Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-02
2001-10-30
Breene, John (Department: 2177)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C455S002010, C709S203000, C705S012000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311190
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system (and method) for conducting surveys in different languages over a network, and relates particularly to a system having at least one network server providing an addressable site on a network, such as the Internet, which dynamically generates surveys which are transmitted over the network to the computers of voters in their preferred language, and sends summaries showing the results of the survey in the voter's country or the results of the survey in other countries. The system of the present invention further enables voters or other registrants to register with the system in their preferred language at another site on the network provided by the network server. The system is suitable for taking large surveys or polls of individual voters in numerous countries, while allowing voters to view by the results of the survey immediately after taking the survey and to view a comparison of the results of the survey with other countries.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, surveys or polls are a series of questions on a form presented to individuals, called voters, to sample the views of people in a given region or country for political, commercial or entertainment purposes. Surveys are typically conducted either in person, mail, or via telephone to a great number of individual voters. Consequently, the task of conducting a survey and tabulating the results of a survey is time consuming which delays obtaining the results of the survey, and furthermore, the results of the survey either are not available to the individuals who took the survey, or are sent to them at a later time when the entire survey is completed. It is often the individuals taking a survey who are the ones most interested in how their votes or opinions compare with others. In addition, voters in different countries or regions of a country may have different national languages, but surveys are typically provided in only the most common languages of a country or region, limiting the scope of individuals who can take the survey.
With the development of the Internet and its growing widespread use, individuals in countries throughout the world can now connect to a network site and receive pages of information via their computers and browser software. No site however has yet provided a mechanism for enabling individuals to participate in surveys in different languages or to review the results of such surveys. Although some sites require users to answer a static series of questions in a single language, for example, a user's name, E-mail address, or credit card information, they are not for survey purposes but for registering individuals to use facilities offered by the site. The results of such questions are not shared with the users, but are only accessible by system administrators.
Furthermore, with respect to registration, typically registration questions at a web site are limited to a single language, usually in English, or in the language of the users anticipated connecting to the site. This limits the scope of individuals who can register with a site, and moreover, can lead to incorrect information if the language of the site is not comprehended by the user.
Several proposed system have been developed for allowing a program to offer messages in different languages such as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,595,980, 5,428,772 and 5,583,761. However such systems do not provide an integrated solution for surveys in multiple languages over a network or for registration in multiple languages, but are limited to enhancing the language capability of a user interface of an application program operating on a computer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a system for conducting surveys over a network to multiple voters in multiple countries throughout the world in different languages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for conducting surveys over a network which dynamically generates surveys from voting information stored in a database of the system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for conducting surveys over a network which shows the results of the surveys taken by voters in the voter's country and offers to the voter a comparison of the results from other countries.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for conducting multiple surveys over a network for different voting campaigns.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system for conducting multiple surveys over a network which allows voters to vote only once on each survey.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for enabling voters or other registrants to register over a network in different languages for different registration campaigns.
Briefly described, the present invention embodies a system for conducting surveys internationally to voters in multiple different languages over a computer-based network, such as the Internet, and for registering voters or other registrants over the network in multiple different languages. The system includes a programmed computer system representing at least one network server which provides an addressable voting site and registration site on the network, and a database storing voting information for dynamically building surveys in multiple languages and recording the results of the surveys, and registration information for dynamically building registration questionnaires and recording the results of the questionnaires. The network server accesses and updates the records of multiple tables of the database storing the voting and registration information through a transaction server connected to the database. A computer of each of the voters is programmed with network browser software, such that a connection to the network server over the network can be established at one of the multiple Universal Resource Locators (URLs) addressing the voting site, where each URL identifies at the voting site a different voting campaign having one or more surveys. In response to the computer of each voter establishing a connection to the network server for a voting campaign, the computer of the voter becomes a network client of the network server, and the network server determines the preferred language of the voter and the country of the voter. Based on the voting campaign, a survey of one or more questions in the preferred language for the voter is generated in accordance with the voting information stored in the database, and transmitted over the network in a survey form page to the computer of the voter. The survey form page is an HTML document constructed from several elements, including, display characteristics (such as borders, logos, fonts, hyperlinks, and graphics), survey instructions, questions and sets of responses to questions in the preferred language of the voter. The elements may be stored in separate related records in the tables of the database with records having translations for different languages. The survey form page enables the voter to answer each question and to submit such answers back to the network server over the network. The network server receives the answers to the questions of the survey and adds those answers representing votes to records in the database tallying totals for each response answered for each question for the country of the voter, and the total number of voters answering each question for the country of the voter. The network server then generates a summary comprising both a histogram and percentage of the votes for each response for each question of the survey for the country of the voter, and transmits the summary in a results page over the network to the voter's computer. The network server also enables the voter to select and receive another results page having a summary of the votes for other countries in comparison with the results for the voter's country. The network server also enables th
Bayer Leonard Robert
Beer Frederick Anton Eilers
Mott John Jason
Radielovic Albina
Breene John
Harris Interactive Inc.
Le Debbie M
Lukacher Kenneth J.
LandOfFree
System for conducting surveys in different languages over a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System for conducting surveys in different languages over a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System for conducting surveys in different languages over a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2568763