GENERATING ACTIVITIES BASED UPON SOCIAL DATA

• US 20110137989A1
• Filed: 12/09/2009
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Chun-Kai, Kiciman, Emre Mehmet, Wang, Yi-Min
• Granted Patent: US 9,009,226 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A method described herein includes acts of receiving data from a social networking application, wherein the data is generated by a first individual, and executing an entity extraction algorithm to extract at least one entity from the received data. The method also includes automatically causing a hyperlink to be displayed on a computing device utilized by a second individual, wherein the hyperlink is based at least in part upon the at least one entity, wherein the hyperlink is configured to direct the first individual to a search engine and is further configured to cause the search engine to execute a search that pertains to the at least one entity.

Claims

1. A method comprising the following computer-executable acts:

receiving data from a social networking application, wherein the data is generated by a first individual;

executing an entity extraction algorithm to extract at least one entity from the received data; and

automatically causing a hyperlink to be displayed on a computing device utilized by a second individual, wherein the hyperlink is based at least in part upon the at least one entity, wherein the hyperlink is configured to direct the first individual to a search engine and is further configured to cause the search engine to execute a search that pertains to the at least one entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the social networking application is a text broadcasting application that is configured to broadcast a limited number of characters of text to subscribers of the first individual.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data from the social networking application is a status message update made by first individual, wherein the second individual is a contact of the first individual.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data from the social networking application is a caption of a photograph shared by the first individual with the second individual.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data from the social networking application is location metadata.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing content of a web page currently being viewed by the second individual;

determining that the content of the web page is the data related to the entity;

causing the data from the social networking application to be displayed in an inline popup on the web page; and

causing the hyperlink to be displayed in the inline popup together with the data from the social networking application.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an image, wherein the image is received from a contact of the second individual that chooses to share images with the second individual;

extracting an entity from the image; and

causing at least a portion of the image to act as a hyperlink, wherein selection the portion of the image by the second individual causes the second individual to be directed to the search engine and further causes the search engine to execute a search pertaining to the entity extracted from the image.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the entity extracted from the image is indicative of a location where the image was captured.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the entity extracted from the image is extracted from a title given to the image by an owner of the image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the hyperlink comprises text that describes an activity that is initiated upon selection of the hyperlink.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the activity is one or more of the following:

searching for additional information pertaining to the entity;

searching for weather conditions pertaining to the entity;

shopping for items pertaining to the entity;

displaying a map;

or

displaying driving directions.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the entity with contents of a trained dictionary to determine a category that corresponds to the entity; and

presenting the hyperlink in a form of an activity, wherein the activity is selected based at least in part upon the category that corresponds to the entity.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing historical correspondence of at least one of the first individual or the second individual; and

presenting the hyperlink in a form of an activity, wherein the activity is selected based at least in part upon the analysis of the historical correspondence of the at least one of the first individual or the second individual.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the hyperlink to a web page or application that corresponds to the social networking application.

15. A system comprising the following computer-executable acts:

a receiver component that receives social networking data generated by a first individual through utilization of a social networking application;

an extractor component that extracts an entity from the social networking data; and

a hyperlink generator component that automatically causes a hyperlink to be displayed in conjunction with the social networking data on a display of a computing device utilized by a second individual, wherein the hyperlink is configured to direct the second individual to a search engine upon the hyperlink being selected by the second individual, wherein the hyperlink is further configured to cause the search engine to execute a search pertaining to the entity, and wherein the second individual is in a social network of the first individual.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an advertisement selector component that displays an advertisement in conjunction with the social networking data, wherein the advertisement is recommended by a poster of the social networking data.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a transmitter component that transmits the hyperlink generated by the hyperlink generator component to the social networking application.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising a display component that causes the hyperlink to be displayed on a web site that corresponds to the social networking application.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising an activity selector component that selects an activity that pertains to the entity from a finite number of predefined activities, wherein the hyperlink is displayed in context with the activity.

20. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a social networking message posted via a social networking application by a first individual;

selecting a keyword in the social networking message;

extracting an entity from the keyword based at least in part upon the social networking message, wherein the entity is the keyword and an associated canonical meaning of the keyword;

selecting an activity based at least in part upon the entity, wherein the activity is selected from amongst a finite number of defined activities; and

causing a hyperlink to be displayed in conjunction with the social networking message to a second individual, wherein the hyperlink is configured direct a second individual to a search engine when selected by the second individual, wherein the hyperlink is further configured to cause a search engine to execute a search pertaining to the activity when selected by the second individual.