Patent ID: 7212985

Claim:
A matching system wherein a user places at least one order for at least one provider and a degree of matching between each order-provider pairing is computed and recomputed using responses to a cascading series of requests for additional information generated by the matching system in a fully automated way so that subjective bias from humans in generating the requests for additional information is substantially eliminated and the degree of matching is improved thereby, the matching system comprising: input means for inputting program code and user information, order information, and provider information; a data storage device to receive and store said program code and said user information, order information, and provider information; a knowledge base which is stored in a data storage device which may be said data storage device, which is substantially separate from program code that references said knowledge base either directly or indirectly, and which contains facts and rules for iteratively convergent problem solving; wherein the iteratively convergent problem solving includes instructions for iteratively computing the degree of matching, including instructions for performing steps comprised of: (a) constructing representations of attributes of the user, the at least one order, and the at least one provider, (b) matching representations of respective attributes of a particular order with representations of attributes of a particular provider, and (c) computing an initial degree of matching between each order-provider pairing of representations of respective attributes, (d) cyclically generating requests for additional information from at least one of the user, respective providers, and respective third parties as a cascading series of requests for additional information generated by the program code by referencing the knowledge base in a fully automated way, and cyclically receiving responses, (e) reconstructing the representations of respective attributes of the user, the at least one order, and the at least one provider based on responses received, and (f) recomputing the degree of matching between each order-provider pairing of reconstructed representations of respective attributes so that subjective bias from humans in generating the requests for additional information is substantially eliminated and the degree of matching is improved thereby; and output means for reporting matching results to the user.