System for targeting specific users to discussion threads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9514435-B2
Application number	US-54248609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2009
Priority date	Aug 17, 2009
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

The present invention is directed to provide a method and system for targeting individuals and providing a reference to a discussion in a discussion forum. A method is described herein that allows a user of an integrated discussion forum interface to initiate the generation of a direct, navigable reference to a thread or message in the discussion forum to one or more targeted individuals. By generating a direct, navigable reference to the thread or message, the system may advantageously facilitate the directed solicitation of targeted individuals while leveraging the accessibility, reusability, and available knowledge base of a traditional public forum.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic system for referring targeted individuals to a discussion forum, the electronic system comprised in an integrated application implemented as computer-readable instructions executable by a processor in a computing device, and comprising:
a first graphical user interface displaying the discussion forum, the discussion forum arranged as a plurality of discussion topics respectively coupled to a plurality of displays of respective user-generated contents corresponding to the plurality of discussion topics;
a second graphical user interface navigable from the first graphical user interface and displaying a user-generated content of the respective user-generated contents corresponding to a discussion topic of the plurality of discussion topics, the second graphical user interface comprising:
a display of the user-generated content comprising a plurality of messages respectively received from a plurality of contributing users and identifications of the plurality of contributing users,
a user input terminal for receiving a first user input to append a message to the plurality of messages in the display of the user-generated content,
an address input terminal for receiving a second user input identifying one or more targeted individuals, and
a feedback tool comprising a positive selector and a negative selector,

wherein the integrated application is configured to perform operations comprising:
automatically associating each of the plurality of messages with one or more pre-defined classes based on an association of the one or more pre-defined classes with the discussion topic,
receiving one or more feedbacks respectively from one or more viewing users of the electronic system via the positive selector and the negative selector of the feedback tool, the one or more feedbacks respectively comprising subjective characterizations of one or more of the plurality of messages,
tracking the one or more feedbacks in association with one or more contributing users of the plurality of contributing users of the one or more of the plurality of messages according to numbers of messages respectively contributed to the discussion forum with respect to areas of expertise of the one or more contributing users,
displaying the areas of expertise of the one or more contributing users in one or more user content panels associated with one or more respective user accounts of the one or more contributing users based on the one or more feedbacks that are tracked, and
displaying one or more sets of statistics associated with the areas of expertise of the one or more contributing users in the one or more user content panels, the one or more sets of statistics based on the one or more feedbacks that are tracked, ratios based on the subjective characterizations of the one or more feedbacks, and total historical numbers of contributions provided to the discussion forum by the one or more contributing users.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first graphical user interface is comprised on a website.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the website comprises a plurality of web pages corresponding to the plurality of discussion topics, and further wherein a web page of the plurality of web pages corresponds to the second interface.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein a notification is delivered to the plurality of targeted individuals, and wherein the notification comprises a link to the second graphical user interface.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the link comprises a hyperlink to the web page of the second interface.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the notification is sent via email.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the address input terminal is configured to receive as user input a plurality of email-addresses corresponding to the plurality of targeted individuals.

8. An electronic system for referring targeted individuals to a discussion forum in a social network interface, the electronic system comprised in an integrated social network application implemented as computer-readable instructions executed by a processor in a computing system, the social network interface comprising:
a plurality of user accounts respectively corresponding to members of a social network;
a discussion forum comprising a discussion forum interface displaying a plurality of topics; and
a plurality of discussion threads respectively corresponding to the plurality of topics and comprising a plurality of discussion thread interfaces coupled to the discussion forum interface, each discussion thread interface of the plurality of discussion thread interfaces comprising:
a thread display for displaying a plurality of forum messages respectively corresponding to a discussion thread of the plurality of discussion threads and identifying user accounts of the plurality of user accounts respectively corresponding to the plurality of forum messages, the plurality of forum messages respectively comprising user-generated contents;
a first graphical user interface for receiving a user input to create a forum message, the forum message being appended to the plurality of forum messages in the thread display, and
a second graphical user interface for targeting one or more identified members of the social network, and
a feedback tool comprising a positive selector and a negative selector,

wherein the integrated social network application is configured to perform operations comprising:
automatically associating each of the plurality of forum messages with one or more pre-defined classes based on an association of the one or more pre-defined classes with the discussion thread,
receiving one or more feedbacks respectively from one or more viewing users of the plurality of forum messages via the positive selector and the negative selector of the feedback tool, the one or more feedbacks respectively corresponding to one or more of the plurality of messages and comprising subjective characterizations of the one or more of the plurality of forum messages,
tracking the one or more feedbacks respectively in association with one or more of the plurality of user accounts according to numbers of forum messages respectively contributed to the discussion form with respect to areas of expertise associated with the one or more of the plurality of user accounts,
displaying the areas of expertise in one or more user content panels associated with the one or more of the plurality of user accounts based on the one or more feedbacks that are tracked, and
displaying one or more sets of statistics associated with the areas of expertise of the one or more of the plurality of user accounts in the one or more user content panels, the one or more sets of statistics based on the one or more feedbacks that are tracked, ratios based on the subjective characterizations of the one or more feedbacks, and total historical numbers of contributions provided to the discussion forum by one or more members of the social network associated with the one or more of the plurality of user accounts.

9. The system of claim 8 , the system further comprising:
a plurality of electronic message interfaces corresponding to the plurality of user accounts.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein a notification is delivered to the plurality of user accounts corresponding to the plurality of identified members of the social network and wherein the notification is delivered to the plurality of electronic message interfaces corresponding to the plurality of user accounts corresponding to the plurality of identified members of the social network.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein a forum message comprises

Assignees

• Nguyen David T
• Accenture Global Services Ltd

Inventors

• Nguyen David T

Classifications

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title