MANAGING INTERACTIONS IN A NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment;
determining one or more relationship attribute values each characterizing a respective social network tie between the user and a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship attribute values based on (i) a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas and (ii) one or more place attribute values characterizing the at least one virtual area in which the concurrent interactions occurred;
storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and
managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship attribute values.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network communications environment has advanced interaction management functionality that enables the opportunities for users to interact with one another to be expanded beyond the opportunities that exist with closed interaction management approaches while still providing reasonable privacy and security protections that are not available with open interaction management approaches. The advanced interaction management functionality also encourages the proliferation of trust-based interactions.
197 Citations
62 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
-
querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more relationship attribute values each characterizing a respective social network tie between the user and a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship attribute values based on (i) a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas and (ii) one or more place attribute values characterizing the at least one virtual area in which the concurrent interactions occurred; storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship attribute values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. Apparatus, comprising:
-
a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions; and a data processing unit coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment, determining one or more relationship attribute values each characterizing a respective social network tie between the user and a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship attribute values based on (i) a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas and (ii) one or more place attribute values characterizing the at least one virtual area in which the concurrent interactions occurred, storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium, and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship attribute values. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a computer to implement a method comprising:
-
querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more relationship attribute values each characterizing a respective social network tie between the user and a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship attribute values based on (i) a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas and (ii) one or more place attribute values characterizing the at least one virtual area in which the concurrent interactions occurred; storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship attribute values.
-
-
35. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
-
querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more relationship level attribute values each specifying a respective level of relationship that the user has with a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship level attribute values from a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas; storing the one or more relationship level attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship level attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship level attribute values. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
39. Apparatus, comprising:
-
a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions; and a data processing unit coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment, determining one or more relationship level attribute values each specifying a respective level of relationship that the user has with a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship level attribute values from a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas, storing the one or more relationship level attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium, and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship level attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship level attribute values.
-
-
43. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a computer to implement a method comprising:
-
querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more relationship level attribute values each specifying a respective level of relationship that the user has with a respective one of the other communicants, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more relationship level attribute values from a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas; storing the one or more relationship level attribute values in a computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more relationship level attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more relationship level attribute values.
-
-
44. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
-
querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more trust level attribute values each specifying a respective level of trust that is associated with the user, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more trust level attribute values from a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas; storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more trust level attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more trust level attribute values. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
-
53. Apparatus, comprising:
-
a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions; and a data processing unit coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more trust level attribute values each specifying a respective level of trust that is associated with the user, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more trust level attribute values from a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas; storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more trust level attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more trust level attribute values. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
-
-
62. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a computer to implement a method comprising:
-
querying records describing realtime network interactions between a user and other communicants in one or more virtual areas of a network communications environment; determining one or more trust level attribute values each specifying a respective level of trust that is associated with the user, wherein the determining comprises deriving the one or more trust level attribute values from a statistical analysis of results of the querying describing concurrent interactions between the user and one or more of the other communicants in at least one of the virtual areas; storing the one or more relationship attribute values in at least one computer-readable medium; and managing communicant interactions in the network communications environment based on the one or more trust level attribute values, wherein the managing comprises receiving from a network node at which one of the user and the other communicants is operating a first network communication comprising a request for an interaction in the network communications environment, and transmitting a second network communication enabling the requested interaction in response to satisfaction of a condition dependent at least in part on the one or more trust level attribute values.
-
Specification