Identifying and using identities deemed to be known to a user
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of providing online presence information:
- accessing a list of people inferred as known to a user;
accessing online presence information for the user;
determining a potential receiver of the online presence information;
comparing the potential receiver to the accessed list to determine if the potential receiver is included on the list; and
determining whether to communicate the online presence information to the potential receiver based on whether the potential receiver is included in the list.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The people a user is presumed to know or be associated with may be determined using a number of techniques. This information about people that the user knows is used in relation to the user'"'"'s communications. For example access to a user'"'"'s online presence may be restricted based on the known people such that access to presence is provided only to those people that the user knows.
175 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method of providing online presence information:
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accessing a list of people inferred as known to a user;
accessing online presence information for the user;
determining a potential receiver of the online presence information;
comparing the potential receiver to the accessed list to determine if the potential receiver is included on the list; and
determining whether to communicate the online presence information to the potential receiver based on whether the potential receiver is included in the list. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 46, 47)
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23. A computer-usable medium having a computer program embodied thereon for providing online presence information, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform the following operations:
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access a list of people inferred as known to a user;
access online presence information for the user;
determine a potential receiver of the online presence information;
compare the potential receiver to the accessed list to determine if the potential receiver is included on the list; and
determine whether to communicate the online presence information to the potential receiver based on whether the potential receiver is included in the list. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 48, 49)
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45. An apparatus for providing online presence information:
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means for accessing a list of people inferred as known to a user;
means for accessing online presence information for the user;
means for determining a potential receiver of the online presence information;
means for comparing the potential receiver to the maintained list to determine if the potential receiver is included on the list; and
means for determining whether to communicate the online presence information to the potential receiver based on whether the potential receiver is included in the list.
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Specification