Patent Document ID: 9461876
Application ID: 14014229
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A system means and software means for empowering users to obtain knowledge by participating in a wisdom of crowds crowdsourcing process where concepts are assembled into a commonplace of information having improving depth and quality, comprising: a) a commonplace of information means containing a plurality of info-items; b) one or more computers with server functions for holding said commonplace of information; c) one or more computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; d) server system software for commanding functionality of combined operating system, database, file manager, internet request responder server, data delivery server, page content generators, interpreters, specialized content generators, document managers, external document manager interconnections, external internet server interconnections, and the attached devices of said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; e) commonplace management software for managing the organization of said commonplace information on said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; f) one or more computers hosting workbench functions for providing workbench users access to said commonplace; g) workbench system software for managing said workbench functions by controlling said computer and its attached devices on said one or more computers hosting workbench functions and invoking server application functions at the request of workbench application software; h) communications management software executing on said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information for distributing information content extracted from, and by collecting information to be added to said commonplace to and from said one or more computers hosting workbench functions; i) communications management software executing on said one or more computers hosting workbench functions to control those computer's communication connection, synchronization, and transfer of information with said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; j) server application software executing on said computer servers for managing the distributing of information content derived from said commonplace to said one or more computers hosting workbench functions through said attached devices; k) workbench application software executing on said one or more computers hosting workbench functions managing the local computing and storage of said one or more computers hosting workbench functions to present a local version of said content through a user interface to said user and to accept user commands; l) distributed application software executing in part on one or more said servers and in part on said workbench computer; m) workbench application software executing on said one or more computers hosting workbench functions managing the local graphics processor of said one or more computers hosting workbench functions to present a local, visible, navigable representation resulting from said content through a user interface to said user and to accept user navigation or information alteration commands; n) server system software for initiation of the managing of said server functions, said database functions, and said attached devices of said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; o) server system software for initiation of said commonplace management functions for managing the organization of said commonplace information on said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; p) server system software for initiation of said communications management functions on each of said one or more computers hosting workbench functions to control those computer's communication connection, synchronization, and transfer of information with said computers with server functions for managing said commonplace of information; q) application software for local or distributed processes for managing said user interface functions at said workstations and performing said automated tasks resulting from user actions; r) application software for utilize collective consensus through vote tallying functions for controlling continuous processing and managing add-in function modules to calculate consensus and impute associations; s) application software for map generation functions for performing categorization within and generating maps from said commonplace; t) server system software for initiation of the server application software executing on said computer servers for managing the distributing of information content derived from said commonplace to said one or more computers hosting workbench functions through said attached devices; u) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for degree of control over user identification, authentication, granting of access to said system controls, said application controls, and said application information; v) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for said degree of control over access for said user to tools for more effectively accessing, ideating, searching, organizing, protecting, commercializing, communicating, and extending said ideas in said commonplace; w) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for said degree of control over fee-based usage and usage right granting of for fee function; x) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for said degree of control over user participation by adding information to said commonplace; y) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for said degree of control over participation by said user in zero or more marketplaces for ideas; z) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for said degree of control over participation by said user in zero or more marketplaces for data related to specific concepts categorized in said commonplace; and aa) application software on said computers hosting workbench functions for said degree of control over access by said user to functions for establishing protection for said idea, granting access to said idea, granting access to project teams involved with applying said idea, and, if novel, to legal protection for said idea; whereby said user is able to see what ideas have been categorized into said commonplace, add to said commonplace new ideas, add meta-data about said ideas, vote on the categorization of said ideas, incrementally add said new ideas by immediate creativity capture, add categories, add categorizations, add information to existing ideas or categories, harmonize categorizations, state and apply steps to alter and filter data to generate categorizations, associatively search the categorized ideas on a map user interface, plug in additional application functionality, invoke application functions on said workbench, invoke application functions executing on said server from said workbench as workbench functions, view categorizations dynamically altered by the wisdom of crowds consensus, view categorized ideas dynamically altered by the wisdom of crowds consensus, reduce their innovation inefficiencies through information reuse, share analysis, participate in crowdsourcing to collect the wisdom of crowds, and gain financially from participating in said marketplaces, and where a service provider may provide information regarding interest in said ideas, said idea's value and the appropriateness of the idea for application specific situations, where a service provider may optionally collect, track, and mine the demographic characteristics of said users to allow reporting on user interest or expertise, and where a service provider may optionally collect, track, and mine the demographic characteristics of organizations to allow reporting on entity progress, reliability, risk, and value.