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Social network searching with breadcrumbs

  • US 10,275,524 B2
  • Filed: 01/23/2008
  • Issued: 04/30/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of operating a system for performing searches for documents requested by one member of a plurality of members of a social network, the social network comprising a set of individuals that interact with one another socially via a network of computers, the method comprising:

  • in a computer system for communicatively coupling to user devices of the plurality of members of the social network and to the network of computers containing a plurality of stored documents,generating a plurality of first data structures, each first data structure comprising personal information of a corresponding individual;

    generating a plurality of second data structures, each second data structure comprising data representing a link between a document accessible on the network of computers and a corresponding individual;

    generating a third data structure for a particular user, the third data structure comprising link information representing social relationships identified between the particular user and other users of the network of computers, based upon one or both of email contact information of the particular user and the other users of the network or computers, and information identifying friends in a social network;

    creating a fourth data structure by collecting information representing documents in the network of computers that are linked in the plurality of second data structures with those other users of the network of computers that are linked in the third data structure with the particular user;

    in response to receiving a search query, via a selection of one or more graphical elements of a graphical user interface, comprising one or more search criteria from the particular user,generating search results identifying one or more documents identified in the plurality of second data structures that match the one or more search criteria,generating a corresponding sequence of breadcrumbs identifying person-to-person and person-to-document links for display in a sequential manner on the graphical user interface, including one or more intermediate person-to-person links that are displayed for each group of documents generated by the search query, that form a chain of links between the particular user and each document of the one or more documents, based on search criteria from the particular user, the third data structure, and the fourth data structure, anddetermining a level of confidence that a person associated with one of the links in the chain is an individual who is known to be in the social network; and

    transmitting the search results and the corresponding sequence of breadcrumbs to a user device of the particular user via the network of computers, for display, including marking the breadcrumbs to distinguish between an implicit link and an explicit link in the chain.

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