Methods and systems for the display and navigation of a social network

• US 20050159970A1
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Adam Douglas, Buyukkokten, Orkut
• Granted Patent: US 8,015,119 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Systems and methods for the display and navigation of a social network or set forth. According to one embodiment a method comprising identifying a first profile in a social network, identifying associated profiles associated with the first profile, ranking the associated profiles, wherein ranking is not based exclusively on a degree of separation, and outputting the associated profiles based at least in part on the ranking is set forth. According to another embodiment a method comprising identifying a user profile, identifying a member profile, determining an association path for the user profile and the member profile, and outputting the association path is set forth.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a first profile in a social network;

identifying associated profiles associated with the first profile;

ranking the associated profiles, wherein ranking is not based exclusively on a degree of separation; and

outputting the associated profiles based at least in part on the ranking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on social network activity data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the social network activity data comprises one or more of login frequency, login amount, date of last profile update, rate or frequency that a new associations, existence of an email address, existence of a picture, and instant messaging availability status.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on biography data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the biography data comprises one or more of age, name, interests, and geographical location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on popularity data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the popularity data comprises one or more of a number of profiles associated with a first profile, feedback, and rating data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on data indicating relatedness.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data indicating relatedness comprises one or more of an amount of common entries, a degree of separation, and an amount of contacts between profiles.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking is based on custom settings entered by a user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying an association between a user profile and the associated profiles.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the ranking is based on one or more of social network activity data, biography data, popularity data, and relatedness data associated with the user profile and each associated profile.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the associated profiles comprises outputting a display grid.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein profiles are positioned in the display grid based at least in part on the ranking of the associated profiles.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein an association type for each associated profile is graphically represented on the display grid.

16. A method, comprising:

identifying a user profile;

identifying a member profile;

determining an association path for the user profile and the member profile; and

outputting the association path.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the association path comprises a shortest path.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the association path comprises a type specific path.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the association path comprises a navigation path.

20. A computer-readable medium containing program code comprising:

program code for identifying a first profile in a social network;

program code for identifying associated profiles associated with the first profile;

program code for ranking the associated profiles, wherein ranking is not based exclusively on a degree of separation; and

program code for outputting the associated profiles based at least in part on the ranking.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on social network activity data.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the social network activity data comprises one or more of login frequency, login amount, date of last profile update, rate or frequency that a new associations, existence of an email address, existence of a picture, and instant messaging availability status.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on biography data.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the biography data comprises one or more of age, name, interests, and geographical location.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on popularity data.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the popularity data comprises one or more of a number of profiles associated with a first profile, feedback, and rating data.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the ranking is based at least in part on data indicating relatedness.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the data indicating relatedness comprises one or more of an amount of common entries, a degree of separation, and an amount of contacts between profiles.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the ranking is based on custom settings entered by a user.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising program code for identifying an association between a user profile and the associated profiles.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, wherein the ranking is based on one or more of social network activity data, biography data, popularity data, and relatedness data associated with the user profile and each associated profile.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein outputting the associated profiles comprises outputting a display grid.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein profiles are positioned in the display grid based at least in part on the ranking of the associated profiles.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein an association type for each associated profile is graphically represented on the display grid.

35. A computer-readable medium containing program code comprising:

program code for identifying a user profile;

program code for identifying a member profile;

program code for determining an association path for the user profile and the member profile; and

program code for outputting the association path.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the association path comprises a shortest path.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the association path comprises a type specific path.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the association path comprises a navigation path.

39. A method, comprising:

identifying a user profile in a social network;

identifying a selected member profile in a social network;

identifying associated profiles associated with the selected member profile;

identifying an association between the user profile and the associated profiles;

ranking the associated profiles, wherein ranking is based on one or more of social network activity data, biography data, popularity data, and relatedness data;

determining an association path for the user profile and the selected profile;

outputting the associated profiles based at least in part on the ranking; and

outputting the association path.