Managing user ratings in a web services environment

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing user ratings in a web services environment. A method includes storing a comment associated with a web service and storing an influence rating associated with an author of the comment. The method also includes transmitting information associated with the web service, the comment, and the influence rating to a user. Additionally, the method includes receiving feedback from the user, and determining an updated influence rating based upon the feedback and the influence rating.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer program product comprising a tangible computer usable storage memory or device having a computer readable program embodied in the tangible computer usable storage memory or device, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computing device is operable such that the computing device:
 stores a user comment from a first user concerning at least one web service of web services in a first database;   determines an influence rating associated with the first user of the user comment;   stores in the first database the influence rating associated with the first user of the user comment;   receives a search query from a second user for information about the at least one web service of the web services;   retrieves the information, the user comment, and the influence rating associated with the at least one web service of the web services;   receives feedback from the second user regarding the user comment; and   determines an updated influence rating based upon the feedback and the influence rating.   
     
     
         2 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the influence rating is determined by a user score manager (USM) that interacts with the first database and an interface, and the influence rating is stored in blue pages of the first database. 
     
     
         3 . The computer program product of  claim 2 , wherein the interface is a graphical user interface displayed on the computing device that allows at least one of the first user and the second user to register as a user of the web services, rate a value of the user comment, and make comments about the web services. 
     
     
         4 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device provides a service oriented architecture comprising the first database and a second database of a Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) registry, wherein the first database is linked to the second database, and the second database of the UDDI registry comprises data entries that include information about web services, and a user score manager (USM) is stored and executed on the UDDI registry. 
     
     
         5 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the data entries of the UDDI registry are from at least one of white pages, yellow pages, and green pages of the UDDI registry. 
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the receiving the search query further comprises receiving the search query for published web services in the UDDI registry. 
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , further comprising transmitting the information, the user comment, and the influence rating to the user based upon the search query. 
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the information associated with the web service is a result of the search query. 
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the second database further comprises execution instructions of the web service. 
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the information about the web services comprises at least one of: identity information of a publisher of the web services, network location of the web services, and execution instructions of the web services. 
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the updated influence rating. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving the feedback comprises receiving feedback data from the interface over a network. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 12 , wherein the feedback data comprises a score selected by the second user. 
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the search query is based on at least one of comment text, a user influence rating, and a user name. 
     
     
         15 . A computing system, comprising a hardware computer infrastructure operable to:
 store at least one user comment from a first user concerning at least one web service of the web services in a first database;   determine an influence rating associated with the first user of the at least one user comment;   store the influence rating of the first user of the at least one comment in the first database;   receive a search query from a second user for information about the at least one web service of the web services;   retrieve the information, the at least one user comment, and the influence rating associated with the at least one web service of the web services;   receive feedback from the second user regarding the at least one user comment; and   update the influence rating based upon the feedback.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the computer infrastructure is operable to provide a service oriented architecture comprising the first database and a second database of a Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) registry, wherein the first database is linked to the second database, and the second database of the UDDI registry comprises data entries that include information about offered web services, and a user score manager (USM) is stored and executed on the UDDI registry. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the influence rating is determined by a user score manager (USM) that interacts with the first database and an interface, and wherein the influence rating is stored in blue pages of the first database. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the interface is a graphical user interface displayed on the computing device that allows at least one of the first user and the second user to register as a user of the web services, rate a value of the user comment, and make comments about the web services, and the search query is based on at least one of comment text, a user influence rating, and a user name.