FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
[See section 10, Rule 13]
INTERACTIVE CONTRIBUTION WIDGET;
HARBINGER KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS, WHOSE ADDRESS IS 139, SIDDHANT SURVEY, NO. 97/6, OFF. PAUD ROAD, KOTHRUD, PUNE - 411 038, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION
PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE
INVENTION.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DIAGRAMS
FIG. 1 - Interaction of Users over the Internet with interactive contribution
widget
FIG. 2 - Diagram that illustrates the functional components of ICW
FIG. 3(a) - Diagram that illustrates an embodiment of invention at server
side
FIG. 3(b) - Diagram that illustrates an embodiment of invention at client
side - ICM Presentation Manager
FIG. 4 - Flowchart that gives flow to add social data in ICM
FIG. 5 - Flowchart that gives flow to view social data
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An interactive contribution widget (ICW) is disclosed that pulls in updated information and relevant data to present social data in an organized manner. ICW provides a framework for hosting different types of interactive contribution models (ICM's), which can be used to collaborate with peer groups, providing biased opinions, which helps to calculate relevance of social data to present social data in a more focused manner. The invention provides a relevance calculator which calculates the relevance of the social data depending on the type of ICM. This helps to add weight age to the content without affecting it. It also provides a framework to host multiple ICM's in a single user interface which can be customized.
FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of an embodiment of the invention where users are using different web pages over Internet 101. Web pages 106 can either be downloaded from a Content Server 102 or can be a local machine page 108 which is not uploaded on any web server. The dotted line 107 in the figure indicates that webpage is coming from a content server 102 which is stored in a content database 103. Interactive Contrition Widget 111 consists of an ICWS 112, ICWP 109 and messages 110 sent between them. User 105 can perform operations on any ICM
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using the Interactive Contribution Widget Player (ICWP) 109. This results in a message 110 which is sent to the interactive contribution widget server (ICWS) 112. ICWS 112 updates Social content database 113 and all the active instances of the interactive contribution widget are updated in real time i.e., User1 104 is notified by ICWS 112 instantaneously.
As will be understood by those who are skilled in the art, the present invention could be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. For example, ICW 111 providing different ICM's, can be used at any location such as web page, blog, online courses on LMS, etc., where real-time interaction through open participation with peer contributors is needed.
FIG. 2 illustrates the functional components of interactive contribution
widget under an embodiment. This figure illustrates a platform which can
be used to display social data with the use of the given client-server
architecture.
Interactive Contribution widget can be divided into 2 components
a) Interactive Contribution widget player (ICWP) 201
b) Interactive Contribution widget server (ICWS) 213
The ICWP 201 and ICWS 213 interact using a unique messaging format 208 and 210, which consists of an Interactive contribution Model (ICM) type and data. ICM type specifies the type of data in the message. This messaging format is the binding factor between the ICWP 201 and ICWS 213.
ICW Client 201 is used for displaying ICWP in browser. It consists of an Interactive Contribution Model selector (ICMS) 202, which is the embodiment of invention that provides a framework that integrates many ICM's in a single ICW Client 201. User can select an ICM of his interest from a single point of interface. User does not have to go to any other browser or follow any outbound links to get social data from peer contributors. ICMS 202 selects the appropriate ICM type 205 from the message 208 received from ICWS 213 and provides the social data 206 to
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be played by the Interactive Contribution Model Presentation Manager 203.
Client Request communicator 204 sends update requests 210, consisting of ICM type 211 to Update Request handler 219 on server-side and ICWC 201 receives updated data 212. When a user inserts Social data 207 in ICM Presentation Manager 203 it is sent to the Client request communicator 204 to create appropriate message 208 and send it to the ICWS 213 for processing.
When a request comes to ICWS 213, Server message acceptor 214 accepts the message 208 and forwards the social data 209 and ICM type 211 to the Interactive contribution Model Manager 215. Interactive contribution Model Manager 215 uses the ICM type 211 to detect the type of ICM and forwards the social data 209 to appropriate Interactive contribution Model Executor 216. Interactive contribution Model Executor 216 performs all the processing related to the ICM and stores the social data in the database 218 using database manager 217.
The message 208 which is received from the ICWS 213 can be even sent to other web applications, websites 221 in the form of services. These web applications, sites 221 interpret the message and can use the data 209 according to their requirement
FIG. 3 (a) illustrates the Interactive contribution Model Executor 216 under
an embodiment.
This Executor can be broadly divided in to three parts -
1) Data Formatter 301
2) Data Manager 302
3) Relevance Calculator 303
Data Formatter 301 accepts the social data entered by user, interprets it according to the specifications set for the particular ICM. This processed data is stored in database in appropriate format using Data Manager 302.
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The processed data from Data Formatter 301 and Data Manager 302 is provided to Relevance calculator 303. Every ICM uses a separate logic to calculate the relevance of the social data. This is the main component of the invention where the social data is processed to get social information.
Fig. 3(b) illustrates the Interactive Contribution Model Presentation Manager 203 under an embodiment.
Interactive Contribution Model Presentation Manager can be broadly divided into 3 parts -
1) Interactive Contribution Model Data Executor 351
2) Presentation Component 352
3) Data Manipulator 353
ICW provides a framework where multiple ICM's can be embedded in one widget, which allows users to get all the required information in desired form at one stop location. For every ICM supported by the framework, there is an Interactive Contribution Model Data Executor 351, which is used to interpret the data provided by the ICWS. It interprets the data and selects appropriate Presentation Component 352 to play the data. Every ICM has a corresponding presentation component 352, which helps the framework to provide different ways of presenting the data. User can enter data in a particular ICM. This data is collected by Presentation Component 352 and forwards it to Data Manipulator 353 which manipulates the social data in an appropriate format to be sent to the ICW Server.
FIG: 4 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of defining how to add social data to the interactive contribution widget.
In step 401, user performs an action to insert data in an ICM, like adding a point or rating a point. The Client Request Communicator 204 is called to create a request which is transferred to Server Message Acceptor 214 in step 402.
In step 403 the Server Message Acceptor accepts the request 208 and retrieves the information from the request like data 209 and the ICM type
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211 and forwards it to Interactive Contribution Model Manager 215 in step 404.
In step 405, Interactive Contribution Model Manager 215 transfers the request to the appropriate Interactive Contribution Model Executor 216, depending upon ICM type. In step 406 Interactive Contribution Model Executor 216 is called to perform ICM specific operations on the social data 209 and also calculate relevance of the data.
In step 407, Database Manager 217 is called to store updated social data in the Database 218 along with the social information, which is the processed social data 209.
In step 408 Update Request Handler 219 is called to store the updated information in the cache.
FIG: 5 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of defining how to view social data in the Interactive Contribution Model widget. In step 501, user opens an instance of Interactive Contribution widget. Interactive Contribution Model Selector 202 in step 502 displays ICM Player to the user.
In step 503, user performs an action to get social data like clicking on an icon. The generated request goes to the Client Request Communicator 204 in step 504, which transfers it to server.
In step 505, Update Request Handler 219 is called and it checks whether it has the requested data or not. If the requested data is not present the request goes to Database Manager 217 in step 507, which returns the social data to the Update Request Handler 219. If it has the requested data, it creates a message and transfers it to the Client Request Communicator 204, in step 508.
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In step 509 the Client Request Communicator 204 accepts the request; extracts the data 209 and ICM type 211 and transfers it to the Interactive Contribution Model Selector 202. In step 510, the Interactive Contribution Model Selector 202 is called to select the appropriate ICM Presentation Manager 203 and transfer the control to ICM Presentation Manager 203.
In step 511 the ICM Presentation Manager 203 displays the social data 209.
Dated this 5th day of July, 2007
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