# US 2014/0156996 A1 · Promoting Learned Discourse In Online Media

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- Number: US 2014/0156996 A1
- Document ID: US20140156996A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/092,549
- Filed: 2013-11-27
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-11-30
- Inventors: Stephen B. Heppe; Kenan G. Heppe
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156996A1

## CPC

- G06Q 30/00: Commerce
- H04L 63/0823: {using certificates (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263)}
- G06Q 10/40: Business processes related to social networking or social networking services
- G06Q 10/46: Determination of level of influence of users within social networking services
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

In one example, a method for promoting learned discourse in online forums includes posting forum content on a forum server and providing access to users to the content through an I/O module. The method further includes receiving a comment from a user and analyzing the comment from the user to produce an a priori score for the comment. A portable certificate of status is accepted from the user and used to produce a posteriori score for the comment. A system for promoting learned discourse in online forms is also disclosed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for promoting learned discourse in online forums comprising:
posting forum content on a forum server and providing access to users to the content through an I/O module;
receiving a comment from a user;
analyzing, with a content analysis module executed on a computer processor, the comment from the user to produce an a priori score for the comment;
accepting a portable certificate of status from a user; and
using the portable certificate of status, with a scoring module executed on the computer processor, to produce an a posteriori score for the comment.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the portable certificate of status is generated by an entity that is independent of the forum server.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the portable certificate of status is encrypted with a public key of the independent entity, the independent entity providing a matching public key to authenticate the portable certificate of status.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, further comprising, with a certificate module executed by the computer processor:
accessing the public key of the independent entity; and
decrypting the portable certificate of status using the public key to authenticate the portable certificate of status.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating a measure of relevance of the portable certificate of status to the content; and
weighing, with the scoring module, the a priori score according to the relevance of the portable certificate of status to produce the a posteriori score.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein generating a measure of relevance of the portable certificate of status to the content comprises:
accessing a mapping table to map status measurements of an independent site or entity generating the portable certificate of status to status measurements of the forum server; and
weighing a status contained in the portable certificate of status according to the mapping.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein generating a measure of relevance of the portable certificate of status to the content comprises:
generating a correlation metric between content of an independent site or domain of relevance of the independent entity producing the portable certificate of status and the content on the forum server the user has commented on, with greater similarities between content of the independent site or domain of relevance of the independent entity producing the portable certificate of status and the content on the forum server producing a higher a posteriori score.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating a second portable certificate of status by measuring a user's interactions on the forum server;
encrypting the second portable certificate of status with a private key; and
making a matching public key available for validation of the second portable certificate of status.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the comment according to the a posteriori score by:
displaying the content and all comments on a first site; and
displaying the content and only comments with an a posteriori score greater than a threshold on a second site.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving advertisement content from an advertiser, in which the advertiser designates placement of the advertising content on one of the first site or the second site; and
placing the advertising content on one of the first site or second site according to the designated placement.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the a posteriori score according to a moderating process that receives input from other users.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
receiving input, by the user, that a comment submitted by the user will receive negative moderation feedback from at least a portion of the users; and
adjusting the moderation process for the comment.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting the moderation process of the comment comprises negating at least a portion of the negative moderation feedback based at least partially on a status communicated by the portable certificate of status received from the user.

### Claim 14

A method for establishing status using portable status certificates comprising:
accepting, by a receiving computing device, an encrypted portable status certificate issued by an issuer for a user;
accessing a public key of the issuer;
decrypting, with a computer processor of the receiving computing device, the encrypted portable status certificate;
verifying that the encrypted portable status certificate was issued by the issuer; and
assigning a score to content submitted by the user to a forum according to a status contained in the encrypted portable status certificate.

### Claim 15

A method for producing a portable status certificate comprising:
evaluating a user's online interaction in relation to a set of performance criteria;
assigning a status to the user based on the interaction;
generating, with a computer processor, an encrypted portable status certificate by encrypting the status of the user with a private key;
issuing, to the user, the encrypted portable status certificate; and
providing access to a matching public key for the encrypted portable status certificate.

### Claim 16

A system comprising:
content data stored in computer readable memory and accessible to users via an I/O module;
a received comment, submitted by a user, stored in the computer readable memory;
a comment analysis module, executed by a computer processor, to analyze content of the received comment and to generate an a priori score assigned to the received comment; and
a scoring module, executed by the computer processor, to analyze the status of a user and to adjust the a priori score to reflect the status of the user to produce an a posteriori score;
in which the comments are displayed according to the a posteriori score.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, further comprising a certificate module to:
accept an encrypted portable certificate of status from the user;
validate the portable certificate of status by accessing a public key of an authority issuing the portable certificate of status and decrypting the portable certificate of status; and
communicate validation results and status of the user to the scoring module;
the certificate module comprising a mapping module to determine relevance of the portable certificate of status to the content data, wherein the certificate module passes a measure of the relevance to the scoring module to be included in calculation of the a posteriori score.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, further comprising a status module to generate a portable certificate of status based on a user's interaction in discourse hosted by the system, in which the status module is configured to:
encrypt the portable certificate of status using a private key; and
make a public key available for verification of the portable certificate of status.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the system further comprises:
at least one forum server comprising the computer readable memory, wherein the at least one forum server is configured to:
store content data in the computer readable memory;
provide the content to the users upon request; and
accept the received comment submitted by the user and store the received comment in the computer readable memory; and
an external primary server in communication with the at least one forum server, the external primary server comprising:
the comment analysis module to receive the received comment, analyze content of the received comment, and to generate the a priori score; and
the scoring module to analyze the status of the user and to adjust the a prior score to reflect the status of the user to produce the posteriori score.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The system of claim 19, wherein the external primary server further comprise a certificate module to:
accept an encrypted portable certificate of status from the user; and
validate the encrypted portable certificate of status submitted by the user by accessing a public key of an authority issuing the portable certificate of status and decrypting the encrypted portable certificate of status;
wherein the certificate module comprises a mapping module to determine relevance of the portable certificate of status to the content data, wherein the certificate module passes a measure of the relevance to the scoring module to be included in calculation of the a posteriori score.