⁇ cal data, statistical data, and any combmation thereof Service requestors, 10a may add to a list of favo ⁇ tes and even contact service providers 10b on the favo ⁇ tes list directly
  • server 30 may update database 40 with information from the peer-to-peer session such as quest ⁇ on(s) posed and answer(s) received
  • Client application 100 may be responsible for maintaining state information for that client, e g logm information, favo ⁇ te service providers, and history, generatmg and routmg commumcations requests to the server, and generatmg and routmg commumcations requests to another client
  • service requestors 10a and service providers 10b may nommate other end users or service providers to be service providers
  • service providers may be experts m one or more fields, and end users may nommate another end user as an expert. An end user may even nommate him or herself to be an expert
  • a moderator can join an end user - service provider session either passively or actively, and monitor the session
  • the moderator - which may be another end user or another service provider - may remove the first service provider from
  • SUBST ⁇ TUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the session, for example if the first service provider is being rude, unprofessional, or inadequate Accordingly, moderators may be visible or invisible to the participants
  • Figs. 10a, 10b, 10c, lOd and lOe illustrate the handling of the conferencing operation between a service requestor 10a and service provider 10b More particularly, Fig. 10a shows the procedure whereby the system starts a conference Service requestor 10a initiates a request, which is received 400 by the server 30
  • the server 30 determines if the node id to which the conference belongs is valid 405 If it is not valid, the server 30 builds a failure reply 410, and the reply is sent to the service requestor 10a If the node id is valid, the server 30 generates a umque conference id number 420, stores information about the conference 425, stores the creator of the conference 430, adds the conference id to the reference node in the knowledge space 435, builds a success reply 440, adds the conference id to the reply 445, and sends the reply 415
  • FIG. 10b A procedure for joining a conference is shown in Fig. 10b Referring thereto, the server 30 receives a request 449 The server then determines if the conference id from the XML tree identifies a valid conference 450 If not, a failure reply is built 455 and sent to the service requestor 460 If the conference id is valid, the user id is added the list of participants of the conference 465, a success reply is built 470 and sent 460
  • Fig. 10c shows a procedure for leavmg a conference
  • server 30 receives a leave request 475, it determines from the XML tree if the conference id identifies a valid conference 480 If it does not, the server builds a failure reply 485 and sends the reply 490 If the conference id is valid, the user is removed from the list of participants 495, a success reply is built 496, and sent to the user 10
  • server 30 determines if the node id is a valid node id in the knowledge space 505 If it is not, a failure reply is built 510 and transmitted 515
  • Fig. lOe depicts the routine for ending a conference.
  • the server 30 determines if the conference id is valid and within a list of ongoing conferences. If it is not, a failure reply is generated 540 and transmitted 545. If the conference id is valid and ongoing, then for each node id that has the conference id associated with it, the conference id on such node is removed 550. Then, all user id's stored on the server for the conference id are removed 555, and the conference is removed from the list of ongoing conferences 560. A success reply is generated 565 and sent to the user 545. In another embodiment of the present invention, users can call for additional help if the cunent help has not satisfied the need of the user. Additionally, secure transactions are provided for by the system in a means familiar to persons of ordinary skill in the art.
  • SUBSTTTUTE SHEET (RULE 26) thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

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Abstract

L'invention porte sur un procédé et un système permettant d'interfacer en ligne et en temps réel des utilisateurs à des experts idoines via un réseau informatique tel qu'Internet. Les utilisateurs recherchant un type donné d'assistance se voient proposer une liste des experts disponibles qu'ils consultent pour sélectionner un expert. La sélection faite, l'utilisateur et l'expert sont reliés en temps réel pour permettre à l'expert de résoudre la question intéressant l'utilisateur. Le système peut gérer les paiements qui dont débités soit à l'utilisateur, soit à l'entité qui a contacté l'expert ou le prestataire du système.
PCT/US2000/030314 1999-11-05 2000-11-03 Appareil et procede dirigeant selectivement des utilisateurs vers des experts via un reseau informatique WO2001035272A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU14594/01A AU1459401A (en) 1999-11-05 2000-11-03 Apparatus and method for selective routing of users to experts over a network ofcomputers

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US16390099P 1999-11-05 1999-11-05
US60/163,900 1999-11-05

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WO2001035272A3 WO2001035272A3 (fr) 2003-12-31

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