Multi-phase multi-group selection methods for real-time collaborative intelligence systems
Systems and methods for real-time collaborative computing and collective intelligence are disclosed. A collaborative application runs on a collaborative server connected to a plurality of computing devices. Collaborative sessions are run wherein a group of independent users, networked over the internet, collaboratively answer questions in real-time, thereby harnessing their collective intelligence. Systems and methods for selection among a set of user-input suggestions. The group is divided into subgroups, each subgroup selecting one suggestion from a subgroup of suggestions. The process is repeated with the remaining selected suggestions until one final target is selected, by the entire group, from the remaining suggestions.
1. A method for determining an answer choice set for a group of users participating in real-time collaborative control of at least one graphical object, each user of the group interacting with one of a plurality of computing devices, each computing device having a processor, a display, a user interface configured to receive input from the user, running a collaboration application and configured to exchange real-time data with a collaboration server having a processor and running collaboration software, comprising the steps of:
receiving, by the collaboration server, of a plurality of answer choice suggestions from at least one of the plurality of computing devices, each answer choice suggestion associated with a question;
assigning, by the collaboration server, of each of the plurality of computing devices to one of a plurality of computing device subgroups;
assigning, by the collaboration server, of each answer choice suggestion to one of a plurality of suggestion subsets, whereby each suggestion subset comprises at least two of the plurality of answer choice suggestions, and each computing device subgroup is e associated with a suggestion subset;
sending, of each suggestion subset to the computing devices of the associated computing device subgroup, wherein each computing device subgroup receives a different suggestion subset;
displaying, by each computing device in each subgroup, the question and a set of spatially arranged graphical targets, each graphical target associated with one answer choice suggestion of the associated suggestion subset;
conducting, by the collaboration server, independently with each of the computing device subgroups, of a collaborative answer session during a prescribed time period, each subgroup answer session comprising:
displaying, by each computing device, of a collaboratively controlled graphical pointer on the user interface at a location relative to set of spatially arranged graphical targets, the pointer location relative to the spatially arranged graphical targets being the same as that displayed by other computing devices of the subgroup;
accepting, repeatedly in real-time by each computing device, user intent input from the user indicating an intended direction of motion of the collaboratively controlled graphical pointer;
sending, repeatedly in real-time by each computing device, the user intent data to the collaboration server, the user intent data representing the user intent input regarding the user's intended direction of motion of the collaboratively controlled pointer at a moment in time;
processing, repeatedly in real-time by the collaboration server for each computing device subgroup, the user intent data to compute an updated location of the collaboratively controlled graphical pointer relative to the set of spatially arranged targets for each subgroup;
sending, repeatedly in real-time by the collaboration server for each of the computing device subgroups, the updated location information for the collaboratively controlled graphical pointer to the plurality of computing devices, thereby enabling collaborative control;
receiving, for each subgroup of computing devices, repeatedly in real-time, updated location information for the collaboratively controlled graphical pointer and updating the displayed location relative to the set of spatially arranged graphical targets accordingly, the updated location being the same as that displayed by other of the plurality of computing devices in the subgroup; and
determining, for each subgroup of computing devices, based on the relative location of the collaboratively controlled graphical pointer and each of the spatially arranged graphical targets, that a selected answer choice suggestion of that subgroup has been selected as the target answer choice suggestion of the subgroup, whereby the subgroup answer session is ended; and
combining the plurality of answer choice suggestion selected by each of the plurality of subgroups into a second phase answer choice suggestion set.
2. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
upon determining that a number of selected answer choice suggestions in the second phase answer choice suggestion set is greater than a maximum number of displayed answer choice suggestions, repeating the method for determining the answer choice suggestion set wherein the plurality of selected answer choice suggestions is substituted for the plurality of answer choices suggestions until the number of selected answer choice suggestions is less than the maximum number of displayed answer choices whereby the remaining answer choice suggestions comprise a final answer choice set; and
conducting, by the collaboration server, of a final collaborative answer session during a prescribed time period, whereby the entire group of users select a final answer choice from the final answer choice set using real-time collaborative control of the graphical pointer.
3. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 1 , wherein the number of computing device subgroups is equal to a number of the plurality of answer choice suggestions divided by a number of answer choice suggestions displayed simultaneously on the display.
4. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 1 , wherein each computing device subgroup has an equal number of users.
5. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of answer choice suggestions are received during a suggestion time period.
6. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 5 , wherein a suggestion countdown timer is displayed on each of the plurality of computing devices during the suggestion time period.
7. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 1 , wherein answer choice suggestions are received until an answer choice suggestion limit is reached.
8. The method for determining the answer choice set of claim 7 , wherein the answer choice suggestion limit is a percentage of a number of users in the group.