John Roderick Chisholm

US Patent:

54002486, Mar 21, 1995

Filed:

Sep 15, 1993

Appl. No.:

8/122869

Inventors:

John D. Chisholm - Menlo Park CA

International Classification:

G06F 1520
G06F 1530

US Classification:

364409

Abstract:

A voting system allows voters to express and cast votes that are conditional on the votes of others of a voting group. Votes may be conditional on the votes of specific individuals, on the number or percent of the overall group who vote a certain way, external events or on any combination thereof. The system solves the "common goods, free rider" dilemma in which voters oppose proposals they recognize as worthwhile out of fear that a few supporters will be burdened with all of the costs. The system specifies and enforces terms under which conditional voting will take place, and may manage the voting process across a network. The system recognizes when either multiple solutions or no solutions to a set of votes exist. The system can determine which voters are responsible for these cases, and can invite them to change their votes, if they wish. The system can also determine the largest subset or subsets of a group of conditional votes that has no solution, for which there is a unique solution or multiple solutions.