Abstract:
Systems and methods are provided for incentivizing. Point(s) are provided for solutions to problems, answers to questions, resolution to issues, etc. and these points may be utilized to obtain products and/or services.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention relates generally to real-time text based electronic communications and more particularly to a website providing the ability to store all or part of a real-time, text-based electronic communication for future reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Numerous forms of text based electronic communications exist, such as electronic mail (email), instant messaging, online chat rooms, etc. Oftentimes people will communicate via these electronic avenues of communication to resolve problems or discuss a particular issue/topic. However, once the conversation is completed the resolution is either discarded or, in the case of emails, remains available but only to the participants who save the email chain. 
         [0003]    Various websites, including but not limited to experts-exchange.com and answers.yahoo.com, attempt to broaden the audience that has access to the stated problem and its resolution by providing an electronic bulletin board where a user may post a question and receive answers to the question from other users who may be knowledgeable, professional or even experts on that particular topic. While such websites accomplish this task with regard to posted questions and answers, they fail to provide the ability to capture and store real-time or substantially real-time conversations or conversations that take place off site. 
         [0004]    Websites such as strtc.oracle.com/imtapp/app/prelogin.uix provide an online meeting place to collaborate on a problem. At the termination of the meeting, the host may archive some or all of the voice conversation and documents, poll results, and attendee information. A user is then able to search through the archived meetings by conference title, host name or conference id to listen to the conversation and view the documents. However, this is a voice conversation, there is no provision for saving the conversation to another website and there is no incentive provided for archiving the meeting. 
         [0005]    In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide an improved online question and answer website which provides an ability to have a text-based conversation in real-time, or substantially real-time then save the conversation for future reference. It would also be advantageous to provide an improved online question and answer website which provides an option to store within the website text-based conversations which occur outside of the website. It would further be advantageous to provide such a website which incentivizes one or more participants of the conversation to store all or part of the conversation onto the website. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    Many advantages of the invention will be determined and are attained by the invention, which in a broadest sense provides systems and methods for storing real-time or substantially real-time text-based electronic communications and incentivizes its users to submit the communications for storage. 
         [0007]    Systems and methods are provided for storing real-time, text-based electronic communications via a communications network. The system includes a server connected to the communications network. The server provides a user interface for real-time, text-based communications capabilities between users of the system. The server also has a database in electrical communication with the user interface. The database is configured to store at least a portion of a real-time text based communication/conversation and is further configured to store an incentive awarded to at least one participant of the conversation. 
         [0008]    A method is also provided for storing at least a portion of a real-time, text-based electronic communication, which occurs via a communications network. The method includes providing a server configured to provide real-time text-based electronic communication capabilities to users of the network. The server receives an instruction to save a portion of a real-time text based communication and receives an instruction to associate an incentive with a participant of the conversation. As a result of the instruction the server stores the portion of the communication and the association. 
         [0009]    One or more embodiments of the invention provide a method for storing at least a portion of a real-time, text-based electronic communications which occurs via a communications network. The method includes a user posting a question in an electronic chat room and receiving a response to the question from another user in the chat room. If the user determines that the response answers the question, the user may decide to save the question and answer and award an incentive to the user who provided the response. The user then stores the question, the answer and the incentive on a server associated with a question and answer website. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a Question and Answer system in accordance with embodiments of the invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating operation of a Question and Answer system in accordance with embodiments of the invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a sample display illustrating a text-based electronic communication in accordance with embodiments of the invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a sample display illustrating a portion of the text-based electronic communication of  FIG. 3  ready for submission to a Question and Answer system in accordance with embodiments of the invention; and, 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a sample display illustrating a sample form for submitting text-based electronic communication to a Question and Answer system in accordance with embodiments of the invention. 
       
    
    
       [0016]    The invention will next be described in connection with certain illustrated embodiments and practices. However, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that various modifications, additions, and subtractions can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like reference numerals identify like elements throughout the various figures, there is illustrated in  FIGS. 1-5  systems and methods for storing text-based, real-time electronic communications (conversation) and incentivizing one or more of the participants to the conversation to store at least a portion of the conversation in the system so that it may be referenced by others. 
         [0018]    The following description will refer only to online chat rooms but those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not so limited. The invention may be employed with instant messaging or any other type of text-based real-time or substantially real-time electronic messaging system. The principles and operations of the invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description. 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the system  100  includes users  110  and users  120  who connect to server  140  via the Internet  130  or via some other network. Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are various conventional ways that a user  110  or user  120  can connect to the system and that any of these methods may be employed without departing from a scope of the invention. Among such ways, although not exhaustive, are through a kiosk, direct connection, dial-up connection, a secure or unsecured connection, virtual private network (VPN), cable or satellite connection, a local area network (“LAN”), any other suitable wired, wireless, or optical connection, or a combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that while users  110  and  120  have been set forth as separate and distinct, it is possible and anticipated that users  110  may fulfill the role of user  120  and visa-versa. Further, while 2 of each user type  110 / 120  have been illustrated, this was only done to avoid overcomplicating the drawing and the system is not so limited. 
         [0020]    Server  140  includes a user interface  160  and a member database  150 . Database  150  stores user information, conversations and incentives earned by each user. Those skilled in the art will recognize that database  150  may be a single database or multiple databases and still fall within a scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that while a single server  140  is illustrated that multiple servers may be employed. 
         [0021]    User devices  110 / 120  may include any suitable computing equipment for accessing and interacting with content (e.g., web pages) over Internet  130  or some other communications network  130  (e.g. television network, cable network, etc.). For example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , user device  120  may be a desktop computer. In other examples, user device  120  may be a laptop computer, tablet computer, telephone (e.g., smartphone), personal digital assistant (“PDA”), BlackBerry™ device, television, set-top cable or satellite box, or any other suitable computing device. Since different devices may be employed by the users, reference to any one type of device will be understood to include any or all types of suitable computing equipment. For ease of description, the remaining disclosure will only refer to user computer  110 / 120 . 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , user  110 / 120  connects to server  140  via a user interface  160 . Interface  160  may provide user  110  with various options such as register, sign-in, review/edit account, store a conversation, start a conversation, join a conversation, invite one or more people to a conversation, search by topic, search by key words or search by any other conventional search method. The system  100  may be a closed system which requires user  110 / 120  to sign-in prior to performing operations on the website, an open system which does not require logging in or it can be a hybrid; allowing some operations to be performed without logging in and requiring log-in for other operations. For ease of explanation, the following description shall be limited to a closed system; however, this in no way is intended to limit the invention as such. 
         [0023]    Registration: The first time user  110 / 120  attempts to access system  100 , registration may be required. User  110 / 120  registers (e.g., on the System&#39;s web page or user interface  160 ) with system  100 , and sets up their account. Registration may include entry of information such as name, unique user identification, password, contact details (e.g., e-mail, address etc.) and possibly other conventional information as may be required for the operation of the System. If a user  110 / 120  expects to respond to one or more questions, registration may, or may not, require user  110 / 120  to submit qualification information for any topic that they intend to post responses to. 
         [0024]    The Conversation ( FIG. 3 ): Once registered, user  110 / 120  may make a selection of the above operations. Assuming user  110  has a question/issue/problem (question) and decides to have a real-time conversation ( FIG. 3 ), user  110  can join an existing conversation, start a new conversation and wait for people to join, invite people to a new conversation or join an existing conversation and invite one or more participants to a private chat. The technology for providing these options is conventional and thus will not be further described. Regardless of how the conversation is started, at any time during the conversation if user  110  determines that all or part of his/her question  300  has been resolved user  110  may elect to store the conversation or relevant portions of the conversation and award points to the user  120  or users  120  who assisted with the resolution (e.g.  FIG. 4 ). 
         [0025]    Points: The number of points awarded may be the same for everyone, may be subjective, or may be preset (e.g. identified at the outset of the conversation). Point totals may be the entirety of the points available for the conversation or they may be additional points that are added to a default point total available for a conversation, depending upon the design choice of the system administrator. Points awards may be whole number values or include partial points (for ease of explanation the following description shall only refer to points, but such usage will be understood to include points, partial points or both). Points may be employed to purchase products and/or services, enter drawings, games, raffles and/or to apply for job opportunities. Depending upon the design choice of the system, there may be a standard point count awarded for each operation (e.g. X point(s) for each response to a question, Y point for posting the best response, Z points for being the first to respond, where X, Y and/or Z may be the same or different, etc.), there may be different point counts or levels awarded for different types or numbers of operations, points may be awarded on an objective or subjective basis, or any combination thereof. The system may be configured such that points may or may not be required for starting a conversation or there may be an option for offering points up front to make the conversation seem more desirable. The system may provide different classification of points (e.g. question points, response points) and require certain points to be purchased, earned and/or won. While certain specific point schemes are disclosed, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not intended to be limited to any one specific point scheme. 
         [0026]    Saving: Server  140  may provide a save option which requests a point award for each participant ( FIG. 5 ,  520 ) and which provides the option to save the entire conversation or a portion ( FIG. 5 ). In the event that only a portion is selected, the server may reproduce the entire conversation in box  530  and require the user  110  to delete portions that are not relevant, or it may require user  110  to cut and paste the relevant portions into box  530 . In one or more embodiments, conversation box  530  may be separated into multiple boxes (e.g. one for the question, 1 for the best answer and 1 or more for the remaining answers). Once the points are awarded and, if appropriate, the conversation is redacted, the system saves the conversation for future reference by other users  110 / 120 . 
         [0027]    After registration and/or logging-on to the system  100 , user  120  may begin responding to users  110 . User  120  may scroll through a list of available conversations, perform a search for a particular topic and scroll through the available conversations within that topic, accept invitation(s) to join one or more conversations or simply start a new conversation. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the system may suggest one or more topics or conversations to user  120  based on that user&#39;s profile. If user  120  takes part in a conversation and provides a sufficient solution to the posed question, then user  120  may either receive or be eligible to receive incentive points depending upon the design choice of the system administrator and whether or not the conversation is saved. In one or more embodiments each user  120  or some of the users  120  participating in a conversation may share the points allocated to that conversation, receive the entire point allocation, one user  120  may receive all of the points or no points may be allocated. At some point during a conversation, user  110  may determine that the question or a portion of the question is resolved and communicate the same to the other participants of the conversation. At such time, user  110  has the option of saving the conversation or a portion of the conversation and awarding points to the users  120 . However, user  110  may not have time or may not, for some other reason, decide to save the conversation. In one or more embodiments, user  110  may provide the save option to one of the other participants  120  in the conversation. If that occurs, user  110  may be provided the option to award the points and then provide the save option to user  120 , user  110  may select which users  120  receive points and each selected user  120  receives a default point value, user  120  can ignore the point award option and either users  120  each receive a default point value or no point value depending on the system design. 
         [0028]    The above description has been limited to conversations which take place on the same server as the storage. However, the invention is not so limited. In one or more embodiments of the invention it is contemplated by the inventor that a conversation could take place in a remote chat room and then uploaded to the server  140 . In this scenario, user  110  could login to server  140  and select save conversation. A window similar to that of  FIG. 5  could be presented to user  110 . User  110  could then either manually populate the various boxes or the boxes could be automatically filled by server  140 . To automatically fill the boxes, user  110  would provide the website with a text file of the chat conversation and a mapping of participant names as used in the conversation. If the participant is not known by the website, user  110  could be requested to provide an email address of that participant so an email could be sent to the user offering the opportunity to join and receive the points award. System  100  parses the text file and attempts to associate participants with lines of conversation. The results of parsing could be shown to user  110  for approval or edit, and then user  110  can select which comments are eligible for points. At some point (either once all boxes are populated, after each name is entered, or some variation in between) user  110  may select radio box  540  to check which, if any of the participants are members of the website. If a participant is already a member then user  110  may award points to that user. However, if a participant  120  is not already a member then user  120  may either leave off the points award for that participant, select an option that sends an email or some other message to the participant offering membership and if the participant accepts then award points to that participant, or award points to that participant in hopes that the participant will subsequently join (at which time the points will be awarded to that user&#39;s  120  account). Alternatively or additionally, the conversation could be uploaded to one or more other websites. For example, during the save process, user  110  could be provided the option of entering the web address of a different website and when user  110  selects this option the file is sent to that website for processing and storage. 
         [0029]    Thus it is seen that systems and methods are provided for incentivizing participants in a real-time or substantially real-time, text-based electronic communication to store the results of the conversation for future reference by other users. Although particular embodiments have been disclosed herein in detail, this has been done for purposes of illustration only, and is not intended to be limiting with respect to the scope of the claims, which follow. In particular, it is contemplated by the inventor that various substitutions, alterations, and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. For example, the system is described as being set up as a single server that communicates over the Internet. However, the system could also function with multiple servers configured to perform the various operations and/or communications could take place via a network other than the Internet. The system is described in regard to real-time or substantially real-time text based conversations; however, it is contemplated that users who have email conversations will upload all or a portion of the email conversation to the system. Other aspects, advantages, and modifications are considered to be within the scope of the following claims. The claims presented are representative of the inventions disclosed herein. Other, unclaimed inventions are also contemplated. The inventors reserve the right to pursue such inventions in later claims. 
         [0030]    It is accordingly intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative rather than in a limiting sense. It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention as described herein, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall there between. 
         [0031]    Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and secured by Letters Patent is: