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. Opinion information may be invaluable as a tool for monitoring events.

1 . A method for conducting an online information brokering service, the method comprising acts of:
 permitting a creation of a ticket by at least one user, the ticket comprising at least one observation generated by a user;   classifying the ticket by associating one or more tags to the ticket; and   locating the ticket based upon the one or more tags.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising an act of determining, by a computer system, one or more suggested tags for classifying the ticket, and displaying to the user as the ticket is being created the one or more suggested tags. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising determining, based on a description associated with the ticket, the one or more suggested tags. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , further comprising an act of displaying to the user in real-time, the one or more suggested tags as the description associated with the ticket is created by the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising an act of permitting the user to associate the one or more tags with the ticket. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising an act of permitting the user to accept at least one of the one or more suggested tags. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising an act of searching one or more databases to determine whether a similar ticket exists, the act of searching being based at least in part on the one or more tags. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising an act of determining, based on the search, whether the ticket is unique among a plurality of previously-created tickets. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising an act of determining one or more related tags associated with the one or more tags, and presenting the one or more related tags to the user. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising acts of:
 presenting, by a computer system, the ticket to a plurality of users;   accepting, from each of the plurality of users, a respective opinion regarding the ticket; and   determining a consensus of opinion among a plurality of users regarding the at least one observation of the ticket.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the computer system accepts a plurality of user opinions relating to the created ticket. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising an act of presenting one or more similar tickets to the user. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising an act of presenting one or more users that authored the one or more similar tickets to the user. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising an act of displaying, to the user, an indication of the number of tickets associated with a particular tag. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising an act of permitting the user to locate similar tickets relating to the displayed number of tickets.