Activity graphs

• US 10,237,361 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2017
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Giacobbe, Gail, Aziz, Imran, Porras Luraschi, Javier, Rogers, March, Gitenstein, Benjamin B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US15/827,847
• Publication Number:
  US 20180084068A1
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• Field of Search: 709202-206, 709223-224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

The description relates to activity graphs. One example can obtain details from multiple activity cards. The example can identify relationships between at least some of the details of the multiple activity cards. The example can also generate an activity graph that reflects at least some of the relationships between individual activity cards.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

store a set of previous activity cards containing previous activity details of previous activities, the previous activity details identifying participants in the previous activities and geographic locations of the previous activities;

generate an activity graph of the previous activity cards;

perform an evaluation of the activity graph to identify a suggested future activity;

generate a suggested activity card identifying the suggested future activity; and

provide the suggested activity card to a user device of an individual user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

provide the suggested activity card by sending the suggested activity card over a network to the user device; and

send the suggested activity card over the network to another user device of another individual user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

update the suggested activity card to reflect discussions between the individual user and the another individual user.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine a location of the user device of the individual user; and

update the suggested activity card with directions from the location of the user device to the suggested future activity.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

detect when the user device arrives at the suggested future activity; and

update the suggested activity card by sending a communication to the another user device indicating that the individual user has arrived.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a query over the network from the user device, the query identifying a particular search term to search for in the previous activity cards;

identify a particular previous activity card that includes the particular search term; and

respond to the query by sending the particular previous activity card to the user device.

7. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

perform an evaluation of an activity graph of previous activity cards;

based at least on the evaluation, identify a suggested future activity for an individual participant;

generate a suggested activity card for the individual participant, the suggested activity card identifying the suggested future activity; and

send the suggested activity card over a network to a user device of the individual participant.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

assign prognostic values to edges of the activity graph, the prognostic values reflecting respective strengths of relationships between respective previous activity cards connected by the edges; and

utilize the prognostic values in the evaluation of the activity graph.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

identify semantically equivalent information present in respective previous activity details of at least two different previous activity cards; and

based at least on the semantically equivalent information, determine an individual prognostic value for an individual edge connecting the at least two different previous activity cards.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

based at least on the evaluation of the activity graph, automatically populate the suggested activity card with at least one other individual participant; and

send the suggested activity card over the network to the user device of the individual participant.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

obtain a physical location of the user device of the individual participant; and

send an update for the suggested activity card to the user device of the individual participant, the update including location-specific information that is based at least on the physical location of the user device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the location-specific information comprises an advertisement for a store that is located near the physical location of the user device.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

generate the activity graph.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

identify a plurality of suggested participants in the suggested future activity;

contact a calendaring service to identify an open time for the plurality of suggested participants; and

include, in the suggested activity card, an indication that the suggested future activity is scheduled at the identified open time.

15. A method performed on a computing device, the method comprising:

storing a set of previous activity cards containing previous activity details of previous activities, the previous activity details identifying participants in the previous activities and geographic locations of the previous activities;

generating an activity graph from the previous activity cards;

assigning edge values to individual edges of the activity graph, the edge values reflecting relative strength of relationships between individual previous activity cards connected by the individual edges; and

providing access to the activity graph for analysis.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein generating the activity graph comprises:

identifying two different activity cards that have the same value for a particular activity detail and connecting the two different activity cards with a particular edge of the activity graph.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein generating the activity graph comprises:

identifying two different activity cards that have semantically equivalent values for a particular activity detail and connecting the two different activity cards with a particular edge of the activity graph.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

evaluating the activity graph to identify at least one specific type of activity in which a particular user tends to participate.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

evaluating the activity graph to identify, for particular user, at least one other user with which the particular user tends to participate in one or more activities.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

evaluating the activity graph to identify at least one location in which a particular user tends to participate in one or more activities, based at least upon particular device locations of a particular user device associated with the particular user.