Context Enhanced Social Network for Meeting Participants

• US 20110022967A1
• Filed: 07/21/2009
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jain, Mukul, Vijayakumar, Nithya, Kumar, Sanjeev
• Granted Patent: US 8,627,210 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and logic are provided to generate a context enhanced social network (CESN) participant list for meeting participants. One method includes obtaining a list of participants and a meeting context and identifying expert knowledge that is required for the context. Degrees of associations between a first participant and the other participants are calculated based on a level of expert knowledge of the participants. The CESN participant list is generated and displayed for the first meeting participant based on the calculated degrees of associations of the other participants. The method can be repeated such that a unique CESN participant list is generated for each meeting participant based on his perspective in relation to the other meeting participants and based on the current context of the meeting. The CESN participant lists may also be dynamically updated when a change in meeting context is detected.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining data for a plurality of meeting participants at a computing apparatus that is in communication with a user interface and display device associated with each meeting participant;

obtaining a meeting context for the meeting;

identifying expert knowledge associated with the meeting context and determining the expert knowledge of each meeting participant with regard to the context;

generating data representing social network relationships between the meeting participants;

calculating degrees of associations between meeting participants based on the expert knowledge of the meeting participants and the social network relationships;

generating data that represents the degrees of associations between meeting participants; and

displaying to a meeting participant the data that represents the degree of associations with respect to other meeting participants.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a meeting context comprises:

detecting a change in the meeting context from a first meeting context to a second meeting context; and

repeating said identifying, determining, calculating, generating data that represents the degrees of associations between meeting participants, and displaying based on the second meeting context.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the meeting context is based on a meeting agenda information associated with the meeting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the meeting context is based on active material in a shared on-line meeting workspace managed by the computing apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the meeting context is based on information supplied by a meeting participant during the meeting.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the expert knowledge comprises correlating expert knowledge criteria derived from the meeting context with expertise data for each meeting participant.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating data representing social network relationships between the meeting participants comprises acquiring data for the meeting participants from a participant social network profile database.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein acquiring data comprises retrieving data from one or more of:

project group team data, internal company directory data, internal company networking information, external social networking sites, and internet searches.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating degrees of associations between meeting participants comprises applying weights based on confidence measures to data for the expert knowledge to produce a single degree of association quantity between two meeting participants with respect to the meeting context.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying comprises displaying to a first meeting participant the data that represents the degrees of associations of a second meeting participant with respect to the other meeting participants.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying comprises displaying the degree of associations as numerical values.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying comprises displaying the degree of associations as a graphical image.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying further comprises displaying sources of information used in determining the degree of association of a meeting participant.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface unit that is configured to enable communication over a network with a user interface and display device associated with each of a plurality of meeting participants;

a memory configured to store data for a plurality of meeting participants involved in a meeting; and

a data processor configured to;

obtain a meeting context for the meeting;

identify expert knowledge associated with the meeting context;

determine the expert knowledge of each meeting participant with regard to the meeting context;

generate data representing social network relationships between the meeting participants;

calculate degrees of associations between meeting participants based on the expert knowledge of the meeting participants and the social network relationships; and

generate data that represents the degrees of associations between meeting participants.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data processor is configured to detect a change in the meeting context from a first meeting context to a second meeting context;

and

repeat said identify, determine, calculate, and generate data that represents the degrees of associations between meeting participants functions based on the second meeting context.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data processor is configured to obtain the meeting context based on meeting agenda information associated with the meeting.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data processor is configured to obtain the meeting context based on active material in a shared on-line meeting workspace managed by the apparatus.

18. Logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution and when executed operable to:

obtain data for a plurality of meeting participants at a computing apparatus that is in communication with a user interface and display device associated with each meeting participant;

obtain a meeting context for the meeting;

identify expert knowledge associated with the context and determine the expert knowledge of each meeting participant with regard to the context;

generate data representing social network relationships between the meeting participants;

calculate degrees of associations between meeting participants based on the expert knowledge of the meeting participants and the social network relationships;

generate data that represents the degrees of associations between meeting participants; and

send data to the user interface and display device for a meeting participant that represents the degrees of associations with respect to other meeting participants.

19. The logic of claim 18, wherein the logic that obtains the meeting context comprises logic configured to:

detect a change in the meeting context from a first meeting context to a second meeting context; and

repeat said identify, determine, calculate, generate data that represents the degrees of associations between meeting participants, and send functions based on the second meeting context.

20. The logic of claim 18, wherein the logic that generates data representing social network relations comprises logic configured to acquire data for the meeting participants from a participant social network profile database.

21. The logic of claim 18, wherein the logic that calculates degrees of associations comprises logic that is configured to apply weights based on confidence measures to data based upon the expert knowledge to produce a single degree of association quantity between two meeting participants with respect to the meeting context.