Degrees of separation for handling communications
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the method comprising:
- receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;
identifying the sender of the communication;
identifying the intended recipient of the communication;
accessing a contact list of the intended recipient, the contact list of the intended recipient being maintained in association with a different form of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient and including at least a first user identifier associated with the different form of communication;
accessing a contact list of the first user identifier, the contact list of the first user identifier including at least a second user identifier;
determining, based in part on the accessed first contact list and the accessed second contact list, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and
displaying an interface to the intended recipient prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.
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Abstract
A sender'"'"'s degrees of separation from a recipient may be used to aid in spam filtering or to otherwise handle a communication. The “degrees of separation” represent a metric used to quantify whether/how the recipient is linked to the sender through intermediary people or other entities. A level of “trust” or “legitimacy” about a sender'"'"'s communication can be inferred by looking at whether the sender is linked to an intended recipient. Typically, user contact lists (e.g., address book, buddy list, and/or white list) are evaluated to determine the number of degrees (or hops) are required to link or relate two users.
296 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the method comprising:
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receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient; identifying the sender of the communication; identifying the intended recipient of the communication; accessing a contact list of the intended recipient, the contact list of the intended recipient being maintained in association with a different form of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient and including at least a first user identifier associated with the different form of communication; accessing a contact list of the first user identifier, the contact list of the first user identifier including at least a second user identifier; determining, based in part on the accessed first contact list and the accessed second contact list, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and displaying an interface to the intended recipient prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-usable medium storing a computer program for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
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receive a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient; identify the sender of the communication; identify the intended recipient of the communication; access a contact list of the intended recipient, the contact list of the intended recipient being maintained in association with a different form of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient and including at least a first user identifier associated with the different form of communication; access a contact list of the first user identifier, the contact list of the first user identifier including at least a second user identifier; determine, based in part on the accessed first contact list and the accessed second contact list, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and display an interface to the intended recipient prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification