WEIGHTING SOCIAL NETWORK RELATIONSHIPS BASED ON COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

• US 20100268830A1
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sartini, Robert A., Schultz, Paul T., McKee, Martin W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,400,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A method may include receiving or retrieving session information associated with one or more electronic communications that occurred outside of the social network site and included users of the social network site, comparing the session information with information associated with the users of the social network site, selecting one of the users as a user of the social network site and one or more of the users as one or more connections of the selected user of the social network site, based on the comparing, generating a weighted social graph for the selected user of the social network site, based on the session information, generating social network information based on the weighted social graph, and providing the social network information to at least one of the selected user of the social network site or the selected one or more connections of the user of the social network site.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting or receiving one or more communications, by a user device, outside of a social network site;

accessing, by the user device, the social network site;

receiving, by the user device, social network information from the accessed social network site, where the social network information is based on session information associated with the one or more communications between a user of the user device and another user; and

displaying, by the user device, the social network information.

2. The method of claim 1, where the social network information includes a social network connection'"'"'s list that lists the user'"'"'s social network connections, where the user'"'"'s social network connections include the other users associated with the session information, and the displaying comprises:

displaying, by the user device, the user'"'"'s social network connection'"'"'s list that lists the user'"'"'s social network connections, in an order, according to one of;

a weighted social graph of the user, where the user'"'"'s weighted social graph assigns a relational importance level to the user'"'"'s social network connections, from the perspective of the user, based on the session information, or

a most recent communication to a least recent communication, the most recent communication to the least recent communication order based on the session information with respect to each of the user'"'"'s social network connections.

3. The method of claim 1, where the social network information includes social network presence information, and the displaying comprises:

displaying, by the user device, the social network presence information of the user, where a specificity of the social network presence information corresponds to a weighted social graph of the user, where;

the user'"'"'s weighted social graph assigns a relational importance level to the user'"'"'s social network connections, from the perspective of the user, based on the session information, and

the user'"'"'s social network connections include the other user associated with the session information.

4. The method of claim 1, where the social network information includes a prioritization of comments from the user'"'"'s social network connections, where the user'"'"'s social network connections include the other user associated with the session information, and the displaying comprises:

displaying, by the user device, the prioritization of comments relating to a discussion forum between the user and the user'"'"'s social network connections, where the prioritization corresponds to the a weighted social graph of the user, where the user'"'"'s weighted social graph assigns a relational importance level to the user'"'"'s social network connections, from the perspective of the user, based on the session information.

5. The method of claim 1, where the social network information includes social network activity information of the user'"'"'s social network connections, where the user'"'"'s social network connections include the other user associated with the session information, and the displaying comprises:

displaying, by the user device, the social network activity information of the user'"'"'s social network connections, in an order, in correspondence to the a weighted social graph of the user, where the user'"'"'s weighted social graph assigns a relational importance level to the user'"'"'s social network connections, from the perspective of the user, based on the session information.

6. A method comprising:

collecting, by a device of a non-social network site, session information associated with one or more communications sent or one or more communications received between users of user devices; and

providing, by the device of the non-social network site, the session information to a device of a social network site.

7. A method comprising:

receiving or retrieving session information, by a device of a social network site, associated with one or more electronic communications that occurred outside of the social network site and included users of the social network site;

comparing, by the device of the social network site, the session information with information associated with the users of the social network site;

selecting, by the device of the social network site, one of the users as a selected user of the social network site and one or more of the users as one or more connections of the selected user of the social network site, based on the comparing;

generating, by the device of the social network site, a weighted social graph for the selected user of the social network site, based on the session information;

generating, by the device of the social network site, social network information based on the weighted social graph; and

providing, by the device of the social network site, the social network information to at least one of the selected user of the social network site or the selected one or more connections of the user of the social network site.

8. The method of claim 7, where the generating of the weighted social graph comprises:

assigning a weighted relational link, based on the session information, that corresponds to a measure of importance of the selected one or more connections toward the selected user.

9. The method of claim 8, where, when the session information includes a greater number of electronic communications between the selected user and one of the selected one or more connections than a number of electronic communications between the selected user and another one of the selected one or more connections, the assigning comprises:

assigning a greater measure of importance to the one of the selected one or more connections than a measure of importance assigned to the other one of the selected one or more connections.

10. The method of claim 7, where the social network information includes a social network connection'"'"'s list that lists the selected user'"'"'s social network connections, where the selected user'"'"'s social network connections include the selected one or more connections, and the providing comprises:

providing, by the device of the social network site, the selected user'"'"'s social network connection'"'"'s list that lists the selected user'"'"'s social network connections, in an order, according to one of;

the selected user'"'"'s weighted social graph, where the selected user'"'"'s weighted social graph assigns a relational importance level to the selected user'"'"'s social network connections, from the perspective of the selected user, based on the session information, or

a most recent communication to a least recent communication, the most recent communication to the least recent communication order based on the session information with respect to each of the selected user'"'"'s social network connections.

11. The method of claim 7, where the social network information includes information indicating a preferred method of communicating with the selected one or more connections of the selected user, and the providing comprises:

providing, by the device of the social network site, information indicating the preferred method of communicating with the selected one or more connections of the selected user based on the session information.

12. The method of claim 7, where the social network information includes social network activity information of the selected one or more connections of the selected user, and the session information.

13. The method of claim 7, where the social network information includes priority information in which the selected user communicates with the selected one or more connections, where the providing comprises:

providing, by the device of the social network site, an order in which the selected user communicates with the selected one or more connections, based on the selected user'"'"'s weighted social graph that corresponds to a measure of importance of the selected one or more connections toward the user.

14. The method of claim 7, where the generating of the weighted social graph comprises:

assigning a weighted relational link, based on the session information and social network activity, that corresponds to a measure of importance of the selected one or more connections toward the selected user.

15. A device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions in the memory to;

receive or retrieve session information associated with one or more electronic communications that occurred outside of a social network site;

compare the session information with information associated with users of the social network site;

select a user, based on the compare, as one of the users of the social network site, when it is determined that a user associated with the session information is a user of the social network site;

select one or more connections of the selected user, based on the compare, as one or more of the users of the social network site, when it is determined that one or more users associated with the session information are one or more users of the social network site;

generate a weighted social graph for the selected user, the weighted social graph including a weighted relational link that corresponds to a measure of importance of the selected one or more connections to the selected user;

generate social network information based on the weighted social graph; and

provide the social network information to at least one of the selected user of the social network site or the selected one or more connections of the social network site.

16. The device of claim 15, where the social network information includes a social network connection'"'"'s list that lists the selected one or more connections in an order, according to one of:

the user'"'"'s weighted social graph;

or

one of the selected one or more connections associated with a more recent one of the one or more electronic communications with the selected user to another one of the selected one or more connections associated with a less recent one of the one or more electronic communications with the selected user.

17. The device of claim 15, where the social network information includes social network presence information associated with the selected user, where a specificity of the social network presence information corresponds to the measure of importance associated with each of the selected one or more connections.

18. The device of claim 15, where the social network information includes information for prioritizing comments from the selected one or more connections with respect to a discussion forum between the selected user and the selected one or more connections, where the prioritizing of comments corresponds to the measure of importance associated with each of the selected one or more connections.

19. The device of claim 15, where the social network information includes one or more of:

information for prioritizing a presentation, to the selected user, social network activity information of the selected one or more connections, based on the user'"'"'s weighted social graph, or

information for providing, to the selected user, an order in which the selected user communicates with the selected one or more connections, based on the user'"'"'s weighted social graph.

20. The device of claim 15, where the social network information includes one or more of:

communication history information between the selected user and one of the selected one or more connections, the communication history information including the session information that includes the one or more electronic communications between the selected user and the one of the selected one or more connections, or

information for providing a preferred method of communicating with the one of the selected one or more connections based on the communication history information.

21. A computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processor, the computer-readable device storing instructions for:

comparing session information associated with one or more electronic communications that occurred outside of an on-line social networking system that provides a social network;

determining whether users of the social network are participants in the one or more electronic communications;

selecting a user, as one of the users of the social network, when it is determined that one of the users of the social network was a participant in the one or more electronic communications;

selecting one or more connections of the selected user, as one or more of the users of the social network, when it is determined that the one or more of the users were participants in the one or more electronic communications;

generating a weighted social graph that includes one or more weighted relational links that respectively indicate a measure of importance for each of the selected one or more connections; and

generating social network information based on the selected user'"'"'s weighted social graph.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, where the social network information includes a social network connection'"'"'s list that lists the selected one or more connections in an order according to the measure of importance for each of the selected one or more connections.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, where the social network information includes social network presence information of the selected user, where a specificity of the social network presence information corresponds to the measure of importance associated with each of the selected one or more connections.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, where the social network information includes one or more of:

information for prioritizing a presentation, to the selected user, social network activity information of the selected one or more connections, based on the selected user'"'"'s weighted social graph, or

information for providing, to the selected user, an order in which the selected user communicates with the selected one or more connections, based on the selected user'"'"'s weighted social graph.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, where the social network information includes one or more of:

communication history information between the selected user and one of the selected one or more connections, the communication history information including the session information that includes the one or more electronic communications between the selected user and the one of the selected one or more connections, or

information for providing a preferred method of communicating with the one of the selected one or more connections based on the communication history information.