Degrees of separation for handling communications

• US 20050076241A1
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Appelman, Barry
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A sender'"'"'s degrees of separation from a recipient may be used to aid in spam filtering or to otherwise handle a communication. The “degrees of separation” represent a metric used to quantify whether/how the recipient is linked to the sender through intermediary people or other entities. For example, a recipient may know a first user (first degree of separation) and the first user may know a second user (second degree of separation) who knows the sender of an e-mail. In this case, the sender is separated from the recipient by two degrees of separation (by two other contacts). A level of “trust” or “legitimacy” about a sender'"'"'s communication can be inferred by looking at whether the sender is linked to an intended recipient. Typically, user contact lists (e.g., address book, buddy list, and/or white list) are evaluated to determine the number of degrees (or hops) are required to link or relate two users.

Claims

1. A method for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the method comprising:

receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

identifying the sender of the communication;

identifying the intended recipient of the communication;

determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

determining whether the communication is a spam communication based at least in part on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation includes determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient; and

determining whether the communication is a spam communication based on how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein determining whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by at least one intermediary entity comprises accessing a contact list of the intended recipient to determine at least one contact on the contact list.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein accessing a contact list of the intended recipient comprises accessing a contact list with communication identifiers related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein accessing a contact list of the intended recipient comprising accessing a contact list with communication identifiers related to the type of communication that includes the communication from the sender to the recipient.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises an address book.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a buddy list.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a personal phone book.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a white list.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein the communication is an e-mail message.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein the communication is an instant message.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the communication is an SMS message.

14. The method of claim 2 wherein the communication is a telephone call.

15. The method of claim 2 wherein determining whether the communication is a spam communication further comprises:

determining a spam rating for the communication based on whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

designating the communication as spam or blocking the communication when the spam rating exceeds a classification threshold.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising determining how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

wherein determining the spam rating further comprises determining the spam rating for the communication based on how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

17. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

exempting the communication from the determination of whether the communication is a spam communication when less than M intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient or when greater than M+X entities link the sender to the intended recipient; and

wherein determining whether the communication is a spam communication comprises determining whether the communications is a spam communication when between M+1 and M+X intermediary entities link the sender and the intended recipient.

18. The method of claim 2 wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity comprises:

accessing a contact list of the intended recipient to determine a first contact on the intended recipient'"'"'s contact list; and

accessing a contact list of the first contact to determine a second contact on the first contact'"'"'s contact list.

19. A computer-usable medium storing a computer program for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

receive a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient identify the sender of the communication;

identify the intended recipient of the communication;

determine whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

determine whether the communication is a spam communication based at least in part on whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation.

20. The medium of claim 19 wherein, to determine whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation, the program comprises instructions for causing the computer to determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity.

21. The medium of claim 20 further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient; and

determine whether the communication is a spam communication based on how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient.

22. The medium of claim 20 wherein, to determine whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by at least one intermediary entity, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to access a contact list of the intended recipient to determine at least one contact on the intended recipient'"'"'s contact list.

23. The medium of claim 22 wherein, to access a contact list of the intended recipient, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to access a contact list related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient.

24. The medium of claim 22 wherein, to access a contact list of the intended recipient, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to access a contact list related to the type of communication from the sender.

25. The medium of claim 22 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises an address book.

26. The medium of claim 22 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a buddy list.

27. The medium of claim 22 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a personal phone book.

28. The medium of claim 22 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a white list.

29. The medium of claim 20 wherein the communication is an e-mail message.

30. The medium of claim 20 wherein the communication is an instant message.

31. The medium of claim 20 wherein the communication is an SMS message.

32. The medium of claim 20 wherein the communication is a telephone call.

33. The medium of claim 20 wherein, to determine whether the communication is a spam communication, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

determine a spam rating for the communication based on whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

designate the communication as spam or blocking the communication when the spam rating exceeds a classification threshold.

34. The medium of claim 33 further comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

determine how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient; and

wherein, to determine the spam rating, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to determine the spam rating for the communication based on how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

35. The medium of claim 20 further comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

determine how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

exempt the communication from the determination of whether the communication is a spam communication when less than M intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient or when greater than M+X entities link the sender to the intended recipient; and

wherein determining whether the communication is a spam communication comprises determining whether the communication is a spam communication when between M+1 and M+X intermediary entities link the sender and the intended recipient.

36. The medium of claim 20 wherein, to determine whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

access a contact list of the intended recipient to determine a first contact on the intended recipient'"'"'s contact list; and

access a contact list of the first contact to determine a second contact on the first contact'"'"'s contact list.

37. An apparatus for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

means for identifying the sender of the communication;

means for identifying the intended recipient of the communication;

means for determining whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

means for determining whether the communication is a spam communication based at least in part on whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the means for determining whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation includes means for determining whether the sender and intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the means for determining whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient comprises means for accessing a contact list of the intended recipient to determine at least one contact on the intended recipient'"'"'s contact list.

40. A method for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the method comprising:

receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

identifying the sender of the communication;

identifying the intended recipient of the communication;

accessing a contact list of the intended recipient that contains communication identifiers related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender;

determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation based on the communication identifiers in the contact list that are related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender; and

handling the communication based on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation includes determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity based on the contact list.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the communication is an e-mail message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than e-mail messages.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the communication is an instant message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than instant messages.

44. The method of claim 41 wherein the communication is an SMS message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than SMS messages.

45. The method of claim 41 wherein the communication is a telephone call and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than telephone calls.

46. The method of claim 41 further comprising:

determining how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient; and

determining whether the communication is a spam communication based on how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient.

47. The method of claim 40 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises an address book.

48. The method of claim 40 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a buddy list.

49. The method of claim 40 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a personal phone book.

50. The method of claim 40 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a white list.

51. The method of claim 41 wherein handling the communication comprises using whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation to determine if the communication is spam.

52. The method of claim 41 wherein handling the communication further comprises exempting the communication from filtering if the sender is linked to the intended recipient.

53. The method of claim 41 wherein handling the communication further comprises:

determining a spam rating for the communication based on whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

designating the communication as spam or blocking the communication when the spam rating exceeds a classification threshold.

54. The method of claim 53 further comprising determining how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

wherein determining the spam rating further comprises determining the spam rating for the communication based on how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

55. The method of claim 41 further comprising determining how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

wherein handling the communication comprises handling the communication differently based on how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein handling the communication differently comprises:

exempting the communication from filtering if less than M intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

subjecting the communication to filtering if between M+1 and M+X intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient; and

discarding the communication if greater than M+X entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

57. The method of claim 41 wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity comprises:

determining a first contact on the contact list of the intended recipient; and

accessing a contact list of the first contact to determine a second contact on the first contact'"'"'s contact list.

58. The method of claim 40 wherein handling the communication includes invoking a knock-knock interface when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

59. The method of claim 58 wherein the communication is an instant message.

60. A computer-usable medium storing a computer program for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

receive a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

identify the sender of the communication;

identify the intended recipient of the communication;

access a contact list of the intended recipient that contains communication identifiers related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender;

determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation based on the communication identifiers in the contact list that are related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender; and

handle the communication based on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

61. The medium of claim 60 wherein, to determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity based on the contact list.

62. The medium of claim 61 wherein the communication is an e-mail message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than e-mail messages.

63. The medium of claim 61 wherein the communication is an instant message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than instant messages.

64. The medium of claim 61 wherein the communication is an SMS message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than SMS messages.

65. The medium of claim 61 wherein the communication is a telephone call and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than telephone calls.

66. The medium of claim 61 wherein the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

determine how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient; and

determine whether the communication is a spam communication based on how many intermediary entities are needed to link the sender to the intended recipient.

67. The medium of claim 60 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises an address book.

68. The medium of claim 60 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a buddy list.

69. The medium of claim 60 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a personal phone book.

70. The medium of claim 60 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a white list.

71. The medium of claim 61 wherein, to handle the communication, the computer program comprises instructions for causing a computer to use whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation to determine if the communication is spam.

72. The medium of claim 61 wherein, to handle the communication, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to exempting the communication from filtering if the sender is linked to the intended recipient.

73. The medium of claim 61 wherein, to handle the communication, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

determine a spam rating for the communication based on whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

designate the communication as spam or blocking the communication when the spam rating exceeds a classification threshold.

74. The medium of claim 73 wherein the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to determine how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

and to determine the spam rating, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to determine the spam rating for the communication based on how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

75. The medium of claim 61 wherein the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to determine how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

wherein, to handle the communication, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to handle the communication differently based on how many intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

76. The medium of claim 75 wherein, to handle the communication differently, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

exempt the communication from filtering if less than M intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient;

subject the communication to filtering if between M+1 and M+X intermediary entities link the sender to the intended recipient; and

discard the communication if greater than M+X entities link the sender to the intended recipient.

77. The medium of claim 61 wherein, to determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

determine a first contact on the contact list of the intended recipient; and

access a contact list of the first contact to determine a second contact on the first contact'"'"'s contact list.

78. The medium of claim 60 wherein, to handle the communication, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to invoke a knock-knock interface when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

79. The medium of claim 78 wherein the communication is an instant message.

80. An apparatus for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

means for identifying the sender of the communication;

means for identifying the intended recipient of the communication;

means for accessing a contact list of the intended recipient that contains communication identifiers related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender;

means for determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation based on the communication identifiers in the contact list that are related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender; and

means for handling the communication based on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

81. The apparatus of claim 80 wherein the means for determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation includes means for determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity based on the contact list.

82. The apparatus of claim 81 wherein the communication is an e-mail message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than e-mail messages.

83. The apparatus of claim 81 wherein the communication is an instant message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than instant messages.

84. The apparatus of claim 81 wherein the communication is an SMS message and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than SMS messages.

85. The apparatus of claim 81 wherein the communication is a telephone call and the communication identifiers in the contact list relate to a communication type other than telephone calls.