DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD OF HANDLING USER REQUESTS
Devices, systems and methods of handling user requests. For example, a method includes: receiving an electronic representation of a submitted request; calculating request-related information, submitter-related information, and/or recipient-related information; based on the request-related information and the submitter-related information, determining one or more recipients for the request; distributing the request to said one or more recipients; and storing the request and one or more responses received from said one or more recipients.
1 .- 22 . (canceled)
23 . A computer-implemented method comprising the following steps performed by one or more processors:
receiving a request submitted by a submitter;
selecting, from a set of users registered to respond to requests, a subset of users whose profiles correspond to the request, said subset of users comprising a plurality of users; and
routing the request to one or more users in said subset of users according to a policy that takes into consideration an incoming request rate, and which further takes into consideration capacities of the users to respond to incoming requests.
24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein routing the request comprises taking into consideration degrees to which the profiles of the users are relevant to the request.
25 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising performing a semantic analysis of said request and of profiles of the subset of users to assess said degrees to which the profiles of the users are relevant to the request.
26 . The method of claim 23 , wherein routing the request comprises taking into consideration, for at least a first user in the subset of users, an extent to which the first user has satisfied a response quota for a current time period.
27 . The method of claim 23 , wherein routing the request comprises taking into consideration, for at least a first user in the subset of users, how many requests have been sent to the first user during a selected time interval.
28 . The method of claim 23 , wherein routing the request comprises taking into consideration, for at least a first user in the subset of users, how many requests are outstanding for the first user.
29 . The method of claim 23 , wherein routing the request comprises taking into consideration online presence statuses of particular users in said subset of users.
30 . The method of claim 23 , wherein routing the request comprises, for at least a first user in the subset of users, determining whether the first user is currently available to receive the request via an instant messaging system.
31 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the policy seeks to optimize usage of response fulfillment resources over a period of time.
32 . A computing platform programmed to perform the method of claim 23 .
33 . A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory device that stores a set of instructions;
wherein the at least one processor executes the set of instructions to:
receive a request submitted by a submitter;
select, from a set of users registered to respond to requests, a subset of users whose profiles correspond to the request, said subset of users comprising a plurality of users; and
route the request to one or more users in said subset of users according to a policy that takes into consideration information regarding at least (i) an incoming request rate, and (ii) capacities of the users to respond to incoming requests.
34 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine degrees to which the profiles of the users are relevant to the request.
35 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform a semantic analysis of said request and of profiles of the subset of users to assess said degrees to which the profiles of the users are relevant to the request.
36 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to route the request by taking into consideration, for at least a first user in the subset of users, an extent to which the first user has satisfied a response quota for a current time period.
37 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to route the request by taking into consideration, for at least a first user in the subset of users, how many requests have been sent to the first user during a selected time interval.
38 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to route the request by taking into consideration, for at least a first user in the subset of users, how many requests are outstanding for the first user.
39 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to route the request by taking into consideration online presence statuses of particular users in said subset of users.
40 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to route the request by determining, for at least a first user in the subset of users, whether the first user is currently available to receive the request via an instant messaging system.
41 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the policy seeks to optimize usage of response fulfillment resources over a period of time.