United States Patent 6,525,747 Bezos February 25, 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------- Method and system for conducting a discussion relating to an item
Abstract A method and system for conducting an electronic discussion relating to a topic. The discussion system of the present invention receives a selection of an item that is to be the topic of the discussion. The discussion system then receives comments relating to the selected item and generates a message that includes a description of the selected item and the received comments. The discussion system then sends the generated message to participants of the discussion. The discussion system receives from a participant who received the generated message additional comments that are to be added to the generated message. The discussion system sends the generated message along with received additional comments to the participants of the discussion.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Inventors: Bezos; Jeffrey P. (Seattle, WA) Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc. (Seattle, WA) Appl. No.: 365513 Filed: August 2, 1999
United States Patent 6,525,747 Bezos February 25, 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------- Method and system for conducting a discussion relating to an item
Abstract A method and system for conducting an electronic discussion relating to a topic. The discussion system of the present invention receives a selection of an item that is to be the topic of the discussion. The discussion system then receives comments relating to the selected item and generates a message that includes a description of the selected item and the received comments. The discussion system then sends the generated message to participants of the discussion. The discussion system receives from a participant who received the generated message additional comments that are to be added to the generated message. The discussion system sends the generated message along with received additional comments to the participants of the discussion.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Inventors: Bezos; Jeffrey P. (Seattle, WA) Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc. (Seattle, WA) Appl. No.: 365513 Filed: August 2, 1999
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United States Patent 6,525,747 Bezos February 25, 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------- Method and system for conducting a discussion relating to an item
Abstract A method and system for conducting an electronic discussion relating to a topic. The discussion system of the present invention receives a selection of an item that is to be the topic of the discussion. The discussion system then receives comments relating to the selected item and generates a message that includes a description of the selected item and the received comments. The discussion system then sends the generated message to participants of the discussion. The discussion system receives from a participant who received the generated message additional comments that are to be added to the generated message. The discussion system sends the generated message along with received additional comments to the participants of the discussion.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Inventors: Bezos; Jeffrey P. (Seattle, WA) Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc. (Seattle, WA) Appl. No.: 365513 Filed: August 2, 1999
[Jake] Thanks for sharing this. Basically this is a load of crap as far as I am concerned. I don't really know all the ins and outs of patent or intellectual property law, but to think that you can patent a method of discussion sounds patently absurd and stupid. Maybe Bezos believes he's just covering his bases, but this is getting pretty ridiculous. Until Lucifer and Co. succeed in creating Turing test worthy chatterbots, "discussions" happen between humans. You can certainly use computers to more efficiently organize your information, or you can simply do it yourself, but the dynamics of a discussion remain fundamentally the same regardless. Indeed when I reread this thing several times, it really sounds simply like a BBS except for the system "generating" a message. But then the CoV BBS system can generate messages too by notifying you of responses to topics. Beyond these kinds of things I have no interest in messages "generated" by a computer. When I feel like something like that just for fun, I go into the #virus channel and start throwing comments and questions at Futura. The "discussion" never really goes anywhere but its can be entertaining especially if I've had several shots of vodka straight up first.
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