Computer system and method for generating, exchanging, and valuing social currency

Inventor: David Kopans (Arlington, MA)

Assignee: PF Loop Inc.

A63F13/46 G06Q50/01

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,099,131
App. No.: 15/676,447
Granted: Oct 16, 2018
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A computer system creates, stores, transmits, modifies, and enables users to exchange units of social currency, referred to as “social currency events” (SCEs). Each SCE represents social approval and/or disapproval of a behavior of one or more users by the same user or one or more other users. The users who send and receive an SCE may each assign their own distinct values to it. The computer system generates various metrics based on one or more SCEs, such as by generating a single SCE score for a user based on variables such as the number and value of SCEs the user has sent and received. SCEs are used to recognize positive and/or negative social behaviors by users of the system, to encourage such users to engage in additional positive social behaviors, and to discourage such users from engaging in additional negative social behaviors.

Claims (50)

1. A method performed by at least one computer processor executing computer program instructions stored on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method comprising:

(A) receiving, over a network from a first computing device, data representing a first plurality of social currency event data structures created by a first user, wherein the first plurality of social currency event data structures includes data representing first values of the first plurality of social currency event data structures to the first user;

(B) receiving, over the network from a second computing device, data representing a second plurality of social currency event data structures addressed to the first user, wherein the second plurality of social currency event data structures includes data representing second values of the second plurality of social currency event data structures to the first user;

(D) calculating a second count of the second plurality of social currency event data structures;

(E) calculating a score associated with the first user based on at least two of the first count, the second count, the first values, and the second values;

(F) receiving data representing a third plurality of social currency event data structures, wherein the third plurality of social currency event data structures includes:

data representing third values of the third plurality of social currency event data structures to a first plurality of users;

data representing fourth values of the third plurality of social currency event data structures to a second plurality of users; and

data representing a first plurality of existing values of at least one first field shared by the third plurality of social currency event data structures;

(G) identifying a first subset of the third plurality of social currency event data structures based on the first plurality of existing values of the at least one first field shared by the third plurality of social currency event data structures;

(H) calculating a first value of a statistic based on the first subset of the third plurality of social currency event data structures;

(I) identifying a second plurality of existing values of a second field shared by the third plurality of social currency event data structures; and

(J) calculating a first plurality of normalized values of the second field based on the first value of the statistic and the second plurality of existing values of the second field.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein (E) comprises calculating the score by subtracting the second count from the first count.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein (E) comprises calculating the score by subtracting the first count from the second count.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein (E) comprises calculating the score by dividing the second count by the first count.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein (E) comprises calculating the score by dividing the first count by the second count.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(K) repeating (A)-(E) periodically.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first field includes the second field.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first field does not include the second field.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(K) storing the plurality of normalized values of the second field in the third plurality of social currency event data structures.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistic comprises at least one of an arithmetic mean, a median, a mode, and a weighted mean.

11. A system comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer program instructions executable by at least one computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising: