Multiple interest matchmaking in personal business networks

• US 7,953,673 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ferreira de Castro, Rodrigo Ceron, Machado, Luis Gustavo P., Augusto, Leonardo R., Seo, Carlos E., Franco, Lucas G.
• Primary Examiner(s): CASLER, TRACI
• Application Number:
  US11/964,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20090171630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: 705/319
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention can increase the odds of choosing the right people for a team by considering their “rate of interest/knowledge” in multiple topics. Given a known contacts network, represented by nodes interconnected by links, several different sub-networks are identified within it, corresponding to different topics or areas of expertise required to a specific project. For each sub-network, there will be nodes with an associated grade, based on that person'"'"'s knowledge/interest for the topic related to that sub-network. As such, each node/person receives a grade for each topic. Using these grades, a weight of each link between the nodes is calculated. This process is performed for every node for each topic and associated grade. After that, a superposition of all sub-networks is made and a multiple interest network is yielded.

Claims

1. A method, performed on a computer system, for forming a group of people having a related interest, comprising:

using the computer system to perform the following;

defining a plurality of interest topics for a contacts network, the contacts network having a plurality of people and relationships between the plurality of people in the contacts network;

establishing a sub-network with respect to every interest topic by assigning a grade to every person in the contacts network for the interest topic, and calculating, for every relationship, a weight of a relationship link between two people in the sub-network, wherein a first person is represented by a first node (A) and a second person is represented by a second node (B), and wherein the calculating comprises calculating a weight of a relationship between the first node (A) and the second node (B) using the following equation;

A, B=(A'"'"'s grade* B'"'"'s grade)/(A'"'"'s grade+B'"'"'s grade); and

merging the sub-networks into a multiple interest network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a starting point node within the multiple interest network; and

applying a shortest path with a load sharing algorithm, in order to find a best group in the contacts network.

3. The method of claim 2, the identifying of the starting point node comprising identifying a node within the multiple interest network having at least four relationships.

4. The method of claim 2, the load sharing algorithm comprising:

if the starting point node has N>

=4 connections, then the path will split in floor {N/2} different ways in this node.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising gathering the contacts network.

6. A computer system comprising:

at least one processing unit;

memory operably associated with the at least one processing unit;

a grouping program that is storable in memory and executable by the at least one processing unit for forming a group of people haying a related interest, the grouping program comprising;

a module for defining a plurality of interest topics for a contacts network, the contacts network having a plurality of people and relationships between the plurality of people in the contacts network;

a module for establishing a sub-network with respect to every interest topic by assigning a grade to every person in the contacts network for the interest topic, and calculating, for every relationship, a weight of a relationship link between two people in the sub-network, wherein a first person is represented by a first node (A) and a second person is represented by a second node (B), and wherein the calculating comprises calculating a weight of a relationship between the first node (A) and the second node (B) using the following equation;

A, B=(A'"'"'s grade*B'"'"'s grade)/(A'"'"'s grade+B'"'"'s grade); and

a module for merging the sub-networks into a multiple interest network.

7. The computer system of claim 6, further comprising:

a module for identifying a starting point node within the multiple interest network; and

a module for applying a shortest path with a load sharing algorithm, in order to find a best group in the contacts network.

8. The computer system of claim 7, the module for identifying the starting point node being configured to identify a node within the multiple interest network having at least four relationships.

9. The computer system of claim 7, the load sharing algorithm comprising:

if the starting point node has N>

=4 connections, then the path will split in floor {N/2} different ways in this node.

10. The computer system of claim 6, further comprising a module for gathering the contacts network.

11. A program product stored on a computer readable storage medium, which when executed by a computer system, forms a group of people having a related interest, the computer readable storage medium comprising program code for causing a computer system to:

define a plurality of interest topics for a contacts network, the contacts network having a plurality of people and relationships between the plurality of people in the contacts network;

establish a sub-network with respect to every interest topic by assigning a grade to every person in the contacts network for the interest topic, and calculating, for every relationship, a weight of a relationship link between two people in the sub-network, wherein a first person is represented by a first node (A) and a second person is represented by a second node (B), and wherein the calculating comprises calculating a weight of a relationship between the first node (A) and the second node (B) using the following equation;

A, B=(A'"'"'s grade* B'"'"'s grade)/(A'"'"'s grade+B'"'"'s grade); and

merge the sub-networks into a multiple interest network.

12. The program product of claim 11, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

identify a starting point node within the multiple interest network; and

apply a shortest path with a load sharing algorithm, in order to find a best group in the contacts network.

13. The program product of claim 12, the wherein the program code for identifying of the starting point node comprises causing the computer system to:

identify a node within the multiple interest network having at least four relationships.

14. The program product of claim 12, the load sharing algorithm comprising:

if the starting point node has N>

=4 connections, then the path will split in floor {N/2} different ways in this node.

15. The program product of claim 11, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

gather the contacts network.

16. A method for deploying a system for forming a group of people having a related interest in a computer system, the method comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

define a plurality of interest topics for a contacts network, the contacts network having a plurality of people and relationships between the plurality of people in the contacts network;

establish a sub-network with respect to every interest topic by assigning a grade to every person in the contacts network for the interest topic, and calculating, for every relationship, a weight of a relationship link between two people in the sub-network, wherein a first person is represented by a first node (A) and a second person is represented by a second node (B), and wherein the calculating comprises calculating a weight of a relationship between the first node (A) and the second node (B) using the following equation;

A, B=(A'"'"'s grade*B'"'"'s grade)/(A'"'"'s grade+B'"'"'s grade); and

merge the sub-networks into a multiple interest network.

17. The method of claim 16, the computer infrastructure being further operable to:

identify a starting point node within the multiple interest network; and

apply a shortest path with a load sharing algorithm, in order to find a best group in the contacts network.