Patent ID: 7904331
Filing Date: 2011-03-08
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for surveying a consumer and quantifying preferences of the consumer based on responses by the consumer to the survey, the method being performed as a consequence of execution of computer readable code by one or more processors of one or more corresponding computer systems, the method comprising: receiving, using at least one of the processors, indications of attribute levels that a user designated as being acceptable for multiple different attributes that are characteristic of a product; for each of the multiple attributes, receiving, using at least one of the processors, an indication of an attribute level designated by the user as being the user's least preferred attribute level for the attribute and an indication of an attribute level designated by the user as being the user's most preferred attribute level for the attribute; receiving, using at least one of the processors, indications of attributes, from among the multiple attributes, that the user identified as attributes to be grouped together; based on receiving the indications of attributes that the user identified as attributes that are to be grouped together, sorting, using at least one of the processors, the multiple attributes into at least two different groups of attributes, the different groups being disjoint and a particular one of the groups including the attributes that the user identified as attributes that are to be grouped together; receiving, using at least one of the processors, an indication of a ranked order of the attributes belonging to the particular group; based on receiving the indication of the ranked order of the attributes belonging to the particular group, identifying, using at least one of the processors, a particular attribute as an attribute that is most important to the user relative to the other attributes included within the particular group; for each attribute among a subset of the attributes belonging to the particular group, receiving, using at least one of the processors, an indication of the importance of the difference between the user's least preferred attribute level for the attribute and the user's most preferred attribute level for the attribute relative to the difference between the user's least preferred attribute level for the most important attribute to the user and the user's most preferred attribute level for the most important attribute to the user; for each attribute of the subset of attributes, assigning, using at least one of the processors, a relative importance value to the attribute based on the received indication of the importance of the difference between the user's least preferred attribute level for the attribute and the user's most preferred attribute level for the attribute relative to the difference between the user's least preferred attribute level for the most important attribute to the user and the user's most preferred attribute level for the most important attribute to the user; for each of at least two attributes that belong to the particular group but that are not included in the subset of attributes, assigning, using at least one of the processors, a relative importance value to the attribute based on the ranking of the attribute within the ranked order of the attributes; for each of several attributes belonging to the particular group: for each of several attribute levels for which an indication of a scale value was received, calculating, using at least one of the processors, a part worth value for the attribute level as a function of the received indication of the scale value of the attribute level and the relative importance value assigned to the attribute to which the attribute level corresponds; and causing, using at least one of the processors, a graphical user interface to display at least one of the calculated part worth values.