USER-SPECIFIC PRONUNCIATIONS IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20160188727A1
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fuegen, Christian, Koehler, Thilo Wolfgang, Waibel, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 10,061,855 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/04 Speaking with audible presentation of the material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A social networking system obtains user pronunciations of terms whose pronunciations might vary among different users, such as names of users. The social networking system additionally obtains demographic information about the users from whom the pronunciations were obtained, as well as social graph information for those users, such as information about connections of those users in the social graph. Based on the obtained pronunciations, the demographic information, and the social graph information, the social networking system determines, for a user having that name (or other term in question), one or more suggested pronunciations for the name that are likely to be the pronunciations that that user would use.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a social networking system, the method comprising:

obtaining, for a name, from each user of a plurality of users having the name in a profile of the user in the social networking system;

a pronunciation of the name by the user,

demographic information of the user, and

social graph information of the user, the social graph information of the user comprising information about one or more other users of the social networking system to whom the user has formed a connection; and

for a first user having the name, determining a suggested pronunciation of the name using the pronunciations, the demographic information, and the social graph information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first user has not yet specified a pronunciation of the name.

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

providing the suggested pronunciation to the first user;

receiving from the first user a confirmation of the suggested pronunciation; and

storing the suggested pronunciation as a confirmed pronunciation of the name.

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

providing a representation of the confirmed pronunciation to a second user different from the first user, the representation comprising audio output corresponding to the confirmed pronunciation.

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

providing a representation of the confirmed pronunciation to a second user different from the first user, the representation comprising a phonetic textual representation that includes a number of phonetic units.

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

determining, for a second user different from the first user, an alternate pronunciation different from the confirmed pronunciation, based on demographic information of the second user; and

providing a representation of the alternate pronunciation to the second user.

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

providing a representation of the suggested pronunciation to the first user, the representation comprising a phonetic textual representation that includes a number of phonetic units. receiving a modification by the first user to one of the phonetic units;

revising the suggested pronunciation using the modified phonetic unit; and

storing the revised suggested pronunciation as a confirmed pronunciation of the name of the first user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the demographic information of the users comprises at least one of:

countries of residence of the users, countries of origin of the users, and languages spoken by the users.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, for the users using the social graph information, connections of the users, wherein the social graph information of the users comprises languages spoken by the connections of the users.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising identifying, for the users using the social graph information, parents of the users, wherein the social graph information of the users comprises languages spoken by the parents of the users.

11. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by a processor, the instructions comprising:

instructions for obtaining, for a name, from each user of a plurality of users having the name in a profile of the user in the social networking system;

a pronunciation of the name by the user,

demographic information of the user, and

social graph information of the user, the social graph information of the user comprising information about one or more other users of the social networking system to whom the user has formed a connection; and

instructions for, for a first user having the name, determining a suggested pronunciation of the name using the pronunciations, the demographic information, and the social graph information.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the first user has not yet specified a pronunciation of the name.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for providing the suggested pronunciation to the first user;

instructions for receiving from the first user a confirmation of the suggested pronunciation; and

instructions for storing the suggested pronunciation as a confirmed pronunciation of the name.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for providing a representation of the confirmed pronunciation to a second user different from the first user, the representation comprising audio output corresponding to the confirmed pronunciation.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for providing a representation of the confirmed pronunciation to a second user different from the first user, the representation comprising a phonetic textual representation that includes a number of phonetic units.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for determining, for a second user different from the first user, an alternate pronunciation different from the confirmed pronunciation, based on demographic information of the second user; and

instructions for providing a representation of the alternate pronunciation to the second user.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for providing a representation of the suggested pronunciation to the first user, the representation comprising a phonetic textual representation that includes a number of phonetic units. instructions for receiving a modification by the first user to one of the phonetic units;

instructions for revising the suggested pronunciation using the modified phonetic unit; and

instructions for storing the revised suggested pronunciation as a confirmed pronunciation of the name of the first user.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the demographic information of the users comprises at least one of:

countries of residence of the users, countries of origin of the users, and languages spoken by the users.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further comprising instructions for identifying, for the users using the social graph information, connections of the users, wherein the social graph information of the users comprises languages spoken by the connections of the users.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining, for a term, from a plurality of users;

pronunciations of the term by the users,

demographic information of the users, and

social graph information of the users; and

for a first user who has not yet specified a pronunciation of a first term, determining a suggested pronunciation of the first term using the pronunciations of the term by the users, the demographic information, and the social graph information.