AUTOMATIC SOCIAL GRAPH CALCULATION

• US 20120290565A1
• Filed: 05/12/2011
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wana, John, Tumanov, Ilya, Perantatos, George, Meyers, Brian R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer program products are disclosed for facilitating the collection of activity data, organizational hierarchy data and distribution list data within a private computer network (especially an intranet) while complying with applicable privacy laws and regulations, as well as individual organizations'"'"' business rules addressing intranet users'"'"' privacy to display a social graph of organization members related to a requesting organization member. Such systems, methods and computer program products allow for the collecting of such data passively without a need for active participation from the requester. A computer-implemented process for displaying a social graph further comprises calculating sub-scores for each of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data and calculating a total score for each related organization member and displaying the social graph comprising those organization members whose score exceeds a predetermined value as related to the requester.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically calculating a social graph for a first member of a private network for an organization having a second organization member related to the first member, the method comprising:

retrieving one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data of the second organization member related to the first member;

calculating a sub-score for the second organization member related to the first member for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data;

calculating a total score for the second organization member related to the first member from the calculated sub-score for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data; and

displaying a social graph including the second organization member related to the first member responsive to total score calculating.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

weighting the sub-score for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data by a weighting function before calculating the total score.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sub-score is for organizational data and calculating a sub-score relates to a level of adjacency between the requesting member and the organization member related to the first member.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the social graph display provides a user interface whereby further details about displayed organization members are selectively displayed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the sub-score is for organizational data and the organizational data sub-score is weighted by a Gaussian function such that the second organizational member related to the first member and hierarchically removed from the first member is weighted differently than a third organization member immediately proximate to the first member according to the Gaussian weighting function.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining geographical location data for the first member of the private network responsive to the first member initiating a request for calculating a social graph.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving first member input as to weighting factors to be applied to one of a sub-score and a total score for the second organization member related to the first member.

8. A computer program product comprising computer usable medium encoded in a computer having control logic stored therein for causing the computer to automatically calculate a social graph for a first member of an organization related to a second organization member, said control logic comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to retrieve one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data of the second organization member related to the first member;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to calculate a sub-score for the second organization member related to the first member for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data;

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to calculate a total score for the second organization member related to the first member from sub-scores for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data; and

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display a social graph of organization members responsive to the third computer readable program code means.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for causing the computer to weigh the sub-score for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data by a weighting function.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the sub-score is for organizational data and calculating a sub-score relates to a level of adjacency between the first member and the second organization member related to the first member.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the social graph display provides a user interface whereby further details about a displayed organization member related to the first member may be selectively displayed.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the sub-score is for organizational data and the organizational data sub-score is weighted by a Gaussian function such that the second organizational member related to the first member and hierarchically removed from the first member is weighted differently than a third organization member related to the first member who is immediately proximate to the first member in the organization.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for causing the computer to obtain geographical location data for the requesting member of the private network responsive to the requesting member initiating a request for calculating a social graph.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, receiving first member input as to weighting factors to be applied to one of a sub-score and a total score for the second organization member related to the first member.

15. A computer-implemented method for automatically calculating a social graph for a first member of a private network for an organization, the social graph including a second organization member related to the first member of the organization, the method comprising the steps of:

retrieving one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data of the second organization member related to the first member;

calculating a sub-score for the second organization member related to the requesting member for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data, the sub-score for organizational data being related to a degree of adjacency of the first member and the second organization member related to the first member where a peer, a subordinate and a manager degree of adjacency are afforded a higher score than an organization member related to the first member farther removed in the organization;

weighting the sub-score for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data by a weighting function before calculating a total score;

calculating the total score for the second organization member related to the requesting member from a sub-score for one of activity data, organizational data and distribution list data; and

displaying a social graph including the second organization member and a third organization member in respective order of respective total score.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the social graph display provides a user interface whereby further details about displayed organization members may be selectively displayed.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising receiving a request for calculating a social graph for the first member from a provider of other services, the displayed social graph not being for display to the first member.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

obtaining geographical location data for the first member of the private network responsive to the first member initiating a request for calculating a social graph.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving first member input as to weighting factors to be applied to one of a sub-score and a total score for a second organization member related to the first member.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising a search function for searching for and retrieving publicly available details for the second organization member related to the first member and displaying the publicly available details for the second organization member on the displayed social graph.