WO2001080116A1

WO2001080116A1 - System and method for providing information in response to queries

Info

Publication number: WO2001080116A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/011161
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrew K. Reilly; Brendan T. Reilly
Original assignee: Raging Knowledge, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-04-12
Filing date: 2001-04-05
Publication date: 2001-10-25
Also published as: WO2001080116A9; AU2001251363A1

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and system for providing a party, such as an information technology professional, a response to a query initiated by the party. A plurality of experts are provided, and profile of each expert are compiled. Further, a profile relevant to the needs of each party having access to the informational services of the invention is produced. Upon the receipt of a query, a subset of the experts are selected based on a comparrison of the profile of the inquiring party with the profiles of the experts, and the query is selected to the selected experts. Any response received from the selected experts is then transmitted to the party who initiated the query.

Description

IN RESPONSE TO QUERIES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to methods for providing informational services. More particularly, the invention provides methods and system for obtaining responses by a plurality of experts to a party with a query.

Persons in various fields routinely need expert advice regarding problems that arise in their jobs. For example, information technology (IT) professionals, in particular those who manage complex computer systems, face daily challenges in utilizing and/or managing an increasing variety of hardware and software systems. An IT manager may occasionally or frequently need the advice of an expert who specializes in a particular hardware and/or software system. It is not, however, easy to obtain such expert advice in a timely fashion. Further, it can be difficult and time-consuming to identify and negotiate with an expert who may be willing to provide consulting services. This is exacerbated by the fact that an IT professional typically manages disparate variety of hardware and software systems, thus necessitating access to a relatively large number of experts having different types of expertise.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a timely response by one or more experts to a query by a party.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for providing expert response to a query, e.g., initiated by a subscriber to an informational service. A service provider, as used herein, refers to an entity, such a company or a group of individuals, that supplies informational services according to the methods of the present invention. In one aspect of the invention, a party can access such services by subscription from a service provider, such as ITInfoSource.com company of Connecticut, USA. The terms 'party' and 'subscriber' are used herein interchangeably to refer to an individual who has access to the informational services provided according to the method of the invention.

The method includes the step of providing a plurality of experts with expertise relevant to the needs of the subscriber. A profile of each expert and also a profile subscriber, a subset of the experts is selected based on a comparison of the profile relevant to the needs of the subscriber with the profiles of the experts. The comparison criteria primarily favor those experts whose expertise relate to the subject matter of the query. An alert, for example, an e-mail, is transmitted to these selected experts to inform them that a query is posted. A response from at least one of the selected experts is then transmitted to the subscriber.

In a related aspect of the invention, each subscriber is charged a flat monthly subscription fee. In addition, each expert can be paid a base salary and/or can be provided a bonus (either in cash or with non-cash rewards) in a manner described below.

According to further aspects of the invention, a subscriber may optionally indicate the time period during which a response is needed. For example, a subscriber may indicate that a response is needed within two hours. If the time period is below a selected threshold, the subscriber may be charged an additional fee. According to a related aspect of the invention, if none of the initially selected experts provides a response to the subscriber's query within a pre-defined time period, the query is re- reported; this time to a larger subset of experts chosen based on a less stringent selection criteria. As above, a response received from at least one of these experts is then transmitted to the subscriber.

In a system according to foregoing aspects of the invention, a subscriber typically receives more than one response to a query. If the responses are different, the subscriber can select one that is most suitable. According to a related aspect of the invention, the subscriber is prompted to inform the service provider which response was selected.

Further aspects of the invention provide methods as described above in which an expert whose response was selected by the subscriber is awarded a bonus. In still other aspects, feedback from subscribers can be employed to form a database of the queries and the responses selected by the subscribers to address the underlying problems.

In other relates aspects, the invention provides informational services to IT professionals. That is, a subscriber who initiates the query is an information technology computer system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods of the invention are not limited to providing informational services to IT professionals. For example, the methods of the invention can be utilized to provide informational services to legal professionals, medical professionals, engineers, etc.

When the subscriber is an IT professional, the profile relevant to the needs of the subscriber can include, for example, information regarding particular hardware systems, software systems and the computer peripherals that the party employs. In addition, the information regarding a hardware system can include, for example, information related to the type of a server, the number of processors, and the amount of memory of the system. The information regarding the software systems of the subscriber can relate to both system software and application software. Such information can include, for example, the type of operating system or the type of database systems that the professional employs. It is understood that the system of the invention can be configured to utilize any other information that may be relevant to the needs of a particular IT professional.

In further aspects, the profile of each expert can include information regarding the expertise of the expert, and the amount of experience that the expert has in particular areas. For example, the profile of an expert who provides advice to IT professionals includes the types of hardware and software systems within the scope of the expert's expertise.

In another aspect, the invention provides a system for providing a subscriber a response to a query initiated by the subscriber. The system includes a plurality of experts whose profiles, obtained according to the teachings of the invention, are stored in a storage medium, preferably a computer readable storage medium such as a hard disk, a CD-ROM, or any other suitable medium. The system also stores a profile of each subscriber. The system further includes at least one communication channel for providing access to the Internet. A subscriber can employ the Internet to transmit a query to the system.

According to further aspects of the invention, the system further includes a software that selects a subset of the experts based upon a comparison of the profile of an inquiring subscriber with the profiles of the experts, upon receipt of a query from a received from at least one of the selected experts is transmitted to the subscriber.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a flow chart depicting various steps for practicing an illustrative embodiment of the method of the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary computer interface element presented to a subscriber to allow the subscriber to transmit a query to a service provider; and

Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary system for implementing a method according to the teachings of the present invention,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention provides methods and systems for facilitating and providing expert response to a query, which is typically initiated by a party. Without any loss of generality, in the illustrative embodiments of the invention described below, the party who initiates the query is an information technology (IT) professional. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods of the invention are not limited to providing informational services to IT professionals, and can be also utilized to provide such services to other persons or otherwise. For example, the methods of the invention can be utilized to provide informational services to legal professionals who need information regarding legal issues.

FIGURE 1 is a flowchart 10 depicting the various steps of an illustrative embodiment for practicing a method according to the teachings of the invention for providing informational services to a number of subscribers. In step 12, a subscriber, such as an IT professional, initiates a query by transmitting a question to the service provider. The IT professional can optionally indicate the time period during which an answer to the query is needed. For example, if the subscriber needs a response urgently, a time period of the order of a few hours may be selected. A service provider may charge a subscriber partiy based on how urgently a response is required. For subscription fee, if a response is required within only a few hours.

In step 14, the profile relevant to the needs of the subscriber and the profiles of the experts, which are typically stored in any suitable database system, are accessed. These are experts who are dispersed and otherwise unrelated, but whose expertise relate to the needs of the individuals who subscribe to the informational services of a service provider. Alternatively, these are experts drawn from personnel or members of an organization, such as a corporation, in which the inquiring party is employed or otherwise associated. If the subscriber's needs relate to IT issues, the experts are selected to have expertise relating to various hardware and software systems.

For each expert, a profile is created that includes information regarding the expert's knowledge base and the scope and the depth of the expert's expertise. For example, when the subscribers are IT professionals, the profile of each expert includes information regarding the types of hardware and software systems with which the expert is familiar. Such information can include, for example, the types of application and/or system software with which the expert is familiar.

For each subscriber, a profile is compiled that relates to the needs of that particular subscriber. The terms 'a profile relevant to the needs of the subscriber' and 'a profile of the subscriber' are used interchangeably herein to refer to such a profile of a subscriber. For example, when the subscriber is an IT professional, such a profile can include, among other elements, information regarding die hardware and the software systems that the professional routinely employs. Further, the profile of the IT professional can include the internal configuration of the hardware, the operating system, application software, peripheral devices, and the networking protocol that the IT professional employs.

In a preferred embodiment, the subscribers are periodically prompted to update their profiles to reflect any changes in their needs. For example, if a subscriber is an IT manager, the profile can be updated to include any new software system under the supervision of the manager. based on a pre-defined set of criteria such as those discussed below, results in selecting a subset of the experts who will be notified of the query.

The comparison criteria is advantageously designed to maximize the likelihood that the selected experts are able to respond to the query. For example, if the party's query relates to a particular database system, the comparison criteria favors an expert who has expertise relevant to that particular database system.

In step 18, the selected experts are alerted that a subscriber has posted a query. For example, an e-mail can be sent to each of the selected experts to alert the expert that a subscriber has submitted a query. In this preferred illustrative embodiment, the query itself is not transmitted to the selected experts, but rather the selected experts are alerted that the query has been posted. This advantageously allows each of the selected experts to decide to either ignore the query or to look up the query on the service provider's computer system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that it is possible to transmit the query itself to each of the selected experts. Thus, an embodiment that transmits the query itself to each of the selected experts is within the scope of the present invention.

If a response from at least one of the selected experts is received within a predefined time period, for example the time period selected by the initiating party, in step 20, the response is transmitted to the subscriber. However, if none of the selected experts provides an answer within the pre-defined time period, in step 22, a larger number of experts, based on a modified and less stringent selection criteria, are chosen. In step 24, the query is transmitted to this larger subset of the experts. Any answer received from these experts is then transmitted to the inquiring party.

The IT professional typically receives more than one response to the submitted query. If the responses differ from each other, the IT professional may try the different proposed solutions to select the one that is most suitable. Alternatively, the IT professional may choose one of the proposed solutions that appears most promising, for example based on the IT professional's experience and/or expertise.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the inquiring subscriber is prompted to inform the service provider which one of the responses provided by the selected experts was selected. For example, a few hours after a number of responses are the subscriber to provide this information to the service provider. The method of the invention calls for employing this feedback information in a number of ways. For example, an expert whose response to a subscriber's query was selected can be awarded a bonus. Such a bonus not only encourages the selected experts to participate in responding to posted queries, but also provides additional incentives for those who are particularly talented to continue their participation.

In addition, the feedback information provided by the subscribers can be collated in a database. Such a database provides information regarding the types of responses that were selected for particular queries. Such a database (or access to the database) can be, for example, sold to third parties. Alternatively, such a database can assist the experts in providing responses to common queries.

FIGURE 2 depicts an exemplary computer interface element 26 that an embodiment of the invention provides to an IT professional who intends to initiate a query. The illustrative interface element 26 allows the IT professional to specify whether the query relates to the party's hardware, software, networking system, or whether it relates to the party's computer peripherals. To accommodate a party who considers that the query can be better characterized as relating to a category other than these four, the interface element 26 includes a dialogue box 26a that allows the party to specify other categories.

The interface element 26 further allows the party to indicate the degree of urgency for obtaining a response to the query. In particular, the party can specify the time period during which a response is needed. In this illustrative embodiment, the party can specify whether the response is needed within 2, 4, 8, 12, or 24 hours. In one preferred embodiment of the invention, a subscriber who needs a response to a query urgently, for example, within two hours, is charged an additional fee. For example, a graduated fee schedule can be employed such that the additional fee increases as the urgency of a query increases.

A dialogue box 26b, designated as Situation, allows the party to describe the background information relating to the party's inquiry. For example, the party is prompted to describe the system components that relate to the inquiry, and to describe the current situation of the system. Another dialogue box 26c, designated as Problem, response. For example, the subscriber may have difficulty installing a software on a platform, or may have difficulty with a particular hardware component. These problems can be described in the dialogue box 26c.

A dialogue box 26d, designated as Desired Context of Response, allows the subscriber to describe the manner in which a response is needed. For example, the subscriber can indicate that the response must describe the required steps for re-booting a linux server. Upon providing the requisite information relating to the query, the subscriber can employ an interface element 26e to submit the query to the service provider.

The interface element 26 can be accessible, for example, on a website of the service provider. This advantageously allows a subscriber to submit a query at any time that the subscriber faces a problem. For example, an IT professional is not limited to business hours to utilize the informational services provided according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 illustrates an exemplary system 28 for implementing a method according to the teachings of the invention. A number of subscribers 30a, 30b,... have access to the informational services according to the teachings of the invention that a service provider supplies. The service provider typically charges each subscriber a flat monthly fee for having access to its services. Each subscriber can contact the service provider through a messaging network, such as the Internet. In this illustrative example, a communication channel 32a, such as an ISDN line, connects the subscriber 30a the Internet. Thus, the subscriber 30a, can access a web page 34a residing on a server 34 of the service provider to access a computer interface element, such as the interface element 26 (FIGURE 2), described above, which allows the subscriber to submit a query to the service provider.

The service provider employs the services of a plurality of experts 36a, 36b, 36c, ... in the relevant field, for example information technology, to provide responses to queries initiated by the subscribers. A plurality of communication channels, such as illustrative channels 38a, 38b, 38c, ..., connect the experts to the Internet to allow each expert to communicate with the server 34 of the service provider. above, and stores these profiles, for example, in a computer readable medium 34b. As discussed above, the profile of each expert relates to the scope of the expert's expertise. In addition, the service provider compiles profiles relevant to the needs of each subscriber, and stores such profiles on a storage medium, such as the storage medium 34b.

Upon the receipt of a query from a subscriber, such as the subscriber 30a, a comparison software 34c accesses the stored profiles of the subscriber and those of the experts; and compares these profiles to select a subset of the experts, for example the experts 36a and 36b. The selection criteria affords the highest priority to those experts who have expertise in the particular hardware and/or software that is the subject of the subscriber's query. For example, if the query relates to a particular database system, the selection criteria primarily searches for those experts whose profiles indicate that they have expertise related to the database system.

Upon selecting a subset of the experts, an alert signal, such as an e-mail, is transmitted to each of the selected experts, e.g., the experts 36b and 36c, to inform them that a query has been posted. Any of the selected experts who desires to view the query can simply connect to the server 34 and access the query. One preferred embodiment of the invention stores the queries in a secured data file that can only be accessed by the experts. For example, each expert is provided with a password that allows the expert to access the data file that contains the queries.

If any of the selected experts provides an answer to the query within a time period designated by the subscriber, the answer is transmitted to the subscriber. Alternatively, an alert signal, such as an e-mail, can be transmitted to the subscriber indicating that one or more responses to the subscriber's query are available on the service provider's system, such as the illustrative server 34. The subscriber can then contact the service provider to view the posted responses.

In the event that none of the selected experts provides an answer within the designated time period, the comparison software 34c selects a larger number of experts based on a less stringent comparison criteria. An alert signal, or the query itself, is then transmitted to these newly selected experts. Any response received from this second subset of experts is transmitted to the inquiring subscriber. implementing the methods of the invention reside on a single server, it is clear that a distributed architecture can also be employed to implement the methods of the invention.

The system of the invention advantageously allows a subscriber to utilize the expertise of a large number of experts in a cost and time efficient manner. Furtlier, the method and system of the invention allow a subscriber to have access to such experts at any time that a problem may arise. For example, by enlisting the services of experts located in different time zones, a service provider can provide informational services to a subscriber in real time during hours when most local experts are likely to be unavailable. This is particularly advantageous in industries, such as information technology, that operate 24 hours per day.

One skilled in the art will appreciate further features and advantages of the invention based on the above-described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited by the particular embodiments shown and described herein, which are merely exemplary of the invention. All publications and references cited herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

What is claimed is:

Claims

1. A method for providing a response to a query initiated by a subscriber, comprising

creating a profile relevant to the subscriber, selecting, from among a plurality of experts, a first subset of said experts based on a comparison of the profile relevant to the subscriber with profiles of the plurality of experts, posting the query and transmitting an alert to the selected subset of experts to inform them thereof, and transmitting at least one response received from at least one of said selected subset of experts to the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said alert is an e-mail.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of charging the subscriber a subscription fee.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of prompting the subscriber to indicate which of a plurality of responses was selected.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the- step of awarding a bonus to an expert whose response was employed by the subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber indicates a time period by which a response is required.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of charging the subscriber an additional fee if the time period for response is less than a selected threshold.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of selecting a second subset of experts if no response is received from the first subset of experts within said time period, said second subset being selected based on comparison of the profile relevant to the subscriber with profiles of experts by utilizing a less stringent selection criteria to include the first subset and additional experts, transmitting the query to said second subset of experts, and transmitting a response received from any of said second subset of experts to the subscriber.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparison is based on criteria that afford a highest priority to experts having expertise related to the subject matter of the query.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of dynamically creating a database for storing each query and a response thereto utilized by the subscriber.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said subscriber is an IT professional.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding a hardware system that the professional employs.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding a server that the professional employs.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding an operating system that the server employs.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding the number of processors that the server has.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding the amount of memory of the server.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding a system software that the professional employs.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding an application software that the professional employs.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the profile relevant to the needs of the IT professional includes information regarding a database system that the professional employs.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the profile of each of said experts includes information regarding hardware systems within the scope of the expert's expertise.

21. The method of claim 11 , wherein the profile of each of said experts includes information regarding software systems within the scope of the expert's expertise.

22. A system for providing a subscriber a response to a query initiated by the subscriber, comprising a plurality of experts, storage for maintaining a profile relevant to needs of the subscriber and for maintaining a profile of each of said experts, a software-controlled mechanism configured to access said profiles and to select a number of said experts based on a comparison of the profile relevant to the need of the subscriber with the profiles of the experts, and a communication channel for providing access to the Internet, wherein the subscriber transmits the query via the Internet to the system, and the system informs the selected experts of the query and transmits any response from the selected experts to the subscriber.