Systems and methods for utilizing wireless communications to suggest connections for a user

• US 10,111,059 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2017
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Ben
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean
• Application Number:
  US15/688,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20170359711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 421 Days
• Field of Search: 4554141, 4554142, 455416, 455457, 455458, 455459
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can broadcast a first wireless communication including information associated with a first user. A second wireless communication including information associated with a second user can be detected. Log data including at least a portion of the information associated with the second user can be generated. The log data can also include signal strength data associated with the second wireless communication and time data indicating when the second wireless communication was detected. The log data can be provided for analysis. One or more connections suggested for the first user based, at least in part, on the log data can be received.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a computing system, log data associated with a first user, the log data comprising a first set of wireless communication data associated with a first wireless communication associated with a second user;

analyzing, by the computing system, signal strength data associated with the first wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the second user;

ranking, by the computing system, a set of potential connections based on ranking criteria, wherein the set of potential connections includes the second user and the ranking criteria comprise at least one of a frequency of inferred locational proximity, a duration of inferred locational proximity, or a detected pattern of inferred locational proximity; and

providing, by the computing system, one or more connection suggestions for the first user, the one or more connection suggestions including the second user based on the ranking.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing the signal strength data associated with the first wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the second user further comprises determining that the first user and the second user have been within a specified allowable distance from one another based on the signal strength data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

acquiring time data indicating when the first wireless communication was detected; and

analyzing the time data to infer a duration of a meeting between the first user and the second user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an instruction from the first user to connect with the second user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first set of wireless communication data comprises an identifier of the second user within a social networking service.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the log data comprises a second set of wireless communication data associated with a second wireless communication associated with a third user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

analyzing a second set of signal strength data associated with the second wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the third user, wherein

the one or more connection suggestions for the first user include the third user suggested based, at least in part, on the locational proximity inferred from analyzing the second set of signal strength data.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring a second set of time data indicating when the second wireless communication was detected; and

analyzing the second set of time data to infer a duration of a meeting between the first user and the third user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising receiving an instruction from the first user to connect with the third user.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless communication corresponds to at least one of a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication, a ZigBee communication, a Z-Wave communication, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) communication, a near-field communication (NFC), or a personal area network (PAN) communication.

11. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform a method comprising;

receiving log data associated with a first user, the log data comprising a first set of wireless communication data associated with a first wireless communication associated with a second user;

analyzing signal strength data associated with the first wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the second user;

ranking a set of potential connections based on ranking criteria, wherein the set of potential connections includes the second user and the ranking criteria comprise at least one of a frequency of inferred locational proximity, a duration of inferred locational proximity, or a detected pattern of inferred locational proximity; and

providing one or more connection suggestions for the first user, the one or more connection suggestions including the second user based on the ranking.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the analyzing the signal strength data associated with the first wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the second user further comprises determining that the first user and the second user have been within a specified allowable distance from one another based on the signal strength data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

acquiring time data indicating when the first wireless communication was detected; and

analyzing the time data to infer a duration of a meeting between the first user and the second user.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises receiving an instruction from the first user to connect with the second user.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first set of wireless communication data comprises an identifier of the second user within a social networking service.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving log data associated with a first user, the log data comprising a first set of wireless communication data associated with a first wireless communication associated with a second user;

analyzing signal strength data associated with the first wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the second user;

ranking a set of potential connections based on ranking criteria, wherein the set of potential connections includes the second user and the ranking criteria comprise at least one of a frequency of inferred locational proximity, a duration of inferred locational proximity, or a detected pattern of inferred locational proximity; and

providing one or more connection suggestions for the first user, the one or more connection suggestions including the second user based on the ranking.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the analyzing the signal strength data associated with the first wireless communication to infer a locational proximity between the first user and the second user further comprises determining that the first user and the second user have been within a specified allowable distance from one another based on the signal strength data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

acquiring time data indicating when the first wireless communication was detected; and

analyzing the time data to infer a duration of a meeting between the first user and the second user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises receiving an instruction from the first user to connect with the second user.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the first set of wireless communication data comprises an identifier of the second user within a social networking service.