Social computing personas for protecting identity in online social interactions

• US 8,271,894 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2011
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Mayers, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US13/246,839
• Time in Patent Office: 357 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715/733, 715/738, 715/751, 715/753, 715/764, 715/765, 715/835, 715/838, 705/319, 705/325, 709/203
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer

Abstract

A system and method for generating a plurality of personas for an account of a user is disclosed. The present invention uses an account engine to receive information for the plurality of personas and to associate the information for the plurality of personas to the account. The information for each of the plurality of personas includes a visibility level. A persona engine receives a selection from the user and transmits the selected persona to the user based on the selection. An authority engine determines an appearance of the selected persona based on the visibility level.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a plurality of personas for an account of a first user of a social network performed on one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, using the one or more computing devices, information for the plurality of personas from the first user, wherein the information comprises a name, a representation, and a visibility level for each persona in the plurality of personas;

associating the information for the plurality of personas to the account of the first user;

associating a particular persona of the plurality of personas with a second user on the social network, the second user being distinct from the first user;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of personas from the first user;

determining, using the one or more computing devices, an appearance of the selected persona based at least in part on the visibility level and representation of the selected persona; and

providing the determined appearance for display.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the visibility level is at least one of public, public over a threshold age, visible to selected users and hidden from everyone.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the visibility level of visible to selected users further comprises at least one of being visible to all friends and being visible to selected friends.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information further comprises a picture, a description, a permission and a sharing property for each persona in the plurality of personas.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the permission comprises allowing at least one of all friends, selected friends, all account holders and anyone to access the user'"'"'s real identity.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein associating the particular persona of the plurality of personas is based at least in part on a sharing property, the sharing property comprising at least one of associating the particular persona with other account holders and associating the particular persona with selected friends.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating a reputation for each persona based at least in part on activity or feedback associated with the persona.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of personas comprises at least one of the first user'"'"'s real identity, an alter ego and a one-time anonymous identity.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the information for the selected persona in response to the first user submitting at least one of a post, a comment, a picture, a video, a message, an article and a game.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising assigning a reputation to the selected persona according to at least one of a number of views, a number of comments and a number of indications of approval of at least one of the post, the comment, the picture, the video, the message, the article and the game submitted by the selected persona.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the persona engine-associating the particular persona of the plurality of personas is based at least in part on a sharing property, the sharing property comprising at least one of associating the particular persona with other account holders and associating the particular persona with selected friends.

11. A system for generating a plurality of personas for an account of a first user of a social network, the system comprising:

an account engine for receiving information for the plurality of personas from the first user, wherein the information comprises a name, a representation, and a visibility level for each persona in the plurality of personas and associating the information for the plurality of personas to the account of the first user;

a persona engine coupled to the account engine, the persona engine for associating a particular persona of the plurality of personas with a second user on the social network, the second user being distinct from the first user and receiving a selection from the first user of one of the plurality of personas and for retrieving the selected persona;

an authority engine coupled to the persona engine, the authority engine for determining an appearance of the selected persona based at least in part on the visibility level and representation of the selected persona; and

a communication unit coupled to the authority engine, the communication unit for providing the determined appearance for display.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the visibility level is at least one of public, public over a threshold age, visible to selected users and hidden from everyone.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the visibility level of visible to selected users further comprises at least one of being visible to all friends and being visible to selected friends.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the information further comprises a picture, a description, a permission and a sharing property for each persona in the plurality of personas.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the permission comprises allowing at least one of all friends, selected friends, all account holders and anyone to access the user'"'"'s real identity.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the authority engine authorizes other account holders to access the user'"'"'s real identity based at least in part on the permission, the permission comprising allowing at least one of all friends, selected friends, all account holders and anyone to access the user'"'"'s real identity.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of personas comprises at least one of the first user'"'"'s real identity, an alter ego and a one-time anonymous identity.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the persona engine retrieves the information for the selected persona in response to the first user submitting at least one of a post, a comment, a picture, a video, a message, an article and a game.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the authority engine assigns a reputation to the selected persona according to at least one of a number of views, a number of comments and a number of indications of approval of at least one of the post, the comment, the picture, the video, the message, the article and the game submitted by the selected persona.

21. The system of claim 11, wherein the persona engine determines a second appearance of the particular persona associated with the second user based at least in part on a second visibility level for the second user and a second representation of the particular persona, and further comprising:

a communication unit coupled to the authority engine, the communication unit for providing the second appearance of the particular persona for display.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform steps comprising:

receiving information for a plurality of personas from a first user, wherein the information comprises a name, a representation, and a visibility level for each persona in the plurality of personas;

associating the information for the plurality of personas to an account of the first user;

associating a particular persona of the plurality of personas with a second user on the social network, the second user being distinct from the first user;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of personas from the first user;

determining an appearance of the selected persona based at least in part on the visibility level and representation of the selected persona; and

providing the determined appearance for display.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the visibility level is at least one of public, public over a threshold age, visible to selected users and hidden from everyone.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the visibility level of visible to selected users further comprises at least one of being visible to all friends and being visible to selected friends.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the permission comprises allowing at least one of all friends, selected friends, all account holders and anyone to access the user'"'"'s real identity.

26. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the information further comprises a picture, a description, a permission and a sharing property for each persona in the plurality of personas.

27. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein associating the particular persona of the plurality of personas is based at least in part on a sharing property, the sharing property comprising at least one of associating the particular persona with other account holders and associating of the particular persona with selected friends.

28. The computer program product of claim 22, further comprising generating a reputation for each persona based at least in part on activity or feedback associated with the persona.

29. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the plurality of personas comprises at least one of the first user'"'"'s real identity, an alter ego and a one-time anonymous identity.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining, using the one or more computing devices, a second appearance of the particular persona associated with the second user based at least in part on a second visibility level for the second user and a second representation of the particular persona; and

providing the second appearance of the particular persona for display.