Initializing relationships between devices in a network

• US 7,853,650 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2008
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hoch, Michael, Lea, Rodger, Harwayne, Michael S., Liu, Jeff, Wang, Sidney, Tambata, Ippei, Coppinger, Elizabeth, Prohel, Andrew M., McKay, Philip, Wibisono, Himgan, Gauba, Ravi
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US12/330,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-205, 709/207, 709217-224, 709/227, 709/232
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1854 with non-centralised forwarding system, e.g. chaincast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A relationship initiation between devices in a network is described. According to one embodiment, persona information is exchanged between devices in a network. Based upon the persona information, a user of a device may initiate a relationship with another device.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

generating, by a first data processing device associated with a first user in response to a selection by the first user of digital content, first persona information that includes identifiers representing the first user'"'"'s selection of the digital content;

generating a first polling query message that includes a subset of the first persona information;

transmitting the first polling query message from the first data processing device to a second data processing device;

receiving a second polling query message that includes a first and second common identifier, wherein the first common identifier is an identifier common to the first persona information and common to second persona information that is associated with a second user of the second data processing device, the second common identifier is an identifier common to the first persona information and common to third persona information that is associated with a third user of a third data processing device;

initiating a relationship between the first processing device and one of the second and the third processing devices based on the first and second common identifiers;

receiving a third polling query message that includes the second persona information;

correlating the identifiers included in the first persona information with the identifiers included in the second persona information to identify a third common identifier between the first and second persona information;

updating the third polling query message with the third common identifier; and

transmitting the updated third polling query message to the third data processing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first common identifier is an identifier of a website which has been visited by the first or second user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a visualization of the second processing device based on the second persona information.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying a visualization, by the first data processing device, of the first and second data processing devices relative to the first common identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a relationship includes one of swapping an electronic file with the second processing device, initializing an instant messaging session with the second user, and initializing a gaming session with the second user.

6. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having executable instructions o cause a data processing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

generating, by a first data processing device associated with a first user in response to a selection by a first user of digital content, first persona information that includes identifiers representing the first user'"'"'s selection of the digital content;

generating a first polling query message that includes a subset of the first persona information;

transmitting the first polling query message from the first data processing device to a second data processing device via the data communications network;

receiving a second polling query message that includes a first and second common identifier, wherein the first common identifier is an identifier common to the first persona information and common to second persona information that is associated with a second user of tile second data processing device, the second common identifier is an identifier common to the first persona information and common to third persona information that is associated with a third user of a third data processing device;

initiating a relationship between the first processing device and one of the second and the third processing devices based on the first and second common identifiers

receiving a third polling query message that includes the second persona information;

correlating the identifiers included in the first persona information with the identifiers included in the second persona information to identify a third common identifier between the first and second persona information;

updating the third polling query message with the third common identifier; and

transmitting the updated third polling query message to the third data processing device.

7. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

analyzing the persona information of the first and second users for a common interest.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a visualization of the second device based on the second persona information associated with the second user.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein initiating a relationship includes one of swapping an electronic file with the second device, initializing an instant messaging session with the second user, and initializing a gaming session with the second user.

10. A system comprising:

a plurality of data processing devices on a data communications network, wherein the plurality of data processing devices are operable to identify which other user of the data processing devices shares a common interest, and wherein,

a first data processing device to generate first persona information in response to a selection by a first user of digital content using the first data processing device, the first persona information including identifiers representing the first user'"'"'s selection of the digital content, to generate a polling query message that includes a subset of the first persona information, and to transmit the polling query message from the first data processing device to a second data processing device,

the second data processing device to correlate the identifiers included in the first persona information with identifiers included in second persona information to identify a first common identifier between the first and second persona information, wherein the second persona information is associated with a second user of the second data processing device, and to update the polling query message with the first common identifier and to transmit the updated polling query message to at least a third data processing device,

the third data processing device to correlate the identifiers included in the first persona information with identifiers included in third persona information to identify a second common identifier between the first and third persona information, wherein the third persona information is associated with a third user of the third data processing device, and to further update the updated polling query message with the second common identifier and to communicate the further updated polling query message to the first data processing device, and

wherein, the first data processing device to initiate a relationship between the first processing device and one of the second and third devices based on the first and second common identifiers.

11. A system according to claim 10 wherein the first device to correlate the persona information received in the further updated polling query message.

12. A system according to claim 11 wherein the correlating by the first device includes visualizing the persona information via a user interface.

13. A system according to claim 10 wherein the initiating a relationship further includes one of performing a conversation over the network, swapping a content file over the network, and performing a gaming session over the network between the first data processing device and the second data processing device.

14. A system according to claim 10 wherein

relationship initialization by the first data processing device further causes a processor to correlate the persona information of the first and second users for a common interest.

15. A system according to claim 10 wherein

relationship initialization by the first data processing device further causes a processor, when initiating a relationship, to initiate an instant messaging session with the second user of the second device.