METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING IN A DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT

• US 20110016399A1
• Filed: 07/20/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: YASREBI, MEHRAD, JACKSON, JAMES
• Granted Patent: US 8,275,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/734
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for social networking in a dynamic environment. In one embodiment, a method for social networking in a network includes broadcasting a first set of one or more keywords representing one or more interests of a first user in the network, receiving a response from a second user in the network indicating interest in at least one of the interests of the first user, and connecting to a server in the network, where the server hosts a group for supporting communications between at least the first network user and the second network user.

Claims

1. A method for social networking in a network, comprising:

broadcasting via a first device a first set of one or more keywords representing one or more interests of a first user in the network;

receiving a response from a second device operated by a second user in the network, the response indicating interest in at least one of the one or more interests of the first user; and

connecting, by the first device, to a server in the network, where the server hosts a first group for supporting communications between at least the first device and the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more keywords is broadcast together with an indication as to whether the first device can host the first group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more keywords is broadcast together with a proposed method for selecting the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the response includes a second set of keywords representing one or more interests of the second user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second set of keywords is identical to the first set of keywords, is a subset of the first set of keywords, or is a superset of the first set of keywords.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the response includes an indication as to whether the second device can host the first group or is already hosting a second group similar to the first group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the response includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address and a port on the second device, the IP address and the port being reserved for the communications.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is the first device or the second device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is selected by:

determining whether one or more servers in the network are already hosting a second group similar to the first group; and

selecting one of the one or more servers already hosting a second group that has a lowest Internet Protocol address, if one or more servers in the network are already hosting a second group similar to the first group or otherwise offer to host communications for a group similar to the first group;

or

determining whether one or more servers in the network can host the first group, if no servers in the network are already hosting a second group similar to the first group.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

selecting one of the one or more servers that can host the first group that has a lowest Internet Protocol address, if one or more servers in the network can host the first group;

or

becoming a default host of the first group if no servers in the network can host the first group.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user and the second user remain substantially anonymous to each other.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of an Internet Protocol address of the first device and an Internet Protocol address of the second device is assigned dynamically.

13. A method for social networking, comprising:

receiving from a first device a broadcast at a second device, the broadcast containing a first set of one or more keywords representing one or more interests of a first user in the network;

comparing at the second device said first set of one or more keywords to a second set of one or more keywords representing one or more interests of a second user in the network;

responding by said second device to said broadcast if said first set of one or more keywords and said second set of one or more keywords meet a match threshold; and

connecting, by the second device, to a server in the network, where the server hosts a first group for supporting communications between at least the first device and the second device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the responding comprises:

sending, by the second device, a third set of one or more keywords to the first device, where said third set of one or more keywords is identical to said first set of one or more keywords, is a subset of said first set of one or more keywords, or is a superset of said first set of one or more keywords.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the responding comprises:

sending an indication to the first device indicating that the second device r can host the first group or is already hosting a second group similar to the first group.

16. A system for social networking, comprising:

a first user device for broadcasting a first set of one or more keywords representing one or more interests of a first user in the network;

a second user device for sending a response from a second user in the network to the first user device, the response indicating an interest in at least one of the one or more interests of the first user; and

a server for hosting a group for supporting communications between at least the first user and the second user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the server is the first user device or the second user device.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the server is selected in accordance with a method proposed by the first user device.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of an Internet Protocol address of the first user device and an Internet Protocol address of the second user device is assigned dynamically.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first user device and the second user device remain substantially anonymous to each other.