SOCIAL NETWORK STEALTH AND COUNTER MESSAGING

• US 20130080544A1
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Published: 03/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GenZet
• Original Assignee: GenZet
• Inventors: Lyons, Sean M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,269,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Stealth and counter messaging, in some embodiments in the context of social networking sites, is disclosed. A first user may provide a first, counter-message along with a second, stealth message. When posting the first message, its corresponding identifier as set by the social networking site is recorded in a linked relationship to the second message. When an authorized second user retrieves the first message from the social networking site, its identifier is queried to determine whether there is a corresponding second message. After locating the identifier for the first message, the associated second message is retrieved and transmitted to the second user.

Claims

1. A method of transforming messages for a social networking service site, the method comprising:

receiving from an originating client a first message, a second message associated therewith, and a first access token specific to a first user of the social networking service site associated with the originating client;

transmitting a message post command to the social networking service site, the message post command including the first message and the first access token;

receiving from the social networking service site a first message identifier corresponding to the first message, the first message identifier being generated in response to the message post command and a validation of the first access token;

storing the second message and the first message identifier in a linked relationship for retrieval based upon a query for the first message identifier; and

transmitting a confirmation message to the originating client in response to receiving the first message identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is stored in the content repository of a first profile linked to the first user for view by other users of the social networking service site.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving from a requesting client a message retrieval request and a second access token specific to a second user of the social networking service site associated with the requesting client;

transmitting to the social networking service site a message retrieval command and the second access token in response to the message retrieval request from the requesting client;

receiving at least one message identifier from the social networking service site, the at least one message identifier being the first message identifier and corresponding to the first message stored in the content repository of the first profile;

querying for the second message with the received at least one message identifier; and

transmitting to the requesting client the second message.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting to the requesting client a third message;

wherein the third message is stored in a content repository of another profile and is received from the social networking service site concurrently with the at least one message identifier in response to the message retrieval command.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the first profile associated with the first user includes a primary username; and

a user-specified secondary username associated with the first profile and different from the primary username is transmitted to the requesting client together with the second message.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving from a requesting client at least one message identifier designated for access by a second user of the social networking service site associated with the requesting client, the at least one message identifier being the first message identifier and corresponding to the first message stored in the content repository of the first profile;

querying for the second message with the at least one message identifier; and

transmitting to the requesting client the second message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the first profile associated with the first user includes a primary username; and

a user-specified secondary username associated with the first profile and different from the primary username is transmitted to the requesting client together with the second message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message and the second message include text inputted by the first user, the text in the first message being different from the text in the second message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message and the second message include location data, the location data of the first message corresponding to a first predetermined location different from a current location of the first user, and the location data of the second message corresponding to the current location of the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message and the second message include Uniform Resource Locator (URL) links, the URL link in the first message being different from the URL link in the second message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message and the second message include an event invitation with time, date, and descriptor data, the event invitation in the first message being different from the event invitation in the second message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message includes a first video footage and the second message includes a second video footage different from the first video footage.

13. A method of transforming messages for a social networking service site, the method comprising:

receiving from an originating client a message post request including a first message posted to the social networking service site, a first message identifier corresponding to the first message, and a second message associated with the first message;

storing the message identifier in a linked relationship to the second message;

transmitting a confirmation message to the originating client following the storing of the message identifier;

wherein the first message identifier is generated by the social networking service site in response to a message post command from the originating client including a first access token specific to a first user of the social networking service site associated with the originating client.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message is stored in the content repository of a first profile linked to the first user for view by other users of the social networking service site.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving from a requesting client a message retrieval request and a second access token specific to a second user of the social networking service site associated with the requesting client;

transmitting to the social networking service site a message retrieval command and the second access token in response to the message retrieval request;

receiving at least one message identifier from the social networking service site, the at least one message identifier being the first message identifier and corresponding to the first message stored in the content repository of the first profile;

querying for the second message with the received at least one message identifier; and

transmitting to the requesting client the second message.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting to the requesting client a third message;

wherein the third message is stored in a content repository of another profile and is received from the social networking service site concurrently with the at least one message identifier in response to the message retrieval command.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the first profile associated with the first user includes a primary username; and

a user-specified secondary username associated with the first profile and different from the primary username is transmitted to the requesting client together with the second message.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving from a requesting client at least one message identifier designated for access by a second user of the social networking service site associated with the requesting client, the at least one message identifier being the first message identifier and corresponding to the first message stored in the content repository of the first profile;

querying for the second message with the at least one message identifier; and

transmitting to the requesting client the second message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the first profile associated with the first user includes a primary username; and

a user-specified secondary username associated with the first profile and different from the primary username is transmitted to the requesting client together with the second message.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message and the second message include text inputted by the first user, the text in the first message being different from the text in the second message.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message and the second message include location data, the location data of the first message corresponding to a first predetermined location different from a current location of the first user, and the location data of the second message corresponding to the current location of the first user.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message and the second message include Uniform Resource Locator (URL) links, the URL link in the first message being different from the URL link in the second message.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message and the second message include an event invitation with time, date, and descriptor data, the event invitation in the first message being different from the event invitation in the second message.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message includes a first video footage and the second message includes a second video footage different from the first video footage.

25. A system for transforming messages from a first user to a second user on a interactive communications site, the system comprising:

a database including a first message field, a second message field, and a first message identifier field;

a database query interface connected to the database, data in the second message field being retrieved in response to a query on the corresponding first message identifier field;

a messaging interface interconnecting the database query interface to an external message data source with a first message and a second message originating from the first user and assigned a first message identifier, the first message, the second message, and the first message identifier being stored in the respective first message field, the second message field, and the first message identifier of the database in response to a message store request from the external message data source; and

a client interface interconnecting the database query interface to a client system associated with the second user, the second message being transmitted from the database to the client system in response to a message retrieval request from the client system to the database query interface including a specific value of the first message identifier.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the external message data source is the interactive communications site, the message store request to the database query interface being generated by the interactive communications site in response to a post command from a client system associated with the first user.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the external message data source is the client system associated with the first user and in communication with the interactive communications site.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the interactive communications site is a social networking service.