Synchronous display of personal and contact-shared contact information

• US 10,146,777 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2011
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tseng, Erick
• Primary Examiner(s): Gebresenbet, Dinku W
• Application Number:
  US13/115,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20120303652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,750 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/436 using biological or physiological data of a human being, e.g. blood pressure, facial expression, gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A social networking system allows a first user to provide contact information for a second user via a synchronization or upload event from a computing device. The second user is prompted as to whether he or she wishes to share the received contact information on his public profile. If he or she responds affirmatively, the updated contact information is stored in association with the second user'"'"'s profile on the social networking system. If the user responds negatively, the contact information is stored on the social networking system in association with the uploading user.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by one or more computing systems:

receiving, from a first user of a social network, contact information for a second user of the social network, wherein the received contact information is stored in a private data structure associated with a profile of the second user, and wherein one or more privacy settings define or identify one or more third users of the social network who are excluded from accessing the received contact information;

prompting the second user as to whether to allow at least one of the third users to access the received contact information;

receiving a response from the second user;

only when the response is affirmative, allowing the at least one of the third users to access the received contact information; and

only when the response is negative;

adding the received contact information to a private data structure associated with an address book of the first user, and

linking the received contact information stored in the private data structure associated with the address book of the first user to public information stored in a public data structure, wherein the public information is from the profile of the second user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is represented in a social graph by a first user node, and determining that the second user is a member of the social network comprises:

for each of the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

accessing a user profile associated with the user node;

searching the accessed user profile for information matching the received contact information;

and, in response to a match, determining that the second user is represented by the user profile containing the matching information on the social network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

if no matches are found within the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

incrementing the degree of separation; and

repeating the search.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, repeating the search for each subsequent degree of separation until all user nodes are searched, or a match is found.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, repeating the search for a predetermined number of degrees of separation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving a synchronization message from the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving an upload of data stored on a SIM card of the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving a CSV file from the first user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, a request for the received contact information associated with the second user; and

providing, to the second user, access to the received contact information stored in the private data structure associated with the address book of the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the at least one of the third users, a request for the received contact information associated with the second user; and

only when the response is negative, denying, to the third user, access to the received contact information stored in the private data structure associated with the address book of the first user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the received contact information stored in the private data structure associated with the address book of the first user is accessible for display to the first user alongside the public information stored in the public data structure, wherein the public information is from the profile of the second user.

12. An apparatus comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media embodying software; and

one or more processors coupled to the storage media and operable to execute the software to;

receive, from a first user of a social network, contact information for a second user of the social network, wherein the received contact information is stored in a private data structure associated with a profile of the second user, and wherein one or more privacy settings define or identify one or more third users of the social network who are excluded from accessing the received contact information;

prompt the second user as to whether to allow at least one of the third users to access the received contact information;

receive a response from the second user;

only when the response is affirmative, allow the at least one of the third users to access the received contact information; and

only when the response is negative;

add the received contact information to a private data structure associated with an address book of the first user, and

link the received contact information stored in the private data structure associated with the address book of the first user to public information stored in a public data structure, wherein the public information is from the profile of the second user.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first user is represented in a social graph by a first user node;

and

the one or more processors that are operable to execute the software to determine that the second user is a member of the social network comprise one or more processors that are operable to execute the software to, for each of the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

access a user profile associated with the user node;

search the accessed user profile for information matching the received contact information;

and, in response to a match, determine that the second user is represented by the user profile containing the matching information on the social network.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processors are further operable to execute the software to:

if no matches are found within the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node, increment the degree of separation; and

repeat the search.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processors are further operable to execute the software to repeat the search for each subsequent degree of separation until all user nodes are searched, or a match is found.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processors are further operable to execute the software to repeat the search for a predetermined number of degrees of separation.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processors that are operable to execute the software to receive the contact information comprise processors that are operable to execute the software to receive a synchronization message from the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processors that are operable to execute the software to receive the contact information comprise processors that are operable to execute the software to receive an upload of data stored on a SIM card of the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

receive, from a first user of a social network, contact information for a second user of the social network, wherein the received contact information is stored in a private data structure associated with a profile of the second user, and wherein one or more privacy settings define or identify one or more third users of the social network who are excluded from accessing the received contact information;

prompt the second user as to whether to allow at least one of the third users to access the received contact information;

receive a response from the second user;

only when the response is affirmative, allow the at least one of the third users to access the received contact information; and

only when the response is negative;

add the received contact information to a private data structure associated with an address book of the first user, and

link the received contact information stored in the private data structure associated with the address book of the first user to public information stored in a public data structure, wherein the public information is from the profile of the second user.