Friend locator based on friend network and profile

• US 10,031,964 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2015
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhatt, Dhruv A., McNeil, Kristin E., Patel, Nitaben A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gebresenbet, Dinku
• Application Number:
  US14/659,646
• Publication Number:
  US 20160275166A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/295 Named entity recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1044 Group management mechanisms management of multicast group membership H04L12/185; reconfiguring of node membership in a computing system to eliminate errors G06F11/1425
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A method for identifying at least one contact associated with a user and an online communication network. The method may include receiving at least one search term or a social media post entered by the user. The method may also include performing text analytics on the received search term or the social media post to determine at least one subject. The method may further include identifying a plurality of contacts associated with the user, whereby the user and the plurality of contacts are associated with the online communication network. The method may additionally include performing text analytics on a plurality of communications associated with the identified plurality of contacts to determine a plurality of context information. The method may include comparing the determined subject to the determined plurality of context information. The method may include identifying at least one contact within the identified plurality of contacts based on the comparing.

Claims

1. A method for identifying at least one contact associated with a user and an online communication network, the method comprising:

receiving, on a first computer, at least one search term or a social media post entered by the user via a graphical user interface associated with a second computer;

performing text analytics on the received at least one search term or the social media post to determine at least one subject;

identifying a first plurality of contacts associated with a profile of the user and a first plurality of posts and comments related to the user and a second plurality of contacts associated with a second plurality of posts and comments related to the identified first plurality of contacts, wherein the user and the first plurality of contacts and the second plurality of contacts are associated with the online communication network, and wherein the profile of the user does not include the second plurality of contacts;

performing text analytics on a plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts to determine a plurality of context information, wherein performing text analytics on the plurality of communications further comprises;

applying at least one electronic natural language processing (NLP) technique to the at least one search term, the social media post, and the plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts;

determining a plurality of annotations associated with the plurality of communications; and

storing the determined plurality of annotations in an online repository;

comparing the at least one determined subject to the determined plurality of context information, wherein comparing the at least one determined subject to the plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts further comprises;

applying an electronic analytic analysis to a plurality of communications retrieved from the user; and

applying the electronic analytic analysis to a plurality of communications retrieved from the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts, wherein applying the electronic analysis comprises simultaneously searching multiple online dictionaries and an online parsing rules repository;

identifying at least one contact within the identified first plurality of contacts or the identified second plurality of contacts based on the comparing, wherein the identified at least one contact meets a greatest strength of relationship criteria to the user and a plurality of communications written by the identified at least one contact is determined to have a highest score for matching the at least one determined subject within the plurality of communications, and wherein the identified at least one contact is associated with the profile of the user or at least one profile included the first plurality of contacts; and

displaying the identified at least one contact along with an identified plurality of information and comments related to the received at least one search term or the social media post and related to the identified at least one contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the online communication network is selected from a group consisting of email, instant message (IM), short message service (SMS), social networking, and WIKI.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the at least one determined subject to the plurality of context information is based on a similarity ranking.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the similarity ranking is performed by applying a subject based on a plurality of criteria selected from a group consisting of location, sentiment, age, membership, event, product, and application.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a plurality of relevant information associated with the identified at least one contact within the plurality of contacts to the user.

6. A computer system to identify at least one contact associated with a user and an online communication network, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method comprising;

receiving, on a first computer, at least one search term or a social media post entered by the user via a graphical user interface associated with a second computer;

performing text analytics on the received at least one search term or the social media post to determine at least one subject;

identifying a first plurality of contacts associated with a profile of the user and a first plurality of posts and comments related to the user and a second plurality of contacts associated with a second plurality of posts and comments related to the identified first plurality of contacts, wherein the user and the first plurality of contacts and the second plurality of contacts are associated with the online communication network, and wherein the profile of the user does not include the second plurality of contacts;

performing text analytics on a plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts to determine a plurality of context information, wherein performing text analytics on the plurality of communications further comprises;

applying at least one electronic natural language processing (NLP) technique to the at least one search term, the social media post, and the plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts;

determining a plurality of annotations associated with the plurality of communications; and

storing the determined plurality of annotations in an online repository;

comparing the at least one determined subject to the determined plurality of context information, wherein comparing the at least one determined subject to the plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts further comprises;

applying an electronic analytic analysis to a plurality of communications retrieved from the user; and

applying the electronic analytic analysis to a plurality of communications retrieved from the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts, wherein applying the electronic analysis comprises simultaneously searching multiple online dictionaries and an online parsing rules repository;

identifying at least one contact within the identified first plurality of contacts or the identified second plurality of contacts based on the comparing, wherein the identified at least one contact meets a greatest strength of relationship criteria to the user and a plurality of communications written by the identified at least one contact is determined to have a highest score for matching the at least one determined subject within the plurality of communications, and wherein the identified at least one contact is associated with the profile of the user or at least one profile included the first plurality of contacts; and

displaying the identified at least one contact along with an identified plurality of information and comments related to the received at least one search term or the social media post and related to the identified at least one contact.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the online communication network is selected from a group consisting of email, instant message (IM), short message service (SMS), social networking, and WIKI.

8. The computer system of claim 6, comparing the at least one determined subject to the plurality of context information is based on a similarity ranking.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the similarity ranking is performed by applying a subject based on a plurality of criteria selected from a group consisting of location, sentiment, age, membership, event, product, and application.

10. The computer system of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of relevant information associated with the identified at least one contact within the plurality of contacts to the user.

11. A computer program product to identify at least one contact associated with a user and an online communication network, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage devices and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage devices, the program instructions executable by a processor, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive, on a first computer, at least one search term or a social media post entered by the user via a graphical user interface associated with a second computer;

program instructions to perform text analytics on the received at least one search term or the social media post to determine at least one subject;

program instructions to identify a first plurality of contacts associated with a profile of the user and a first plurality of posts and comments related to the user and a second plurality of contacts associated with a second plurality of posts and comments related to the identified first plurality of contacts, wherein the user and the first plurality of contacts and the second plurality of contacts are associated with the online communication network, and wherein the profile of the user does not include the second plurality of contacts;

program instructions to perform text analytics on a plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts to determine a plurality of context information, wherein performing text analytics on the plurality of communications further comprises;

program instructions to apply at least one electronic natural language processing (NLP) technique to the at least one search term, the social media post, and the plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts;

program instruction to determine a plurality of annotations associated with the plurality of communications; and

program instructions to store the determined plurality of annotations in an online repository;

program instructions to compare the at least one determined subject to the determined plurality of context information, wherein comparing the at least one determined subject to the plurality of communications associated with the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts further comprises;

program instructions to apply an electronic analytic analysis to a plurality of communications retrieved from the user; and

program instructions to apply the electronic analytic analysis to a plurality of communications retrieved from the identified first plurality of contacts and the identified second plurality of contacts, wherein applying the electronic analysis comprises simultaneously searching multiple online dictionaries and an online parsing rules repository;

program instructions to identify at least one contact within the identified first plurality of contacts or the identified second plurality of contacts based on the comparing, wherein the identified at least one contact meets a greatest strength of relationship criteria to the user and a plurality of communications written by the identified at least one contact is determined to have a highest score for matching the at least one determined subject within the plurality of communications, and wherein the identified at least one contact is associated with the profile of the user or at least one profile included the first plurality of contacts; and

program instructions to display the identified at least one contact along with an identified plurality of information and comments related to the received at least one search term or the social media post and related to the identified at least one contact.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the online communication network is selected from a group consisting of email, instant message (IM), short message service (SMS), social networking, and WIKI.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein performing text analytics comprises applying at least one of a natural language processing (NLP) to the at least one search term, the social media post, and the plurality of communications associated with the identified plurality of contacts.