Synchronous Display of Personal and Contact-Shared Contact Information

• US 20120303652A1
• Filed: 05/25/2011
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tseng, Erick
• Granted Patent: US 10,146,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/436 using biological or physiological data of a human being, e.g. blood pressure, facial expression, gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A social networking system allows a first user to provide contact information for a second user via a synchronization or upload event from a computing device. The second user is prompted as to whether he or she wishes to share the received contact information on his public profile. If he or she responds affirmatively, the updated contact information is stored in association with the second user'"'"'s profile on the social networking system. If the user responds negatively, the contact information is stored on the social networking system in association with the uploading user.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by one or more computing systems:

receiving, from a first user of a social network, contact information for a second user;

determining whether the second user is a member of the social network;

in response to an affirmative determination, accessing a data structure associated with the profile of the second user; and

determining whether the received contact information exists in the data structure, and, in response to a negative determination, prompting the second user as to whether to add the received contact information to the second user'"'"'s s profile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a response from the second user;

and

if the response is affirmative, adding the received contact information to the data structure associated with the second user'"'"'s profile; and

if the response is negative;

adding the received contact information to a data structure associated with the first user'"'"'s address book.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is represented in a social graph by a first user node, and determining whether the second user is a member of the social network comprises:

for each of the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

accessing a user profile associated with the user node;

searching the accessed user profile for information substantially matching the received contact information;

and, in response to a match, determining that the second user is represented by the user profile containing the matching information on the social network.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

if no matches are found within the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

incrementing the degree of separation; and

repeating the search.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, repeating the search for each subsequent degree of separation until all user nodes are searched, or a match is found.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising, repeating the search for a predetermined number of degrees of separation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving a synchronization message from the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving an upload of data stored on a SIM card of the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving a CSV file from the first user.

10. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more communication interfaces;

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media containing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are operable to;

receive, from a first user of a social network through one or more of the communication interfaces, contact information for a second user;

determine whether the second user is a member of the social network;

in response to an affirmative determination, access a data structure associated with the profile of the second user; and

determine whether the received contact information exists in the data structure, and, in response to a negative determination, prompt the second user as to whether to add the received contact information to the second user'"'"'s s profile.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, the apparatus further operable to receive a response from the second user through one or more of the communication interfaces;

and

if the response is affirmative, add the received contact information to the data structure associated with the second user'"'"'s profile; and

if the response is negative;

add the received contact information to a data structure associated with the first user'"'"'s address book.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first user is represented in a social graph by a first user node, and determining whether the second user is a member of the social network comprises:

for each of the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

accessing a user profile associated with the user node;

searching the accessed user profile for information substantially matching the received contact information;

and, in response to a match, determining that the second user is represented by the user profile containing the matching information on the social network.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further operable, when executed, to:

if no matches are found within the set of user nodes one degree of separation from the first user node;

increment the degree of separation; and

repeat the search.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, the instructions further operable, when executed, to repeat the search for each subsequent degree of separation until all user nodes are searched, or a match is found.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, the instructions further operable, when executed, to repeat the search for a predetermined number of degrees of separation.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving a synchronization message from the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving an upload of data stored on a SIM card of the first user'"'"'s mobile device.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein receiving the contact information comprises receiving a CSV file from the first user.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media containing instructions, the instructions operable, when executed, to:

receive, from a first user of a social network, contact information for a second user;

determine whether the second user is a member of the social network;

in response to an affirmative determination, access a data structure associated with the profile of the second user; and

determine whether the received contact information exists in the data structure, and, in response to a negative determination, prompt the second user as to whether to add the received contact information to the second user'"'"'s s profile.

20. The media of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further operable, when executed, to receive a response from the second user;

and

if the response is affirmative, add the received contact information to the data structure associated with the second user'"'"'s profile; and

if the response is negative;

add the received contact information to a data structure associated with the first user'"'"'s address book.