Patents

US 8086648 B2: Computer assisted data collection for surveys and the like

Granted
2011-12-27
Filed
2009-06-05 application 12479451
Type
Utility · 18 claims
Elsewhere
Google Patents ↗ · USPTO patent document ↗ · USPTO Patent Center record ↗

Abstract

An exemplary MMIC (“Multi-Mode Interviewing Capability”) survey program is a computerized tool that supports various traditional modes of collecting interview data, including telephone interviewing, written interviewing, and personal interviewing, and can be used to manage the whole interview process from questionnaire design, sample management, and fieldwork monitoring to final dataset production. The collected data may also include non-textual data from survey participants such as medical measurements of blood pressure and heart rate. Self-interviewing using the Internet is also possible which permits real time availability of results and the participation of respondents from virtually anywhere in the world, using devices such as PDA's, Smart phones and Web TV's. The MMIC survey structure is non-linear and object oriented, which permits a connection between all the building blocks of the survey to be defined on any level. The compiled survey includes sufficient metadata to facilitate decompilation and the production of equivalent source code in any supported programming language, whether or not it was originally programmed in that language. This stored metadata not only allows researchers to later trace back the exact conditions under which this particular answer was given, but also permits results from multiple iterations of the related surveys to be combined in a rigorous manner that will be transparent to subsequent analysis and research.

Source: PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 (ipg111227.xml).

Assignees

AssigneeTypePlaceAlso on furp.orgSource
RAND CORPORATION, THE 2 patentsNot reportedSanta Monica, CARAND School of Public Policy College or university FUZZY medium confidence: through the nonprofit with the college's EIN (same name (governing-board words and legal endings aside) and state)
RAND CORPORATION Federal lobbying client FUZZY medium confidence: same name (legal endings aside) and state
RAND CORPORATION Nonprofit FUZZY medium confidence: same name (governing-board words and legal endings aside) and state
PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10

Inventors

InventorPlacePatentsPerson pageSource
Albert WeermanTopanga, CA1PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10

CPC categories

SubclassCategoryFirst groupSource
G06QInformation and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes; systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not otherwise provided forG06Q30/02PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10
G16HHealthcare informatics, i.e. information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical or healthcare dataG16H10/20PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10

Cooperative Patent Classification, as currently assigned (one row per subclass).

Assignments and security interests

No recorded assignments or security interests on file for this patent.

USPTO bulk data: PatentsView granted patents, disambiguated (PVGPATDIS) for patents, assignees, inventors, places and CPC categories; the USPTO Patent Assignment Dataset (ECORSEXC) for assignments and security interests. Patents filed in the last 20 years. No claims or full text. Links to other records are by name (and state): EXACT means the identical full name and state; FUZZY means a looser name match, with the confidence shown.