RECOMMENDING CONTACTS IN A SOCIAL NETWORK

• US 20080059576A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ma, Wei-Ying, Chen, Hua, Liu, Dafan
• Granted Patent: US 7,596,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A method and system for recommending potential contacts to a target user is provided. A recommendation system identifies users who are related to the target user through no more than a maximum degree of separation. The recommendation system identifies the users by starting with the contacts of the target user and identifying users who are contacts of the target user'"'"'s contacts, contacts of those contacts, and so on. The recommendation system then ranks the identified users, who are potential contacts for the target user, based on a likelihood that the target user will want to have a direct relationship with the identified users. The recommendation system then presents to the target user a ranking of the users who have not been filtered out.

Claims

1. A system for recommending potential contacts for a target user, comprising:

a data store containing contact lists of users, including a contact list for the target user;

a component that identifies, from the contact lists, contact paths from the target user to other users that are within a maximum contact path length;

a component that ranks users on the identified contact paths based on path lengths of the contact paths;

a component that filters out users on the identified contact paths who do not satisfy a recommendation criterion; and

a component that presents to the target user an indication of the ranking of the non-filtered-out users as recommendations for potential contacts.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the component that identifies contact paths traverses a social network formed by the contact lists starting at the contact list of the target user.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the component that ranks users generates a recommendation score for a user by aggregating a path score for each contact path from the target user to the user.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the path score for a contact path is inversely proportional to the path length of the contact path.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the path score for a contact path decreases exponentially as the path length of the contact path increases.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation criterion is that a user is not in the contact list of the target user.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation criterion is that there are multiple contact paths between the target user and the user.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation criterion is based on a recommendation score generated by the ranking component.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the component that identifies contact paths traverses a social network formed by the contact lists starting at the contact list of the target user, wherein the component that ranks users generates a recommendation score for a user by aggregating a path score for each contact path from the target user to the user, wherein the recommendation criterion is that a user is not in the contact list of the target user and that there are multiple contact paths between the target user and the user, and wherein the maximum contact path length is three.

10. A system for identifying a social path between a first user and a second user, the social path being within a maximum social path length, comprising:

a data store containing contact lists of users, including a contact list for the first user and a contact list for the second user;

a component that identifies, from the contact lists, contact paths from the first user to other users that are within a first maximum contact path length and contact paths from the second user to other users that are within a second maximum contact path length, wherein the sum of the first maximum contact path length and the second maximum contact path length equals the maximum social path length; and

a component that, when there is a contact path from the first user to another user and a contact path from the second user to that same other user, indicates that a social path exists from the first user to the second user.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the component that indicates that a social path exists indexes the contact paths of the first user and the second user based on users of the contact paths to facilitate identifying users common to contact paths of the first user and contact paths of the second user.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the component that identifies contact paths for a user traverses a social network formed by the contact lists starting at the contact list of the user.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the first maximum contact path length and the second maximum contact path length are equal.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the maximum social path length is six.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the component that indicates that a social path exists identifies all social paths between the first user and the second user that are through the same other user.

16. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computing system to identify potential contacts for a target user, by a method comprising:

identifying from a contact list of the target user contact paths from the target user to other users that are within a maximum contact path length;

ranking users on the identified contact paths;

filtering out users on the identified contact paths who do not satisfy a recommendation criterion; and

storing an indication of the ranking of the non-filtered-out users as an identification of potential contacts.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the identifying of contact paths traverses a social network formed by the contact lists of users starting at the contact list of the target user.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the ranking of users generates a recommendation score for a user by aggregating a path score for each contact path from the target user to the user.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the recommendation criterion is that a user is not in the contact list of the target user and that there are multiple contact paths between the target user and the user.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the identifying of contact paths traverses a social network formed by the contact lists of users starting at the contact list of the target user, wherein the ranking of users generates a recommendation score for a user by aggregating a path score for each contact path from the target user to the user, wherein the recommendation criterion is that a user is not in the contact list of the target user and that there are multiple contact paths between the target user and the user, and wherein the maximum contact path length is three.