Peer to peer network personal assistant

• US 8,224,714 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2008
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yost, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Borlinghaus, Jason M
• Application Number:
  US12/113,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20090276284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,538 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/26.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Methods and computer storage media for communicating an electronic gift suggestion for a first user to a second user are provided. Accessing an online social network profile for a first user created by the first user in an online social network. Determining one or more gift suggestions for the first user and displaying the one or more gift suggestions in the online social network account of a second user. In some embodiment, the gift suggestions for the first user may be based on the social profile of the first user, based on the social profile of the first user utilizing an electronic gift wish list, or based on sales data of purchasers having similar personal information and purchasing history as personal information accessed from the first user'"'"'s social profile.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of communicating an event reminder with an electronic gift suggestion for a first user to a second user, the method comprising:

determining from a calendar of an online social network account of the second user, an upcoming event for the first user for which one or more inputs about the first user were previously received from the second user and stored by the second user in the calendar of the second user'"'"'s online social network account as a reminder to the second user of the first user'"'"'s upcoming event;

automatically determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion based on the one or more inputs about the first user that was previously received from the second user and stored by the second user in the calendar of the second user'"'"'s online social network account, wherein the one or more inputs include a type of event;

determining whether the first user participates in an online social network;

in response to determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion and that the first user does not participate in an online social network, determining one or more gift suggestions for the first user based on the received inputs;

in response to determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion and that the first user participates in an online social network, automatically accessing an online social network profile for the first user created by the first user in an online social network;

determining from the online social network profile whether the first user has an electronic gift wish list associated with the online social network profile;

in response to determining that the first user has an electronic gift wish list associated with the online social network profile automatically without input from the second user accessing the electronic gift wish list of the first user and determining one or more gift suggestions for the first user based the electronic gift wish list of the first user associated with the online social network profile of the first user;

in response to determining that the first user does not have an electronic gift wish list associated with the online social network profile matching at least one of demographic and historical data in the online social network profile of the first user to at least one of demographic and historical sales data from one or more third-party databases and determining one or more gift suggestions for the first user based on the matching sales data; and

displaying the event reminder with the one or more gift suggestions in the online social network account of the second user.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the first user and the second participate in a same online social network or different online social networks.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the same online social network or the different online social networks are peer-to-peer networks.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein the one or more inputs received from the second user comprises receiving one or more dates associated with the first user and receiving an entry in a contact list of the second user.

5. The media of claim 3, wherein the first user and the second user are the same.

6. The media of claim 1, wherein the electronic gift wish list of the first user associated with the online social network profile of the first user is one or more of an electronic gift wish list of the first user in the online social network profile of the first user and an electronic gift wish list of the first user linked to the online social network profile of the first user.

7. The media of claim 1, wherein the one or more gift suggestions for the first user determined based on data in the online social network profile of the first user are based on demographic information for the first user in the online social network profile and third party sales data.

8. The media of claim 1, wherein the one or more gift suggestions for the first user determined based on data in the online social network profile of the first user are based on prior purchasing data in the online social network profile of the first user and third party sales data.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of electronically suggesting one or more gifts for a first user, the method comprising:

determining on a calendar of an online social network account of the second user, an upcoming event for the first user for which one or more inputs about the first user were previously received from the second user and stored by the second user in the calendar of the second user'"'"'s online social network account as a reminder to the second user of the first user'"'"'s upcoming event;

automatically determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion based on the one or more inputs about the first user that was previously received from the second user and stored by the second user in the calendar of the second user'"'"'s online social network account, wherein the one or more inputs include a type of event;

determining whether the first user participates in an online social network;

in response to determining that the upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion and that the first user does not participate in an online social network, determining one or more gift suggestions for the first user based on the received inputs;

in response to determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion and that the first user participates in an online social network, automatically accessing an online social network profile for a first user created by the first user in an online social network;

automatically without input from the second user accessing an electronic gift wish list of the first user and determining one or more gift suggestions for the first user based on the electronic gift wish list of the first user, wherein the electronic gift wish list of the first user is in the online social network profile of the first user or linked to the online social network profile of the first user; and

displaying the one or more gift suggestions in the online social network account of a second user.

10. The media of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying an event reminder and the one or more gift suggestions to the second user.

11. The media of claim 9, wherein the electronic gift wish list for the first user is from an online merchant.

12. The media of claim 9, wherein the first user and the second participate in a same online social network or different online social networks.

13. The media of claim 9, wherein the same online social network and the different online social networks are peer-to-peer networks.

14. The media of claim 9, wherein the second user selects the one or more gift suggestions displayed and purchases a product from the gift wish list of the first user.

15. A computer-implemented method for automatically displaying gift suggestions, the method comprising:

determining from a calendar of an online social network account of the second user, an upcoming event for the first user for which one or more inputs about the first user were previously received from the second user and stored by the second user in the calendar of the second user'"'"'s online social network account as a reminder to the second user of the first user'"'"'s upcoming event;

determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion and that the first user participates in an online social network;

in response to determining that the first user'"'"'s upcoming event is an event for a gift suggestion and that the first user participates in an online social network, automatically accessing a social profile for a first user in an online social network, wherein the online social network profile includes personal information for the first user;

accessing one or more third-party databases to retrieve at least one of sales data of purchasers having one or more items of personal demographic information or purchasing history that match one or more items of personal demographic information or purchasing history of the first user;

utilizing the sales data and the purchasing history to determine one or more gift suggestions for the first user; and

displaying the one or more gift suggestions in the online social network account of a second user.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein accessing the one or more third-party databases comprises accessing one or more online merchant databases.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the first user and the second user are members of an online social network which is a peer-to-peer network.

18. The media of claim 17, wherein the first user and the second user are the same.