System and method for location based social networking

• US 8,019,692 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2005
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosen, James S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss; John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): KIRLIN, AMANDA C.
• Application Number:
  US11/253,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 705/319
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Systems and methods for social networking. Location-related data and other behavioral and exogenously generated characteristics are used to replace or supplement self-generated profiles in order to enhance the quality and trustworthiness of the matches made using the system and facilitate the inputting of profile information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, via a computing device comprising at least one processor, profiles for a plurality of users, including user specified information;

automatically determining, via the computing device, observed behavioral information regarding activities conducted by a first user without requiring the first user to manually specify the behavioral information;

determining, via the computing device, a confidence in the user specified information based upon an analysis of the user specified information and the observed behavioral information;

associating, via the computing device, the confidence in the user specified information with the profile for the first user;

enabling, via the computing device, a second user to specify criteria for matching;

determining, via the computing device, information regarding a location of the first user;

matching, via the computing device, the first user with the second user based, at least in part, on the matching criteria specified by the second user, at least in part on the observed behavioral information regarding activities conducted by a first user, at least in part, on the information regarding the location of the first user and, at least in part, on the profile of the first user; and

communicating, via the computing device, a notice to the second user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the observed behavioral information is based on locations visited by the first user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the observed behavioral information regarding the locations visited by the first user includes information regarding an event occurring at a location visited by the first user at the time that the location is visited by the first user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the location of the first user comprises using a global positioning system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the location of the first user comprises wireless communications between a first mobile device and a second mobile device at the location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the observed behavioral information includes information regarding web sites visited by the first user.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating characteristics with the profile for the first user and a confidence for each of the characteristics, wherein the characteristics include at least one corroborated characteristic and at least one uncorroborated characteristic, and the corroborated characteristic has a higher level of confidence than the uncorroborated characteristic.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the corroborated characteristic is based, at least in part, on information regarding a relationship with another user that is confirmed by the other user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating feedback provided by other users with the profile.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

permitting the first user to remove all of the feedback associated with a characteristic and not selectively remove portions of the feedback associated with the characteristic.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein the user specified information includes information about a user that is received from the user and that is stored in the user'"'"'s profile.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the behavioral information regarding activities conducted by the first user are automatically determined without requiring the first user to manually specify or confirm any information and without another user confirming friendship with the first user.

11. A method comprising:

accessing, via a computing device comprising at least one processor, a profile for a first user, including a plurality of user specified characteristics for the first user;

automatically determining, via the computing device, observed behavioral information regarding activities conducted by a first user without requiring the first user to manually specify the behavioral information;

determining, via the computing device, a confidence in the user specified characteristics based upon an analysis of the user specified characteristics and the observed behavioral information;

associating, via the computing device, the confidence in the user specified characteristics with at least one of the user specified characteristics in the profile for the first user;

enabling, via the computing device, a second user to specify criteria for matching;

determining, via the computing device, information regarding a location of the first user;

matching, via the computing device, the first user with the second user based, at least in part, on the matching criteria specified by the second user, at least in part, on the observed behavioral information regarding activities conducted by a first user, at least in part, on the information regarding the location of the first user and, at least in part, on the profile of the first user; and

communicating, via the computing device, a notice to the second user including at least a portion of the profile for the first user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the notice includes a picture of the first user.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a profile for the second user, wherein the profile for the first user and the second user both include information regarding a third person, and the notice provides the identity of the third person.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a profile for the second user, including a plurality of characteristics for the second user, wherein the notice includes information regarding a characteristic from the profile for the first user that is the same as a characteristic from the profile of the second user.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the notice comprises a suggested conversation topic based on the profile of the first user.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the notice comprises information regarding the reasons for matching the first user with the criteria specified by the second user.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

allowing the first user to specify rules regarding how the profile for the first user can be used for matching.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules specified by the first user include rules based on the location of the first user.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules are automatically modified based on the time of day.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules are based, at least in part, on associations between a user requesting a match and a third person specified in the profile of the first user.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the third person is a spouse of the first user.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the third person is a co-worker of the first user.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules require a common second degree relationships between the profile for the user requesting the match and the profile for the first user.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules are based, in part, on the location of the first user and information previously provided by other users regarding the location.

25. The method of claim 11, wherein the criteria specified by the second user require an indication of interest in a specified type of social encounter.

26. The method of claim 11, wherein the criteria specified by the second user require an indication of interest in a job and wherein the notice includes employment credentials for the first user.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein the rules include conditions for providing a picture of the first user, including a condition requiring the second user to provide a picture of the second user.

28. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules specify characteristics from the profile for the first user that can only be used in aggregated form with other characteristics for matching.

29. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules specify characteristics that cannot be used for matching.

30. The method of claim 17, wherein the rules specify conditions that must be satisfied in order to use specified characteristics for matching.

31. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a sensitivity setting that can be adjusted by the second user to adjust the threshold for the criteria that must be satisfied in order for a profile to match.

32. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

permitting the second user to provide feedback regarding the success of the match with the first user.

33. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the location of the second user;

wherein the information regarding the location of the first user includes information regarding whether the first user was at the location of the second user within a defined period of time.

34. A method comprising:

accessing, via a computing device comprising at least one processor, a profile for a first user, including user specified information, an entry associating the first user with a first mobile device and an entry associating the first user with a third user;

automatically determining, via the computing device, observed behavioral information regarding activities conducted by the first user without requiring the first user to manually specify the observed behavioral information;

determining, via the computing device, a confidence in the user specified information based upon an analysis of the user specified information and the observed behavioral information;

associating, via the computing device, the confidence in the user specified information with the profile for the first user;

communicating, via the computing device, a profile for a second user, including an entry associating the second user with a second mobile device and an entry associating the second user with the third user;

receiving, at the computing device, location based information for the first mobile device and the second mobile device; and

matching, via the computing device, the first user and the second user specified criteria based, at least in part, on the location based information, the observed behavioral information regarding activities conducted by the first user, and the entries in the first user profile and the second user profile associated with the third user.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

sending a notice to the third mobile device indicating that the first user and the second user have been matched based, at least in part, on associations with the third user.

36. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

adjusting the profile of the third user based on the match between the first user and the second user.