Hyperlocal rating service
AssigneeRatingz, Inc.
InventorRobert Nicholson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for acquiring ratings of local businesses accepts a rating submitted by an individual who is associated with a location near a physical presence of a rated business. Ratings are acquired by receiving from a rater a proposal to submit a rating of a business, identifying a location of the rater, verifying the location of the rater, defining a locality encompassing the location of the rater, determining that the business's local presence is contained in the locality, accepting the rating from the rater, and storing the rating to a database. Several techniques are disclosed for verifying the location of the rater.
Claims19
A method for acquiring ratings of local businesses, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a processor from a rater, a proposal to submit a rating of a business, the business having a local presence;
- identifying, by a processor, a location of the rater;
- verifying, by a processor, the location of the rater;
- defining, by a processor, a locality, the locality encompassing the location of the rater;
- determining, by a processor, that the business's local presence is contained in the locality;
- and
- based on the determination, accepting the rating from the rater and storing the rating to a database.
A system for acquiring ratings of local businesses, the system comprising:
- an executive component operable to receive from a rater a proposal to submit a rating of a business, identify a location of the rater, define a locality, the locality encompassing the location of the rater, and accept a rating from the rater;
- a verification component operable to verify the location of the rater;
- a geocoding component operable to determine whether a local presence of the business is contained in the locality;
- a storage component operable to store the rating;
- a bus;
- and
- at least one processor.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by at least one processor to perform a method for acquiring ratings of local businesses, the method comprising:
- accepting from a rater a proposal to rate a business;
- identifying a location of the rater;
- verifying the location of the rater;
- defining a locality, the locality encompassing the location of the rater;
- receiving from the rater a proposal to submit a rating of a business, the business having a local presence;
- determining that the business's local presence is contained in the locality, and based on the determination, accepting the rating from the rater and storing the rating to a database.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.