Automated system and method for managing a process for the shopping and selection of human entities

Abstract

This invention is a system and method for automatically managing a multi-step process in which human providers are selected for some purpose. Typical applications include the selection process associated with employment and dating services. The invention is directed to linking and coordinating the various steps of the selection process through automated sequencing, coordinating, tracking and status reporting processes. The interviewee answers questions that are printed, displayed, or spoken by an automated mechanism or questions are printed or displayed for use by a tester or interviewer. Answers can be written, spoken, or entered directly into a system by the interviewee. The invention provides a system and method for automatically scoring and ranking human providers with respect to selection criteria, making use of expert system concepts. Human shoppers are matched up and the usefulness of each match is scored on the basis of stated selection criteria of each human shopper.

1 . A system wherein a requester places an order for at least one provider and a degree of matching between each order-provider pairing is computed, the system comprising:
 a data storage device to receive and store user information from at least one user, the user information including requester information that specifies requester criteria, provider information that specifies provider criteria, and order information that specifies order criteria provided by the requester for that particular order;   a virtual provider that is created by pairing provider information of a particular provider with order information of a particular order to create an informational pair; and   an iterative scoring system that compares the provider information of a particular provider and the order information of a particular order within each respective informational pair, that determines a score reflecting degree of matching for each respective informational pair, and that receives additional information for iterative rescoring with or without requesting said additional information.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the score is computed from a predetermined formula which includes at least one of user-specified criteria, user-specified weighting factors, and user-specified relative importance of respective criteria. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the iterative scoring system determines scores based in part on degree of clustering of keywords in information provided. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the degree of clustering of keywords in information provided is at least one of (a) information provided by at least one of the requester, the at least one provider, and a third party and (b) information contained in at least one of an application, a biography, and a resume submitted by the at least one provider. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the iterative scoring system considers the degree of matching through multiple steps including receiving and inputting user information and optionally requesting the user information. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the system further comprises (a) a management system that tracks each virtual provider through the multiple steps and (b) a sequencing system that specifies contents of each step of the multiple steps. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , further comprising a timer that allocates a pre-determined time to complete at least one of the multiple steps. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the system sends an alarm indicating that a predetermined time period has lapsed without requisite action. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the alarm is sent to at least one individual recipient selected from the group consisting of the requester, the provider, a third party, and an operator of the system, the alarm is classified as either a warning alarm or an urgent alarm, and the alarm is sent to the at least one individual recipient based on whether the respective at least one individual recipient has access to warning alarms or to urgent alarms. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the contents of each step of the multiple steps at least includes instructions to at least one of (a) the requester regarding the input of additional requester information and (b) the provider regarding the input of additional provider information, and wherein the sequencing system provides default content of a step. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the default content is modified by the requester. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a rescoring system that automatically corrects the scores based on correction factors. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the correction factors are derived from at least one of interviewing the provider, objective testing of the provider, and reference checking of the provider's information. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a device to request information which is one of (a) an avatar which is an animated image generated automatically by the system or (b) a simulated interviewer. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising a device to accept verbal input, and wherein information is provided as verbal input and the system converts the verbal input to digital form. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a device to request information which is one of (a) an avatar which is an animated image generated automatically by the system or (b) a simulated interviewer. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a device to accept verbal input, and wherein information is provided as verbal input and the system converts the verbal input to digital form. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a reporting system that at least one of (a) sends status messages to the requester regarding the status of a particular order in the system, and (b) sends status messages to providers regarding the status of the virtual providers relating to respective providers in the system. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a billing system that bills the requester based on at least one of (a) number of providers that have been matched with said requester, (b) number of orders during a period of time from said requester, and (c) the number of iterations. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a knowledge base containing information on which to base requests for information which are generated by the system.