US2014025477A1PendingUtilityA1

Incenting Answer Quality

46
Individually held — no corporate assignee on recordPriority: Jul 19, 2012Filed: Aug 1, 2013Published: Jan 23, 2014
Est. expiryJul 19, 2032(~6 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Benjamin P. Dimock
G06Q 30/0217G06Q 30/0239
46
PatentIndex Score
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Claims

Abstract

Methods, computer program products, and systems are described for online content management. Online content in the form of answer sets are exposed to a user posing a question to a question and answer service. The question and answer service causes an award amount to be debited from an account associated with the user. The question and answer service receives a user input that (i) selects one or more answers from the answer set, and (ii) specifies a distribution of a portion of the award amount among the selected answers.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 exposing, to a user of a question and answer service, an answer set for a question chosen by the user;   causing, by the question and answer service, an award amount to be debited from an account associated with the user;   receiving a user input that (i) selects one or more answers from the answer set, and (ii) specifies a distribution of a portion of the award amount among the selected answers; and   causing, by the question and answer service, the portion of the award amount to be distributed to one or more other users associated with the selected answers according to the distribution.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising, in response to receiving the user input, causing, by the question and answer service, another portion of the award amount to be credited to an account associated with an operator of the question and answer service. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the other portion represents a vigorish. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising causing, by the question and answer service, a remainder of the award amount that is not distributed to the one or more other users to be credited to an account associated with an operator of the question and answer service. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving one or more keywords entered by the user prior to exposing an answer set; and   exposing, to the user of the question and answer service, multiple questions matching one or more of the keywords entered by the user.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user input further includes a user-entered rating of the answer set. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing user-supplied information as metadata in association with all of the answers in the answer set. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing user-supplied information as metadata in association with one or more of the selected answers of the answer set. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting a representation of the metadata associated with the answer set before the answer set is exposed. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the remainder of the award amount that is not distributed to the one or more other users within a predetermined amount of time is automatically credited to the operator of the question and answer service. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the answer set comprises two or more answers. 
     
     
         12 . A system comprising:
 one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
 exposing, to a user of a question and answer service, an answer set for a question chosen by the user; 
 causing, by the question and answer service, an award amount to be debited from an account associated with the user; 
 receiving a user input that (i) selects one or more answers from the answer set, and (ii) specifies a distribution of a portion of the award amount among the selected answers; and 
 causing, by the question and answer service, the portion of the award amount to be distributed to one or more other users associated with the selected answers according to the distribution. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise, in response to receiving the user input, causing, by the question and answer service, another portion of the award amount to be credited to an account associated with an operator of the question and answer service. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the other portion represents a vigorish. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise causing, by the question and answer service, a remainder of the award amount that is not distributed to the one or more other users to be credited to an account associated with an operator of the question and answer service. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving one or more keywords entered by the user prior to exposing an answer set; and   exposing, to the user of the question and answer service, multiple questions matching one or more of the keywords entered by the user.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the user input further includes a user-entered rating of the answer set. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise storing user-supplied information as metadata in association with all of the answers in the answer set. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise storing user-supplied information as metadata in association with one or more of the selected answers of the answer set. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
 exposing, to a user of a question and answer service, an answer set for a question chosen by the user;   causing, by the question and answer service, an award amount to be debited from an account associated with the user;   receiving a user input that (i) selects one or more answers from the answer set, and (ii) specifies a distribution of a portion of the award amount among the selected answers; and   causing, by the question and answer service, the portion of the award amount to be distributed to one or more other users associated with the selected answers according to the distribution.

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