System and method for indexing, correlating, managing, referencing and syndicating identities and relationships across systems

• US 20100274815A1
• Filed: 01/30/2008
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jonathan Brian Vanasco
• Original Assignee: Jonathan Brian Vanasco
• Inventors: Vanasco, Jonathan Brian
• Granted Patent: US 10,007,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/798
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A networking database containing a plurality of records for different identities in which identities are connected to one another by defined or interpreted Inter-Personal and Intra-Personal relationships. Individuals using the system may define, group and categorize specific identities and relationships; the system may also define, categorize and group both identities and relationships belonging to individuals registered with the system and unregistered users through computational analysis. Identities and relationships may be discovered by the system via an opt-in user-provided mechanism, via a third-party providing information, or through the system'"'"'s own discovery. Identity and Relationship data can then be used to customize content.

Claims

1. A system and method of relating a plurality of online identities, relationships, content and meta-data comprised of:

i. standardizing a first identity into a primary unique identifier;

ii. storing the primary unique identifier in a computer memory or database;

iii. relating the first identity to one or more second entities, said entities comprised of identities, data, meta-data or associated content;

iv. determining the quality of said relations;

v. storing a copy of the the relations or related items in a computer memory or database; and

vi. said system and method creating indexed data being representable by a graph on which;

the indexed identities and content are represented by nodes on the graph;

the indexed meta-data pertaining to the identities and content function as descriptors of the nodes;

the relationships between identity and content nodes are represented by edges on the graph; and

the metadata concerning the quality (such as likelihood and verifiability) and source of the relationships function as descriptors of the edges.

4. The method of claim 1 where the primary unique identifier associated to the identity uniquely identifies both the identity of the account and the system, service, network or group that identity exists on.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more secondary unique identifiers are associated to the primary identifier, said identifiers offering a user of the system, user of an associated system, or an associated system a unique conduit into the system pertaining to a perspective which is unique to the confluence of the primary and secondary identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1 where a reference-to or a copy-of the identity, the identity'"'"'s data, content, meta-data or relations are stored in a datastore such as a computer database or computer memory.

7. The method of claim 6 where the the identity'"'"'s profile data, meta-data, or associated content are standardized from heterogenous content types or formats into:

a structured format such as but not limited to the OpenSocialNetwork, hCard, vCard, or FOAF formats;

a raw data format that may be converted into one or more structured formats;

or a proprietary data format.

8. The method of claim 1 where discovered or derived information, such as references-to or copies-of identity information, content, relations, meta-data, and structured or assembled data are annotated with a meta-data consisting of a time stamp at which the discovery, reference, copy or relation was made.

9. The method of claim 1 where an identity'"'"'s profile data, meta-data, related content or user-supplied data are analyzed to discover or determine relations to other identities and the nature of the relations between the identities;

said data entered by or provided from;

a user of the system, a user of an associated system, an associated system, or as a result of the system querying other systems; and

said data being in the form of;

a described contact or list of contacts, a structured document or service response, or a webpage or service or content supplied by a social network or application.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the relating of two items comprises a classification of the relationship between the two items, and said classification either being a general classification or a specific classification;

a general classification defined as determining if the relations are in the category of;

intra-personal relations—

wherein the identities are each facets-of or the content is belonging-to an underlying singular entity such as a person or non-person entity such as a group or corporation, inter-personal relations—

wherein the first identity and the second related identity each belong to a discrete entity, or unknown relations—

wherein the exact relations type is unknown; and

a specific classification being the determination of the nature of the intra-personal or inter-personal relationship, such as the characteristics of the relationship'"'"'s directionality (being uni-directional in one or both ways, uni-directional and reciprocated, or bi-directional) or the role of the relation (such as mother-of, son-to, author-of).

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the discovered related identities, their relation types or meta-data concerning their discovery are stored in a datastore;

said meta-data such as but not limited to;

the times of discovery and indexing;

the source of discovery or data, the verification or or verifiability of the identity, and a copy-of or reference-to the data which resulted in their discovery.

12. The method of claim 1 where an identity and associated content is indexed and processed due to the request of at least one of the following:

a user of the system, a user of an associated system, an associated system, the system itself after having discovered the identity to have a relation to an identity already indexed by the system, the system itself after having discovered the identity while indexing another identity; and

the data-source it is indexed against is at least one of;

original primarily-related content, a cached version of said content from a datastore, or content derived from an already indexed identity information or metadata.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the quality of the relationship between two identities is calculated;

said calculation subject to at least one test concerning the;

strength of verification methods, strength of inferred relations, or the strength of similarities; and

said tests and test components being assigned weights.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the quality relation is considered to be highly verified when at least one of the following actions takes place:

a user of the system or a user of an associated system completes a challenge proving ownership of the identity or resources belonging to that identity;

the system recognizes a secure claim and v verification of identities to one another—

such as the findmeon node, OpenID, dSig, or cryptographic key signings;

the system recognizes a cookie shared between two or more identities;

the system recognizes a cookie and referring URL as matching an identity'"'"'s controlled url;

a trusted partner confirms the relationship;

or the system recognizes types of relations from another system as being highly verifiable.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the quality and verification challenge is comprised of a user binding a third party account with an identifier on the system through a registration or listing functionality;

said registration functionality comprised of the steps of;

requesting a unique key from the system to serve as a proxy identifier, providing the key to a third party, the third party in turn using the key to generate a request for the system to approve the binding of the third-party account with the key, the third party system redirecting the user to the system where the user may approve the aforementioned binding, the user approving said binding, the system recording the verified account linkage, the system referring the user to a location specified by the third party along with an authentication of the process, and the third party optionally recording details of the newly bound conduit; and

said listing functionality comprised of the steps of;

a user requesting a third party to list the resource, the third party generating a specially formatted set data describing the resource to list along with relevant attributes or digital singings for authentication, the third party redirecting the user to the system with the specially formatted set of data, the user confirming the listing with the system, the system recording the listing and creating a unique identifier for it, the system returning the user to the third party along with a digitally signed authentication of the process, and the third party website optionally recording details of the newly bound conduit between the two identities.

16. The method of claim 13 in which calculating the probability of one identity being related to another by probability tests is comprised of discovering at least one of the following amongst a plurality of identities:

a first identity claiming a relation to a second identity;

shared digital signature keys;

shared cookies;

a similarity of given/legal names, nicknames or screen names (handles);

a similarity of identity profiles or profile elements;

a commonality in claimed inter-personal and intra-personal relations;

a commonality of being claimed as inter-personal and intra-personal relations;

the occurrence of unique strings of words;

the similarity of photos or content;

a commonality of relationships to associations, groups, and non-person entities;

the adherence to trends of a user of one network on another network;

a cookie shared between two or more identities;

or an overlap in data the system had already verified.

17. The method of claim 16 in which the system compares identity related data to a database of common sequences of words such as quotations from pop culture, movies, television, song lyrics, literary references;

and either associates the profile with the source of determined quotations or diminishes the uniqueness of determined quotations.

18. The method of claim 16 in which, through utilizing a set of verified related identities, the system is able to discern trends amongst identities across multiple networks such as:

the likelihood of the user of a first network to be on a second network, the likelihood of the commonality of profile elements of a given user between a first network and a second network, aggregate variations in the use of profile elements of users across networks, and aggregate usage patterns between users of two or more networks; and

utilizing such trends, the system is able to assign weight to one or more relevant tests used to calculate the probability of a first identity being related to a second identity.

19. The method of claim 1 where a user of the system, an associated system, or user of an associated system creates one or more profiles, each profile comprised of at least one of:

a grouping of profile fields or profile field values, content, data, metadata, relationships to intra-personal identities, relationships to inter-personal identities, relationships to content, or identity relationship metadata; and

each profile is assigned to one or more intra-personal identities.

20. The method of claim 1 where a user of the system, an associated system, or user of an associated system creates one or more rules;

said rule generally classifying one or more items'"'"' visibility as;

private, public, visible to a specific identity or group of identities, visible within a configurable depths of inter-personal and intra-personal relations, visible to one or more systems or networks, or visible to one or more groups.

21. The method of claim 20 where, when a plurality of rules are configured, a given second rule is allowed to refine a previously established first rule, and an explicit order may be configured to govern the execution of the rules.

22. The method of claim 20 where the system alerts the user as to the output of the application of the rules, noting when two or more rules are in conflict with one another or which items of permissionable data are viewable to other identities and systems.

2. A system and method which enables the analysis and search of an indexed plurality of online identities, relationships, content and meta-data in a computer system or memory;

said index representable by a graph on which;

the indexed identities and content are represented by nodes on the graph, the indexed meta-data pertaining to the identities and content function as descriptors of the nodes. the relationships between identity and content nodes are represented by edges on the graph, and the metadata concerning the quality and source of the relations function as descriptors of the edges;

said system and method comprised of the steps;

i. receiving a search request;

ii. determining if the search request is for a result set containing one or more of;

nodes, node elements or meta-data, connection paths, or customized content;

iii. searching the graph in a computer memory or database;

iv. determining if the result sets should include meta-data concerning the quality of data;

v. formatting the result set; and

vi. returning the result set.

23. The method of claim 2 wherein the search observes rules or permissions created by a user of the system, a user of an associated system or an associated system;

said rules specifying which profile fields, profile field values, content, data, metadata, relationships to intra-personal identities, relationships to inter-personal identities , relationships to content, or identity relationship metadata may be viewable by the second identity, data, meta-data or associated content.

24. The method of claim 2 wherein searching the graph is simplified by using aggregated meta-profiles of discovered identities;

said meta-profile existing as a node on the graph that incorporates the profile elements, data, meta-data, relations and content of all intra-related identities within a configurable set of scored parameters;

said parameters addressing the quality of the relation;

said profile further representing an underlying identity, entity or ü

ber-identity which is represented in facets across the intra-related identities; and

said meta-profile being created or updated during routine graph analysis or as-needed during the acts of indexing or searching the graph.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein elements of the meta-profile are completed by the first occurrence of corresponding data associated with intra-related identities, or amplified on subsequent occurrences by noting their distinct association to two or more such identities.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein new meta-data is associated with the meta-profile;

and said meta-data consisting of words, phrases, labels or heuristics derived from the presence, frequency or amplification of data across elements of the meta-profile or its inter-related profiles, data, content, or relationships.

27. The method of claim 26 where analysis, inference or association is used to relate a first set of keywords to labels and concepts which serve as a second set of derived keywords;

or a second set of derived keywords is used to generate a third set of implied keywords, the implied keywords comprised of words or phrases that are generally related to or are specified to be appropriate for the derived keywords.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein additional meta-data is generated from the profiles or meta-profiles of identities inter-related to the intra-related identities of meta-profile.

29. The method of claim 2 wherein the search is configured to be limited by at least one of:

a limit of a searchable depth or series of depths concerning inter-personal or intra-personal relations;

a specified score of verification or probability at each depth or series of depths of inter-personal or intra-personal relations;

one or more characteristics or attributes limiting the inclusion or exclusion of identities to be searched;

or filters devised to respect privacy rules elected by the identities represented on the graph.

30. The method of claim 2 wherein the search is comprised of a request to return data or meta-data pertaining to one or more identified nodes;

each said node representing an identity, content, or meta-identity; and

each said data or meta-data consisting of one or more elements of profile data, intra-personal relationships or inter-personal relationships.

31. The method of claim 2 wherein the search is compromised of a request to return one or more nodes or meta-profiles that match a specified set of criteria comprising at least one of:

one or more connections to a specified node, one more attributes-of or meta-data associated-with a node or meta-profile.

32. The method of claim 2 wherein the search is comprised of a request to return a listing of one or more node attributes to which a set of determined identities or a searchable description of determinable identities belongs to.

33. The method of claim 32 where, when said attributes are characterized as networks, systems, groups, affiliations, or interests results, additional meta-data is requested and generated to note the potential costs-of, performance-of, user attention-to, affinity metrics-of, or brand prominence opportunities for advertising to identity nodes in each said attribute.

34. The method of claim 2 wherein the search is comprised of a request to return a listing of meta-data in the form of keywords, labels, advertisements or other content determined appropriate for one or more nodes on the graph;

said appropriateness being determined by the ranking of terms extrapolated from each firstnode'"'"'s intra-personal relationships to other second nodes;

said second nodes being identities, their respective content or inter-personal relationships to other identities and their respective content.

35. The method of claim 2 wherein a search is comprised of a request to return one or more connection paths between two given nodes.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the mechanism of searching between two nodes is embodied in either a bi-directional or outward-branch search;

a bi-directional search being the technique of;

determining the first node as a primary node and the secondary node as a target node, identifying a set of secondary intra-related nodes for the primary node and determining if the target node is preset, identifying a set of tertiary inter-related identities for each secondary node and determining if the target node is present, and recursively treating each tertiary node as a primary mode; and

a outward-branch being the technique of;

identifying a set of secondary intra-related nodes for each primary node, determining if any overlap exists, identifying a set of tertiary inter-related identities for each node, determining if any overlap exists, and recursively treating each tertiary node as a primary mode.

37. The method of claim 2 wherein the result set is passed to content customization system which returns content relevant to the resultant metadata, nodes, or connection paths;

and said customized content appending or replacing the result set.

3. A computer system configured to allow for the creation, update, analysis, and export of elements represented on a social graph, on which said graph:

the indexed identities and content are represented by nodes on the graph;

the indexed meta-data pertaining to the identities and content function as descriptors of the nodes;

the relationships between identity and content nodes are represented by edges on the graph;

the metadata concerning the quality, such as likelihood and verifiability, and source of the relationships function as descriptors of the edges; and

sections of the graph either being stored in a computer memory or database, or compiled and expanded by the indexing of data on demand;

said system configured to;

i. accept requests to populate the graph, update the graph, or provide custom content from on the graph;

ii. authenticate the requester or the requesters permission for said request; and

iii. create custom content in response to the request.

38. The method of claim 3 wherein, upon receiving new content, profile data, or relationships for an identity, the system notifies or provides updates to other systems configured and permissioned for such notifications or updates by one or more identities primarily connected to the data.

39. The method of claim 3 wherein a user may configure a widget, application, or third party website to communicate with the system to query or submit information pertaining to an identity or unique identifier;

said widget, application, or third party website restricted to perform specific actions based on its ability to authenticate permissions to do so; and

said information pertaining to customized profile data, relationships, or content.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the widget, application, or third party website communicates to the server information about its location or usage, such as the URL of a web page that it appears on;

the system then determines the appropriate identity for said location or usage; and

the system customizes content for said location or usage.