Patent US 5,359,508

Self-organizing data-base that charges users who find data in it and pays users who supply the data found. Has a built in feedback mechanism, called the Pay-off Meter (POM), that tells users what data needs supplying based on the number of request for that data over time. The POM outputs an expected Pay-off for supplying a piece of data. A sensitive and potent feedback loop is created insuring that the more a piece of data is requested during a period of time, the more likely the data will be supplied by a requestor or by someone a requestor tells of the pay-off.