Method and apparatus for conducting an information brokering service

Abstract

A system and method is provided that provides an early indication of consensus of opinion among a number of users regarding an event or observation indicated by a user. Such an opinion may be interesting to an information consumer, who may be interested in determining the outcome of the consensus relating to the event or observation, or may otherwise desire to perform surveillance or survey of a particular issue or subject. Such recognition of early events or observations may be useful in different areas, such as healthcare, finance, etc., where initial observations, if provided early, allow resulting decisions to be made much earlier. The opinion may, for instance, be used as an early indicator of problem with a product, company, etc. that would permit an information consumer to perform an action at a much earlier point than if he / she relied on traditional sources of information. Thus, such opinion information may be invaluable as a tool for monitoring events.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 697,213, entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING IDEAS, PREDICTING OUTCOMES, GENERATING REVENUE, AND PROCESSING DATA IN A SELECTIVE MECHANISM,” filed on Jul. 7, 2005, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The field of the invention relates to online information systems, and more specifically, to online systems having communities of users that share ideas. [0004] 2. Discussion of the Related Art [0005] The phenomenon of like-minded people going online to share ideas, trade, or compete is well-accepted. In moving from the physical world to the digital one, users create virtual “communities” where they are bound together by the similarities of their interests or activities, rather than the proximity of their location. These communities can take any number of...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a system and method for determining the consensus of opinion among users regarding an event or observation. This early indication of opinion can be useful in various areas such as healthcare, finance, and research. The system allows users to submit their observations and opinions, and other users to vote on these observations. The system provides incentives for users to create and vote on observations, and disincentives for users to exploit the system. The system also allows users to propose new responses and change their vote after submitting it. Overall, the system provides a valuable tool for monitoring and analyzing user behavior and can help make informed decisions."

Problems solved by technology

However, conventional social networking systems or other online communities are insufficient for determining what information is likely to be quality information versus a random or incorrect observation or prediction.

That is, it is appreciated that such conventional systems are incapable of distinguishing quality data from noise.

Also, such networks do not provide proper incentive for experts to contribute quality information in particular subject areas that would be interesting to information consumers (e.g., corporations, equity traders, etc.).

Further, prediction markets are insufficient for advancing original ideas and observations, as predictive events are defined in such systems by a system operator and users can only vote on the predictive events set forth by the system operator.

Thus, such systems may not be used to submit and foster the ideas and observations originated by users.

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