Selective inclusion of members in a results list

• US 10,296,550 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2015
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Perry Street Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Perry Street Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Silverberg, Eric, Marchant, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thu Nguyet T
• Application Number:
  US14/826,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20160048568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• Field of Search: 707767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/387 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for selective modification of location based search results that is undetectable or otherwise difficult for users of a system for providing the location based search results to detect. The method includes accessing from a processing element a results list responsive to inquiry, determining by the processing element a distance characteristic of the inquiry, determining by the processing element a density corresponding to a selected location, and based on the distance characteristic and the density modifying the results list, wherein the density is at least one of user profile density or population density.

Claims

1. A method for selective modification of location based search results that is undetectable or difficult for users of the system to detect, comprising:

accessing by a processing element from a first memory location, a results list having a plurality of results responsive to an inquiry from a user device, the inquiry based on a selected location and a distance characteristic;

determining by the processing element a density corresponding to the selected location of the results list; and

in response to the density being above a predetermined threshold, modifying the results list that was responsive said inquiry by suppressing or promoting at least one result within the plurality of results of the results list based on user preferential criteria to generate a modified results list and transmitting the modified results list to a second memory location on the user device, wherein the modified results list comprises the suppressed or promoted result and additional results from the plurality of results and the density is at least one of user profile density in the selected location or population density of the selected location; and

in response to the density being below the predetermined threshold, transmitting the modified results list to the second memory location on the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein suppressing or promoting at least one result comprises at least one of removing at least one user profile from the results list, or adding at least one user profile to the results list.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user preferential criteria comprises user data, wherein modifying the results list by suppressing or promoting at least one result within the plurality of results of the results list based on user preferential criteria further comprises analyzing the user data corresponding to one or more user profiles encompassed within the results list.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user data corresponds to a user rating or a user index of the one or more user profiles, wherein the user rating or the user index is generated by cumulative ratings from a plurality of users.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the user data comprises external data and internal data.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the results list comprises suppressing at least one user profile when the user preferential criteria is determined to not be satisfied.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein suppressing at least one user profile comprises removing the at least one user profile from the results list, minimizing the at least one user profile within the modified results list, or changing a results order of the plurality of results of the modified results list.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the results list further comprises promoting at least one user profile when the user preferential criteria is determined to be satisfied, and promoting the at least one user profile comprises highlighting the at least one user profile on a display, or changing a results order of the plurality of results of the results list so that the at least one user profile is closer to a top in the results order.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the results list comprises:

suppressing a first user profile when the user preferential criteria associated with the first user profile is determined to not be satisfied; and

promoting the first user profile when the user preferential criteria associated with the first user profile is determined to be satisfied.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified results list further comprises each result of the plurality of results.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional results in the modified results list are unmodified from the results list.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the results list comprises suppressing a first result within the plurality of results when the user preferential criteria corresponding to the first result is below a selected value.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the results list comprises promoting a second result within the plurality of results when the user preferential criteria corresponding the second result is above a selected value.

14. A method for varying search results of a user-based networking application, comprising:

accessing from a processing element a results list including at least one user profile, wherein the results list is responsive to an inquiry;

determining by the processing element a profile density of user profiles corresponding to a selected location;

determining a rating of at least one user profile in the results list; and

based on the profile density and the rating of the at least one user profile, the processing element suppressing or promoting the at least one user profile within the plurality of results of the results list responsive to said inquiry, thereby creating a modified results list for displaying on a user device, wherein the modified results lists comprises the suppressed or promoted at least one user profile and additional results from the plurality of results.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the results list to the user device.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving the inquiry from the user device.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying the modified results list on a user device.

18. A method for varying search results of a user-based networking application, comprising:

receiving an inquiry from a querying user device and generating a results list having one or more user profiles within a distance threshold of a selected location specified in the inquiry;

determining by a processing element a population density corresponding to the selected location;

determining that the population density is above a predetermined density threshold, and based thereon determining by the processing element whether a user profile in the results list has a user rating above or below a predetermined rating threshold;

responsive to the user rating of the user profile being below a predetermined user rating value, suppressing the user profile in the results list to generate a modified results list configured to be displayed on the querying user device;

responsive to the user rating of the user profile being above the predetermined user rating value, promoting the user profile in the results list to generate a modified results list configured to be displayed on the querying user device; and

transmitting the modified results list to the querying user device;

wherein

the modified results list comprises the suppressed or promoted user profile and additional user profiles.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the population density corresponds to a density of users of the networking application encompassed within the distance threshold of the selected location.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected location is a location of the querying user device.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected location is a predetermined area relative to a location of the querying user device.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein generating a results list having one or more user profiles within the distance threshold of the selected location comprises determining the locations of one or more member devices within the distance threshold of the selected location and including the user profiles corresponding to the one or more member devices in the results list.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining one or more actual member locations corresponding to the one or more member devices within the distance threshold of the selected location.

24. A method of displaying search results of a user-based networking application, comprising:

transmitting to a server an inquiry from a querying user device;

determining a user rating corresponding to at least one user profile responsive to the inquiry;

receiving a results list from the server responsive to the inquiry, the results list comprising a plurality of user profiles;

suppressing or promoting the at least one user profile with the results list of the inquiry based on a population density of other user devices within a predetermined range and the user rating to generate a modified results list, wherein the modified results list comprises the suppressed or promoted user profile and additional user profiles of the plurality of user profiles; and

displaying by a display device the results list in a grid configuration.

25. A system for providing results to one or more user devices comprising:

a network for transmitting data; and

a server in communication with the network, the server having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the server, cause the server to;

receive an inquiry from a querying user device;

generate a results list responsive to the inquiry, the results list comprising a plurality of user profiles;

determine a population density of a selective location;

determine a user rating of at least one user profile of the plurality of user profiles in the results list;

based on the population density and the user rating, suppress or promote the at least one user profile in the results list responsive to said inquiry to generate a modified results list, wherein the modified results list comprises the suppressed or promoted user profile and remaining user profiles of the plurality of user profiles; and

transmit the results list to the querying user device.

26. The system of claim 25 further comprising a querying user device in communication with the network, wherein the querying user device is configured to perform the following operations:

transmit to the server the inquiry;

receive the modified results list from the server; and

display on a display screen the modified results list, wherein the modified result list is displayed in a grid configuration.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising a plurality of member user devices in communication with the network, wherein the plurality of member user devices are each configured to transmit to the server an actual location of the member user device.