Patent ID: 9355184
Filing Date: 2016-05-31
CPC Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L,Y10S

Claim Text:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: maintaining, on one or more computer-readable storage devices, a plurality of different rating groups, each rating group providing a rating that relates to at least one piece of electronic content; receiving, from a first user, a request to form a new rating group and an identification of two or more user characteristics required of users to join the new rating group and submit ratings to the new rating group; forming the new rating group based on the request; adding the new rating group to the maintained plurality of rating groups; receiving rating information evaluating a piece of electronic content from one or more additional users; determining, by at least one processor, if the one or more additional users possess any of the two or more user characteristics required to join the new rating group and submit ratings to the new rating group; if the one or more additional users possess at least one of the user characteristics, adding, by the at least one processor, the one or more additional users and the rating information evaluating the piece of electronic content to the new rating group; if the one or more additional users do not possess any of the two or more user characteristics, denying, by the at least one processor, the one or more additional users access to the new rating group; weighting the rating information received from the one or more additional users, by the at least one processor, based on how many of the two or more user characteristics the one or more additional users possess; receiving a request from the first user, or another used associated with the first user, to access the piece of electronic content; and granting or denying, by the at least one processor, the request to access the piece of electronic content based on the rating information in the new rating group.