Social Networking of Mobile Devices

• US 20110319058A1
• Filed: 02/23/2009
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Huberman, Bernardo, Szabo, Gabor Janos, Wu, Fang, Ankolekar, Anupriya, Wilkinson, Dennis Matthews
• Granted Patent: US 9,288,638 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method for social networking of mobile devices based upon telephone numbers of the mobile devices includes receiving user profile information and telephone numbers of contacts from a plurality of users'"'"' mobile devices; at least one of creating and updating respective user profiles based upon the telephone numbers of the users'"'"' mobile devices and the received profile information; identifying relationships among the users based at least upon the contacts contained in the contacts information; and establishing a social network group including at least two of the users based upon the identified relationships among the users.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs for implementing a method for social networking of mobile devices based upon telephone numbers of the mobile devices, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving user profile information and telephone numbers of contacts from a plurality of users'"'"' mobile devices;

at least one of creating and updating respective user profiles based upon the telephone numbers of the users'"'"' mobile devices and the received profile information;

identifying relationships among the users based at least upon the contacts contained in the contacts information; and

establishing a social network group including at least two of the users based upon the identified relationships among the users.

2. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

communicating information pertaining to a first user in the social network group to at least one other user'"'"'s mobile device in the social network group.

3. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving at least one of call log information and text log information from the users'"'"' mobile devices;

determining strengths of relationships between each of the users based upon the at least one of the call log information and the text log information;

classifying the users with respect to each other into a plurality of categories based upon at least one of the determined strengths of the relationships between the plurality of users, explicit groupings made by the user, and one or more characteristics of interactions between the user and the plurality of users; and

communicating different types of information to the users based upon the categories into which the users fall with respect to each other.

4. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 3, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

tracking at least one of calls and texts made through a first user'"'"'s mobile device from the received at least one of call log information and text log information of the first user'"'"'s mobile device ; and

communicating the tracked at least one of calls and texts made through the first user'"'"'s mobile device to a second user'"'"'s mobile device.

5. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving a request from a first user to connect to a second user;

communicating the request to the second user'"'"'s mobile device;

receiving an indication as to whether the second user accepted or denied the request; and

connecting the first user to the second user in response to receipt of an indication that the second user accepted the request to connect to the first user.

6. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 5, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

determining whether a user profile of the second user has been created; and

wherein communicating the request to the second user further comprises communicating the request to the second user in response to a determination that the user profile of the second user has been created.

7. The computer readable storage medium according to any of the above claims, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving updated profile information from a user'"'"'s mobile device; and

communicating the updated profile information to mobile devices of the users in the social network group.

8. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving preferences from the plurality of users, wherein the preferences define the information that is made available to mobile devices of the users in the social network group and to persons outside of the social network group.

9. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, said one or more computer programs further comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving location information from the plurality of users'"'"' mobile devices;

tracking locations of plurality of users'"'"' mobile devices; and

communicating the tracked locations of one or more of the plurality of users'"'"' mobile devices to mobile devices of the users in the social network group

10. A mobile device comprising:

a mobile interface configured to enable at least one of voice calls and text messages to be communicated to and from the mobile device;

a social networking module configured to identify profile information of the mobile device and to track the at least one of the voice calls and text messages communicated to and from the mobile device; and

a controller configured to implement the social networking module and to communicate the profile information, including contacts information, and the tracked at least one of the voice calls and text messages to a server configured to implement the profile information in establishing a social network including the mobile device and at least one other mobile device, and wherein the controller is further configured to receive and display data received from the server, wherein the data contains information pertaining to a user of the at least one other mobile device in the social network.

11. The mobile device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a user input module configured to receive a telephone number of another user;

a display module configured to cause information to be displayed;

wherein the controller is configured to implement the display module to cause a query as to whether the user wishes to add the another user as a contact and to add the another user in a provisional contact list in response to receipt of an indication that the user wishes to add the user as a contact.

12. The mobile device according to claim 10, wherein the social networking module is further configured to track at least one of the duration, frequency, and time of voice calls and wherein the controller is further configured to periodically communicate the tracked duration and frequency of the voice calls to the server.

13. The mobile device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a location tracking module; and

wherein the controller is configured to implement the location tracking module to determine the location of the mobile device and wherein the controller is further configured to communicate the location of the mobile device to the server.

14. The mobile device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a user input module configured to receive input from a user; and

wherein the controller is configured to receive input pertaining to user preferences for profile information to be shared with the at least one other mobile device and wherein the controller is further configured to communicate the user preferences to the server.

15. A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method of operating a mobile device for social networking including the mobile device, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

identifying user profile information of the mobile device;

accessing telephone numbers of contacts stored in the mobile device;

communicating the profile information and the telephone numbers of the contacts to a server configured to implement the profile information and the contacts information in establishing a social network including the mobile device and at least one other mobile device; and

receiving and displaying data received from the server, wherein the data contains information pertaining to at least one other user in the social network.