Method and system for notifying an invitee user when an inviting user accesses a social networking application

• US 7,917,594 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Reding, Craig L., Dromlewicz, Paula, Reformato, John R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein A
• Application Number:
  US11/694,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-204, 709206-207, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A system and method may include receiving an access from an inviting terminal requesting access to a social networking application, the access request may be associated with a user identifier, searching a contact database, based on the user identifier and on an application identifier of the social networking application, to identify contact information associated with an invitee terminal, and generating a notification message based on the contact information, the notification message may be useable to indicate to the invitee terminal that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an access request from an inviting terminal requesting access to a social networking application, the access request being associated with a user identifier;

searching a contact database, based on the user identifier and on an application identifier associated with the social networking application, to identify contact information associated with an invitee terminal not logged into the social networking application during a time of the searching;

querying a messaging server based on the contact information to determine whether the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server;

processing a query response that either includes a data network address assigned to the invitee terminal if the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server or includes a data network address unknown response; and

sending, in response to the access request, a notification message based on the contact information, the notification message containing the application identifier, the notification message useable to indicate to the invitee terminal that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application and to provide a geographical location of the inviting terminal to the invitee terminal, wherein the application identifier is usable to distinguish among a plurality of social networking applications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the notification message comprises identifying capabilities of the invitee terminal based on a type of the invitee terminal, wherein the type of the invitee terminal indicates whether the invitee can establish a communication session with a server hosting the social networking application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message is associated with a join field, where selection of the join field instructs the invitee terminal to create and forward a join request to a server hosting the social networking application to establish a communication session with the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message is associated with an opt out field, where selection of the opt out field instructs the invitee terminal to create and forward an opt out request to update the contact database to prevent future notification messages from being communicated to the invitee terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message is associated with an ignore field, where selection of the ignore field instructs the invitee terminal to ignore the notification message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message is associated with a preferences field, where selection of the preferences field instructs the invitee terminal to create and forward a preferences request to update availability information and order information stored in the contact database.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the availability information includes time information and date information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating an access event comprising the user identifier and the application identifier from a provider server to a contact server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network address comprises an Internet Protocol address.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information comprises a telephone number.

11. A method comprising:

receiving an access request from inviting terminal requesting access to a social networking application, the access request being associated with a user identifier;

searching a contact database based on the user identifier and on an application identifier associated with the social networking application to identify contact information associated with an invitee terminal not logged into the social networking application during a time of the searching;

querying a messaging server based on the contact information to determine whether the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server;

processing a query response that either includes a data network address assigned to the invitee terminal if the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server or includes a data network address unknown response; and

sending, in response to the access request, a notification message containing the application identifier, based on the contact information, for communication to the invitee terminal outside of the social networking application to indicate that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application and to provide a geographical location of the inviting terminal to the invitee terminal, wherein the application identifier is usable to distinguish among a plurality of social networking applications.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising processing a contact database request to update the contact database, the contact database request comprising an invitee identifier and the contact information associated with the invitee terminal.

13. A system comprising:

an inviting terminal communicatively coupled to a network, the inviting terminal to generate an access request to request access to a social networking application, the access request being associated with a user identifier;

an invitee terminal communicatively coupled to the network; and

a server communicatively coupled to the network, the server to receive the access request, to grant the inviting terminal access to the social networking application, and to search a contact database based on the user identifier and on an application identifier associated with the social networking application to identify contact information associated with the invitee terminal, the server configured to query a messaging server based on the contact information to determine whether the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server, the server configured to process a query response that either includes a data network address assigned to the invitee terminal if the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server or includes a data network address unknown response, the server to send, in response to the access request, a notification message containing the application identifier, based on the contact information, for communication to the invitee terminal outside of the social networking application to indicate that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application and to provide a geographical location of the inviting terminal to the invitee terminal, wherein the invitee terminal is configured to distinguish among a plurality of social networking applications using the application identifier and wherein the server is configured not to send the notification if the invitee terminal is logged into the social networking application during a time of the searching.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the notification message identifies a location within the social networking application.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the social networking application is a multi-player video game.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the social networking application comprises a conference call system.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the notification message comprises a link useable to establish a communication session between the invitee terminal and the server.

18. A system comprising:

an electronic communication device to receive an access request via a network;

an authentication module communicatively coupled to the communication module, the authentication module to grant an inviting terminal access to a social networking application based on the access request, the access request being associated with a user identifier;

a contact module communicatively coupled to the authentication module, the contact module to search a contact database based on the user identifier and on an application identifier associated with the social networking application to identify contact information associated with an invitee terminal not logged into the social networking application during a time of the searching, the contact module configured to query a messaging server based on the contact information to determine whether the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server, the contact module configured to process a query response that either includes a data network address assigned to the invitee terminal if the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server or includes a data network address unknown response; and

a notification module communicatively coupled to the contact module, the notification module to send, in response to the access request, a notification message containing the application identifier, based on the contact information, for communication to the invitee terminal outside of the social networking application to indicate that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application and to provide a geographical location of the inviting terminal to the invitee terminal, wherein the application identifier is usable to distinguish among a plurality of social networking applications.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one processor, the computer program of instructions comprising computer instructions for:

receiving an access request from an inviting terminal requesting access to a social networking application, the access request being associated with a user identifier;

searching a contact database, based on the user identifier and on an application identifier associated with the social networking application, to identify contact information associated with an invitee terminal not logged into the social networking application during a time of the searching;

querying a messaging server based on the contact information to determine whether the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server;

processing a query response that either includes a data network address assigned to the invitee terminal if the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server or includes a data network address unknown response; and

sending, in response to the access request, a notification message based on the contact information, the notification message containing the application identifier, the notification message useable to indicate to the invitee terminal that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application and to provide a geographical location of the inviting terminal to the invitee terminal, wherein the application identifier is usable to distinguish among a plurality of social networking applications.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one processor, the computer program of instructions comprising computer instructions for:

receiving an access request from inviting terminal requesting access to a social networking application, the access request being associated with a user identifier;

searching a contact database based on the user identifier and on an application identifier associated with the social networking application to identify contact information associated with an invitee terminal not logged into the social networking application during a time of the searching;

querying a messaging server based on the contact information to determine whether the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server;

processing a query response that either includes a data network address assigned to the invitee terminal if the invitee terminal is communicating via the messaging server or includes a data network address unknown response; and

sending, in response to the access request, a notification message containing the application identifier, based on the contact information, for communication to the invitee terminal outside of the social networking application to indicate that the inviting terminal has accessed the social networking application and to provide a geographical location of the inviting terminal to the invitee terminal, wherein the application identifier is usable to distinguish among a plurality of social networking applications.