US 5,862,223 · Granted 1999-01-19

The 1996 Patent That Tried to Invent Online Expert Networks

Imagine a system that matches you with an expert who can answer your question—like a smart matchmaker between people who need help and people who know stuff. This patent describes how a computer could find the right expert, route your question to them securely, verify their answer, and send it back to you, all over the internet or phone lines.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a method and system for connecting end users with qualified experts through a central controller that stores expert credentials, receives user requests, searches a database to identify matching experts, transmits requests to those experts, authenticates their responses using security layers ranging from passwords to cryptography, and forwards verified answers back to users. What's protected here is the entire workflow—the matching logic, the secure transmission, and the authentication layer.

Why it matters

Filed in 1996 and granted in 1999, this patent captures an early vision of online expert marketplaces and managed Q&A platforms at the dawn of consumer internet adoption. While the specific cryptographic security and expert-matching architecture may seem quaint today, the patent stakes out foundational ideas about brokering expertise digitally—a category that would later explode with platforms like Quora, Thumbtack, and Justanswer. The patent's broad claims around expert authentication and secure expert-to-user communication represent an attempt to lock down a business model before the internet had fully defined what online expertise markets would look like.

Real-world use

You encounter this concept whenever you book a contractor through TaskRabbit, ask a question on an expert Q&A site, or video-call a specialist through an app—the system is automatically matching your need with a verified professional and securing the exchange.

Original USPTO abstract

The present invention is an expert matching method and apparatus for managing communications between an expert having particular qualifications and an end user seeking a solution to an expert request. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus of the present invention includes a controller having a database for storing expert qualifications. In one embodiment, the controller receives an expert request. A search program identifies experts qualified to respond to the expert request. The expert request is then transmitted to the expert, which results in an expert answer transmitted to and received by the central controller. After authentication of the expert answer, using a wide range of security levels from passwords to cryptography, the answer is forwarded to the end user. The method and apparatus of the present invention have applications on the Internet as well as conventional voice telephony systems.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,862,223
Filing date: 1996-07-24
Grant date: 1999-01-19
Assignee: Walker Asset Management Limited Partnership
Inventor(s): WALKER; JAY S., SCHNEIER; BRUCE, JORASCH; JAMES A.
CPC class: G06Q10/063112

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